Land-claim talks might resume soon

Mar. 14, 2000

By R. PATRICK CORBETT
Observer-Dispatch

The Oneida Indian Nation land claim appears to be headed back to the negotiating table, Settlement Master Ronald Riccio said Monday.

His rosy prediction came just three days after a federal judge declared an impasse in the year-long land-claim talks and told lawyers to get ready to fight it out in court.

U.S. District Court Judge Neal P. McCurn ended the talks Friday after the state rejected McCurn’s offer to extend the negotiations through April 30.

Sticking point
The sticking point was a clause that would have made the state’s lawsuit against the Oneida Indian Nation of New York’s “Instant Multi-Gaming” machines a negotiable item.

Riccio said he discussed the state’s stance Monday with Gov. George Pataki lawyer John O’Mara, and concluded “there was confusion on the part of the state. They thought the intention of the stipulation was (that the state) dismiss the suit with prejudice.”

Riccio said he and O’Mara came up with a plan to revive the negotiations, and O’Mara will circulate a revised proposal among the parties to keep the lawsuit as part of the overall settlement talks.

No timetable was given to agree to the plan. Assuming the new plan is signed, Riccio said, negotiating sessions would take place March 22, 28 and 29. More would be scheduled, he added.

Parties need to sign
Riccio said McCurn would let the negotiations continue, “providing that the stipulation gets signed by everybody, which I don’t know why it would not.”

The other six parties to the land claim signed McCurn’s stipulation Friday. They are the three Oneida Indian tribes, the two counties and the U.S. Justice Department.

Riccio said Monday if everyone signs the new plan, which he said essentially is the same as McCurn’s Friday proposal, “We are back on track, with the process pared down to eliminate the extraneous issues that were blocking the settlement.”

Madison and Oneida county leaders said Monday they are prepared to sign. Oneida Indian Nation spokesman Mark Emery said, “The Oneidas have said they are still willing to work with the parties to settle.”

Madison County Board of Supervisors Chairman Rocco DiVeronica said Monday, “I feel a lot better than I did Friday night (when he was told the negotiations were over).”

Oneida County Executive Ralph J. Eannace Jr. added, “We should all be very grateful. It became obvious over the past 48 hours that the state wants very hard to be part of a solution.”

Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford, was happy with the state’s change of heart.

“I had to believe there would be a change in attitude by the state,” he said.

Scott Peterman, president of Upstate Citizens for Equality — the group that represents landowners in the settlement area — was not pleased with the abrupt about-face.

“There’s no good news here for the landowners,” he said. “I think they should go to court because I think the counties have a real good chance of winning. The only way to settle this is for the Indians to back off on their demands.

The Oneida tribes of New York and Wisconsin and the Thames Band Oneidas of Canada sued the counties in federal court for compensation for some 250,000 acres that were taken from the Oneidas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

State and federal negotiators had offered the three Oneida tribes $500 million, and the county offered various land concessions to get a settlement.

Arlinda Locklear, the lawyer for the Oneida Indians of Wisconsin, told McCurn Friday she had identified 31 “extraneous items” in the negotiations that were holding up a final deal.

McCurn told the negotiators to get down to the three basic issues and come to an agreement.

Lawyers told the judge Friday the key points in the land claim are money, land and issues involving the sovereignty of the Oneidas, and that the sides are 90 percent agreed on the items.

“Probably 95 percent,” DiVeronica said Monday.

Now it looks like they will have time to wrap up the other 5 percent, Riccio said.

McCurn has asked for a status report from the negotiators by April 10.