The Stafford County Board of Supervisors agreed Tuesday night not to enter into a new lease agreement with the Patawomeck Indian Tribe — at least for now.
The board voted 6-0, with Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch absent, to have the county Parks and Recreation Department maintain 6.5 acres of county-owned property near Aquia Landing Park instead of leasing it to the tribe as it had been for the previous decade.
The tribe leased the tract from March 17, 2015, until March 17 of this year, with the idea that it would be a site honoring Stafford’s first citizens, according to a county background report prepared for Tuesday’s meeting.
But when the supervisors in May talked about renewing the lease, the discussion turned to one about the legitimacy of the Patawomeck, an issue at the core of the Free Press investigative podcast, “The Tribe.” Two Stafford historians claim the group is actually just a collection of White people incorrectly claiming indigenous heritage.
The supervisors wanted to see more documentation about the group’s origins before signing a new lease, and board Vice Chairwoman Tinesha Allen asked Tuesday why the lease issue was being brought up again when no new documents had been presented.
“The request was that this was not supposed to be brought back to us unless a specific set of information was provided, and you just stated that that information was not provided,” Allen said to a county staff member.
County Administrator William H. Ashton II responded that government staff members made multiple attempts to get more information to no avail.
Tuesday’s vote, however, doesn’t mean the tribe won’t ever be able to lease the land again. Hartwood District Supervisor Darrell English, who made a substitute motion to have the county maintain it, stipulated that the matter could be brought before the board again if more origin information was disclosed by the Patawomeck.
In the meantime, county Parks and Recreation staff will manage the site, at an annual cost of $4,500, which supervisors said could easily be fit into the locality’s budget.
Though the tribe didn’t provide the documentation the supervisors sought, its leadership discussed with county officials the possibility of entering into a more limited lease than previously. That option would have called for the tribe to insure and maintain the site, which includes a medicine wheel, and limit its use to cultural, educational and community purposes.
No public comment was taken before the supervisors voted, but speakers on both sides of the lease issue addressed the board later in the meeting.
One of them was Amanda McGowan, who identified herself as an investigative genetic genealogist who had come to Stafford from Minnesota.
She said genetics prove the Patawomeck are who they say they are.
“I will not pretend to understand the complexities of state and federal recognition,” McGowan said, “but I will say that these people in this tribe are the genetic descendants of the original Potomac Indians, and, as such, should be awarded those recognitions; however, I do realize that that is a matter for a different place.”
The Patawomeck Tribe was granted state recognition in 2010 but has not received federal recognition.
After McGowan was Patawomeck Chief Charles “Bootsie” Bullock, who had not previously spoken at a supervisors meeting about the land lease.
“Tonight, we would hope that Stafford County’s partnership would continue with the Patawomeck Tribe,” he said. “But it did not.”
Bullock said he and the members of his tribe have worked diligently to share their culture with students from Stafford schools as well as other local schools and the region’s higher education institutions.
His words, though, didn’t sway Rick and Jerrilynn MacGregor, who stand firm in their belief that the modern-day Patawomeck aren’t descendants of native peoples. They contend no documentation exists to confirm this notion, and they have been speaking out for some time now, especially at Board of Supervisors meetings since May.
Jerrilynn MacGregor on Tuesday told the supervisors that the Patawomeck informed the Virginia General Assembly in 2010 that they had records to back up their claim of native heritage.
“Obviously, they don’t exist. When we asked the tribe for them, they threatened us with legal action,” she said. “After years of research, we can’t find them.”
Her husband, Rick, came to the lectern next. He acknowledged that he and his wife have been labeled as racist for their skepticism of the tribe, but he said the MacGregors didn’t come to the supervisors meeting because of racism or any other reason.
“We’re here tonight because the General Assembly was sold a lie, and every one of them bought into it,” he said. “And they granted state recognition to a fake tribe without verification, and despite warning from [anthropologist] Dr. Helen Rountree and two genuine Native American chiefs.”
Rick MacGregor also suggested that, if no Patawomeck records exist, the tribe’s state recognition should be considered null and void.
“We are so certain that those records do not exist, that I will write a $10,000 check to anyone who can produce them,” he said.
