SENECA FALLS -- The Seneca Falls Community Center was aflutter with American flags and full of protest signs that read: "No trust lands" and "I am a Native American. I was born here and I pay taxes."

Seneca County held its public hearing Monday night on the proposed settlement with the Cayuga Indian Nation of New York to limit the acreage the tribe can apply to take into sovereign status in exchange for a Las Vegas-style casino in the Catskills and hold harmless payments to Cayuga and Seneca counties.

The Seneca County Board of Supervisors also announced the postponement of its vote on the settlement from June 26 until a still-to-be-determined date.

Fourteen people addressed the Seneca County Board of Supervisors from the audience of 130. The audience loudly applauded all of the speakers who expressed sentiments of equality.

"The Upstate Citizens for Equality stands for equality, legality and morality, not creating a special privileged group for $13 million, for so-called blood money from casinos," said Peter Shuster, a farmer who wore a straw hat and flag-colored suspenders.

UCE had a strong presence at the meeting, partly because of a pre-meeting rally organized by the anti-Indian sovereignty citizens group. Rich Tallcot, chairman of the UCE Cayuga-Seneca chapter, estimated 100 people attended, including some who came for the rally but skipped the meeting.

Read the full report in Tuesday's edition of The Citizen.