April 2014 - Cherokee Phoenix

Forging Ahead
Minimum Wage
Sovereignty Concerns
Cherokee Nation citizen Ray Kirk has been
forging and fashioning knives for 25 years.
MONEY, 11
At the Feb. 27 Rules Committee meeting,
Tribal Councilors indefinitely tabled the
Minimum Wage Act of 2013. COUNCIL, 6
The sovereignty issues the Cherokee Nation
is monitoring may be decided by a case being
heard in the U.S. Supreme Court. NEWS, 2
April 2014 • cherokeephoenix.org
186 Years of Cherokee Journalism
PHOENIX
CHEROKEE
Ground broken for Stilwell clinic expansion
The Wilma P. Mankiller
Health Center is the fourth
tribal facility to get an
upgrade as part of a $104
million investment.
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
STILWELL, Okla. – Cherokee Nation
officials broke ground for a $9 million
expansion project for the Wilma P. Mankiller
Health Center in Stilwell on Feb. 28.
The expansion will add 28,000 square feet
to the nearly 20-year-old, 36,000 square foot
health center. The center is located just east of
Stilwell on Highway 51 in Adair County, and
in 2012 it had more than 134,000 patient visits.
It is the fourth health care center to receive
an upgrade as part of the CN’s $104.3 million
health care investment funded by Cherokee
Nation Businesses’ profits.
An artist rendering from Childers Architect shows how the expanded Wilma P. Mankiller
Health Center will look after a 28,000-square-foot expansion is finished next year. The
additional space will be added to the center’s west side. COURTESY
“This clinic is in the heart of the highest
percentage of Cherokees of any of our clinics.
This extra square footage will spread us out and
give us more room to better serve our people,”
said Principal Chief Bill John Baker.
He added when he was elected to the Tribal
Council in 1995 the clinic was the “flagship” of
the tribe’s health care system.
“Every time somebody wanted to come to
the Cherokee Nation, this was our face, this is
what we showed, and it was fabulous,” he said.
However, the health center now needs
more space as its patient load increases. The
center offers primary care, pediatrics, physical
therapy, mammography, dental, optometry,
radiology, behavioral health, public health
nursing, a pharmacy, a laboratory, nutrition
assistance, diabetes care, and a Women, Infants
and Children program.
Councilor Jodie Fishinghawk, who helps
represent Adair County, said the center’s
expansion is a good example of how casino
profits from eight tribal casinos are used.
“That’s the proudest thing I can say about our
casinos,” she said.
The other council representative for Adair
County, Frankie Hargis, said the clinic’s
expansion is an investment in the community
and is “exciting” for Cherokee people in Adair
County. She thanked the CNB employees
for their work in earning the profits that are
making the expansion possible.
Cherokee Nation Construction Resources,
which is a division of CNB, will oversee the
See CLINIC, 3
Documents case
appealed to
Supreme Court
‘STRONGER TODAY THAN EVER’
Tribal Councilor Julia Coates
files the case stating that a
2005 ruling allows her to
have physical records.
BY TESINA JACKSON
Reporter
Principal Chief Bill John Baker unveils a painting by Cherokee artist Dorothy Sullivan, left, during a ceremony to commemorate the
175th anniversary of when the last Cherokee contingent arrived in Indian Territory on March 24, 1839, after being forced from their
traditional homelands. The ceremony was held March 24 at the Cherokee Heritage Center in Park Hill, Okla.
PHOTOS BY WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
175th year of Trail’s end commemorated
Principal Chief Bill
John Baker proclaims
March 24 as “Cherokee
Remembrance Day.”
ᎤᎬᏫᏳᎯ Bill John
Baker ᏚᏃᏣᏝᏅ ᎠᏅᏱ
24 ᎾᏍᎩ “ᏣᎳᎩ
ᎠᏅᏓᏗᏍᏗ ᎢᎦ.”
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
PARK HILL, Okla. – It was March 24,
1839, when the last detachment of Cherokee
people ended their months-long journey of
nearly 1,000 miles to Indian Territory after
being forced to leave their homes in the old
Cherokee Nation.
CN officials commemorated that event
and the 175th anniversary of the end of what
became known as the Trail of Tears on March
24 at the Cherokee Heritage Center.
Principal Chief Bill John Baker reminded
the people crowded in the CHC’s atrium that
175 years ago was “not that long ago.”
“Can anyone imagine the United States
See TRAIL, 2
Tribal Councilor and Trail of Tears
Association Presdient Jack Baker speaks
at a ceremony to commemorate the 175th
anniversary of when the last Cherokee
contingent arrived in Indian Territory on
March 24, 1839.
ᎠᏭᏂᏴᏍᏗ, ᎣᎦᎵᎰᎹ. – ᎾᏍᎩ ᎠᏅᏱ
ᏔᎵᏍᎪ ᏅᎩᏁ, ᏁᎳᏚ ᎢᏍᎪᎯᏧᏈ ᏦᏍᎪ
ᏐᏁᎳ ᎤᏕᏘᏴᏌᏗᏒᎢ, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᎵᏍᏆᎸᏗ
ᎠᎾᏱᎴᎩ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᎤᎵᏍᏆᏗᏢ
ᎢᎸᏍᎦ ᎢᏅᏓ ᏧᏂᎶᏎ ᎠᎴ ᎠᎦᏴᎵ ᎤᎶᏒᏍᏗ
ᎢᏳᏟᎶᏓ ᎤᎾᏂᎩᏎ ᎤᏂᎷᎯᏍᏗ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ
ᎤᎾᏤᎵᎪᎯ ᎾᎿ ᏗᎨᏥᎧᎲᏓ ᎨᏥᎨᏯᏙᎸ
ᏚᏁᏅᏒ ᎤᏪᏘ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ.
ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ ᎠᏂᏁᏥᏙᎯ ᎤᎾᏓᏅᏖᎸ ᎯᎠ
ᏄᎵᏍᏔᏅᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏕᏘᏴᏗ 175 ᏧᏕᏘᏴᏓ
ᎾᎪᎯᎦ ᎤᎵᏍᏆᏛ ᎢᎦᏅᏛ ᏚᎾᏠᏱᎸ ᎦᏅᏅ
ᎾᎿ ᎠᏅᏱ 24th ᎾᎿ ᎠᏭᏂᏴᏍᏗᎢ.
ᎤᎬᏫᏳᎯ Bill John Baker ᏚᏅᏓᏗᏍᏔᏅ
ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᎤᎾᏓᏟᏌᎲ ᎾᎿ CHC’S atrium ᎾᎿ
175 ᎾᏕᏘᏯ “ᏙᎯᏳ Ꮭ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏱᎾᎪᎯᎦ”
ᎡᎵᏊ ᎩᎶ ᏯᏅᏓᏗ ᎾᏍᎩ U.S
ᎠᎹᏱᏟ ᏗᏯᏗᏍᎬ ᎠᏂᎦᏴᎵ ᎾᎿ
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Tribal Councilor
Julia Coates has asked the Cherokee Nation
Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s decision
regarding a case in which she claims documents
she requested via the Freedom of Information
and Governmental Records acts were not fully
provided or allowed duplication.
Court records show that Coates requested
records on March 18, 2013, regarding Cherokee
Nation Businesses complementary gifts at its
casinos, hotels, eateries, bars and events to CN
elected officials and CNB board members since
Oct. 1, 2011; CN and CNB
new construction and major
renovation projects since
Oct. 1, 2011; CN and CNB
property purchases since
Oct.1, 2011; and CN and
CNB financial and other
information related to a
report mailed to citizens
called “Promises Made,
Promises Kept.”
Julia Coates
An April 19, 2013, letter
from Attorney General
Todd Hembree states that “due to the extreme
confidential and proprietary nature of the
documents for each” of Coates’ requests, the
documents would only be made available for
inspection at his office and that no copying of the
information was allowed.
Court records show that Hembree stated
that neither the GRA nor the FOIA “requires
production of copies of documents except in
narrow circumstances.”
During a March 7, 2014, District Court hearing,
Hembree’s attorney Robert Nance said that 6,400
pages of documents were produced for Coates.
However, her attorney, Chad Smith, said not all
information requested was given and with the
little information that was provided there wasn’t
an inventory given of the items provided, not
provided or what was marked confidential.
Records state that on Aug. 17 Smith examined
the files and found that the overwhelming bulk
See COATES, 7
Nation chooses its 2014 Remember the Removal riders
The bike ride commemorates the
Trail of Tears and lasts three weeks
with cyclists averaging 60 miles a day.
BY STAFF REPORTS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee Nation recently selected
13 Cherokee students to venture on the 2014 Remember the
Removal bike ride.
Each summer a selected group of Cherokee students ride the
northern route of the Trail of Tears that their Cherokee ancestors
were once forced to walk along.
“I’ve wanted to do this ride for years,” Cassie Moore, a
24-year-old student at Northeastern State University, said. “I
am very excited to be selected and ready to accept the challenge
that will come with it. I’m not only excited to meet new people,
but help my fellow riders endure this journey that our ancestors
overcame.”
The bike ride begins in late May in New Echota, Ga. It follows
the northern route of the Trail of Tears and ends in Oklahoma.
It is a 950-mile ride and goes through Georgia, Tennessee,
Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Riders will travel for three weeks at an average of 50 to 60
miles per day. There were nearly 16,000 Cherokees forced on the
voyage to Indian Territory with nearly 4,000 of them dying due
to starvation, exposure and disease.
Riders visit historic landmarks and various gravesites along
the Trail. They visit Blythe Ferry in Tennessee, the last piece of
Cherokee homeland ancestors stood upon before beginning
the walk to Indian Territory. They also visit Mantle Rock in
Kentucky, which provided shelter to the ancestors while they
waited for the Ohio River to thaw so they could cross and
continue on.
The students selected for the 2014 ride are: Jacob Chavez, 16,
of Tahlequah; Kassidy “Tye” Carnes, 16, of Tahlequah; Elizabeth
Burns, 17, of Claremore; Chance Rudolph, 17, of Claremore;
Madison Taylor, 17, of Claremore; Jamekah Rios, 17, of Stilwell;
Zane Scullawi, 18, of Collinsville; Carly Copeland, 18, of Eucha;
Jordan McLaren, 18, of Tahlequah; Keeley Godwin, 21, of
Welling; Adriana Collins, 21, of Claremore; Charli Barnoskie,
24, of Tahlequah; and Moore, of Tahlequah.
From left to right in the front row are Keeley Godwin,
Kassidy “Tye” Carnes, Carly Copeland, Jordan McLaren
and Jamekah Rios. In the back row are Elizabeth Burns,
Charli Barnoskie, Jacob Chavez, Chance Rudolph and Zane
Scullawi. Not pictured are Cassie Moore, Adriana Collins and
Madison Taylor. The group represents the Cherokee Nation’s
2013 Remember the Removal riders. COURTESY
2
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
NEws • dgZEksf
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
Officials search
for missing
Cherokee man
BY STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
Seven routes of the Cherokee Nation’s Trail of Tears, which occurrred in 1838-39. Approximately 16,000 CN citizens
were forcibly removed from their southeastern homelands to Indian Territory. They traveled by foot, horse, wagon
and steamboat. COURTESY
TRAil
from front page
of America putting old people
in stockades – educated people,
propertied people – and shipping them
west? Unbelievable. That is not what
you read in the history books, but it is
the truth,” Baker said. “They endured
unfathomable hardships and tragedy.
Collectively, they never gave up and
never relinquished the fortitude to
continue another day’s travel, one step
at a time on the trail to modern-day
Oklahoma. I think that determination,
that history is buried inside each and
every one of us that is Cherokee. We’re
a proud people. We’ve got a lot to be
proud of.”
Baker proclaimed March 24 as
“Cherokee
Remembrance
Day.”
Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr.,
who read the proclamation, said the
day honors those Cherokees who
traveled from the old homelands in
harsh conditions and made a new life
in Indian Territory.
Cherokee people were forcibly
removed from their homes in
Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and
North Carolina beginning in May
1838. Detachments of Cherokees
began leaving by boat and land from
Tennessee in the summer and fall of
1838.
Dr. Daniel Littlefield, director of the
Sequoyah National Research Center at
the University of Arkansas, said much
is known about the Cherokee removal,
but more information continues to
come to light.
He said the names of people and
families who came in the different
contingents during the removal are
slowly being found as well as other
details.
Littlefield, a CN citizen, said the
U.S. government had a difficult task of
figuring out how to move approximately
16,000 Cherokee people west. He said
the government originally had planned
to move most of the Cherokee people
by boat along rivers, but with drought
conditions that was not possible.
“The Cherokee Nation asked in the
summer of 1838 to remove by land
because there was a terrible drought
that had set in in the southern states,”
Littlefield said.
He said if travel by boat had been
attempted it was likely that the boats
would have run aground on sandbars
ᎠᏐᏴᎢ--ᎤᎾᏅᏘᏓᏂ
ᎠᏂᏴᏫ,
ᎦᏓ
ᏥᏂᎭ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᎠᎴ--- ᏓᏂᏌᏙᏯᏍᎬ
ᎤᏕᎵᎬ ᎢᏗᏢ? Ꮭ ᎭᏩ ᎦᏰᎵᏍᏗ ᏱᎦ.
ᎾᏍᎩᏃ Ꮭ ᏱᎦᏴᎪᎵᏯ ᎾᎿ ᎪᏪᎵᎢ,
ᎠᏎᏍᎩᏂ
ᎾᏍᎩ
ᏄᎵᏍᏔᎾ,”
ᎤᏛᏅᎢ
ᎤᎬᏫᏳᎯ
Baker.
“ᎤᎶᏒᏍᏓ ᏍᏓᏯ ᎤᏂᎶᏌ ᎠᎴ
ᏚᏂᏲᎱᏌ. ᏙᎯᏳᏃ Ꮭ ᏱᏚᎾᏓᏲᏎᎢ ᎠᎴ
ᏱᏚᎾᏓᏲᏎᎢ ᏏᏊ ᎠᎾᎢᏎ ᏳᏭᎩᏨᎾ,
ᏌᏊᎭ
ᎠᎾᎳᏍᎩᏏᏎ
ᎠᎾᎢᏒᎢ
ᎦᏅᏅ ᎤᏂᎷᏤ ᏃᏊ ᏥᎩ ᎣᎦᎵᎰᎹ.
Ꮭ ᏱᏓᎾᏓᏲᏍᎨ, ᎾᏍᎩ ᏄᎵᏍᏔᏅ
ᎦᏅᏩᏝᎢ
ᎠᏂᏏᏴᏫᎭ
ᏓᎾᏓᏅᏛᎢ
ᎠᎴ ᏂᎦᏓ ᎢᏗᏣᎳᎩ ᎨᏒᎢ. ᏦᎦᏟᏂᎩᏓ
ᎣᏥᏴᏫ. ᎤᎪᏓ ᎣᏣᎵᎮᎵᎪᎢ.”
Baker ᎬᏂᎨᏒ ᏄᏩᏁᎸ ᎠᏅᏱ 24th
ᎾᏍᎩ “ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᏗᎨᏥᏱᎸᏍᏔᎢ
ᎠᏅᏓᏗᏍᏗ
ᎢᎦ.”
ᏗᎪᏪᎵᏍᎩ
ᏍᎦᏚᎩ Chuck Hoskin Jr., ᎤᎪᎵᏰᎢ
ᎾᏍᎩ ᎠᏅᏓᏗᏍᏙᏗ, ᎤᏛᏅ ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎢᎦ
ᏕᏓᎵᎮᎵᎦ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎾᏂᎩᏒ
ᎤᏪᏘ ᏚᏁᏅᏒ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᏦᏎᏗ
ᎤᏂᎶᏒ ᎠᎴ ᎢᏤ ᎤᎾᎴᏅᎲᎢ ᎾᎿ
ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ ᎤᎾᏤᎵᎪᎯ.
ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ
ᎠᏂᏴᏫ
ᏕᎨᏥᎧᎲᏒ
ᏚᏁᏅᏒ ᎾᎿ Alabama, Georgia,
Tennessee ᎠᎴ North Carolina
ᎠᏓᎴᏂᏍᎬ
ᎠᏂᏍᎬᏘ
1838.
ᎨᎦᏂᎩᏍᏔᏅ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎤᏓᎴᏅᎮ
ᎤᎾᏂᎩᏎ ᏥᏳ ᎠᎹᏱ ᎡᏙᎯ ᎠᎴ
ᎾᏍᎩ ᎡᎳᏗ ᎤᎾᏂᎩᏎ ᎤᎾᎴᏅᎮ
Tennessee ᎪᎦ ᎠᎴ ᎤᎳᎪᎲᏍᏗ ᎾᎿ
1839.
Dr. Daniel Littlefield, ᏗᎫᎪᏔᏂᏙ
ᎾᎿ ᏏᏉᏲ National Research
Center ᎾᎿ university of Arkansas,
ᎤᏛᏅ ᎤᎪᏓ ᎤᎾᏅᏔ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ
ᎨᎦᏂᎩᏍᏔᏅ, ᎠᏎᏃ ᎤᎪᏛ ᎪᏟᏍᏗ
ᎠᏟᎶᎯᎭᎢ. ᎤᏛᏅ ᏚᎾᏙᎥ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ
ᎠᎴ ᏏᏓᏁᎸ ᏧᏓᎩᏴᏓ ᏓᏂᎷᏤᎬ ᏙᎢ
ᎠᏱᎸᏓ ᎣᏥᏩᏗᏍᎪᎢ.
Littlefield, ᎾᏍᎩ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎨᎳ,
ᎤᏛᏅ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏩᏥᏂ ᎤᎾᏦᏍᏓᏁᎲ
ᎤᏃᏟᏍᏗ
ᎢᏧᏅᏗ
ᏧᎾᏂᎩᏍᏙᏗ
16,000
ᏯᏂᎢ
ᎠᏂᏴᏫ
ᎤᏕᎵᎬ
ᏧᏂᏌᏙᏯᏍᏗᎢ.
ᏩᏥᏂᏃ
ᎤᏁᎵᏎ
and everyone aboard would have had
to have unload from the boat until it
could be manually pushed over the
sandbar.
“This would have taken much time
and effort, so the choice was to go over
land,” he said.
Littlefield said Cherokee leaders
tried to form contingents of Cherokees
from the same geographic area to travel
by land. This fact may help historians
find the family names that traveled in
each contingent.
It is now known tribal police or
enforcers traveled with the overland
contingents to maintain order, but
the daily contingent activities are not
known. There were people assigned to
burial details and people assigned to
walk ahead of the contingents to build
fires so that people could briefly stop at
the fire and warm up, he said.
Food supplies for people and horses
were provided by the CN along the
way. One of the largest requested
rations was soap.
“If you look at the claims that
various families filed for things they
had lost, they include things like
houses, livestock, household goods,
trees that were bearing fruit, fields that
were planted but also stores of honey,
sugar and soap,” Littlefield said. “We
know when the Cherokee people got
here, the rations that the agents tried to
give them were spoiled in many cases.
It was an arduous trip. It was trying
on the people, but as we said, they
managed to get through, and they’re
here today.”
As part of the commemoration,
Cherokee artist Dorothy Sullivan
unveiled the third piece of a series of
paintings depicting scenes from the
Trail of Tears. The painting depicts
Cherokee people arriving in Indian
Territory and lining up to receive
rations in what is now Adair County.
All three paintings were commissioned
by the National Park Service and will
be on permanent display at the CHC.
CHC Executive Director Candessa
Tehee said the CHC Museum also
has on display a petition signed in
Cherokee and in English by thousands
of Cherokee people to protest the 1835
Treaty of New Echota, which gave away
what remained of Cherokee lands in
the east.
The March 24 commemoration
kicked off a series of events being
planned. Events commemorating
milestones for the Cherokee people in
Indian Territory will be held between
now and the Cherokee National
Holiday, when the tribe commemorates
the 1839 Constitution.
“Our people were stripped of
everything, withstood generations
of termination policies, and yet that
fire to live and thrive would not be
extinguished,” Baker said. “We should
all be proud the Cherokee Nation is
now a national model for economic,
political, and cultural sustainability.
As Cherokee people, we are stronger
today than ever before.”
[email protected]
918-207-3961
Principal Chief Bill John Baker speaks during a March 24 ceremony to
commemorate the 175th anniversary of the end of the Trail of Tears. Baker
reminded the audience that the tragic event was not that long ago and the
Cherokee people have survived many hardships to become a proud nation.
ᏚᏄᎪᏔᏁ ᏂᎦᏓᏆ ᎢᏳᏍᏗ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ
ᏧᎾᏂᎩᏍᏙᏗ ᏥᏳ ᎠᎹᏱ ᎡᏙᎯ
ᏧᏅᏙᏗᎢ, ᎠᏎᏃ ᏧᎧᏲᏛ ᎨᏎ Ꮭ ᎾᏍᎩ
ᏱᏄᎵᏍᏔᏁᎢ.
“ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ ᎤᏛᏛᏅ ᎪᎦ 1838
ᎤᏕᏘᏴᏌᏗᏒ
ᏧᏂᎧᎲᏍᏗ
ᎡᎳᏗ
ᏧᎾᏂᎩᏍᏙᏗ ᎠᏎᏃ ᎢᎦ ᏧᎧᏲᏛ ᎨᏎ ᎾᎿ
ᎤᎦᎾᏮ ᎢᏗᏢ,” ᎤᏛᏁ Littlefield.
ᎤᏛᏅ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏄᏁᎵᏒ ᏥᏳ ᏱᏚᏂᏯᏂ
ᎪᎯᏓ ᎤᎾᏂᎩᏍᏗ ᎠᏁᎵᏍᎨ ᎠᎴ
ᎠᎹᏳᎵᏗ ᏓᎾᎴᏫᏍᏗᏍᎨ ᏯᎾᏠᏍᎨ
ᎾᎿ ᎠᎹᏳᎵᏗ.
“”ᎯᎠ ᎤᎪᏓ ᎨᏒ ᏱᏚᏟᎢᎵᏙᎴ
ᏍᏓᏯ
ᏗᎦᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᏗ,
ᎾᏍᎩᏃ
ᎤᎾᏑᏱᏎ ᎡᎳᏗ ᏧᎾᏂᎩᏍᏙᏗᎢ,”
ᎤᏛᏅᎢ.
LittleField
ᎤᏛᏅ
ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ
ᏓᎾᏓᏟᏏᏍᎨ ᎾᎿ ᎤᏠᏯ ᏓᏁᎲ
ᎤᎾᏂᎩᏍᏗ ᎡᎳᏗ. ᎯᎠ ᎪᏪᎸ ᎡᎵᏈ
ᎬᏩᏂᏍᏕᎸᏓ ᏗᏃᏪᎵᏍᎩ ᏧᏂᏩᏛᏗ
ᏏᏓᏁᎸ ᏚᎾᏙᎥ ᎤᎾᏂᎩᏒ ᏌᏊᎭ
ᎤᎾᏓᏠᎬᎢ..
ᏝᏃ ᏙᎯᏳ ᏳᎾᏅᏕ ᎠᏂᎳᏍᏓᏢ
ᏗᎾᏓᏂᏱᏍᎩ
ᏯᏁᏙ
ᎠᎴ
ᏱᏓᏂᏍᏓᏩᏗᏙ ᎤᎾᏓᏟᏌᏅ ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎢᎸᏢ ᏭᏂᎦᎯᏍᏗ ᏂᎨᏒᎾ, ᎾᏍᎩᏍᎩᏂ
ᏂᏓᏙᏓᏈᏒ
ᎤᎾᏓᏈᎦ
ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏗ
ᏄᎾᏅᏛᎾ. ᏧᎾᏑᏱᏓ ᎨᏎ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ
ᎨᎶ ᏳᏲᎱᏌ ᏗᎾᏓᏂᏏᏍᎦ ᎠᎴ ᏴᏫ
ᏧᎾᏑᏱᏓ ᎨᏎ ᎢᎬᏯ ᎠᎾᏂᎩᏍᎩ
ᏧᏃᏗ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎠᏁᎦ ᎤᎾᎴᏫᏍᏙᏗ
ᎤᏂᎦᎾᏬᎯᏍᏗᎢ,
ᎠᏗᏍᎬ
Littlefield.
ᎠᎵᏍᏓᏴᏗᏃ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᎠᎴ ᏐᏈᎵ
ᎤᏂᎩᏍᏗ
ᎠᎵᏍᎪᎸᏛᎢ
ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎠᎾᎢᏒᎢ. ᏌᏊ ᏭᎪᏛ ᎤᏂᏂᎬᎬ ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎣᏟ.
“ᎢᏳᏃ ᏱᏗᏣᎪᎵᏱ ᎢᏳᏍᏗ ᎤᏂᎲ
ᎤᏂᏲᏎᎸ, ᎠᏂᏔᏲᎯᎲ ᏚᏃᏪᎳᏅ
ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎠᎾᏠᏯᏍᏗᏍᎬ
ᎦᎵᏦᏕ,
ᎦᎾᏝᎢ, ᎦᎵᏦᏕ ᎠᏅᏗ, ᏕᏡᎬ ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎠᏓᏛᏍᎩ, ᏠᎨᏏ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᏂᏫᏒᏅ
ᎤᏂᏎᏆᏂᎪᏛ
ᏩᏚᎵᏏ,
ᎧᎵᏎᏥ
ᎠᎴ ᎣᏟ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬ Littlefield.
“ᎣᎦᏅᏘᏃ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᏧᏂᎷᏤ,
ᎤᎾᎵᏍᏓᏴᏗ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎢᎬᏱ ᎠᏁᏙᎯ
ᏧᎾᏁᎶᏔᏁ ᏧᏂᏁᏗᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᏲ ᎨᏎ
ᎤᎪᏛᎢ. ᎢᎦ ᎤᏲ ᎨᏎ ᎠᎾᎢᏒᎢ. ᎤᏲᎢ
ᎨᏎᎢ, ᎠᏎᏃ ᏚᏄᎪᏕᎢ ᏧᎾᏟᏂᎩᏓ ᎨᏎ
ᏓᎾᏓᏅᏛ ᎤᏂᎦᏛᎴᎯᏍᏗ, ᎠᎴ ᎪᎯ
ᎢᎦ ᎠᏁᎭ ᎠᎭᏂ.”
ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᎠᏅᏓᏗᏍᏙᏗ, ᎠᏣᎳᎩ
ᏗᏟᎶᏍᏔᏅᎲᏍᎩ Dorothy Sullivan
ᎤᏭᏝᏒ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏦᎢᏁ ᏧᏟᎶᏍᏔᏅᏅ
ᏓᏰᎲ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎨᏥᏱᎳᏫᏛᎲᎢ. ᎾᏍᎩ
ᏗᏟᎶᏍᏔᏅ ᏓᏟᎶᏍᏓ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ
ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᎠᏂᎷᎬ ᎾᎿ ᎤᏂᎷᎯᏍᏗᎢ
ᎠᎴ ᎠᎾᏓᏅᏅᏍᎬ ᎨᏥᏁᏗ ᎤᏂᎩᏍᏗ
ᎾᏍᎩ ᏃᏊ ᏥᎩ Adair ᏍᎦᏚᎩ. ᏂᎦᏓ
ᏦᎢ ᏗᏑᏫᏓ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎣᏏ ᏚᏁᏱᎸᏅ
ᎾᎿ ᏂᎬᎾᏛ Park Service ᎠᎴ ᎾᏍᎩ
ᏂᎪᎯᎸ ᏓᏝᎮᏍᏗ ᎾᎿ CHC.
CHC
Executive
Director
Candessa Tehee ᎤᏛᏅ ᎾᏍᎩ CHC
ᎤᏂᏍᏆᏂᎪᏔᏅᎲᏍᏗ ᎾᏍᏊ ᎠᏢᎢ
ᎪᏪᎵ ᎤᏃᏪᎳᏅ ᏣᎳᎩᎭᎢ ᎠᎴ
ᎠᎩᎵᏏ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎢᏯᎦᏴᎵ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ
ᎠᏂᏴᏫ
ᎣᏏ
ᎾᏂᏱᎸᏍᎬᎾ
ᎾᎿ
1835 Treaty of New Echota, ᎾᎿ
ᎤᎾᏓᏁᎸ ᎤᏘᏴ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎤᏂᎲ ᎦᏙᎢ
ᎾᎿ ᎧᎸᎬᎢᏗᏢ.
ᎠᏅᏱ
24
ᎤᏂᏍᏆᎸᎡᎸᎢ
ᎠᎾᏅᏓᏗᏍᎬ ᏧᏂᎶᏒᎢ ᏚᏄᎪᏔᏅᎢ.
ᏄᎵᏍᏔᏅ ᎠᎾᏅᏓᏗᏍᎬ ᎤᏦᏎᏗ
ᎨᏐ ᎪᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᎾᎿ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ
ᎤᎾᏤᎵᎪᎯ ᎾᎿ ᎠᏍᏆᎵᎮᏍᏗ ᎠᏰᎵ
ᏃᏊ ᎠᎴ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎾᏕᏘᏱᏍᎪᎢ,
ᎾᏍᎩ ᎠᏂᎳᏍᏓᏢ ᎠᎾᎵᎮᎵᎪ 1839
ᎦᎫᏍᏛᏗ.
“ᏗᎦᏤᎵ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᏂᎦᏓ ᎨᏥᎩᎣᏁᎸ
ᎤᏂᎿᎥᎢ,
ᎤᏁᎳᎩ
ᎤᏁᎵᏒ
ᎤᎾᏓᏁᏟᏴᏒ ᏓᏂᏛᏗᏍᎬ ᏧᎾᎳᏏᏙᏗ,
ᎠᎴ ᏏᏊ ᎤᎾᏟᏂᎩᏓ ᏚᎾᏓᏅᏛ ᎤᎾᏕᏗ
ᎠᎴ ᎤᎾᏂᎩᏍᏗ Ꮭ ᏳᏄᏢᏍᎨᎢ,”
ᎠᏗᏍᎬ Baker. “ᏙᎯᏳ ᎢᎦᎵᎮᎵᏍᏗ
ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ ᏃᏊ ᎬᎾᏕᎾ ᏗᏟᎶᏍᏙᏗ,
ᏂᏓᏛᏁᎲ, ᎠᎴ ᏂᏧᎵᏍᏔᏅᏍᏔᏅ
ᎢᎩᎲᎢ. ᎢᏗᏣᎳᎩ ᎨᏒ, ᏫᎦᏟᏂᎬᎬ ᎪᎯ
ᎢᎦ ᎾᏃ ᏥᎨᏒ.”
[email protected]
918-207-3961
FORT GIBSON, Okla. – Authorities searching for a Cherokee
man who disappeared nearly 10 years ago dug on property near Fort
Gibson in late March.
The search for Stephen Mitchell Adams – who was last seen Dec.
13, 2004 – began on March 24 at the site of an old cistern following a
recent tip to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation led them to
the field. Ground-penetrating radar revealed what investigators call
“anomalies” under the surface.
No remains were found that day and the search resumed the next
day.
The Fort Gibson search came less than two weeks after the
excavation of a Cherokee County property in Keys came up with no
results as it concluded on March 14, local law officials said.
“We actually excavated two areas and came up empty,” District
Attorney Brian Kuester said on March 14.
On March 13, officials used ground-penetrating radar on
approximately 2 acres of land along Horseshoe Bend Road. Kuester
said officials received a tip suggesting that Adams might be buried
on the property.
Adams, a Cherokee Nation citizen, went missing after finishing an
exam at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. Shortly before
his disappearance, Adams, then 26, called his girlfriend to tell her he
was taking an unidentified man to the Keys area. He, along with this
truck, were reported missing the next day.
Adams’ truck was a white, 1995-model Chevrolet with an
Oklahoma license plate number SCQ-714. It had chrome bed rails
and a red pinstripe down the sides.
“It’s disappointing, to say the least, but it certainly does not lessen
our determination to find Stephen and find justice for him and his
family,” Kuester said.
Investigators received a tip suggesting that Adams was killed
on land neighboring the area that was searched on March 13-14.
Cadaver dogs had previously searched the property, finding nothing.
After using the ground-penetrating radar, authorities marked off
two areas where an “anomaly” existed.
Officials with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and
the state’s Office of the Medical Examiner helped members of the
District Attorney’s Office on March 14 with the search.
The OSBI has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to
an arrest and conviction in Adams’ disappearance.
Officials in December stated they had a “persons of interest” in the
case but needed corroborating information to help close the case.
Tribe’s hanger sells,
hospital construction
funds approved
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
CATOOSA, Okla. – At its Feb. 26 meeting, the Cherokee Nation
Businesses board of directors learned that CNB’s former airplane
hangar located at the Tahlequah Municipal Airport has been sold.
CNB officials reported that the sale of the 70-foot-by-80-foot
hangar was finalized on Feb. 6 for $91,500. Funds from the sale
went into the Cherokee Nation’s General Fund. According to TMA
officials, David Lowry of Tahlequah bought the building.
The hanger and a tribally owned corporate plane that used to
be housed in the hanger were sources of controversy during the
2011 election between Principal Chief Bill John Baker and former
Principal Chief Chad Smith because of associated costs.
CNB sold the plane in 2013 for $1.58 million and claimed the
sale would save more than $400,000 annually because it eliminated
hangar-associated costs and maintenance and fuel costs for the plane.
Proceeds from the plane’s sale went directly to Contract Health
Services. Providing more money for health care was one of Baker’s
priorities while campaigning for chief.
Cherokee Nation Entertainment purchased the eight-seat plane in
2007 for $1.87 million. The hanger was built in 2008. Based on flight
records, the plane was used primarily by previous administrations
for tribal business.
Also during the meeting, Cheryl Cohenour, executive general
manager of Cherokee Nation Construction Resources, requested an
additional $650,000 be added to the Hastings construction budget
for a 1,500-square-foot area that will house a Caesarean-section unit
and storage for an intensive care unit.
The board approved the request. The funding was to be added
to the $53 million already allocated for the construction of a new
150,000-square-foot hospital in Tahlequah adjacent to the current
hospital. Construction on the new hospital is expected to begin later
this year.
[email protected]
918-207-3961
Correction
Within the front page story “Photo IDs increase while
citizenship processing decreases” that appeared in the March
issue, we published several errors. We stated in the story and the
accompanying bar graph that in fiscal year 2012, the Registration
Department issued 2,011 Certificate Degree of Indian Blood cards
and 5,713 citizenship cards. This information was taken from a
departmental report to the Tribal Council from Registration but
the report was in error. In FY12, Registration issued 3,845 CDIB
and 7,302 citizenship cards.
We stated that in the following fiscal year, Registration issued
1,915 CDIB cards and 2,202 citizenship cards. This information
was taken from the same document but the report did not reflect
the entire fiscal year. In FY13, Registration issued 4,297 CDIB
cards and 3,948 citizenship cards.
We also stated “one employee received a less than 1 percent
raise.” This information was taken from a Cherokee Nation
Budget Request Form payroll worksheet reflecting the pay
increases for each employee from one fiscal year to the next.
Registration has since supplied additional documentation
showing that the employee did receive the same 3 percent lump
sum merit increase afforded to all eligible employees.
The Cherokee Phoenix is committed to providing accurate
information to our readers. This commitment becomes more
important in the rare instances when we publish inaccurate
information. We regret the errors. A corrected version of this
story will be published online.
Also, in the story “Nation, CNE buys 5 properties in 2013” that
appeared in the February issue, we incorrectly reported that the
amount of land purchased on March 18, 2013, in Washington
County for the Cherokee Nation’s Ochelata health clinic was
57.49 acres. We based that number on a document given to
us from CN Communications. However, according to the tribe’s
Realty Department, the purchase totaled 240 acres.
NEws • dgZEksf
2014 Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
ApRil 2014 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX
3
Potential sovereignty threats concern Hembree
The issues the Cherokee Nation is
monitoring may be decided by a case
in the U.S. Supreme Court.
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Cherokee Nation Attorney General
Todd Hembree told Tribal Councilors at the Feb. 27 Rules
Committee meeting that two issues within the state could pose
threats to tribal sovereignty.
Hembree said he and members of his staff on Feb. 26 joined
Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation representatives to meet
with Steve Mullins, general counsel for Oklahoma Gov. Mary
Fallin, to discuss “two major topics.”
One topic is a proposed rule change by the state’s Alcoholic
Beverage Laws Enforcement Commission to require a limited
waiver of sovereign immunity to any tribal casino that applies
for a liquor license with the state, which the tribes oppose.
“There are many legal reasons that this cannot take place. This
is an issue that Gov. Fallin is promoting. It was a very impressive
sight to see the Cherokees, Choctaws and Chickasaws all at
one table with a united voice on this matter,” Hembree said.
“I do believe we got the governor’s attention in this matter,
and whether it is through policy negotiation or through legal
challenge, I don’t not believe the ABLE Commission will be able
to go forward with this rule. We will engage them.”
The item was not listed on the ABLE Commission’s March
10 meeting agenda, according to the commission’s website.
Commissioners tabled the item at its February meeting.
The other issue deals with Shawnee city officials giving notice
to the Citizen Pottawatomie Tribe in central Oklahoma that they
intend to begin collecting sales tax from Citizen Pottawatomie
Tribe-owned businesses located within the city limits.
Hembree said he believes issues similar to this issue have
already been litigated in the state court and the U.S. Supreme
Court. The Governor’s Office and the state Attorney General’s
Office “are contemplating weighing in” one the side of the city,
he added.
“Obviously this is an issue that is of great importance for all
Indian tribes in Oklahoma. The Choctaws, Chickasaws and
Cherokees expressed our thoughts on this matter, and we stand
ready to engage the city of Shawnee or the state of Oklahoma,”
Hembree said
The two issues, however, could be decided by current litigation
in the U. S. Supreme Court involving a Michigan tribe, he said.
This past fall, the CN joined 11 tribes in support of the Bay
Mills Indian Community and its lawsuit against Michigan. The
state is at odds with the BMIC because it believes it can close the
tribe’s casino because it is not on the tribe’s lands.
A federal judge agreed with the state and issued an injunction
in 2011 ordering the casino closed. However, the 6th Circuit
Court of Appeals threw out the judge’s injunction in late 2013.
“That (Supreme Court) decision could come in early April.
My office is working on contingency plans depending on the
severity (of the ruling). I think there will be some restriction
of some sort,” Hembree said. “Depending on the tenor and
wording of the United States Supreme Court decision, this tribe
needs to be ready to act and act quickly to protect our sovereign
immunity and our business rights.”
Hembree said after the Feb. 26 meeting between the
Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw nations and Oklahoma, he
had a second meeting with state officials to discuss a hunting
and fishing agreement.
“We have set up a series of meetings to exchange information
and data to get that ball rolling,” he said.
Hembree also gave updates on litigation with the Department
of Interior regarding the United Keetoowah Band’s 2.03 acres on
which its casino sits, as well as 76 acres, also in Tahlequah, the
UKB wants in trust status. He said the land lawsuits are separate
and will not be joined together.
The court case for the 2.03-acre tract will be heard on May
9 in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Oklahoma in
Tulsa.
Hembee said there has not been a briefing set for the 76-acre
tract.
On Feb. 28, the CN filed an objection into the UKB’s
intervention in the case for the 76-acre tract. Also, Hembree said
the CN has managed to get a restraining order against putting
that land in trust until the lawsuit is decided.
On Jan. 6, the Interior Board of Indian Appeals dismissed the
CN’s appeal of a 2011 decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs
to allow the UKB to place the 76-acre parcel of land in trust. CN
officials have said the UKB has no legal ground for trust land
within the Nation’s 14-county jurisdiction.
On Jan. 13 the CN filed a complaint with the U.S. District
Court, Northern District of Oklahoma against Interior officials.
In the complaint, the CN states the DOI’s dismissal of its
appeal makes the 2011 decision by the DOI “final” and permits
Secretary Sally Jewell to take the 76 acres into trust for the UKB.
For the Freedmen case in federal court, Hembree said oral
arguments are to be heard on April 28 in the U.S. District Court
for the District of Columbia.
[email protected]
918-207-3961
Tax Commission
discusses
tobacco seizure
at Hard Rock
BY TESINA JACKSON
Reporter
Cherokee Nation Construction Resources, a CN-owned company, will oversee the Wilma P. Mankiller Health Center’s expansion. CNCR
Executive General Manager Cheryl Cohenour speaks during a Feb. 28 groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion and expects to hire
Cherokee contractors to help with the expansion. WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
CliNiC
from front page
clinic’s expansion. Executive General Manager of CNCR Cheryl
Cohenour said she is proud to be a part of the expansion project.
“We are wholly owned by the Cherokee Nation and we’re all
Cherokee Nation employees. The projects we are getting ready to start
are exactly what our businesses are designed to do – generate revenue
and experience to benefit the Cherokee Nation and Cherokee citizens,”
she said.
Other projects in the $104 million health care investment plan
include construction of new health centers underway in Jay in Delaware
County and Ochelata in Washington County and an expansion to
the Redbird Smith Health Center in Sequoyah County. The plan also
includes a new $53 million, 150,000 square foot hospital in Tahlequah,
with construction expected to begin later this year.
Cohenour said CNCR is using and will utilize as many Cherokee
contractors as possible for the expansions and construction projects.
“Construction at the Wilma P. Mankiller health center is slated to
take approximately a year and we’re excited to provide local contractors
with a chance to expand the capacity of our health system. The addition
will be about 28,000 square feet of new, very efficient space that will be
connected to the existing clinic,” she said. “It’s exciting to see facilities
being built that are going to impact our families and the people that we
know.”
Cherokee Nation operates the largest tribal health system in the
United States and has 1.2 million patient visits a year.
“No Cherokee should get second-class health care in a Cherokee
Nation-run health care system,” Baker said. “This is a day that we can
take, what was our flagship, and turn it into something bigger and
better that we can all be proud of, that will take care of our young and
take care of our elders.”
[email protected]
918-207-3961
Free Phoenix subscriptions available for needy elders
BY STAFF REPORTS
TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Phoenix
is offering free subscriptions for its monthly
newspaper to elders who are Cherokee Nation
citizens and cannot afford the annual $10
subscription.
Using the Cherokee Phoenix Subscription
Donation Fund, elders who are 65 and
older can apply to receive a free one-year
subscription by visiting, calling or writing the
Phoenix office and requesting a subscription.
The Phoenix office is located in the Annex
Building on the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex
in Tahlequah. The postal address is Cherokee
Phoenix, P.O. Box 948, Tahlequah, OK 74465.
Its phone number is 918-453-5269.
No income guidelines have been specified
and the subscriptions will be given as funds
are available.
The fund was established using donations
from the Tribal Council and others after the
council cut the Phoenix’s fiscal year 2013
budget by 25 percent.
The cut forced Phoenix officials to begin
charging for monthly newspapers that are
mailed to subscribers’ homes and distributed
in racks at CN-related offices, clinics and
entities.
Tax-deductible donations for the fund can
be sent to the Phoenix by check or money
order specifying the donation for the Cherokee
Phoenix Subscription Donation Fund.
According to April numbers, approximately
8,000 newspapers were to be distributed in
racks at paid distribution sites and 8,471
newspapers were to be mailed to subscribers.
Before the budget cut, the Phoenix
newspaper was distributed in racks placed
in locations around the tribe’s jurisdictional
area and mailed for free to the homes of CN
citizens who signed up for home deliveries.
The Phoenix has a free website (www.
cherokeephoenix.org) that posts news five
days a week about the Cherokee government,
people, history and events of interest.
The monthly newspaper is also posted in
PDF format to the website each month.
Cold case unit reopens 1977 Girl Scout slayings
PRYOR, Okla. (AP) – Some of the evidence
taken from the slayings of three Girl Scouts
in eastern Oklahoma more than 30 years
ago is now undergoing new forensic testing,
according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of
Investigation.
The OSBI said in a news release on March
7 that its Cold Case Unit began reviewing
the case three years ago and has identified
evidence that may reveal clues. Those items
were sent to a private lab for testing that the
OSBI is unable to perform.
The bodies of Lori Lee Farmer, 8, of Tulsa;
Michelle Guse, 9, of Broken Arrow; and Doris
Denise Milner, 10, of Tulsa, were discovered
on June 13, 1977, at Camp Scott near Locust
Grove after they had been abducted from their
tent during the night.
Prison escapee Gene Leroy Hart, a Cherokee
man, was later arrested and charged with
murder and rape in the case, but he was
acquitted at trial in 1979 and died about two
months later in prison, where he was serving a
more than 300-year sentence for previous rape
and kidnapping convictions. The specific items
most recently submitted were not revealed, but
OSBI Director Stan Florence said more than
200 items have been provided for testing.
“The girl scouts’ murder investigation has
been one of the most extensive investigations
in OSBI’s 89-year history,” Florence said.
“When I became director three years ago, I
authorized a comprehensive review of the
entire case to identify any possible leads we
may further develop and explore additional
scientific measures that could draw a clear
conclusion to the case.”
At the request of Lori Lee Farmer’s parents,
Dr. Charles and Sheri Farmer, the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children
has agreed to assist with the case and has met
with Mayes County Sheriff Mike Reed and
OSBI officials.
“For the last year, the Mayes County
Sheriff ’s Office has been working hand in
hand with the OSBI and NCMEC to review
the case from every possible angle. Our sole
mission has been to pull our agencies together
as one team, try to find some answers, and
bring final justice for the families and citizens
of Mayes County,” Reed said.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – At its March 12
meeting, the Cherokee Nation Tax Commission
discussed the recent seizure of tobacco products
that were being sold to the Hard Rock Hotel &
Casino Tulsa.
“We actually had a wholesaler, that was a
state-licensed wholesaler, but was not licensed
by us, and the golf course, which is on fee land,
was purchasing from this cigar company and
the Hard Rock store thought it was all the
same so they purchased some cigars,” CNTC
Administrator Sharon Swepston said.
Because the golf course is on fee land, it is
licensed and regulated by the state.
The CNTC has a list of wholesale companies
that are licensed by the tribe and those
companies can sell their products to tribal
businesses that are located on trust land, such
as the Hard Rock.
Swepston said when the CNTC got the report
of the wholesaler selling to the Hard Rock, it
notified CNB that the commission would have
to seize those products.
“We thought that they were going to come
back and get licensed with us, but they have
not turned in an application so right now we
are holding the product,” she said. “We have
the product and haven’t done anything with it
because we were waiting to see what happens
with the wholesaler.”
Swepston said the products were seized
because the wholesaler paid taxes to the state
but have not paid taxes to the Nation.
“It was a few hundred dollars. It wasn’t a big,
major deal, but we just needed to make sure it
got corrected,” she said. “I just wanted to make
the commission aware in case there were any
questions.”
Also at its meeting, the CNTC approved
three rules and regulation revisions, which
were to be published and posted for a 30-day
comment period.
One of the revisions would no longer require
canoes, kayaks and paddleboats to be registered
by the CNTC.
In July 2013, the state quit requiring canoes,
kayaks or paddleboats to be registered.
Other regulation changes included a
handicap veteran specialty tag for those who
have a veteran tag and a handicap placard can
get a veteran tag but at a handicap discounted
price. The specialty tag will include the
handicap symbol.
“This is something new. This was a request
from some of our veterans who also hold a
handicap placard, and we do have a handicap
tag and we have a veteran tag, but if you get
a handicap tag, it is just a regular Cherokee
Nation tag,” Swepston said. “They want their
veteran tag, but they want the handicap
discount. So what we’re having to do is to try
to put those two together to come up with a
handicap veteran tag at that price.”
Another rule change regarded selling cart
tags to active duty/military CN citizens.
Previously, the regulation was that if a citizen is
in the military and stationed outside of the CN
jurisdiction but still maintained an Oklahoma
residency, they could receive a CN tag.
If the CN citizen’s spouse is not a citizen,
the revision allows that spouse to receive a CN
tag as long as both names are on the title of
that vehicle and they maintain an Oklahoma
residency.
After the 30-day comment period, the
regulations are to be presented to the CNTC
for review and possible approval.
The commission also approved temporary
license applications for the Vinita-based
tobacco retailer Second American because of
change of ownership and for the Arrowhead
Cigar Company, a wholesaler company.
The Tax Commission currently has several
wholesalers throughout the United States.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
4
OPINION • Zlsz
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
Talking Circles
Change name to Bandits
After reading the article “Civil rights group calls for Washington
to drop team name” in January’s Cherokee Phoenix, I believe if the
owner of the Washington football wants to honor some people he
should nickname his team the Bandits to honor all the politicians in
Washington, D.C.
Al England
Albuquerque, N.M.
Photo ID via mail?
April 2014
Volume 38, No. 4
The Cherokee Phoenix is published
monthly by the Cherokee Nation, PO Box
948, Tahlequah, OK 74465.
Application to mail at Periodicals postage
rates is pending at Tahlequah, OK 74464.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
Cherokee Phoenix, PO Box 948, Tahlequah,
OK 74465
Bryan Pollard
Executive Editor
(Cherokee)
Travis Snell
Assistant Editor
(Cherokee)
Mark Dreadfulwater
Multimedia Editor
(Cherokee)
Dena Tucker
Administrative Officer
(Cherokee)
Will Chavez
Senior Reporter
(Cherokee/San Felipe Pueblo)
Jami Custer
Reporter
(Cherokee)
Tesina Jackson
Reporter
(Cherokee)
Stacie Guthrie
Reporter
(Cherokee)
Roger Graham
Media Specialist
(Cherokee)
Chelsea Moser
Advertising Sales
(Cherokee)
Joy Rollice
Secretary
(Cherokee)
Justin Smith
Distribution Specialist
(Cherokee)
Anna Sixkiller
Linguist
(Cherokee)
Editorial Board
John Shurr
(Cherokee)
Jason Terrell
(Cherokee)
Robert Thompson III
(Cherokee)
Clarice Doyle
(Cherokee)
Keith Austin
(Cherokee)
Cherokee Phoenix
P.O. Box 948
Tahlequah, OK 74465
(918) 453-5269
FAX: (918) 207-0049
1-800-256-0671
www.cherokeephoenix.org
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS
Within the United States:
$10 for one year
$18 for two years
$26 for three years
International:
$24 for one year
Please contact us at the number above to subscribe.
Mail subscriptions and changes of address to
the Cherokee Phoenix, P.O. Box 948, Tahlequah,
OK 74465, phone 918-207-4975. Please include
the words “Change of Address” or “Subscription” on the envelope.
Back Issues may be purchased for $2.50 postage and handling. Please inquire to make sure
the issues are in stock by writing to Back Issues,
Cherokee Phoenix, P.O. Box 948, Tahlequah, OK
74465; or calling 918-207-4975.
Member
Copyright 2014: The entire contents of the
Cherokee Phoenix are fully protected by copyright unless otherwise noted and may be
reproduced if the copyright is noted and credit
is given to the Cherokee Phoenix, the writer and
the photographer. Requests to reprint should
be directed to the editor at the above address.
Material provided through membership with
Associated Press NewsFinder, identified by (AP),
may not be reproduced without permission of the
Associated Press.
Oklahoma Press
Association
Native American
Journalists Association
To get a new Cherokee Nation photo identification card I must
travel from my home in Bellingh, Wash., to Tahlequah, Okla. It would
be great if I could send a passport photo and receive one by mail. The
old blue CN citizenship card dose not carry the weight as a photo ID.
Raymond Ray
Bellingh, Wash.
Rogers County, surrounding area lacks health care
I would really like for someone to tell me why the citizens of Rogers
and surrounding counties who use the Claremore Indian Hospital
still have to contend with substandard treatment and care.
Published in the March 2014 edition of the Cherokee Phoenix
we read how there was a groundbreaking for the expansion of the
Wilma P. Mankiller Health Center in Stilwell. Next we read about
a new clinic being built in Jay. When I spoke with our leadership, I
was told the reason that there cannot be a clinic built in Claremore
was because the federal government won’t allow it. Also, I was told,
because the Claremore Indian Hospital was used by several other
tribes if the Cherokee Nation withdrew its funds from the hospital
the other tribes would not be able to pay the required money and the
hospital would have to close. And just so we’re clear, the Claremore
Indian Hospital doesn’t belong to the Cherokee Nation. It belongs to
the federal government.
Well what about building a clinic that could alleviate the crowded
conditions at the hospital? Let’s face it, when someone has a cold they
have no business tying up the emergency room. Recently there was a
man in the emergency waiting room with a compound fracture to his
arm but he was not seen for over four hours because of colds, allergies
and various other minor complaints.
The clinic would be used as a clinic and the hospital would still
be used as a hospital. The Cherokee people in this area are fed up
with substandard care and watching as other hospitals and clinics are
expanded within the Nation while we don’t even have one.
We the Cherokee people deserve better and hope that some
of the politics of day can be set aside to take care of a forgotten
problem here in the Claremore area.
After all, Claremore is the county seat of Rogers County.
Kathy Robinson
Claremore, Okla.
One death is too many, Native Americans included
Thank you for including the informative Guest Perspective “Indian
Health Service out of money. Will you die waiting?” in the March 2014
issue of the Cherokee Phoenix. A short yet perceptive read written by
Mark Trahant, a Shoshone Bannock citizen who is a journalist and
Atwood Chair at the University of Alaska in Anchorage.
The heart of Mr. Trahant’s assessment on the cruel, deadly
or debilitating, and entirely unnecessary refusal by Republican
governors to accept the Medicare federal dollars to completely fund
the Affordable Care Act for eligible U.S. citizens – including Native
Americans – for 3 years and then at 90 percent thereafter, is an act
of aggravated manslaughter and dereliction of executive duty of
these same governors. These governors, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin
included, have committed these crimes cloaked only by cold and
greedy insistence to toady to conglomerate hospital corporations and
the “health” insurance agencies.
A study published in “Health Affairs” and authored by Sam
Dickman, David Himmelstein, Danny McCormick and Steffie
Woolhandler reveals a range of subsequent deaths nationwide to be
from 7,000 to 17,000. One death is too many. This includes Native
Americans.
Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn supports these atrocities. One would
think that a doctor possibly close to death from colon cancer would
be more sympathetic to the struggling working and middle classes.
Coburn and Fallin’s only alternative is a tax-exempt health savings
account. This is ludicrous.
Fallin shall run for the U.S. Senate in 2016. I hope and encourage
Democrats, and those Republicans not enthralled by Fox News/
Koch Brothers propaganda, to support alternative, responsible and
compassionate Senate candidates in 2014 and 2016. To continue to
enrich the already extremely wealthy by the deaths and detriment
of the millions of Americans already dying and suffering are crimes
calling to heaven for justice.
As regards to Fallin, I urge Native Americans to remember her
treasonous, unwarranted and arrogant intrusion into federal and
state court proceedings regarding illegal adoption of Indian children.
There is a corporate adoption mill now active in the United States that
encourages American Indian mothers and sometimes fathers to enter
these “sales” under economic pressure. The end of Fallin’s political
career shall go a long Trail of Tears to change this horrible system.
Joe Ratley
Muskogee, Okla.
Talking Circles submissions can be mailed to Cherokee Phoenix, PO
Box 948, Tahlequah, OK 74465 or emailed to [email protected].
CHiEF’S pERSpECTiVE
One year later: delivering on a promise
BY BILL JOHN BAKER
Principal Chief
Over the past 12
months, I have been
fortunate to travel
across the Cherokee
Nation’s 14 counties,
meeting with tribal
citizens on the issues
and programs that mean the most to them.
During all those community events,
speaking engagements and suppers, one
constant remained true: There is nothing
more important to the CN today, tomorrow
and years from now than access to quality
health care. This is the single most
important thing we can do as a government
to improve the lives of our people.
It was just one year ago that I announced
we would use more than $100 million of
Cherokee Nation Businesses’ casino profits
to fund renovations and expansions at
existing health centers, as well as a new
surgical hospital in Tahlequah, our capital
city. We have been successful financially,
and I’m proud that we are finally investing
casino dollars directly into our tribal
infrastructure to ensure we have future
generations of healthy Cherokees. Our
business success belongs to our people.
I am also pleased to report that our vision
to reinvest CNB business profits into our
people is flourishing. Our businesses were
created to generate a profit for our tribal
citizens to share in. In the past 12 months,
we have delivered on those promises to
improve health care.
We have broken ground on these health
centers:
• a new 30,000-square-foot health center
expansion
and
11,000-square-foot
renovation at CN Redbird Smith Health
Center in Sallisaw,
• a new 28,000-square-foot CN
Cooweescoowee Health Center in
Ochelata,
• a new 42,000-square-foot health center in
Jay, and
• a new 28,000-square-foot health center
expansion of the Wilma P. Mankiller
Health Center in Stilwell.
That equals 128,000 feet of new space and
11,000 feet of refurbished space to provide
quality care. No CN citizen will have to
drive more than 30 miles to get treated.
Later this year we will break ground on
a state-of-the-art, 150,000-square-foot
surgical hospital.
I truly believe that every CN citizen
deserves a long and healthy life. Living
that long and happy life means our people,
who make more than one million health
care visits annually to our facilities, receive
world-class care.
We have the biggest health care system
in all of Indian Country and it should also
be the best. Our centers offer medical,
dental, lab, radiology, public health, WIC,
nutrition, contract health, pharmacy,
behavioral health, optometry, community
health service and mammography. When
we open these expansions, the wait will be
shorter and the services will be faster.
With more space, more staff and more
education, we can focus on prevention.
Investments in wellness awareness
will make our health care system more
efficient and will have a lasting effect on
preventing chronic disease. When we
create healthier people today, we will
preempt health crises tomorrow.
Additionally, each expansion means
good construction jobs are being created.
Our own Cherokee CRC, a CNB business,
is responsible for production and assembly.
That means Cherokee capital investments
are creating Cherokee jobs to improve the
health of Cherokee people.
In 12 short months we have made huge
strides for our people.
I promised the CN would strive for a
world-class health care system and no
Cherokee would get second-class health
care. These expansions make good on
that promise.
I was taught that every decision we
make today will impact the next seven
generations. The investment we are making
to build a world-class health care system
will sustain the health and economy of the
CN for generations to come.
[email protected]
918-453-5618
COUNCilOR’S pERSpECTiVE
Cherokees deserve responsible health care expansion
BY JULIA COATES
Tribal Councilor
It’s a wonderful
idea,
isn’t
it,
expanding
the
Cherokee Nation’s
health
system?
What
kind
of
scrooges
would
ever be against such a thing? In a recent
op-ed piece, Tribal Councilor Jodie
Fishinghawk paints a simple picture: the
Cherokee people have increasing health
care needs, the infrastructure is aging, we
have significant casino profits. It’s not hard
to connect the dots. So let’s get on it and
naysayers be damned!
The problem is, things are never just
that simple. In fact, health systems are
very complex with many interrelated
moving parts. Fishinghawk charges that
the minority has only been throwing
stones at the plan, but I would ask, “what
plan?” For two years, we have been asking
the administration, health department
administrators and the CEO of Cherokee
Nation Businesses to see a comprehensive
expansion plan so we could understand
and evaluate the impacts on the component
parts, but have only been told, “we’re
working on it.” The majority on the council,
the administration and the CNB board
appear to have entered into a multi-million
dollar expansion without a thorough idea
of how it will be funded and staffed, for
starters.
Our health system relies greatly on thirdparty payments from insurance companies
and Medicaid, but health administration has
recently reported that third-party revenue
is down and projected to decrease further.
Why? The exemption offered to American
Indians under the Affordable Care Act
is actually causing some people to drop
their existing insurance plans, resulting in
an increased burden on the Indian health
care systems. A comprehensive plan should
have predicted this and explained how we
would compensate.
The Indian Health Service is another
reliable source of funding for tribal
health expansion. Every clinic planned/
constructed
under
the
previous
administration – including Nowata,
Muskogee, Sallisaw and Vinita, as well as
the expansion of Hastings Hospital, the
dialysis center in Sallisaw and a lifeflight
heliport and cardiovascular imaging center
in Tahlequah – was financed through
Memorandums of Understandings with
IHS, saving the CN millions of dollars.
But we have undertaken this current
expansion without any commitments from
IHS, leaving us in a situation of substantial
indebtedness. A responsible plan would
have grabbed every available federal dollar
first.
We also have not seen any plan addressing
how we are going to financially maintain
the system in the future, especially when
the Creeks are opening a Margaritaville
franchise in Tulsa that is predicted to cut
into our own casino profits by as much as
30 percent beginning in only three years. At
present, the goose that lays the golden egg
is not only being plundered by its owners, it
is being hunted by others, and we have not
identified how we will protect it in order to
maintain even our present benefits, much
less increase those benefits.
Expansion means growth, doesn’t it? We
wondered how CN would attract additional
health providers when there are national
shortages in every field. Recently we have
been told that the plan does not include
additional providers, just more “efficiency,”
which translates into additional patient
visits covered by the existing providers. If
so, it’s not expansion, just new buildings
and more work.
A truly dramatic expansion of the health
care system occurred under the previous
administration, and was probably going
to continue under any administration that
came in in 2011. Thus it is not so much a
“promise” as a given. No one is opposed to
that expansion, but we believe it should be
done in a more responsible, less reckless
manner. We hope that these short-term
political gains for the Baker administration
do not result in long-term financial anguish
for the CN.
[email protected]
918-772-0288
OPINION • Zlsz
2014 Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
ApRil 2014 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX
5
GUEST pERSpECTiVE
Registrar clears up misconceptions
BY LINDA O’LEARY
Tribal Registrar
One of the most
frequent
questions
I get asked about
Registration is why
Certificate Degree of
Indian Blood and tribal
citizenship applications
take more than a year to process.
A story that ran in the March issue of the
Cherokee Phoenix titled, “Cards, Cards,
Cards” attempted to explain the backlog. I was
disappointed the story did not give citizens a
clear picture of why that backlog exists.
The article implied that because Registration
is now issuing photo ID citizenship cards,
fewer CDIB/citizenship applications are
being processed. This is not true.
When Principal Chief Bill John Baker took
office in 2011 and nominated me as registrar
in the summer of 2012 and Tribal Council
confirmed me in a 13-4 vote of confidence, it
was discovered that 15,000 CDIB cards had
not been issued by the former administration
and registrar. That created a tremendous
backlog in the Registration Department.
The failure to issue these CDIB cards
required us to hire more staff, who’ve helped
process 7,000 of those backlogged CDIB
cards. Our tribe stepped up to take over the
responsibility of issuing CDIB cards from the
Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1985 so that when
someone applies for tribal citizenship, we can
also issue a CDIB card. Not issuing the CDIB
cards could have seriously jeopardized our
compact with the BIA.
The article did not point out a very
important context, that tribal citizenship
photo IDs are only provided to Cherokees
who are already tribal citizens. Clerical staff
do not have to prepare new ancestry records
(what we call 8x10s) linking them to their
original ancestors on the Dawes Roll and log
all their data into a registration database for
the first time. The Photo ID unit is a separate
and distinct unit that is not responsible for
CDIBs or citizenship: therefore this function
in no way impacts the issuance of CDIB/
citizenship cards.
Citizens simply step into a room taking
a photo much like a driver’s license and the
process takes minutes. Other tribes, such as
the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminoles are
also now offering photo ID tribal citizenship
cards because they’ve seen our program and
how beneficial it is.
We’re finding our citizens value these new
photo ID citizenship cards because they are
more durable and a source of pride. They’re
good because it helps our Registration
Department collect updated citizen addresses
since we rely on our Cherokee citizens to selfreport when they move to a new address. It
brings our citizens to community meetings to
GUEST pERSpECTiVE
BY ADRIENNE KEENE
Cherokee Nation citizen
On
March
5,
someone tagged me in
the comments of your
post of a picture of you
wearing dark red lipstick
and a coordinating
war bonnet. Initially, I
didn’t give it much thought because this is a
trend that I’m exposed to every day. But then
I got email after email and realized that this
one was different because you, Christina, are
the daughter of Oklahoma’s governor.
While a lot of folks come at this from a
place of ignorance, you knew that putting on
that headdress would be controversial. You
titled your photo “Appropriate Culturation,”
which means you are aware of the concept of
cultural appropriation and knew that Native
peoples would be hurt by your choice, and
you did it anyway.
Then you posted an “apology” that never
actually apologizes, and instead says this:
“Please forgive us if we innocently adorn
ourselves with your beautiful things. We
do so with the utmost respect. We hold a
sincere reverence for and genuine spiritual
connection to Native American values.”
I can’t get over that line. I read it again and
again and can’t believe that you think that way
of thinking is excusable and OK.
There is nothing about this that is
“innocent” or “respectful.”
I’m a Cherokee Nation citizen. Though
I’ve never lived in Oklahoma, I have a lot
of family there and claim it as one of my
“homes” because that’s where my community
is based. But my tribe is not there by chance
get more involved in our tribe and learn about
all of our programs. Being an informed tribal
citizen makes our tribe better as a whole.
The article also used figures that were not
current. Information was taken from packets
that were given to Tribal Councilors back in
August 2013 during budget hearings. One of
the bar graphs used in the article showing the
number of tribal citizenship cards issued in
2013 did not include about five months’ worth
of figures. In fact, we issued 3,948 citizenship
cards and 4,297 CDIB cards in 2013, which
was a higher number than reported in the
Cherokee Phoenix article.
I know some citizens get frustrated that
their citizenship application isn’t approved
on the spot. Our office is aware of our
citizens’ needs and we are working hard to
meet those needs. Records are thoroughly
researched and cross-checked in accordance
with our BIA contract. Under Chief Baker,
this administration has already increased our
Registration Department budget and staffing,
approving the hiring of 11 additional fulltime workers and six part-time to process
more applications and help with clerical work.
All Cherokee Nation employees, including
Registration, received a 3 percent merit award
despite an incorrect statement in the article.
Just to give you a better idea of our
Registration numbers, 1,200 to 1,500 new
CDIB and citizenship applications come
in each month. Also the registration office
receives approximately 1,200 replacement
card requests for citizenship or CDIBs
each month.
The fax machine alone in our Registration
Office receives and responds to 140 requests
per day for citizenship verification from
agencies to determine education scholarships
to health care eligibility. From time to time
there are other demands such as citizens
needing copies of their lineage for the
Cobell Settlement or citizenship verification
for employment, Indian preference letters,
clothing and coat vouchers, JohnsonO’Malley, Gates scholarships, Angels of the
Cherokees and sign-off on eagle feather
verification.
We want our citizens to know that we are
working on improvements in the registration
process. The department is already seeing an
increase in processed applications as a result of
added staff, new technology and an increased
budget. Due to the budget increase, five fulltime Registration telephone operators have
been assigned to answer your questions on
registration services at 918-458-6980.
We hope this clears up some of the
confusion and misinformation regarding
the CDIB, citizenship application and photo
ID process. We look forward to continuing
to serve the Cherokee people in the most
efficient manner possible.
[email protected]
918-453-5435
Open letter to Christina Fallin
or by choice. My tribe and the vast majority
of the other Natives peoples in Oklahoma
are there by force and trauma. In 1830, the
U.S. government and Andrew Jackson passed
something called the Indian Removal Act,
which resulted in the removal of thousands
of Native peoples from their homelands in
the Southeast. So all that “Native American
culture” you’ve been able to come in contact
with, it’s thanks to violence, colonialism
and genocidal policies. It’s not an innocent
cultural exchange.
After the removal from our homelands,
after the loss of our land in Indian Territory
due to the Dawes Act and the infamous Land
Grabs, then came the laws to remove our
culture. Little Native children were forcibly
removed from their homes, separated from
their families, and forcibly assimilated. Our
cultural markers, like your beloved headdress,
were stripped from us, prohibited by law.
Notice the words I keep using here?
Forcibly, stripped, prohibited, assimilated.
This is not a happy history. This is a history
marked by violence and trauma. So while
you may feel “eternally grateful” for your
exposure to our cultures, you’re deliberately
ignoring your own history if you think your
donning of a headdress is “innocent.” These
are our images, our cultural symbols, yet
we are completely powerless to have control
over them. It may seem extreme, but the best
way I can say it is that your wearing of the
headdress is an act of violence that continues
the pain of colonization. “Please forgive us
if we innocently adorn ourselves with your
beautiful things.” The privilege and violence
of that statement astounds me. “Please forgive
us if we innocently use your beautiful land.”
“Please forgive us if we innocently educate
your beautiful children.” “Please forgive us
if we innocently sexualize your beautiful
women.” These actions are not benign.
My tribe doesn’t wear headdresses (Do you
even realize that there are hundreds of tribes?
That there isn’t one “Native American culture”
or one set of “Native American values”?), but
I am continuing to learn and appreciate the
history and meaning behind them. Not long
ago I listened to my friend give a presentation.
She put up an image of Sitting Bull in a war
bonnet and told the audience that each of the
individual eagle feathers in that headdress
was a gift from a community member, given
to Sitting Bull as symbolic of their trust and
respect in him as a leader. He didn’t just pick it
up at a costume shop because it looked “cool.”
I’m trying to think of examples of things
I respect and how I show that respect. I’m
actually struggling to think of a time when
I respected something and decided the best
way to show that respect was by taking it. You
know how I show respect? I listen. I listen
hard. I listen deeply, and I listen constantly.
I listen so I can become a more complete
human being. It is clear from your response
that maybe you heard, but you didn’t listen.
If you had listened to our voices you would
have seen that the way to show respect to your
Native friends and neighbors was not to put
on a headdress and defend your choice but to
take it off and apologize.
I can’t totally blame you, Christina. You
have been socialized in a society where you’ve
been taught imperial, colonial values. That
the Americas were an empty, wide place
that needed “discovering” by a lost Italian
explorer. That “manifest destiny” meant white
folks had a god-given right to colonize the
West. That Native peoples were in need of
“civilizing.” That resources, people and things
are yours for the taking. You’re not used to
being told no. As a Native person, I’ve learned
to hear no, but I think about it in a different
way. I know, as a Native woman, that there
are certain roles for me in the community. I
know that there are certain times and places
for knowledge, that there are certain stories I
can’t know, places I can’t be, things I can’t see.
But I don’t see that as limiting or unfair – I
respect and understand the place that these
practices come from.
I’m learning that with these letters, I need
to offer you an action plan, an alternative, a
path to making it right. So here’s what I ask.
Talk to your mom, Gov. Fallin. Encourage
her to put forward a bill to improve Native
American history and curriculum in schools,
modeled after Montana’s Indian Education
for All. It’s clear that Oklahoma likes to invoke
and embrace its Native roots, but it’s also clear
that there needs to be a true discussion about
the messages being sent. As her daughter,
your mistake with the headdress is gaining
more attention than it probably would have
otherwise, but it also means that you have
much more power to make change than the
average citizen. Use that power for good.
So, Christina, I’m done with being angry. I
just would like you to truly show me respect
by listening to my words.
Adrienne Keene is currently completing her
doctorate in education, focusing on stories
of Native students navigating the college
process. She is also the author of “Native
Appropriations” (http://nativeappropriations.
com), a blog examining representations of
Native peoples in the media and pop culture.
GUEST pERSpECTiVE
Why change is needed at OSSAA
BY MITCH MCCUISTIAN
Cherokee Nation Citizen
I want to preface this opinion piece by
stating that I love high school athletics. Born
and raised in Claremore, Okla., I was fortunate
enough to be part of a baseball team that won
two state titles and finished runner-up once.
Some of my fondest memories in life are those
memories created while a member of the
Claremore Zebras. I love high school athletics.
For the past year, I have personally
experienced the inner workings of the
Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities
Association, more commonly known as the
OSSAA. During this time, as an attorney,
I have represented numerous students and
families during appeals and have come to learn
firsthand that although this organization has
good intentions, it is fundamentally flawed.
The OSSAA should be for the students,
coaches and schools, not merely an additional
hurdle. Hurdles should be encountered on the
track in the spring, not at 7300 N. Broadway
Extension in Oklahoma City.
The highest court of our great state, the
Oklahoma Supreme Court, said it best
in Scott v. Oklahoma Secondary School
Activities Association in that many of the
OSSAA’s actions are arbitrary and capricious.
The Supreme Court went on to state the
OSSAA is not a voluntary organization as the
term “voluntary” would suggest. In addition,
the Supreme Court found that the executive
director of the OSSAA was given unlimited
authority to run and operate the very body
that governs our high school students’ extracurricular activities.
The above leads to my main point. The
OSSAA is desperately in need of proper
checks and balances. The system, although
well intentioned, is fundamentally flawed.
I encourage you to
support House Bill 2730
and 2739 currently
being considered by
our State House of
Representatives. These
bills would require the
OSSAA to comply with
the Oklahoma Open
Records and Open Meetings acts. In addition,
the OSSAA would be required to comply with
the Administrative Procedures Act and with
a financial audit conducted in accordance
with the standards of the Oklahoma Public
Schools Audit Law.
The OSSAA wants you to believe that
these bills will increase expenses and delay
the decision-making process. However, what
they won’t tell you is the amount of money
already spent on legal fees and associated
costs incurred as a result of hiring outside
legal counsel to conduct everything from an
investigation into student-athlete eligibility
to sitting in on appeal hearings in which they
have no role. Moreover, the decision-making
process that the OSSAA looks to protect
needs revision; that is not my opinion, that
is the opinion of our state Supreme Court. If
you have ever tried to maneuver the system,
you will understand that putting your thumb
on the rule or reasoning on which the OSSAA
hangs its hat is next to impossible.
I write this article because first of all, I am
a staunch supporter of high school athletics.
Secondly, because I have had the honor of
representing numerous student-athletes and
their families that have been mistreated and
run through the gamete that is the OSSAA.
Mitch McCuistian is an attorney in Edmond,
Okla. You can call him at (405) 286-2335 or
by emailing [email protected].
Advertise with the
Cherokee phoenix
print, Web, Radio
&
Weekly Digital Newsletter
Contact:
Dena Tucker
918-453-5324
[email protected]
6
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
COuNCIl • d/wWf
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
Council encourages U.N. to implement UNDRIP
The United Nations
Declaration on
the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples
recognizes the right
of indigenous peoples
to exist as peoples,
nations, cultures and
societies.
BY TESINA JACKSON
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – At its
March 10 meeting, the Tribal
Council unanimously authorized
the Cherokee Nation to encourage
the United Nations to establish
a mechanism to monitor and
encourage nations to implement the
U.N. Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples.
“The significance of the United
Nations implementing the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples is of the utmost
importance to the Cherokee people
and other indigenous peoples,” Tribal
Councilor Victoria Vazquez said.
“The declaration is a needed tool for
indigenous governments to protect
their sovereignty and promote the
interests of their people.”
According to the resolution, the
effort would promote measures
to address violence against Native
women and children and create a
status for indigenous governments
that adequately recognizes tribal
status as unique nations, societies
and cultures.
Adopted by the U.N. General
Assembly in 2007, UNDRIP
recognizes the right of indigenous
peoples to exist as peoples, nations,
cultures and societies.
According to the resolution, tribal
nations are using the UNDRIP as
another way to protect their lands
and resources as it forms a framework
for how federal laws, regulations,
policies and practices should affect
the workings of Native governments.
The Tribal Council also approved
two budget modifications for fiscal
year 2014.
One modification increases the
tribe’s capital budget by $521,902 for
a total of more than $99 million and
allows the transfer of remaining funds
for the Stilwell Child Development
Center’s construction into the CDC’s
operating budget.
The other budget modification
increases the tribe’s comprehensive
operating budget by $498,111 for
a total of more than $587 million.
According to the act, the General Fund
was increased by $7,306 for travel of
the tribe’s Junior Miss Cherokee.
The tribe’s Department of InteriorPublic Law 102 477 budget was
increased by more than $1.5 million
for the Stilwell CDC’s operation
costs. The tribe’s Internal Service
Lease budget was decreased by
$197,675.
Councilors also approved three
grant applications.
One grant submission was for a
$75,000 Herd Development Grant
from the Intertribal Buffalo Council.
If awarded, the tribe’s Natural
Resources would use the money to
establish a buffalo operation as a
“potential self-sustaining business
endeavor.”
Another application was to the
National Park Service Tribal Heritage
for $40,000 in historic preservation
funding.
The National Historic Preservation
Act of 1966 authorizes grants to
federally recognized Indian tribes
for cultural and historic preservation
projects.
These grants assist Indian tribes,
Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiian
organizations in protecting and
promoting their respective cultural
heritages and traditions.
“I submitted this as a resolution
Tribal Councilor Victoria Vazquez applauds veterans (unseen) while were recognized at the Feb. 10 Tribal
Council meeting in Tahlequah, Okla. At the March 10 meeting, Vazquez submitted a resolution for a National
Park Service Tribal Heritage grant application for historic preservation funding. The council approved the
legislation unanimously. WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
and it’s overwhelming approved by
all the councilors in committee and
I’m thrilled because this will help us
restore and keep our traditional arts
alive,” Vazquez said.
The third grant submission was
for the U.S. Department of Justice’s
2014 Coordinated Tribal Assistance
Solicitation,
which
provides
funding for law enforcement needs,
strategic planning for the future,
various purpose areas to address
victimization issues for tribal
victims and funding for tribal youth
programs.
The tribe is applying for estimated
$2.6 million in grant money in the
areas of public safety and community
policing, justice systems and alcohol
and substance abuse, violence
against women, children’s justice act
partnerships for Indian communities
and comprehensive tribal victim
assistance.
According to the application, the
DOJ is committed to helping protect
all Native Americans from violence;
takes seriously its role in enforcing
federal criminal laws that apply in
Indian country; prioritizes helping
protect Native American women and
children from violence and exposure
to violence; and works with tribes
to hold perpetrators accountable,
to protect victims, and to reduce
the incidence of domestic violence,
sexual assault, and child abuse and
neglect in tribal communities.
Lawsuit filed against
11 councilors, chief
Dist. 1 (2015)
Tina Glory Jordan
918-457-9207
[email protected]
Dist. 2 (2017)
Joe Byrd
918-316-9463
[email protected]
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Three Cherokee
Nation citizens have sued 11 Tribal
Councilors, Principal Chief Bill John Baker
and the CN regarding changes to an election
law concerning residency requirements for
At-Large Tribal Council candidates.
Plaintiffs Deborah McCall, Orvel
Baldridge and Tonya Armendariz filed a
petition on Feb. 20 asking the CN District
Court to declare unconstitutional a revised
legislative act that states At-Large Tribal
Council candidates must permanently
reside outside of the tribe’s jurisdiction for
270 days before a general election.
Councilors named are Tina Glory Jordan,
Joe Byrd, David Walkingstick, Dick Lay,
Cara Cowan Watts, Jodie Fishinghawk,
Janelle Fullbright, David Thornton, Don
Garvin, Curtis Snell and Frankie Hargis.
They who voted for the revised act.
According to the council’s Legislative
Research Center website, Legislative Act
46-12 passed by a 14-3 vote on Dec. 10,
2012. Tribal Councilors Lee Keener, Julia
Coates and Jack Baker voted against the
act. Voting for the act but no longer serving
on the Tribal Council were Chuck Hoskin
Jr., Buel Anglen and Meredith Frailey. The
complaint names Chief Baker because he
signed the act into law.
Former Principal Chief Chad Smith, an
attorney, is representing the plaintiffs. The
filing states McCall resides in Albuquerque,
N.M., while Armendariz resides in Phoenix.
Baldridge resides in Tahlequah.
“Defendants have enacted a statutory
provision (‘Act’) in violation of the Cherokee
Nation Constitution and deprived all
possible candidates who reside within
the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation
who were otherwise qualified for AtLarge Council member from running
from At-Large Council seats,” the petition
states. “The Act is also unconstitutional
because it deprives At-Large Cherokee
Nation voters from voting for a possible
At-Large candidate that resides within the
boundaries of the Cherokee Nation. It is
unconstitutional for the Council and the
Principal Chief to impose requirements to
run for office more restrictive than provided
in the Constitution.”
The attorney representing Chief Baker,
Jason Aamodt, requested the court give his
client an additional 20 days from March 10
to answer the complaint, which was granted.
Attorney General Todd Hembree entered
his appearance for the CN on March 11 and
requested additional time to respond.
“In support of this request, the defendant
states that the request is not made solely for
purposes of delay. Counsel for the plaintiffs
has been contacted and has no objection to
the request for additional time,” Hembree’s
motion for an extension states.
As of March 19, the court had not heard
Hembree’s motion, and a response for the 11
councilors had not been filed.
[email protected]
918-207-3961
The Tribal Council also confirmed
the
nominations
of
Jacquie
Archambeau as a CN Community
Association Corporation board
member, Tonya Rozell as a Cherokee
Nation Foundation board member
and Dan Carter as a Cherokee Nation
Businesses board member.
“I do want to explain to our visitors
here tonight that all of these (items)
have been debated thoroughly in our
committee meetings so sometimes
there’s not any questions because
we’ve asked all the questions,”
Council Speaker Tina Glory Jordan
said in explaining the unanimous
votes for the agenda items.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
Dist. 3 (2015)
David Walkingstick
918-822-4681
[email protected]
Dist. 4 (2017)
Don Garvin
918-616-3961
[email protected]
Dist. 5 (2017)
David Thornton Sr.
918-458-7991
[email protected]
At-Large Tribal Councilor Jack Baker, center, applauds the recognition of a Cherokee veteran
during the Feb. 10 Tribal Council meeting in Tahlequah, Okla. On Feb. 27, the council’s Rules
Committee tabled Baker’s Minimum Wage Act indefinitely. The act called for raising the Cherokee
Nation’s and Cherokee Nation Businesses minimum wage to $9.50 on Jan. 1, $10.50 on Oct. 1
and $11.50 on Oct. 1, 2015. WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Minimum wage bill tabled indefinitely
BY TESINA JACKSON
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – At the Feb. 27 Rules
Committee meeting, Tribal Councilors indefinitely
tabled the Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which
called for a $9.50 minimum wage that would have
started on Jan. 1, a $10.50 wage on Oct. 1 and an
$11.50 wage on Oct. 1, 2015.
Tribal Councilor Jack Baker, who sponsored
the act, said it would have covered the Cherokee
Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses.
“I believe we should be paying our Cherokee
Nation employees wages above the poverty level,”
he said. “I know when this first was brought
forward in August, at that time the Chickasaw
Nation’s minimum wage was $10.74. I don’t know
if it’s gone up since then or not but I would think
that the Cherokee Nation should be leaders in the
field and that we should be leaders in the amount
that we pay our employees.”
The act also included a progression chart
showing raises for different salaries if it had
became law.
For example, after the minimum wage increased
to $9.50 per hour, any employee already making
$9.50 would be bumped up to $9.84.
“The $9 rate has been in effect since Oct. 1,
2008,” Baker said. “Our employees deserve more
than a 50 cent raise after almost six years.”
Baker introduced the act during the Aug. 29
Rules Committee and saw it tabled for 90 days.
He said it was left off several Rules Committee
agendas after the 90 days possibly because of a
“clerical error.”
On Feb. 21, Principal Chief Bill John Baker
signed an executive order raising the tribe’s
minimum wage from $9 to $9.50 effective on Oct.
1, the first day of fiscal year 2015.
“The chief has, by executive order, raised our
minimum wage to $9.50 and I applaud him for that,”
Tribal Councilor Tina Glory Jordan said at the Feb.
27 meeting. “I think he’s done an excellent job in
analyzing and their thought process is quite good
on how they got to that point. To try to implement
it (Councilor Baker’s act) in the middle of a fiscal
year is very problematic. As all of you all know, we
have very limited resources that are coming over in
the form of a budget carryover. If you implement it
in July, it would consume ever penny that we think
is going to come over in the budget carryover. We
are the keepers of the budget, we know where our
budget is right now, our budget is extremely tight
and although extremely tight, the chief was able to
start on Oct. 1 this extra 50 cents over and above of
what our minimum wage is.”
According to the executive order, the wage
increase will apply to only to CN government
employees, which includes health care, education,
housing and other operations.
Workers with less than one year of service will
see a staggered increase over the fiscal year.
Cherokee Nation Businesses and its subsidiaries
are not included in the executive order, but Chief
Baker called on the CNB board of directors to
consider following suit.
The current minimum wage for CNB employees
is $9.36 per hour, with approximately 600 CNB
employees earning that wage.
“I know the principal chief has issued an
executive order to increase it from $9 to $9.50
effective in the next fiscal year on Oct. 1, but I
would like to see this go into effect sooner…and
my act has it go to $10.50 in the next fiscal year and
then in 2015, the FY 2016, go to $11.50,” Councilor
Baker said.
“This would have made sure that employees who
had worked hard and received increases would be
recognized for this and received an increase also
so that they would still be earning more than
someone just starting out at the minimum wage
rate. I was disappointed that the act was killed
immediately after it was presented by tabling
indefinitely without there being any discussion at
all on its merits,” he added.
The act was tabled with a vote of 11-5. Tribal
Councilors Baker, Lee Keener, Cara Cowan Watts,
Julia Coates and Don Garvin voted against tabling.
Tribal Councilor Harley Buzzard was absent.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
Dist. 6 (2015)
Janelle Fullbright
918-315-0583
[email protected]
Dist. 7 (2017)
Frankie Hargis
918-316-9454
[email protected]
Dist. 8 (2015)
Jodie Fishinghawk
918-207-6757
[email protected]
Dist. 9 (2017)
Curtis Snell
918-230-0233
[email protected]
Dist. 10 (2017)
Harley Buzzard
918-525-2109
[email protected]
Dist. 11 (2017)
Victoria Mitchell Vazquez
918-323-2980
[email protected]
Dist. 12 (2015)
Dick Lay
918-822-2981
[email protected]
Dist. 13 (2015)
Cara Cowan Watts
918-752-4342
[email protected]
Dist. 14 (2015)
Lee Keener
918-550-3351
[email protected]
Dist. 15 (2017)
Janees Taylor
918-525-2086
[email protected]
At-Large (2015)
Julia Coates
918-772-0288
[email protected]
At-Large (2017)
Jack Baker
918-457-9382
[email protected]
To advertise with the
Cherokee Phoenix call
Dena Tucker at 918-453-5324
2014 Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
NEws • dgZEksf
ApRil 2014 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Va. ‘Cherokees’ must wait for recognition
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Maybe they
needed a celebrity – say, someone like Wayne
Newton –to make their pitch.
But they didn’t have one, and a delegation
from Virginia’s Appalachian Cherokee Nation
was sent away empty-handed on March 3 in
their quest for state recognition of their tribe.
Descendants of refugees from the famous
“Trail of Tears” relocation in the 19th century,
the Appalachian Cherokees have been seeking
state recognition for three years.
The state’s imprimatur would help the tribe
get grants to build a community health clinic
and a home for homeless children in southwest
Virginia, Gregory (Soaring Osprey) French of
Virginia Beach, the group’s spokesman, told
the House Rules Committee.
But state Sen. Kenny Alexander’s legislation
(SJ87) to recognize the tribe was carried over
to the 2015 General Assembly session after
the committee chairman, House Speaker Bill
Howell, R-Stafford County, expressed doubts
about it.
“I’m just not sure that we’re ready today to
do this,” Howell said.
Alexander, D-Norfolk, retorted in
frustration: “This is the third year they’ve
been asked to wait. At some point, you should
just tell them to go home. Vote it up or vote it
down.”
Howell assured Alexander the committee
would resolve the matter after another year of
study.
Alexander said after the vote he’ll take
Howell at his word, but he’s not happy about
it. “Every year they move the goal posts,” he
said. “It’s not fair.”
Alexander compared the delegation’s
reception Monday with the 2010 appearance in
Richmond by Newton, the Las Vegas crooner,
on behalf of legislation seeking recognition of
his tribe, the Patawomecks.
That measure – sponsored by Howell –
sailed through the Assembly after the “Danke
Schoen” singer dazzled the committee with
his profession of pride in his Native American
ABOVE: Seal of the Appalachian
Cherokee Nation. RIGHT: Appalachian
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief
Marshall (Lone Wolf) Couch COURTESY
heritage.
“That bill passed out of here in seconds,”
Alexander groused.
Virginia now recognizes 11 Native
American tribes. The Cherokees’ failure
to win recognition has hindered the tribe
from achieving its goals, French said.
French, a member of the tribal council,
said his Cherokee ancestors have lived in
Virginia for 500 years. The tribe has about
500 members, including 80 in Hampton
Roads, but there are believed to be as
many as 10,000 Cherokee descendants in
Virginia, he said.
Thousands of Cherokees were living in
the southern Appalachian region when the
U.S. government forced them to migrate to
Oklahoma in the 1820s and 1830s. That harsh
1,000-mile trek became known as the “Trail of
Tears.”
There were fewer federal troops in Virginia
to carry out the forced march than there were
in North Carolina, French said, so many of the
tribe’s Virginia members were able to avoid
the relocation.
“The Virginia Cherokees hid out in the
mountains,” he said. “We never left.”
Howell’s move to delay the recognition
question for a year was prompted by a letter to
the committee from William Leighty, a former
chief of staff to Govs. Mark Warner and Tim
Kaine. Warner and Kaine are now U.S. senators
and Leighty is a Richmond-based consultant.
Leighty said he was speaking for himself as
a student of Virginia history.
He said he believes the state needs a more
deliberative process for recognizing Native
American tribes – one that includes a scholarly
review of historical records.
“We need a more meaningful process than
we have of just passing a resolution as if it was
a championship basketball team,” he said.
CN, Delaware Tribe sign funding agreement
BY STAFF REPORTS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee
Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians have
signed an agreement allowing the Delaware to
receive federal housing funding directly from
the U.S. Housing and Urban Development.
“The Delaware Tribe is pleased to accomplish
another step toward self-determination as a
federally recognized tribe. We are grateful
our negotiations with Chief (Bill John)
Baker’s administration have resulted in this
implementation agreement,” Delaware Chief
Paula Pechonick said. “We are moving forward
with our restored status as a HUD grantee to
provide clean, safe and affordable housing
for our tribal members. We also recognize
our continuing relationship with Cherokee
Nation to address the many unmet housing
needs not provided by this agreement.”
The Delaware, headquartered in Bartlesville,
were placed under CN jurisdiction in 1867 by
treaty. The two tribes signed a memorandum
of agreement in 2008 to enable the Delaware
to regain its federal recognition.
“It is a good day for both the Cherokee
Nation and the Delaware Tribe because this
new agreement allows our Delaware brothers
and sisters to return to the table and negotiate
and deal with the federal government directly,”
CN Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said.
“We are pleased to have played a necessary
role as the intermediary, but even more
pleased the Delaware will be able to pursue
its own self-determination and governance
by securing funding directly from the federal
government.”
Ron Qualls, CN Community Services
director, said when the Delaware lost federal
recognition, HUD looked for a governmental
entity to maintain and transfer the monies.
Hoskin introduces Native secretary post
BY STAFF REPORTS
OKLAHOMA CITY – Native Americans
would get a seat at the table in the governor’s
office if a new bill becomes law.
House Bill 1305 – introduced by Rep.
Chuck Hoskin Sr., D-Dist. 6 – would create
an executive-branch cabinet area embracing
“the functions of all executive agencies, boards,
commissions and institutions related to Native
American issues and state and tribal relations.”
The Cabinet Secretary of Native American
Affairs would be paid a maximum salary of
$65,000 annually and would be designated the
Oklahoma Native American Liaison.
“This measure would firm up the governmentto-government relationship among Oklahoma’s
39 federally recognized Native American tribes
and the State of Oklahoma,” said Hoskin, who is
a Cherokee Nation citizen and also serves as the
Principal Chief Bill John Baker’s chief of staff.
Liaison duties consist of monitoring all
compacts, including gaming, tobacco and
motor vehicle fuel agreements between the state
and tribes; monitoring the interactions of state
COATES
from front page
of the requested information had not been
produced and that he made a manual inventory
of the files and documents that Hembree
“permitted” him to view.
On Aug. 20, Coates filed a lawsuit in District
Court asking for the documents to be provided
and that she be allowed to copy them. She also
alleges that Principal Chief Bill John Baker’s
administration has “secreted and hidden
public documents belonging to the Cherokee
people and cloaked them with the pretext
of ‘confidentially’ to keep councilors from
performing their constitutional and statutory
duties.”
She named Baker, CNB CEO Shawn Slaton,
CNB board Chairman Harold “Sam” Ray
Hart, Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission
Chairwoman Stacy Leeds, CNGC Executive
Director Jamie Hummingbird and Hembree as
defendants.
District Court Judge Bart Fite dismissed the
case on March 14 ruling that the production
of documents in Hembree’s office satisfies
GRA requirements and that the matter is
premature because Coates had not reviewed all
of the documents to determine if the defendants
responded properly.
“Once the documents requested have been
provided in accordance with the act, it becomes
incumbent upon the person requesting the
documents to identify those, which he or she
determines may not have been provided and to
agencies with tribal governments; informing
tribes about state programs that could affect
tribal governments or their property; and
informing tribes about funding opportunities
“through partnerships with state agencies.”
The House General Government Committee
passed HB 1305 by a 9-1 vote. In addition, the
proposal has been supported in resolutions
adopted by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw,
Creek and Seminole nations, Hoskin said. U.S.
Census Bureau research indicates approximately
325,000 Native Americans live in Oklahoma.
In a press release, Baker praised Hoskin’s
efforts to establish the position.
“With 39 tribal nations in Oklahoma,
communication and cooperation between
tribes and the governor’s office are essential,
so the Cherokee Nation supports this measure
to improve that relationship,” Baker said. “The
establishment of a cabinet-level position to
address Native issues in Oklahoma would
increase collaboration between the tribal
nations and the state, which positively impacts
all Oklahomans. I urge our legislators to swiftly
pass House Bill 1305.”
make a specific request for those documents,”
Fite wrote.
According to the ruling, the defendants were
also not properly served information requests
under the GRA; certain documents under the
FOIA shall be produced for copying except for
those contained in a subsection titled “Matters
exempt from disclosure;” the GRA provided
that Coates, as a councilor, may request certain
documents from various CN-owned and –
operated entities; the GRA provides that certain
documents may be deemed confidential; and
the GRA does not require those confidential
items to be copied but only to be provided to
the requesting councilor.
According to the appeal filed on March 21,
Smith wrote that a 2005 ruling by the tribe’s
Judicial Appeals Tribunal (now Supreme Court)
in the case of Linda O’Leary v. Chad Smith states
that the production of information requested
by a councilor means physically providing
documents.
It also states Coates is entitled to copies of
the requested documents and that the GRA
and FOIA require confidential documents to
be copied for her. The appeal also states that
the District Court’s order is based on unverified
assertions not in the record and that Hembree
failed to examine documents and merely stated
all documents were confidential, they could not
be copied and he failed to provide a reason for
his determination.
A Supreme Court hearing has not been
scheduled yet.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
7
Okla. gov.’s
tribal liaison
issues first report
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahomabased Indian tribes have reached agreements
with the state on burn bans, policing, smokefree casinos and the installation of compressed
natural gas filling stations as a result of
successful negotiations with Gov. Mary Fallin’s
office in recent months, the governor’s Native
American liaison recently announced.
Jacque Hensley, a citizen of the Kaw Nation
who was appointed to the newly created
executive branch position in July 2012, outlined
the state of tribal affairs in her first annual
report. Hensley said tribal leaders from across
Oklahoma have been participating in regular
conversations with the governor and appreciate
having a direct contact inside the office of the
state’s chief executive.
“I think that we have made big strides in the
relationship between the tribes and the state,”
Hensley said. “We’ve had all of the tribal leaders
and Gov. Fallin and myself sit down, and we
talk. I don’t think the tribal leaders have ever
had that.”
The position of Native American liaison in
the governor’s office was created after Fallin and
the Republican-controlled Legislature approved
a bill to abolish the Oklahoma Indian Affairs
Commission in 2011. Some Native American
lawmakers initially voiced opposition to the
plan, but officials from several tribes have since
said they are pleased to be working directly
with a liaison to the governor’s office.
“We appreciate the increased access to the
governor’s office that the Native American
liaison has facilitated,” Judy Allen, a
spokeswoman for the Choctaw Nation, said.
The governor’s office currently is involved in
lawsuits against the state by various tribes over
water rights and tobacco compacts, but Hensley
said she hopes ongoing dialogue between tribal
leaders and the governor can minimize the
need for legal action in the future.
Among the accomplishments Hensley cited
in her 18-page report were negotiations with
the Kaw Nation that led to the tribe opening
the state’s first entirely smoke-free casino at
Kaw City and the passage of a bill that would
expand the law enforcement authority of tribal
police through cross-deputization agreements
with local law enforcement.
Hensley also worked with Fallin on an
agreement between the Oklahoma Department
of Human Services and tribal welfare officials
on certain child welfare cases.
The governor’s office also pushed for an
agreement with the Chickasaw Nation to
convert its vehicle fleet to natural gas and
install compressed natural gas fueling stations
at some convenience stores. In exchange, the
tribe received a more favorable tax rate in its
tobacco compact with the state.
8
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
NEws • dgZEksf
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
Native American memorial bill signed into law
BY TESINA JACKSON
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Introduced in
June in the U.S. House by Rep. Markwayne
Mullin, R-Okla., and unanimously passed by
the Senate, the Native American Veterans’
Memorial Establishment Act of 2013 calls for
the construction of a veterans monument at the
National Museum of the American Indian.
“In Indian Country we’re very sensitive to the
heritage that we pass down from generation to
generation and when you get into the sacrifice
that Indian Country has made, we have made
a tremendous sacrifice even before we had
the right to vote, and every conflict and every
war that’s come across our soil you have seen
that Native Americans have been involved
in,” Mullin said in a telephone interview with
the Cherokee Phoenix. “This gets to continue
telling the story that we are so known for in
Indian Country of telling stories in keeping our
heritage alive.”
The bill, which passed the House on Dec. 20,
was originally established in 1994 to allow the
memorial to be built inside the museum, but
because of the lack of room inside the museum,
the revised act allows the museum to raise
ᏓᎵᏆ, ᎣᎦᎵᎰᎹ. – ᎬᏂᎨᏒ ᏄᎵᏍᏔᏅ
ᏕᎭᎷᏱ ᏥᎧᎸ ᎾᎿ ᎠᎹᏱᏟ ᎦᎵᏦᏕ ᏳᏩᏂᏌᏛ
Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-ᎣᎸᎵᎰᎹ, ᎠᎴ
ᏂᎦᏓ ᎤᏂᎶᎯᏍᏔᏅ ᎦᎸᎳᏗ ᏗᏂᎳᏫᎩ,
ᎾᏍᎩᎾ
ᎠᏁᎯᏯ
ᎠᎹᏱᏟ
ᎤᏂᏲᏏᏙᎸ
ᎠᏅᏓᏗᏍᏙᏗ ᎤᏙᏢᏗ ᎪᏪᎳᏅ ᎾᎿ ᏔᎵ
ᏯᎦᏴᎵ ᏦᎦᏚ ᎠᏔᏲᎯᎯ ᎪᏢᏗ ᎾᎿ ᏯᏂᏲᏏᏙᎸ
ᎤᎾᏅᏓᏗᏍᏙᏗ ᎪᏪᎵ ᎢᏳᏅᏙᏗ ᎾᎿ ᎬᎾᏕᎾ
ᎤᏪᏘ ᎤᏂᏍᏆᏂᎪᏔᏅᎲᏍᏗ ᎾᎿ ᎠᎹᎵᎧ
ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ.
“ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ ᏍᎦᏚᎩ ᎣᎦᏅᏙ ᎠᎨᏯᏛ
ᎨᏒ ᎾᎿ ᏗᎦᏓᎴᏅ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏗᏂᏲᏟ ᎨᎦᏕᏁᎲ
ᎠᏂᎩᏍᎪ
ᎠᏂᏫᏗᏍᎪ
ᏚᎾᏓᏘᎾᎥ
ᎠᎴ
ᏧᏁᏣ ᏫᏚᎾᏓᏘᏅᏅᎢ ᎠᎴ ᏳᎦᎷᏥ ᎾᎿ
ᎢᏓᎵᏍᎪᎸᏗᏍᎬ ᎾᎿ ᎠᏂᏴᎳᏯ ᏍᎦᏚᎩ
funds to construct the memorial outside but
on the property.
“The president just signed roughly 116 bills
total this year, so it’s a pretty big deal that
Indian Country got this put in place,” Mullin
said. “Both sides work hard to make sure this
was taken care and it’s quite an honor to have
it put in and we have to make sure we continue
treating this with the honor we deserve.”
The act, which was signed by President
Obama on Dec. 26, makes the museum and
the National Congress of American Indians
responsible for accepting contributions for
and paying the expenses of establishing the
memorial whereas before the NCAI was solely
responsible for those duties.
“It’s on the shoulders of the museum now to
organize it because the bill has passed to allow
them to do what they need to do to get it done,”
Mullin said.
Mullin said that because the bill was just
approved, the memorial hasn’t been designed
yet but there have been several ideas. He said
it would be a few years before the memorial is
complete.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
ᏄᏛᏁᎸ, ᎢᎦᏃ ᎤᎪᏓ ᎢᎪᎵᏍᎪᎸᏔᏂ Ꮟ
ᎨᎩᏁᎢᏍᏗ ᏂᎨᏒᎾ ᏥᎨᏎ, ᎠᎴ ᏂᎦᏓ ᏓᎾᏓᎴᎬ
ᎠᎴ ᏂᎦᏓ ᏓᎿᏩ ᎤᎷᏤᎾ ᎦᏓ ᎢᎩᎲᎢ ᎢᎩᎪᎭ
ᎠᏁᎯᏯ ᎠᎹᏱᏟ ᎾᎿ ᎤᏁᎳᏗᏍᏔᎾ,”
ᎤᏛᏅ Mullin ᎾᎿ ᏧᎾᏟᏃᎮᏗ ᏓᎵᏝᏃᎮᏍᎬᎢ
ᎾᎿ ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ. “ᎾᏍᎩ ᎯᎠ ᏂᎦᏯᎢᏐ
ᎧᏃᎮᏍᎪ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎡᎦᏅᏛ
ᎾᎿ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ
ᏍᎦᏚᎩ ᏗᎧᏃᎮᏢᏓ ᏕᎩᎲ ᏂᎦᏯᎢᏐ ᎢᏳᎵᏍᏙᏗ
ᏄᏍᏛ ᏗᎩᎶᏒ ᎠᎴ ᎬᏃᏓ ᎨᏒᎢ.”
ᎯᎠ ᎪᏪᎳᏅ, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᎶᏒ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎦᎵᏦᏕ
ᎾᎿ ᎥᏍᎩᏱ ᏔᎵᏍᎪᎯᏁ, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎢᎬᏱ
ᎪᏪᎳᏅ ᏐᏁᎳᏚ ᎢᏍᎪᎯᏧᏈ ᏐᏁᎵᏍᎪ
ᏅᎩ ᎤᎾᎵᏍᎪᎸᏙᏗ ᎾᎿ ᎤᎾᏅᏓᏗᏍᏙᏗ
ᎤᎾᏁᎢᏍᏗ
ᎭᏫᎾᏗᏝ
ᎾᎿ
ᎤᏪᏘ
ᎠᏍᏆᏂᎪᏔᏅᎲᏍᏗᎢ, ᎠᏎᏃ ᏅᏗᎦᎵᏍᏙᏗ
Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., has pushed a bill to construct a Native American veterans
memorial at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. It passed the
Senate recently and has been signed by President Obama. COURTESY PHOTO
ᎡᎵ ᏂᎬᎾ ᎨᏒ ᎭᏫᎾᏗᏢ ᎠᏍᏆᏂᎪᏔᏅᎲᏍᏗᎢ,
ᎪᏢᎯᏌᏅᏃ ᎠᎵᏍᎪᎸᏗ ᎠᏍᏆᏂᎪᏔᏅᎲᏍᏗ
ᎤᎾᎪᏙᏗ
ᎠᏕᎳ
ᎾᎿ
ᎤᎾᏁᎢᏍᏙᏗ
ᎠᏅᏓᏗᏍᏙᏗ ᏙᏯᏗᏢ ᎠᏎᏃ ᎾᎿ ᎭᏫᎾᏗᏢ ᎦᏓ
ᎠᎲᎢ.
“ᎤᎬᏫᏳᎯ ᏃᏊ ᏕᎪᏪᎸᎦ ᏍᎪᎯᏧᏈ ᏓᎳᏚ
ᏗᎪᏪᎳᏅ ᏂᎦᏓ ᏗᎦᏟᏌᏅᎢ ᎯᎠ ᏧᏕᏘᏴᏌᏓ,
ᏙᎯᏳᏃ ᎤᏔᎾ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ ᏍᎦᏚᎩ ᎾᎿ
ᏕᎨᏥᎧᏅᎢ,” ᎤᏛᏅ Mullin. “ᎢᏧᎳ ᏗᎬᎦᏘ
ᏍᏓᏯ ᏚᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎰ ᎣᏍᏓ ᎢᎦᎵᏍᏓᏁᏗᎢ ᎠᎴ
ᎦᎸᏉᏙᏗ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎢᎬᏁᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏂᎦᏯᎢᏐ ᎣᏍᏓ
ᎢᏳᎾᏓᏛᏗ ᎾᎿ ᏥᎩᎷᏤᎭ.”
ᎯᎠ
ᎪᏪᎳᏅ,
ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎤᏬᏪᎳᏅ
ᎤᎬᏫᏳᎯ Obama ᎾᎿ ᎥᏍᎩᏱ ᏔᎵᏍᎪ
ᏑᏓᎵᏁ, ᎪᏢᏍᎪ ᎤᏪᏘ ᎠᏍᏆᏂᎪᏔᏅᎲᏍᏗ
ᎠᎴ ᎾᎿ ᎬᎾᏕᎾ ᎠᎹᏱᏟ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯ ᎤᏂᎷᏤ
ᎤᏂᎩᏍᏗ ᎠᎵᏍᎪᎸᏔᏅ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᎾᏈᏴᏗ
ᏓᎵᎬᏩᏢᏍᎬ ᎾᎿ ᎠᏃᏢᏍᎬ ᎠᏅᏓᏗᏍᏙᏗ
ᎾᏍᎩ Ꮟ NCAI ᎾᎿ ᎤᏩᏌ ᎤᏘᏲᏁᎲ ᏂᎦᏓ
ᎠᏚᏓᎸᏓ ᎨᏒᎢ.
“ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᎦᏅᏬᎢ ᎾᎿ ᎠᏍᏆᏂᎪᏔᏅᎲᏍᏗ
ᎤᏬᏟᏍᏗ ᏅᏗᎦᎵᏍᏙᏗ ᎪᏪᎳᏅ ᎤᎶᏒ
ᎠᎵᏍᎪᎸᏗᏍᎩ
ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏗ
ᎤᏂᏂᎬᏎᎲᎢ
ᎤᏂᏍᏆᏗᏍᏗᎢ,” ᎤᏛᏅ Mullin.
Mullin ᏄᏪᏎ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏅᏗᎦᎵᏍᏙᏗ ᎪᏪᎳᏅ
ᏃᏊ ᎤᏂᎶᎯᏍᏔᏅ, ᎾᎿ ᎠᏅᏓᏗᏍᏙᏗ
Ꮭ Ꮟ ᎪᏢᏅ ᏱᎩ ᎠᏎᏃ ᎤᎾᏓᏅᏖᏓ ᎤᏂᎭ
ᎢᎸᏍᎩ ᎢᏳᏓᎴ. ᎤᏛᏅᏃ ᎢᎸᏍᎩ ᏧᏕᏘᏴᏓ
ᏙᏛᏟᎢᎵᏙᎳ
ᎩᎳ
ᎤᎵᏍᏆᏗᏍᏗ
ᎯᎠ
ᎠᏅᏓᏗᏍᏙᏗ.
Oklahoma lawmakers tour
unfinished Indian museum
President Barack Obama signs the Violence Against Women Act on March 7, 2013, at the Interior
Department in Washington. SUSAN WALSH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
NCAI celebrates anniversary of
VAWA’s 2013 passage
BY STAFF REPORTS
WASHINGTON – The National Congress of
American Indians marked the one-year anniversary
of a great victory for tribal nations and Native women
on March 7.
It was on that day in 2013 when President
Obama signed the Violence Against Women
Reauthorization Act. At the signing ceremony, the
president underscored the “inherent right (of tribal
governments) to protect their people.”
For the first time since the 1978 Oliphant decision,
VAWA 2013 restored tribal authority to investigate,
prosecute, convict and sentence non-Indians who
assault their Indian spouses or partners in Indian
Country. The law created a pilot project that enabled
three tribes to recently begin exercising this authority.
“Today is a day to celebrate what we have achieved
together and commit ourselves to ensure the ongoing
success of this important law. It acknowledges that
tribal nations are the best equipped to ensure public
safety in our communities and provides the tools we
need to protect Native women,” NCAI President Brian
Cladoosby said.
The Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona, the Tulalip
Tribes of Washington and the Umatilla Tribes of
Oregon–began exercising special criminal jurisdiction
over certain crimes of domestic and dating violence,
regardless of the defendant’s Indian or non-Indian
status in February.
“VAWA 2013 is a tremendous victory. I am grateful
to those who have stepped up to take the lead in the
implementation phase,” Terri Henry, Tribal Councilor
of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and cochair of the NCAI Task Force on Violence Against
Women, said. “I want to congratulate the three tribes
participating in the pilot project and remind everyone,
we still have work to do.”
However, VAWA does not mark the end of the
NCAI’s efforts to combat domestic violence in Indian
Country, NCAI Executive Director Jackie Pata said.
“Tribal nations remain steadfast in the important
work of protecting our Native women and securing
our communities,” she said.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) –
Oklahoma lawmakers walked across
the bare floors of the unfinished
American Indian Cultural Center &
Museum on March 18 as museum
administrators urged the passage
of legislation to provide funding to
complete the structure and open it to
tourists.
But the House author of the Senatepassed $40 million funding measure
said approval in the House is not
assured and may ultimately depend
upon the work of members of the
House’s Native American caucus.
“They are going to have to impress
on the other members that this is
something that is good for the whole
state,” Rep. David Dank, R-Oklahoma
City, said.
A total of 24 of the House’s 101
members, including 16 members of
the majority Republican caucus, are
part of the Native American caucus as
enrolled citizens of one of the state’s 39
federally recognized tribes, Dank said.
“It’s going to take a lot of work on the
part of the Native American caucus,”
Dank said. “It’s going to be very, very
hard.”
More than a dozen members of the
House and Senate walked through
the concrete-and-steel structure as
museum director Blake Wade urged
approval of the funding measure that
would take $40 million from the state’s
Unclaimed Property Fund to help
complete the museum.
The bill is pending in the House.
The money would be matched with
another $40 million from private
sources including $7.4 million from
Oklahoma’s federally recognized
tribes, $9 million from the city of
Oklahoma City and donations from
various private and corporate donors.
“Let’s go ahead and get it
finished,” Wade said. He said the
173,000-square-foot structure at the
crossroads of Interstates 35 and 40
south of downtown Oklahoma City
will be “a destination spot” that will tell
the story of tribal cultures and history
for visitors from around the nation and
the world.
“Oklahoma is Indian Territory,”
Wade said. “We want to do everything
we can to make this work.”
Chickasaw Nation Gov. Bill
Anoatubby said the structure was
designed as a “world-class facility”
that would house exhibits provided by
tribal nations and renowned museums
like the Smithsonian Institution.
“This wonderful facility will be
something to marvel at,” Anoatubby
said. “Imagine what it can be. Imagine
what it can do.”
If funding is approved, the cultural
center will be self-sustaining and
administrators will seek no additional
funding from the state, Wade said.
Completion is scheduled for 2017 if
funding is authorized this year.
But some lawmakers have expressed
skepticism about the facility’s financial
future. The state already has spent
$64 million through three separate
bond issues to help pay for the project,
which also has received funding
from Oklahoma City and the federal
stimulus.
“More money. More money. And the
taxpayers don’t want to do it,” said Rep.
Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City, one
of several House members who toured
the structure.
Other lawmakers seemed more
willing to consider voting for the plan.
“It needs to be finished. I think this
is a good way to do it,” said Rep. Mike
Christian, R-Oklahoma City, a citizen
of the Choctaw Nation.
“This is a state asset. It is the state’s
responsibility,” said Rep. Randy
McDaniel, R-Edmond. “This mission
is to get it completed.”
COmmuNIty • nv 0nck
2014 Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
ApRil 2014 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX
9
With community building done, Brushy group looks forward
Volunteers began
working on it two
years ago after
receiving a $110,000
grant from the
Cherokee Nation.
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
BRUSHY, Okla. – The Brushy
Community Action Association
is a new Cherokee community
organization located north of
Sallisaw in Sequoyah County. And
with the help of a Cherokee Nation
grant, the group recently completed
its community building.
BCCA Vice President Newt
Spangler, 76, said the group formed
six years ago at the Brushy Elementary
School. After some members quit,
the BCCA started meeting at its
president’s place of business down
the road from the school. Later,
members renovated the former Blunt
Baptist Church north of Sallisaw to
use for a meeting site.
“We had a lot of labor in that, and
we cleaned that up, fixed the leaks.
We had to replace the drywall in the
ceiling and paint the whole thing.
We got the heat and air conditioning
running,” Spangler said. “And then
their (new) church (Blunt Baptist)
burned down, and we asked them if
they wanted to use it (old church) for
their church.”
After about five months with no
building to meet in, Spangler said he
decided to donate two acres down
the road from the Brushy school for
a community building. The group
and volunteers began working on the
building two years ago after receiving
an $110,000 grant from the CN. They
finished the building in October, but
are still adding finishing touches.
“If hadn’t been for them (CN), we
wouldn’t have the building,” he said.
The
BCAA
was
funded
through the tribe’s Community
and Cultural Outreach. The
program works to strengthen
and advance Cherokee culture
and communities in the tribe’s
14-county
jurisdiction
in
northeastern Oklahoma and in
satellite communities across the
country.
The building is just to
help, the community
is what the building
is for.
– Newt Spangler, Brushy
Community Action
Association vice president
Brushy (Okla.) Community Action Association Activities Director Vicky Spangler searches for coffee filters to make a pot of coffee during a BCAA
meeting on March 11. The kitchen Spangler is in is part of 130-foot-by-40-foot community building completed by the group last fall.
PHOTOS BY WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
The 130-foot-by-40-foot building
has a large community room with
tables and chairs, TV area with
couches, large kitchen, restrooms,
handicap-accessible shower, pool
table and workout equipment.
The group has set aside space for a
computer room that will have six
computers when completed. The
front entrance has a covered porch
that connects to a driveway that
circles past the front entrance to
allow for the handicap and elderly to
be dropped off and picked up at the
front door.
The builders added 10 feet in back
of the building for the shower and
20 feet to front of the building for
covered porch.
The Brushy group recently
received a $7,500 CN grant for a
sound system for the building.
Because the meeting room is so
large, sound does not travel well and
a better sound system was needed.
Spangler said so far the building
has been used for dinners, a wedding,
wake service and birthday party.
“The building is just to help, the
community is what the building is
for,” he said.
Spangler said the group took a
short break after completing the
building but now it’s planning more
activities for the spring and summer.
The BCCA building is a quarter
The Brushy (Okla.) Community Action Association recently completed its community building and is looking
to plan more activities and increase its membership.
mile from the Brushy school and a
quarter mile from Highway 59 on
1010 Road. For more information,
call BCAA President Gary Bolin at
Community Meetings
April 7
Belfonte, 6:30 p.m.
Glen Qualls 918-427-1700 or 427-0227
Eucha Indian Fellowship, 8 p.m.
Marble City Community Organization, 7 p.m.
Lost City Community Organization, 6 p.m.
April 8
Muldrow Cherokee Community Organization
7 p.m., Tim Laney 918-427-4006
Rocky Ford Community Organization, 6:30 p.m.
Brushy Community Action Association, 6:30 p.m.
April 10
Lyons Switch, 7 p.m.
Karen Fourkiller 918-696-2354
Greasy, 7 p.m.
Washington County Cherokee Association
Potluck dinner 6 p.m.
7 p.m., Ann Sheldon 918-333-5632
April 13
Rogers County Cherokee Association, 2 p.m.
Beverly Cowan [email protected]
April 14
Brent, 6 p.m.
Marble City Pantry, 7 p.m.,
Clifton Pettit 918-775-5975
Four Corners, 7 p.m.
Sue Fine 918-386-2352
April 15
CC Camp Community, 7 p.m.
No-We-Ta Cherokee Community, 6:30 p.m.
Carolyn Foster 918-331-8631
Victory Cherokee Organization, 7 p.m.
918-798-2402 or
email [email protected]
April 17
Native American Fellowship Inc.
South Coffeyville, 6:00 p.m.
Bill Davis 913-563-9329
Proctor Community Center, 6:30 p.m.
April 22
Tulsa Cherokee Community Organization
6 p.m., Donna Darling 918-808-4142 or
[email protected]
Oak Hill/Piney, 7 p.m.
Dude Feather 918-235-2811
Central Oklahoma Cherokee Alliance
Oklahoma City,
BancFirst Community Room
4500 W. Memorial Road, 6 p.m.
Franklin Muskrat Jr. 405-842-6417
Rocky Mountain Cherokee Community
Organization, 7 p.m.
Vicki McLemore 918-696-4965
April 28
Christie, 7 p.m.
Shelia Rector 918-778-3423
April 29
Fairfield, 7 p.m.
Jeff Simpson 918-696-7959
Rocky Mountain, 7 p.m., 918-696-4965
Dry Creek, 7 p.m.
Shawna Ballou 918-457-5023
918-776-0802.
For more information about
the Community and Cultural
Outreach,
visit
http://www.
cherokee.org/Services/Community/
CommunityAndCulture.aspx.
[email protected]
918-207-3961
Community Calendar
Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
Marble City Nutrition Center
711 N. Main
Marble City, Okla. 918-775-2158
The Marble City Nutrition Center serves hot
meals at the Marble City Community Center
at 11:30 a.m. Meals are free to anyone
over 50, but a small donation is suggested
to help with the expense of the program.
Gather for fellowship and friendship.
Volunteers welcome.
Third Tuesday of even numbered
months
Mayflower UCC Church
Oklahoma City 405-408-0763
The Central Oklahoma Cherokee Alliance
meets at 6 p.m. on the third Tuesday
of every even numbered month at the
Mayflower Church.
First Friday of every month
Concho Community Building
Concho, Okla. 405-422-7622
Year Round
Will Rogers Memorial Museum
Claremore, Okla. 918-341-0719
The museum honors the Cherokee cowboy,
movie start, writer and humorist every day
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. with nine galleries,
three theaters and a special children’s
museum.
Fourth Thursday of each month
American Indian Chamber of Commerce
of Oklahoma – Eastern Chapter monthly
luncheon at Bacone College
Muskogee, Okla. 918-230-3759
The lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. at Benjamin
Wacoche Hall. Please RSVP one week ahead
of time.
Second Saturday of each month
Cherokee Basket Weavers Association at the
Unitarian Universalist Congregation
Tahlequah, Okla. 918-456-7787
Monthly meetings are at 6 p.m.
Second Tuesday of each month
Cherokee Artists Association at 202 E. 5th
Street, Tahlequah, Okla. 918-458-0008
www.cherokeeartistsassociation.org
The CAA meets at 6 p.m. the second
Tuesday of each month.
Every Friday of each month
Dance at Tahlequah Senior Citizens Center
230 E. 1st St. in Tahlequah, Okla.
For seniors 50 and over, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Admission is $2.50, includes pot luck dinner
Every Tuesday of each month
Dance at Hat Box Dance Hall
540 S. 4th St. in Muskogee, Okla.
For seniors 50 and over, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Admission is $2.50, includes pot luck dinner
To have an event or meeting listed, fax
information to 918-458-6136 attention:
Community Calendar. The deadline for
submissions is the 10th of each month.
10
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
Stites brings
consulting firm to
Sequoyah County
mONEy • a[w
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
Hombu Dojo teaches self-defense,
discipline with Aikijutsu
BY STACIE GUTHRIE
Reporter
SALLISAW, Okla. – Cherokee Nation citizen Tom Stites
is a consulting engineer who has worked in more than 30
countries with more than 20 sports companies, including
Nike. But now he’s moving his consulting business, Tom
Stites and Associates, to Sequoyah County.
“I do consulting engineering for sporting goods companies,
product development companies, and I help companies
actually develop and understand the innovation process for
whatever goods and services they might be attempting to be
better at,” Stites said.
Stites has operated his company since 1992. He had
another company, Impact Golf Technologies, which he sold
to Nike in 2001.
“They took over that (Impact Golf Technologies) and I
took a pretty much a full-time job with Nike,” he said. “I left
Tom Stites and Associates as a separate company that I could
do special projects and development work through.”
Currently, Stites operates with just two employees. But he
said he hopes to expand to five employees during the year.
He said his company performs consulting work, ideation
and product development for a number of companies, one
of those being Nike.
Stites chose to bring his company to Sallisaw because many
of his family members lived there.
“It’s home for me,” he said. “I told someone I spent the first
18 years of my life trying to get out of Sequoyah County and
ever since trying to get back.”
Stites said he never thought he would be an engineer when
he was growing up, striving to be a fighter pilot in the Air
Force. But that dream quickly changed after he found out he
got motion sickness when the jet went upside down. He then
became a mechanical engineer in the Air Force.
After his Air Force service, he went to work at companies
from Wisconsin to Texas before serving as a golf club
designer for professional golfer Ben Hogan at Ben Hogan
Golf. This is when he began taking an interest in developing
sports-related products. Soon after working for Hogan, Stites
created Impact Golf Technologies, which Nike bought.
“I never set out with the intent to become a design engineer
in the sporting goods business, but that’s the way it turned
out,” Stites said.
Although Stites retired from Nike, he still works as a
consultant for the company.
“I’m very proud of the fact that I’m the most highly
recognized patentee in the history of Nike. I’ve got almost
300 patents at Nike,” he said. “Basically, all of their golf clubs
and (golf) balls and (golf) shoes and (golf) sportswear that
they been able to break into the market with I’ve been either
directly responsible for or indirectly, you know, involved
with those products.”
Tom Stites and Associates currently has people working
in Ohio and Texas. He said he plans to move into a new
building and bring in an engineer and graphic designers to
his home location. He said in time he hopes to work directly
from Sallisaw.
He added that he would have a Cherokee preference when
hiring people for his company.
“I will show preference on (Cherokee citizenship) that,”
he said. “Ultimately, people have to make it on their talent,
but it would be great if it could be fellow members of the
Cherokee Nation.”
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 5903
Tom Stites, middle, stands with his father, J.T. Stites, and
son, Jake Ross Stites, at the “Nike Oven” in Fort Worth,
Texas, after having the “Tom Stites Innovation Lab”
named after him. The award commemorates his years at
Nike. COURTESY
Stu Fanning, a Soke-Dai instructor of Musha Ryu Aikijutsu, shows students in a youth class a technique to use against
someone who has their hands around a person’s neck. Fanning, along with several Cherokee instructors, teaches the
martial art at the Hombu Dojo in Tahlequah, Okla. PHOTOS BY TESINA JACKSON/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
BY TESINA JACKSON
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Since 1997,
Stu Fanning has helped individuals
become centered physically, mentally
and emotionally by teaching them the
Japanese art of Musha Ryu Aikijutsu at
the Tahlequah Hombu Dojo.
“We take a full approach to the martial
arts. It’s not like the sporting arts that
are very popular,” he said. “We teach the
philosophy of the art, the techniques of
the art, and as a student develops, they
learn self-control, self-discipline, things
that get us through everyday life.”
Fanning is a Soke-Dai or 9th Dan of
Musha Ryu Aikijutsu, a black belt level
for skill and teaching.
He said many martial arts today
have evolved into sporting events, but
Aikijutsu retains the techniques of those
who used it to protect their lives from
violent, and often, armed assailants.
Musha Ryu Aikijutsu can be traced
back nine centuries to the Takeda Clan,
the family that developed it for life-anddeath combat on Japanese battlefields.
“The art is a lot different than what
most people see. We tend not to require
these extreme feats of flexibility. We use
our opponent’s mass and energy against
them. We learn to do throwing and jointlocking techniques so even the small
youthful practitioner can throw an adult,”
Fanning said.
The dojo, located at 518 S. Muskogee
Ave., also holds classes for the Japanese
arts Jujutsu, Bojutsu and Bushi Kempo.
Jujutsu is a method of close combat
for defeating an opponent in which one
uses no weapons or only a short weapon.
Bojutsu is the martial art of using a staff
called a bo. Bushi Kempo blends the
power and speed of Kempo Karate with
details of Jujutsu such as locks, restraints,
throws, sweeps and defenses.
Fanning said one of the key tenants of
Aikijutsu is centering.
“We talk about centering in terms
of being centered physically, mentally
and emotionally, and by mentally or
emotionally, we mean not allowing one’s
self to go to the extremes of anger or
jealousy or whatever the emotion may
be but to keep one’s self balanced and
calm at all times,” he said. “Even in the
thick of battle, we talk about the eye of
the hurricane. And in the hurricane,
everything is tumultuous until you get to
the very eye and there it’s still and calm
and usually sunny. So that’s where we
want to be all the time.”
Cherokee Nation citizen Derrick
Branson, who has been involved with
Aikijutsu in Tahlequah for four years,
said it’s the calm factor, both mentally and
emotionally, that he enjoys.
“Here in Aiki we teach not to get into
a fight or not to pursue a fight or become
agitated by people who want to fight you,”
he said. “So that has to do with why I
haven’t been attacked or been in a fight
outside of the classroom.”
As a black belt 1st Dan Sensei, or
teacher, Branson helps teach the physical,
mental and emotional tenants.
“You have to just explain to them
what centering is and then you have to
work from that,” he said. “So you have
Cherokee Nation citizen Lyle Deiter, a Soke-Dai instructor
of Musha Ryu Aikijutsu at the Hombu Dojo, helps two
students with a wrist lock during youth class on March 19.
to teach to be calm, to be centered, to
be grounded, to not anger or not be
emotionally distraught over little things
like day-to-day problems.”
Musha Ryu Aikijutsu, like many
martial arts, uses colored belts to describe
where a practitioner’s level is. The belts
are white, yellow, orange, green, purple,
blue, brown, red and black. The black belt
is commonly the highest belt color used
and denotes a degree of skill. It is often
associated with a teaching grade.
On Mondays and Wednesdays, the
dojo offers a 6 p.m. class for youths aged 4
to 12 and an adult class at 7 p.m. Fanning
said there is also a Jeet Kune Do class
at 7 p.m. on Thursdays taught by Gary
Dill. Dill created Self-Defense Systems
International, which the Hombu Dojo
is a part of. Jeet Kune Do is the martial
founded by the legendary Bruce Lee.
Choctaw Nation citizen Tiffany Owens
said she wanted that assurance of selfdefense as to why she began taking
Aikijutsu in 2013.
“I was kind of worried about it at
first, that I was going to be really bad
at it, and I really enjoy it. I liked it the
first time I ever came to it,” she said. “I
have a lot more balance now. I don’t trip
as much. I’ve learned that I’m stronger
than I thought I was. I know how to get
someone who is larger than me off of me
and on the ground and have control of
the situation, I know how to fall without
injuring myself.”
For more information, visit http://
www.aikijutsu.us or call 918-261-3236.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
Stu Fanning, a Soke-Dai instructor of Musha Ryu Aikijutsu,
demonstrates a throw on a fellow instructor on March 19
at the Hombu Dojo in Tahlequah, Okla.
2014 Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
mONEy • a[w
ApRil 2014 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX
11
CN gets rating
upgrade from Fitch
BY STAFF REPORTS
Cherokee Nation citizen Ray Kirk is a master knife maker who has been forging and fashioning knives for 25 years. He
operates his knife business from his Keys, Okla., home. PHOTOS BY WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Master knife maker shares wisdom
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
KEYS, Okla. – Knife maker
Ray Kirk enjoys talking about
his job and the artistry he’s
mastered the past 25 years.
The Cherokee Nation citizen
owns Raker Knives and Steel,
which he operates from his
Cherokee County home.
The company name, he tells,
stems from quickly saying his
first and last names.
Kirk started forging knives
in 1989 from car springs.
Today, he forges mostly from
52100 round bar steel that’s
1-3/4 inches in diameter.
The steel’s grain size can
be reduced without losing
quality and allows a knife to
better hold an edge.
“My
accomplishments
are to do with cutting. I
have always been a believer
that the blade should be the
ultimate cutting tool first,
comfortable second and
look good last,” Kirk said. “It
is possible to have all these
qualities in one blade, and the
size will depend on its cutting
duties and the requirements
of the owner.”
He sells his knives online
at
www.rakerknives.com
and at custom knife shows.
He attends the same custom
shows annually to build a
customer base and rarely goes
to big gun and knife shows.
“The people that go to gun
and knife shows are looking
mostly for guns,” he said.
He said his favorite knife
to make is called an Integral,
which is made from a round
bar of steel. The Brazilian
Gaucho knife is such an
example. The way the wood
handle contacts with the
blade handle prevents rust,
and the knife is light, he said.
He also makes 5-inch mini
Medicine Blade Sendaro
Integral knives, Bug Out
Blade knives, a full-size MBS
and a Boner Fillet Knife.
“I prefer to make a good
using knife for people who
use them every day,” he said.
It takes about an hour to
forge a 10-inch blade Integral
knife, he said, and a smaller
3-1/2-inch blade takes about
20 minutes.
When Kirk makes his
knives, he goes to his shop
where he turns on a gaspowered forge; chooses his
bar of steel, which depends
on the size of knife he plans
to make; and then places
the steel into the forge and
waits for it reach a forging
temperature.
“If you forge it while it’s too
cold, it will have stress cracks
in it, and they don’t show up
until later when you’re doing
your final work and it breaks.”
After the steel bar reaches
a forging temperature, he
takes it out of the forge using
tongs and places into an air
Cherokee knife maker Ray Kirk places a steel rod into a
forge to heat until it is pliable enough to flatten. He said
his customers include doctors, lawyers, police officers,
firefighters, hunters and fishermen.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Fitch Ratings Inc., one of the top three
global rating agencies, recently upgraded the Cherokee Nation’s
credit rating to “BBB.”
In February, Fitch upgraded the CN from a “BBB-” for
continuing to show strong financial operations.
“Cherokee Nation’s Fitch rating increase is clear validation
of our continued success at fiscal management. I commend
Cherokee Nation Treasurer Lacey Horn, Cherokee Nation
Businesses Chief Financial Officer Doug Evans, and their
staffs for their due diligence in ensuring the tribe remains
operationally sound,” Principal Chief Bill John Baker said.
Each year the Nation is required to have an independent
rating analyst review its financial statements, spending trends,
debt and future outlook after the tribe issued tax exempt bonds
in 2006 to construct Three Rivers Health Center in Muskogee,
Nowata Health Center and Redbird Smith annex in Sallisaw.
This is the Nation’s first rating upgrade.
“A good bond rating means that the Cherokee Nation is a good
investment, that we pay our debt and pay on time,” Horn said.
“If we should ever need to issue bonds in the future, we could do
so at a low interest rate. A bond rating upgrade reaffirms that we
continue to be good stewards of tribal dollars for our Cherokee
citizens.”
Fitch issues credit ratings that range from the highest “AAA”
to lowest “D.”
In a statement, Fitch said the Nation’s rating upgrade was
based on several key drivers, including its General Fund cushion
that has allowed the tribe to enhance tribal services.
“The upgrade reflects the continued strong performance of
the (Cherokee) Nation’s operations, including both its casino
gaming enterprise and health system,” the statement reads.
“CNB maintains a competitive position in the Oklahoma
market. The continued growth in the pledged third-party health
care revenues has also led to positive operating margins and
ample debt service coverage on the bonds.”
As of the day of the rating, the CN maintained a $586.6
million operating budget and $98.9 million capital outlay
budget. More than 60 percent of operating revenue comes from
federal sources.
Got
to
https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/press_
releases/detail.cfm?pr_id=820551 for the ratings upgrade
report.
Cherokee CRC named
Minority Construction
Firm of the Year
Integral knives made by master knife maker Ray Kirk are
displayed in his workshop. Kirk has been making knives
for 25 years and operates Raker Knives and Steel.
hammer to begin flattening
it. After it’s sufficiently
flattened, he places it on an
anvil and continues to flatten
and shape it into a blade.
Once the blade is shaped, he
forms the handle that he can
later set inside various types
of wood, including bois’
arc. He “profiles” the blade
using a grinder or sander to
smooth its edges. He refines
its shape before stamping it
with his and the American
Bladesmith Society seals and
adding the handle.
His customers include
doctors, lawyers, police
officers, firefighters, hunters
and fishermen.
“Anybody that uses a knife,
when they get to use a really
good knife then they come
back, and they tell their
friends, and the next thing
you know I sell some more
knives,” he said. “It’s kind of
hard to sell them more than
one of a certain size because
they last forever. I take pride
in what I do because I grew
up using a knife. I carry one
everywhere I go.”
In 1997, he began joining
knife organizations such as
the Arkansas Knife Makers
Association and later the
ABS. He said the ABS has
the only certification for
qualifications and expertise
of all the knife organizations.
He received an ABS
mastersmith certification in
2005, which let’s people see
his qualifications and know
they are purchasing quality.
Kirk is also a member of
the Alabama Forge Council,
Knife Group Association of
Oklahoma and Arizona Knife
Collectors Association.
Kirk said he stands
behind his knives and even
enters them into cutting
competitions. At the 2003
ABS World Championship
in Atlanta, he won three first
place awards, a second place
award and a fifth place award.
However, all of his awards
aren’t specific to competitions.
In 2004, the KGAO gave him
the Dee Daniel Boone Award
for preserving the art and
history of the forged blade.
“I’m always available for
helping new knife makers,” he
said. “We (KGAO members)
try to inform them about
custom knives, knife making
and forging. I believe that a
bladesmith should continue
to improve and learn all they
can to make the best knife
they can make.”
[email protected]
918-207-3961
BY STAFF REPORTS
CATOOSA, Okla. – Cherokee CRC was recently named
Minority Construction Firm of the Year by the U.S. Department
of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency.
The company was recognized during the 2013 National
Minority Enterprise Development Week for its leadership and
commitment in advancing the minority business community.
“It is an honor to be acknowledged by the U.S. Commerce
Department for our services and business growth,” Principal
Chief Bill John Baker said. “This award recognizes our
commitment to quality-building processes and unequaled
customer service. Cherokee CRC has proven time and time
again that it is a national leader in the construction industry.”
The award is presented to a minority-owned firm that
has achieved outstanding success in private or public sector
construction projects and has exhibited revenue and job growth
over a sustained period of time.
“Cherokee CRC has made a significant impact within the
tribe’s diversified portfolio,” Cherokee Nation Businesses CEO
Shawn Slaton said. “This company continues to capture new
work, providing clients nationwide with the services they need
and the quality they have come to expect from the Cherokee
brand.”
CCRC has more than 25 years of experience and has built a
strong reputation among government agencies and commercial
clients for its outstanding quality of work and superior customer
service.
A percentage of its profits is returned to the Cherokee Nation
for health, housing, education and other important social
services for CN citizens.
“We are so grateful to receive this honor,” CCRC President
Cheryl Cohenour said. “Our staff works hard to deliver the
absolute best to our clients, and I can’t thank them enough for
their hard work and commitment to this company and our
tr ibe.”
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker presented the
award to CCRC Operating General Manager John Sparkman
during a Dec. 2 ceremony in Washington, D.C.
CCRC is a subsidiary of CNB, the tribally owned holding
company of the CN. For more information, please visit www.
cherokee-crc.com.
12
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
EduCatION • #n[]Qsd
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
NSU to host Symposium on the American Indian April 7-12
BY STAFF REPORTS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Northeastern State
University is inviting the public to take part in
the 42nd annual Symposium on the American
Indian on April 7-12.
This year’s theme is “Thriving Nations–Resilient
Peoples.” The event annually hosts exhibits,
vendors, guest speakers and a popular powwow,
which is on April 11-12. This year’s powwow will
be held in NSU’s new event center just north of the
campus near the football stadium.
In keeping with this year’s theme,
topics will focus on stimulating renewed
perspectives on the self-determination of
tribal peoples to inspire innovative thought
on ways to secure and sustain their wellbeing
now and in the future.
Designed for a diverse public audience, the
agenda includes both scholarly and general
interest programs. All events are open to the
public and free of charge.
“In contemporary America, the quality
of life for Native peoples bears scars of
the traumatic phenomena spurred by U.S.
government policies of forced termination and
assimilation of the past,” organizers said. “By
acting upon the treaty and sovereign rights
of tribal nations, organized and united efforts
are at work today to protect indigenous rights,
secure cultural capital, and generate vitality
through Native initiatives on behalf of the
family of Native peoples.”
Confirmed speakers include Cherokee
Nation citizen Stacy Leeds, who is the dean and
professor of law at the University of Arkansas
School of Law in Fayetteville. From 2003-11 she
was a member of the law faculty at the University
of Kansas School of Law, where she directed the
Tribal Law and Government Center. In 2013,
LEFT: Powwow dancers enter the Northeastern State University Center Ballroom for grand entry during a past NSU Symposium on the
American Indian in Tahlequah, Okla. This year’s theme is “Thriving Nations–Resilient Peoples.” RIGHT: Cherokee Nation citizen Travis Wolfe
drums a powwow song during a past Northeastern State University Symposium on the American Indian in Tahlequah, Okla. This year’s
powwow will be held in NSU’s new event center just north of the campus near the football stadium. COURTESY
Leeds was recognized with the American Bar
Association’s Spirit of Excellence Award for
her work in promoting a more racially and
ethnically diverse legal profession. She teaches,
writes and consults in the areas American
Indian law, property, economic development,
higher education and governance.
Also speaking will be professor Sarah Deer
(Muscogee Creek) who has focused her legal
work on violent crime on Indian reservations.
She has co-authored two textbooks on tribal
law and several academic articles on Native
American women.
Professor of history Donald Fixico (Shawnee,
Sac & Fox, Muscogee Creek and Seminole) is
a policy historian and ethno-historian who
focuses on American Indians, oral history and
the U.S. West. He will share his insights during
the symposium.
Also presenting will be Dr. Leanne Hinton,
professor of linguistics at the University
of California at Berkeley, and director of
the Survey of California and Other Indian
Languages, a research unit that focuses
Sequoyah High School students
learn overview of CNB
The students were
given an orientation
of Cherokee Nation
Businesses, Cherokee
Nation Entertainment
and Cherokee Nation
Industries.
BY TESINA JACKSON
Reporter
TULSA, Okla.— In conjunction
with Junior Achievement of Oklahoma
and the Cherokee Nation Foundation,
Cherokee Nation Businesses on Feb.
24 hosted its second job-shadowing
day to allow 22 Sequoyah High School
students to gain knowledge about CNB
professions.
“We think it’s a great opportunity,
especially for our Native American
youth these days,” said Wynona
Hubbard, Junior Achievement program
manager. “We’re wanting them to
understand about the internships, about
the different jobs that are here locally
and we think it’s a great opportunity
for them to have this in their classroom
and be able to understand that once
they graduate or decide to go onto a
four year college, vocation, or anything
of that nature, they’ve got all of these
excellent opportunities here locally and
they’re with their tribe as well.”
The students were given an
overview of CNB and learned about
Cherokee Nation Entertainment,
Cherokee Nation Industries, CNB’s
internship program and the company’s
diversified
businesses,
including
security and defense, environmental
and construction, health care and
technology.
“This program is very important
because it’s for the students and that’s
their future,” said Sandra Downing,
SHS JA and ACT prep teacher. “It’s all
We think it’s a great opportunity, especially for
our Native American youth these days.
– Wynona Hubbard, Junior Achievement program manager
about them being able to learn how
to be successful in life and be able to
perform as they become an employee.”
Downing said as part of the JA
program, students learn how to
budget finances before coming to
CNB to see what jobs are available to
them in the future.
To understand what CNB career
opportunities are available, students
broke into groups to speak with
employees such as CNB’s environmental
and construction portfolio president;
Cheryl Cohenour, CEO of Cherokee
Nation Security and Safety LLC Russell
Claybrook and Rusty Jones with
CNB’s Mobility Plus to see how those
departments operate and how those
individuals have progressed within
CNB. CNB CEO Shawon Slaton and
CNB’s diversified businesses president
Steven Bilby also spoke to the students
about CNB careers.
“We’ve created, over the years,
thousands of jobs,” Bilby said.
Students also toured the building
where CNB entities such as Cherokee
CRC, Cherokee Services Group/ITX
and Cherokee Nation Security and
Safety occupy the building.
“My school actually brought us here
for a tour of the facility just to see what
was going on and to see what we might
like, to see how it is here, to see if it’s
a place we want to come work,” said
Collin Vann, SHS senior. “I expected it
to be very professional and it was.”
Vann said that one thing that
stuck out for him was the fact that
the Cherokee Nation has businesses
in 45 states.
“I didn’t think that Cherokee Nation
was that big,” he said. “Honestly I
thought we were kind of small, in one
or two more states.”
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
Cherokee Nation Businesses environmental and construction employees speak
with Sequoyah High School students on Feb. 24 during a job-shadowing day
to allow students to gain knowledge about CNB professions.
TESINA JACKSON/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
on research and documentation of Native
American languages. Her research fields
include sociolinguistics, language change, and
language and music, as well as a major focus
on the preservation and restoration of Native
American languages. She consults widely
for language maintenance and restoration
programs in California and the Southwest.
The NSU Center for Tribal Studies hosts the
annual symposium. For more information,
visit
www.cts.nsuok.edu/NSUSymposium/
SymposiumAgenda.aspx.
Baker honored as
NSU ‘centurion’
BY STAFF REPORTS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Principal Chief Bill John Baker was
among 10 recipients to receive this year’s Centurion Award by
Northeastern State University.
Baker received the award on March 6 at the NSU University
Center as part of its Founder’s Day celebration. Each year since
2009, NSU has selected its alumni, professors, athletes or staff
whose leadership has made a significant impact in the community
for the Centurion Award.
“I am a proud alum of Northeastern State University and
tremendously humbled to be recognized by the school as a
centurion,” Baker said. “The school will always hold a special place
in my heart. The education I received at NSU helped prepare me
for a life dedicated to public service, and I am deeply appreciative
of that. I was lucky to build invaluable relationships, friends and
mentors to this day during my NSU tenure, and I have been blessed
to stay active and involved with the university over the years.”
Baker, who graduated from NSU in 1973 with education degrees
in history and political science, earned the award as a community
advocate, businessman and elected leader of the CN.
“Chief Baker’s leadership in the Cherokee Nation and tireless
dedication to service are appropriately recognized in his centurion
honor,” NSU President Dr. Steve Turner said. “He often mentions
his experience as an NSU student and graduate as pivotal in his
personal development, and it is certainly fitting that he is joining
his mother, Isabel, as an honoree for their lifelong commitment to
the heritage and legacy of NSU.”
Baker was elected as Principal Chief in October 2011. Prior, he
spent 12 years on the Tribal Council. He has been a small-business
owner in Tahlequah for more than 40 years.
While in office, Baker has increased and expanded college
scholarship funding for more CN citizens, improved the tribe’s health
care system and created new jobs throughout the CN. He also played
a role in reestablishing the tribe’s new home construction program.
Previously named centurions include country music superstar
Carrie Underwood, “Tuna” trilogy co-author and co-star Joe Sears,
former Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, historian
Beth Herrington and entrepreneur Jeff Reasor.
I am a proud alum
of Northeastern
State University and
tremendously humbled to
be recognized by the school
as a centurion.
– Principal Chief Bill John Baker
EduCatION • #n[]Qsd
2014 Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
Sequoyah offering students, parents
Cherokee language opportunities
BY STAFF REPORTS
Jeromy and Hayley Miller learn basics of the Cherokee syllabary from
Immersion School teacher Nora Birdtail, right, during a language class for
parents of immersion students. COURTESY
Cherokee in their daily lessons. Once
in high school, those students will be
able to learn subjects like algebra and
biology partially in Cherokee.
Another goal of the grant is
to encourage parents to better
communicate with their Cherokeespeaking children. Parent classes are
now being held Mondays, Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, Thursdays and some
Saturdays to teach parents basic phrases
and commands in Cherokee.
“I think when our children see
us trying to learn the language, that
will help increase their interest in it,”
Dawni Mackey, a parent of a Cherokee
Immersion Charter School student,
said. “For an endangered language to
survive, there must be strong parental
support and participation. The kids
are used to the language at school, but
we need to foster language learning
environments outside of school as well.”
The grant is also funding a new
resource center on the immersion
school campus. All materials in the
center, including books, worksheets and
videos will be translated into Cherokee
and available for students and their
parents to check out.
The grant is also being used to develop
new benchmark tests in Cherokee.
Currently, immersion students in
grades third through eighth take state
assessments in math and reading in
the English language. The grant allows
for the development of three new
assessments in those subjects, but all
in Cherokee. The assessments will be
given in the beginning, middle and end
of the school year to measure student
progress, and will be fully implemented
next school year. The assessments will
be used internally.
For more information, call BennDuke at 918-453-5712 or email
[email protected].
Woodall students place in science fair
BY STAFF REPORTS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. –
Eight of the 30 qualifying
Woodall Public School
students ranging from fifth
grade to eight grade earned
third place or higher in
the 2014 Cherokee County
Science & Engineering Fair
on Feb. 5-6 at the Tahlequah
Fairgrounds.
The eight students placed
for exhibitions of original
scientific investigations.
“Science fairs teach much
more than students’ favorite
science content,” Dr. Geary
Crofford, Woodall teacher,
said. “Science fair projects
allow students to practice
scientific
and
critical
thinking, improvise when a
procedure doesn’t work out
as predicted, present science
findings to others and
constructively critique each
other’s work.”
Students who participated
in the fair had planned to
participate in the Muskogee
Regional Science Fair on
13
Sequoyah students start
anti-bullying initiative
More than 25 students serve as mentors
by helping squash incidents and speak
to younger students in other schools.
A three-year, nearly
$900,000 grant will
help start a language
resource center for
teachers, students and
parents.
TAHLEQUAH,
Okla.
–
An
Administration of Native Americans’
Esther Martinez Initiative grant is
allowing Sequoyah Schools to offer
more courses in the Cherokee language
and start Cherokee language classes for
parents.
The three-year, nearly $900,000 grant
will also help start a Cherokee language
resource center for teachers, students
and parents of Sequoyah Schools.
Sequoyah’s school system includes
the Sequoyah High and Cherokee
Immersion Charter schools.
The resource center is set to open
this summer.
“We are doing something that
no other tribe has done,” Sequoyah
Schools compliance manager Samantha
Benn-Duke, who wrote the grant, said.
“Many schools among Native people
have started immersion programs that
target early childhood, and may even go
into early elementary and up to second
grade. Few go beyond that.”
Currently, the Cherokee Immersion
Charter School immerses students in
pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade
in the Cherokee language. Through the
grant, the school will offer graduates of
the immersion program who go on to
high school at Sequoyah to have more
ApRil 2014 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX
The eight Woodall Public School students who placed
third or higher in 2014 Cherokee County Science &
Engineering Fair on Feb. 5-6 are (front row from left
to right) Benjamin Woolen, Siera O’Daniel, Kylee Snell,
Alden Terrell, Colton Taylor (back row from left to right)
Aubree Bell, Luke Green and Zoe Shieldnight. COURTESY
Feb. 11-12, among other
future competitions.
“It sharpens their skills
in communicating science
process
and
content,
strengthens math skills
through analyzing and
graphing data, develops
reading
comprehension
skills by doing background
Department of
Labor renews
TLJC contract
BY STAFF REPORTS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – To continue
helping students get a high school diploma
and ready for higher education or the
workforce, Cherokee Nation Talking Leaves
Job Corps recently received another five-year
contract from the U.S. Department of Labor.
“The newly awarded contract will give
Talking Leaves Job Corps the opportunity
to continue the tradition of success,”
Diane Kelley, Cherokee Nation Career
Services executive director, said. “I could
not be prouder of the center director, the
management team and all the staff for their
hard work and dedication to the success of
our students and the Job Corps program.”
In 2013, TLJC helped 180 students
receive high school equivalency certificates,
236 complete job training and 203 secure
jobs. Currently, the program serves 197
students, both Native and non-Native from
northeastern Oklahoma.
Catherine Wester, 28, who graduated from
TLJC in 2002, said the program is beneficial
to many youth.
“Job Corps was a secure and safe place to
live while I learned how to obtain a career,”
she said. “The instructors and residential staff
were truly motivational and understanding.
They gave me a chance to do something
different with my life.”
TLJC is a career technical training program
administered by the CN Career Services and
contracted by the U.S. Department of Labor.
For more than 35 years, the center has been
helping area youth improve their academic
training to obtain GED or high school
equivalency certificates and job placement.
research and enhances
creative
problem-solving
skills
throughout
the
process,” Crofford said.
For more information
about Woodall’s science fair
and other programs, call
Crofford at 918-456-1581 or
email gcrofford@woodall.
k12.ok.us.
Winners
Fifth and Sixth Grade
Junior Division:
Benjamin Woolen:
“Identifying Mushrooms,”
second place in
Environmental Science
Seventh and Eighth Grade
Senior Division:
Kylee Snell: “The Cleanest
Water” – second place in
Environmental Science
Siera O’Daniel: “How Do
Horses Establish Leaders?”
– third place in Zoology
Zoe Shieldnight: “Do You
Have Electric Vampires?”
– third place in Consumer
Science
Aubree Bell: “Seasons of the
Earth” – first place in Earth
and Space
Alden Terrell: “How
Sensitive Are Your Hands?”
– first place in Physics
Luke Green: “Optimal Plant
Growth” – third place in
Botany
Colton Taylor: “Broadhead
Penetration” – second place
in Engineering
Majority of Indian students not
prepared for college success
BY STAFF REPORTS
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Most
American Indian students – 86
percent – want to further their
education after high school, but the
majority are not well prepared to
succeed in college, according to a
report released in March by ACT.
The report, titled “The Condition
of College and Career Readiness
2013: American Indian Students,”
shows that 52 percent of American
Indian 2013 high school graduates
who took the ACT college
readiness assessment met none of
the four ACT College Readiness
Benchmarks that indicate likely
success in credit-bearing first-year
college courses. That compares to
31 percent of all ACT-tested 2013
graduates who met none of the
benchmarks.
Only 62 percent of American
Indian
students
completed
the ACT-recommended core
curriculum, lower than any other
racial/ethnic group. On average,
74 percent of students completed a
core curriculum.
Post-secondary
enrollment
among American Indian graduates
is also the lowest of any racial/
ethnic group who took the ACT.
Though 86 percent of American
Indian graduates indicate that
they want to pursue some type of
postsecondary education, only 54
percent of those students enroll in
a post-secondary institution the
fall immediately following high
school graduation.
“The disconnect we see between
postsecondary aspirations on
the one hand and preparation
and enrollment on the other is
particularly pronounced in our
research on American Indian
students,” said Scott Montgomery,
ACT vice president of policy,
advocacy
and
government
relations. “While these results
paint a stark picture, they can help
us all identify appropriate ways to
improve success for these students.”
The research-based ACT College
Readiness Benchmarks specify the
minimum scores students must
earn on each of ACT’s four subject
tests (English, math, reading, and
science) to have about a 75 percent
chance of earning a grade of C or
higher in a typical credit-bearing
first-year college course in the
corresponding subject area. ACT
research suggests that students
who meet the benchmarks are
more likely than those who do
not to persist in college and earn a
degree.
The ACT report used data from
the approximately 14,217 ACTtested 2013 high school graduates
who identified themselves as being
of American Indian race/ethnicity.
During ACT registration, students
are asked to provide information
about race/ethnicity, high school
course taking, and postsecondary
aspirations.
The full report is available
at:
www.act.org/newsroom/
data/2013/states/americanindian.
html. To learn more about ACT, go
to www.act.org.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – A new club at Sequoyah High School
known as “The Preventers” has students speaking out against
bullying and its harmful effects on teenagers.
More than 25 students serve as mentors to their peers by helping
squash incidents in their own hallways and speak out to younger
students in other schools. They spoke to Woodall Elementary fifth
and sixth-graders on March 12 about how to handle bullying.
Cherokee Nation Behavioral Health trained the students on
mental health first aid this past summer, and each “preventer” is
now a certified mental health first-aid responder. Behavioral Health
performed a similar training with Sallisaw High School students in
2013.
“Being in ‘The Preventers’ gives us a chance to give back to the
community and help other students. We will hopefully open their
eyes and show them that bullying is a really serious issue,” SHS
senior Grant Neugin said. “It is important to reach students at a
young age and show them that bullying isn’t good, it isn’t right, and
it needs to be stopped.”
This past school year, the students were selected based on
trustworthiness by the Sequoyah student body, and the group
started meeting this school year.
“I cannot express how proud I am of these students for tackling
such difficult issues,” club sponsor Rebecca Brant said. “They are
role models for the younger students and support for their peers.
These kids that are ‘The Preventers’ have no idea the impact they
have and the lives they are touching by speaking out.”
Sequoyah students have also visited Tenkiller Public Schools and
Sequoyah’s seventh- and eighth-grade classes. “The Preventers”
also had plans to visit Maryetta School.
The group is also working with professional heavyweight boxer
and SHS graduate Wes Nofire on an anti-bullying and suicide
prevention campaign.
Nofire said he hopes his status as a professional athlete who lost
his mother to suicide will help boost the efforts to educate and
bring awareness to depression and suicide prevention.
“Suicide has left a void in my family. My mother battled
depression her entire life, and she could never out pray or out run
it. I try to live a life that honors her memory, and I feel like this is
something she would be proud of,” he said. “I hope this program
educates those who don’t experience bullying, or have suicidal
thoughts or depression, and I hope it provides a shelter for those
who do.”
For more information, call Rebecca Brant at 918-453-5400, ext.
6129 or email [email protected].
CNB volunteers
read to students for
literacy program
Volunteers from Cherokee Nation
Businesses read to Oaks Mission
Elementary kids in honor of Dr. Seuss.
BY STAFF REPORTS
OAKS, Okla. – Sam-I-Am, the Cat in the Hat, Horton the
Elephant, Thing One and Thing Two, along with other quirky Dr.
Seuss characters, joined volunteer employees from Cherokee Nation
and Cherokee Nation Businesses at Oaks Mission Elementary
School on March 3 as part of Read Across America Day.
The volunteers dusted off their personal favorite childhood
stories to read to students.
Read Across America is an award-winning literacy program
founded by the National Education Association in coalition with
Dr. Seuss Enterprises L.P. and Random House.
Every year, on or around the birthday of the beloved children’s
author Dr. Seuss, CN and CNB employee volunteers take part in the
nationwide celebration by reading to children in local communities.
“I look forward to this every year,” Deborah Fritts, CNB
interpretive project coordinator, said. “This year I brought
‘Plantizilla.’ It is about a little boy, Mortimer, who takes a plant home
from school, and the plant grows so large it takes over everything. It
eats meat and pot roast, and at one point the family dog disappears.
In the end, because of Mortimer’s love and kindness, the plant
begins to take on human characteristics and the dog reappears. I
think sharing wholesome stories like this is very important and
rewarding for both children and the volunteers.”
Volunteers shared their favorite stories by visiting each
kindergarten through fifth-grade classrooms. The program helps
encourage student achievement and reading ability, hoping to
inspire a love for reading.
“We live in such a digitized world that it’s nice to have people take
time to read to the kids,” Barbara Tucker, Oaks Mission Elementary
principal, said. “You want them to experience something personal
and relatable, not to grow up thinking everything is just touch
and swipe. It’s great to promote that love of reading and for the
volunteers to share their favorites with them.”
Along with employees from CN and CNB, state Sen. Wayne
Shaw also read a few of his favorites.
“I bet the kids have so many stories swimming through their
heads today,” Tucker said. “We hope they’ll be inspired to find
favorite books of their own. Reading, communicating and relating
to the kids make a difference. Oh, the places they will go.”
To learn more about Read Across America or to see what
other schools and communities did to celebrate, visit www.
readacrossamerica.org.
Cherokee Nation Businesses employee Deborah Fritts reads to
students at Oaks Mission Elementary in Oaks, Okla. Employees
visited each classroom to read their favorite childhood stories
as part of Read Across America Da on March 3. COURTESY
14
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
HEaltH • aBk 0sr
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
DiETiTiAN’S CORNER
April is Cancer Control Month
BY SANDRA
BRENNAN
Clinical Dietitian
Cancer is the
second-leading
cause of death in the
United States. April
is Cancer Control
Month, so it’s a good time to focus on
what you can do to reduce your cancer
risk. Lifestyle changes, along with early
detection, can prevent nearly half of all
cancer deaths.
Your diet is one of the most important
factors under your control that can reduce
cancer risk. In fact, nutrition guidelines
for cancer prevention are similar to those
for preventing other diseases such as heart
disease and diabetes. Here are some general
guidelines to help reduce your cancer risk:
Eat vegetables, fruits, whole
grains and legumes
Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables,
including beans, is linked with a lower
risk of lung, oral, esophageal, stomach
and colon cancer. At this point, it’s not
clear what components in vegetables and
fruits are most protective against cancer.
So enjoy a variety of whole foods naturally
rich in nutrients. Make half your plate
fruits and vegetables and at least half your
grains whole grains. Beans and peas may be
counted as part of the Protein Foods Group
or as a vegetable. Also, eating a diet rich in
these plant-based foods can help you stay at
a healthy weight.
Moderate your meat portions
No consistent evidence links protein
intake to increased or lowered risk of
most cancers. Some studies suggest a link
between colon cancer and eating large
amounts of red meat, especially processed
meat such as ham, bacon and hot dogs, but
this research is inconclusive. Your best bet
is to enjoy protein in moderation. Consider
filling your plate with beans, grains and
vegetables.
of cancers, including cancer of the mouth,
pharynx, larynx, esophagus, breast and
colon. It’s unclear exactly how alcohol
affects cancer risk. It is considered more
harmful when combined with smoking. If
consumed at all, limit alcoholic drinks to no
more than one drink daily for women and
two for men.
Toss tobacco
Reduce cancer risk by quitting tobacco
or not starting. Non-smokers exposed to
second-hand smoke are at risk for lung
cancer and other respiratory problems.
You can add up to 10 years to your life by
quitting. Strive to break the addiction and
create smoke-free environments.
Be active and a keep a healthy
weight
Being overweight or obese is related
to as many as one in five cancer-related
deaths. Exactly how weight affects cancer
risk is unclear. Weight is most closely
connected with cancers of the breast and
uterus in postmenopausal women. Other
cancers associated with obesity include
esophagus, pancreas, colon and rectum,
breast (after menopause), kidney, thyroid
and gallbladder.
Make physical activity a regular part of
your family’s daily or weekly schedule and
write in on a family activity calendar. Keep
track of your progress with an exercise chart
or online tool. Walk the dogs with your
children, or exercise while you watch TV.
Ask friends and family to exercise with you,
and plan social activities involving exercise.
Get screened
Limit alcohol
You have the power to take control of
your health and catch many cancers before
they start or at the earliest, most treatable
stages. Be familiar with warning signs and
symptoms. Get regular check-ups and
perform self-exams. Some cancers are
curable if detected early, so don’t forget to
schedule your 2014 screening. Taking small
steps may be enough to significantly reduce
your cancer risk.
Evidence suggests all types of alcoholic
drinks may increase your risk of a number
[email protected]
918-781-6437
Cherokee Nation Gadugi Health Center physician assistant Christi Anderson packs
products into a box to move to the new portion of the clinic. The new portion of the
clinic is expected to open in late summer. STACIE GUTHRIE/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Gadugi Health Center
renovation, expansion begins
When the renovation is
finished the clinic will have
four exams rooms plus a
triage room.
BY STACIE GUTHRIE
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee
Nation’s Gadugi Health Center has been
helping tribal employees and citizens since
2004 while working out of a location with only
two exam rooms. However, a new building was
added to the clinic while the center’s old space
is being remodeled.
The clinic’s manager of health operations,
Joanna McDaniel, said when the renovation is
finished the clinic will have four exams rooms
plus a triage room. She added that if there is
enough money in the clinic’s upcoming budget,
she might hire a new physician.
“They’ve completed this side (the new area)
and we’re expanding,” she said. “They’re going
to renovate the side that we’ve been operating
out of to this point. We’re going to work out
of the new side and when they get that (old)
side done we’ll have the whole clinic open and
we’ll be bigger. It’ll be nice. We’ve had only
two exam rooms up to now. We’ll more than
double our space.”
The tribe’s Head Start donated the extra
space to the clinic in July. Renovations began
in late August.
The Head Start also donated the original
building for the clinic nearly 10 years ago.
The new location is directly beside the
previous location.
“The Head Start has always been a supporter
of the clinic. They’re the reason we’re here to
begin with,” McDaniel said. “They wanted
a clinic for the Head Start children so they
donated this space. There’s not enough business
just for the Head Start children so (CN) Health
(Services officials) said, ‘hey, we could do an
employee clinic,’ so that’s how we came about.”
Gadugi physician assistant Christi Anderson
said the expansion would help the clinic with
patient flow and would allow for more patients
to be seen on a daily basis.
“Right now we usually see anywhere from 25
to 30 (patients) a day,” Anderson said. “We may
be able to see a little more walk-ins. Now we
just try to do same-day appointments.”
Anderson said she expects the center to
be fully open around June. She added that
the extra exam rooms would provide a more
efficient method when seeing patients.
“Mainly, it’s going to help in patient flow
because right now I’m kind of working out of
one exam room, and so if the nurse needs to
come in and give an injection into a patient
then with the expansion I’ll be able to hop
over to the next exam room and see the patient
that’s roomed in there, and we’ll just be able to
move people though a little bit more quickly,”
she said.
After getting hired in 2006, Anderson said
she heard the clinic would be expanding. Now
that it is happening she said she is excited.
The Gadugi Health Center sees all employees
of CN and its entities. The center also sees
students at the Head Start, Child Development
Center, immersion school and Sequoyah High
School. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Monday through Friday.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 5903
Brenda Ritter, an Oklahoma Breast Care Center radiologist technician and certified
mammographor, looks at a computer while waiting on a patient inside the OBCC’s Mobile
Mammogram Unit on March 11 in Tahlequah, Okla. Ritter has been working on the
mobile unit since 1991. PHOTOS BY STACIE GUTHRIE/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Mobile Mammogram Unit
provides service to rural areas
The Oklahoma Breast Care
Center’s unit has been in
service since 1989.
Ritter said most women who visit the MMU
are 40 and older. She added that just because
a woman does not have a family history of
breast cancer does not mean she can’t get it.
“You want to catch breast cancer early. They
can cure it if they catch it early,” she said. “If
BY STACIE GUTHRIE
you leave it in there to grow and the longer it’s
Reporter
in there the harder it is to treat and to cure. The
key is to catch breast cancer early and this is just
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Oklahoma
too easy a test to do to not get a mammogram
Breast Care Center’s Mobile Mammogram Unit
and catch the breast cancer early.”
recently revisited the Cherokee Nation’s Gadugi
The MMU travels all over Oklahoma to
Health Center. For approximately 25 years
towns or locations where women may not
now, the MMU has provided mammograms in
have access to a hospital with mammogram
an RV-type vehicle so that women can get care
equipment or the
without traveling
distance
to
a
great distances.
location with the
Brenda Ritter, an
We don’t go to as many
proper equipment is
OBCC radiologist
too far. Two MMUs
Indian health facilities as
t e c h n i c i a n
go out every week,
and
certified
we
use
to
because
now,
a
lot
Monday through
mammographor,
Friday.
of those have gotten their
said the MMU has
Ritter’s
unit
been around since
own
mammography
units.
spent March 10 in
1989 and she’s
Jay, March 11 in
– Brenda Ritter,
worked on the unit
Tahlequah, March
since 1991.
Oklahoma Breast Care Center
12 in Holdenville
“We
just
and March 13mammographor
do
screening
14 in Oklahoma
mammograms on
City. She said the
the mobiles,” she
MMU usually sees about 40 women per day,
said. “We take insurance (customers insurance
depending on the location. She added that it’s
cards). We go to Indian health facilities. We
the rural areas where they see the most women.
don’t go to as many Indian health facilities
Ritter said many of these women are grateful
as we use to because now, a lot of those have
for the service.
gotten their own mammography units. We
“They appreciate the service because they
use to go to W.W. Hastings (Hospital in
have to travel so far to get a mammogram. A
Tahlequah). We went to W.W. Hastings for
lot of women put it off because they don’t have
years, but they got their own equipment so
the services available to them,” she said. “It’s a
now a lot of these Indian health facilities
very good service.”
service their own women.”
When receiving a mammogram it is
Ritter said a breast exam can usually take up
important to wear a two-piece outfit so it is
to 10 minutes, but in some cases it can take
easy to undress from the waist up. Ritter also
longer for larger breast sizes. She added that
recommends to not wear deodorant or powder
there is a quick turnaround for results.
because is can show up on the scan.
“We send out the results within two weeks,”
she said. “We send out the doctor-written
[email protected]
report and the patient gets a letter from our
918-453-5000, ext. 5903
office saying, ‘everything’s fine, see you next
year’ or sometimes there’s a chance they’ll call
them back for follow-up work. Sometimes
they just want to do a extra test to clarify what
they’re looking at and it doesn’t mean they have
breast cancer. They just want to make sure.”
According to the American Cancer Society,
women ages 40 and older should have a yearly
mammogram. Women in their 20s and 30s
should have a clinical breast exam as part of
their regular heath exam. Instead of having
this done annually they should have it done
every three years. Breast self-examining is The Oklahoma Breast Care Center’s Mobile
also important to do. Women in their 20s can Mammogram Unit parks in front of the
begin this. It is also beneficial for all women to Cherokee Nation’s Gadugi Health Center
partake in self-exams and report any changes on March 11 in Tahlequah, Okla. The unit
to a health professional.
provides services all over Oklahoma.
Advertise with the
Cherokee phoenix
print, Web, Radio, &
Weekly Digital Newsletter
Contact:
Dena Tucker - 918-453-5324
[email protected]
2014 Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
HEaltH • aBk 0sr
ApRil 2014 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX
15
New food labels would highlight calories, sugar
BY STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
WASHINGTON (AP) – Those “Nutrition
Facts” labels that are plastered on nearly every
food package found in grocery stores are
getting a new look.
Under label changes being proposed by the
Obama administration, calories would be in
larger, bolder type, and consumers for the first
time would know whether foods have added
sugars. Serving sizes would be updated to make
them more realistic. A serving of ice cream, for
example, would double to a full cup, closer to
what people actually eat.
“Placing the most frequently viewed
information in bold print to make it easier
to identify is a great idea that should help
consumers be less intimidated by using the
labels,” Rachelle Holman, a registered dietitian
with the Cherokee Nation, said. “The bold
points will make teaching patients how to read
the label easier. I always like to remind people
to also read the ingredients list on the food
label to help them make good food decisions.”
The proposed overhaul comes as science
has shifted. While fat was the focus two
decades ago when the labels first were created,
nutritionists are now more concerned with
how many calories we eat. And serving sizes
have long been misleading, with many singleserving packages listing multiple servings, so
the calorie count is lower.
Holman said food labels can be a wealth of
information, but many people find the current
versions to be overwhelming and confusing.
“Currently, the listed serving sizes are
generally significantly smaller than what the
average person eats,” Holman said. “Making
the adjustments to the calories, fat and sodium
to reflect typical intake may be a real eye opener
to consumers – seeing what they are actually
taking in. My hope is that this won’t prompt
people to consume larger portions as some
have grown accustomed to using currently
listed serving sizes as their guide for intake.”
The idea isn’t that people should eat more;
it’s that they should understand how many
calories are in what they are actually eating.
The Food and Drug Administration says that
by law serving sizes must be based on actual
consumption, not ideal consumption.
“Our guiding principle here is very simple,
that you as a parent and a consumer should
be able to walk into your local grocery store,
pick up an item off the shelf and be able to tell
whether it’s good for your family,” said first lady
LEFT: The Food and Drug Administration’s proposed format for Nutrition Facts food
labels, which are on nearly every food package in grocery stores. Under label changes
being proposed by the Obama administration, calories would be in larger, bolder type,
and consumers for the first time would know whether foods have added sugars. RIGHT:
The Food and Drug Administration’s current format for Nutrition Facts food labels on
food packages. Rachelle Holman, a registered dietitian with the Cherokee Nation, said
current food labels can be a wealth of information, but many people find the current
versions to be overwhelming and confusing. FDA WEBSITE
Michelle Obama, who was to join the FDA in
announcing the proposed changes on Feb. 27
at the White House.
Mrs. Obama was making the announcement
as part of her Let’s Move initiative to combat
child obesity, which is celebrating its fourth
anniversary. On Feb. 25, she announced new
Agriculture Department rules that would
reduce marketing of unhealthy foods in schools.
The new nutrition labels are likely several
years away. The FDA will take comments on
the proposal for 90 days, and a final rule could
take another year. Once it’s final, the agency has
proposed giving industry two years to comply.
CN study seeks to keep expectant
moms, babies healthier
The Just Right study aims to prevent mothers and their
babies from gaining an unhealthy amount of weight
during pregnancy.
BY STAFF REPORTS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee
Nation is studying expectant mothers to test
whether healthy diet and exercise can prevent
excessive weight gain and ultimately lower
obesity rates within the tribe.
The tribe’s Just Right study aims to prevent
mothers and their Cherokee babies from
gaining an unhealthy amount of weight
during pregnancy. The multiyear study is
being conducted jointly with the University of
Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.
The study will enroll about 80 pregnant
women total and currently has 73 participating.
“National data shows that obesity is a major
health problem in the U.S. population, and it
has been particularly devastating for Native
Americans. Obesity has also been linked to
diabetes, heart disease, cancer and a number
of other ailments, which is why the Cherokee
Nation has been aggressively pursuing all
available options to curb the obesity epidemic
in our population,” Dr. Sohail Khan, director
of Cherokee Nation Health Research, said. “If
the outcome of this pilot project is favorable,
we plan to pursue a much bigger, multiyear
grant and offer similar services to all expectant
Cherokee mothers.”
Study participants are divided into
intervention and control groups. Those in the
intervention group are offered frequent healthy
cooking and exercise classes. Mothers’ weight,
blood pressure, glucose and exercise regimens
are recorded monthly. After delivery of the
child, the baby’s gender and weight and any
complications during pregnancy and labor are
also recorded. Findings from the study will be
available in the fall of 2015.
Study participant Pam Jones of
Tahlequah said the classes helped her gain
an appropriate amount of weight during
pregnancy and give birth to a healthy
7-pound baby girl this past August.
“It’s a wonderful program and so beneficial for
all of us who participated,” Jones said. “I learned
a lot and still use many of the recipes from the
classes, even with two picky 5-year-olds.”
As part of the incentive to join, prizes and
gift cards are offered to study participants.
Jones was able to buy a stroller and car seat
by saving gift cards she received for attending
the classes.
Cooking classes are held the last Thursday
of each month. To join, participants must
be between the ages of 18 and 35 and plan to
deliver the baby at W.W. Hastings Hospital.
For more information, call Jaime Clark at 918772-4089 or email [email protected].
The FDA projects food companies will
have to pay around $2 billion as they change
the labels.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association,
the industry group that represents the nation’s
largest food companies, did not respond to any
specific parts of the proposal but called it a
“thoughtful review.”
GMA President Pamela Bailey also said it
was important to the food companies that
the labels “ultimately serve to inform, and not
confuse, consumers.”
It was still not yet clear what the final labels
would look like. The FDA offered two labels
in its proposal – one that looks similar to the
current version but is shorter and clearer and
another that groups the nutrients into a “quick
facts” category for things like fat, carbohydrates,
sugars and proteins. There also would be an
“avoid too much” category for saturated fats,
trans fats, cholesterol, sodium and added
sugars; and a “get enough” section with vitamin
D, potassium, calcium, iron and fiber.
Both versions list calories above all of those
nutrients in a large, bold type.
The proposed rules would also overhaul
serving sizes for soda and single-serving
packages. Both 12-ounce and 20-ounce sodas
would be considered one serving, and many
single-serving packages – a bag of chips, a can
of soup or a frozen entree, for example – would
either be listed as a single serving or list nutrient
information by serving and by container.
The inclusion of added sugars to the label
was one of the biggest revisions. Nutrition
advocates have long asked for that line on the
label because it’s impossible for consumers to
know how much sugar in an item is naturally
occurring, like that in fruit and dairy products,
and how much is added by the manufacturer.
Think an apple vs. apple sauce, which comes in
sweetened and unsweetened varieties.
According to the Agriculture Department’s
2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, added
sugars contribute an average of 16 percent of
the total calories in U.S. diets. Though those
naturally occurring sugars and the added
sugars act the same in the body, the USDA says
the added sugars are just empty calories while
naturally occurring ones usually come along
with other nutrients.
David Kessler, who was FDA commissioner
when the first Nutrition Facts labels were
unveiled in the early 1990s, said he thinks
focusing on added sugars and calories will have
a “demonstrative public health benefit.”
Kessler said the added sweetness, like added
salt, drives overeating. And companies will
adjust their recipes to get those numbers down.
“No food company wants products to look
bad,” he said.
While some may ignore the panels, there’s
evidence that more people are reading them
in recent years as there has been a heightened
interest in nutrition.
A USDA study released earlier this year said
42 percent of working adults used the panel
always or most of the time in 2009 and 2010, up
from 34 percent two years earlier. Older adults
were more likely to use it.
Vinita pediatrician positively
impact local families
Tulsa in 2012 before working for the Absentee
Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma in its Norman
VINITA, Okla. – The winter season is the clinic. She helped reach a near-capacity
busiest time of year for Cherokee Nation patient load after only three months.
In March, she started at the Vinita Health
pediatricians because of peaking numbers
of cold and flu cases, as well as aggravated Center and now sees patients from as far as
Joplin, Mo., and Springfield, Mo.
asthma and allergies.
“Most of my patients are local and from the
CN citizen and Vinita Health Center
pediatrician Nicole Willis, 31, of Claremore, Joplin area, where they want a pediatrician
closer to home,” Willis said. “I have a great
has seen a rise in visits firsthand.
patient
population.
“I have seen really sick
They’re the best part of
children as a result of
the flu and respiratory
I have a great patient the job and remind me
on a daily basis why I do
syncytial virus,” Willis
population. They’re
what I do.”
said. “As a pediatrician, I
Vinita resident and
always encourage parents
the best part of the
CN citizen Amy Turner
to take preventative
job and remind me on had been taking her
measures with their
daughter to
children. Parents should
a daily basis why I do 4-year-old
a private pediatrician in
get their children the
what I do.
Claremore, but switched
influenza vaccine and
to Willis at the
practice frequent hand
– Dr. Nicole Willis, Vinita recently
Vinita Health Center.
washing, as well as avoid
Health Center pediatrician “It’s just so much more
busy places during the
convenient with work and
flu season.”
Willis, a recipient of the Oklahoma the drive to be able to bring her to a doctor
Osteopathic Association Rookie Physician of here in town,” Turner said. “It helps that Dr.
the Year Award, is the most recent addition to Willis is so great. We really love her.”
Other CN health facilities that have one
pediatricians working for the tribe. She wanted
to work in a rural area, and a scholarship from or more pediatricians are W.W. Hastings
Indian Health Service encouraged her to give Hospital in Tahlequah, Three Rivers Health
Center in Muskogee, Redbird Smith Health
back to her American Indian community.
Willis finished her residency with Center in Sallisaw, Amo Health Center in
Oklahoma State University Medical Center Salina, Wilma P. Mankiller Health Center in
and The Children’s Hospital at Saint Francis in Stilwell and Sam Hider Health Center in Jay.
BY STAFF REPORTS
16
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
PEOPlE • xW
Cherokee student studying abroad in Ecuador
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
North Carolina judge
named ABA/NHTSA
Judicial Fellow
Judge J. Matthew Martin
served as an associate
judge of the Cherokee
Court for the Eastern
Band of Cherokee
Indians.
BY STAFF REPORTS
To read this story, subscribe to our
monthly print edition.
Rocky Carroll, of Kansas, Okla., plays and sings a gospel song on his guitar on Feb. 26
at the Cherokee Heritage Center in Park Hill, Okla. Cherokee Nation citizens Rocky and
Connie Carroll and Dennis Kingfisher recently recorded 24 gospel songs in the English
and Cherokee languages. TESINA JACKSON/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
CN citizens create gospel CD
BY TESINA JACKSON
Reporter
PARK HILL, Okla. – To help preserve a
part of the tribe’s heritage, Cherokee Nation
citizens Rocky and Connie Carroll and
Dennis Kingfisher recorded gospel songs in
the English and Cherokee languages.
“We were asked a different times to make a
recording, and we felt it was not the promotion
of it, it was just the idea of retaining it in our
knowledge, that we could forward in to our
children and grandchildren, others, neighbors,
friends,” Rocky said.
Recorded in the kitchen of Rocky’s
childhood home, the CD titled “Che(sing)
Rokee(play)” consists of 24 songs sang by the
Carrolls and Kingfisher and accompanied by
Rocky’s guitar playing.
The Cherokee heritage is preserved in the
expression of music and song and is artfully
created in a way not written in modern clefs,
staff, notes and stanzas amongst our Cherokee
people, Connie said.
Some of the songs in the Cherokee language
include “Dedication of Children,” “I Would
Not Be Denied,” “Going Home” and “Jesus is
Coming Soon.”
“We’re just trying to get it out there and
hope that everybody is appreciative of it in
ways that they retain the words and the lyrics
and the sound, the music of it, even if they just
have to hum it,” Rocky said.
Songs in English include “Life Boat,” I
Heard a Sweet Voice,” “A Wonderful Savior,”
“Only Jesus” and “Wade Right In.”
Copies of the CD have been distributed
to Cherokee people, radio stations, funeral
homes and churches.
“All the churches that we get to go to
fellowship with, we give them 10 CDs and they
can use it in their congregation as their pastor
sees fit, and then we randomly just give them
to people as we greet them and meet them,”
Rocky said. “If we have their address we’ll
mail them to them. It’s to bless them with the
knowledge of the words that we have in our
language, to continue it and maybe they can
sing along with it, be more fluent in it.”
Connie said when they give CDs to
churches, they tell them that if anybody wants
to make a contribution, to do so toward that
church’s building fund.
The three musicians have also distributed
CDs to the Cherokee Heritage Center,
where the songs will be placed in the
Cherokee National Archives as a record of
Cherokee music.
“The music by Dennis Kingfisher, Rocky
and Connie Carroll captures the essence of
many a Cherokee church and gospel singing
in northeastern Oklahoma,” Tonia Weavel,
CHC education director, said. “The exquisite
simplicity of the solo guitar played by Mr.
Carroll shows the beauty of hymns often sung
in Cherokee. These three musicians have
compiled a beautiful list of music.”
For more information, call Rocky at 918-8682137 or mail P.O. Box 65, Kansas, OK 74347.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Judge J. Matthew
Martin was recently bestowed the
honor of being named an American Bar
Association/National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration Judicial Fellow for Tribal
Courts.
He is a recently retired associate judge
of the Cherokee Court, the tribal court for
the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in
Cherokee.
The Tribal Courts Fellow Program
allows functioning relationships between
the NHTSA and a judge who is familiar
with pedestrian-related and motor vehicle
offensives in the Indian nations.
A fellow’s term consists of one year with
the possibility of serving for an additional
year.
Martin will work closely with the Native
American
Tribal
Courts Committee,
Bureau of Indian
Affairs,
National
Conference
of
Specialized
Court,
Tribal
Courts
Council, the ABA’s
Judicial Division and
the
organizations
J. Matthew
that
represent
Martin
highway safety issues
throughout
the
country.
Martin is a graduate form the University
of North Carolina’s School of Law and has a
master’s degree in judicial studies from the
University of Nevada-Reno. At 31, he was a
clerk for a U.S. district judge and argued a
case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Now at
age 53, he has provided 11 years of service to
Cherokees in N.C.
Martin works with his father in a part-time
law practice. He also teaches federal Indian
law at UNC and Elon University. He serves
as the chair of the ethics committee of the
ABA’s National Conference of Specialized
Court Judges.
Martin estimates that he has covered more
than 1,000 impaired driving cases.
2014 Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
PEOPlE • xW
ApRil 2014 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX
17
Cherokee woman fulfills auto-racing dream
BY STACIE GUTHRIE
Reporter
TULSA, Okla. – Many young girls dream
of becoming a princess, but Cherokee Nation
citizen Kristin Treager’s dreams were different
when she was a child. She dreamed of racing
cars. And now at age 26, she drives for the
Wright Motorsports team and competes in a
2012 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car.
“I started racing when I was 7 years old at
Junior Raceway Park over on the west side
of Tulsa. A retired, German sports car racer
named Alf Gebhardt started the school for kids,”
Treager said. “I went through his program. I
won a championship through his program and
fell in love with racing from the very beginning.
I’ve basically been doing it ever since.”
Treager said her inspiration for racing came
from her father.
“My dad was always very into racing, and he
was a big Formula One fan. He got me into the
school and I just loved it. He was my crew chief
growing up as well.”
So far in her career, she’s won five
championships: Junior Raceway Park Series
Championship, Oklahoma Bandelero State
Championship, COMMA Production Stock A
Championship, La Luna y Sol 6 Hour Enduro
Championship and the 2013 National Points
Championship in the Porsche Club of America
GTC4 Cup Car Challenge series.
Treager said she’s proud to have the latest
Cherokee Nation citizen Kristin Treager’s
2012 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Car has the CN
flag on the driver’s side along with her
name. Treager’s helmet also bares the CN
flag.
championship because it was a national win.
She credits her competitors for helping her get
to a higher level of racing.
“We have a lot of tough competitions,” she
said. “We had about 40 guys in our group,
really good drivers, tough competitors, and
I’m actually very thankful to them because
they made me a better driver competing
against them.”
Treager has raced all over the country
including Texas, Kansas, New York, Wisconsin
and Georgia. In her next series, the International
Motorsports Association GT3 Challenge she
will be racing in more states and even venture
into Canada.
This series is a step above the one she
competed in 2013. It is a support series for
the United SportsCar Championship, which is
where she said the “top dogs” compete.
On March 15 she began competing at the
Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Fla.
and on Oct. 4 she will wrap up the series in
Braselton, Ga. She said she’s most excited for
the Sept. 20 race at the Circuit of the Americas
in Austin, Texas.
“That’s the brand new Formula One track
that was built specifically for Formula One.
Beautiful track, I can’t wait to drive on it.”
When competing Treager will be in the Gold
Class, which houses Porsche Cup Cars from
2013 and older.
This is Treager’s first full season in the series.
She said she hopes to rank in the top three
of the championship but is also gunning for
Rookie of the Year.
Treager said she races within the Spec Series,
which means the competing cars are essentially
the same.
“They’re grouped to similar years, makes
and models,” she said. “The good thing about a
Spec Series is it relies on driver ability for you to
succeed because most of the cars are basically
the same. It takes skill and ability to be able to
get a podium finish and a little bit of luck. It’s
less about who has the bigger engine and more
about driver ability.”
Treager’s Porsche displays the Cherokee
Nation flag on the driver’s side along with her
name and a design of a white tiger along the car.
Her helmet will also feature the CN emblem
Cherokee Nation citizen Kristin Treager stands at the podium after finish third in the 2013
Porsche Club of America Cup Car Challenge Series. Treager has been racing since she was 7
years old. COURTESY
I started racing when I was 7 years old at Junior Raceway
Park over on the west side of Tulsa.
– Kristin Treager, Cherokee Nation citizen
and the American flag.
“In racing we usually have our nation of
origin on our car or on our driving suit, so
I chose to represent both the United States
and the Cherokee Nation, since I am a
citizen of both.”
Aside from racing, Treager is also an
instructor at the Hallet Motor Racing Circuit,
35 miles west of Tulsa.
“It’s a 1.8-mile road course and I consider
that my home track. I grew up there. I learned
to race there,” she said. “I volunteer, and
sometimes they pay me, which is nice. The Audi
guys pay me to come in and teach for them, so
I do Audi days. The dealership brings a bunch
of their new cars in and their customers and I
teach them how to drive their cars fast. I enjoy
getting other people involved and get excited
about this sport.”
She also recently began co-hosting “The
Car Guy Show,” a 30-minute show based out
of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. ‘The Car Guy
Show” premiered on March 1. Those interested
can watch it at www.youtube.com/user/
CarGuyShowTV.
Treager graduated from Northeastern State
University-Broken Arrow with a bachelor’s
degree in psychology. She earned a juris
doctorate from the University of Tulsa College
of Law in 2013 and recently opened a firm with
a partner in Tulsa named Boston Avenue Law.
For more information, visit her Facebook page
at www.facebook.com/KristinTreagerRacing or
follow her on Twitter @KristinTreager.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 5903
CN translators celebrate accomplishments
BY STAFF REPORTS
United Wrestling Entertainment wrestler Brittany Fox goes down in a match against
Brandon “Anarchy” Eubanks on March 8 at Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah, Okla.
UWE has been providing family friendly entertainment since 2009.
STACIE GUTHRIE/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Native-owned wrestling company
works with Sequoyah seniors
United Wrestling
Entertainment recently
decided to give back to
fans in a way other than
entertainment.
me in my career,” he said. “When I first started
training there was a group that we use to train
all the time with. It was way down in Cherry
Tree in Stilwell and it was at the Cherry Tree
Sports Complex. It’s mostly…Cherokee Nation
citizens down in that area and I think…a lot
of our citizens around here can get attached
because they know I’m Cherokee.”
UWE wrestler and Creek Nation citizen
BY STACIE GUTHRIE
Brandon Walker said there are not many
Reporter
famous Native American wrestlers. He and
others in the UWE have participated in some
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Tahlequah-based World Wrestling Entertainment events.
United Wrestling Entertainment not only
“Really, as far as the professional wrestling
provides entertainment for the family but also scene, there really hasn’t been too many Native
is working with Sequoyah High School to give Americans that have really made it,” he said.
back to the Native American community.
“That (being Native American) worked as an
UWE co-owner and Cherokee Nation advantage for me in WWE because they still
citizen Brad “Fuel” Eubanks said the UWE have no Native Americans that are, you know,
had its first event in 2009 at the tribe’s Talking full-blood of whatnot. Going there, I always
Leaves Job Corps. He said even back then he kind of have that, you know, as a advantage
saw an opportunity to give
because they have just about
back to the students.
every other race.”
“I want to contribute back
Some famous Native
I want to contribute American
to especially an organization
wrestlers include
like Sequoyah High School,”
Chris “Tatanka” Chavis
back
to
especially
Eubanks said. “The way
of the Lumbee Tribe of
an organization
we do this is we got with
North Carolina and the
one of the senior classes
late Edward “Wahoo”
like
Sequoyah
High
and they’ve been running
McDaniel of the Choctaw
the concession and they
School.
and Chickasaw nations.
keep 100 percent of the
CN citizen and Heritage
–
Brad
“Fuel”
Eubanks,
concession…whatever the
Elementary
fourth grader
United Wrestling
company makes at the door,
Michael Chambers recently
then a percentage of that,
Entertainment co-owner attended UWE’s Triforce
part of the proceeds will go
event with his parents on
back to Sequoyah for whatever they need.”
March at Sequoyah. Chambers said he enjoys
While working with Sequoyah, Eubanks any type of wrestling and would like to be a
said he hopes the UWE continues to grow wrestler one day. He said he’s liked wrestling
and provide entertainment to those who enjoy since he was about 5 years old and has been to
wrestling or just a good show.
many wrestling events.
“The hope is that this will be our permanent
The next UWE event will be on April 19 at
home every month,” he said. “Hopefully we Sequoyah’s old gym. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
can continue to grow, continue to keep putting and the event will start at 6 p.m. For more
smiles on people’s faces because that’s our job.” information about UWE, visit its Facebook
Eubanks said he owes a lot of his success to page www.facebook.com/uwe09.
being a CN citizen. He also feels like he can
[email protected]
relate to many citizens.
918-453-5000, ext. 5903
“Being a Cherokee Nation citizen has helped
CATOOSA, Okla. – On Feb. 21, 17
Cherokee Nation translators celebrated with
Microsoft officials at the Hard Rock Hotel &
Casino Tulsa on the groundbreaking progress
being made by translators in the Cherokee
Language Program.
The event coincided with International
Mother Language Day, a United Nations
event to honor the more than 6,000 diverse
languages worldwide.
“When we first started out in translation, I
never dreamed we would come this far with
so many projects and products now offering
the Cherokee language, so this is amazing,”
translator Durbin Feeling said. “As more
people learn about us, there seems to always
be new translation projects to work on.”
The CN is among the first tribes to start a
formal translation department using its fluent
speakers. In January, translators translated
150,000 modern English terms into Cherokee
for Microsoft’s Office Online. For the first time,
it allows users to create Word, PowerPoint and
Excel documents in the Cherokee syllabary.
Microsoft’s Senior International Project
engineer Alfred Hellstern, Native American
Accounts Manager Don Lionetti and engineer
Tracy Monteith, an Eastern Band of Cherokees
citizen, gave the translators a plaque on behalf
of the technology company.
“Microsoft put efforts into this, but the
bulk of the heavy lifting was by translators at
the Cherokee Nation,” Lionetti said. “You’re
in a very elite group since there is no other
tribal nation that has their language in the
Windows operating system and Microsoft
Office products, which is a testament to the
translators’ passion and dedication to be able
to do this.”
The CN has worked with Apple, Google,
Microsoft, Yale University and the Gilcrease
Museum on translation projects.
“The Cherokee language is one of the most
important aspects of who we are as a tribe, and
many elements of our culture are contained in
our language,” Roy Boney, Cherokee Language
Program manager said. “Our language offers
more than communication. It transmits
cultural knowledge and a mode of thinking
that is uniquely Cherokee. To lose our language
would mean a huge loss of part of our heritage,
and the goal of the Cherokee Nation Language
Program is to ensure our language lives on for
future generations.”
ᎦᏚᏏ, ᎣᎦᎵᎰᎹ. – ᎧᎦᎵ ᏔᎵᏍᎪ
ᏌᏊᎯᏁ , ᎦᎵᏆᏚ ᏯᏂᎢ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ
ᏗᎾᏁᎶᏗᏍᎩ ᎤᎾᎵᎮᎵᏨ ᎾᏍᏊ Microsoft
ᏧᏂᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎯ Ꮎ ᏍᏓᏯ ᏅᏱᎢ ᏧᏂᏒᏍᏗ
ᎠᎴ ᏧᏂᏆᎾᏲᏍᏗ ᏔᎳᏏᎢ ᎤᏠᏯ ᎦᏓ
ᏣᏂᏲᏍᏗᏍᎪ
ᎠᎾᏁᎶᏗᏍᎩ
ᎾᏅᏁᎲ
ᎾᎿ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ.ᎯᎠ
ᎠᏍᏆᎵᏍᎬ ᎢᏧᎳᎭ ᎨᏒ ᎾᎿ ᎬᎾᏕᎾ ᎤᏂᏥ
ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎢᎪᎯ, ᎬᎾᏕᎾ ᎠᏰᎵ ᎠᏍᏆᎵᏍᎬ
ᏗᎵᎮᎵᏧᏗ ᎤᎶᏍᏛ ᎾᏃ ᏑᏓᎵ ᏯᎦᏴᎵ
ᏧᏓᎴᏅᏓ ᏗᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎡᎶᎯ ᏂᎬᎾᏛᎢ.
“ᎢᎬᏱ
ᏦᎦᎴᏅᎲ
ᏙᏣᏁᎶᏗᏍᎬ,
Ꮭ
ᏲᏤᎵᏍᎨ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎢᏴ ᎣᎩᎷᎯᏍᏗ ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎢᏳᏣᏍᏈᏍᏗ ᎣᎩᎭ ᏲᎦᏛᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏲᎦᏛᏁᎸᎢ
ᏃᏊ ᏚᏂᏍᎪᎸᏙ ᎾᎿ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ,
ᎤᏍᏆᏂᎪᏗᏃ ᎢᎦ,” ᎤᏛᏅ ᏗᏁᎶᏗᏍᎩ
Durbin Feeling. “ᎤᏂᎪᏛ ᎠᎾᏕᎶᎰᏍᎬ
ᏃᏣᏛᏁᎲ, ᏂᎪᎯᎸ ᎠᎰ ᎠᎴ ᎢᏤ ᎦᎷᎪ
ᎣᎦᏁᎸᏙᏗ.”
ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ
ᎾᏍᎩ ᎢᎬᏱ ᎠᏂᎳᏍᏓᏢ
ᎤᎾᎴᏅᏓ ᎤᏂᎲ ᏗᎾᏁᎶᏗᏍᎩ ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ
ᎠᏅᏗᏍᎬ ᎧᎵ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ. ᎤᏃᎸᏔᏅ
ᏥᎧᎸ, ᏗᎾᏁᎶᏗᏍᎩ ᏚᎾᏁᎶᏔᏅ 150,000
ᏗᎧᏁᎢᏍᏗ ᏃᏊ ᎢᏤ ᏤᎾᎢ ᏗᎧᏁᎢᏍᏗ ᏣᎳᎩ
ᏂᏙᏨᏁᎸ Microsoft’s Office Online.
ᎾᏍᎩ ᎢᎬᏱ, ᎣᏥᏩᏘᏍᎪ ᏗᎦᏲᎪᏢᏗ ᎨᏒ
ᏗᎧᏁᎢᏍᏗ, Power Point ᎠᎴ Excel ᏗᎪᏪᎵ
ᏕᎦᏅ ᎾᎿ ᏗᏣᎳᎩ ᏂᏙᏨᏁᎲᎢ.
Microsoft Senior International Project
engineer
Alfred
Hellstern,
Native
American Accounts Manager Don Lionetti
ᎠᎴ engineer Tracy Monteith, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎧᎸᎬ
ᎠᏁᎲ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎨᎳ, ᏚᏁᎸᎢ ᎠᎾᏁᎶᏗᏍᎩ
ᎧᏃᎮᏍᎬ ᏄᎾᏛᏁᎸ ᏓᎾᎵᎮᎵᏍᏗᏍᎬᎢ ᎤᏂᏅ
technology ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ.
“Microsoft ᎢᎦ ᎠᎾᎵᏂᎬᏁᎰ, ᏂᎦᏓ ᏍᏓᏯ
ᏗᎦᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᏗ ᎨᏒ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎠᎾᏁᎶᏗᏍᎩ ᎾᎿ
ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬ Lionetti. “ᏙᎯᏳ
ᏬᏌᏂᏱ
ᏗᏥᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎯ
ᎢᏣᏓᏡᎦ
ᏝᏃ
ᏄᎾᏓᎴ ᎠᏰᎵ ᎠᏂᏬᏂᏍᎩ ᏚᎾᏓᏠᎬ ᏱᏄᏅᏁ
Windows ᏳᎾᏂᎩᏍᏗᏗ ᎠᎴ Microsoft
ᏗᎦᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᏗ
ᎬᏔᏂᏓᏍᏗ
ᏯᏅᏗᏍᎪᎢ,
ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᎧᏃᎮᎭ ᏗᎾᏁᎶᏗᏍᎩ ᎤᏂᎸᏉᏛ ᎠᎴ
ᏍᏓᏯ ᏚᏂᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎲ ᎾᎿ ᎢᎬᏩᎾᏛᏗ ᎨᏒᎢ.”
ᏣᎳᎩ
ᎠᏰᎵ
ᏗᏂᏍᏕᎸᎭ
ᎢᏧᎳᎭ
ᏚᏂᎸᏍᏓᏁᎳ Apple, Google, Microsoft,
ᎦᎸᎳᏗ ᏧᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗ Yale University ᎠᎴ
ᎾᏍᎩ Gilcrease Museum ᏚᏂᎾᎥ ᏧᏪᏘ
ᏗᎪᏪᎵ ᏓᎾᏁᎶᏗᏍᎪᎢ.
“ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏌᏊ ᎨᏒ
ᏭᎵᏍᎨᏗᏴᎢ ᎾᎿ ᎣᏤᎯᏯ ᎨᏒᎢ, ᎠᎴ
ᎤᎪᏓ
ᏲᎦᏛᏁᎵᏓᏍᏗ
ᎣᎩᎲ
ᏚᏓᏂᏴᏗ
ᎣᎩᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ,” ᎤᏛᏅ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ
ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ
ᎠᏓᏅᏖᎵᏙᎯ.
“ᎣᎩᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ
ᎠᎵᏍᎪᎸᏗᏍᎪ ᎨᏴ ᎤᏗᏗᏝ ᎾᏃ ᏗᏟᏃᎮᏓᏊ
ᎨᏒ ᎢᎦᎢ. ᎦᎾᏅᎪᏫᏍᎪ ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏁᎵᏗᏍᏓ
ᎨᏒ ᎠᎴ ᏄᏍᏛ ᎤᏂᎲ ᎠᎾᏓᏅᏖᏍᎬᎢ.
ᏲᎩᏲᎱᏎᎵ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎤᏣᏘ ᎨᏒ ᏲᎩᏲᎱᏏ
ᎾᎿ ᏦᏓᎦᎴᏅᎯ, ᎠᎴ ᎢᏳᏍᏗ ᏚᏄᎪᏛ ᏣᎳᎩ
ᎠᏰᎵ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ ᎾᎾ ᎠᎢᏎᏍᏗ
ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎬᏃᏛ ᎨᏎᏍᏗ ᎾᎿ ᎣᏂ ᏣᎾᎢ
ᎤᎾᏁᏢᏔᏅᏒᎢ ᎤᏅᏙᏗ.
Front row, left to right, are Cherokee Nation translators Adaline Smith, Lois Leach, Phyllis
Edwards, Anna Sixkiller, former manager of the Language Program Candessa Tehee, and
translator Lula Elk. Second row, from left to right, are Microsoft Engineering Excellence
Team member Tracy Monteith and translators Durbin Feeling, Russell Feeling, Lawrence
Panther, Dennis Sixkiller and David Crawler, Language Program Manager Roy Boney,
translator John Ross, Language Technology assistant Jeff Edwards, translator Ed Fields,
and chief information officer Jon James. Back row, left to right, are Microsoft Senior
International Project engineer Alfred Hellstern, Language Technology intern Zachary
Barnes and Microsoft account manager for Native American accounts Don Lionetti.
COURTESY
18
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
sERvICEs • nnrpH
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
Salina Health Center offers free fitness classes
You have your 30 minutes
of exercise over with and
you have the rest of the
evening to enjoy at home
with your family.
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
SALINA, Okla. – Employees at the Cherokee
Nation’s AMO Salina Health Center are
motivating themselves and fellow employees to
improve their physical fitness levels.
Since late 2013, employees have used lunch
breaks and taken time after work to exercise in
a room at the center equipped with an exercise
bike, treadmill, dumbbells, exercise bands and
exercise videos.
Public health educator Tony Ballou, who
visits communities in Mayes County to help
residents improve their fitness levels through
exercise and diet, said he started the exercise
program in December after employees asked
him to help improve their fitness levels. He
said he asked the clinic administrator, who
then gave the go-ahead to allow employees to
exercise at lunch and after work.
“The Cherokee tribe, we suffer greatly from
diabetes, hypertension and obesity that cause a
lot of negative health effects, so I thought this
was one way we could combat that,” Ballou said.
To encourage fellow employees to join,
Ballou said he began exercising at the clinic.
“People were asking, ‘what are you doing?’
I said, ‘I’m working out, come join me,’” he
said. “It started at 5 o’clock Monday through
Thursday and then we took it to noon, and
sometimes it’s even offered 5:30 in the evening
for those that get out late.”
He said about 25 employees are now
exercising throughout the day at the clinic.
On her lunch break, Dr. Rachel Ray joins
coworkers to workout to the Shaun T Focus
25 video, which provides various 25-minute
workouts.
“It helps us have more energy throughout
the day, and it’s hard to find time sometimes at
the end of the day after you’ve worked a long
– Dr. Rachel Ray of the AMO
Salina Health Center
AMO Salina Health Center employees, from left, Brooke Ramsey, Bobby Nollen, Shirley
Troglin, Kathy Pickup, Kati Newby, Mignon Loop, Caitlin Dry, Mandy Tucker and Heather
Collins take part in a 25-minute workout after work in March 6 in Salina, Okla. The clinic
recently added exercise equipment for employees to help keep them healthy.
WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
shift, so it’s nice to be able to do it at lunch time
to get a little extra energy to make it through
the afternoon,” Ray said. “You have your 30
minutes of exercise over with and you have the
rest of the evening to enjoy at home with your
family.”
Ray added that the women who initially
joined the group have encouraged coworkers
to join them, which has increased the number
of employees exercising since December.
“People look forward to it, and we miss it if
we don’t get to do it,” she said. “It’s good to do it
as a group because we motivate each other, and
if somebody is not there, we miss them.”
Dental hygienist Mignon Loop is a charter
member of the exercise group. She said she’s
lost 5 pounds and feels good and has more
energy.
“As health care givers, it’s always at the back of
our minds to be healthy and promote it to our
patients,” Loop said. “How can you promote it
if you don’t participate yourself?”
Women, Infants and Children specialist
Shirley Troglin was already a part of the clinic’s
program to prevent diabetes, so the fitness
program fit into what she was doing to keep
from getting the disease. She said she walks
during her free time and exercises at lunch with
coworkers to improve fitness and energy levels.
Heather Collins, a radiological technologist,
exercises with coworkers in the evening for at
least 30 minutes before going home.
“I want to lose weight. I want to feel better. I
want to have the energy. Working out every day
helps me have more energy. I feel better, and I
have been losing weight,” she said.
Collins said another benefit to exercising
daily is the women will “feel better and look
better for summer.”
“We’re all looking forward to the warm
weather and want to look better and feel better,”
she said.
CN Healthy Nation sponsors the classes.
They are free and open to the public from 5
p.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday at
the AMO Salina Health Center. The class is also
offered from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday
through Friday. For more information, call
Ballou at 918-434-8500, ext. 8674.
[email protected]
918-207-3961
Environmental Programs test
quality of local creeks, lakes
BY STACIE GUTHRIE
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – From December
to September, the Cherokee Nation’s
Environmental Programs tests the quality of
local creeks and lakes in the tribe’s jurisdiction
to ensure that Cherokee people have clean
creeks and lakes for fishing and swimming.
Environmental specialist Philip Ketcher
said the department helps ensure that CN-area
waters are free of pollutants by going out and
testing water quality through samples.
“When we get here we set up a tag line,
which is marked every two foot, and we’ll
get flow. It’s based on depth and how fast the
stream is flowing,” he said. “I’ll pull samples
that will be later analyzed in our lab and sent
off to Green Country Labs in Tulsa.”
The program conducts tests under a Clean
Water grant and has been testing waters in the
jurisdiction since 2001.
Ketcher said eight streams and two lakes
were recently tested. The Little Lee Creek,
Fourteen Mile Creek, Sallisaw Creek, Caney
Creek, Spring Creek, Flint Creek, Spavinaw
Creek and Saline Creek were tested, as well as
Fort Gibson and Greenleaf lakes.
Ketcher said streams they test are based on if
they are on or near CN land and the number of
CN citizens who live near the waters. He said
tests are conducted regularly to ensure that all
eight creeks are tested every four months.
Ketcher said testing these waters to ensure
good stream quality in the tribe’s jurisdiction
is important for future generations.
“This is where we get our drinking water
or fish,” he said. “Our families and kids like to
swim in the creeks and overall stream health is
very important. We’re here to try to protect the
waters for their benefit.”
Environmental Programs begin testing lakes
in March or April, depending on weather, and
continue until September. Ketcher said this is
an important time because it is the primary
body contact time.
“Which means that’s when most people are
in the water and lake swimming and fishing
and all those things,” he said. “We sample
the lakes every month, which would capture
spring, summer and fall.”
Ketcher said when Environmental
Programs staff members test lakes they test
for temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH levels,
turbidity, visibility, metal, fluoride, E.Coli
bacteria, sulfate, hardness and much more.
They also conduct a mercury study on the
An aerial view of the property and 6,000-square-foot building in Tahlequah, Okla., the
Cherokee Nation bought to serve as a new motor vehicle tag office. The property is
located at 120 E. Balentine Road. COURTESY
Tribe’s Tahlequah tag office
moving to new location
Environmental specialist Larry Scrapper
tests the flow of Fourteen Mile Creek
in Cherokee County. Cherokee Nation
Environmental Programs test local bodies
of water to ensure that Cherokee people
have clean creeks and lakes for fishing and
swimming.
PHOTOS BY STACIE GUTHRIE/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
tissue of fish in the lower portion of the
Illinois River.
Environmental Programs Director Ryan
Callison said it’s not often they find elevated
levels of bacteria such as E. Coli in the streams
or lakes.
“Elevated conditions might be noticed after
an extreme rainfall event. Runoff from farm
fields, manure, septic tanks, etc.,” Callison said.
“Conditions primarily exist in a pooled water
area without fresh water recharge, or when
water that’s low or a no flow situation that may
cause a stagnation issue. Most of northeast
Oklahoma streams have a good source of flow
or sometimes referred to as environmental
base flow. So these issues are a minor concern
and are usually seasonal (late summer).”
Callison said if there is a health concern
in a swimming area, the CN Environmental
Protection Commission could issue a swim
advisory. He said most of these conditions
improve within weeks.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 5903
Environmental specialists Philip Ketcher, left, and Larry Scrapper conduct a test on
the depth and speed of the Fourteen Mile Creek in Cherokee County. Cherokee Nation
Environmental Programs test local creeks from December to September.
BY TESINA JACKSON
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Although an
opening date has not been set, the Cherokee
Nation’s Tahlequah motor vehicle tag office
will be moving to a building the tribe recently
purchased.
The new office will be located on 120 E.
Balentine Road along Highway 82. For the site,
the tribe purchased property and a building,
which was previously a restaurant and a
day care center, for $300,000, according to
Cherokee County court records.
The 6,000-square-foot building will require
renovations such as replacing the roof,
knocking down old walls and building new
ones for offices and installing a counter for the
lobby area.
CN Tax Commissioner Sharon Swepston
said she was told, as of March 17, that
renovations were estimated to cost somewhere
between $300,000 and $400,000 and would
be done internally by Cherokee Nation
Construction Services.
“There are 41 parking spaces up there right
now in the parking lot that’s there, and we’re
looking at building an additional parking lot
beyond the west end for employees so we can
make that parking available for our customers
out front,” she said.
The new office will house employees from
the current tag office, revenue and taxation
– which mainly focus on tobacco licensing –
and office support systems staff. The tag office
audit staff and administration will remain at
the Tribal Complex.
Swepston said currently there are no plans
to hire additional staff.
“Right now the staffing will be the same
because we’ve increased our staff by 13 people
for the expansion of the (motor vehicle)
compacts, so I don’t think we will be hiring
anymore, at least not right at this moment,” she
said. “What I’m hoping to do is with the new
counter, instead of having four agents on the
front counter, I think I will be able to have six.”
The new lobby would also have pamphlets to
provide information about other CN services
and programs available to tribal citizens.
“I think it will be an improvement,”
Swepston said. “I think our citizens will like
the building when we get it fixed. I mean,
compared to the little area that they have to sit
in now when they have to come in and wait,
this will be a tremendous change for them to
be able come in and actually have somewhere
that they can sit down and not feel like they are
squashed up against somebody else.”
A sale flier for the property states that
Scott Wright of Century 21 Wright Real
Estate was the property’s agent. He is the
husband of Cherokee Nation Businesses
board member Tommye Wright. According
to the flier, the listed price of the property
and building was $495,000.
The CN entered into a motor vehicle
compact with Oklahoma in 2002, which
allowed tribal tags to be sold to CN citizens
residing within the tribe’s jurisdiction. That
compact expired in 2012 but was renewed in
2013 to allow CN citizens who live in all of
Tulsa, Rogers, Mayes, Wagoner and Muskogee
counties – not just the tribe’s jurisdictional
portions of those counties – to purchase
Cherokee tags at jurisdictional rates.
Also, the CN and state agreed to an AtLarge compact allowing for CN citizens living
outside of the tribe’s jurisdiction – minus
Tulsa, Rogers, Mayes, Wagoner and Muskogee
counties – but within Oklahoma to buy CN
car tags at state prices starting in July.
Under the compacts, all revenue generated
by the jurisdictional compact would stay
within the CN. Schools and law enforcement
agencies located in these counties, including
all of Tulsa, Rogers, Mayes, Wagoner and
Muskogee counties, would be included in the
distribution of motor vehicle funds, 20 percent
of which goes to roads and bridges.
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
Current floor plan of the building the
Cherokee Nation bought recently to serve
as the tribe’s new Tahlequah, Oka., motor
vehicle tag office. COURTESY
2014 Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
CultuRE • i=nrplcsd
ApRil 2014 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX
19
Cherokee dancers to perform in ‘Cinderella’ ballet
BY STACIE GUTHRIE
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The age-old fairytale
“Cinderella” will be hitting the stage as a threeact ballet in April at the Northeastern State
University Center for Preforming Arts. But
unlike most ballets, Cherokee dancers make up
the cast for this performance.
Lena Gladkova-Huffman, Academy of
Preforming Arts owner and “Cinderella”
director, said 90 percent of the 42 dancers in
the production are Cherokee Nation citizens
representing the APA, Melissa’s Dance Studio
and On Stage Dance, which are all located in
Tahlequah.
“We’re very happy to have so many dancing
Native Americans, especially for this area
because one of the five great ballerinas is from
around here, she said. “They are continuing her
tradition very well.”
Cast members were chosen at auditions
held in February. Gladkova-Huffman said she
picked characters for those who auditioned and
that it was a difficult process.
“After the auditions, I sit down and I write
down little flashcards with parts and how I see
those parts, and then there are some characters
that automatically fit the shoe kind of thing,”
she said.
Gladkova-Huffman said this production
is based off of choreography by Sir Fredrick
Ashton.
“We are taking a completely Ashton step in
terms of that our boys are playing stepsisters
because that’s how he, I intended it to be
done because first “Cinderella” was written
as a strict, classical ballet where all boys were
playing boys and girls were playing girls,” she
said. “The boys at the auditions were slightly
goofing off before the actual auditions started,
and I saw that and they were playing with each
other and I was like, ‘man, they would create
pretty nice ladies there.’”
Before preforming live the cast will have
been practicing constantly during a twomonth period.
Erin Wilcox, a senior at Fort Gibson (Okla.) High School, rehearses with her partner Jesse
Hooper, a Cherokee Nation citizen and Academy of Performing Arts ballet instructor, for
the upcoming three-act ballet “Cinderella.” Wilcox plays Cinderella and Hooper plays
the Prince. The show will run April 11-12 at the Northeastern State University Center for
Preforming Arts in Tahlequah, Okla. STACIE GUTHRIE/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
We’re very happy to have so many dancing Native Americans.
– Lena Gladkova-Huffman,
Academy of Preforming Arts owner
“Well, I’ve been here like every single day
during spring break, and we’ve definitely
been working on partnering. I’m kind of
new to partnering,” Fort Gibson senior Erin
Wilcox said.
Wilcox plays Cinderella in the production.
She said while preforming she wants to
inspire others but also hopes that everyone
EBCI Remember the Removal
riders prepare for Oklahoma trip
BY STAFF REPORTS
CHEROKEE, N.C. – Six Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians citizens will cycle the 950mile route of the Trail of Tears this summer.
Their preparation includes not only physical
training and planning but also learning about
the history of the forced removal.
This year’s bicycle riders are Russell
Bigmeat, Ty Bushyhead, Boyd, Kelsey,
Standingdeer Owle, Katie Sneed, Richie Sneed
and Pat Watkins. Tara McCoy is coordinating
the preparation, and the riders are being
sponsored by the EBCI. They will ride an
average of 50 miles per day on the three-week
trip in June.
The cyclists just completed three history
workshops at the Museum of the Cherokee
Indian. The museum is an interpretive site on
the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.
The first workshop described the history and
cultural background of the Cherokees leading
to the removal. The workshop emphasized
the efforts of the Cherokee Nation to stay,
including the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper
and its anti-removal editorials; speaking tours
by young educated Cherokee men throughout
the northeast; lobbyists and petitions in the
U.S. Congress; and taking their case all the
way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled
that the Cherokees were a sovereign nation in
1832, the basis for sovereignty today.
The second workshop looked at the routes
of removal and at the specific locations the
riders will be traveling through.
The third workshop examined the history
of the EBCI specifically at the time of forced
removal in 1838 and how people struggled
and succeeded in their efforts to remain on
their ancestral homeland. A petition from the
This year’s Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians contingent for the Remember the
Removal Ride are, from left, Pat Watkins,
Kelsey Standingdeer Owle, Katie Sneed,
Richie Sneed, Russell Bigmeat and Ty
Bushyhead. COURTESY
citizens of Aquohee, the district that included
the Cherokee area at the time of removal, said:
“The bones of our fathers lie here in security,
and we cannot consent to abandon them to be
crushed beneath the feet of strangers.”
The cyclists participated in the workshops
on Saturday mornings before beginning their
training rides.
Barbara R. Duncan, education director at
the Museum of the Cherokee Indian, taught
the workshops. Duncan and the museum have
provided these workshops for the Trail of Tears
riders for several years. For more information
on the Trail of Tears National Long Distance
Trail, go to www.nps.gov/trte.
43rd annual Trail of Tears Art
Show opens April 12
BY STAFF REPORTS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The longest-running
Native American art show in Oklahoma
returns to the Cherokee Heritage Center on
April 12 with the opening of the 43rd annual
Trail of Tears Art Show.
The event will run through May 26 and
feature various authentic Native American
art. Artists who enter their work for the show
will compete for $10,000 in award money
presented by Cherokee Nation Businesses and
the Chickasaw Nation.
“The Trail of Tears Art Show is nationally
known for the abundance of breathtaking
art created by Native American artists from
across the country,” CHC Executive Director
Candessa Tehee said. “We’re proud to display
so much great work in various art forms that
gets better each year. This is a must-see event
for Native art enthusiasts.”
Last year’s annual exhibition consisted of 79
Native American artists from 14 tribal nations,
featuring 144 art pieces. The artists competed
in several divisions and categories including
painting, sculpture, pottery, basketry, graphics,
jewelry and miniatures.
New to the 2014 competition is the CNB
Emerging Artist Awards. These awards will go
to original works in any medium or category
by artists who have shown in fewer than three
previous Trail of Tears Art Shows. Eligible
artists cannot have won any previous Trail of
Tears Art Show awards.
From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on April 11, CHC
officials will host an awards reception.
The Trail of Tears Art Show began in 1972
as a means of fostering the development
of painting as a form of expressing Native
American heritage. Initiated before the
completion of the museum, the art show
was held in the rain shelter of the Tsa-La-Gi
Theater. In 1975, it became the first major
exhibition in the present museum.
For more information, call the CHC
toll free at 1-888-999-6007 or visit www.
CherokeeHeritage.org. Information can also
be found on Facebook by searching “Cherokee
Heritage Center.”
To advertise with the Cherokee Phoenix
call Dena Tucker at 918-453-5324
enjoys the performance.
“I really just want to come across as like I’m
having fun dancing and I really, I kind of want to
inspire other people to be like, ‘oh, she’s having
so much fun, I want to dance too,’” she said.
Cherokee Nation citizen and APA ballet
instructor Jesse Hooper was cast as the
Prince. He said that dance has changed his
life for the better.
“When I was in high school I was like
really over weight, and I was not in really
good shape. But then I started dancing
and I actually got into really good shape.
It’s changed my life and I want to give the
opportunity to give that to someone else.
And if the only way I can do that is by
showing them what you can end up looking
like then why not go for it?” Hooper said.
Hooper started dancing at age 19, which is
late compared to most dancers.
He said he hopes to see more arts, such as
ballet in the Cherokee community. He added
that many Cherokee girls in the production
have the ability to go far in the dancing world
with their skills.
“I was involved through some of the arts
programs through the (Cherokee) Nation and
stuff like that throughout the summer and…I
just want to be able to bring that to the Nation,
like as a people,” he said. “That’s probably my
main objective, making sure we have more
representations of the Cherokee Nation as a
whole in the arts community.”
CN citizen and Sequoyah High School
freshman Bretly Crawford plays one of the
stepsisters alongside CN citizen and Wagoner
High School sophomore Lane Smith.
“We are Skinny and Dumpy. Those are the two
ugly stepsisters,” Crawford said. “Traditionally,
they’re supposed to be ugly. Apparently they
didn’t make them too bad in Disney. They have
us wear dresses and powdered wigs and do
very manly things that are just very funny to
the role.”
The ballet will run April 11-12 at the NSU
Center for Preforming Arts. Tickets start at
$10 and can be purchased at Reasor’s Foods in
Tahlequah, at the box office on the show days
or by calling 1-866-977-6849.
For more information, call 918-803-1408 or
email [email protected].
[email protected]
918-453-5000, ext. 5903
20
CHEROKEE PHOENIX • ApRil 2014
CultuRE • i=nrplcsd
Ewf #>hAmh • JO/
2014
Basketball team uses Cherokee language to win title
ᎾᏍᎩ CMS
ᏧᎾᎵᏨᏯᏍᏗ
ᎤᏂᏍᏆᏛ
ᏓᎾᏁᎶᎲᏍᎬ ᎾᎿ
15-2 ᏧᏂᏅᏅ ᎠᎴ
ᎤᎾᏅᏓ SMC
ᎠᎾᎳᏍᎦᎵᏍᎬ
ᎤᏂᎩᏍᏗᎢ.
BY AMBLE SMOKER
Cherokee One Feather
MURPHY, N.C. – Few instances
can replicate the emotional power
of athletic sporting events and the
proud traditions of the Cherokee
culture.
However, with the recent Smoky
Mountain Conference tournament
victory, the Cherokee Middle School
boys basketball team proved to do
just that when they defeated the
Swain County Maroon Devils 40-30
on Feb. 6 at Murphy High School.
The Braves capped off a
phenomenal year where they not
only captured the SMC tournament
championship, but did so in a
manner that honors their cultural
heritage while promoting the
continuation of the Cherokee
language.
CMS boys basketball coach
Micah Swimmer has introduced the
Cherokee language into his team’s
game plan as a way to teach and
perpetuate the language. Utilizing
the Cherokee language, the young
men learn vital words, phrases and
numbers to assist with their learning
development while also gaining a
competitive advantage on the court.
“In high school, I remember
playing against Choctaw Central
and it amazed me to hear them
speak their native language on the
basketball court and football field,”
Swimmer said. “My sophomore
year, we were playing at home and
the whole first half they were telling
each other all kinds of stuff in their
language, and we had no idea what
they were saying.
“At halftime, my friend had an
idea to say the Pledge of Allegiance.
He said, ‘I will bring the ball up and
I will yell a-tu-is-do-di (to promise)
and you yell back tsi-tu-is-di (I
promise) and cut to the basket.’ We
felt proud because we were using our
Cherokee Middle School boys basketball coach Micah Swimmer
introduced the Cherokee language into the game plan for his
team, which helped it win the recent Smoky Mountain Conference
tournament. AMBLE SMOKER/CHEROKEE ONE FEATHER
language and they didn’t know what
we were saying,” he added. “After
that night, I made it a goal of mine
to learn our language and coach for
the Braves while trying to preserve
our language through sports. It has
proved to be an advantage for my
teams and instilled a sense of pride.”
Swimmer took those same
concepts and incorporated them
into his coaching style as all the
plays and calls are in Cherokee. At
a recent semifinals game, one of the
players missed an open man and
Swimmer yelled, “U-yv-sdi. U-tsesdi wi-vi-si,” which translates to
“Bitter. Give it to Opossum.” Both
players understood the call and
reacted accordingly.
When asked to elaborate on the
Grant aids Will Rogers
Memorial Museums’
preservation efforts
It is part of an on-going
project to rehouse
thousands of archived
photos and documents.
BY STAFF REPORTS
CLAREMORE, Okla. – Will Rogers
Memorial Museums recently received
a grant of nearly $6,000 to purchase
supplies for re-housing photographs and to
document archive collections.
The Oklahoma Department of Libraries,
in partnership with the Oklahoma
Historical Records Advisory Board and the
Oklahoma Cultural Trust, announced the
$5,956 grant award.
“In presenting this grant to Will Rogers
Memorial Museum, it is our intention to
help further its commitment to providing
the best possible care of the historic materials
in its collections,” Susan McVey, Oklahoma
Department of Libraries director, said. “We
hope these grants will facilitate increased
local support for the care of historic
collections held by such organizations.”
Funds will be used to purchase archival
sleeves and envelopes for photographs and
documents, said Jennifer Holt, curator.
She said it is part of an on-going project
to rehouse thousands of photos and paper
documents in the archives.
In a continuous project since Holt joined
the staff, there has been an effort to properly
protect all the collections.
“Our largest archival collection’s are the
photographs and documents. Through
donations, including the Cherokee Nation
and some private anonymous donors, we
have been able to have a continuous work
program,” she said.
Much of the work is done by Will Rogers
Ropers (docents), unpaid college internships,
other volunteers and museum staff.
Anyone interested in participating in the
archival protection, either by volunteering
or donating money for materials, can contact
Holt or Will Rogers Memorial Director
Steve Gragert at the Museum.
McVey said the grant opportunity was
an outcome of a statewide survey that
assessed the condition of collections held by
Oklahoma’s 800 museums and libraries. The
study found that almost all organizations
have lost historic materials through theft,
environmental damage and other causes.
“It is our goal to stem the loss of
Oklahoma’s heritage by providing funding
for secure storage, environmental controls,
archival storage supplies, fire detection,
and other projects that address threats to
collections,” McVey said.
Gragert thanked the supporters of the
grant program, including National Historical
Publications and Records Commission, the
funding arm of the National Archives and
Records Administration.
Grants totaling $50,000 were awarded
12 Oklahoma institutions. With support
from the Institute of Museum and Library
Services, an additional 12 organizations
will receive the assistance of a professional
conservator to assist with the development
of Collections Assessment Plans.
importance of each player having a
Cherokee name, Swimmer said each
player has a Cherokee name they
acquired when they came through
my Cherokee language classes at
Cherokee Central Schools.
“Most players chose their own
names while some who had
traditional last names, such as
Walkingstick or Pheasant, usually
took their own last name. Everyone
knows who my boys are by their
English names, but very few know
who they are by their Cherokee
names,” he said.
The Braves finished the season
with a 15-2 record while clinching
the SMC tournament title.
– REPRINTED WITH
PERMISSION
MURPHY, N.C. – ᎢᎸᏍᎩ
ᎢᏳᏩᎪᏛ
ᎾᎿ
ᎤᏟᏂᎩᏓ
ᏙᎦᏓᏅᏓᏗ
ᏙᎦᏁᎶᏅ
ᎣᎦᎳᏍᎦᎸᎲ ᎠᎴ ᎤᎵᎮᎵᏍᏗ
ᏙᎦᏓᏅᏓᏛ ᎢᏯᏛᏁᎵᏗᏍᏓ ᎾᎿ
ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎾᎾᏛᏁᎲᎢ.
ᎠᏎᏍᎩᏂ,
ᎾᏝᎬ
ᎾᎿ
Smokey Mountain ᏓᎾᏠᏍᎬ
ᏧᎾᏁᎶᏅ
ᎤᎾᏓᏠᏒ,
ᏣᎳᎩ
ᎠᏰᏟ
ᏗᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᎩ
ᎠᏂᏧᏣ
ᎠᎾᎳᏍᎦᎵᏍᎩ
ᎤᎾᏓᏡᎬ
ᎤᏃᎯᏔᏅ
ᏄᎾᏛᏁᎸ
ᎾᎿ
ᏧᏚᎵᏠᏒᎢ ᎾᎿ Swain ᏍᎦᏚᎩ
Maroon
Devils
ᏅᎩᏍᎪ-ᏦᏍᎪᎯ ᎾᎿ ᎧᎦᎵ ᏑᏓᎵᏁ ᎾᎿ
Murphy ᎦᎸᎳᏗ ᏧᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗᎢ.
ᎾᏍᎩ
Braves
ᎤᏍᏆᏂᎪᏓ
ᎤᏕᏘᏴᏌᏗ ᏝᏙ ᎾᎿ ᎤᎾᏓᏠᏒ
SMC ᎠᎾᎳᏍᎦᎵᏍᎩ ᏚᏂᏠᏒ
ᏩᎦᎸᎳᏗᏴ, ᎠᏎᏍᎩᏂ ᏄᎾᏛᏁᎸ
ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏁᎵᏓᏍᏗ ᎠᏅᏗᏍᎬ ᏣᎳᎩ
ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎤᏂᏍᏕᎵᏍᎬᎢ.
CMS ᎠᏂᏧᏣ ᎠᎾᎳᏍᎦᎵᏍᎩ
ᏗᏘᏂᏙᎯ Micah Swimmer ᎾᎿ
ᏚᏑᏲᎾ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎾᎿ
ᏗᎾᏁᎶᎲᏍᎦ ᏕᎨᏲᎲᏍᎪ ᎠᎴ
ᎤᏅᏙᏛᎢ. ᎠᏅᏗᏍᎬᎢ ᏣᎳᎩ
ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, ᎠᏂᏓᎨ ᎠᏂᏍᎦᏯ
ᎠᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᎪ ᏣᎳᎩ ᏗᎧᏁᎢᏍᏗ,
ᎢᏗᎦᏪᏍᏗ
ᎠᎴ
ᏗᏎᏍᏗ
ᎠᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᎪ
ᎠᎾᎦᏎᏍᏗᏍᎪ
ᎧᏁᏉᎪ ᏓᎾᏁᎶᎲᏍᎬ ᎤᏅᏙᏗ.
“ᎾᎿ ᎦᎸᎳᏗ ᏥᏕᎦᏕᎶᏆᏍᎬ,
ᎦᏅᏓᏗᏍᎪ
ᏙᏣᏁᎶᎲᏍᎬ
ᎠᏂᏣᏗ
ᎠᏰᏟ
ᏧᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗ
ᎤᏂᎷᏨ
ᎠᎴ
ᎠᎩᏍᏆᏂᎪᏒ
ᎠᏆᏛᎦᏅ ᎤᏅᏌ ᎤᏂᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ
ᎠᏂᏬᏂᏍᎬ ᏓᎾᏁᎶᎲᏍᎬ ᎠᎴ
ᎠᏴᏖᏍᏗ ᏓᎾᏁᎶᎲᏍᎬ ᎤᏠᏯ,”
ᎠᏗᏍᎬSwimmer.
“ᏍᎪᎯᏁ
ᏥᏥᏯᎥ, ᏙᏣᏁᎶᎲᏍᎬ ᎣᎩᏅᏒ
ᎠᎴ
ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎠᏰᏟ
ᎢᎪᎯᏓ
ᏙᏣᏁᎶᎲᏍᎬ
ᏓᎾᏟᏃᎮᏍᎬ
ᎤᏅᏌ ᎤᏂᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, ᎠᎴ Ꮭ
ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᏲᏦᎵᎨ ᎾᏂᏪᏍᎬ.
“ᎠᏰᏟ ᎤᎾᎴᏅᎭ, ᎣᎩᎾᎵ
ᎤᏓᏅᏖᎸ
ᎾᎿ
ᎢᏳᏪᏍᏗ
Pledge of Allegiance. ᎤᏛᏅ,
‘ᏍᏆᏞᏍᏗ ᏱᏥᏌᎳᏛᎦ ᎠᎴ ᎯᎠ
ᏱᏂᏥᏫ a-tu-is-do-di (ᎠᏚᏍᏙᏗ)
ᎠᎴ ᏂᎯ ᏭᏣᏙᎯᏍᏗ tsi-tu-is-di
(ᏥᏚᏍᏗ) ᎠᎴ ᏔᎷᏨ ᏪᏣᎶᏗ.’
ᎣᏣᎵᎮᎵᎬ
ᏅᏗᎦᎵᏍᏙᏗ
ᎣᏨᏗᏍᎬ ᎣᎩᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ ᎠᎴ
Ꮭ ᏳᎾᏅᏕ ᏃᏥᏪᏍᎬ,” ᎤᏛᏅ.
“ᎾᎯᏳ ᎤᏒ ᎤᏓᎴᏅᏓ, ᏓᏊᎪᏔᏅ
ᎠᏆᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗ
ᎣᎩᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ
ᎠᎴ ᏗᏘᏂᏙᎯ ᎾᏍᎩᎾ Braves
ᎣᏣᎵᏏᏅᏗ
ᎣᎩᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ
ᎾᎿ ᎣᏣᎳᏍᎦᎵᏍᎬᎢ. ᎬᏂᎨᏒ
ᏄᎵᏍᏔᏅ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎣᎦᏜᏅᏓᏕᎸ
ᎾᎿ
ᏦᏣᏁᎶᎲᏍᎩ
ᎠᎴ
ᎤᎵᎮᎵᏍᏗ ᏧᎾᏓᏅᏓᏗᏍᏗᎢ.”
Swimmer ᎤᎩᏒ ᎤᏠᏯ ᎢᏯᏛᏗ
ᎠᎴ
ᏄᏩᏁᎸ
ᎾᎿ
ᏓᏘᏂᏙᎲ
ᎾᎾᏛᏁᎲ ᏓᎾᏁᎶᎲᏍᎬ ᏂᎦᏓ
ᏣᎳᎩ. ᎾᎿ ᏔᎵᏁ ᏓᎾᏁᎶᎲᏍᎬ,
ᏌᏊ ᏗᏁᎶᎲᏍᎦ ᎤᏅᏛ ᎬᏂᎨᏒ
ᎦᏙᎬ ᎠᏍᎦᏯ ᎠᎴ
Swimmer
ᎤᏙᎯᏒ,
“U-yv-sdi.
U-tsesdi wi-vi-si,” ᎢᏳᏍᏗ ᎦᏛᎬᎢ
“ᎤᏴᏍᏗ. ᎤᏤᏍᏗ ᏫᎥᏏ.” ᎢᏧᎳ
ᏗᎾᏁᎶᎲᏍᎩ ᎤᏃᎵᏨ ᏄᏪᏒ ᎠᎴ
ᏄᎾᏛᏁᎸᎢ.
ᎨᎦᏛᏛᎾ ᏄᎵᏍᎨᏗᏴ ᎠᏏᏴᏫᎭ
ᏗᏁᎶᎲᏍᎩ
ᏣᎳᎩ
ᏧᏙᏍᏗ,
Swimmer
ᎤᏛᏅ
ᎠᏏᏴᏫᎭ
ᏗᏁᎶᎲᏍᎦ ᎾᎿ ᏣᎳᎩ ᏚᏙᎠ
ᎤᏂᎩᏒ
ᏧᏚᎾᏕᎶᏆᎥ
ᏣᎳᎩ
ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ
ᎾᎿ
Cherokee
Central Schools.
“ᏂᎦᏓᏊ ᎢᏳᏍᏗ ᏗᎾᏁᎶᎲᏍᎩ
ᎤᏅᏌ ᎠᎾᏑᏱᏍᎪ ᏧᎾᏙᏍᏗ
ᎢᎦᏓᏃ
ᎾᏍᎩ
ᎣᏂ
ᏚᎾᏙᎥ
ᎠᏅᏗᏍᎪ, ᏯᏛᎾ ᎠᏙᎳᏅᏍᏗ
ᎠᎴ ᏣᎳᎦ ᎢᎾᎨ ᎡᎯ, ᎾᏍᎩ
ᏱᏄᏍᏗ ᎾᎿ ᎠᏛᏗᏍᎪᎢ. ᏂᎦᏓᏃ
ᎠᏂᎦᏔᎯ ᎾᏍᎩᎾ ᎨᏒ ᎠᏂᏧᏣ
ᏲᏁᎦ ᏚᎾᏙᎥ, ᎠᏎᏃ ᎠᏂᎦᏲᏟ
ᎤᎾᏄᏓ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎨᏒ ᎾᎿ ᏣᎳᎩ
ᏚᎾᏙᎥᎢ,” ᎤᏛᏅᎢ.
ᎾᏍᎩᎾ Braves ᎤᏂᏍᏆᏛ
ᏧᎾᏁᎶᏗ ᎨᏒ ᎾᎿ 15-2 ᏧᏂᏅᏅᎢ
ᎾᏍᎩᎾ ᎤᎾᏄᏓ ᎤᏂᏴᏍᏙᏗ SMC
ᎠᎾᎳᏍᎦᎵᏍᎬ ᎤᏂᎩᏍᏗᎢ.
Moravian missionary records offer
insight into Cherokee history
Missionaries kept records
of their interactions with
Cherokee people and
recorded observations of
Cherokee culture, society,
customs and personalities.
BY WILL CHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Since 2009, the
Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians have funded a book project
to bring to life Cherokee history from the 18th
and 19th centuries.
Beginning in the mid-1700s Moravian
missionaries from Salem, N.C., began
ministering to the Cherokee people and lived
among them in Georgia. Missionaries kept
records of their interactions with Cherokee
people and recorded their observations
of Cherokee culture, society, customs and
personalities. Those records are now being
translated for a book series.
Volume 5 of “Records of the Moravians
Among the Cherokees” was recently released
and provides insight into the years between
1817-21, which were years of great change
within the CN. Volume 1 of the book series
covers the years from 1752 to 1802 and tells
of the missionaries’ initial contacts with the
Cherokee during the French and Indian War
and the American Revolution, exploratory
visits and the founding of missions up to 1802.
The diaries and letters are giving the Cherokee
people an “eyewitness account of the Cherokee
Nation” in the 18th and 19th centuries, said AtLarge Tribal Councilor Jack Baker, who is also
a teacher of Cherokee history.
The records are also a “treasure trove” of
genealogical records because of the descriptions
of Cherokee families who interacted with the
missionaries, Baker said.
Author and archivist Daniel Crews for the
Moravian Archives in Winston-Salem, N.C.,
has been working on the books along with
fellow author and archivist Richard Starbuck.
The men are translating missionary diaries and
letters from German into English for the books.
“They’re handwritten manuscripts in the old
German alphabet,” Crews said. “All Moravian
ministers were required to keep a daily diary
of what went in the churches and things
going on around them. So we have diaries
from the missions. We have letters that they
wrote back here (Salem) to governing boards
and individuals. We have other reports that
they sent in, and we have a few letters from
Cherokees that had joined the mission or had
gone to the mission school.”
He said there are not a lot of people who
are able to read and translate the old German
alphabet into English. The texts Crews and
Starbuck are translating and editing have never
been published.
“It’s just a fascinating chronicle of life in the
Cherokee Nation from 200 years ago,” Crews
said. “Most of it, of course, they (missionaries)
are concerned about church matters, but
they do report a good bit about the Cherokee
customs, family structure and sometimes
Since 2009, the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have been funding
a book project to bring to life Cherokee history from the 18th and 19th centuries. The
books chronicle the interactions and observations of Moravian missionaries who lived
among the Cherokee beginning in the mid 1700s. WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
It’s just a fascinating
chronicle of life in the
Cherokee Nation from 200
years ago.
– Daniel Crews,
Moravian Archives archivist
games and dances.”
Crews said the missionaries did complain
in their writings that the Cherokee people
preferred to attend their games and dances
rather than go to church, and the two cultures
sometimes clashed over cultural differences, but
he said he admires the courage of the Cherokee
people and missionaries found in the records.
The difficulty of translating a written record
depends on the handwriting of the individual,
Crews said.
“Even some of the bad handwriting, once
you’ve worked with a while, you get used to it,”
he said.
Also contained in the written Moravian
records are accounts of the negotiations
and discussions that took place regarding
the removal of the Cherokee from their
Southeastern homelands.
“(Principal Chief) John Ross, on his way to
Washington, would stop in Salem and catch
our leaders up on what had gone on in the
talks,” Crews said.
Crews said one thing he appreciates about the
Cherokee people from reading the documents
is that they remained determined to hold on to
their culture and land despite enormous odds.
“They’re striving to maintain their own
culture in the face of realizing they are going
to have to make some accommodations to the
encroaching white society around them and
trying to find the best way to maintain their
own integrity and yet survive,” he said.
Crews anticipates carrying the Moravian
story through the forced removal (1838-39),
the re-establishment of the Cherokee Nation
in Indian Territory, the Civil War years and the
reopening of the Moravian mission following
the Civil War.
“That’s going to be another four or five
volumes. It’s hard to tell until we actually get
into it,” Crews said. “We’re just beginning to get
towards the removal era. Of course there will
be a lot there of great interest to everybody.”
Baker said those who read the books will
gain an insight to the missionaries’ point of
view when the Cherokee people faced removal
from their lands.
“They were on the side of the Ross party,
opposed to removal even though the Ridges
and the Waties (Ross’s opponents on removal)
were active in their church,” Baker said.
The Moravian church gave money to the
Cherokee people to help fight removal, he added.
“The real wealth is we’re getting these
accounts that we’ve never had before,” Baker
said. “Daniel Crews told me there’s fantastic a
letter describing a family being removed from
their home by the soldiers. That’s an eyewitness
account we don’t have anywhere else.”
Baker said the CN and the EBCI councils are
each providing the Moravian Archives $25,000
a year to pay for the translations.
“We very much appreciate the interest
and support of the Cherokee Nation and the
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians...and their
financial assistance they are giving to make the
project possible,” Crews said.
The books may be ordered from the Cherokee
Heritage Center. Cherokee National Historical
Society members receive a 10 percent discount
from the $50 retail cost. There is a $10 shipping and
handling charge and $5 for each additional book.
All five volumes are also on sale in CN gift shops.
Orders may be mailed to Cherokee National
Press, P.O. Box 515, Tahlequah, OK 74465. To
order by phone, call 1-888-999-6007.
[email protected]
918-207-3961