Letters to the Editor for June 23, 2010 Written by Union Democrat staff June 23, 2010 05:28 am Yosemite roundhouse To the editor: On a recent Yosemite trip I discovered that the National Park Service is constructing another Me-Wuk ceremonial roundhouse in the park. The site of this new Me-Wuk roundhouse is right on top of a Paiute campsite of Wahoga. The headman of Wahoga was a Paiute man named Lancisco Wilson. This is the second Me-Wuk roundhouse constructed in the park. The first, built in the1970s, is behind the Yosemite Research Center and Indian Museum. Now the park is creating another Me-Wuk roundhouse in Yosemite Valley, a place not indigenous to the Southern Sierra Me-Wuk. In the book “Deeper Than Gold,” by California Indian ethnologist Brian Bibby, the Me-Wuk admit their chief at the time of Yosemite’s discovery was Chief Bautista. Bautista was a military ally, and afraid to enter Yosemite Valley. Chief Tenaya is documented to be the founder of the Paiute colony of Ahwahnee and spoke Paiute. So why is the park wasting taxpayers’ money constructing another Mi-Wuk roundhouse and giving it to the nonprofit Southern Sierra Mi-Wuks? Where’s the Mono Paiute village? This is a desecration to the memory of the original Indians of Yosemite. Why is our government wasting good money on a falsehood? David Andrews Sacramento David Andrews is of Paiute descent and is a frequent Yosemite visitor.