Posted on 09/08/2005 2:44:12 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
WATERLOO, N.Y. The Cayuga Indian's 25-year-old land claim will not get a second look from a federal appeals court.
Seneca County Attorney Steven Getman says today's decision by the Second U-S Circuit Court of Appeals is another victory for property owners.
The Cayuga Indian Nation of New York and the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma had asked for a rehearing after the court's split decision in June. The decision said the tribe was not entitled to a 248 (m) million land claim judgment awarded by a lower-court jury.
Today's decision cited an earlier U-S Supreme Court ruling in a separate case that said the Oneida Indians couldn't make a land claim because too many years had passed.
The Cayugas have few options left now. The two tribes can ask the Supreme Court to review its lawsuit, but that request is rarely granted.
Break out the fire water!
Is this the Grand Island claim?
"Break out the fire water!"
This isn't really all that funny, white boy.
But if you want a reasonable explanation of
this problem, here it is: the Indian Claims
Commission expired back in 1978. The Cayugas
simply did not follow procedure, and now they
are stuck. Many tribes filing many claims
received satisfaction, following the law
and receiving due process. The federal law
recognized that wrongs needed to be re-dressed
fairly and, despite a lot of criticism by the
tribes and individuals, did a credible job of
doing exactly that.
That the Cayugas waited too long is nobody's
fault but their own.
Just when I think a court will rule with something I want..they don't.. and when I think a court will rule opposite of what I want they don't.
I'm so confused. LOL
Nope. Different claim. This one pertained to a horseshoe shaped ring around the northern end of Cayuga lake.
Is that big billboard about this whole thing still up by I-81 on the way North to Syracuse?
That's the Onodaga land claim, I think.
Ah, I knew it was one of the two. Well, unless the Supreme Court takes it up - highly unlikely, IMO - that's the end of the line for this claim. Guess some folks can breathe a bit easier now ;)
Hey, no posting news from my hometown before me!!!
The sad part is, the state really did swindle the tribes out of their land in violation of existing treaties and federal law.
I'm with Davy Crockett on this one.
yeah, but Davey fought single handed through the indian war, til they was whipped and piece was restored....
The Cayugas always said that they did not intend to take any land from private landowners. They would have rather have taken money from the government as compensation, as they had no desire to kick anyone out of their homes.
Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.
Every time something in the case did not go their way, the Cayugas would pull out the ejectment card and threaten to evict the landowners if the state did not settle.
In fact, the Cayugas had cross appealed the original decision awarding them money from the goverment precisely because the court had ruled out ejectment of the landowners.
Granted, the Cayugs would state that they preferred to take land from "willing sellers," but based on how these things work, only the first few sellers are willing.
In a typical land claim scenario, the tribe "checkerboards" their purchases, buying noncontiguous properties for high prices. Then they declare those noncontigous properties "sovereign," and stop paying taxes on them. They also stop obeying state and local regulations, such as zoning, environmental and gaming laws. At the same time, however, the municipalities are required to provide government services.
This allows them to unfairly compete with other businesses and drive down the value of remaining properties. Eventually, the other landowners are forced to sell at bargain prices.
This is, in fact, what the Cayugas were in the process of doing in Seneca and Cayuga counties until they lost the land claims.
Now, they are trying to petition the feds to allow them to establish a reservation by regulatory fiat instead.
I know, but as you can see from my esteemed fellow poster, local residents were, shall we say, rather skeptical of such claims by the Senecas. Not entirely unreasonably, IMO.
No, this is not the Grand Island suit. NYS won that and also the appeal. I had the privilege of being consulted on the suit by the NYS attorney.
Yeah, and Washington led troops against insurgents in Shay's Rebellion. He stil cared about the rebels' fundamental rights, even while he was using force to restore order.
If our ancestors had simply gone in and taken Indian land by right of conquest, I could respect that. Indian tribes did it to each other all the time.
But every broken treaty is a stain on our nation's honor.
What was done to the Indians- depriving them of the means to make a living and making them dependent on Uncle Sam for survival (in essence creating the nation's first welfare state) did more damage than any amount of warfare ever could.
No one said you have to care.
But you do have a lovely attitude about
life, don't you?
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