She and her five panel colleagues are not law-enforcement experts.

UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- The American Indians and the European colonists first clashed in the woods of southeastern Connecticut more than three centuries ago.

UNCASVILLE, Ct. -- In a lush ballroom at the Mohegan Sun Casino, Narragansett Indian Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas yesterday painted a stark economic future for both Rhode Island and his tribe.

Top officials in Governor Carcieri's office testified before the Independent Review Committee, saying the state raided the smoke shop because it couldn't allow the tribe to flout Rhode Island sales-tax laws. Bringing the matter to federal court would have signaled that the state thinks the law is ambiguous -- which it does not, the officials said.

State police Capt. Leo Messier and Capt. Steven O'Donnell both told the Independent Review Committee studying the raid -- which turned into a televised scuffle between the police and tribe members -- that the police had no agenda other than seizing the contraband cigarettes and leaving.

Twenty-five years ago, the Narragansett Indian tribe won its fight for the return of 1,800 acres in Charlestown, a part of its ancestral land. Whether, in making the deal, the tribe permanently traded away its immunity from state law is the subject of a battle now in federal court.

PROVIDENCE -- As a federally recognized tribe, the Narragansett Indians have "every right to sell tax-free cigarettes" in an effort to become self-sufficient, Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas said today.

Lynch told an Independent Review Committee studying the raid that once it was determined that the tribe was clearly violating state law, he advised Carcieri to get the raid over with as soon as possible.

PROVIDENCE -- The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has offered its support for the Narragansett Indians' bid to sell tobacco tax-free on tribal land near Charlestown.

Carcieri appeared as the first witness before an independent panel assigned to review the July 14 State Police raid on the shop, which turned violent and provoked public outcry.

Carcieri, who created the panel, was among the state officials scheduled to testify today at the panel's first meeting.

"We would like to get some help on these issues," Tribal Councilman John Brown said yesterday. Brown's comments came outside the Narragansetts' smoke shop on South County Trail, which was reborn yesterday as a "sovereignty headquarters" to foster public understanding and support for the tribe's efforts.

In a statement yesterday, Simmons said the six-member Independent Review Committee will hold hearings and hear from individuals involved in the events. Most sessions will be open to the public, Simmons said.

The "Narragansett Indian Tribal Sovereignty Headquarters" will be stocked with information about the tribe and its history, as well as T-shirts and bumper stickers for those who make donations to the Narragansetts' legal defense fund. Tribal members will also collect signatures for petitions in support of the Narragansetts' rights as a federally recognized nation -- petitions that, Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas said yesterday, will later be presented to congressional leaders.

The tribe said today it will open the shop on tribal land off Route 2 to serve as what it calls "a tribal sovereignty headquarters."

Time and again, the groups said, Carcieri has shown an "insensitivity" to the rights and expectations of people of color, and shown "an enormous lack of interest" in their views when he was making decisions that could cause "tremendous negative consequences" for them.

CHARLESTOWN -- In the 1800s, the United States pushed many tribes west. But in New England, some Indians left on their own.

Governor Carcieri yesterday named a prominent national leader among Native American tribes to the panel investigating the July 14 state police raid on the tax-free Narragansett Indian smoke shop in Charlestown.

Jacqueline Johnson, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, will join the independent panel that is chaired by Brown University President Ruth Simmons.

Expressing "extreme dismay" over Carcieri's reaction to the state police report on the incident, the Rhode Island Civil Rights Roundtable, Rhode Island Affirmative Action Professionals, the Providence Human Relations Commission and the local American Civil Liberties Union are asking for answers.

The report said the police had inside information that the tribe would resist if officers tried to shut down its tax-free store. Carcieri maintains he told the police to withdraw if they met resistance; he said he wanted the report to explain why that did not happen. After the report came out last week, Carcieri aide Jeff Neal refused to say whether the governor was aware, as the police had reason to believe, that the Indians would resist.

The groups contend that the report into the July 14 raid by state police fails to explain why the police ignored the governor's order to withdraw if they were met with resistance.

The internal report, released yesterday by Governor Carcieri's office, concludes that officers "acted appropriately" with "the lowest level of force" in their raid on the smoke shop, which escalated into a grappling match between the police and tribal members.

Inspectional Services

The report also makes it clear that the state police knew they would probably meet resistance while trying to shut down the smoke shop. And they prepared for it.