The People's Council of the Tuscarora Nation was started in May of 2011 in response to the growing frustration of the Tuscarora people regarding the "Tuscarora Council of Chiefs." The current "Chiefs Council" is comprised of Leo Henry, Kenneth Patterson, Stuart Patterson, Neil Patterson Sr., and Neil Patterson Jr.
The People's Council is comprised of concerned members of the Tuscarora Nation who feel that they must act now to preserve the Tuscarora way of life. Acting on behalf of the people is why our group was formed in the first place.
There are four main problems that the People's Council is attempting to address. They are: 1. Governmental abuse against our own people. It's no big surprise, with the media's assistance such as the Niagara Falls Reporter, that the Tuscarora Council of Chiefs does not act for the betterment of the people.
They are supposed to act on the Clan Mother's recommendations, which she gets from regular Clan meetings. This Council acts on its own behalf, which violates the traditional ways they claim to follow. It appears that when it benefits them, they claim to be a traditional government, but when they need to act on their own, when it benefits them, they act as an elected leadership, ignoring the requests of legitimate Clan Mothers.
At our last meeting, it was reported that at least two legitimate Clan Mothers were afraid to speak out against this Chiefs Council, in fear of retaliation against them, such as being removed from the "rolls," which is the enrollment of the tribe, a procedure adopted from the white man's census.
The Council of Chiefs has previously attempted to remove Tuscarora people from these rolls. How can this be done? In a stroke of a pen, do they actually think that they can remove a person's heritage?
No, they use it as power over the people, which will remove their ability to participate in U.S. government programs for medical care, prescriptions, tax exemptions, and a variety of other services. These services are given to us via treaties signed with the U.S. government, and for the Council of Chiefs to attempt to illegally refuse someone these services, as protected by a treaty, is a treasonous action, if not a violation of federal law.
This mentality is common for the Chiefs Council, meaning that they assume they have control over the Tuscarora people. This is shown by their rules governing electric service and telephone lines. No member can have electricity connected to their home unless they have permission from the Chiefs. This gives them the power, whether it be actual or implied, to refuse a person a basic need such as electricity.
Telephone service is also controlled by the Chiefs. In this day and age, our children are learning in a whole new environment than when I was in school. They learn through the use of computers and the Internet. Our children are now at a disadvantage if they are refused telephone service, but that does not appear to bother the Chiefs.
I could list many more ways that these Chiefs have abused their power, dating back over 60 years ago, when they first realized that there was money to be made from the Niagara Power Project. Since the first agreement was signed with the Power Authority, the Chiefs have continued to receive money from them, which to this day remains unaccounted for.
When I say "unaccounted for," that means the Chiefs have not issued or made available any financial records that would expose how much the nation has received, and exactly how it was spent. To this day, as they have received over $13 million since 2005, none of that money is actually accounted for, since many of the Chiefs'Êtransactions have been in cash deals, which cannot be accounted for -- apparently what they want.
The People's Council is trying to show that any financial transaction made by the Chiefs without the request by the Clan Mothers and the clan, is a criminal action punishable by state Penal Law, under Grand Larceny, as well as being treason against the Tuscarora people.
The numerous cash deals that have been made were never discussed by my clan, which makes either the Chief or Clan Mother guilty -- which one of those remains to be seen. We are continuing to work to correct this issue, but as you can see, these Chiefs are not speaking. They hire lawyers with our money to protect them, which is another treasonous crime against the tribe.
The Chiefs do still have a few supporters, but with every passing week, they are losing more and more support. Our efforts have been to collect information and ask the Chiefs for a response to these questions, and give them an opportunity to respond. If they do not respond, we will need to proclaim their leadership to be in violation of the traditional rules that they claim to follow, and we will look to the people to respond accordingly.
The People's Council is not about radically replacing our government, as some people interpret, but we are simply advocates for our people and try to resolve questions that are asked by our people.
2. Environmental Issues. Over the last 60 years, and maybe more, our reservation has been the dumping ground for many non-natives and companies looking to save a buck by illegally dumping their trash and harmful substances, saving themselves expensive fees. Chew Road has been very controversial sinceÊthe 1950s over the dumping of possible toxic chemicals underneath the road, in the soil that leads to our drinking water through the use of well water systems.
In 1987, Chew Road was reconstructed by the state Department of Transportation. On Nov. 24, 1987, the Environmental Protection Agency took some soil samples up to eight feet deep, even though some of the waste is believed to be up to 17 feet deep. On Feb. 26, 1988, the EPA released the findings of the eight-foot samples. The report indicated there was toxic waste present in the form of Hexavalent Chromium in the soil. Even though there was evidence of migration of these chemicals through the soil, the EPA stated that there was no cause for alarm, since there was a low solubility of the Chromium and also because of the tightness of the soil.
An independent study was performed after the release of the EPA findings, and soil samples contained Hexavalent Chromium as well as Strontium 90. The levels of Hexavalent Chromium were higher than those reported by the EPA. The Strontium 90 was not reported by the EPA at all.
Reports of these and other environmental concerns were sent to the United Nations under reference number G/SO 215/1 USA (237) back on Jan. 20, 1993. On Oct. 24, 1994, a concerned member of the Tuscarora Nation wrote a letter asking for assistance for the contamination of the drinking water here on the reservation. It's important to note that a lot of the wells for drinking water are contaminated.
My personal well is contaminated with Benzene and E. coli and was determined to be unusable by the state Department of Health. I currently have an aboveground storage tank for my water supply, and have water delivered to my house every week or so. Numerous households on the reservation have also converted to this storage-tank water system, as the wells are contaminated.
In response to the Tuscarora member who wrote a letter asking for assistance, the Indian Health Service office responsible for this area stated that back on Sept. 9, 1994, the acting associate director of that office had spoken to Chief Leo Henry, and that Henry had indicated that IHS assistance was not requested.
I have that letter in my possession, and it further states that the IHS would offer their assistance in the future. The People's Council plans to contact that office to explore options for assistance with our drinking water problems, since Chief Leo Henry cannot be bothered with issues such as these.
3. Crime. The crime rate on the reservation has increased dramatically over the last few months, and there has been no response to this from the Chiefs, unless they are the ones coordinating the law enforcement officers and helicopters, but that's doubtful.
Stolen cars, burglaries and other crimes occur almost daily, judging from the car chases and helicopters that fly over my house as if they're going to land in my backyard.
Don't get me wrong -- I'm not speaking out against law enforcement. They are needed on the reservation until we can create our own Marshals Department or similar entity to work with our own people. The People's Council would like to explore the option of working with local law enforcement, such as State Police, Niagara County Sheriff's Department, and Town of Lewiston Police.
Some of our members are hesitant to work with local law enforcement, but that makes this program even more important. We need to work with these agencies to protect our members, as well as non-natives traveling through or working on the reservation. These law enforcement agencies are already patrolling and responding on the reservation. It would make sense to work with them to keep everyone safe from these people who choose to engage in illegal activities, and
I'm not saying they are all Native Americans, there have been many cases of non-natives dumping a car and burning it in an attempt to claim that it was "stolen" and thus collect the insurance money. We need to work through this to ensure the safety of everyone.
4. Religious beliefs. Off of the reservation, non-natives enjoy the freedom of religion. On our reservation, those who choose to follow the "real" traditional ways of the Longhouse (as our Chiefs claim to be), are seen as troublemakers, and their religion has always been attacked by Christian influences in the past.
It's important to note that I myself was raised as and am a Christian, but I feel it necessary to respect our members who wish to follow the traditional ways, which some say is the answer to our problems. They say the breakdown of our current government was caused by their failure to adhere to the traditional ways. No action of failure is more prevalent than the attempt by Neil Patterson Sr. and Neil Patterson Jr. to get themselves condoled as real Chiefs. The invention of the Sand Turtle Clan and the attempted assimilation of the Deer Clan are also evidence of this failure.
We, the members of the People's Council of the Tuscarora Nation, are committed to holding the Chiefs responsible for their actions. They are accountable to their people, whether they agree or not.
Their position of Chief, according to their own claims to be traditional, makes them spokespeople for their Clan, as well as the Clan Mother. Their actions to make decisions without the people constitute a dictatorship that the United States has deployed thousands of troops overseas to combat.
Our situation on the Tuscarora Reservation is not beyond repair. We are in the process of a series of meetings to identify issues and submit these issues to the Chiefs, which will include the above topics and also the financial status of the tribe. The Chiefs will be asked to account for every dollar spent and also to identify what it was spent on. They are spending Tuscarora money, not Chiefs Council money. The hiring of a lawyer to defend the Council alone is evidence of wrongdoing by the Chiefs. The decision to spend thousands to protect them from their own people is ridiculous.
Another financial concern is the sale of electricity that was meant to be distributed on the reservation. The idea of helping our members with a significant discount, or even free electricity, has been abandoned for money.
A meeting will be held by Neil Patterson Jr. this month to speak about what to do with the profits from the sale of the electricity. The real question is, who acted on their own to initiate the sale of electricity, and is it all accounted for?
I know what most members of this reservation would say if asked if they would like our electricity sold. All we receive is a mere discount on our electric bills, mostly under $20 a month. Our council is also looking into whether or not certain members of our tribe receive a higher discount, if not free electric, or if the discount is equal among everyone.
Perhaps one of the more popular debates recently is the building of the $8 million Community Center -- at least that's what was told to our clan. A member of another clan told me that they were told $5 million, but hey, who's counting?
This building consists of a controversial Clinic, a couple of meeting rooms, and a Chiefs or Nation office, which has yet to host an actual Chief that would answer any questions.
Does this seem like money well spent? For the amount of money it cost, whatever that may be, we could have had so many more services, such as a sports center.
I must also add that I have nothing personal against these Chiefs. I have problems with their actions, as all Tuscarora members should.
I have known Neil Patterson Jr. most of my life, and we have very many mutual friends. I know he does have the best interests of the Nation at heart when he leads the Tuscarora Environment Program, even though recent indications of the amount of grant money received may raise questions with our Council.
I believe that the Chiefs are not beyond repairing the Council to what it once was. At a recent meeting, "Chief" Kenny Patterson attended to hear the questions that were raised by our Council. Although he didn't answer any questions directed to him, at least he was in attendance to hear from our members. How far he will take those questions and comments remains to be seen.
What we do have is a controversy that clearly will not be resolved any time soon. Our Chiefs Council needs to act appropriately and serve the nation as Chiefs. That simple act alone could end all of this. But those actions would mean a complete and open governance system, which I'm not sure they're ready to do.
What we do need is for our members to keep attending these meetings and to come to a conclusion as to how to resolve this problem. There are many different solutions, and one of them is to step forward as a TuscaroraÊand keep our Chiefs responsible for what they do. Are we ready to do that?
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Jan. 10 2012 |