Oneida Daily Dispatch Updates

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UCE:Suit did its job
By DEANNA HORNYAK, Dispatch Staff Writer
12/19/2005

The president of Upstate Citizens for Equality is not unhappy his group's legal action demanding Oneida County enforce the no-smoking law at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino was dismissed on Thursday.


In fact, David Vickers, who is also the group's attorney, sees it as a victory.

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"The county previously wasn't enforcing the no-smoking law at the Turning Stone and now they are," he said. "It is a significant move in the right direction."


Vickers believes that if the state is going to impose a smoking ban, then it should be enforced equally. "They need to treat the Oneida Indian Nation that same way they treat everyone else," he said.


Vickers said that what the UCE was trying to do all along was get county officials to act and that the lawsuit may have pressured them into doing so.


A hearing for Turning Stone's violation is scheduled for Thursday.


"I am worried about what the county will do if the Nation does not show up to the hearing and refuses to pay the fines," he said.


The Nation faces a $50 fine for the first offense, said Raymond Bara, a lawyer for the Oneida County Health Department. Bara said that each successive violation will slowly build up to $1,000 maximum.


Last month the county issued a violation against the Oneida Indian Nation for allow smoking at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino. This was the first time since smoking was banned from New York's workplaces in 2003, that the county found a smoking violation at the casino.




©The Oneida Daily Dispatch 2005

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Hennessy goes to Washington
By DEANNA HORNYAK, Dispatch Staff Writer12/17/2005

ONEIDA - Madison and Oneida counties could be getting extra time to comment on the Oneida Indian Nation's land-in-trust application.


Mike Hennessy, who beat William Croll for the second district legislator seat in Oneida County, on Thursday went to Washington, D.C. to meet with the Department of Interior and Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) to talk about issues surrounding the Nation's land-in-trust application and press for an extension to the comment period.

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"It hasn't been quite agreed upon yet, but it looks favorable that the Department of the Interior will grant another extension," Hennessy said.


The deadline for Madison and Oneida counties to respond to the Nation's land-in-trust application is Dec. 27.


An extension was not the only matter he raised.


"The meeting with the Department of the Interior went very well," he said. "Some questions from local concerned citizens were raised and somewhat answered. Other questions will need to be answered through further correspondence."


Hennessy said that another intention of traveling to Washington was to ask for a public hearing on the trust application.


"I have been working on this for a while," he said. "The department is going to have hearings on the potential environmental impacts and also agreed to come up to the area to answer all types of questions from the public about the trust process and impacts."


According to Hennessy, the Department of the Interior has assured them that the hearing will take place in the early part of next year.


Hennessy said he was asked by Randy Caldwell, Oneida County attorney, and Joe Griffo, Oneida County executive, to ask for additional time to comment on the Nation's trust application.


"When we did that, we found out that it had already been asked by the state and other officials," he said.


The other officials who asked for additional extension time for the comment period were U.S. Representatives Sherwood Boehlert (R) and John McHugh (R). On Friday, the two congressmen sent a letter to the Department of the Interior citing that the state and counties have been working very hard to provide the specific information requested and meaningful comments.


The letter states that in order to assist with the process, the counties have retained the non-partisan Center for Governmental Research, but due to the hundreds of parcels that are the subject of the Nation's application, more time is needed.


"This is not a 'routine land in-trust-application,'" Boehlert said in a statement released Friday. "Officials from the state and counties have been working around the clock, but due to the complexity of the application they need additional time to comment."


"The state and counties have been working diligently to provide meaningful comments," McHugh said in a statement issued Friday. He also said that additional response time is needed because of "the sheer magnitude and unprecedented size of the land-in-trust application."


Earlier this year the Nation applied to have 17,000 acres of its land accepted into trust, which would make it exempt from local taxation and regulation. On Oct. 25, McHugh and Boehlert met with high-level Department of the Interior officials and were able to secure a 60-day extension for comments on Group 1, which includes the Turning-Stone Casino and Resort area.


After meeting with the Department of the Interior, Hennessy said they met with Schumer to discuss the land-in-trust application. "We look forward to continuing a dialogue on the issue with the Senator and his staff," Hennessy said.


In a press release issued Friday, Schumer said the Bureau of Indian Affairs has not been responsive enough to the people of Oneida and Madison counties. "This is not some parcel of land in a sparsely populate area in the West," he said.


"The whole idea of putting a land into trust was not designed for highly developed areas like Upstate New York," Schumer said. In addition, Schumer said that local officials have expressed frustration over not getting the information they need from the BIA about this process, and he is continuing to urge the BIA to extend the comment period to allow county leaders more time to analyze the trust application.




©The Oneida Daily Dispatch 2005

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City, Nation close to tax deal
By Kurt Wanfried, Managing Editor12/19/2005

ONEIDA - Oneida Mayor Leo Matzke is hopeful an agreement will be reached soon under which the Oneida Indian Nation will pay $ 4.2 million to the city, the Oneida Public Library and three school districts.


The Nation owes about $1.2 million to the city and about $3 million to the library and the school districts. He said the largest debt, by far, is to the Oneida City schools. The city also collects taxes for parts of Stockbridge Valley and Vernon-Verona-Sherrill. The amounts include the principal, but no interest or penalties.

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Matzke says his office has been working with Nation officials to resolve issues and pave the way for an agreement.


He stresses the agreement would only cover property taxes. Unlike the compact reached between the Nation and the City of Sherrill, it would not address issues such as city codes.


Matzke says he discussed his initiative with county officials, who suggested he wait for the outcome of the appeal of federal District Court Judge David Hurd's Oct. 27 ruling that Madison County could not use foreclosure to collect property taxes on the Oneidas' non-reservation holdings.


But Matzke says he's not eager to spend city money on legal fees, since any deed-taking by the city would be at least a year away.


"Let's wait a minute and see what happens," Matzke says. "If they pay their taxes, there's no need to worry about it."


Matzke say such spending would be "just wasted money."


"The important thing, I think, is to work together, not to fight each other," Matzke says. "It's not a chess game where 'you make this move, therefore I have to make that move.' "


"It's a question of how can we move together in a common direction," he says.


"Eight percent of our city works for the Nation. The whole issue, I think, for most Oneidans is have the Oneida Indians pay their taxes. If they pay them," Matzke says, the question of foreclosure "is moot."


He said shortly after the Nation reached its compact in October with Sherrill, the Nation sent letters to both Oneida and Madison counties saying the tribe is willing to pay property taxes to the counties, schools and municipalities.


Matzke says the city received a copy of the county letter, but he told Nation officials the city would need its own letter outlining the Nation's specific proposals in Oneida.


"The premonition is once we get our own document, we'll move ahead," Matzke says.


He says there are still unresolved issues, such as whether to count the schools' Silver Covenant Grants as paid taxes, and if so, whether to count the $5,000 scholarships awarded as part of the grants, but he's hopeful these questions can be worked out because the city and schools could use the money.


The move by the Nation comes in reaction to the March 29 U.S. Supreme Court decision that the Nation cannot claim automatic sovereignty over land it has reacquired and must pay property taxes on it.




©The Oneida Daily Dispatch 2005

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Koziol may run for Boehlert seat


Friday, Dec 16, 2005

Shawn Anderson
Observer-Dispatch

UTICA — A prominent Utica lawyer says he may challenge U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford, in the November 2006 elections.



Leon Koziol, who has been in the news for his lawsuits against the city of Utica and work in Indian land-claim cases, announced Thursday he has formed a committee to assess his options. Koziol, 47, said he's not satisfied with the pace of economic development in the 24th Congressional District.

"I'm considering running because we need a more aggressive approach to turning our region around," said Koziol, of New Hartford.

Koziol becomes at least the third Democrat to express interest in running. He joins Oneida County District Attorney Michael Arcuri and Jeff Miller, who challenged Boehlert in 2004. Republican Brad Jones of Seneca Falls already has announced his candidacy.

Oneida County Democratic Committee Chairman William Morris II said he viewed the potential Democratic challengers as a good sign. "I think it shows there's some perceived weakness on the Republican side," Morris said. "It's not often you get one or two people who are interested in running against a 22-year incumbent."

Boehlert has said he intends to seek a 13th term. Spokesman Sam Marchio said Thursday the congressman is focused on policy, not politics, at this time.

In a news release Thursday, Koziol described himself as an attorney who has "defied the odds" throughout his career. In one notable case, he represented former Utica Public Works Commissioner Stephen Patterson after he accused the city of civil-rights violations.

The city settled the case for $225,000 in August 2004. More recently Koziol won $100,000 for a Utica couple when a jury in October found the city violated their rights against illegal search and seizure.

Koziol, who served on the Utica Common Council in the 1990s, also has challenged Indian casinos in New York and represented landowners in suits against the Oneida Indian Nation. This year, he published "Paradise Under Siege," a novel set in Upstate New York.

Koziol said a citizens committee would gauge public support and then he'll make a decision.

www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051216/NEWS/512160322/1001

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Company Sues Oneidas
Dec 29, 2005

A Maryland kitchen supply company is suing the Oneida Indian Nation in state court, saying the company is owed more than $880,000 for work done on the Turning Stone Resort and Casino expansion. A hearing on the case was scheduled for Dec. 15 but has been postponed to Jan. 26.


U.S. Food Service filed the suit in September against the nation and nine contractors involved in the expansion that opened last year. U.S. Food Service says it has received about $3.5 million of the $4.4 million of work it did as a subcontractor on the casino, working for Hunt Construction Co. of Arizona.


The Oneida Nation responded in legal papers that it has sovereign immunity and cannot be sued. Nation lawyers also wrote that its contract with Hunt specifically allows the nation to claim sovereign immunity in suits filed by subcontractors.