Looks like the state's trying to provoke a shooting war with the Tuscarora Nation over cigarette taxes. For the record, I stand firmly with the Tuscarora.
It's not just because I buy my cigarettes out there either. There are a lot of reasons.
Does anybody really think that the people of this state -- Native American, European, African American or Latino -- don't already send enough money to Albany for the parasites to squander? New Yorkers are already the most-taxed people in the nation, and here in Niagara County -- and especially Niagara Falls -- we are the most-taxed people in New York state.
Going after the Tuscarora will be a disaster. They'll close Saunders Settlement and Lower Mountain Road with burning tires and armed men. They'll dynamite power lines and telephone poles. The potential for the loss of life would be high.
And all of the people of Niagara County would bear the brunt of the damage. Once again, we would be the ones forced to pick up the tab -- in dollars and human suffering -- for Albany's insanity.
The push to enforce the unenforceable and tax Native American tobacco sales on the sovereign reservations of the Tuscarora, Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga and Cayuga people comes strictly from the politicians and convenience-store owners like the odious Newman family of Buffalo, which owns the NOCO chain here.
People like that would tax the air that we breathe if given half a chance.
So what it gets down to is this: Are we here in Niagara County prepared to sacrifice in order to temporarily satisfy the insatiable greed of people like state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Newman family?
Just last week, my good friend and colleague Bob Kostoff wrote a piece about the Tuscaroras' bravery in the Battle of Lewiston during the War of 1812. As the British army advanced on Lewiston in December 1813 -- burning every building in their path while their Indian allies killed and scalped the fleeing men, women and children -- a group of Tuscarora warriors came to the aid of the town.
Outnumbered 30 to 1, the Tuscarora offered up fierce resistance, allowing the people of Lewiston to escape with a minimum of loss. You can read all about it in Lee Simonson's excellent new book, "Tuscarora Heroes."
The people of Lewiston are planning a life-size bronze statue to honor the Tuscarora and commemorate the event, to be unveiled on the 200th anniversary of the battle in 2013.
And now our gluttonous state government wants to essentially go to war with the descendants of those heroic warriors in order to force them to collect an outrageous $4.35 tax on a pack of cigarettes.
Like I said, I'm siding with the Tuscarora.
Speaking of disputes with Native Americans, the Seneca Nation of Indians -- owners of the Seneca Niagara Casino here -- are also involved in the cigarette tax battle, though they've got enough money to have hired some lawyers and get the collection of the tax stayed in federal court.
Trouble is, they've decided to withhold the 25 percent of revenue from the casino's slot machines until the matter is resolved. So Niagara Falls has not gotten its 25 percent of the state's 25 percent for 2009 and 2010.
That's between $25 and $30 million that the city already has spent, so not getting it presents a lot of problems. And once again, we're the ones who suffer because of Albany's ham-handed attempt to grab even more cash out of the Niagara Frontier.
Francine Del Monte and Mayor Paul Dyster have said they don't believe there's any need to renegotiate the compact with the Senecas, which expires in a couple years. John Accardo, who beat Del Monte handily, made renegotiation on behalf of Niagara Falls a central issue in his campaign.
Whoever beats Dyster in November of 2011 would do well to follow Accardo's lead.
It's funny. In the months leading up to last week's election, I was pestered with e-mails from a number of Del Monte supporters -- anonymous, of course -- using hateful and obscene language to describe me, this newspaper, my wife, my mother and just about anything else they could think of.
I think they were trying to rattle me, saying how I'd be eating crow (except they didn't say "crow") once the election results were in.
I wrote them back in kind. I know all the words too, and like I said, this went on for a couple of months.
They fell strangely silent as of about midnight following the election. Not a peep out of them.
I gleefully e-mailed them all on Wednesday morning. "Tell me something now, smart guy," I wrote.
But like Francine herself, they apparently crawled back into their spider holes to hide.
The same thing happened with Vince Anello, although his supporters kept sending me their obscene e-mails for years rather than months. Since the day he pleaded guilty to a federal felony that will put him in prison and prevent him from ever seeking elective office again, I haven't heard from them at all.
I hate cowards, you know. And I'm always gladdened on those rare occasions when good triumphs over evil.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Sept. 21, 2010 |