<+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+>
 

[article provided by LH. Thanks!]

http://flash.oregonlive.com/cgi-bin/or_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream-Parsed/GENERAL/a0871_AM_CayugaLandClaim

Jury decides Cayugas' lost homeland worth $37 million

By WILLIAM KATES
The Associated Press
02/17/00 8:43 PM Eastern

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- A federal jury recommended Thursday
that the Cayuga Indian Nation receive $36.9 million for lost ancestral
lands, a figure a lawyer for the tribe called ridiculously low.

The decision was one step toward settling a long-standing dispute
over how much the Cayugas should get for 64,015 acres in upstate
New York that the state has had for 204 years. U.S. District Judge
Neal McCurn will actually decide the payment.

In 1994, McCurn ruled that New York illegally acquired the land in
1795 and 1807 by purchasing it from the Cayugas without the federal
government's required approval.

Clint Halftown, a spokesman for the Cayugas, said the tribe had
expected at least $100 million for its lost lands.

"We have always said this was not about money," Halftown said.
"So we have a little less to buy back our land, to begin rebuilding
our nation. It is enough to start."

Tribe attorney Martin Gold was far more critical of the the jury's
decision. "It's ridiculous," he said. "Apparently nine people didn't
pay attention to the evidence."

The suggested award was well below the $335 million -- including
$70 million in back rent -- an appraiser for the federal government
told the jury the tribe deserved. But an appraiser for the state testified
that the land was worth no more than $51 million.

Assistant state Attorney General David Roberts applauded the jury's
recommendation. "This is an outcome that was better than the
alternatives. But it's just one step," Roberts said.

The jury had to decide a present-day market value as well as the
land's rental worth for each year from 1796 to the present. The award
consisted of a rental value of $1.9 million -- $17,156.86 per year
minus past payments and compensation already paid by the state.
They determined the current market value of the land to be $35 million.

A second non-jury trial will determine "equitable factors," such as
interest on the back rent and deductions for public infrastructure.

About 500 Cayugas live in western New York on and around the
Seneca's Cattaraugus reservation. Two other larger groups of
Cayugas, who also are party to the claim, live in Canada and
Oklahoma.
 

<+>=<+>
Information Pages: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
Online Petition: http://kola-hq.hypermart.net
Greeting Cards: http://users.skynet.be/kola/cards.htm
<+>=<+>
if you want to be removed from the KOLA
Email Newslist, just send us a message with
"unsub" in the subject or text body
<+>=<+>