Briefs: Gayogóho:no, Black Diamond Trail, more

Local legislators issue letter on Gayogohó:nǫˀ self-determination

Nine Tompkins County legislators are calling on the federal government to heed the Gayogohó:nǫˀ (Cayuga Nation) decision to remove Clint Halftown as a representative to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Department of Interior (DOI). The legislators’ letter (available at tinyurl.com/2m9prdom) comes as a reaction to the Aug. 3 bulldozing that occurred under the direction of Clint Halftown and the Halftown Council.

“The non-Native ‘Cayuga Nation Police’ demolished a building used by Gayogohó:nǫˀ community and citizens to gather for their ceremonies, as well as the home of an elder Gayogohó:nǫˀ woman, violently injuring her in the process,” the letter states. It also points out that those bulldozing the buildings neglected to disconnect electric and gas lines going to the house, putting those present “at grave risk.”

The legislators reference public-facing materials of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, of which Cayuga Nation is a member, which describe the governance system of the Confederacy and make clear that Halftown has no role in their government.

“To date, the United States has failed to receive the Sachems’ [Chiefs’] governance decisions and has therefore been violating Cayuga Nation sovereignty for nearly two decades,” according to the letter.

The legislators’ letter is the latest in a slew of similar statements from local governments over the past year, including from Seneca County, the city of Ithaca and several towns within Tompkins and Seneca counties. Many of these communications cite a May 2021 letter from the Gayogohó:nǫˀ Council of Sachems in which they ask people of the U.S. to bring this violation to the attention of the U.S. government.

“The U.S. needs to stop recognizing Clint Halftown and his Council. The rightful and only form of governance for the Cayuga Nation is our Chiefs and Clan Mothers,” said Leanna Young, a Heron Clan Gayogohó:nǫˀ mother who was present at the bulldozing on Aug. 3.

Young was one of several Gayogohó:nǫˀ citizens who addressed the Tompkins County Legislature on this issue in September 2021.

“Clint Halftown literally haunts the dreams of our children, having now bulldozed their grandmother’s home and twice demolished our sacred place of prayer,” Young said.

Young encouraged those appalled by these actions to demand that their representatives and government officials “do all in their power to end Halftown’s tyranny and his Council’s campaign of cultural genocide currently devastating our community at the northern end of Cayuga Lake.”

Ithaca resident Maddie Halpert was also present at the bulldozing, having spent the day volunteering at a Gayogohó:nǫˀ youth cultural program that Young coordinates. The youth program was held at the soon-to-be-bulldozed house earlier that day.

“I’m glad folks in the county are finally making a statement,” Halpert said. “The fact is the accountability they’re calling for is long overdue and people are getting hurt.”

At least some legislators are hopeful about the impact their letter might have.

“I’m glad to join with so many of my colleagues in speaking up to right our government’s harmful mistake,” said Tompkins County Legislator Veronica Pillar. “Now, we need the federal government to hear our call and meet the urgency of this moment.”

Visit HalftownMustGo.org for more information.

In this photo: protestors march near the Department of the Interior’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

 

Community hike, ribbon cutting for new section of Black Diamond Access

The Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) is inviting members of the Ithaca community to participate in a community hike followed by a ribbon cutting Sept. 10 in celebration of the new section of the Black Diamond Trail that connects Cayuga Nature Center to Museum of the Earth.

This summer, Marvin Pritts, a longtime volunteer at PRI, established a formal access trail from the Museum of the Earth down to the Black Diamond Trail in collaboration with Cayuga Medical Center and the Black Diamond Trail Enthusiast Network.

On Sept. 10, starting at 8:30 a.m., the community is invited to hike from the Cayuga Nature Center access trailhead to the Museum of the Earth, where there will be a small ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the new trailhead. The ribbon cutting will take place after the hike around 10 a.m. at the start of the trailhead in the lower level of the Museum of the Earth parking lot.

The hike is an estimated 3.5 miles each way from the Cayuga Nature Center to the Museum of the Earth. To join the hike, meet at the Cayuga Nature Center Bee Yard parking lot. There will be water and snacks at the Museum of the Earth trailhead. All participants will receive a complimentary pass to the Museum of the Earth.

There will not be transportation back to the starting point. Participants should plan to hike back to the Cayuga Nature Center lot or arrange for transportation back.

To learn more, visit priweb.org.

 

Older teens will not need a FreeRyde pass until Sept. 19

The date for older teens needing to swipe a FreeRyde card on a TCAT bus to ride free has been extended by nearly two weeks to Sept. 19.

Until then, all youth through the age of 17 (or older if enrolled in high school or working toward a high school diploma) can simply board the bus and ride free as they have since the FreeRyde program first launched on May 29 (see tinyurl.com/2o26b8n4).

Under the program, those 14 and older will be required to obtain a FreeRyde mag-stripe card from Tompkins County schools or youth program to enjoy the fare-free privileges. TCAT originally encountered delays in receiving the cards due to a manufacturing backlog and later announced that older teens won’t need a FreeRyde card to ride until Sept. 6.

The cards finally arrived in early August, but TCAT unfortunately has been unable to complete distribution plans with all participating schools and programs. To ensure that older teens can continue to ride free, TCAT will not require them to have passes to ride the bus free until Sept. 19.

The card requirement for older teens was put in place to help bus drivers distinguish older teens from adults or college students. Those 13 and under will continue to be able to board the bus without a card. As with previous policy, children 5 years and younger ride free (with no card required) so long as they are accompanied by a parent or guardian.

The TCAT Board of Directors approved the program last March after TCAT staff determined going fare free for youth would have minimal financial impact on the agency. The intent is to reduce transportation barriers for youth while also giving them the confidence and incentives to become transit riders in adulthood.

See TCAT’s FreeRyde page (tcatbus.com/freeryde) for FAQs, stakeholder comments, safety and travel training information and the history behind the program.

For more information about TCAT, visittcatbus.com or call (607) 277-RIDE.

 

Adam Law retires after 28 years at IthacaMed

Dr. Adam Law (pictured), who has been treating patients in Ithaca since 1994, is closing his IthacaMed practice and transitioning its primary care, women’s health and endocrinology patient care to Cayuga Medical Associates (CMA).

Law joined CMA Sept. 1 of this year to oversee a four-month transition of his patients to CMA and will retire from medical practice at the end of the year.

In a letter to patients announcing his retirement, Law said the practice of medicine in the U.S. has evolved away from independent private practices, such as IthacaMed, to larger medical practice groups where economies of scale allow for improved operational efficiency and the ability to apply strong measures of quality assurance to ensure high standard of patient care.

Arrangements for his primary patients’ care have been made with three physicians at Cayuga Primary Care at 905 Hanshaw Rd.: Dr. Kaili Du, Dr. Sristee Niraula and Dr. Sujithraj Dommaraju. Dr. Reilly Coch, MD, will see IthacaMed’s former endocrinology patients at Cayuga Diabetes and Endocrinology, also at 905 Hanshaw Rd. Bill Larsen, nurse practitioner, currently with IthacaMed, will join Cayuga Diabetes and Endocrinology.

IthacaMed’s Women’s Health patients can continue seeing Hannah Cramer, nurse practitioner, at Cayuga Renaissance Gyn, 2333 N. Triphammer Rd., Suite 302, and she will refocus her practice exclusively on women’s health/gynecology.

“I have had the most meaningful medical career in Ithaca due to being the physician for the remarkable people of our unique community and having wonderful colleagues and healthcare support,” Law said. “I am grateful to have the opportunity to transition my IthacaMed patients in person to CMA until the end of the year, and I am confident they will continue to have outstanding care with their CMA providers.”

During his decades in Ithaca, Law has been involved with many community and medical projects. He is a 2010 founding member of Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy, a nonprofit research institute that studies the way energy production and use impact public health and the environment.

“CMA is excited to work with Dr. Law, Ms. Cramer and Mr. Larsen and all of the excellent team joining us from IthacaMed,” said Jeffrey Penoyer, chief operating officer of CMA. “We welcome the opportunity to have Dr. Law on hand to assist both patients and staff as they acclimate to their new practice locations and look forward to continuing the tradition of excellent care.”

Law has been the chair of the department of medicin and president of the medical staff at the Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) and has worked with a team of other physicians to develop CMC’s Thyroid Nodule Clinic to detect and treat thyroid cancer

He pioneered bringing medical students and residents from Weill Cornell Medicine to Ithaca that laid the foundations for the 2019 launch of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, a partnership involving Cayuga Medical Center and New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He has also, as an endocrinologist, co-founded the Transgender Collaborative, an educational organization for health care professionals who provide services for transgender and gender nonconforming people in the Ithaca and local collegiate community.

Law received his medical degree and doctorate in molecular medicine at the University of London. He has held post-doctoral fellowships at the University of California, San Francisco, and Cornell University in molecular genetics and biochemistry and is currently a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine.

He has published multiple research papers in molecular medicine and co-authored multiple peer-reviewed articles in clinical research during the past 15 years. The British Medical Journal published two of Law’s editorials concerning climate change and divestment from fossil fuels, and he has worked to help the Royal College of Physicians disinvest from their fossil fuel assets. Law is currently interested in motivating healthcare professionals to become an effective public voice on climate change.