Word: bridgeporter
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...House. A solidly built man in a dark business suit, Quiet Hawk--born 55 years ago as Aurelius Piper--picks at a salad and steak as he explains his crusade to win federal recognition as an Indian tribe for himself and his 324 followers, most from the area around Bridgeport, Conn. "I'm trying," he says, "to get the best possible deal for the tribe to live out its culture and heritage...
...past five years, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs has rejected the petitions of Quiet Hawk and his followers, ruling that they failed to demonstrate sufficient links to the Golden Hill Paugussett tribe from which they claim to be descended. The ancestral Paugussetts were hunting and fishing around Bridgeport when the first English settlers arrived in the 1600s, but their numbers had dwindled by the late 1800s. Despite his setbacks, Quiet Hawk, a former social worker who now labors full time on his crusade, has persisted--and has persuaded the BIA to take an unusual fourth look at his group...
...expected by midyear. With federal recognition, Quiet Hawk's Paugussetts--factory and government workers, small-business owners and retirees--would become, in many respects, a sovereign nation and could, with the state's approval, open their casino. And not just any casino. Their preferred site would be on the Bridgeport waterfront--only 55 miles from New York City, and even nearer to the city's wealthy northern suburbs...
...bets for big-money interests," says Representative Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican who opposes the Quiet Hawk group's efforts. His district includes much of the land entangled in what he calls the group's "bogus" land claims, which sweep across much of western Connecticut, including land occupied by Bridgeport city hall, Trumbull town hall, the headquarters of People's Bank and hundreds of private homes. Quiet Hawk retorts that the casino issue came up long after his group began its quest for recognition and real estate--which by now includes land claims filed on about 1,000 acres...
Even the process of getting to the hospital in an ambulance has become more fraught. Consider the tragedy of Londell King, a 16-year-old straight-A student from Bridgeport, Conn., who was shot in the hip while standing on the street one March afternoon in 1997. Though an ambulance operated by American Medical Response arrived promptly, the EMTs on the scene allegedly didn't take King's vital signs or recognize his internal bleeding. They kicked him out of the ambulance and drove off, according to a lawsuit filed against AMR. Relatives took King to the hospital...