Land claims divide Oneida neighbors

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Mar 26, 1999 by J, Patricia

The centuries-old dispute between Indians and landowners in Oneida and Madison counties is causing a major headache for many local business owners.

The Indians are laying claim to 250,000 acres of ancestral land in Central New York that was awarded to them in treaties signed by the state and the U.S. government, including one dating back to 1794. In addition, Oneida Indians in Wisconsin and Ontario have joined the Oneida Indian Nation of New York in suing 20,000 individual landowners in Central New York.

There is actual fear among some residents. "I'm afraid that everything I've worked for in the last 42 years will disappear," says Randy Watson, owner of Mason Jar restaurant on Route 5 in Vernon and two adjacent homes. His four acres are assessed collectively at $330,000. His biggest objection to the Indians is their failure to pay property taxes and to collect sales tax. "It's unfair that the state collects taxes from one business and not from another. We have to pay [a tax of] 48 cents a gallon for gas, and they don't pay any gas tax. Why are they in a lawsuit if they don't want my land? Otherwise, they would sue the state. I don't believe anything they say."

Watson is a member of the Upstate Citizens for Equality, Inc. (UCE), a group of residents and business owners who have banded together to voice their concerns to local government representatives. He also serves on the Vernon Village Board. "Vernon gets one percent of sales taxes back. If the Indians don't pay their share of gas and school taxes, we'll go out of business because of the tax load," Watson adds. "We've been reimbursed by Oneida County for the past three years. This year, we won't get reimbursed, so our taxes will have to go up."

Utica attorney Leon Koziol, who began representing UCE in December, says the group developed a five-point platform "to even the playing field between Indians and nonIndians."

The Indians have the federal government on their side. Last December, the U.S. Justice Department agreed to represent the Indians in a suit against individual landowners. The Justice Department filed court papers stating it intends to evict residents from their homes. UCE, however, has lined up support from Gov. George Pataki, state senators, the assemblymen, county representatives, and U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert.

"The federal government and the Indian Nations' decision to widen this lawsuit is wrong and without justification," Pataki said in a press release. "We will stand with the people of Madison and Oneida counties as we work to resolve this 20-year-old dispute."

At the governor's request, state insurance department officials arranged a meeting between county officials and representatives of Monroe Title Insurance and Chicago Title Insurance--the two major insurance underwriters in upstate New York. Neither of the title-insurance companies has changed its title-insurance coverage as a result of the land claims, Pataki says. Also, new-home purchasers in the affected area, and those who refinance their homes, will be able to obtain title insurance.

State Senators Nancy Larraine Hoffmann, R-Fabius, and Raymond Meier, R-Western, introduced a bill in the Senate in January to protect local property owners living in the land-claim area, even though those boundaries have not yet been determined. Under this proposal, only state-owned land in Oneida and Madison counties will be taken in the settlement. Also, the state will be required to pay property taxes on any land the Oneidas acquire in the two counties.

"No one will lose a home, no one will lose property, and no one will be forced to pay rent to keep what is legally theirs so long as I am governor," Pataki says.

The Oneidas first filed suit against New York State in 1970 to gain control of its ancestral lands. It wasn't until 1985 that the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the Oneida's land claim and ordered the state and the Oneidas to negotiate a settlement. The Indians believe New York State is dragging its feet on a settlement.

Meanwhile, Pataki claims that the state offered a settlement in July 1997, which the federal government and the Indians refuse to accept. Some reports say the state's settlement included a proposal to let the Indians build a casino in the Catskills, but the profits would go to the state.

Boehlert, R-New Hartford, asked the U.S. District Court to appoint a mediator. Judge Neal McCum appointed Ronald J. Riccio, dean of Seton Hall University Law School, as settlement master. Riccio has asked for written statements from all of the parties in the dispute and plans to begin face-to-face meetings in New York City soon.

"It's understandable that people are frustrated. We don't want to take people's land," says Oneida Indian Nation spokesman Mark Emery. "We want a settlement. In the last six or seven years, we've been buying land-7,500 acres from willing sellers and paying them according to market values. Why, then, would we evict them? Everyone wants to point the finger of blame at the Indians, but it should be pointed at New York State for, first, its illegal actions [in not honoring the original treaties] and, second, for not doing anything about it for the last 20 years."