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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 02-19-2002 - 5b ' 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: Action Agenda Item No. 34, , SUBJECT: Resolution Congratulating and Celebrating the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation on Recognition by the State of North Carolina DEPARTMENT: County Commissioners & PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No County Manager ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: John Link, ext 2300 Proposed Resolution BOCC Adopted Resolution — 12/04/95 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To consider a resolution congratulating and celebrating the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation on recognition by the State of North Carolina. BACKGROUND: In the late 1600s, members of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation moved south from Virginia into what is now known as Hillsborough. After some years, the tribe returned north. By the middle of the 18th century, however, some members had returned back to the Hillsborough area. Prompted in part by the archeological exploration of the Occaneechi's original village in Hillsborough, members of the tribe, in 1985, began researching and working on an application for recognition by the State of North Carolina. To obtain official recognition, the tribe had to compile historical data which included at least 200 years of family lineage, official records and documents, traditional Indian names, and links to other. tribes. The tribe formally submitted its application to the North Carolina Commission for Indian Affairs (NCIA) in 1990, but was denied based on failing to meet established criteria. Following additional research, the tribe twice again applied for recognition, but failed to receive approval. A lengthy court process ensued between the tribe and the NCIA, including a finding for the tribe by an administrative law judge, a reversal by a Superior Court judge, a successful appeal to the NC Court of Appeals, and a refusal by the state Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the Court of Appeals decision. The legal process ultimately returned the matter to Orange County Superior Court, and Superior Court Judge Wade Barber issued an order in early February, 2002 granting the Occaneechi official state recognition. Considered a formality, the last step necessary is for a local legislator to submit a bill during the next General Assembly session creating a seat on the Indian Commission for the Occaneechi tribe. 2 After diligently working for approximately 17 years to obtain recognition from the state, the Occaneechi have finally been successful. A resolution congratulating and celebrating the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation on recognition by the State of North Carolina is attached. The tribe may plan some special activities during its June 2002 Occaneechi Pow Wow to celebrate its recognition, and it will likely move forward in the near future with efforts to obtain federal recognition. It is worth noting that the Orange County Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution in December of 1995 recognizing the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation as a Native American tribe indigenous to Orange County. The resolution, which is attached, also detailed Orange County's support for the Occaneechi in their application for recognition by the State of North Carolina. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with approval of the resolution. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the resolution celebrating and congratulating the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation on recognition by the State of North Carolina. • 3 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Resolution Congratulating and Celebrating the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation on Recognition by the State of North Carolina WHEREAS, members of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation moved south from Virginia in the late 1600s into what is now known as Hillsborough, and after the tribe returned north, some members returned back to the Hillsborough area in the middle of the 18th century; and, WHEREAS, members of the tribe, in 1985, began researching and working on an application for recognition by the State of North Carolina; and, WHEREAS; the tribe formally submitted its application to the North Carolina Commission for Indian Affairs (NCIA) in 1990, but was denied and then twice again applied for recognition, but further failed to receive approval; and, WHEREAS, a lengthy court process ensued between the tribe and the NCIA that ultimately returned the matter to Orange County Superior Court, with Superior Court Judge Wade Barber issuing an order in early February, 2002 granting the Occaneechi official state recognition; and, WHEREAS, after diligently working for nearly two decades to obtain recognition from the State of North Carolina, the Occaneechi tribe has finally been successful and achieved the recognition it so greatly deserved: NOW THEREFORE, We, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, do hereby congratulate the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation on its recognition by the State of North Carolina and do hereby celebrate with the Occaneechi this recognition and the hard work, perseverance, and dedication which led to it. This the 19th day of February, 2002. Barry Jacobs, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners Beverly Blythe, Clerk to the Board RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT . 4 FOR STATE RECOGNITION WHEREAS, the ancestors of the Occaneechi-Saponi were an ancient people who collectively called themselves Yesah or the people who originally came from lands to the west, over the Appalachian and Blue Ridge mountains in an area known today as the Ohio River Valley, and WHEREAS, nearly one thousand years ago, the Yesah came under attack from a powerful enemy and were forced to migrate over the mountains to their east and settle in what is now the piedmont of Virginia and North Carolina, and WHEREAS, as a result of their power, the influence of the Occaneechi and of the Yesah peoples were spread far and wide and both the general language of trade and the rituals of the Indigenous religion of the region were spoken in the Occaneechi dialect, and WHEREAS, in May of the year 1676, the independence of the Occaneechi and of the Yesah peoples came to an abrupt end, when Nathaniel Bacon led his militia into the land of the Occaneechi in the spring of the year and forced a fight which ultimately broke the power of the tribe and scattered the Yesah people, and WHEREAS, after being attacked by Bacon' s militia, the Occaneechi were forced south and settled along the Eno River near present day Hillsborough, North Carolina, and WHEREAS, in 1713, the colony of Virginia and Great Britain signed a treaty of peace with the Yesah and the Occaneechi returned to Virginia where they were joined by their cousins the Saponi, Tutelo, Stuckanocks, and Meiponsky, and WHEREAS, all the tribes joined together and adopted the name of the Saponi and were thereafter known as the Saponi Nation, and WHEREAS, by the .mid 1700' s the tribe had resettled in what is now Greensville, Brunswick, Mecklenburg and Northampton counties on the Virginia/North Caroilna border, and WHEREAS, they stayed there until the 1780' s when in response to increasing pressure from- neighboring whites, the community began moving back to the area near the Eno River where they had once lived, settling in the northeast section of Alamance County and adjoining Orange County and WHEREAS, since that time, some of the people moved to Ohio and Indiana but the bulk of the Saponi people remained in "Little Texas" forming an independent Indian community which was based on small scale farming, and WHEREAS, the Saponi people formally reorganized in 1984 as the Eno- Occaneechi Indian Association, Inc. with a Tribal Board of Directors which represents the tribe at the Local, State and National level and which deals with problems facing the community, and WHEREAS, in February of 1995, the Tribal Board of Directors voted to amend the name of the tribe to the OCCANEECHI BAND OF THE SAPONI NATION to more accurately reflect the ancestry of the tribe. NOW, THEREFORE, THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS does hereby recognize the OCCANEECHI BAND OF THE SAPONI NATION as a Native American tribe indigenous to Orange County and FURTHERMORE, THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS does hereby support the OCCANEECHI BAND OF THE SAPONI NATION in their request for recognition from the State of North Carolina. This the 4th day of December, 1995.