*****January 20th, 2006*****
_______________________________________________________________________
Bear Clanmother Livingston has sent another letter of question and protest regarding the possibility of once again the Government trying to put the Superhornet Airstrip in Bertie County.... It would seem this battle was not finished....
DATE: 01-20-2006
TO: Mr. Pierce OLF meeting , Commissioners Rm. Windsor NC
FROM: Marilyn Mejorado-Livingston
RE: Revamped Environmental Impact of Bertie by OLF
Mr. Pierce, I am here as a Representative of the Southern Band Tuscarora Indian Tribe, I spoke at the last meeting, we are still here. I am the Tribal historian of the Tuscarora in Bertie County. I am here to speak on behalf of my Tribe and the Tuscarora descendants of Bertie County. The numerous Tuscarora Villages criss crossed NC, and the seat of the Tuscarora Confederacy was here in Bertie County. Bertie County is one of the oldest counties in NC. In the earliest records of Bertie County the Tuscarora villages were found and shared by the French Huguenots as early as 1525, the first English came in 1585, 50 years after our treaties with the French. Many of the villages and towns are named of French origins. Then Batt’s trading post circa 1620 adjoins the Tuscarora village of Tandequemuc that will be under your flight plan in Merry Hill called Avoca. A portion of this land still belongs to the Tuscarora and is sacred Tribal ground. Our Tribe is in the process of rebuilding our Longhouse, our arena, our trading post, and a nature trail leading to a rendition of Batt’s Trading Post. We do not want you in our air space and our sovereign Tribal land is directly under your flight plan here. How can we have a Traditional village and our religious gatherings with all that noise and pollution overhead every day? This would cost us our livelihoods. Windsor is the center of the Tuscarora village of Dasamonaquepuc. Bertie was originally part of Albemarle Precinct, established in 1660. Chowan County, including the Bertie Precinct, was cut from Albemarle County in 1670, This predates the United States by one hundred and six years. Therefore does not fall under the United States Imminent Domain i.e. Manifest destiny rules. When the United States became the United States in 1776 the treaties were never renegotiated with another Nation therefore the land you are talking about that predates reservations, still houses thousands of remains of the Tuscarora, and is still in dispute and under arbitration. Bertie County is the most environmentally friendly county in the State of NC, the government and the citizens thrive on ecotourism, and should be placed on the top of the most historic sites in the Nation. Wildlife is abundant, waters run pure, crops thrive, children play in peace, the air is clean and fresh, and neighbors watch out for each other. This is as close as the way the old villages used to be as you can find. We already have to deal with harrier jets screeching over our schools during the day, our churches, playgrounds, and homes sometimes nearly deafening us, yet we are no where near an airstrip. As I have personally spoke to you on the phone with numerous complaints about this issue. We get the noise from Oceana and out of Elizabeth City because the citizens who choose to live near a military installation complained so loudly that we get your noise, we get placed under your flight plan without our consent or care about our peace being shattered. When I had my oldest daughter at MCAS Cherry Point I expected and got the noise of the sound barrier being broken day and night, my windows rattling, walls cracking, waking my baby up. When I lived aboard Camp Lejuene and had my second child, I expected the noise of low flying heuy’s and harriers, the constant noise of the breaking of the sound barrier. I moved home, as far away from those installations as possible to find peace and quiet. These superhornets fly at MOC 1.8 that is 1370 mph, faster than the speed of sound which is 761 mph, and you expect us to believe that the superhornet pilots will stay above their 600 ft caps, when the harriers don’t even stay above their 250 ft caps? When you said on the phone to me when I called you complaining that the reason the harrier’s from Oceana were below their cap rattling our windows was because it was a cloudy day! These superhornets are not just airplanes that will be flying over us in our sleep, at school, at church, all the time! These make harriers look like prop planes in comparison. How fast will they be coming in for the so called touch and goes? What will this breaking the sound barrier everyday morning noon and night do to our historical colonial houses in the historic district, not to mention newer houses and structural damages from this kind of a barrage? And the superhornet has 33%, that is 3600 lb’s of extra fuel, more fuel than any other hornet ever made. If just one crashes into the waterway here how long will it pollute our waters? How many animals on the endangered species protected list will it kill? How many fish kills will happen? How much crop damage will we incur? How long will it take for our beautiful pristine county to recover? And at what cost to the citizens who live here in peace? Statistics have shown the effects of inhaling jet fuel affect learning, memory, behavior, lungs and vision. During Desert storm in 1991 soldiers on the ground suffered lung damage and systemic toxicity as a result of exposure to jet fuel fumes without a spill. If any of the fuel were to be spilled over our farm lands or in the waterways surrounding Bertie County it can cause death in large numbers, cancers, lung diseases, blindness and other health related issues too numerous to count. How will this noise and just the fumes affect our nursing homes and hospital patients, elderly, people with compromised immune systems or breathing problems? Who are just under the glight plan. And with 11 weapon stations that include two additional wing storage stations, with 4 1000 lb. bombs not to mention the 25 someodd more bombs that the superhornet can carry. Are they going to do practice touch and goes loaded? If so and if just one goes down around our town, how many people will be killed in the initial blast? How many from cancers and other health related issues that will follow? You cannot guarantee that there won’t be a mid air crash just like on July 19, 2005 over the Mohave Desert in California when two superhornets collided midair over the desert. And on October 18, 2002 two superhornets had a mid air collision in Lemoore California 80 miles off the coast. This could very well happen here because anyone who flies knows that landing and taking off are the two most dangerous times for any plane. If you try to come here to our land we will personally take this to the Supreme Court or the United Nations World Court, we will fight you every step of the way, you have no imminent dominion here. According to the Ghent treaty of 1815 you must abide by our treaties with other Nations that were made before you came to be. Our lands were transferred back to us-the rightful owners-from the English. And only Congress can regulate trade among our Nations and we do not want you anywhere near us or polluting our solitude or our airspace. We refuse to make an agreement with your governemnt in this issue. This OLF would not only dig up our ancestral remains but would also ruin what we love about our homeland, the peace and solitude of our lands and our airways. Your being here would nearly depopulate Bertie County within a year. Hertford, Bertie and Martin County citizens you need to wake up and recognize that they will be coming here doing more so called "studies" and it will most definitely affect you as well, because they (the Navy) can just decide they want to study your land next and condemn it without your sayso or permission like they have done in Hyde county. Because the United States government thinks it still has imminent domain over the entire country that we the people pay for. This is how they took our lands, this same land from the Tuscarora, it is history repeating itself. This falls under dictatorship when the people have no say in Governmental affairs. We need to band together and tell the president we will not be discounted and this type of dictatorship is not acceptable and we will not be treated this way!
______________________________________________________________________
NYEAHWEH to all who joined with us in the protest against the SuperHornet Airstrip site in Bertie County - with the help of the Bertie officials in this protest we are happy to announce that the airstrip will now be established at Cherry Point Air Station, Havelock, NC - in Craven County. I'm not sure that this would have been accomplished without all the help from all of you, and we are very grateful. The fighter jets still fly overhead, it is their flight pattern, but at least they won't be landing in Bertie....
This page will be entered into the Archives in the form of a link from the Longhouse Archives in the next 30 days - to be preserved for any who would like to go back to it.. Nyeahweh again!
You can view the Southern Band Tuscarora Indian Tribe's Official Council
Position HERE
Names and Addresses of Officials you can contact, provided by Lars Simonsen
along with his own suggestions of what else you can incorporate into your own letter of protest.
You can also keep up with the latest developements along with letters posted
to the Bertie Ledger at the Official Bertie County Website
J'wan to all,
We have a problem here in Bertie County that concerns ALL Tuscarora in NC. We must stand up and refuse to let our traditional villages of Tandequemuc and Dasamonaquepuc, and the wetlands and our ancestral burial grounds be desecrated by the US Government again!
The problem is this, look at the map attached. As you can see the US Navy wants to put a superhornet site right beside our village of Tandequemuc, which is located in Merry Hill on Avoca Farms Rd. in Bertie County.
We don't know who was the wise guy who invited this site to be thrown on our Ancestral lands. But we must come together, and protest this! All of our Tuscaroran Ancestors (that are not boxed at ECU that were dug up from Bertie Co.) are still buried near the old ancient villages.
THIS IS A CALL TO ARMS
Letters must be sent by Feb. 9, 2002 to:
Commander, Atlantic Division
Naval Facilities Engineering Command
1510 Gilbert St., Norfolk VA, 23511
Attn: Code 2032 (Mr. Fred Pierson)
Telephone 757-322-4935, fax 757-322-4894
As most of you know we live quiet a ways from Oceana naval base in VA. ( an hour and a half away) And we have to call Mr. Pierson frequently because their tomcats go under their cap, and rattle our windows. If we get blasted by their noise living over 85 miles away, what will it be like to try to have a beautiful village, with a Longhouse, nature trail, and programs, just to be blasted by even bigger jets right on our back door????
So write dear Mr. Pierson a letter, or call, or fax him. Virginia residents complained loud and long enough to shift them directly over our towns!
Now lets shift them back to Virginia. With a resounding NO Thank YOU! Go Away!
Send a copy here to the tribal office for the archives.. Southern Band Tuscarora Tribe Po Box 14, Winton NC 27986. 252-358-1182
If you know of other Tuscarora Bands that have not received this, please forward it to them as well. Get ready to protest....
Nyeahweh
Southern Band Tuscarora Tribal Grand Council
Return to Table of Contents
This page added January 12, 2002 and updated July 6, 2002 by Pam Miller Thomas