Fear, frustration greet stalemate
Mar. 12, 2000

VERONA — Like many people in Western Oneida County, Jack Morgan was hoping mediation would bring an end to the uncertainty some 20,000 landowners have felt since the Oneida Indian Nation attempted to name them as defendants in their land claim more than a year ago.

No such luck.

The death of the mediation effort Friday in a Florida courtroom prompted discussion Saturday across the land-claim area. The negotiations had been focused on eliminating the need for litigation and keeping landowners out of court.

Now, with the case seemingly headed back to trial, landowners in Madison and western Oneida counties are again on the hot seat as they wait to find out if they’ll become defendants.

“We’re all just waiting for it to be over,” Morgan said while sipping a cup of coffee Saturday with friends at the Mini Mason Jar.

Similarly, Grace Bombardo, hard at work at the Bagel Station in Sherrill, said she was disappointed to see an end is not in sight.

“It’s getting sickening,” she said. “I just hope they settle it one way or another. I don’t even like to read the paper anymore.”

The sticking point Friday in U.S. District Court Judge Neal P. McCurn’s temporary courtroom in Fort Myers, Fla., was not a land issue but a casino gambling issue.

New York state refused to drop its lawsuit against the Oneidas over “Instant Multi-Game” video gambling machines that have similarities to outlawed slot machines.

“I think it’s sad,” the Rev. William Cruikshank said in a telephone interview Saturday. “I don’t think Albany sees what’s really important. The only thing that’s going to happen now is that everyone is going to spend a lot of money in legal fees.”

Much like Cruikshank, patrons at the Mini Mason Jar said they wished the state would have compromised.

“I think they should have said it could be settled later,” Bob Deep said.

Despite the expected return of litigation, the restaurant’s patrons, who live in the land-claim area, said they are not fearful of being dragged into court.

“I don’t see how they can bring 20,000 landowners to court,” Deep said.

“No, it won’t happen,” Mark Urtz said. “At least, not in our lifetime anyway.”

Although Urtz, Deep and Morgan all agreed they probably wouldn’t be affected by the impasse immediately, they agreed everyone eventually would share the consequences.

“In the end, it’s going to affect everyone in New York state,” Deep said, “because we’re all going to pay for it.”

The residents’ harsh words, however, were not reserved simply for the state.
“They just want to make more and more money,” Urtz said of the Oneidas, who have opened local businesses in addition to the casino, including convenience stores and gasoline stations. “Every time the state raises taxes on cigarettes or gas, the Indians raise their prices. They keep their prices just 5 cents below the little storeowners, and who’s getting hurt. They’re putting the little guys out of business.”

It was a couple having lunch at the counter of the Mason Jar in Vernon — although not residents of the land-claim area — who had the most heated discussion on the land-claim dispute.

“I don’t think they have the right to take over anything,” Ryan DiFondi of Whitesboro said. “I think the people should fight and they should keep their houses.”

His girlfriend disagreed.

“I kind of agree with the Indians because it was their land,” Michele Kernan of Oriskany said. “I think we should apologize and give them their land back.”
“They should just keep what they have,” DiFondi countered. “Don’t they have enough land?”

“How would you feel if you were pushed off your land?” Kernan shot back. “You would do the same amount of fighting and you know it.”