Shinnecock Indians In Suit Over Hamptons (3600 acres & 300 years back rent)

1010 WINS ^ | 6/13/05

[Libloather]

If my memory in my history lesson is correct, I think it was Manhattan the settlers bought for $24...

That is correct. And as bad as the Knicks were back then, I'm sure they were thrown in for free...

Shinnecock Tribe Plans Suit, Claiming Land in Hamptons
By BRUCE LAMBERT
Published: June 12, 2005

The Shinnecock tribe on Long Island says it will sue in federal court this week, claiming ownership of thousands of acres of prime Hamptons real estate worth billions of dollars. Based on property values, the case would rank as one of the biggest Indian land disputes in history, experts say.

Tribal leaders say their suit seeks to reclaim 3,600 acres in Southampton that include the Southampton College campus, the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, where the United States Open is played, and the bayfront resort community Shinnecock Hills.

The tribe says it will also file a second suit, within a month, claiming much more of Southampton - possibly the entire town, which has 57,000 residents, major parks, Grabeski Airport, Suffolk County's jail and courts, many businesses and spectacular oceanfront homes.

The suits will be filed in United States District Court in Central Islip against New York State, Suffolk County, Southampton and others.

Several officials said they had not seen the suit and declined to comment on it. But Gov. George E. Pataki's office, in a statement it released Friday, said, "We will take whatever steps may be necessary to protect the interests of property owners and taxpayers on Long Island."

The legal action comes as the Shinnecocks, who are now based on an 800-acre reservation, have been pushing to open a casino on nearby land that they already own - a move that has been stridently opposed by neighbors and local officials. That project is tied up in court.

The tribe's property claim also rises as Governor Pataki and legislators are trying to resolve numerous other Indian disputes. On Thursday, he proposed a settlement of the Akwesasne Mohawk claims upstate.

On the East End, the heritage of the Shinnecocks, renowned for whaling and carving seashells into wampum, dates back 3,000 years. They long predated the first European settlers, who arrived in 1640, as well as the trophy waterfront homes, and summering entertainment celebrities and Wall Street tycoons that have become synonymous with the Hamptons.

"We only seek what is due us," said Randy King, the chairman of the Shinnecock Indian Nation's trustees.

He denounced what he described as "hundreds of years of lies, broken promises and exploitation."

Mr. King said the tribe would like "to settle these issues" and find a "win-win solution." The tribe has about 1,300 members, with roughly 500 living on the reservation, and its leaders say they desperately need better housing, jobs, health care and schools.

United States Representative Timothy H. Bishop, a Democrat who represents the area the tribe is claiming, called the planned litigation "both alarming and unacceptable," and said, "State law is very clear, and has been for over a century, on the boundaries of the Shinnecock Reservation."

Though recognized by the state for two centuries, the Shinnecocks are struggling to win federal tribal status from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, a process that could take years. Federal certification should assure the tribe's right to have a casino; as it stands, the lack of certification could pose a hurdle for its land claims.

The contrasting prosperity on the surrounding land that the tribe once occupied is not lost on the Shinnecocks. One trustee, Charles Smith, said, "From my house, I can see other houses where the garages are as big as my house."

The lawyer devising the tribe's legal strategy is John M. Peebles of Sacramento, whose firm, Monteau & Peebles, specializes in Indian issues.

The first lawsuit stems from a lease for the 3,600 acres that Southampton gave the Shinnecocks in 1703, which was supposed to last 1,000 years. But in a deal that the State Legislature approved in 1859, white residents used a fraudulent Indian petition to break the lease, Mr. Peebles said, enabling railroad construction and land development. Such a change of Indian rights requires Congressional approval, however, and that was never given, he said.

The second suit, for far more land, will be based on a more general argument that the Indians once occupied the area and are entitled to its return, Mr. Peebles said. Both cases have ample precedents, he said. The tribe also seeks damages for the decades it was deprived of the land.

"We have been good neighbors to the very people who stole our ancestral land for their own financial gain," Mr. King said.

Kevin Gover, a professor of Indian law at Arizona State University and a former assistant secretary of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, said the Shinnecocks had a strong case for federal status and a viable claim on the land, "though I'm not saying they'll necessarily win."

[Kozak]

Dream on. 300 years of delinquent taxes and penalties would be about as large as the national debt.

The Zaporesian Cossacks from the Ukraine deposited their treasure for "safe keeping" in the Bank of England in the 17th century. Repayment with just simple interest would bankrupt England.

Okay, I think I've carried the joke about as far as I can.

[Labyrinthos]

New York State has a long history of screwing Indian Nations out of their land by breaking treaties and violating Federal Law in the process. With that said, the Sinnecock claim predates the State of New York by 74 years, and the 10 year statute of limitations to recover real property should have expired back in 1787. Although I would like nothing more than to see the limousine liberal scum dirtbags who have ruined the Hamptons lose their land to the Shinnecocks (or at least have a 20 story hotel and casino block the view from their $30 million trophy houses), one would think that the claim is a couple hundred years too late.

[AJ in NYC]

When I was a kid my father took me to what was then called "The French Fort" in Syracuse, NY (now called St. Marie Among The Iroquois) to research a report on Thanksgiving and what were then called "Indians". I'll never forget this obese, greasy haired, nasal voiced woman who began yelling at me, "What you call Thanksgiving is the worst day for us. It reminds us how your people stole the land from our people." She went off on a tirade about white people until my father's temper kicked in and he cut her short. "HIS people are from Italy lady." It wasn't until I was in college, studying the local history that I learned of the bloody, warring history of the Iroquois. How they absolutely decimated the Algonquin people and (can anyone say hypocrisy) stole their land.

[Daemyon]

‘Pull this’? I’d say what was ‘pulled’ on the indigenous peoples is/was far worse than the loss of a little land and a few million dollars will mean to the present population. I wonder how you’d react if you were informed by the present -day media that your entire religious group were being systematically murdered and their belongings turned into the capital profits for the killers; wait, I take that back. I already know...

[Eva]

I think that you are a victim of the post modernist revisionist history. The Indians joined the British against the colonists, raiding and massacring women and children, burning their homes and fields. One of my ancestors returned home to find his wife and children all scalped and his home burned. He joined Sullivan's Raiders and avenged his family. They had been peaceful farmers in the Wyoming Valley of PA.

After Brant joined the British, the colonists began to see the Indians as the enemy, much like the British. Any treaties that the tribes made with the British were seen as voided. That's how it usually goes when you pick the losing side.

The lunatic left has been promising the Indians that they will return their lands to them, return the country to the way it was in the 17th century. It's a trick. The Indians might get some benefits, but not what they think they are going to get. For instance, did you know that the tribes are completely left out of the proposed Obamacare? Nothing will change for the tribes under Obamacare.