Suffolk Life: The Shinnecock speak out on legal battles

01.05.07
The Shinnecock speak out on legal battles

By Susan J. Greenberg

While several questions have been raised regarding a 79-acre piece of land in Hampton Bays known as the Westwoods property members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation are speaking out about the lawsuits, the land use and their overall frustration about dealing with town, state and federal officials.

"This is going way beyond the initial lawsuit," said Shinnecock Tribal Chairman Lance Gumbs.

"This now has turned into a question of whether we are Shinnecock. We are the only remaining tribe in the United States who actually live on our original land. It is very painful."

According to Gumbs, what was at issue in the 1600s is directly related to the issues at hand today, which involve ques­tions of land title, rights of land use, and equitable treatment. "Our territory before the settlers came here was from ap­proximately the town border of Brookhaven to the town border of East Hampton," Gumbs said. "That is the land we roamed."

Three lawsuits, according to Gumbs - two in which the Shinnecock are plaintiffs and one in which they are the defendant - bring to light what he characterized as "some very serious transgressions" that must be addressed.

"The town started this by suing us over our use of the [Westwoods] land," said Gumbs, referring to a suit filed by the town in 2003 seeking to stop the Shinnecock from building a 65,000-square-foot casino on the 79-acre parcel they own in Hampton Bays. "This essentially opened up a dialogue about many issues."

Amid protest by local residents as to the ramifications of building this facility, such as crowding and traffic implications, the case, once under the auspices of Judge Thomas Platt, is now being tried before Judge Joseph Bianco in First District Court in Central Islip. The Shinnecock must prove that the land was originally occupied by them in order for it to be offi­cially recognized as part of their main reservation to the east, and a place where gaming would be permitted under fed­eral law. (Full Story)