Serrano Mission Indians May Add Export Center to California Air Base Site
Story-Date: 07:15 p.m. PST Saturday , October 10, 1998

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Serrano Mission Indians May Add Export Center to California Air Base Site


By John H. Orr, The Business Press, Ontario, Calif.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Oct. 5--The San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians plans to establish a
federal export assistance center this month at the tribe's facility at the
former Norton Air Force Base.

"This is part of an overall diversification program we've been looking at
for quite a while," said Tribal Chairman Henry Duro.

The tribal council is reviewing a formal proposal to the Inland Empire
Export Assistance Center in Ontario, part of the International Trade
Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The proposal will be
ready soon, Duro said.

Discussions center on creating an export assistance center at facilities
the San Manuel tribe is establishing at the former air base. The band is
securing an office building and 95 acres in a designated free trade zone
with capabilities for warehousing and direct access to the flight line.

The Inland Empire Export Assistance Center is eager to create the
partnership, Director Fred Latuperissa said.

"Their success is our success," he said. "This is really an important
partnership with the San Manuel Band of Serrano Mission Indians, because
we're reaching out to rural America as well."

Already Latuperissa has been helpful in pairing the tribe with officials of
International Cable Investment Co., a Pasadena-based corporation interested
in building a cable car tram between the San Manuel casino and Big Bear
City.

"It would be a benefit to our tribe and to the community," Duro said,
noting that talks are continuing about a feasibility study for the tram
project.

ICI is operated by Roger Zhang, leader of the Wuhan Sante Cableways Group,
the largest company in mainland China devoted to designing, investing,
building and managing suspended cableways.

"I'm just happy when, through our network, something comes across that's
positive," Latuperissa said.

The tribe hopes to operate a water bottling plant, tapping into the
aquifers at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains in Highland and
exporting the product.

"We're in the process of looking at building a plant," Duro said. "We feel
this is something we could have up and running relatively quickly. We don't
want to lose time."

An export assistance center affiliated with the San Manuel Band could prove
helpful to tribes throughout the United States, Duro said. "This might be a
little more unique, a little more beneficial all across the country," he
said.

Foreign markets are hungry for Native American jewelry and other fine arts
and crafts, Duro noted. With a free trade zone and ready access to air
transportation, the San Manuel facility at Norton could become a hub for
the global export of Native American products from throughout the United
States, he said.

For its part, the Commerce Department will provide a computer linkup -- the
agency's domestic and international offices are linked through a
communications and information network -- and other equipment at the San
Manuel facility, and assistance from its five-person Ontario staff,
Latuperissa said. Federal staffers could schedule regular visits to the
satellite office for one-on-one counseling with entrepreneurs, he said.

The export assistance center guides small and medium-sized businesses
looking to break into international markets, Latuperissa said. With 154
offices in 80 countries, the Commerce Department can help entrepreneurs
find buyers overseas, navigate bureaucratic and legal obstacles, arrange s
hipment of goods and identify funding and investment sources, he said.

Through the partnership with the San Manuel tribe -- the first such
partnership with a tribal government -- the Commerce Department will
strengthen its ties with Native Americans and other minority businesses,
Latuperissa said.

"This sends a very strong message that we have the resources of the federal
government and we're here to help you," he said.

(c) 1998, The Business Press, Ontario, Calif. Distributed by Knight
Ridder/Tribune Business News.



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