Schaghticoke pyramid scheme

Schaghticoke Faction Plans a Grand EdificeThe long saga of the Schaghticoke Indians in Kent has taken a different turn with the announcement on the Algonquin Fieldstone Web site of a proposal to build the Great American Freedom Pyramid on reservation land.

Micky Rost, a Sharon stone-mason who goes by the Indian name "Rock," said this week that the Schaghticoke Indian Tribe [SIT] "would like to do something that is really tastefully done" in its creation of a 400-foot-high bluestone-sheathed pyramid that will sit atop Preston Mountain overlooking the Housatonic River.Not only is the Schaghticoke tribe unrecognized at present, but apparently this is a tiny offshoot of the unrecognized tribe:Mr. Rost said that the SIT, which consists of about a dozen members, mostly members of a single family, does not need federal recognition to have Level II gaming at the site under the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. "They would need federal recognition for high stakes games," he asserted, "but you don't need it to have Level II gaming-slot machines and Bingo-and you don't need a compact with the State to have it. Connecticut doesn't want that because it is receiving $72 million a year from the Mashenpequot and Mohegan tribes for their gambling casinos. The state doesn't want to give away the candy jar."

He said, however, that it is "very probable" the SIT would want Level II gaming at its resort.Comment:  You can bet a casino is the primary motivation for Rost's pyramid scheme. But I'm pretty sure he's wrong about unrecognized tribes being able to conduct Class II gaming. Therefore, I'm guessing there will never be a pyramid atop Preston Mountain.