Senecas vote to charge toll on cars in dispute with state

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A month after declaring travel on the stretch of New York State Thruway that crosses its land, an ''ongoing act of trespass,'' the Seneca Indian Nation said May 16 it will charge the state a $1 toll for each vehicle traveling the highway.

The action is the latest in a series by Seneca leaders angry at Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plans to collect an estimated $200 million in tax from reservation sales of gasoline, cigarettes and other goods to non-Indian customers.

The tribe plans to send the state a monthly bill for the tolls based on the state Thruway Authority's usage figures. Seneca leaders looked into buying a set of toll booths that are being removed from a Buffalo highway, but were told they were not for sale.

''If New York state would just abide by their word and leave us alone, I think we'd get along much better,'' J.C. Seneca, co-chairman of the nation's Foreign Relations Committee, said May 16.

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