NORTH FORK – First, we would like to say that this is not a totem pole. However, since the locals refer to it as such, we want everyone to know what we’re talking about.
Questions began pouring in immediately after residents discovered that this cultural monument at the intersection of Road 274 and 225 had disappeared yesterday.
Good news – it has not been stolen. The monument, we are told, is undergoing some much needed repairs.
Steve Hall, HR & Office Manager for the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians, tells us that the base of the wooden monument has suffered some significant rotting, and it has been delivered to the Rancheria’s Transportation Building at the Old Mill Site for evaluation and repair.
It was loaded up and taken away yesterday, which is what prompted all the concern.
James “Brother” Bethel is coordinating the efforts to restore the monument, and it will then be placed on a concrete slab, back in it’s old location says Steve.
No estimated date has yet been given for its return.
