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U.S. NEWS Wednesday 26 February 2020

Indian nation destroys own buildings over leadership dispute

By CAROLYN THOMPSON The anti-Halftown Unity
Associated Press Council in 2014 claimed
A leadership dispute within control of some of the
the Cayuga Indian Nation buildings that were de-
took a stunning turn over stroyed early Saturday.
the weekend when nation Halftown said the nation
leader Clint Halftown sent was retaking possession of
bulldozers to demolish a stolen property.
working daycare center, Halftown is the federally
store, schoolhouse and recognized leader of the
other buildings controlled roughly 500-member west-
by tribe members who op- ern New York tribe. He said
pose his authority. in a statement Saturday
In response to the surprise, that he had demolished
dead-of-night show of the structures to prevent
power, several Cayuga them from becoming "a
families who oppose Half- target for any further fric-
town have sent their chil- tion in the community go-
dren out of town, fearing ing forward."
the bulldozers will come Halftown has not respond-
next for their homes in a dis- ed to requests for an in- In this Feb. 22, 2020. photo, two men stand near a partially demolished building on the Cayuga
pute that is dividing fami- terview. Leanna Young, a Indian Nation in Seneca Falls, N.Y.
lies and confounding local mother of four who man- Associated Press
authorities, who say they aged the destroyed con- and traditions, including a Cayugas widened in the eca Falls Police Chief Stuart
are powerless to intercede venience store, said 32 chil- leadership structure of clan early 2000s amid disagree- Peenstra said. "Normally we
in the sovereign nation's dren from Cayuga fami- mothers and chiefs, rather ment over Halftown's push would not allow that. But in
issues. The early morning lies have been sent to live than a single leader. to build a resort casino in these instances ... we have
raids by tribal law enforce- away from Cayuga-owned Young said her brother the Catskill Mountains. to allow that, and it doesn't
ment Saturday reduced a houses over concerns that was working security when After his opponents took settle well with us either but
dozen buildings in the town the nation's police could the Cayuga Nation police control of several proper- we have to stick by the let-
of Seneca Falls to hulking return to knock down their pulled him from his car at ties six years ago, the Ca- ter of the law."
piles of lumber and drywall, homes. Young sent her 2 a.m. Saturday, bound yuga Indian Nation sought Sen. Charles Schumer has
drawing condemnation three youngest children to his hands with zip ties and to recover them through a demanded an investiga-
from local and federal offi- stay with relatives out of detained him while the state court lawsuit, but the tion by the Department of
cials who called the action town. bulldozers moved in and state's highest court ruled Justice and Department of
domestic terrorism. She said many families had destroyed the businesses New York could not get the Interior, which governs
"They came in there with been at the school house, that support Halftown de- involved in a sovereign na- tribal issues, saying the na-
drawn handguns, put them teaching their children tractors, which also include tion's leadership dispute. tion surely must have bro-
to the heads of the secu- how to pound and wash a cannery, ice cream and A decision by the U.S. Inte- ken some law.
rity people who were in the corn and tap maple trees miniature golf business, and rior Department in Novem- The Seneca County Board
buildings and told them if for their sap, the night be- several cottages. ber recognized Halftown as of Supervisors, in the mean-
they moved they would be fore it was wrecked to the Seven people were de- the federal representative time, has passed resolu-
shot. And they destroyed ground. tained in the process. All of the tribe and his coun- tions seeking an investiga-
these buildings," said attor- "We all woke up on Sat- but one, who allegedly cil as "the nation's govern- tion by the U.S. Attorney in
ney Joe Heath, who repre- urday to find it all demol- was found to possess drugs, ment for all purposes." Buffalo, the deployment
sents a faction of traditional ished. It's heartbreaking," were released. The rulings have tied the of U.S. Marshals and the
Cayuga members who split said Young, part of the In Seneca Falls, best known hands of local police. freezing of federal funds to
with tribal leadership about group that opposes gam- as the birth place of the "To look back and say, 'How the Cayuga Indian Nation
20 years ago in a dispute bling and favors the pres- women's rights movement, can they do that?' — It's just until the issues have been
over casino gambling. ervation of Cayuga history the divide between the not that simple for us," Sen- resolved.q