Steve "Boots" Powless and sons arrested at Pine Ridge Tobacco in Six Nations

From: Brantford Expositor, July 10.
Smoke Shop Owner Arrested
Haldimand County OPP succeeded Thursday in their second attempt to arrest the owner of a controversial smoke shack on private property on Highway 6, just south of the town.

But the facility remains in operation. And the police action caused a fallout of political activity that brought to a halt ongoing land claim negotiations between the federal and provincial governments and Six Nations only a few miles away in the Oneida Business Centre.

About two-dozen officers swooped in shortly before 10 a. m., blocked off Highway 6 around the Pine Ridge Tobacco smoke shack and caught operator Steve "Boots" Powless in his car, said a relative who declined to identify himself.

Powless and some family members were forcibly taken into custody and hastily driven away.

Some officers also went behind the smoke shack to the home of retired farmer Ernie Palmer, the legal owner of the property, who was unaware of the police action because he had been working on his computer.

Palmer later said they served him with a summons from Haldimand County and told him it was his responsibility to remove the smoke shack.

Then the officers drove away.

And another Powless relative resumed selling cigarettes. The swift police action managed to avoid the protesters who showed up to defend Powless when officers attempted to shut down his operation on Tuesday. Officers had to scuttle that attempt in the interests of public safety.

As a result of the Thursday's arrests, Powless, 43, of Ohsweken, was charged with mischief to property, resist arrest and failure to comply with a bail recognizance. He is being held to appear in Ontario Court in Cayuga today.

One of his sons, Steven Powless Jr., 23, of Ohsweken was charged with resisting arrest, assaulting police with intent to resist arrest, and mischief to property. He is being held for a court appearance on Aug. 19.

Smoke shack raid helps define rules. Comment, page A6

Another son, Greg Powless, 19, was charged with mischief to property, resisting arrest and failure to comply with a bail recognizance. He is also being held for a court appearance today.

A 16-year-old female, who cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was charged with trespassing.

However, the arrests spurred Palmer into action. He became concerned at what had happened. He said in a brief interview at the scene that he is angry at the summons and at being caught in the middle of a land claims dispute beyond his control.

He took issue with a line in the document that said he had "permitted" a smoke shack to be built on his property. He said he didn't have any choice-- Powless decided on his own to put the shack on his property a few weeks ago, and he couldn't do anything about it.

"I'm going down to the negotiations to get this sorted out," he said, as he headed to his car with document in hand.

A few minutes later, Palmer walked in on the talks, demanded to be allowed to present his case, and pleaded for help.

Officials present allowed him to speak behind closed doors.

Later outside the room, Palmer told reporters he complained to negotiators that he is being treated unfairly by the county, because Powless had unilaterally moved his smoke shack onto the front of his property, claiming it was native land.

"I told them, I have a deed that says I am the owner. Am I? He (Powless) has a piece of paper that says Six Nations owns the land. Which is it?" I want an answer, but they don't have one. It's not fair.

"I pointed out to them that I cannot go on living like this for the rest of my life."

Palmer insisted to reporters that he was never "threatened" or "pressured" by Powless into accepting the smoke shack, as reported in some local media, but had maintained a good relationship with him for years.

"I'm being pressured by the county," he said.

He also said he was unhappy that police had arrested Powless.

"You achieve a lot more with friendly conversation than banging on the table."

Shortly afterward, the meeting inside broke up and federal and provincial negotiators walked out and headed glumly to their offices.

Chief federal negotiator Ron Doering gave only a curt "no comment" as he brushed past reporters.

"I don't have anything for you," said another federal negotiator, Barbara McDougall.

"I don't have any comment on what happened this morning," she said in response to questions about the impact of the arrests and Palmer's appearance on negotiations.

Mohawk Chief Allen MacNaughton the arrests were the prime reason the talks ended with no confirmed date to resume.

"It directly impacted on the negotiations," he said, expressing sympathy for Palmer's plight.

"The Crown told him there was nothing they could do and said he should get a lawyer. Come on, I could tell him better than that."

Several smoke shacks have popped up on Highway 6 since native activists occupied the Douglas Creek Estates subdivision three years ago.

Pine Ridge Tobacco is unique because it is the first to arise on private property on the east side of Highway 6 without the consent of Palmer.

About a month ago, Powless told Palmer he was setting up shop.

As the controversy over the move grew, Palmer said that had persuaded Powless at one point to take away his smoke shack, only to watch everything fall apart when Caledonia resident Doug Fleming started to form a group that at first was called the Caledonia Militia (now the Caledonia Peacekeepers).

Powless balked at the move, and backed away from his commitment to leave.

"The Caledonia militia turned everything upside down," said Palmer. "I cannot emphasize more how that man has hurt things. Without him, Boots would have been gone two weeks ago, and all of this would not have happened."