A digital camera hangs from Ray Mongeau's neck as he searches for a piece of paper in a former store on Oneida Indian Nation territory. Suddenly, a sensor-activated light flashes outside.
"There's a car coming," a man shouts from the road.
Ray Mongeau clutches the camera and dashes outside. He snaps a picture of the gray sedan as it drives down Territory Road, then waits as the car comes back and returns to Route 46. Two men sit in the front seat of the Ford, which belongs to the nation.
Mongeau takes another picture.
"They look like detectives," he says to another man, who declines to reveal his name.
Around the clock, wary Oneidas and their friends take pictures and notes. Nation police cruise the territory, and often park near the entrance to observe cars coming in and out.
Tensions have run high since nation officials refused to let resident Danielle Patterson replace the broken furnace in her mobile home. On Nov. 16, more than a dozen nation and Oneida city police officials arrived with an order to inspect Patterson's home. Nation police arrested her when she refused.
The nation now plans to demolish the mobile home by Dec. 15, according to a nation order condemning the building. Patterson insists she won't leave, and the web of friends and family keeping guard vow they won't let the home be torn down.
"It's a tinderbox, I'm afraid," said Joe Heath, the lawyer defending Patterson. "The fundamental rub here is who has the power. The Oneida Indian Nation says, 'We're going to impose this on them whether they like it or not.' They say, 'It's not going to happen.' "
Patterson and the others who still live on the territory won't abide by the nation's ordinances on housing and other matters. Those are invalid laws imposed by leader Ray Halbritter, they say.
They say they won't leave the 32-acre parcel where they have lived most of their lives. That parcel is the only undisputed piece of reservation land the Oneidas own. Two hundred and fifty thousand other acres are still being contested in court.
"I'm not leaving," Patterson said. "This is my home. I am an Indian, my children are Indian and we have every right to live on this land."
Nation officials say the ordinances have been approved by the government of the nation and must be enforced to protect the health and safety of residents. They say they do what any other government would do to ensure the safety and welfare of residents.
The ordinances specify that every structure on nation-owned land must be inspected once a year.
But Neal Rose, city attorney for Oneida, said municipalities do not require inspections without cause.
"In terms of any kind of wholesale requirement that people open their houses to it, absolutely not," Rose said. "The city doesn't just go to people's homes and make inspections. I don't know of any place where that would be true."
Patterson and other critics of Halbritter say he has arbitrarily imposed rules and regulations on what used to be a traditional Iroquois society.
Much of the nation's 2-inch-thick ordinance book is lifted from standard laws of New York and local municipalities.
"This government has been made up out of whole cloth by Ray Halbritter since the mid-1990s," Heath said. "He has passed more laws than most states."
The ordinances are enforced by the nation's police force, and cases are heard in a tribal court run by two former members of the state's highest court.
The nation also offers housing programs to its approximately 1,000 members. For example, members can live rent-free for six months in nation-owned housing and can receive up to $50,000 to build new homes.
But not Patterson. She and about 20 other Oneidas lost their nation privileges because they have opposed Halbritter. They have "lost their voices" in nation buildings, meetings and events, nation spokesman Mark Emery said.
They also are not eligible for nation benefits, with the exception of federally funded health care.
The nation contended that Patterson and others had committed acts of treason against the nation's government.
"At this point, the problem is because she has been fighting the very program that could help," Emery said. "She has attempted to undermine it."
Emery said Patterson's three children still receive nation benefits. Annual stipends are placed in a trust fund for each of the children, he said.
Patterson and the other opposing Oneidas sued in tribal court last year, claiming Halbritter's actions are a form of intimidation and violate their free speech. Judge Stewart Hancock Jr. ruled that the court did not have jurisdiction over political or membership questions.
Hancock issued the emergency inspection order Nov. 16 that nation officials used to get inside Patterson's trailer. He also ruled in September that the nation had the right to inspect the mobile homes.
Patterson said she and her three children will be homeless if nation officials demolish the trailer.
"For picking on a single mother and her children, I hope they're proud," she said.
Heath said he hopes the conflict can be resolved through negotiations.
"It just seems there is a better way," he said. "I hope we can find it."
FROM: SYRACUSE.COM - THE POST STANDARD NEWSPAPER
© 2001 The Post-Standard
Thanks Valerie for sending this on!
Last updated on April 21, 2005