Paugeesukqs - longer note
inobu@aol.com
Thu, 5 Oct 1995 09:52:39 -0400
While the Mashantuckets are Prospering, the Paugeesukqs are
impoverished...
In the aftermath of King Phillip's war,Euro-Americans claimed
most of the Paugeesukq lands, alleging that the Paugeesukq aided
the Pequots. Many Paugeesukq were slaughtered or sold into slavery
in the West Indies. A small number remained on a reserve in
Connecticut.
Over the ensuing decades, European farmers planted further
into the Indian reservation, burning out Paugeesukq families, until
one Indian family remained on six acres. The Connecticut courts, in
1680, granted a supplemental plot of land, to compensate for land
stolen by European farmers, rather than enforce the rights of the
Paugeesukq to occupy their original land. This new reservation,
Golden Hill, was a useless stony plot of land. By 1730, several
Paugeesukq families returned and lived at Golden Hill and one
family, that of John Sherman, lived at the original site. Although
unfarmable and useless in 1730, today it is prime real estate in
Bridgeport, Connecticut. Golden Hill was sold, without the consent
of the tribe in 1802. The Congress of the United States was also
not involved in the sale, and as such, the sale violated the Indian
Nonintercourse Act. Today, there are two Paugeesukq reserves. A
quarter acre remains in Trumble, a suburb of Bridge port and a
reserve in Colchester. The Colchester reserve had been purchased
from the State of Connecticut with Federal monies from Health and
Urban Development (HUD), in the form of a grant only available to
Indian, Alaskan and Hawaiian native communities. The reservation
is statutorily recognized as a self governing Indian community in
Connecticut state law.
Conn. Gen. Stat. 47-59a (b), "The State of Connecticut further
recognizes that the indigenous tribes [including]... the Golden
Hill Paugussett are self-governing entities possessing powers and
duties over tribal members and reservations. Such powers and duties
include the power to:...(3) regulate trade and commerce on the
reservation...".
Under this provision, and under the direction of the general
and executive tribal council, in April of 1993, Chief Moonface Bear
opened a "smoke shop", in order to raise revenues to develop the
Golden Hill reservation. He interpreted 47-59a (b) to exempt the
shop from State cigarette tax. The Governor of Connecticut did not
interpret the statute this way.
On Governor Weicker's insistence, a felony arrest warrant for
Moonface Bear was issued, charging that he has evaded the payment
of cigarette tax. This resulted in a four month standoff between
the tribe and state troopers. This case has been mired in pretrial
litigation to determine jurisdiction ever since.
At present, the BIA has made a negative determination on their
petition for federal acknowledgement. According to a letter to the
BIA from Sen. Dan Inouye, the vice chair of the Senate committee on
Indian Affairs, the negative proposed finding has been made on "new
criteria with no notice provided to the petitioning groups." In a
letter to Bruce Babbitt, the Sec. of the department of the
Interior, from George Miller and Eni Faleoma Vega of the
Congressional subcommittee on Native American and Insular Affairs,
they state that the negative finding "plac[ed] a burden of proof
upon petitioning tribes that is contrary to the regulations and
specifically inconsistent with the standards proposed in
legislation."
Please write to the following and ask that the Golden Hill
Paugeesukqs be treated fairly and recognized by the federal
government:
The Honorable Bruce Babbitt, Secretary
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington. D.C. 20240
and
The Honorable Ada Deer
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
U.S. Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
Please cc letters to
The Golden Hill Paugeesukq Tribal Nation
Law Department
Atten: Lawrence Otway
95 Stanavage Road, Colchester CT. 06415
If there is interest,
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