Oneida land trust application moves ahead with BIA

[blackcrowheart]

Oneida land trust application moves ahead with BIA hearings
Posted: January 16, 2006
by: Gina Mushynsky / Indian Country Today

Gina Mushynsky Indian Country -- (Top photo) Frank Riolo, Chuck Fougnier, Ray Halbritter and Charles Patterson were among the Oneida Indian Nation of New York's representatives during the Jan. 10 BIA public scoping meeting for OIN's application to put more than 17,000 acres of land into trust. (Bottom photo) Brenda Bush, Oneida Indian Nation elder, was one of several hundred OIN members and employees who attended one of the two meetings.
VERONA, N.Y. - The Oneida Indian Nation of New York's land-into-trust application process took another step forward with two public meetings that prompted sometimes impassioned commentary from capacity crowds.

BIA representatives heard hours of comments on the environmental - including social and economic - impact of placing the Oneida's 17,370 acres of land into trust.

Hundreds of nation supporters, including tribal members and employees of Turning Stone Resort and Casino and other nation enterprises, often drowned out the handful of speakers who spoke against the action. Opponents of the land-trust action feared that exempting the Oneidas from paying property taxes would create inequality between the nation and the surrounding communities.

Approximately 4,500 people are employed by OIN, most of them at the casino.

In its March 2005 City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York decision, the Supreme Court ruled that OIN could not unilaterally assert its sovereignty, and therefore was not immune from paying local property taxes on land repurchased within the boundaries of its historic reservation. The court noted that the nation could, however, have the land placed into trust as a way of continuing its tax-exempt status. The Oneidas submitted a land into trust application shortly thereafter, while local officials sent property tax bills amounting to more than $400 million.

If the acreage is taken into trust, OIN will be able to maintain its tax-exempt status - a major financial issue for local municipalities in an otherwise economically weak region. OIN is the region's largest employer.

If the BIA doesn't take the land, which includes Turning Stone's location, into trust, the land would be subject to New York state laws, which could include the termination of all Class III gaming activity.

Some speakers said the ''checkerboarding'' of jurisdictions might endanger the well-being of employees and visitors at nation-owned businesses, noting that there would be no guarantee of uniformity of codes and regulations between the state and the tribe. Others extended invitations to further negotiations.

One, Assemblyman David Townsend, suggested the state create a ''footprint'' reservation immediately surrounding the casino, citing precedence with the state's establishment of the Shinnecock Indian Nation's reservation in 1703.

The lands in question comprise less than 2 percent of the land area of either Oneida or Madison counties.

The bureau will examine the issues brought up at the meeting and determine which should be studied during the process of preparing the environmental impact statement. A record of decision is expected by October this year, with the final decision tentatively set for January 2007.

[Okwes]

Indian Affairs Committee seeks unity
By DEANNA HORNYAK, Dispatch Staff Writer01/26/2006

www.oneidadispatch.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16009898&BRD=1709&PAG=461&dept_id=68844&rfi=6

UTICA - With the deadline for both Madison and Oneida counties to submit written comments regarding the Oneida Indian Nation's land into trust application less than a week away, the Oneida County Indian Affairs Committee members met to discuss their opinions on the matter.


Chairman of the committee, David Wood, R-23, opened the meeting Wednesday afternoon by reminding everyone that the county's deadline for written comments on the land in Group 1 is next week. "Some of us want none of the land taken into trust, while others want some of the 17,000 plus acres taken into trust," he said. "What we need to do today is determine what the committee's position on the matter will be."

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Jack Gardner, R-4, said that there are many reasons why he does not want any of the Nation's land put into trust. "For one, it is unconstitutional," he said. Secondly, Gardner said that he doesn't want to establish a "footprint" for other Native American tribes to put land into trust.


"It is unfair, unjust and immoral," Gardner said. "No other citizen group can put land into trust."


Ken Brewer, R-12, who is serving his first term on the board of legislators, said that while Gardner brought up some valid points, he does not want to battle the Nation for the next decade. "We have been battling the Nation for the past 13 years and I have a feeling that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is not going to listen to us," he said.


"I don't want to fight this fight for another 13 years only to see it go no where," he said. "I think we need to do what financially is going to work for the county."


In addition, Brewer said that in his opinion, the Nation will just keep fighting, because they have nothing to lose by doing so. "I am afraid that the BIA and the federal government are not always looking out for us," he said.


Mike Hennessy, D-2, who is also serving his first term on the board, said he does not want any of the land put into trust. He said that if any of the land were to be put into trust, it would set a dangerous precedent and would lead to other Indian tribes in New York applying to put their land into trust.


George Joseph, R-10, and Edward Stephenson, D-3, both said that they were not in favor of yielding in any way. Majority Leader James D'Onofrio, R-15, agreed with both Joseph and Stephenson. "This is not simple and I appreciate everyone's opinions," he said. "My opinion is that we should fight this to the full extent of the law." In addition, D'Onofrio said that he is fed up trying to negotiate with either the BIA or the federal government.


Harry Hertline, D-22, minority leader, said the committee should have a unified response. "We need to have one message," he said. "And to get a unified response, we all need to bend from our current positions on the subject."


County Executive Joe Griffo agreed with Hertline. "We need to speak with one voice, regardless of our individual opinions," he said. "We are either for or against it and anything less is unreasonable."


Mike Hennessy supported Griffo's stance. "We have to come out with one voice," he said.


While many of the legislators supported the opinion that no land should be taken into trust, Wood said that he supports a limited amount of land taken into trust. "The BIA is predisposed to take a certain amount of land into trust," he said. "I think the BIA is looking for a reasonable compromise, and we have to go ahead and say here is what's reasonable."


Wood went on to say that anything else is unrealistic. "We need to work with the BIA to try and direct what land should be put into trust," he said.


During the last part of the meeting, before the committee voted to go to executive session so issues surround the land claim and tax assessment cases could be discussed, the public in attendance had the opportunity to address the committee members.


Judy Bachman said that in December she had the honor of going to Washington, D.C., with Hennessy to talk to BIA officials. "The BIA is part of the executive branch of the federal government with a trust responsibility to the Indian Tribes," she said.


Bachman said that the trust application has to be handled by an objective party. She said that if the BIA was truly an objective party, they would be breaching their trust with the Indian tribes.


Douglas Ready, of Verona, said this whole process of the trust application is about distrust. "The BIA public scoping meetings were a mob," he said. "They were designed to keep the landowners and taxpayers out."


Last to address the committee was Harry Burton of Verona. He said that he believes that all human beings are created equally. "We are all Americans," he said. "If you look up the word 'native' in the dictionary, it says 'one born in a specific place.' Anyone born in America is a native American in that case, and the members of the Indian tribes should all follow the rules and regulations of this country just like everyone else."


The deadline for both Madison and Oneida counties to submit written comments is January 30.

[Okwes]

A question of trust


Observer-Dispatch
Mar. 12, 2006
_Elizabeth Cooper_
_http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/NEWS/603120327/100
1_
(http://www.uticaod.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060312/NEWS/603120327/1001)


VERONA -- Few political issues have generated as much
fervor as the
Oneida
Indian Nation's land-into-trust application, and few
have been as
difficult to
understand.

The application builds on decades of disputes about
how best to
balance the
Nation's needs with that of longtime local residents
and town, county
and
state governments. It reflects the failure of
previous efforts at
resolution
ranging from year-long mediation sessions to two U.S.
Supreme Court
rulings.

And it has the potential to affect everything from how
much taxes
residents
will pay to how kitchens at Oneida Indian Nation
restaurants will be
inspected, from how successful Turning Stone Resort
and Casino will be
to which police
agencies will patrol roads in towns such as Verona.

The land-into-trust subject is controversial, yet
it's something
people need
to strive to understand, experts say.

"How do you provide justice to an Indian nation whose
land was taken
illegally?" said Christopher Vecsey, Colgate
University's director of
Native
American studies. "How do you provide justice to them
without
providing injustice
for other people?"

"It is a knotty problem, and it's for people of
goodwill to try and
figure
out how to solve it," he said.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, part of the U.S.
Department of the
Interior,
says it might decide the issue by year's end. If the
agency approves
the
Oneidas' plan, Nation land and any businesses on it
would be exempt
from property
taxes and local regulations. But just how that would
play out is in
dispute.

The issue has generated attention and emotion. The
past two months
have seen
crammed meeting halls, angry rhetoric and wildly
varying
interpretations of
what approval of the land-into-trust application
might mean.

The Nation gives one version of what might occur;
Oneida County and
New York
state give another. Residents are struggling to make
sense of what's
best
for the region.

"It's a very difficult situation," said Dale Aikens,
owner of The Pet
Factory in Vernon. "I have a very small part of Indian
blood in me,
and you can go
back in history and see what we have done to various
races and ethnic
groups.
Still, he added, that doesn't mean their property
should be tax
exempt.

"If we start making everyone tax free because of what
we've done in
the
past, nobody's going to be paying taxes," Aikens
said.

But Tom Rees, who was smoking a cigarette outside
Joel's Steak House
in
Verona, said maybe the Indians should get a break,
especially given
the jobs
they've created at the Turning Stone resort and
Casino.

"As much as I think it's unfair for small business
people that have to
make
a living and have to pay taxes, there's got to be an
arrangement
made," he
said. "They've got to get together and get an
agreement and that'll be
the end
of it."

The issue has become so divisive that some business
owners in western
Oneida
County say they don't want to talk about it publicly.


One barber shop owner said it's one of the subjects
he likes to keep
off-limits while people are getting their hair cut. He
just doesn't
want to get into
it, he said.

"I take a neutral stand because of the customers,"
dick Roberts,
proprietor
of dick's Barber Shop in Vernon said. "I don't allow
anyone to talk
anything
about politics or religion."

Both Oneida County Executive Joseph A. Griffo and
Oneida Nation
Representative Ray Halbritter profess to wanting an
agreement that
would allow the Nation
to live side by side with the rest of the community
without
controversy. But
any agreement ends there.

Coming just months after last year's U.S. Supreme
Court decision that
paved
the way for taxation and regulation of the Oneidas'
land and
enterprises, the
land-into-trust application has generated fierce
opposition from New
York
state and Oneida and Madison counties.

The Nation, however, describes a vision of a
self-sufficient Oneida
community living peacefully with its neighbors even as
it maintains
roads and polices
its own territory.

Griffo warns of an "angry scar" gouged in the county
if the
land-into-trust
application is approved. Halbritter complains the
counties and state
are
acting in bad faith and are continuing a 200-year-old
pattern of
mistreating the
Nation.

Griffo says he's beginning to doubt the effectiveness
of court
rulings.

"Here's the Supreme Court itself and it's being
challenged," he said.
"This
is the law of the land, yet it's being challenged and
interpreted."

Halbritter, meanwhile, says a settlement could be
reached "in half an
hour
on the back of an envelope," if all the parties were
committed.

_Elizabeth Cooper_ (mailto:[e-mail])