State reaches land claim settlement with Cayugas

Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 | 9:18 a.m.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Gov. George Pataki announced a settlement Thursday with the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York, giving the tribe a Catskills casino and at least 2,500 acres in the Finger Lakes region.

"After being landless for 200 years, and in litigation for 25 years, the Cayuga Nation is delighted that our long banishment from our ancestral lands appears to be ending," Cayuga Nation Representative Clint Halftown said.

The agreement -- like the one brokered less than a week ago with the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma -- must be approved by the state Legislature and Congress.

Under the settlement, the state can continue its appeal to lower -- or have dismissed -- the $247.9 million federal court judgment obtained jointly by the tribes in 2001.

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