Tribe files
appeal to recognition
decision
October 1
In
Connecticut, the Golden Hill
Paugussett tribe filed an appeal due
to the dismissal of the tribe's
application for federal recognition.
In the appeal, the tribe says
federal officials violated their due
process rights.
The Bureau of
Indian Affairs dismissed the
application back in June for a
second time, posing a major hurtle
for the tribe to pass before plans
to build a casino can be executed.
This decision will also put a damper
on the tribe's claims to
approximately 700,000 acres of
Connecticut land. The tribe filed
the appeal with the Interior Board
of Indian Appeals in September.
The
Paugussetts say the BIA used
materials not contained in the
record, applying evidentiary
standards not in line with the
standards that are utilized in other
petitions filed by other tribes,
hence wrongfully bringing up
evidence against the tribe, giving
priviledged information to opponents
and not allowing the tribe's
recognition in the state.
The BIA said
the tribe failed to gratify four of
the seven steps needed for the
recognition. They say the tribe did
not prove its members had descended
from a historical tribe, or their
on-going existance as a political
and social community.
The tribe has
land in Colchester and Trumbull and
they have been laboring to get
recognition for over 20 years. The
tribe was dismissed by the BIA in
1996, then they were given another
chance when the Interior Board of
Indian Appeals evaluated the
decision again and sent it back to
the BIA for another chance.
In addition, the tribe is slated
to
provide a report on the actual
status of its federal land claims
this week to US District Judge
Arterton. Then, the Paugussetts will
decide whether or not to move
forward with the land claims.
The state of
Connecticut has a total four tribes
that are federally recognized, two
of which operate a couple of the
most successful casinos in the
world.
