Arroyo Hondo board says land grant deed legit
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| Members of the Arroyo Hondo community make a plea for information during a quarterly Land Grant Board of Trustees meeting Saturday (March 12) at the Arroyo Hondo Community Center. Photo by Tina Larkin |
By J.R. Logan
Friday, March 18, 2011 6:07 AM MDT
The Arroyo Hondo Land Grant Board of Trustees met Saturday (March 13) to try to explain its motives to those in attendance and allay concerns about a warranty deed that has clouded title to all private property on the grant.
The deed purports to pass ownership of the entire 20,000- acre grant to the board and to the heirs of the original settlers of the 200-year-old grant.
This and another deed filed for the entire Cristóbal de la Serna grant have fostered trepidation among some title insurers, which has in turn disrupted real estate transactions within the boundaries of both grants.
Both heirs and non-heirs living in the Arroyo Hondo area showed up for Saturday's meeting, asking questions of the board members and expressing concerns about the board's intents, according to a recording by The Taos News.
More than an hour into discussion, which sometimes erupted into a raucous roar, one woman asked the board why it was on the defensive when answering questions.
Several people asked about the warranty deed that has clouded title for all properties inside the grant. Board members maintained that the deed was legitimate, and said they felt sorry for those non-heirs who had been given a "false warranty deed" when they bought their property.
The board said that, in the future, it would like to have a say in all land sales done by both heirs and non-heirs within the grant. The board also said it didn't intend to evict non-heirs from the grant.
"We're not here to throw a person or anybody off the property," said Paul Martínez, a consultant for the Arroyo Hondo board who spoke for most of the meeting. "We're here to make you guys understand that you're part of a communal land grant now and there are bylaws by which you have to abide."
Bylaws
Under New Mexico law, land grants have the legal right to form a board of trustees. Among their powers, boards can administer any common lands within the grant, hold elections and create bylaws that don't conflict with existing laws.
In June 2009, the Arroyo Hondo Land Grant filed its bylaws with the New Mexico Secretary of State's office, which keeps and maintains the New Mexico Community Land Grant Registry. Patricia Herrera, an employee at the Secretary of State's office, said her office is required to file all documents submitted from land grant boards, but it cannot confirm the legality or validity of those documents posted to the registry.
The bylaws for the Arroyo Hondo Land Grant Board of Trustees can be downloaded by visiting www.taosnews.com/downloads/hondobylaw.pdf.
Among its listed goals, the bylaws for the Hondo grant state that the board is to "repossess, by all means necessary, and develop plans to administer, operate, and maintain all private, common, county, state or federal lands within the exterior boundaries of the Arroyo Hondo Grant for the benefit of the Arroyo Hondo Grant Heirs."
The Hondo bylaws state that non-heirs that hold property in the grant may stay — as long as they void their title or deed and submit a "definitive plan of intent" to the board of trustees.
However, state statute asserts that a non-heir living within a registered land grant has rights to purchase or lease land, and that the law "shall not diminish, extinguish or otherwise impair any private property interest located within the boundaries of a land grant-merced or be construed to grant the board of trustees of a land grant-merced regulatory authority over such property interests or lands other than the common lands."
State law dictates that a land grant that wishes to evict a private property owner must file "an action of ejectment" in district court.
During the Hondo board's meeting Saturday, some asked about the election of trustees to the board. The board responded that it had advertised the election and tried to recruit participants, but no one came. The Secretary of State lists Lawrence M. Ortiz, Leandro Ortiz, Melissa Ortiz, Raymond I. Trujillo and Herman F. Gonzales as members of the Hondo board.
According to New Mexico law, only heirs who have registered with their respective grant can vote in board elections. The Hondo bylaws state that heirs must be 18 years old, must be a direct descendent of the original grantees, and must be certified by the board.
The bylaws dictate that an heir must pay a one-time registration fee of $100 and annual dues of $25. There is a discount for heirs 65 and older.
The Taos News has submitted a formal records request to the Hondo board asking for copies of the ballot and election results as well as a list of heirs who have registered with the board.
As of press time, none of the documents had been provided. Before Saturday's meeting an anonymous flyer was posted in the Arroyo Hondo post office asking residents not to be intimidated by the board, and to not attend its meetings.
During the meeting, Martínez condemned the notice. "That's horrible," he said. "That's not how to support your public meetings."
'Ignorance of the law'
Before questions were asked, the meeting Saturday began with a case for the validity of the heirs' right to land within the grant boundaries.
"Ignorance of the law" was written in big, bold letters on the chalkboard inside the Arroyo Hondo Community Center. In his argument, Martínez stated that, according to the state constitution, New Mexico is "an inseparable part of the federal union, and the constitution is the supreme law of the land."
He went on to say that Article VI of the U.S. Constitution dictates that all treaties made by the U.S. are also "the supreme law of the land."
Martínez has in the past said that the federal government has failed to meet its obligations under the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican- American War and stated that the U.S. would recognize prior land grants.
Martínez contends that any warranty deed or title to property within the grant is an invalid document because the federal patent that awarded the grant to heirs of the original settlers in 1908 is immutable.
Historically, courts in New Mexico have distinguished "community" land grants from "private" land grants when deciding rightful ownership in some quiet title suits. The essential difference between the two grant types is what the intended purpose was for the land.
In cases where the land was originally granted to several people for the purpose of establishing a settlement, small plots of land were allotted to individual families. The remainder of the grant was left as "communal," meaning residents could use the area to graze livestock or collect materials to build homes.
The Arroyo Hondo grant was widely considered a community grant at the time of its creation. However, some historians and land grant heirs contend that common lands were fleeced from the grants by charlatans and land speculators.
In the last decade, land grant proponents have mounted a movement to seek compensation from the U.S. government for past wrongs it may have committed.
At Saturday's meeting, Martínez said he was not satisfied with negotiations for monetary compensation that have been discussed between land grant organizations and the government. Instead, Martínez has said that he is seeking the return of granted lands to heirs in order to restore "dignity" to the descendants of the original Hispanic settlers.
"I'm looking for the day that my people will truly be free and won't be subject to anyone or anything, and that includes alcoholism and drug addiction." Martínez said in a phone interview. "It's not the land, bro. It's helping my people."
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