Wisconsins file more suits
March 23, 2002

By R. PATRICK CORBETT
Observer-Dispatch

ROME - The latest round of lawsuits by the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin targets a principal player in the underlying Oneida land claim in what may be the tribe’s last legal action against private landowners.

Madison County Board of Supervisors Chairman Rocco DiVeronica is one of the 20 property owners named by the Wisconsin Oneida in claims filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Syracuse.

“They called me Wednesday from Wisconsin to tell me I was going to be on (the list of claims),” DiVeronica said. “I’m just one of the guys now.”

He said he did not know which of several properties he owns is named in the lawsuit. This week’s filings bring to 60 the number of suits by the Wisconsin tribe asking the court to give them possession of the land.

The Wisconsin tribe’s lawyer, Arlinda Locklear, said Friday, “I can’t say we’d file another 20 (claims).” She said that she would meet with her client the first week in April to discuss their next move.

Oneidas in Wisconsin, New York and Canada are suing the state for 250,000 acres in Oneida and Madison counties the Indians claim were illegally taken from the original tribe in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The Wisconsin tribe said that it sued because it was not offered land as part of a settlement proposal worked out by negotiators for New York State and the Oneida Indian Nation of New York.

The New York Oneidas oppose the Wisconsin Oneida suits and have promised to stand behind the local landowners.

Meanwhile, DiVeronica said that little has been done in recent weeks to flesh out the land-claim proposal that was announced with great fanfare more than a month ago.

“We haven’t really had a lot of discussions on it and I was upset with that,” he said. “We’ve got to get going with more meetings.”

He said that Madison and Oneida county officials were scheduled to meet representatives of the New York Oneidas Friday afternoon on some zoning and planning jurisdiction issues. DiVeronica also said that he chastised Wisconsin Oneida officials for their legal tactics Wednesday.

“I told them, ‘You used to have a good reputation in Central New York You’ve ruined your standing.’”

The state has hired the New York City law firm of White & Case to defend those sued. Some of them have opted to hire their own lawyers.

DiVeronica said Friday, “I’ll go with White & Case, definitely.”

The firm has said it would file a motion to dismiss the claims against individual owners.