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Three times over the 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...
Billions of dollars are riding on the decision, 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...
...There's a substantial market there, a good market," says Thomas Wilmot, a Rochester, N.Y., real estate developer. He has invested more than $4 million underwriting the lawyers, genealogists and historians who are helping make the case for federal recognition of the Quiet Hawk group. Wilmot says he will build and manage the casino if the Paugussetts get the go-ahead...
...Ever since we allowed Indians to have gaming, we have made them into wonderful 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...
...Quiet Hawk's Paugussetts have long been recognized as a tribe by the state of Connecticut, but that status required scant proof of lineage and carries few benefits. Only 10 of the modern Paugussetts live on the group's two reservations: a quarter-acre lot in the town of Trumbull and 106 acres in Colchester. There a metal gate blocks the gravel drive, and a NO TRESPASSING sign bars the curious from visiting the two mobile homes inside. A mailbox reads GOLDEN HILL...