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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 1976)
Indian tribe wants Cape Cod as atonement for past sins By NIKKI FINKE Associated Press MASHPEE, Mass. —The Wam- panoag Indians demanded 500 acres of lush, green forestland from this Cape Cod vacation spot last year, and they got it. Now the tribe wants the whole town. “Even Peter Minuit couldn’t get us out of this mess,” exclaimed one Mashpee official. But James St. Clair might. The constitutional lawyer of Watergate fame has been retained, at an initial fee of $65,000, to defend the town in a federal suit being brought by the Indians to recover 16,000 acres that was owned 100 years ago by their ancestors. The court action already is turning Mashpee into an economic waste land. Because of cloudy titles, mortgage loans are at a standstill, newly built homes can’t be sold and school bond financing is in trouble. "We’ve never known this kind of power. All of a sudden, we are guid ing the destiny of the town,” says Russell Peters, leader of the Wam- panoag Indian Tribal Council. The Wampanoags contend at least 15 per cent of Cape Cod was illegally seized from them by the 19th cen tury' maneuvering of the white man. Under the Indian Intercourse Act of 1790, land can not be taken from Indians without congressional ap proval. Congress has never okayed the Massachusetts taking of the Mashpee land. It is this loss of ownership and lack of voice in the town — a town they claim to own — that the Indians are seeking to regain, believing a court battle may be the only way to prod the white man into recognizing their needs. “We are supposed to subscribe to the Adam and Eve syndrome: that you are guilty for your father’s sins, ” says Kevin O’Connell, Mashpee selectman and outspoken critic of the suit. “We can’t be held responsible for what our ancestors did to the Indians more than 100 year s ago. We didn’t wrong anyone. Now they want to come along and take away 7 our homes, our businesses. Like hell they will. The town, a 90-minute drive southeast from Boston, is in many ways a symbol of middle class suc cess and a haven of the affluent. Just one community away, the Kennedy family maintains a sprawling sum mer home in Hyannis Port. Property taxes are among the low est in the state, and the 2,400 resi dents, whether year-round or sum mer, greet one another by first names. The Wampanoags — there are fewer than 300 of them — want to change all that. Mashpee, with its desirable ex panses of forests and post card panoramas of azure lakes and bays, has attracted land developers eager to satisfy the tastes of the wealthy. Most of the new construction has taken place in the last six years, doubling the population and trim ming the amount of undeveloped land in the town to just 16 per cent, compared to 20 per cent in 1970. “The political and business forces are at work destroying Mashpee, try ing to make it the fastest growing, most affluent and sophisticated community on Cape Cod, Peters complains. Although only a handful of the tribe speaks the Wampanoag dialect, biweekly councils are held in a cleared patch of forest given to the Indians by the town last year as a peace offering. It didn’t work. The Indians’ suit, when first dis closed in July, caused little ruckus among townspeople. “Their reaction was ‘Ha, ha, the Indians have filed a suit. Well, no body’s laughing now,” says Peters. “It was much more far-reaching than people believed possible,’’ O’Connell noted. “We re not talking about desert in Nevada or mountains in Oregon. This is land where people have homes.” The suit is wreaking havoc on the town’s financial future. Lawyers are reluctant to clear title to the land and, without the deeds, banks are not issuing mortgage loans. “Right now, the real estate market in Mashpee is nonexistent for all practical purposes, says George Benway, one of the town’s leading real estate agents and a Mashpee selectman. Qbc) INTERSTATE 77, 846-6/14 ST 846-115. UNIVERSITY SQUARE SHOPPING CENTER "The Next Man” CINEMA I H -3S- Technicolor QD DAILY ^ .7:35 & , 9: 35 GENE WILDER In MEL BROOKS’ ‘THE EECEUCEES” Co-starring ZeroMostel [PG THE BATTALION Page 9 TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1976 DAILY 7;45 & 9:25 LAST 3 DAYS ON BOTH. I COMING SOON STARTS DECEMBER 17 KING KONG!!! rrnimiriiirl Wanted! — Used Books Check Lou-He’s buying books Loupot’s Bookstore North Gate-Across from the Post Office GRAND OPENING TEXAS FURNITURE OUTLET | Tremendous Savings on these opening specials . . . fan- | tastic one of a kind Bargains! Limited quantities! Hurry for | best selections. I o 4 Pc. Bedroom Sets $129.95 J • Sofa & Chair Sets in Herculon $139.95 j • 5 Pc. Dining Sets $ 59.95 I • Full Size Mattress & Box Sets $ 69.95 j • Recliners — Super Comfort! $ 69.95 TEXAS FURNITURE OUTLET 712 Villa Maria (Across from Manor East Mall) Open Mon.-Sat. 9:00-9:00 Wildlife Biology Association will present the Audubon Film ‘ Twentieth-Centu ry Wilderness” by Tom Sterling Wednesday December 8 7:30 p.m. RUDDER CENTER THEATER Admission: A&M Students $.75 Single Admission $1.50 FAMILY NIGHT BUFFET EVERY TUESDAY 6:00-8:30 P.M. / ALL THE PIZZA AND SALAD YOU CAN EAT FOR $1.89 CHILDREN UNDER 6 - 99c PIZZA INN OF BRYAN 1803 Greenfield Plaza Next to Bryan High 846-1784 PIZZA INN OF COLLEGE STATION 413 Texas Avenue S. 846-6164 Pizza ixm REAIMUT GALLERY EVERY TUESDAY IS LADIES’ NIGHT OUT ALL BAR DRINKS & BEER FREE wmam—m—mm—mm $100 DOOR PRIZE every Tuesday $3.00 cover for guys $1.00 cover for gals 813 WELLBORN HWY (Just down from Kyle Field) elebrate. Don't miss our Treasure Chest drawings! Anyone who comes into Homestead Savings during our gala Housewarming will get to draw a key from a fishbowl. If the key fits, the chest will open, revealing a passbook with $25 already deposited to the account. There'll be winners every day. Of course, everyone's a winner at Home stead Savings, because everyone gets to enjoy our full range of savings plans, mort gage and related loans, friendly personal service, and convenient location, right across from the main entrance to A&M, with plenty of free parking. So stop in during Homestead's House warming. Enjoy a cup of coffee while we discuss your financial future. We'll show you why Bryan-College Station's newest financial institution is the right one for you. You and your neighbors are cordially invited to a Homestead Housewarming to celebrate the opening of Homestead Savings Association December 1-10 during normal office hours Monday-Thursday 9-3 Friday 9-6 Treasure Chest Drawing for 75 $25 Housewarming Accounts. Winners every day Homestead Savings Association of Texas 1063 S. Texas Avenue (across from the main entrance to A&M) Phone: 693-1063 Your savings insured to $40,000 with the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation.