Free Republic

ORISKANY—Nearly 200 people gathered Monday to remember the 235th anniversary of one of the bloodiest battles during the Revolutionary War at The Battle of Oriskany. It was a commemorative ceremony held by members of the Oneida Nation and representatives from the National Parks Service at Fort Stanwix. During the ceremony flags were lowered to half-staff, wreaths were placed at the monument, and men wore military costumes while firing off muskets. “There were hundreds of people who lost their lives here in this battle and it’s really important to remember those people who gave their lives for our freedom today,” said...

ONEIDA – The Oneida Indian Nation is fully financing a $10 million theatrical film about the alliance between the Oneidas and the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. According to the New York Times, the independent production “First Allies” is expected to begin shooting in Central New York this fall. Ray Halbritter, Nation representative and CEO of Nation Enterprises, told the Times that he is looking for an avenue more effective than traditional storytelling to close what he sees as the gap between the Nation’s fewer than 1,000 members and a world with which it has had property disputes and...

Eliot Spitzer is running for governor as the best guy to clean up Albany, including its corrupt "pay-to-play" system of shaking down interest groups for campaign donations and other goodies. So what the heck is he doing jetting around on the Gulfstream of a Wyoming businessman who wants to run race tracks and build casinos in New York? It's one thing for Spitzer to pile up money and endorsements from insiders... Accepting deeply discounted air travel from a gambling mogul doing lots of business with state government - as Spitzer and an aide did in May - is too cozy...

The federal government will not pay $250 million toward the Oneida Indian land claim, a move that essentially kills a highly publicized settlement agreement announced last year. In a one-page letter sent to the land claim mediator, federal negotiators said they have no plans to put up the money. The secret letter, written in August by a lawyer for the Department of the Interior, came to The Post-Standard attention's last week. That money was the foundation of the agreement announced in February 2002 by state and New York Oneida leaders. Gov. George Pataki said then the three Oneida tribes would...