Discussion Cut Short Over Mission’s Plans for Remains of Indians

Controversy surrounding the proposed construction of a parish meeting hall at Mission San Diego de Alcala spilled over into the City Council chambers Monday as council members, Indians and Roman Catholic diocese officials debated the issue before a packed audience.

Councilwoman Judy McCarty introduced a resolution asking the diocese to cancel the project and to direct the city attorney to work against it. But Mayor Maureen O’Connor, citing concern over potential litigation, succeeded in cutting off public debate until a hastily scheduled closed council session on the issue today.

Construction on Hold

Mission priest Msgr. Brent I. Eagan assured the council that plans for immediate construction on the site have been shelved.

But Eagan’s lawyer, Donald Worley, told the council that Eagan has decided to fill the archeological dig with loosely packed dirt to preserve the Indian remains found there.

“We need a cooling-off period in order to rethink the matter,” Worley said.

He later met with Indian representatives to discuss the diocese’s plans and said the talks will continue.

“We are hoping for an agreement, and I don’t know if we would proceed without one, but we have a legal right to do so,” he said.

But Indians and archeologists alike say the heavy equipment required for the stop-gap filling would damage the fragile remains there. Both groups would seek an injunction against such a move by the diocese, said project opponent Florence Shippek.

The debate in the council featured a lively exchange between O’Connor and McCarty before bogging down in procedural matters.

“If you want to preserve it as a cemetery, why don’t you leave it alone? Why do more digging?” O’Connor asked at one point. But when McCarty asked to read a statement in reply, O’Connor overruled her.

Earlier, McCarty said, “I keep hearing people speak of Catholic-bashing, and others of Indian-bashing. It is sad, as we try to find what’s good for the people of San Diego, that it has degenerated to this point.”

Filner Wanted Discussion

Bob Filner was the only council member to oppose the motion to schedule a closed session. Though O’Connor promised to schedule a public hearing later, Filner wanted one Monday.

“It was not a legal issue, it was a policy issue,” Filner said in an interview. “All too often, we use the chance of litigation to avoid public discussion of controversial topics.”

On Monday, McCarty said it was O’Connor who was leading the opposition to her resolution. But the mayor has not yet taken a position in the dispute, spokesman Paul Downey said, adding that the mayor’s office has been in contact with the diocese to secure assurances from Eagan that no construction would begin immediately.

Diocese spokesman William Finley put it more simply: “The mayor is an old friend of monsignor’s.”

But the meeting hall project may be in trouble of its own because of the cost of removing human remains from 8 of the 20 pits on the site, according to Worley. Archeologists have already charged the diocese nearly $300,000 for the excavations, and removing the rest of the exposed burials might cost $500,000 more, Worley said.

In response to last week’s vandalism at the site, Eagan, who returned over the weekend from an out-of-town trip into the midst of the controversy, ignored a front-row heckler as he told the council that the diocese has at “great expense” hired a night watchman to guard the lot.