Sources: Feds to OK Shinnecock tribe application Tuesday

The Shinnecock Indian Nation's 31-year quest for federal recognition is expected to cross a major hurdle Tuesday with the expected final approval by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the tribe's application, according to sources briefed on the announcement.

The Federal recognition would clear the way for a casino and long-sought economic benefits for the 1,300-member tribe. The only remaining step is a technical one - a 30-day comment period following the ruling's publication in the Federal Register.

Tribal leaders met last month with Gov. David A. Paterson's staff to set the stage for negotiations on a compact, which includes terms for revenue sharing and site selection.

For the Shinnecock Nation, which has maintained its 750-acre Southampton Town reservation, tribal rituals, customs and a language, it represents confirmation of an identity it has clung to proudly in the face of bureaucratic setbacks and financial hardship.

"The psychological lift is a big one," said John Strong, an ethno-historian and professor emeritus at Long Island University, who studies Long Island tribes. "All the years of having to suffer the condescension and ridicule of people who said they were not really Indian - this turns the corner on all that and puts it beneath them."

Tribal leaders would not comment on the anticipated decision, but people close to the tribe said word of the announcement set off a wave of excitement on the reservation last night. Generations of Shinnecocks have waited for official recognition, which makes the tribe eligible for needed housing, education and health care programs, and gives it the right to open a casino on tribal land.

The tribe has said it has no interest in opening a casino on the reservation, planning instead to open one or more within commuting distance of the reservation or as far away as the Catskills.

So, with their financial backers at Gateway Casino Resorts of Michigan, tribal leaders in recent weeks and months crisscrossed Long Island to visit potential casino sites, talk to potential developers and, just last week, to attend a public hearing to narrow its list of sites.

Possible sites reportedly include the Brookhaven Calabro Airport in Shirley, two sections of the EPCAL property in Calverton, Legacy Village at Yaphank, Parr Meadows in Yaphank, Nassau Coliseum and Belmont Park raceway.

The tribe had expected word on the decision from R. Lee Flemming, the director of the BIA's Office of Federal Acknowledgment, this Friday. But tribe officials were told last night that the final determination would come in a phone call by 11 a.m. Tuesday, sources said.

Once they receive final word, the determination will be published in the Federal Register, and parties will have 30 days to comment on it. After that, recognition will be finalized.