SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — Members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation and their supporters including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters are urging local officials to spend $5.3 million and preserve a property in the tribe’s ancient burial area on Long Island. Newsday reports that the 4.5-acre property is sacred to the Shinnecocks but is regarded as prime Hamptons real estate. Under a deal proposed by tribal leaders, the nonprofit Peconic Land Trust would purchase the title and demolish a six-bedroom house on the property. The town would then buy the development rights from the land trust using $5.3 million from the Community Preservation Fund.
Photo: FILE – In this June 15, 2005 file photo, Shinnecock Indian Nation trustee James Eleazer, Jr., third from right, addresses the media as tribal Chairman Randy King, center and Charles Smith, left, listen outside court in Central Islip, N.Y., where King filed papers claiming tribal ownership of 3,600 acres of land in Southampton, N.Y. Members of the small Indian tribe on New York’s Long Island were celebrating with prayers and song Tuesday June 15, 2010 after receiving notification from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs that it has been formally recognized as a tribe. (AP Photo/Ed Betz, File)
