Empire State Development Corporation Condemns
Church to Transfer Property to Seneca Indians
A non-denominational religious ministry that owns a two-story
white house in Niagara Falls is fighting the State of New York
to keep its property in the face of eminent domain to transfer
the property to the Seneca Indian Nation to expand its casino
complex. The ministry, known as Endtime Handmaidens and Servants
International, has occupied the downtown location since the 1980’s.
Their house would become a parking garage for the Seneca Gaming
Corp.’s casino. The Endtime Handmaiden house, which conducts
prayer and praise meetings and hosts dozens of missionaries traveling
through the area, is one of three locations, including one in
Jerusalem. Their attorney, Donald Alessi, believes that, as a
religious group, Endtime should be exempt from eminent domain.
He points out that the State excluded St. Mary of the Cataract,
a Roman Catholic church nearby, from the tract promised to the
Senecas. The Endtime group has filed one of four challenges to
the eminent domain, to be heard in May in the Appellate Division.
A 72-year old woman who has lived in one of the houses for fifty
years is among the plaintiffs. Source: Niagara Gazette
website, February 9, 2006.
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