Judge adds Brothertown Indians to Oneidas' suit
May 24, 2001

By R. PATRICK CORBETT
Observer-Dispatch

ALBANY — U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn has added another player, at least temporarily, to the Oneida land-claim drama that has stirred emotions in Oneida and Madison counties for almost three decades.

Kahn said Monday that he would give the New York Brothertown Indian Nation a chance to show him why they should share in any settlement of the Oneida Indians’ claim to some 250,000 acres in the two counties.

The Oneidas of New York, Wisconsin and the Thames Band of Canada are suing the state and the two counties for damages for land that the Indians claim was illegally taken from them in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The Brothertown Indians say that their ancestors once owned part of the land in the claim area and asked Kahn to add them to the case.

Kahn said Monday he would include the Brothertown Nation, but that the merits of their allegations would be determined during the course of the land-claim proceedings.

Arlinda Locklear, lawyer for the Wisconsin Oneidas, said Wednesday that the Brothertowns have not proved their case.

“I don’t think they will be in the claim long,” Locklear said.

Oneida County Executive Ralph J. Eannace Jr. said he welcomes the Brothertowns to the fray.

“The counties’ position has always been that we want any Native American group that might have an interest (included in the case) so that the claim can be determined finally and fairly,” he said.

He also emphasized that adding the Brothertowns to the case “doesn’t mean they have a legitimate claim” to any local land.

The Brothertowns say their tribe once owned land in the Oneida claim area as well as land around the village of Clinton.

Locklear said if the Brothertown group believes it has a legitimate claim to ancestral land outside the Oneida claim area, “I would encourage them to pursue it,” but she said they should not interfere in the Oneidas’ case.

The Brothertowns’ lawyer, Marilyn Ford, would not say in March if the tribe would make a claim on the land around Clinton.

That land is not part of the Oneida land claim.

Kahn has ordered the parties in the Oneida land claim to wrap up their motions and other preliminary work by the end of the year, presumably to clear the way for court proceedings to begin next year.

Locklear said land-claim lawyers filed motions Friday on issues other than the Brothertown involvement “and we will be filing responses to each other next. It’s all behind-the-scenes stuff.”