Tribal Group Sets Goal

Members of a group claiming to lead the Montaukett Indian Tribe announced at a press conference on Saturday that they would pursue ownership of lands they say were stolen from their ancestors, including Montauk County Park, the Camp Hero State Park near Montauk Point, and the former Grumman site in Calverton.

It is at Calverton where the group hopes to build a tribal center and a long list of recreational, social service, and medical facilities - all funded by a casino.

Robert Cooper, a former East Hampton Town Councilman who was elected Chief in November by 37 of an estimated 350 members on the most recent tribal roll, leads the group. His election has been called "irrelevant" by Robert Pharaoh of Sag Harbor, who claims he is Chief, or Grand Sachem. Some 100 Montauketts are said to have signed documents of allegiance to him.

"Economic Engine"

Mr. Cooper called the press conference after it was reported that his supporters were negotiating with would-be casino developers called the Dreamcatchers.

Wearing a headband and necklace, Mr. Cooper described the Montauketts' cultural, spiritual, and legal history in detail for about an hour before confirming that the tribe was indeed interested in building a casino at Calverton.

He called a casino "an economic engine," which, he said, would "do good for the people." Furthermore, Mr. Cooper claimed that the Montaukett Tribe had rights to lands the length and breadth of Long Island. He declined to name any of the would-be casino developers the group was talking to. The Dreamcatchers were "out of the picture," however, he said.

Dreamcatchers

Led by William D. Talmage, a real estate broker involved in developing the Tanger Mall in Riverhead, the Dreamcatchers had approached the Shinnecocks in Southampton, the Poosepatucks in Mastic, and Robert Pharaoh before beginning negotiations with Mr. Cooper's group.

As reported here previously, Mr. Cooper and members of the Dreamcatchers had toured the 2,900-acre Grumman site at Calverton with a representative of the Riverhead Community Development Agency, which has been showing the site to potential developers. The Star also obtained and reported on minutes of a Nov. 15 meeting between Mr. Cooper and the Dreamcatchers.

Members of the Montaukett Tribe confirmed that a lawyer for Mr. Cooper's group had written to the Dreamcatchers recently to say that they were not interested in doing business with them. Mr. Talmage did not return calls by press time and Doug Herrlin, an East Hampton architect who is listed as one of the Dreamcatchers, declined to be interviewed.

Five Council Members

On Saturday, Mr. Cooper denied signing anything with the Dreamcatchers, saying a contract to develop a casino would have to bear seven Montaukett signatures, his and the six members of his executive council, who, he said, live in western Suffolk, Nassau, and Queens.

Five appeared with him on Saturday: John Brewster Fowler, a retired police officer from Amityville, Delores Bunn Vaughan, a former state finance officer from Hollis, Cheryl Cuffey-Carrion, a bookkeeper from Hempstead, the Rev. Kenneth Nelson, a Methodist minister from Oyster Bay, and Corinne Bunn Whitaker, a retired postal worker from Copiague.

They said they had not chosen a casino developer, and noted that "there are offers on the table." The council had been "looking, talking, and listening," according to Mr. Cooper.

'We have a people out there who are definitely yearning to find their way back home. We're going to be their compass.' Robert Cooper

The group said it would use the profits from the casino to, in Mr. Cooper's words, "move the Montauketts out of the dark and into the light."

Long Island Caretakers

After a judge ruled the tribe was extinct in 1909, which Mr. Cooper said pushed tribal members into the "mainstream," their descendants became doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, he said, who can develop and operate as sophisticated a complex as the group has proposed. They have formed a nonprofit corporation, called the Montaukett Caretakers of Long Island, under which to raise funds to document their genealogy and pursue Federal recognition as a tribe.

Two years ago, Mr. Pharaoh sent the Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs a letter of intent, the first step in the application process for receiving tribal recognition. Last month, at a monthly gathering of Montauketts in Amityville, they took the second step, approving a final version of the actual application and the extensive documentation it requires.

"It took two years to ask for all the genealogies but it's done. And Bob Cooper submitted his own genealogy for our document so he is a participant in it," said James Devine, a Montaukett supporting Mr. Pharaoh.

Recognition would make the tribe eligible for educational, housing, and social services and grant it sovereign rights, including the right to operate a casino.

Money Charges

Reached at home Tuesday night, Mr. Pharaoh confirmed that he and his supporters had "absolutely no interest in a casino."

"Our goal is to receive Federal recognition as a tribe, to regain our identity, and eventually to reclaim some of our ancestral lands," he said.

He and other Montauketts said Montauk County Park was clearly an ancestral land, which they could try to reclaim in the future. But, they said, there was less evidence of the former military base at Camp Hero's being of significance and none whatsoever of ownership of the Calverton site.

"This is only about money. Take the chance for some money away and Bob Cooper will go away," charged Mr. Pharaoh.

Artifacts As Proof

Mr. Cooper said "artifacts" had been found during an environmental study of the Calverton site and that, as a result, the Environmental Protection Agency had recommended the Montauketts' concerns be considered as the study was completed.

"Do people die where they live? Most likely," he said.

The Navy is overseeing the study, and a spokesman told The Star no formal Montaukett claim to the land had been made. To questions about whether lacking Federal recognition could hold up a claim, Mr. Cooper said the Department of the Interior could temporarily hold the land in trust while a final decision on recognition was made. That could take could take several years, he added.

Calling the Montauketts "a proud people" and "decent and genuine people," Mr. Cooper said they believed "spiritual and divine guidance is leading us to this point." He called his supporters "a new breed of Montaukett."

Social Services

"We have a people out there who are definitely yearning to find their way back home. We're going to be their compass," he said.

Plans include a breast cancer clinic, youth recreation center, affordable housing, clinics for abused children and drug abusers, a shelter for victims of domestic violence, a nutritional program for homebound seniors and day care centers for seniors, and children.

Also on the wish list are a center for Native American crafts and culture, a reconstruction of an old village, a restaurant, a museum and genealogy library, horseback riding, a theme park, a convention center, a performing arts theater, a sports arena, a hospital, and picnic and camp grounds.

And Many Jobs

The group said the complex would generate many jobs - and enough revenue for the town to decrease property taxes. Mr. Cooper said the first employees chosen would come from Riverhead, which has a large low-income population.

Additionally, the revenue to the Montauketts "can establish some repatriation on the wrongs that were done to us," said Mr. Cooper. He and his council said they were not interested in obtrusive architecture. "We're a low profile people that do low profile things that get maximum effect," he said.

The group said it would soon approach the Riverhead Town Board with a specific proposal for the site, and expected that it would meet there with enthusiasm. It was learned that Mr. Pharaoh had already written to the Riverhead Town Board, however, saying Mr. Cooper does not represent the Montauketts and that the tribe lays no claim to the Calverton site.

Legal Aid

Mr. Cooper's group has hired two lawyers. They are Nina Stewart, who is East Hampton Town's housing director and who will watch over the transfer and development of the land, and Ann Nowak, who has a practice in Water Mill, and will help manage the group's finances. She also will help the group "avoid people looking out for themselves," as Mr. Cooper put it.

Ms. Nowak played the latter role on Saturday. She kept a list of reporters who had been approved to attend the conference, screening each as he or she arrived, and she operated a tape recorder throughout the conference, as did Mr. Cooper.

Bob Goodale, chairman of the Riverhead Development Corporation, who has been authorized by the town to oversee development at Calverton, joined the press conference halfway through and left before it was over. He said yesterday that he awaited a formal proposal.

Recognition Key

Mr. Goodale added that his role was only to advise the Town Board on the viability of any proposals made and that he would leave the question of gambling's suitability to the Calverton site to the board.

State and county parks officials said they had yet to receive any legal papers on the Montauketts' land claims and Mr. Cooper was not ready to say when that would occur.

Peter A. Scully, assistant deputy county executive, said "obviously, the assertion is very interesting but it remains to be seen whether the group making it will be recognized as a tribe, or whether in fact they have rights to anything at all."

"I thought Bob Cooper claimed to be Chief so he could march at the head of the town's 350th anniversary parade," said Mr. Devine, who lives in Montauk, referring to the East Hampton Town celebration in October.

Stolen Lands

"But now he's dealing with these people and no one knows who they are. If they have millions to sink into a casino, somebody better find out who the hell they are."

The group's claims to land outside Montauk County Park are "pure nonsense," Mr. Devine alleged. "As far as the tribe is concerned, we only want back the rights to the land that was stolen from us."

"The Europeans made us slaves and servants, and we refuse to yield to that. . . . Montauk to Brooklyn is Montaukett country," said Mr. Cooper.