New York Gambling Law Debated

As reported by the Finger Lakes Times: "The Seneca County Board of Supervisors yesterday scheduled a public hearing on a proposed local law de-claring unlawful games of chance a public nuisance. Representatives of the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York plan to attend.

"The 7 p.m. Sept. 13 session, on the night of the board's next meeting, was unanimously approved. Ovid Supervisor David Dresser, chairman of its Indian Land Claim Committee, was absent.

" 'We believe it's a federal matter,' Attorney Daniel French of the Syracuse law firm Green & Seifter told media representatives after the vote. With him were colleague Lee Alcott and B.J. Radford, chief operating officer of Cayuga Nation Enterprises, which runs a gas station/convenience store and electronic bingo facility at state Route 89 and Garden Street Extension in the town of Seneca Falls.

"French said they were disappointed by the proposed law because his firm has reached out to the county Law Department, asking it to meet with them regarding various Cayuga Nation issues, but it has not.

"…The Nation also owns similar, but larger, gas station/convenience store and electronic bingo facilities in Union Springs in Cayuga County.

"French said the Nation has applied to have the lands it owns placed into federal trust under a procedure pointed out in the Sherrill decision. If successful, the lands could be declared sovereign, rendering them tax-exempt and free from local jurisdiction. The matter is pending with the BIA; Seneca County is opposing the application…"