Oneida leader: Albany key to land claim
Dec. 2 1999

By MEG SCHNEIDER
Observer-Dispatch

SHERRILL — Oneida Indian Nation representative Ray Halbritter says the state can stop legal action against some 20,000 private landowners by agreeing to take negotiations in its massive land claim seriously.

In a wide-ranging interview this week — his first published in-depth interview since the Oneidas filed court papers Dec. 8 seeking to add private landowners as defendants in the land claim — Halbritter said he sympathizes with those landowners’ fears, but “it ultimately is the state’s issue.”

Since 1970, the Oneidas have fought for their claim that they are entitled to some 250,000 acres in Central New York. Their recent court action brought home to western Oneida County and UCE Homepage residents how serious the newly powerful nation is in pursuing that goal.

“For people out there ... one of the biggest assets they have is their home, and it appears to be in jeopardy. Until this is resolved, they’re going to be concerned, and I agree with them on that,” Halbritter said.

“But there is another way. The state can stop this any time they want, whenever they want to sit down and get serious with negotiations,” he said.
“As much as everyone around us would like to see something happen, it’s their responsibility.”

A few years ago, the Oneidas proposed opening another casino on non-Indian land near Monticello in the Catskills as part of a settlement to the land claim, he said.

“The state came back and said, ‘We’re going to keep 90 percent of the revenue, you get 10 percent.’ We rejected that,” Halbritter said. “Are they serious? That, to me, was just ridiculous. To me, that doesn’t indicate any seriousness in trying to address the problem.”

Halbritter said the Oneidas still are interested in a casino in the Catskills. He also detailed what he called other “creative solutions” the Oneidas would consider in settling the land claim:

• Alcohol and slot machines. Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona has neither, and without those attractions, Halbritter said, it’s difficult for the casino to compete with places like Casino Niagara and Atlantic City.
  “We don’t have all the things yet that a casino typically would have to make it really compete,’’ Halbritter said. “Talk about a level playing field — we can’t compete. We don’t have alcohol, we don’t have slots, we don’t have sports book, we don’t have poker.”
  
• A “super-empowerment zone” to attract businesses to Oneida-held land, especially manufacturers. Such a zone would not only allow the Oneidas to further diversify their business holdings, but could provide an economic boost to the region that isn’t dependent on tourism or casino-related business, he said.
  
• Lower utility rates. Niagara Mohawk is one of the proposed defendants the Oneidas seek to add to the lawsuit, but Halbritter said the land-claim settlement could include lower rates not just for the Oneida people, but for everyone in the claim area.
  

Landowners see threat
In response to Halbritter’s statements, Jan Farr, the state’s chief negotiator in the Oneida land claim, declined to talk about specific proposals. But he said all sides should be able to sit down and negotiate “without this threat against the landowners.”

Virtually everyone involved in the litigation, from the Oneidas to elected officials to landowners, has said the idea of forcibly evicting anyone from the claim area is not acceptable. But that hasn’t stopped the legal action.
“If everybody agrees with that, I wish we could get down and negotiate without — I don’t know if I should say pressure, but without this threat against the landowners,” Farr said.

Leon Koziol, a Utica attorney who represents the landowner group Upstate Citizens for Equality, said despite assurances from all parties that no one wants to seize land, private property owners can’t rest easy.
“The fact is, the threat is still there,” Koziol said. “And as long as it’s there in court, it’s real.”

Christine and Ralph Strebel, who moved to Canastota about 18 months ago, said they feel betrayed by the federal government, the state and the Oneidas.
“They’re all so irresponsible,” Christine Strebel said. “I’m not angry at Ray Halbritter at all — if it weren’t him, it would be somebody else within the Oneidas doing this. But the state has let everybody down, and the federal government has betrayed us by suing on behalf of the Oneidas.

“I don’t take any solace at all” from any of the assurances Halbritter or state and local officials have made,” she said. “What he calls ‘serious’ many people call an outrage.”

Longstanding claim
The Oneidas claim a large swath of Madison and Oneida counties is rightfully theirs because several land transactions in the late 1700s and early 1800s never were approved by the federal government. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1985 that all three bands of Oneidas — those in New York, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada — have a legal claim to the land and ordered a lower court to determine damages.

In the past six years, the Oneidas have used their new casino wealth to buy up some 7,000 acres in western Oneida and northeastern Madison counties.
Since the Supreme Court ruling, there have been sporadic negotiations with the state, often complicated by feuding among the three separate bands of Oneidas.
Farr said that’s at least part of the reason negotiations haven’t worked.

“For the past 14 years, the three entities on the other side can’t agree, and that’s been happening off and on,” Farr said. “There has been a history of negotiations, but all that is privileged information. Is everything out there still on the table? I suppose so. But there are some basic things we want to do, and there are some things he doesn’t want to do.”

‘You can find a way’
Oneida County Executive Ralph J. Eannace Jr. said he thinks the brightest hope for a reasonable settlement to the land claim is the “settlement-master” proposal.

Last week, lawyers for the counties and the Oneidas agreed on proposed powers and duties for a settlement master, who would be able to force the parties to negotiate but wouldn’t be able to direct the trend of those negotiations. Now, the parties are winnowing a list of potential candidates for the settlement master position.

“The settlement master proposal has moved forward rapidly, and that’s solely for negotiations. I think that’s the most promising development so far in all this,” Eannace said.

Halbritter said the move to add individual landowners to the lawsuit was necessary to protect the Oneidas’ rights in the land claim.

“There are ways to remove the threat of eviction,” Halbritter said. “But, see, that’s a necessary legal requirement for this type of case. All the lawyers know this. All the leadership knows this. The question is, what do you do about it? If people are willing to take the time to talk reasonably, you can find a way to resolve this.”