Post by Okwes on May 22, 2008 12:06:23 GMT -5
Doing without tadodaho
Sunday, May 18, 2008By Mike McAndrew Staff writer
The most powerful Native American chief in New York has been known for centuries as Tadodaho, named after an ancient Onondaga who, according to legend, had an evil disposition and snakes writhing in his hair.
But missing in action for the past year has been Tadodaho Sid Hill, a quiet, thoughtful 57-year-old chief who leads the traditional government of the Haudenosaunee, representing the Onondaga Nation and five other Native American nations.
Hill moved off the Onondaga Nation territory in early 2007, leaving behind his wife and two children.
He quit showing up for meetings of the Grand Council, the traditional government representing Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Mohawk, Seneca, and Tuscarora people. He quit answering his cell phone.
Few Onondagas knew where he was.
It turns out that Hill has been living in Spring Hill, Fla., with his former secretary, Betty Lyons, 37.
His status as spiritual leader for life of the six Native American nations is unclear. Last week, Hill met with other chiefs at the Onondaga territory, but after a brief visit returned to Florida, according to a source at the Onondaga Nation.
Onondaga Nation chiefs have declined to talk to a reporter about Hill's absence.
"Sid Hill remains as the tadodaho now and will continue to be the tadodaho when he returns to the Nation," Onondaga Nation attorney Joseph Heath said Friday.
An ironworker, Hill took only short-term jobs for the past decade as he prepared for the Onondaga to file in 2005 a land rights suit against New York, Heath said.
Now, "Sid has more steady work that has taken him away from the Nation's home in Nedrow for more than a year," Heath said.
Several Native American sources said Hill and Lyons have been living together in Florida. Hill had a telephone number in his name at a residence on Beaumont Loop in Spring Hill, Fla. Lyons, who was Hill's secretary for several years after he became tadodaho in 2002, gave the same Spring Hill address when she got a speeding ticket Aug. 1, 2007, according to Florida records.
An attorney representing Lyons said she did not wish to be interviewed and Hill has not responded to a letter or phone messages left during the past four months.
As tadodaho, Hill is the spiritual leader of the Haudenosaunee. He runs the Grand Council, the traditional government representing the six nations.
The Grand Council has discussed Sid Hill's absence, said Darwin Hill, tribal clerk of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation near Niagara Falls.
"People went there (to Florida) and talked to him. The whole situation is evolving. Hopefully to a positive conclusion," Darwin Hill said.
Tuscarora Nation Chief Leo Henry, who sits on the Grand Council, said he has not talked to Sid Hill in more than a year.
"There are significant differences between the Onondaga Nation's government and America's government that may lead non-Onondagas to think the current absence of the tadodaho is more of a crisis than it actually is," said Heath, the Onondaga attorney.
He said the tadodaho is one of 14 unpaid Onondaga chiefs who share authority equally.
Hill's absence from the Onondaga territory comes at a critical time for the Onondaga and the other Haudenosaunee nations.
U.S. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions have put in jeopardy the Onondaga Nation's land claim suit against New York.
Hill was missing when dozens of Onondaga packed a federal courtroom in Albany in October for a hearing on the motion to dismiss their nation's suit.
The Onondaga asked the court to declare that New York violated federal and state laws a century ago when it acquired a 10- to 40-mile wide swath of land that stretches from Pennsylvania to Canada and includes the cities of Syracuse, Oswego, Fulton, Cortland, Binghamton and Watertown. The suit asks the court to declare that the Onondagas still hold title to that land.
The Onondaga have also had to cope with the trial of a teacher charged with sexually abusing 13 Onondaga Nation School pupils.
And, Onondaga leaders are trying to decide what to do with a warehouse the nation built and intended to use for a cigarette manufacturing business. The warehouse, which has solar panels and other state-of-the-art equipment, has stood empty for more than a year.
Meanwhile, casino gambling continues to divide the Haudenosaunee nations.
For years, the federally recognized leaders of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York have not participated in the Grand Council government because they favor casino gambling.
As tadodaho, Hill gave the welcoming address in the Onondaga language each year to open the annual session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
On April 21, and in May 2007, that task fell to Hill's cousin, Onondaga Nation Chief Tracy Shenandoah.
"There's enormous respect among the Haudenosaunee for Sid Hill. He's a man with extensive family connections at Onondaga. He's a very nice guy," said Doug George, a Mohawk author who has attended Grand Council meetings.
"Sid's absence demonstrates the respect that the confederacy leaders have toward him as a person. They've acknowledged he needed time and have given him that time. But in the end, the people's business has to move forward," George said.
In the past 100 years, Hill is the sixth Onondaga to serve as tadodaho.
Hill became the interim tadodaho or was "warming the seat" as the Onondaga say following the 1996 death of his uncle, Tadodaho Leon Shenandoah.
Sunday, May 18, 2008By Mike McAndrew Staff writer
The most powerful Native American chief in New York has been known for centuries as Tadodaho, named after an ancient Onondaga who, according to legend, had an evil disposition and snakes writhing in his hair.
But missing in action for the past year has been Tadodaho Sid Hill, a quiet, thoughtful 57-year-old chief who leads the traditional government of the Haudenosaunee, representing the Onondaga Nation and five other Native American nations.
Hill moved off the Onondaga Nation territory in early 2007, leaving behind his wife and two children.
He quit showing up for meetings of the Grand Council, the traditional government representing Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Mohawk, Seneca, and Tuscarora people. He quit answering his cell phone.
Few Onondagas knew where he was.
It turns out that Hill has been living in Spring Hill, Fla., with his former secretary, Betty Lyons, 37.
His status as spiritual leader for life of the six Native American nations is unclear. Last week, Hill met with other chiefs at the Onondaga territory, but after a brief visit returned to Florida, according to a source at the Onondaga Nation.
Onondaga Nation chiefs have declined to talk to a reporter about Hill's absence.
"Sid Hill remains as the tadodaho now and will continue to be the tadodaho when he returns to the Nation," Onondaga Nation attorney Joseph Heath said Friday.
An ironworker, Hill took only short-term jobs for the past decade as he prepared for the Onondaga to file in 2005 a land rights suit against New York, Heath said.
Now, "Sid has more steady work that has taken him away from the Nation's home in Nedrow for more than a year," Heath said.
Several Native American sources said Hill and Lyons have been living together in Florida. Hill had a telephone number in his name at a residence on Beaumont Loop in Spring Hill, Fla. Lyons, who was Hill's secretary for several years after he became tadodaho in 2002, gave the same Spring Hill address when she got a speeding ticket Aug. 1, 2007, according to Florida records.
An attorney representing Lyons said she did not wish to be interviewed and Hill has not responded to a letter or phone messages left during the past four months.
As tadodaho, Hill is the spiritual leader of the Haudenosaunee. He runs the Grand Council, the traditional government representing the six nations.
The Grand Council has discussed Sid Hill's absence, said Darwin Hill, tribal clerk of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation near Niagara Falls.
"People went there (to Florida) and talked to him. The whole situation is evolving. Hopefully to a positive conclusion," Darwin Hill said.
Tuscarora Nation Chief Leo Henry, who sits on the Grand Council, said he has not talked to Sid Hill in more than a year.
"There are significant differences between the Onondaga Nation's government and America's government that may lead non-Onondagas to think the current absence of the tadodaho is more of a crisis than it actually is," said Heath, the Onondaga attorney.
He said the tadodaho is one of 14 unpaid Onondaga chiefs who share authority equally.
Hill's absence from the Onondaga territory comes at a critical time for the Onondaga and the other Haudenosaunee nations.
U.S. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions have put in jeopardy the Onondaga Nation's land claim suit against New York.
Hill was missing when dozens of Onondaga packed a federal courtroom in Albany in October for a hearing on the motion to dismiss their nation's suit.
The Onondaga asked the court to declare that New York violated federal and state laws a century ago when it acquired a 10- to 40-mile wide swath of land that stretches from Pennsylvania to Canada and includes the cities of Syracuse, Oswego, Fulton, Cortland, Binghamton and Watertown. The suit asks the court to declare that the Onondagas still hold title to that land.
The Onondaga have also had to cope with the trial of a teacher charged with sexually abusing 13 Onondaga Nation School pupils.
And, Onondaga leaders are trying to decide what to do with a warehouse the nation built and intended to use for a cigarette manufacturing business. The warehouse, which has solar panels and other state-of-the-art equipment, has stood empty for more than a year.
Meanwhile, casino gambling continues to divide the Haudenosaunee nations.
For years, the federally recognized leaders of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York and the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York have not participated in the Grand Council government because they favor casino gambling.
As tadodaho, Hill gave the welcoming address in the Onondaga language each year to open the annual session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
On April 21, and in May 2007, that task fell to Hill's cousin, Onondaga Nation Chief Tracy Shenandoah.
"There's enormous respect among the Haudenosaunee for Sid Hill. He's a man with extensive family connections at Onondaga. He's a very nice guy," said Doug George, a Mohawk author who has attended Grand Council meetings.
"Sid's absence demonstrates the respect that the confederacy leaders have toward him as a person. They've acknowledged he needed time and have given him that time. But in the end, the people's business has to move forward," George said.
In the past 100 years, Hill is the sixth Onondaga to serve as tadodaho.
Hill became the interim tadodaho or was "warming the seat" as the Onondaga say following the 1996 death of his uncle, Tadodaho Leon Shenandoah.