Oneida Nation/ County agreement agreed

[concerned]

If anyone watched WKTV tonight there is an agreement between the Indian Nation and Oneida County. Major talk tomorrow around 2 or 3 PM at the Nation. This I hope will prove helpful. I knew our County Exec could do it, at least I hope.

[Swimmy]

I predict that Picente will announce the pact this afternoon and uce will file 30 new lawsuits against the county, with vickers making some stupid remark about not being able to shoot the Oneidas. Every legislator will be against the pact for stupid reasons and refuse to approve the pact. And Picente can say that he tried, look good for the Oneidas and the 5000 constituents and their families.

And in the end, rather than an agreement, we have no new agreement, more division, and more lawsuits... Go ahead, try to prove me wrong.

[frankcor]

Spot on, swimmy! You read it hear first, folks.

[rodwilson]

If the Oneidas are sovereign, do they vote in OC elections?

[bobbbiez]

As I stated earlier in another topic, Picente doesn't have the power to do sh*t with this. Just another attempt to give himself pats on his own back in the eyes of the OIN.

[Swimmy]

www.uticaod.com/breaking/x362988974/County-and-Oneida-Indian-reach-55-million-agreement

And now the legislature will sit on it for 61 days and say they forgot, bring a bunch more law suits and Picente gets to say, "I tried. Vote for me."

[bobbbiez]

That's the name of the game for most politicians.
"See, I tried but........ "

[dgriffin]

I haven't been following this very closely, living almost 100 miles away. Today's Channel 2 article says, "In turn for the payment, Oneida County will remove the legal challenge on the 8,800 acres of Nation land that was put into trust by the Federal Government. The county will also not challenge the request to put more land into trust."

Disregarding Channel 2's usual grammatical mistakes, where did the 8800 acres come from? Was it previously non-Indian land? Or was it Indian reservation land?

[Swimmy]

The 8,800 acres is the trust land that is situated in Oneida County (less than 5% (if I remember correctly) of all taxable property in Oneida County). In order for the land to go into trust, they had to establish that it was part of ancient tribal lands and the putting it into trust was necessary for self-preservation and for self-government.

[Swimmy]

itstime2009.net
www.co.oneida.ny.us/oneida/node/435

For those who wish not to deal with vicker's bullshit and see the real facts!

[dgriffin]

Thanks, Swimmy, but where did the land come from? Has it always been owned by the Oneidas?

And by the way, OC should immediately take the up-front $30 million off next year's tax bill, to keep it from its probable destination, more crappy programs (meaning more salaries for relatives.)

[concerned]

This agreement really is a fantastic jump into the future in term of entertainment development for the majority of Oneida County. I was taken back to hear how fast Larry Tannoury and Hennesey were to condemn this forward movement. We have to move on . Why keep this area in drawn out lawsuits that will never be resolved but will cost this County millions of dollars with no option for the future.This area along with the Adirondacks could become a mecca. I lived in a small area of Missouri that was transformed when Six Flaga was able to move in and develop the area. Let us hope that the future of Oneida County and the Oneida Nation can be blessed with prosperity and be rid of negativity and old fashioned ideas and concepts that do not work.

[Swimmy]

The land used to belong to the Oneidas. After the American Revolution, the US government granted them a 300,000 acre reservation. Over the past 200 years, in contravention of the IRA and several other federal laws requiring Congressional approval of all real property transactions between the Indian tribes. Unfortunately, Congress slept for the past 200 years and the Oneidas were left with only 32 acres. In 1975ish, the Oneidas filed federal lawsuits claiming that NYS wrongfully took their land. In 1985, the Supreme court allowed for a test case to regain possession. In the meantime, the Oneidas used their money and re-acquired their ancient tribal lands. For a time, including most government officials bitching about taxes now, believed that the land was automatically tax exempt again because of the Oneidas' sovereign status. In Sherrill, Vernon, Verona, and other cities, Madison County, and Oneida County, many properties were placed on tax exempt status in the respective departments of taxation.

Fast forward to 2005, and Sherrill began to foreclose on OIN property that was not connected to other OIN property. The Oneidas sued in federal court and won at the trial court and intermediate appellate level. The second circuit determined that the land in question qualified as Indian Territory within the meaning of the IRA. The Supreme Court said that 200 years was too long to be out of possession to re-assert sovereign status without putting the land into federal trust. In May 2008, the BIA (Bureau of Internal Affairs) accepted the Oneidas' application for federal trust and took 13,032 acres into federal trust.

I think I answered the question, if not let me know and I'll think a little more before I post again. :-)

[concerned]

wow, swimmy thanks I never knew the history

[Swimmy]

You're welcome. One thing I left out were the numerous settlements the state and the Oneidas reached, but it was the STATE that reneged, not the Oneidas. The last settlement the state reneged on was that the state would pay $500 million in compensatory damages. After the state reneged, that is when the Oneidas went forward with possessory claims to try and re-claim all 300,000 acres. Of course, the state and media portrayed it as if the Oneidas planned it all along.