Hanging in the offices of prominent Santa Barbara attorney Barry Cappello are dozens of paintings of Native American tribes that were created in the 19th and 20th centuries. “I’m not anti–Native American,” he said, walking around the third floor of his State Street office. “That is not what this is about. This is about being bluffed.”
Cappello hopes to stop the Santa Barbara County Supervisors from striking a deal with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. The agreement surrounds Camp 4, the 1,400-acre property in the Santa Ynez Valley that the tribe purchased years ago. The Chumash have petitioned to annex the land into its existing reservation, and neighbors have fought them every step of the way.
Cappello represents Santa Ynez Valley resident Nancy Crawford-Hall, who owns the 10,000-acre San Lucas Ranch near Camp 4. Crawford-Hall had bankrolled the failed legal challenge to the election of former county supervisor Doreen Farr.