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[article provided by Lona. Thanks!]

Judge Refuses To Overturn Decision Rejection Tribal Recognition
AP 02/21/2000

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) _ A judge has refused to overturn a panel's decision
rejecting tribal recognition for the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation.

Superior Court Judge Henry V. Barnette affirmed the June vote by the state
Commission of Indian Affairs against tribal status, according to the
decision filed in Orange County Superior Court this week.

The group plans to appeal Barnette's decision, but it will probably be a
year before the Occaneechi's case is heard again, said Forest Hazel, who is
leading the tribe's quest for federal recognition.

The Occaneechi Band has sought state recognition four times since 1990.
Recognition would give the group a seat on the commission and would allow
them to compete for grants and financial assistance for housing and
education.

The group asked Barnette in December to reverse the commission's decision,
which overruled a 1998 recommendation by Administrative Law Judge Delores
Smith that tribal status be granted.

The Occaneechi's attorney, Al McSurely, argued that the commission relied on
personal bias instead of the facts of the case when overruling Smith.
McSurely cited statements by commissioners before their June decision that
they didn't think Smith should be able to rule on the case because she is
not an American Indian.

But Barnette said in his decision filed Wednesday that bias against a prior
decision-maker in a case is not the same as bias against one of the parties
affected by the decision. He also noted that the commission had rejected the
Occaneechi before on similar grounds, so any statements made about Smith by
commissioners amounted to "no more than frustration because of a difference
of opinion with (Smith)."

The commission ruled in June that the Occaneechi do not meet the state's
main requirement for recognition 200 years of unbroken tribal status in
North Carolina. Also, the group met only three of eight other criteria for
tribal status, according to the commission.

The Occaneechi is based in eastern Alamance and Orange counties, with its
tribal office in Mebane.
 

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