NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #16/NN_1992_16.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/5276

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Senecas & NYS Police Clash Over Tax Protest
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/** headlines: 78.0 **/
** Topic: Senecas & NYS Police Clash **
** Written  7:37 pm  Jul 20, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:headlines **
From: News Desk <newsdesk>
Subject: Senecas & NYS Police Clash

/* Written 11:42 pm  Jul 17, 1992 by danwinter in cdp:gen.nativenet */
/* ---------- "Senecas & NYS Police Clash" ---------- */
/* written 2am 7/18/92 by David Yarrow (danwinter) */

         Senecas, police clash as tax protest erupts
       2 troopers hurt, 14 people arrested; Thruway shut
          The Buffalo News, Thursday, July 16, 1992
          by Agnes Palazzetti and Anthony Cardinale

Two state troopers were injured and 14 people were arrested early today
during a violent protest by about 100 Seneca Indians who set bonfires,
threw rocks and closed a 31-mile stretch of the Thruway for 11 hours to
vent their anger over a recent tax ruling.

Several Senecas today criticized State Police tactics, which the Senecas
said included  beatings with clubs.  Police officials, at a morning news
conference, denied any unprovoked violence.

The violence broke out on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation about 1:30
am, when a large firecracker exploded during a confrontation between
Senecas and state police.  The Thruway reopened at about 6:15 am.  The
blast in the midst of the troopers sparked a melee, during which
officers standing on the closed Thruway stormed the Route 438 bridge
over the Thruway, which is on reservation land.

Witnesses said that in the confusion, a civilian truck rushed the
crowded bridge and struck several Indians, including Indian children.
The driver of the truck fled the scene and was being sought.

Two State Police officials were injured.  Maj. Bruce Roloff was struck
in the side of the head with a piece of wood and was undergoing tests in
Erie County Medical Center this morning.  Listed in good condition in
the emergency room was Zone Sgt. Thomas Warren, who suffered a chest
injury when he was struck by a pickup truck.

Following the rock-throwing that shattered some car windows, troopers
advanced some 100 yards onto Seneca land to secure the area.  Police
dogs were also used, and troopers were seen dragging the occupants out
of one truck.

By 2 am, 14 persons had been arrested, 11 on disorderly conduct charges
and three on reckless endangerment charges.  There were being arraigned
today in the Town of Brant.

Many of the Senecas later gave firsthand accounts of what they claim
were beatings by troopers with their billy clubs.  Capt. R.W. Browning
of Troop A in Batavia, who was on the scene throughout the night,
categorically denies that any of the troopers used excess force.

Sally Snow, 32, a Seneca and mother of five, said she was among the
demonstrators at the Thruway bridge on Route 438.  She said the troopers
"told us to get off the road and go back down to our own land.  We told
them, 'You can't tell us what to do.  We are on our land.'"

Following the overnight confrontation, the first violent one in the
three days of protests, Seneca Nation members said today they would
continue their tax protest.

The violence followed a standoff of several hours, during which scores
of police officers with spotlights stood south of the Route 438 bridge
and surrounded the next bridge to the north, carrying traffic on
Milestrip Road.  The site is a mile east of the intersection of Route
20, just north of Cattaraugus Creek, which marks the southern boundary
of Erie County.

The Senecas had set a number of bonfires earlier Wednesday night near
and on the Thruway, holding off an earlier assault by the state police.
The third night of the Senecas' protest -- the most disruptive so far --
was designed to coincide with Gov. Cuomo's speech Wednesday night to the
Democratic National Convention in New York City.

State police, who called in reinforcements from throughout the state,
said the Thruway was closed from Dunkirk to Hamburg about 7:30 pm for
safety reasons and reopened about 6:15 am.  In addition to the fires,
rocks reportedly were thrown off bridges onto the road below.

The demonstrations protest the state's plan -- affirmed last Thursday by
a state appeals court in Albany -- to levy sales taxes on cigarettes and
gasoline sold to non-Indians on reservations.  The issue is whether a
treaty between the Indians and the state allows the taxing of goods sold
to non-Indians on Indian land.

The Senecas, because they live on the land of a sovereign nations,
cannot be taxed.  So the state, in an effort to collect an estimated $50
million in what officials argue are lost taxes, decided to tax those
wholesalers who supply the Senecas.  A hearing on the matter is expected
next week in Buffalo.

"In light of recent effort by New York State to directly or indirectly
tax the Seneca people, events which seriously threaten the economic and
political integrity of the nation and its members, I have concluded the
first step towards a solution of this problem lies within the Seneca
people and its government," Seneca President Calvin "Kelly" John said in
announcing formation of a committee of tribe leaders.

When authorities closed the Thruway, westbound traffic was detoured off
the Thruway at Exit 59 at Dunkirk.  Eastbound traffic was leaving the
Thruway at Exit 59 and returning to the highway at the Angola Exit 37A
in Evans.
A protester named Michael Tome, who wore a feather in his headband,
hoisted a red Indian flag from the bridge early today, while recorded
Indian music blared from a car radio and Indians shook their fists at
police.

"It's just pow-wow music," one of them explained.

"America is watching!" a protester shouted.

"I came up from the Allegany Reservation," Tome said later.  "I don't
know any of these people, but they're all my family."

"Together we stand our ground, because we shall overcome," said Gerald
Jimerson, 18, who wore his baseball cap backwards with an eagle feather
in it "for good luck."  The young Seneca also had come from the Allegany
Reservation.  "I hope the Great Spirit is with us," he said.  "We have
to stand by our brothers -- all night if we have to."

Below the protesters, a pile of tires burned in the southbound lane of
the Thruway.  From time to time, someone would throw another tire onto
the blaze.  Asked whether the Indian protest could cause resentment
among the travelers forced off the Thruway, one young man said" "Some of
them are pleased to stop to buy cheap gas on the reservation.  I work
for the Seneca Mini-Mart in Salamanca, and I got laid off because we ran
out of gas."

As the night wore on, smoke from the tire fire curled up from both sides
of the Milestrip Road bridge, rising into the dense sky, where it was
illuminated by State Police searchlights.  From time to time a vehicle
from the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation Volunteer Fire Dept. stopped on
the bridge, only to depart without attempting to put out the fire.

"We were telling the coppers that maybe this is our property," said Josh
Maybee, 19, a Seneca.  "They know it's our land.  We told them nothing
violent is going to go on here.  They said they were here to keep the
peace and all that.  We told them to go home."

His brother, Jeremiah Maybee, 16, said taxing Indian sales to
non-Indians would be like New York State trying to collect sales tax
from New Yorkers who travel to Pennsylvania to shop.  "They're
two-headed," he concluded.

"It's not right at all," agreed Julie Schindler, 16, who works at the JR
Smoke Shop on Old Lake Shore Rd.  "Our customers got mad about this, and
400 of them signed a petition against the taxes.  We're going to send
the petitions to Albany."

The first fires on the Cattaraugus Reservation in Brant were reported at
about 7 pm, and the Reservation Volunteer Fire Dept. was dispatched at
7:06 pm, according to Helmuth Fire Control.  Shortly after midnight, it
became apparent that the troopers stationed to the north had crept
closer to the Milestrip Rd. bridge.

Earlier Wednesday, in an effort to head off growing unrest, John said he
would establish a committee to ensure tribal sovereignty.

"For 200 years, New York has attempted to infringe upon our
sovereignty," John said.  "It is my hope this committee will begin
uniting the Seneca people in our effort to resist this most recent
attempt by New York to undermine our existence.  We have to work
together and look at this situation in a cooperative way."

Senecas disagree on how to fight the state's plan to tax cigarette and
gasoline sold on reservations to non-Indians.  When word of the trouble
spread through the western New York Indian country, Indians from the
Seneca, Allegany, Tonawanda, Tuscarora, and Five nations reservations
soon were arriving at the Cattaraugus reservation to lend their support.
The Indians also received support from volunteer firemen from both
Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties, who refused to answer fire calls on
the Thruway.

Both tribal-operated gas stations at Irving and Salamanca were back in
business Wednesday after reaching an agreement to obtain gasoline.

Dennis Lay, Seneca treasurer, plans to hold an information meeting for
Senecas at 1 pm today on the Cattaraugus Reservation near Irving.
Another meeting, led by John, is scheduled for 2 pm at the Genevieve
Plummer Building in Jimersontown.

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| David Yarrow (turtle)    Econet:<danwinter>    716-992-9307 |
| Crystal Hill Institute, 9411 Sandrock Road, Eden, NY  14057 |
|                  "be earthwise, not clockwise"              |
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** End of text from cdp:headlines **