A Small & Unnecessary Fight With The Indians

By Dan Rattiner

In 1859, one hundred and nineteen years after the founding of the Village of Southampton, the selectmen of that town deeded what is now the Shinnecock Indian Reservation, a total of 8 square miles, to the Shinnecock Nation. In exchange for that, the Shinnecocks signed away the rest of the woodland east of the Shinnecock Canal to the white men.

There was, however, a parcel of 86 waterfront acres on Peconic Bay to the west of the canal, that was being used by the Indians, was all wooded, and was just left to the Shinnecocks for their purposes. From that day to this, that 86 acres has been used for tribal purposes - weddings, parties, coming-of-age rituals, bonfires, hunting, swimming, fishing and religious services. And no Town Board has ever charged a real estate tax or collected any taxes from the assumed owner of the parcel, the Shinnecock Indians.

Indeed, in 1923 part of the property was leased by the Shinnecocks to a man who wanted to run a chicken farm there. The money was paid to the tribe. The lease ran for a few years and then ran out.

And then in the late 1930s, the Shinnecock tribe sued the Town Highway Department demanding that the sand roads on their property, which were removed so the sand could be used elsewhere, be returned. It was.

And so, the Indians continued to come on certain tribal occasions from their agreed upon tribal reservation three miles to the east of Hill Street in Southampton, either on foot, horseback or by car. They call the property Westwood. It is woods, and it is to their west. It is their property, there is no dispute about that, and they are free to enjoy it. Or are they?

Two weeks ago, the Town Attorney of Southampton issued an opinion about this property to the effect that certain activities going on in this woods, sanctioned by the tribe, are not listed in the codebook of Southampton Town as permitted uses for a residential property.

It was an odd determination because there are many activities taking place on residential property all over this town that are not listed in the codebook. But he was put in this position by a decision handed down last October by a Federal Judge as the result of a lawsuit filed by the Town insisting that Westwood not be considered part of the tribal reservation, and therefore ineligible for them to build a casino there, which they had proposed. The Shinnecocks opposed this lawsuit. And in the end, the Judge, Joseph Bianco, ruled for the Town. Westwood was Shinnecock owned, but Town property. He ordered that the two parties get together and finally determine the use that ought to be allowed on Westwood. And until that time, he was ordering a permanent injunction on the building of any structures on this property.

The land, on Town maps, with no subdivision on it, is zoned residential property. On the other hand, it is owned by a group in the same way that, up until five years ago, a big mansion in Shinnecock was owned by a New York City electrical union, or another big mansion in Water Mill was owned by an order of Dominican Nuns. It doesn't seem too hard to figure this out.

Unfortunately, these federal judge decisions all occurred during an election campaign, and in November, the people of the town decided that the current administration should leave the political arena and a new administration should take over.

Shortly after the election, the Shinnecocks met with Town Supervisor Skip Heaney to discuss the matter, but Heaney is on his way out, as is his Town Attorney. Meanwhile, the new Town Supervisor, Linda Kabot, though not yet the Supervisor, was invited to a separate meeting with the Shinnecocks, but at the last minute she cancelled.

And then came this shocking opinion by the outgoing Town Attorney.

"If it is not in the town code," he said, "then I don't think it is legal."

I don't know about you, but on any parcel of this size that is vacant, the owners fish and hunt, pitch a tent for a night or two, lay on the beach in the summertime if the property is lucky enough to have a beach, and if people want to go there to pray or to have a party, that is okay too. I don't know if any of those activities are listed in the Town Code.

In any case, it seems absurd to me, and simply vindictive - against the new administration? Against the Shinnecocks? - that an outgoing attorney, with less than 21 days to go on the job, would issue an opinion such as this to leave in the lap of Mrs. Kabot and whoever she intends to appoint as Town Attorney.

Without a doubt, it is a complex matter. There are laws in Southampton that say if you want to have a gathering of more than 100 people, you have to get a permit for it. (The tribe totals out at 650.) But the law also says that on any private property, you can have such a gathering once or twice a year or even more, unless the neighbors object to it. I recall in East Hampton a few years ago, some Spanish-speaking people were issued summons for having a volleyball game on a one-acre parcel with 200 people watching, and laying bets and drinking and making lots of noise every Saturday in the summertime. But I bet that if this had been in the middle of an 86-acre woods rather than a two-acre building lot, the police would not have gone there.

Making it even more complicated is the fact that these traditional cultural activities taking place on this Shinnecock-owned land not only predate zoning - which probably would qualify for them to be grandfathered in - but in fact predate the existence of the entire town.

During the last five years, the Shinnecocks have proposed new activities at Westwood that have resulted in bruised feelings and a bad relationship with the Town. The Shinnecocks proposed building a gambling casino at Westwood, which the town opposed and the judge in October finally denied. The Shinnecocks also filed a lawsuit laying claim to about one quarter of the property of the Town, including the college, the National and the Shinnecock Golf Club. The town has now spent several million dollars in opposing these claims and proposals, and at almost every turn, has won in court.

As for the Shinnecock Tribe, though recognized

by the state, and possessing a long and well-documented history in the town going back to even before the actual founding of it, they have never been recognized by the Federal Government. They applied for Federal recognition in 1978. But there has been no decision. As a result, Federal funding made available to help those tribes they do recognize, has not occurred.

The Shinnecocks are enormously frustrated about this. It is clear just on the face of it, that pure politics has prevented their federal recognition. And here, amidst the great wealth of the Hamptons, the tribe lives at near poverty levels.

It is time that this struggle between town and tribe comes to an end. The tribe is here. They've been here forever. And they are not going away, nor should they.

Theirs is a rich, traditional culture that in this day is one among many that we are supposed to treasure. I hope Mrs. Kabot meets with the Shinnecocks and at the very least, works out a solution to what really is a small problem with an answer that seems to be to be as plain as the nose on your face.

Working together to help create better living conditions on the reservation will, in a wealthy town that surrounds this historic enclave, benefit us all.

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