KUMEYAAY INFORMATION VILLAGE Indigenous Tribes of Southern California and Mexico History Culture Education Entertainment

UPDATE August 2026

This past year I've been working on The Kumeyaay Information Village again, and have revised thousands of pages and updated hundreds of photographs with beautiful high-resolution imagery to serve the world community in learning about the Native American Indians indigenous to the U.S.A. Southern California and northwestern Mexico border region.

If you haven't explored your Kumeyaay website lately -- I invite you to clear your web browser caches and take a fresh look around....

New graphic content, high-resolution digital upgrades, substantial layout and text revisions...

Larry Hammond Jr., Mojave Indian Tribe, leads a large group of Yuman singers playing gourd rattles in 2002. MORE (video)

Celia Silva Espinoza, San Jose de la Zorra band de Kumiai Indios, is a master juncus basket-weaving artist and respected cultural ethnobotanist. At the time in 2006 when I took her portrait (above) she lived in this shack with no water or electricity (typical of her remote tribal ejido housing).

I do what I was born to do -- regardless.

GARY G. BALLARD
Founder | Editor | Webmaster

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WHITE MAN SPEAKS TRUTH

RE: Sycuan Casino complaint copyright infringement

Dear Honored Guests and Supporters,

I am sorry to inform you of my career-ending complaint and second failed copyright infringement settlement 'negotiation' with the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, the sovereign Sycuan Tribal Government under Chairman Cody J. Martinez.

The Sycuan Tribal Council's first offer to buy nonexclusive "full rights" to my 30,000 Sycuan-related still photographs to settle my complaint in 2008 failed under Chairman Daniel J. Tucker when he withheld the tribal council's $125,000 payment without explanation and refused to return my letters or resolve the serious problems to my life that Sycuan Casino and Resort employees and contractors created through their alleged grossly negligent handling, illegitimate use, anonymous digital storage, and unauthorized release of my intellectual property.

SYCUAN'S LAST WORD: Silence

In Chairman Cody Martinez's last letter to me (04/26/2016) -- after I asked for clarification of his vague Terms -- he required me to include my "entire collection" of "images related" to his Kumeyaay "tribe and its members" before he would settle my claim, or he wrote, they would go silent again (they did).

FOR THE FIRST TIME: Chairman Martinez's last letter included my personal kumeyaay.info website, its "copyrights" and all "materials" in Sycuan's $125,000 settlement -- that's in addition to my original 50,000-photo Sycuan collection.

In fact: My Kumeyaay.info material was specifically excluded from the settlement discussions from the beginning (2008) and was never included until his last letter. More Detail.

But Cody Martinez's final non-negotiable Terms now included BOTH my huge multimedia collections -- for his same low-ball price! More Detail.

PER HIS FINAL TERMS: I would retain ZERO RIGHTS to my Kumeyaay work -- even in my lifetime! -- and Sycuan would own all my COPYRIGHTS, and EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to my work.

That means I would have to delete everything "related" to the "tribe" from all my websites -- including the complete removal of kumeyaay.info -- since everything here "relates" to the "tribe" as Mr. Martinez clearly specified in his last letter.

FURTHER: Chairman Martinez included ZERO Terms to ensure my photographs, field notes and video would be preserved and made available to future generations for education and research.

I wanted TERMS in a reasonable discussion to ensure my collections are preserved, but Chairman Martinez refused all conversation except stating his lowball Price and his vague, overbearing Terms for EXCLUSIVE rights and full control of my copyrighted materials.

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT CODY'S BIG BEAUTIFUL DEAL: THE CONVERSATION ENDED with Sycuan's silence (as it did with his predecessor, Chairman Danny Tucker).

I have one word to sum up Chairman Cody J. Martinez's offer (and his goofy unenforceable 'contract' format):

RIDICULOUS!

Who gets Price and Terms in a settlement, refuses to negotiate either, refuses to form a proper contract -- when THEIR party's gross negligence caused serious irreversible damage to the other?

Only in a KLEPTOCRACY!

But DISRESPECT also comes to mind (for my 20 years of impeccable service to the Sycuan people and the "tribe").

As does Cody Martinez's INEPT leadership in his personal handling of my complaint and perceived CRIMINALITY under color of Tribal Governance (for his administration officially condoning the alleged blatant theft of my intellectual property)....

Since it's impossible for nonIndians like me to sue a sovereign nation -- I'm still here in PEACEFUL PROTEST to put the facts of my 100-percent valid complaint on record.

Standing up for myself.

And asking the hard questions:

Where's my retirement income going?

Right into the pockets of Sycuan band members, I'm (still) saying...

$11 MILLION in interest alone
over the life of my copyrights!
$350,000 to date

Is Sycuan an organization of thieves operating under the colors of Tribal Sovereignty and Unfair Advantage?

Yes, in my opinion.

FACT CHECK: Here is the complete 2015-2016 series of unedited settlement correspondence in this download PDF.

The young chairman wrote some positive words in his letters, but failed to follow through on any them EXCEPT his threat to go silent if I did not capitulate to his vague, unfair demands.

ABOUT MY COMPLAINT: Open letter to the Sycuan people.

The Sycuan people may be able to leverage their Golden Tickets of tribal sovereignty and unfair advantage to ignore me and my legacy out of existence, or their wealth to exploit the legal system to silence me altogether.

But now you know, this is how Sycuan operates their tribal businesses on the reservation?

SYCUAN HOTEL CASINO RESORT GRAND OPENING NEWS about Sycuan's new $226 million Indian casino project to renovate its East County Indian casino into a true Las Vegas style resort with non-gaming amenities such as separate adult and children swimming pools, a man-made river and a towering new 300 room, 12 story luxury hotel on their Indian reservation.

www.sycuanbandofthieves.com

I published my online protests because I want my evidence on public record so people know the truth, the facts about how Sycuan 'acquired' my photographs — they didn't pay me for them (with only a few exceptions).

And how Sycuan destroyed my business and good reputation when I complained about their casino managers' unprofessional behavior.

THE FACTS OF MY CLAIM ARE NOT IN DISPUTE.

THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE SUPPORTING MY COMPLAINT IS CLEAR AND CONVINCING:

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT Ironically it was my respectfully asking a Sycuan marketing manager 11 years ago to the date to explain his SECOND unauthorized 36-inch poster print run of my Kumeyaay map — and the Sycuan Casino executive management's disrespectful reaction to my request — that triggered my conflict with Sycuan's tribal leadership.

Sycuan employees' blatant plagiarism of my original map artwork was outrageous because they digitally erased my copyright legal notices, branding and consultant credits from both of their illegal print runs.

Further, they plagiarized their unauthorized reproductions of my original work by adding Sycuan's logo and distinct graphical branding to make it their own despite the Sycuan manager's personal written assurance in my licensing agreement that included only "one-time use" of my Map in a "Sycuan TV commercial."

THE ALLEGED RETALIATION & BLACKLISTING

Sycuan's tribal leadership's swift retaliation to my grievance in 2007, the untruths against my good name on the Sycuan Indian Reservation and unfair terminations from my Sycuan projects ultimately destroyed my good reputation in the tribal community, my career, and poisoned my massive professional legacy.

As news of my conflict with Sycuan's former leadership spread across Indian country, it effectively got me blacklisted — that's why I quit working on Kumeyaay.info in 2010 and posted this Sponsor Letter to donate my website and massive historical archive and move on.

But the unresolved Sycuan conflict and stigma on my name is preventing me from even giving it away free and finding peace.

SYCUAN'S NEW SETTLEMENT OFFER
JAN. 2016

It's true newly-elected Cody J. Martinez, Sycuan tribal chairman responded positively to my letter in 2015 requesting he take a "fair review of the facts and timely closure" of my 2007 complaint against Sycuan Casino and Resort managers.

The young chairman even invited me to a meeting on the Sycuan Indian Reservation with his entire tribal council in December 2015 that seemed positive and on track.

Most importantly to my attending and preparing for his meeting — Cody reintroduced my original $250,000 price in his 10/21/2015 invitation letter.

Because of Chairman Martinez's positive actions and his invitation $250,000 price — I was caught off guard by his subsequent lowball price and ambiguous terms to settle my ongoing copyright dispute against Sycuan Casino and Resort.

SYCUAN'S PRICE AND SYCUAN'S TERMS -- AGAIN!

Cody Martinez's Jan. 2016 written offer "to settle this matter," he wrote, was a "$125,000" payment for my "copyrights" and all "materials."

To understand what he meant -- in my 01/25/2016 response -- I asked Chairman Martinez to be specific about the "materials" he was requesting.

Cody's 04/26/2016 final letter specified his offer includes my "entire collection" of "images related" to his Kumeyaay "tribe and its members."

That absolutely floored me, inasmuch for his broken written promise to me to engage in "actual negotiations" with his tribal council.

Why is Sycuan's last-second inclusion of my massive Kumeyaay.info collection and website a deal breaker — and a spiteful affront to my honorable service to Sycuan band members and the California Indian tribal community?

Chairman Martinez's one-sided deal required me to transfer my sole, exclusive rights, copyrights, to my personal unrelated Kumeyaay.info website, brands, multimedia, research and field notes, including its separate 250-gigabyte digital photographic collection, to Sycuan before he would settle the problems his employees created with my Sycuan multi-media archive.

That's in addition to their original settlement deal -- Chairman Tucker's $125,000 written offer (12/16/2008) for non-exclusive "full rights" to my 30,000 Sycuan-related still photographs.

IN FACT:

My Kumeyaay.info project was NEVER included in Sycuan's 2008 or 2016 offer until Cody Martinez's last letter (04/26/2016) just before he clammed up AGAIN.

My Kumeyaay.info project and materials were specifically excluded from the deal in my written discussions with Sycuan's legal director.

Kumeyaay.info was to retain uncomplicated assignable rights to my Sycuan material so my Kumeyaay.info project remained intact and undamaged.

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UNDER CODY MARTINEZ'S ONE-SIDED, NON-NEGOTIABLE, TAKE-IT-OR-LEAVE-IT SETTLEMENT OFFER:

Sycuan would be the EXCLUSIVE SOLE RECIPIENT of my Sycuan AND my Kumeyaay.info collections with ZERO contractual obligation to preserve or credit my work or make it available to students and researchers.

Under Sycuan's offer (01/04/16) and subsequent final response (04/26/16) — I would retain ZERO rights to my Sycuan and Kumeyaay.info work even in my lifetime!

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I didn't spend two decades working for the Sycuan people — and invest 7,500-plus personal unbilled hours and tens of thousands of dollars of my own money creating, preserving and developing my mammoth Sycuan and Kumeyaay collections to take an unfair, non-negotiable RAW DEAL to settle Sycuan employees' documented patterns of gross negligence that ultimately destroyed my career and professional legacy.

SYCUAN'S BAD FAITH NEGOTIATING STYLE

Cody Martinez's negotiating style proved to be one-sided, dysfunctional, unfair, protracted and downright shameful for having Sycuan's vast professional management resources available to format a functional proposal:

He dictated both price and terms.
He refused to negotiate his price or his terms.
His terms were ambiguous, incomplete and thereby legally unenforceable.
He refused to even discuss his terms beyond his last letter that he used to tack on his disclaimers and further confuse his terms to include Kumeyaay.info.
He refused to supply me with a contract to review his offer in its detailed entirety, yet he required me to counter his price under his grossly ambiguous terms.
In his last letter, he promised me "actual negotiations" with his council and even warned me he would "remain silent" if I didn't comply with his instructions.
But even after I fully complied — he broke his promise and clammed up AGAIN!
And after his failure to close on Sycuan's settlement deal — he and his fellow tribal council members refused to resolve (or even discuss) the pressing Outstanding Matters I outlined and mailed to them in my 03/25/2016 letter.

Unfortunately for all, the hard evidence and the Sycuan Tribal Council's silence left everyone with the burning question begging to be asked of the Sycuan people:

Is Sycuan an organization of thieves operating under the colors of Tribal Sovereignty and Unfair Advantage?

I certainly have my opinion at this late date, but I am leaving the evidence in a breadcrumb trail for anyone to follow and draw their own conclusions:

I just published a new Sycuan protest website blog for 2017:
www.sycuanbandofthieves.com
I also just posted my and Cody's complete 2015-2016 series of unedited settlement correspondence letters in this download PDF.
I re-posted my original 2009 Sycuan Casino protest blog.
I re-posted my original 2009 Open Letter to Sycuan.
For convenience and historical purposes — I've packaged a full set of PDFs for DOWNLOAD in this .zip file (15MB). It contains PDF copies of both my 2009 blogs, my complete series of 2015-2016 settlement letters, and my sycuanbandofthieves website.
Download .zip last updated on 08/21/2018 for minor revisions.

Sycuan has protracted this for a decade now — NOW is my time to finish my business with Sycuan. As a 60-year-old man looking to retire and enjoy life, I need to get my affairs in order and close this sad chapter of my life.

MY SPECIAL NOTE
TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF THE WORLD:

GARY BALLARD

would like to add a note of gratitude and appreciation to the millions of visitors who visited Kumeyaay.info and freely enjoyed the fruits of my labor — including the millions of additional visitors who visited my other nonprofit and educational research websites.

It was my pleasure and honor to serve you and the communities around the world as I learned and presented my non-Indian perspectives of the Kumeyaay people, history and culture.

Very sincerely yours,

GARY G. BALLARD
Kumeyaay.info Founder and Webmaster

Disclaimer: sycuanbandofthieves.com, including the gballard.net and kumeyaay.info websites, are not affiliated with the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Nation, the Sycuan Tribal Government, the Sycuan Casino and Resort, the Sycuan Institute on Tribal Gaming, the Sycuan Fire Department, the Willow Glen and Sycuan Golf Resort in El Cajon, CA, or Sycuan's off-reservation U.S. Grant Hotel in downtown Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego, or any other of countless Sycuan community and commercial enterprises that I may not know about or list. Nor do these websites have any affiliation with San Diego State University, or the San Diego Padres major-league baseball team. The commentaries above are the opinions and views of Gary Ballard and he is solely responsible for its content. If you or your organization have any clarifications, concerns or input on the information contained on these websites, please CONTACT GARY at the link below.