Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head

Wampanoag Financial Crisis Forces Tribe to Sell Off Land and Stock Assets

A general store, a delicatessen and a shellfish hatchery -
they were all supposed to add up to profits for the only federally
recognized Indian tribe in the state, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
(Aquinnah).

Tribe Plan for Police Force Triggers Mediation Talks

A federal mediator yesterday waded into the dispute between
officials in Aquinnah and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
over the tribe's plans to form its own police force.

Superior Court Hears Key Case

The question of whether claims of sovereignty entitle the Wampanoag
Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) to skirt local and state laws will be
decided in Dukes County superior court, rather than a federal district
court in Boston where lawyers for the tribe wanted the case tried.

Wampanoag Tribal Sovereignty Case Raises Jurisdictional Questions in Federal Court

U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock heard the case of
Aquinnah building inspector versus the Wampanoag Tribal Council of Gay
Head Wednesday and questioned whether the federal court has jurisdiction
over the civil action. The outcome of the case will determine whether
the town has zoning jurisdiction on tribal lands.

Wampanoag Leadership Faces Election Test

After spending much of the last two years in political hot water over gun-toting rangers, sheds with no building permits and the stewardship of a beloved general store, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) now finds itself in a state of inner turmoil, its members at odds with each other.

State Aids Talks in Town-Tribe Clash on Guns

The dispute over the right of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
(Aquinnah) to arm its rangers with handguns and establish its own police
force is now being hashed out in the offices of the state attorney
general in Boston, where state officials are acting as facilitators.

Aquinnah Files Suit Against Tribal Move

The Aquinnah building inspector filed a lawsuit this week against
the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) to test the question of
whether the tribe must follow local zoning rules.

"A genuine controversy exists on this issue requiring judicial
guidance," wrote Aquinnah town counsel Ronald H. Rappaport in the
complaint.

Tribe, Town Collide

In the view of Aquinnah police chief Doug Fortes, the turning point came in the fall of 1999, when rangers from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay
Head (Aquinnah) came back from a trip to the Oneida Indian Nation in upstate New York, packing a half dozen Glock nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistols.

People of the First Light Believe In Common Lands and Sharing of Ancient Aquinnah Traditions

We are members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). Wampanoag means “People of the First Light.” Aquinnah means “Land under the Hill.” We have survived on Noepe, “land amid the waters,” members of the Algonquin Nation and Eastern Woodland Indians.
 

Spirit of Aquinnah Is Based on Tribal Tradition of Consensus

As Gay Head entered the 1900s, it was one of the newest towns in the commonwealth. The English settlers at first considered it part of Chilmark, then decreed it an Indian district from 1855 to 1870, and finally granted it legal independence as the town of Gay Head in 1870. In creating the town, the legislature permitted tribal members of the place they called Aquinnah to divide their land severally and establish a town meeting form of government. To start its life as an incorporated town in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, the state gave Gay Head a treasury of $2.68.  

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