And now:Sonja Keohane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
<http://hotnews.syracuse.com/>
Pataki says state will hire law firm to defend land owners
The Associated Press
12/11/98 11:04 AM
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The state will hire a law firm to defend the 20,000
landowners named in a lawsuit by the Oneida Indians.
"I want to make it very plain that New York state and all its power is
going to be behind the people of Central New York," Gov. George Pataki said
in a statement issued Thursday. "We are going to make sure no one loses
their homes, no one loses their property."
The state expects to hire a law firm with expertise in Indian land claims
within a month once the court certifies who the defendants are in the case,
Pataki spokesman Mike McKeon said.
The Oneidas of New York, Wisconsin, and Canada filed a lawsuit last week in
federal court in Syracuse in an effort to bring an end to a longstanding
dispute over their ancestral lands in Oneida and Madison counties.
Business owners and homeowners who live within the 250,000-acre land claim
area in the two counties will be able to call the law firm to ask
questions, McKeon said.
The news was welcome to Oneida Mayor Army Carinci, who said he would form a
citizens action committee to review old land-claim files kept in the city
hall basement.
"I want to put some people on it who will be active and use common sense,"
Carinci said. "Some people are talking about violence. I think it's getting
to the point where something has got to be done."
The Native American Affairs committees for the two counties were to meet
this afternoon in Utica to discuss the case.
