Cherokee Phoenix Jan. 15 2019

THE “STORYTELLER” Bryan Waytula’s popular portrait is drawn in his own style of pointillism. Waytula is a former art teacher and shares his culture through the art he creates. CULTURE, 11

CHEROKEE CHEROKEEPHOENIX.ORG

JANUARY 15, 2019

PHOENIX 191 YEARS OF JOURNALISM

Canaan Duncan wins Dist. 7 seat

The 28-year-old gets nearly 66 percent of the ballots in the Jan. 5 vote.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter TAHLEQUAH – With backing from nearly 66 percent of District 7 voters, the Cherokee Nation’s newest tribal councilor was elected Jan. 5.

“I’m relieved and ecstatic right now,” Canaan Duncan said after the special election votes were posted. “It’s a big percentage, and I’m proud of it. I’m proud of my campaign, the race I ran. I’m excited to get in there and serve the people.”

According to the CN Election Commission’s certified vote count, Duncan, 28, won the vacant, Adair Countybased seat with 588 votes against challengers Robert Eagle (188 votes) and Frankie Lee Duncan (116 votes).

Second-place finisher Eagle said he joined the race because, “I think we can do better.”

“To me, the Adair County people need better representation,” Eagle said. “We just need more. We’re not getting enough help around here.”

Frankie Hargis previously represented District 7, which includes Stilwell and other western portions of Adair County. A tribal councilor since 2011, Hargis was appointed the Cherokee Nation’s new registrar in November, replacing a retiring Linda O’Leary.

The District 7 term expires Aug. 14, 2021.

“I do think more focus could be given to Adair County to give them everything they need to be successful,” the winning Duncan said. “All Cherokees deserve the best.”

A Stilwell native and former CN government relations employee, Duncan said he “always kind of aspired to

SEE DUNCAN, 2

CHERRY TREE LIBRARY GROWS

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX District 7 candidate Canaan Duncan hugs his wife, Keeli, and daughter, Kayni, 4, in the Election Commission parking lot after learning he won the Jan. 5 election.

CN weathering U.S. govt.’s ‘shutdown storm’ On Jan. 8, the USDA announces plans to fully fund its nutrition programs in February.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX From left, Manuel Sanchez, 9, Dione Byrd, Snow Vann, 12, Allene Teehee and Camden Owl, 12, take part in activities at a home-based library in the Cherry Tree community on Dec. 27.

The home-based effort in Adair County boasts nearly 1,000 books.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – As the latest federal government shutdown entered its third week, Cherokee Nation leaders were cautious but hopeful that services and citizens would be minimally impacted.

“The tribe’s Food Distribution Program from USDA is still getting food deliveries to provide healthy food options for tribal citizens,” Principal Chief Bill John Baker said in a prepared statement. “Our WIC program continues to help mothers and infants with essential supplies. And our health care, housing and community service programs are still delivering vital services for our people while we continue to monitor these essential federal funds.”

Food Distribution Program manager Leah Duncan was initially worried that without federal funding, deliveries could cease at the end of the month.

“It’s just the uncertainty of whether we’ll get deliveries after Jan. 31,” she said.

On Jan. 8, the USDA announced presidentialbacked plans to fully fund its nutrition programs in February “despite the inability of Congress to pass an appropriations bill that safely secures our borders.”

The move was lauded by Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. as a way to “ensure our tribal citizens,

SEE SHUTDOWN, 2

C

HERRY TREE – Founders of a tiny library in the rural community of Cherry Tree hope their effort blossoms into a popular learning retreat and safe haven for children.

“One day, we seen these kids running around, and I said, you know, let’s pray about it,” Cherry Tree Library co-creator Dione Byrd said. “Let’s make the library for these kids.

That way they can come in, read books, get on the computer, play games. Let’s just work with these kids.”

Byrd, a Cherokee Nation citizen, and his wife, Ramona, run the library from their home garage in Adair County.

“One day we found a little plastic bag of stuff like right by the bus stop,” Ramona Byrd said. “A kid could have picked that up. Drugs are really prevalent here. I just want the kids to have a place they can come to, do their homework and relax. People have no idea how much stress these kids are under. They really just want a place to kind of chill.”

Their library idea quickly took root, the couple said, following Facebook posts to spread the message.

“We barely mentioned it, then the next day we had a library,” Ramona Byrd said. “Everybody’s like, ‘I’ve got some books.’ It’s growing every day.”

SEE LIBRARY, 3

“Let’s make the library for these kids. That way they can come in, read books, get on the computer, play games. Let’s just work with these kids.”

Dione Byrd, Cherry Tree Library co-creator

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Bo Burrows, of Hulbert, fills a shopping cart Jan. 7 at the Cherokee Nation’s Food Distribution Center in Tahlequah.

Wager on new ball-and-dice games paying off

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

CATOOSA – Craps and roulette at Cherokee Nation casinos have proven “extremely popular” in the short time they’ve been offered, according to gaming officials.

Mickey Ward, who oversees all 10 of the Nation’s casino properties as senior director of corporate gaming, said craps and roulette have attracted “an influx of guests that were not our regulars.”

“So it’s opened us to some of the guests that would normally travel to commercial gaming markets such as Tunica, Kansas City, etc., to play the actual real, live craps and roulette,” he said. “Our goal wasn’t to be the first to market, even though we were the first in the Tulsa area. We wanted to be sure we rolled it out the right way, had our staff properly trained, had all the

necessary equipment on site.”

In August, after getting federal approval, the Nation’s Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa was the first in Oklahoma to offer craps and roulette. The balland-dice games are now offered at the West Siloam Springs casino. Roulette is available at Roland with craps coming soon, Ward said. “We have seen financial success. We can’t share exact financials, but we’ve definitely seen an increase having these two games.”

Additional casino revenue benefits everyone, Ward added. “First and foremost, the Cherokee Nation benefits. The state of Oklahoma benefits.”

Ball-and-dice gaming is supported by the Oklahoma Education Association to increase school funding.

OEA officials anticipate the games will raise millions annually. “The estimate was that it would be around $20 million to $25 million a year with some people

saying double that,” OEA President Alicia Priest said.

“Money that’s generated from the tribal compact, like the dice-and-ball money, 80 percent of it goes into the (Education Reform Revolving Fund), which specifically supports schools. So a growth stream with dedicated revenue going into public education, that would meet our criteria of support.”

The addition of craps and roulette includes their electronic counterparts at other casinos, Ward said.

“It allows us to spread roulette and craps at some of our smaller properties that would not normally have table games,” he said. “For instance, our new Tahlequah expansion, which we’re opening in the spring of 2019, will have the electronic version of craps and roulette at that property.”

Craps and roulette will “reenergize” card games, which were ushered in with a 2004 compact, Ward said.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • JANUARY 15, 2019

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ • ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019

Indian Country criminal prosecutions plateau

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – The number of Indian Country crimes that the U.S. Justice Department decided to prosecute has not shown significant change in recent years, despite programs and attempts to boost both public safety and prosecutions of sexual assaults and other crimes on reservations, according to recent federal figures.

In an annual report obtained by The Associated Press, statistics showed U.S. attorneys’ offices declined to prosecute 37 percent of the Indian Country cases they deemed resolved in 2017, usually citing insufficient evidence. The percentage of cases dropped by prosecutors or sent to other courts was up three points from 2016. The annual report on prosecution rates marks the first since a government watchdog report from the Office of Inspector General last year issued a critical analysis of the U.S. attorneys’ uneven track record with Indian Country cases. It cited data that must be collected under a 2010 law for the annual reports on investigations and prosecutions.

The report also comes amid heightened concerns in Congress and tribal communities over crimes against Native American women, who are disproportionately victimized by sexual assault and domestic assault.

More than half of Native American women have

encountered sexual and domestic violence at some point during their lives, according to a National Institute of Justice survey published in 2016.

“This report only confirms that Native victims continue to fall through the cracks of our justice system,” U.S. Sen. Tom Udall said in an email to The Associated Press. “We badly need to commit greater resources to combatting violence in Indian Country and ensuring that those who victimize Native women and families are brought to justice.”

In the Justice Department’s most recent report, a quarter of the cases U.S. attorney declined to prosecute – or more than 630 – stemmed from reported sexual assaults. A third resulted from other reported assaults, a category that includes domestic violence cases.

Udall said limited data collection and lack of clear protocols for authorities’ handling of cases have, in part, hampered investigations, prosecutions and strategic crime-fighting in Native communities.

Trent Shores, who is Choctaw and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, echoed Udall’s calls for more funding, saying resources were needed across the board to support more investigators, tribal courts and forensic work in crime laboratories.

More than 70 percent of unprosecuted cases were

dropped because of a lack of evidence.

While frustrated with the persistent statistics showing Native Americans victimized at alarming rates, Shores said he also believed the report shows some promising findings.

He said that some cases categorized as being declined by federal prosecutors received the designation because they were sent to tribal courts, which actually represents recognition of tribes’ sovereignty and ability to handle cases at a local level.

About 13 percent of the declined cases were referred to different jurisdictions, according to the report’s data.

“I am seeing continued improvement in the department’s ability to better capture the data – to prosecute crimes,” he added.

Shores chairs a Justice Department committee on Native issues and contributed to the prosecutions report. He said he and others are committed to carrying initiatives meant to improve policing and prosecutions in tribal communities. They include an Obama-era program that has been expanded under the Trump administration and calls for U.S. Attorneys to staff their offices with special prosecutors who must focus on Indian Country cases. The prosecutors also can handle cases in tribal and federal courts.

CN’s hunting, fishing deal with state extended

WILL CHAVEZ/ CHEROKEE PHOENIX Gary and Janet Freeny, of Skiatook, load cans of food into boxes as they check out of the Collinsville Food Distribution Center in 2014. During the current government shutdown, the tribe’s Food Distribution Program was still getting food deliveries to provide healthy food options for tribal citizens.

The compact forged with Oklahoma in 2015 allows in-state CN citizens to hunt and fish in all 77 counties.

BY STAFF REPORTS

SHUTDOWN: Prior to the shutdown, Treasurer

Lacey Horn assured leaders CN had ‘cash reserves’ from front page

many elders and children get the healthy foods they need.”

The food program serves an estimated 6,000 families monthly, Duncan said. “It’s supposed to be a supplemental food program. But for many of our families, it’s the only food source they have.”

CN citizen Kay Hammer, of Tahlequah, had planned to simply “just eat less” if program deliveries ended.

“There’s not a lot I can do,” she added.

Like many others, veteran Bo Burrows and his wife depend on the service.

“Without the supplements they give us, we’d be hungry,” he said.

Prior to the partial federal shutdown, Treasurer Lacey Horn assured tribal councilors there were “significant cash reserves on hand.”

“This will help us weather any federal government shutdown storm,” she said. “You guys can feel some level of comfort that we’ve got enough to continue making payroll for quite some time before we have to start seeing reduced operations and those types of things.”

Horn added that in light of past government shutdowns, the Nation is now “always prepared.”

“You know,” Councilor Joe Byrd said, “it’s not so much what you do after the shutdown, but it’s what you do before the shutdown.”

According to the Congressional Research Service, the longest U.S. government shutdowns include 21 days in 1996; 17 days in 1978; 16 days in 2013; 12 days in 1977; 11 days in 1979; and 10 days in 1976.

Shutdowns in late 1995 and early 1996 were “of great concern” to Native American leaders at the time, according to news accounts in the Cherokee Advocate.

When employees of W.W. Hastings Hospital worked without pay during the 1996 shutdown, local businesses and individuals rallied to help with extended credit and vouchers for food and gasoline.

In 2013, it was noted by tribal leaders that their now “healthy government,” thanks in part to casino revenue, positioned the CN to better handle that year’s shutdown.

The CN is using federal funds made available before the government shutdown took effect, Baker said. The Nation also has “a contingency plan to use set aside tribal dollars if the shutdown persists longer term with the goal that there is minimal impact on our tribal citizens or employees.”

“We do have growing concerns, however, for these federally funded programs if Congress and the president do not reach an agreement soon,” Baker said. “By treaty, the U.S. government has a federal trust responsibility to federally recognized tribes and that obligation isn’t being met during government shutdowns.”

Hoskin urged federal officials to “reach an agreement to reopen the government promptly.”

TAHLEQUAH – A three-year hunting and fishing pact with the state that expired on Dec. 31, 2018, was extended, according to Cherokee Nation officials.

“There was an extension just to cover us for another year,” Cherokee Nation Secretary of Natural Resources Sara Hill said. “All of the terms are exactly the same.”

The compact forged with Oklahoma in 2015 allows instate CN citizens to hunt and fish in all 77 counties.

“Nothing will change over the next year,” Hill said.

“It’s all going to be issued according to the same rules we’ve had for the last three years. Licenses are already being printed and put into the mail for 2019.”

The original compact was signed in May 2015 by Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker and Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin.

At the time, Baker said he was “proud the Cherokee Nation is the first tribe to compact with the state in proper recognition of our long-held treaty rights to hunt and fish the lands within not only our jurisdictional boundaries, but all 77 counties in Oklahoma.”

“No Cherokee will ever be fearful of arrest or prosecution for exercising their inherent rights to hunt and fish,” he added.

As stipulated in the compact, the Cherokee Nation purchases and issues a minimum of 150,000 licenses for its Oklahoma-residing citizens at a cost of $2 each.

The licenses offer access to “reserve” areas such as the Sparrow Hawk hiking trails near Tahlequah, as well as provide citizens with deer and spring turkey hunting tags.

It is unclear what steps will be taken following Dec. 31, 2019.

“Obviously we’ll have to do something,” Hill said.

“But I don’t know what that is going to look like right now.”

“No Cherokee will ever be fearful of arrest or prosecution for exercising their inherent rights to hunt and fish.”

Principal Chief Bill John Baker

DUNCAN: Duncan had to overcome 2 candidacy challenges before winning from front page run for tribal office of some sort.”

“I’ve been working kind of in that realm for five years,” he said. “I feel like I can do a good job. I just felt like the time is right.”

He plans to address health care while championing employment opportunities in Adair County.

“We need jobs,” he said. “There are just a handful of good places to work.”

Concerning health care needs in his district, Duncan suggested “maybe a wellness center of some sort.”

“I’d like for the tribe to come in and do something for the Cherokees there,” he said.

Prior to Duncan’s election win, legal efforts were made to disqualify him from the race.

“I kind of expected it somewhat,” Duncan said. “I tried to take them like I do everything in life, and that’s to be graceful in all that I do, be true to who I am and try to do the right thing.”

Two Cherokee citizens claimed Duncan should have been disqualified because he violated tribe law by campaigning while still an employee of the nation’s secretary of state office.

According to CN law, tribal employees and employees of CN majority-owned entities must resign before filing for an elective position. Duncan resigned from the nation one day before he filed, according to his attorney, Curtis Bruehl.

The petitioners, CN citizens Robin Mayes and Tim Houseberg, argued that Duncan became a candidate before resigning because he met the $1,000 fundraising minimum that makes a person a candidate, according to a 2016 amendment to the election law.

The election commission indicated it found no constitutional provision or legislative enactment that prohibits a CN employee from becoming a candidate and campaigning for elective office while being an employee other than the provision stating an employee must resign before filing.

The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court later upheld the commission’s ruling.

According to CN officials, Duncan, at 28 years old, is the second youngest tribal councilor in modern history.

“We need younger people like him to step up and take leadership roles,” Duncan supporter Tommy Wildcat said. “That’s what we always talk about, for our younger people to get active and be involved.”

In 2014, Duncan was part of the annual iON Oklahoma 30/30 Next Gen class recognizing Oklahomans under 30 years old “who demonstrate talent, drive and service to their communities.”

Duncan is married and has a 4-year-old daughter. He is scheduled to be sworn in this month, then attend his first council meeting in February.

The Cherokee Nation’s jurisdiction is divided into 15 districts with one representative from each, along with a pair of at-large seats.

The CN as a whole has 71,335 registered voters – 40,587 within the jurisdiction and 30,748 at-large, officials said.

CERTIFIED VOTE BREAKDOWN FOR THE DIST. 7 SPECIAL ELECTION Canaan Duncan, 368 Frankie Lee Duncan, 14 Robert Eagle, 14 Canaan Duncan, 12 Frankie Lee Duncan, 7 Robert Eagle, 5

Absentee Ballots

Early Vote Ballots

Cave Springs Precinct Canaan Duncan, 21 Frankie Lee Duncan, 15 Robert Eagle, 19

Canaan Duncan, 151 Frankie Lee Duncan, 70 Robert Eagle, 111 Canaan Duncan, 2 Frankie Lee Duncan, 0 Robert Eagle, 14 Canaan Duncan, 34 Frankie Lee Duncan, 10 Robert Eagle, 25

Stilwell Precinct

Chewey Precinct

Wesville Precinct

The Cherokee Nation’s Election Commission certified the Jan. 5 Special Election vote tally in a special meeting on Jan. 9.

According the EC’s Special Election timeline, any Supreme Court appeals of the results would need to be filed by 5 p.m. on Jan. 14.

If no appeal is filed, then the EC would certify the election outcome with another special meeting and set Jan. 16 for the swearing in. If the Supreme Court gets an appeal it would hear the appeal and rule on Jan. 15-17.

According to EC figures, 892 of the 3,780 registered Dist. 7 voters cast ballots in the special election. EC officials said one absentee ballot was submitted with no selectons and was counted as an under vote.

ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

JANUARY 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

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Holiday spotlight shines on Cherokee veterans

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – Veterans took center stage on Dec. 21 during a Christmas celebration in their honor.

Nearly 50 veterans, their families and also widows of veterans, attended the Christmas event hosted by the Cherokee Nation’s Office of Veterans Affairs at the Veterans Center. Guests ate, unwrapped gifts, took part in games and were treated to songs from Mary Kay Henderson, the Cherokee National Youth Choir director.

“I think this is great,” World War II Navy veteran Amon Baker said. “Most veterans, I think, appreciate it.”

The 92-year-old former Sequoyah Schools superintendent and Tribal Councilor was one of three WWII veterans in attendance. U.S. Navy veteran and Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden specifically thanked those “elder veterans in the crowd.”

“The World War II vets, we’re losing our people in drastic numbers,” he said. “Any time we can honor them, I like to do so. Thank you again for all you’ve done. Thank all you veterans and the families of the veterans. They’ve sacrificed, too.”

Wayne Kellehan, 93, another WWII veteran, was seated between Korean War veterans who also happened to be family – brother Sidney Kellehan, 89, and cousin Hosea Wallis, 86.

“We’re losing them all the time, you know,” Kellehan said of his fellow WWII veterans.

Kellehan and his cousin are past Cherokee Warrior Flight passengers. The annual, CN-funded flight to Washington, D.C., gives veterans a chance to visit national war memorials.

The Nation estimates there are more than 4,000 Cherokee veterans. Described by Crittenden as “a blessing to all of us,” the celebration site was the $2 million Veterans Center, which opened just east of the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex in 2013.

“I like what they do here,” Persian Gulf War veteran David England, 51, said. “It’s just a good place to get together and talk.”

Vietnam veteran and CN citizen Simeon Gipson, 73, of Tahlequah, described himself as a regular at the Veterans Center.

“I come here probably more often than anybody,” he said. “I’m a bicyclist, and I have my coffee and doughnuts here almost every morning.”

Outside of the center, Gipson said, he doesn’t often visit with fellow veterans.

“I don’t have any old friends,” he said. “When I come here, it’s the first time I’m really getting the opportunity to talk with some older people and people from different eras, Desert Storm, Vietnam, World War II and Korea.”

Korean War veteran Jim Quetone, 87, of Tahlequah, also points to the Veterans Center with pride.

“I think it’s great they do all these things for the veterans,” Quetone said. “Everyone can visit and have a place to hang out. It feels great to be a member of the Cherokee Nation, as well as being a veteran.”

The center is currently under the guidance of Barbara Foreman, the director of CN Veterans Affairs. “(Foreman) and her staff, they continue to do a good job for the veterans,” Crittenden said. “Things have really picked up since they’ve been over here. That’s a good thing for our veterans and our community.”

In May 2018, the CN partnered with the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma for a quarterly mobile food bank for qualified veterans, their families and their widows.

“A lot of you have seen benefits of this partnership,” Foreman told the Dec. 21 crowd. “Some of the food we’re eating tonight is because of our partnership. So, we’re very blessed.”

“I like what they do here. It’s just a good place to get together and talk.”

David England, Persian Gulf War vet

PHOTOS BY CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Friends and Korean War veterans Jim Quetone, 87, left, and Gene Thompson, 86, talk as door prizes are doled out on Dec. 21 at the Cherokee Nation Veterans Center in Tahlequah.

World War II veteran Wayne Kellehan, 93, of Claremore, takes part in a Christmas celebration with fellow Cherokee veterans on Dec. 21 in Tahlequah.

Nearly 50 military veterans, their families and widows of veterans attend a Christmas event held Dec. 21 at the Cherokee Nation Veterans Center in Tahlequah.

Bernie Summerlin, left, and Dorothy Williams play a game during a Dec. 21 event for military veterans and widows of veterans.

Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden speaks to veterans on Dec. 21 at the tribe’s Veterans Center in Tahlequah.

Crittenden is a Navy veteran.

Oklahoma ‘Doughboy’ statue restored, rededicated

The statue was originally brought to memorialize the service of the Five Civilized Tribes during World War I.

MUSKOGEE (AP) – Dist. 6 State Rep. Chuck Hoskin said he sees his uncle when he walks past the “Spirit of the American Doughboy” statue at Jack C. Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

“It not only stands for my uncles, but for all of your relatives who took part in that war,” Hoskin, a Cherokee Nation citizen, said to a gathered crowd at the recent rededication ceremony for the statue. “We have to make sure our children and their children understand what this statue means.”

The ceremony comes on the heels of a $25,000 restoration project to clean and restore the statue, one of 143 existing “Doughboy” statues nationwide, according to a release from the event, and one of two memorializing Native American wartime service. The statue is a “hollow” version made of copper infused bronze sheets pressed over a frame.

“Doughboy” is an informal term for a member of the U.S. Army or Marine Corps.

CHESLEY OXENDINE/THE DAILY PHOENIX VIA AP A crowd gathers recently next to the restored “Spirit of An American Doughboy” statue outside Jack C. Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Muskogee.

The statue was originally brought to memorialize the service of the Five Civilized Tribes during World War I. Part of the restoration process was adding a small monument extending that memorialization to all

veterans who have served in all wars, Graham said.

“Tulsa Monuments sandblasted it using finely ground pecan shells, and then cleaned it. After that, they resealed it and they cleaned all the granite, and attached a plaque to mark it for the National Register of Historic Places,” Vandelia Graham, Green Country director for the Oklahoma State Daughters of the American Revolution, told the Muskogee Phoenix.

The ceremony saw a large crowd pack into the medical center’s chapel to hear from a variety of speakers such as Hoskin. Members of the DAR spoke about relatives who had fought in World War I, sharing stories of grandfathers and uncles. Dr. Ferlin Clark, president of Bacone College, shared a Navajo honor song to commemorate code talkers who had assisted in both World Wars.

Graham said the turnout was “wonderful.”

“I didn’t nearly expect so many people to attend,” Graham said.

One of those people was Ruth Summers, a Muskogee native whose relative served in World War I. “This is just incredible to me,” Summers said. “To see all this community support — it really tells you what Muskogee thinks of her veterans, I think. They mean a lot to this place.”

LIBRARY: The home-based library is at 470010 E. 871 Drive in Stilwell from front page Open on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, the little library now boasts nearly 1,000 books. The first batch of new books came from author Ann M. Martin and her non-profit foundation, The Lisa Libraries, based out of Kingston, New York. Martin is best known for her “The Baby-Sitters Club” series. Her group donated more than two dozen books valued at nearly $400.

“Really this hasn’t taken any money for us,” Ramona Byrd said. “It’s in our garage and the books are donated.”

So far, the library offers books, magazines, homework assistance, computer access for job seekers, genealogy

help and craft parties. Dione Byrd also hopes to one day share his knowledge of the Cherokee language with library visitors.

“I’m really glad with what we’ve done,” he said. “The parents are getting involved in it. It’s good to see that.”

Ramona Byrd said the predominantly Native American community’s nearest public library is located about 4 miles north in Stilwell.

“You would be surprised at the number of people who don’t have gas money to go,” she said. “It’s far for them.

There are a lot of people who use that library, but it’s not generally people out here.”

The Byrds are using a free online program to catalog their books. While they “want our books back because

these are donated,” the couple is “kind of feeling out” the best timeframe for checkouts, Ramona Byrd said.

“I told the kids they can have three books, keep them for a couple weeks then bring them back,” she said. “A lot brought them back, but there’s some that didn’t. My goal is not so much that I get my books back and my books are taken care of and perfect, because they’re not going to be. The worst thing that’s going to happen is we’re going to end up with a lot of books in our community. To me, that’s a good thing.”

The library’s address is 470010 E. 871 Drive, Stilwell.

For more information, visit authorramona.wixsite. com/cherrytree or email authorramona@gmail.com.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • JANUARY 15, 2019

OPINION • ᏃᎵᏍᎬ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ • ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019

Cherokee Phoenix JANUARY 15, 2019 Volume 43, No. 2

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Application to mail at Periodicals postage rates is pending at Tahlequah, OK 74464.

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Editorial Board Lauren Jones Cusick Kendra McGeady Maxie Thompson Brenda Thompson Ceciley Thomason-Murphy 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: $15 for one year Please contact us at the number above to subscribe.

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Native American Journalists Association

New VA center in CN expands health care capabilities

BY Bill John Baker Principal Chief A new federal law signed by the President is a remedy for a huge injustice that has led to a devastating loss of land over the last seven decades for the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Muscogee (Creek) Nations. The president signed a bill that amended the Stigler Act of 1947 and was co-authored by Oklahoma Congressmen and tribal citizens Tom Cole (Chickasaw) and Markwayne Mullen (Cherokee).

Now, enrolled tribal citizens of the Five Tribes will be able to inherit their family’s allotted land and keep it in restricted fee status without having to meet a required blood quantum.

The Stigler Act had unfairly burdened citizens of the Five Tribes and prevented an Indian from inheriting land within the Five Tribes in restricted fee if he or she is below onehalf degree of Indian blood.

Leaders and citizens of the Five Tribes have sought to remove that requirement for decades, and I am so proud we have finally achieved this for future generations.

The Stigler Act was devised and executed during the Termination Era, a time when federal policy was designed

to dramatically diminish tribal homelands. The purpose of the 1947 Act was to move Indian land from tribal ownership to non-Indian ownership.

It was devastatingly effective in accomplishing that goal: • The Five Tribes in 1916 held more than 15 million acres of restricted land.

• 100 years later – in 2015 – it was just over 380 thousand acres.

• That means out of every 160-acre allotment only 4 acres remain.

• Cherokee Nation was allotted roughly 4.3 million acres and today we have approximately 46,000 acres remaining in restricted status within our jurisdictional boundaries. That’s only one percent of the original allotment land.

• From 2011 to 2015 alone, Cherokee Nation lost 534 acres of restricted fee land due in part to the blood quantum requirement.

Citizens of other tribes never lost their allotted lands due to the blood degree of an individual Indian. But within our tribes, when restricted land was passed to heirs with less than one-half blood degree, all of the lands’ legal protections were stripped away forever. This has been in stark contrast to modern federal policy toward Indian tribes to restore tribal homelands.

Collectively the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Muscogee (Creek) governments represent more

than 750,000 tribal citizens throughout the United States and this change was something the Inter-tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes has long advocated for.

For far too long, the blood quantum stipulation has tied up land titles and prevented families from keeping their inheritance. The new law clarifies that lineal descendants of an original enrollee of the Five Tribes may maintain their restricted land, regardless of the degree of blood of the landowner.

This will not reverse decades of land loss, and it will not create any new restricted land. But it will help prevent any more of our tribal land from falling out of restricted status over the wishes of the owners. And it will provide muchneeded parity to the owners of restricted allotments within the Five Tribes.

We cannot overemphasize what this means to our tribal citizens. As Cherokees, we treasure the restricted land allotments and the link they represent to both our families and to our tribe.

Cherokees deserve the right to pass their lands onto their heirs and hold onto those significant family and tribal connections. We are thankful for the lawmakers in Washington who took the time to understand this issue, and what it means for the Five Tribes in Oklahoma and our future.

ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ

Community • ᎾᎥ ᏄᎾᏓᎸ

JANUARY 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

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In Memoriam Lois Mae (Simmons) Johnson 94 a life-long resident of Blackgum Mountain, Oklahoma, passed from this life on December 14, 2018. She was born August 14, 1924, to Kelly and Lila Pearl (Pack) Simmons, the 2nd of 8 children. She married Steven Johnson in 1942 and they shared a happy marriage for 56 years until his passing in 1998. They had 4 children, Mae Dean, Johnny, Linda and Joe. She was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Most of her life she and Steve lived on her mother’s original Cherokee allotment land.

She loved to cook, sew and drive.

Making many handmade quilts, fleece “tootsie warmers”, and stuffed animals as gifts for others. She would often cook for family and friends, especially in times of need. She was a staple for years at the Vian Christmas parade, where she would dress-up like Mrs. Clause and handout the teddy bears she handmade all year.

During her long and full life she had many different careers, from working in the fields as a sharecropper as a child, to picking fruit in California with her husband and kids during the depression, and in later years, cooking in churches, restaurants, and school kitchens. But her

favorite thing was taking care of others.

She always shared a gentle smile and a sweet laugh with most everyone.

Lois valued education and took pride in her families’ educational accomplishments. She would have the Vian Newspaper write acknowledgments of any school acceptances or graduations, or other major accomplishments. She lived what some might consider a hard life but she did it every day smiling and laughing. She made it all look easy. She

Abe Seabolt, a resident of Brawley, California for over 60 years, died on December 21, 2018. He is survived

by Helen (House) Seabolt, his wife of 61 years, and their children: Gretchen (children Henry, Julia, and Faith); Kathleen (husband David O’Keefe, and children Allegra, Thomas, and Margaret); and Stephen (wife Rhonda, and children Madeleine and Jacqueline); and a sister, Lois (Seabolt) Boyle.

Abe Franklin Seabolt was born in Muldrow, Oklahoma on September 28, 1935 to Alfred Lafayette Seabolt and Beulah Cornelia (Shackelford) Seabolt.

Abe was the eleventh of twelve children.

The family was active in the First United Methodist Church of Brawley. Alfred, a carpenter, helped to build the current structure. Abe was active in MYF, attended Camp Cedar Glen, was married in the church, and later served on the church board.

Abe was educated in Brawley public schools, graduating from Brawley Union High School in 1954. He was active in many service clubs, elected to ASB, was senior class president, and participated in drama productions, track and field, and football. He credits the BUHS football coach Bob Farrell as a mentor and admired his ability to motivate and develop young men through sport. Abe

said, “I would have run through a brick wall for that man.” Abe played on the 1951 and 1952 CIF Championship teams, and served as captain during his senior season, including the 1953 CIF Playoffs.

Family illness necessitated Abe delaying entrance to college, as he drove a tractor to support his parents while his father was dying from cancer. Abe was eventually able to attend Pasadena City College for a few semesters, while working full time.

In 1956, Abe accepted a position with the water company and the

Peggy Anne Carroll (nee Thornton) died peacefully at Hillcrest South Hospital on December 24, 2018, in Tulsa, OK, at the age of 90.

Peggy is survived by her daughter Paula Hamby and son David Carroll; grandchildren Anne Marie Bouakadakis, Kimberly Hunt, William Hummingbird Carroll, Catherine Kasler, Kerry Miller, Kacy Ellsworth, Tiffany French, Amy Hamby-Jones, Brian Carroll, Aubree Hamby, and Ashley Carroll; greatgrandchildren Cyla Williams, Robert Pitts, Bobbi Ellsworth, Karen Anne Marie Pitts, Brandon Kasler, Randa Pitts, William Crawford, Mercedes Kasler, Madison Simmons, Dakota Rowbotham, Amelia Crawford, Ericka Pitts, Hollie Bouakadakis,

Kayla Jones, Malloree Hamby, Kinlee Jones, Jayden Hamby, Daaksi Hamby, Holden Hamby, and Hawk Hamby; greatgreat-grandchildren Sadie Ellsworth, Ryder Ramsey, Cienna Pitts, Alonna Kasler, Cohen Ramsey, and Alora Kasler; brothers Joe Thornton and Perry Thornton; and many nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by sons William Leon Carroll and Timothy Carroll, granddaughter Christy Pitts, brother Leon Thornton, and sister Ruby.

Peggy was born on May 13, 1928, in Stilwell, OK. As a child, she was fiercely protective of her little brother Perry and began teaching Bible school at a very young age. Peggy was runner-up football queen and class secretary at Bagley High

was an inspiration to others and took joy in every moment she could. She was devoted to her husband Steven, and each and every one of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

She loved the people her family married and the friends they brought to her home.

She will be greatly missed and has left a valued legacy of a life well lived.

She is survived by Brothers; James Simmons and Glenn Simmons

following year he married his high school sweetheart, Helen, daughter of Leverette and Hazel House. They soon bought a home, and he was promptly drafted into the United States Army. The young couple spent almost two years in Red Bank, New Jersey, where Abe served as a cryptographer and Helen a worked as a medical secretary.

They were glad to resume their life in Brawley with their Labrador retriever, Princess, and Abe became active in local services clubs, coached Little League, and joined Masonic Lodge 402 in Brawley. Abe and Helen purchased Seaside Oil Company distributorship and he developed that into Seabolt Company (a petroleum distributorship).

They started their family in 1964 and enjoyed supporting their children’s activities through Girls Scouts, MYF, Job’s Daughters, and BUHS Athletics.

Abe was elected to the Brawley City Council, serving as Mayor twice. He used this opportunity for public service to ensure that municipal water and sewer was extended to the east side of Brawley. He was also proud to be a member of a council that left Brawley with a $1,000,000.00 surplus. He was elected to the Imperial County Board of Supervisors representing District 4, serving three terms, during which he

School in Tahlequah. She worked for Hillcrest hospital as a nurse’s aide for more than 30 years.

Peggy, a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation, was a fantastic cook, her specialties being cream puffs and chicken and dumplings and legendary gardener, once growing a 10-foot-tall okra plant.

Up until her late 80s, she mowed her own lawn and edged it with shears and could be seen walking a mile round-trip to Batman’s Good Food. In her free time, she enjoyed sewing quilts by hand, ballroom dancing, visiting neighbors, and shopping at Community Thrift Store. She will be remembered for her generosity, strength, and sense of humor.

Children; Mae Dean Erb and spouse Jimmy J. Erb, Johnny Johnson and spouse Linda Johnson, Linda Smith and spouse John Smith, Joe Johnson and spouse Carol Ann Johnson Grandchildren and GreatGrandchildren; Aaron Johnson and spouse David Shouse, child Wardell, Steven Clark White and spouse Libby White, child Dekland, Julie Ann Alvarez and spouse Naun Alvarez, child Lili Mae, Darci and spouse Mark Clift, children Asher, Alexandria and Anniston; Johnnie Lynee Johnson and spouse Janet Hubler, child Haley, Joe Johnson Jr. and spouse Melissa Johnson, child Emily, David Erb and spouse Kimberly Erb, children Zachary, Zoe and Zenee, Joseph Lewis Erb and spouse Melissa Lewis, child Amayi, Hannah and spouse Mark Walker, children Cole, Jack and Wren, Tim Johnson and spouse Jennifer Johnson, children Rowan, Cynder, Toren, Lydia, Ike, and Ian. Preceded in Death by her parents Kelly and Lila Pearl (Pack) Simmons, husband Steven Johnson, brothers Roy Simmons, Paul Simmons, Floyd Simmons and Joseph Kelly Simmons and sister LaVenia Dean Simmons

missed only two board meetings. He deeply cared about the people of Imperial County, and worked diligently to ensure that the needs of all his constituents were considered, including the people of Salton City, Calipatria, Niland, and Bombay Beach.

Abe retired to Julian, California, where he raised chickens and game birds, and tended to his garden. He loved his grandchildren and, as an accomplished carpenter, made them cradles, desks, and toys. He enjoyed riding his horse to town every morning for a coffee and a newspaper. He loved the mountain, but consented to retiring to Rancho Bernardo, California in 2014. Abe Franklin Seabolt was a citizen of the Cherokee Nation; the Blue Holly Clan; from the Benge, Lowrey, Seabolt, and Watts Cherokee families and can trace back 300 years to Oo-Loo-Tsa. The family would like to thank Dr. Stephen R. Corday, MD and the staff at the Corday Medical Group for their outstanding care over the last twenty years. Without it, Abe would not have enjoyed such a wonderful final act.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to Masonic Lodge 402, 178 South Plaza Street, Brawley, CA 92227 or the Brawley First United Methodist Church, 133 K Street, Brawley, CA 92227.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • JANUARY 15, 2019

Oklahoma health board approves marijuana edibles rules OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin will soon consider food safety rules on marijuana edibles, which advocates say should help bring clarity to the cannabis-infused food market.

The Oklahoma Board of Health voted Dec. 11 to send the rules to Fallin for approval.

The rules follow similar guidelines for foods that don’t have THC, but do include additional labeling and testing requirements, said Buffy Heater, the project manager for the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. THC is the compound in marijuana that causes a high.

Processers will be required to include the amount of THC on the label of all edible products, as well as the number to Poison Control in case of accidental ingestion.

Processors must also conduct quarterly tests on products for contaminants, such as bacteria, mold, metals and chemical residues.

Products that fail testing would then be recalled.

7 flu deaths reported in Oklahoma by health department OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma health officials say seven people have died from influenza during the current flu season that began Sept. 1.

The Oklahoma Department of Health said Dec. 13 that six victims were 65 years of age or older and one was between 50 and 64.

Six of the deaths were in northeastern Oklahoma and the seventh was in the state’s southwest.

The department says about 150 people have been hospitalized due to the flu, with 39 in Tulsa County and 10 in Oklahoma County making up nearly one-third of the hospitalizations.

The Health Department says 291 people died due to the flu during Oklahoma’s 2017-2018 flu season, the most since the agency began tracking flu deaths in 2009.

W.W. Hastings Campus expansion continues TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Nation in 2019 continues its plan to expand and modernize its health services facilities for future generations of tribal citizens, officials said.

In October, Principal Chief Bill John Baker announced a partnership with Oklahoma State University Center of Osteopathic Medicine to begin the first tribally affiliated medical school in the country.

To achieve this mission, the tribe has plans to build a stateof-the art facility for the medical school on the W.W. Hastings campus.

Plans include razing the current annex building housing optometry services to pave the way for the medical school’s new infrastructure. A cost analysis determined that construction of a new facility is more cost-efficient than renovations to modernize the existing structure.

Beginning the week of Jan. 7, the annex was to be closed to prepare for construction. Patients will temporarily receive optometry services at Northeastern State University’s Oklahoma College of Optometry building located at 1001 N. Grand Ave. “Cherokee Nation and the NSU School of Optometry have a long and storied history together and this is simply another chapter in our collaboration to provide excellence in eye care and vision preservation while we make history building a top-of-the-line medical school to home grow Cherokee doctors and more doctors for rural northeastern Oklahoma,” Baker said. “This unique collaboration with NSU and now OSU means we are aggressively addressing health care disparities and providing more and advanced services for our people.”

Hastings optometry patients will be taken care of at the NSU campus by optometrists and optometry residents from the Oklahoma College of Optometry until the new outpatient health facility opens later this year.

The new optometry clinic located in that facility is tentatively planned to open in August to serve tribal citizens.

Health • ᎠᏰᎸ ᏄᏍᏛ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ • ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019

Hastings in ‘substantial compliance’ with Medicare guidelines

BY CHAD HUNTER

Reporter

TAHLEQUAH — A federal health agency has deemed W.W. Hastings Hospital in “substantial compliance” with Medicare guidelines following a December inspection that was prompted by deficiencies noted in July.

To save its Medicare status, Hastings was required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to comply by Dec. 22 in three areas of deficiency — nursing services, pharmaceutical services and infections control.

CMS Enforcement Branch manager Karen Hillman addressed December’s successful inspection in a letter to Hastings. The Dec.

18 letter indicates a survey was conducted

by CMS and the Oklahoma State Department of Health the week prior. Inspectors “found W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital in substantial compliance with the applicable Medicare conditions of participation.”

“We have restored the ‘deemed’ status of your hospital and have transferred the survey jurisdiction back to the accrediting organization,” the letter states.

Hillman noted that under federal disclosure rules, plans to correct the deficiencies and the hospital’s comments on the survey findings become public records.

The hospital’s plan to address its deficiencies includes a “comprehensive training program” for nursing staff to ensure

initial and ongoing instruction, along with increased infection-control training to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

Hastings’ termination date from the Medicare program was initially Oct. 31, but that deadline was extended to Dec. 22 by request of CMS. In a previous letter, CMS stated that termination from the Medicare program “can only be averted by correction of the deficiencies, through submission of acceptable plans of correction and subsequent verification of compliance by CMS.” The July survey that initially noted the deficiencies followed a “lapse in protocol” at Hastings in which 186 patients were potentially exposed to cross-contamination.

Weaver has ‘dream job’ as pharmacist for Veterans Affairs Weaver is proud of her Cherokee heritage and is thankful the Cherokee Nation helped pay for her schooling at the University of Oklahoma.

By Will Chavez Assistant Editor OKLAHOMA CITY – Cassidy Weaver has been working at her job as an academic detailing pharmacist for six months and it has already been an adventure and what she had hoped for after attending college for seven years.

The 27 year-old Cherokee Nation citizen just moved back to Oklahoma and got a job as a pharmacist with Veterans Affairs.

Her “dream job” requires her to travel throughout Oklahoma, but she is based in Oklahoma City.

After graduating from Sallisaw High School in 2010, she attended Oklahoma University in Norman for her undergrad studies and four years of pharmacy school at OU’s Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. After graduating in 2017, she did a one-year pharmacy residency program in Gainesville, Florida, where she studied geriatric pharmacy to learn how to care for the elderly using pharmaceutical practices.

She said her job is “unique.”

“Typically, when you think of pharmacists, you think of a person who wears the white coat and counts the pills behind the counter at a pharmacy, but I work at the VA now, which is where I did my residency as well,” she said. “At the VA, the roles of pharmacists are a lot more expanded.

We have pharmacists with scopes of practice that can manage and treat high blood pressure, diabetes – they have prescriptive authority, which is really cool.”

She added her job is unique even for a pharmacist.

“Basically, academic detailing is an educational outreach for (medical) providers.

I meet one-on-one with providers to share information about evidence-based medicine.

So, I try to encourage them to prescribe at the highest level while adhering to our

clinical guidelines,” she said. “It’s a dream job really. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I finished residency. I did my residency in geriatrics, so I thought that would be great, and I still wanted to work in the VA because I think it’s a great place to work, and I like the patient population.”

Along with geriatrics, Weaver said she is interested in substance abuse or addiction, including opioid abuse. She explained being an academic detailing pharmacist was pretty close to what she was looking for in a job.

“I like to talk to people, and I like to have my own schedule and have a little more independence with my job,” she said. “So this job was like a perfect match because I get to talk about addiction, and I still get to have a hand in the care of older adults in that geriatric population in the VA, so it all just fell into place.”

She is assigned to serve VA patients throughout Oklahoma, so she has been traveling “a ton.” She splits her time between the two VA hospitals in Oklahoma City and Muskogee and also travels to VA clinics throughout the state quarterly or more often.

“I get to meet a lot of people. I’ve met so many doctors in the last six months,” she said. “A lot of my job is relationship building because I’m trying to motivate them (physicians and other providers) to perhaps change their prescribing behaviors.”

She has also traveled to Denver for regional VA meetings and has already traveled to Boston and Vancouver, Washington, for training during her first six months.

Being on the road in Oklahoma or flying to another state is fine with Weaver because she said she loves to travel. Also, by traveling from hospital to hospital or clinic to clinic and visiting with doctors about patient care, she gets to help more patients than she would being a pharmacist for one VA health facility.

“I feel like I’m able to help people on a much

COURTESY Cherokee Nation citizen attended the University of Oklahoma for a total of seven years to earn a degree in pharmacy. larger scale with this job, so I really like that, and I really enjoy the one-on-one interaction and getting to meet so many people and getting to travel and getting to talk about addiction and substance abuse, which is something I’m pretty passionate about.”

She is proud of her Cherokee heritage.

“I’m very, very proud to be Cherokee. I think the more people I’ve met and the more places I’ve gone, the prouder I get because living in Sallisaw you throw a rock and you’ll hit a Cherokee person,” she said.

“It’s great to talk about being Cherokee and have people ask me questions about being Cherokee. I think it’s a unique thing. I’m very proud of it.”

She added it’s likely she wouldn’t have been able to finish college without the Cherokee Nation’s help providing scholarships through seven years of school.

“I got scholarships every semester. Even in middle school and high school they gave me school supplies and health care,” she said. “I’ve used health care services at Three Rivers (Muskogee) and W.W. (Hastings in Tahlequah) and at Sallisaw (Redbird Clinic), and the interactions I had there with the pharmacists, that was part of my journey to want to become a pharmacist. I definitely attribute my path and a lot of my success to being a Cherokee.”

Opioid case has new complication: Babies born in withdrawal NEW YORK – The long-running federal court case seeking to hold drugmakers responsible for the nation’s opioid crisis has a new complication: How does it deal with claims covering the thousands of babies born to addicts?

Attorneys representing the children and their guardians want their claims separated from the federal case in Cleveland that involves hundreds of local governments and other entities such as hospitals. They were expected to argue that on Nov. 28 before a federal judicial panel in New York.

Babies, unlike governments or businesses, have been directly harmed by the actions of drugmakers and are entitled to their own payments, said Scott Bickford, a lead lawyer for the children and their guardians.

He said initial hospital stays for babies born to an opioid-addicted mother can cost $200,000 to $250,000 more than other infants born without complications.

“Then you have to address their developmental and learning problems,” Bickford said. “A lot of them have organ problems. A lot of them have problems we don’t even know about.”

Drug manufacturers and distributors oppose creating a new structure for the lawsuits over the children.

Separating the cases would “open the door to the inconsistency and inefficiency that coordinated proceedings are designed to avoid,” the manufacturers said in a legal filing.

Other plaintiffs in the omnibus opioid litigation have not objected formally, but some are cool to the idea of separating the cases involving the children. One of the lead lawyers for the local governments, Paul Farrell Jr., said he is trying to get help for children born with opioid dependency and have prenatal care funded by the drug industry.

He said all the plaintiffs share a goal: holding drug manufacturers liable for the crisis. Unless that happens, he said, no one would get the payouts they’re seeking.

“You’ve only got to shoot the pig once,” he said.

The dispute offers a window into the

complicated nature of the litigation in Cleveland, which is the main avenue to a potential nationwide settlement over the opioid crisis.

Opioids — including prescription painkillers, heroin and synthetic substances including fentanyl — killed nearly 48,000 Americans last year, according to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The cost of treatment, providing an overdose antidote, foster care, jail stays, ambulance runs and addressing a growing homeless crisis have added up for governments and taxpayers. Studies have found that opioid addiction also has depleted the workforce, harming the economy.

More than 1,400 plaintiffs have had their federal cases consolidated under a single judge. They include county and local governments, hospitals, unions, American Indian tribes and individuals. Hundreds of others have sued in state courts.

The federal judge, Cleveland-based Judge Dan Polster, has been pushing the parties to reach a settlement.

The sides have been negotiating regularly behind closed doors. The drug industry argues that it should not be held liable because its products are approved by the federal government and prescribed by doctors and because people who overdose often do so on illicit drugs.

Lawyers representing children and their guardians say there is precedent for their request to go it alone, after Polster granted the tribes a separate legal track for their claims.

In August, the judge denied similar status for the cases brought on behalf of babies.

That decision prompted the lawyers to ask the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to put their cases under another judge in West Virginia or Illinois. The federal panel in New York will decide whether to grant that request.

TOBY TALBOT/ASSOCIATED PRESS OxyContin pills are arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vermont. A panel of federal judges was expected to decide whether lawsuits filed on behalf of babies born to opioid-addicted mothers should be separated from a larger federal case. Lawyers representing the babies and their guardians say babies have been harmed directly by the opioid industry, unlike local governments, hospitals and other entities.

ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ

Education • ᏧᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗ

JANUARY 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

Backward wants more Cherokees at Naval Academy

CN donates $5.5K to Adair Schools ADAIR – The Cherokee Nation donated $5,500 to Adair Public Schools n November to help with the purchase of Chromebooks and support the school’s JohnsonO’Malley Program.

Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Tribal Council Deputy Speaker Victoria Vazquez delivered the checks to Adair Public Schools Superintendent Mark Lippe. Of $5,500 total donated, $5,000 will be used for the Chromebooks and the remainder for the JOM program.

Lippe said the donation is a major help to his school.

“We appreciate the Cherokee Nation and their constant support of our schools,” Lippe said.

Cherokee Nation citizen and Second-Class Midshipman Coby Backward is a junior at the U.S. Naval Academy. He is working to recruit Cherokees for the Navy Outlook Program.

BY GRANT NEUGIN Reporter SALINA – Second-Class Midshipman Coby Backward of Salina is a junior attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

The Cherokee Nation citizen knew in high school he wanted to join the military, but was never given much information. He said he did his own research to learn which branch would fit him the best. After graduating from Salina High School in 2016, he joined the Navy.

“Information for joining the military is not very well known in the Salina community,” Backward, who was home during the Christmas holiday, said. “I wanted to visit home so I can do my best to reach out to the Cherokee community and talk about the Navy.”

Backward said his goal is to reach other Cherokees to let them know the opportunities the Navy can provide. During his Christmas break, Backward visited schools and talked to media outlets. He

said he’s able to do this through the Navy’s Outlook Program, which helps the Navy get exposure in communities where it has little or none.

“There are tons of options for your future if you join the U.S. Naval Academy,” said Backward. “You can graduate through many services such as submarine, aviation and the Marine Corps.”

The Naval Academy provides a free education with all expenses paid. Those who become midshipmen will receive $1,087.80 per month, which covers the cost of laundry, barber, a cobbler, activity fees, yearbook and other services. Midshipmen also receive a monthly allowance of $100 in cash that will increase every year, and a job will be guaranteed for them upon graduation. All of these benefits are included in midshipmen’s experience in return for five years of active duty service upon graduation.

Backward will graduate the Naval Academy in 2020, and would like to receive a commission from the academy as an officer

Coby Backward in the Marine Corps.

“The minimum required years of service after graduation is five, but I’m not sure yet if I will get out after five years or stay in longer. That decision is farther down the road,” he said. “The Naval Academy has provided me with the leadership capabilities that will enable me to be successful in the military and my career after. Also, the people you meet during your four years here and the opportunities presented are amazing.”

For more information, contact a local recruiter or visit the U.S. Naval Academy website www.usna.edu.

Green graduates NM police academy at top of her class

By Will Chavez Assistant Editor

WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation employees Loretta Keener, accounting/finance supervisor, and Kristen Mankiller, contract specialist, hold certificates after recently partaking in a pilot program at Oklahoma State University that assists Native American tribes with accounting and finance training. The 28-hour pilot program is an effort of the OSU Spears School of Business and the Oklahoma Tribal Finance Consortium and the Native American Finance Officers Association.

OSU attracts tribal reps to finance, accounting training

BY STAFF REPORTS STILLWATER – Oklahoma State University recently kicked off a pilot program that will assist Native American tribes throughout the state with tribal accounting and finance training.

Cherokee Nation employees Loretta Keener, accounting/ finance supervisor, and Kristen Mankiller, contract specialist, recently took part in the program.

“This introductory program is an excellent tool for any finance staff looking to expand tribal accounting knowledge,” Keener said. “It provides a variety of training that directly impact tribal government programs.

I highly recommend this training to anyone beginning a tribal finance career or to anyone interested in tribal governmental accounting.”

The 28-hour pilot program attracted 20 participants representing 10 tribes or organizations, including the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, Bank2, Cherokee Nation, Chickasaw Nation, Choctaw Nation, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Delaware Nation, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Osage Nation and Wichita & Affiliated Tribes.

“The certificate program was absolutely valuable. Employees and leaders who participate in the training will bring back beneficial governmental accounting information to their tribe,” Mankiller said.

“It’s wonderful that Indian Country has this educational resource available for tribal finance and accounting.”

The program is an effort of the OSU Spears School of Business and the Oklahoma Tribal Finance Consortium and the Native American Finance Officers Association and is sponsored by the OSU School of Accounting and the Department of Finance.

“The program was created to address financial education needs expressed by the 38 tribal nations who are members of the Oklahoma Tribal Finance Consortium,” Victor Flores, president of the group, said.

“The purpose of this program is to strengthen the financial acumen of tribal leaders and tribal employees, which in turn advances tribal nation economics and strengthens tribal finance. Members of the OKTFC worked with the OSU Spears School of Business and NAFOA to develop this program tailored to Oklahoma tribal nations and specific to the needs voiced by our membership.”

Program subjects addressed federal Indian law, tribal government accounting and finance, grant practices and compliance, internal controls and compliance, fraud protection, government accounting, auditing procedures and regulations, preparing for an audit, tribal financial statements, effective record keeping, tax guide, cost principles, federal general uniform administrative requirements, closing out grants, ethics, indirect cost calculation, schedule of expenditures of federal awards and preparing budgets.

“The topics included in the program are relevant and are designed to assist entry level finance and accounting personnel as well as those leaders interested in the area of tribal government who would like to learn more about accounting and finance for governmental tribal practices,” Rachel Domnick, OSU School of Accounting instructor and program facilitator, said.

Beyond the introductory program, participants can apply to be a graduate of the OSU Tribal Institute. To be a graduate of the OSU Tribal Institute participants will complete the Introductory Tribal Finance and Accounting Certificate Program (four days, 28 hours) and the Tribal Leadership Certificate Program (four days, 24 hours).

Also, an Intermediate Tribal Finance and Accounting Certificate Program will be announced soon. For more information, see www.cepd. okstate.edu or call 405-744-5208.

7

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Tahlequah native Aariel Green graduated from the New Mexico State Police Academy on Dec. 14 at the top of her class as valedictorian.

The Farmington, N.M., resident and Cherokee Nation citizen began the academy on July 15 of this year. She graduated from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah last year with a degree in criminal justice.

“I wanted to go with the state police because their tradition is unmatched to any other agencies, and I want to help people that can’t help themselves such as abuse victims and children,” Green said. “To finish is unreal; I’ve accomplished things I never thought I could. I was pushed out of my comfort zone the entire academy and became confident in being out of my comfort zone.”

She said she grew up in a family of law enforcement officers. Her mother and

Aariel Green

stepfather are Cherokee Nation Marshals.

Her husband Skylar Green is also in law enforcement employed with the Bureau of

Indian Affairs.

Green, 24, was one of four female recruits to graduate the NMSPA on Dec. 14. Twenty-five recruits began NMSPA training in July and 16 graduated.

Green added she went into law enforcement after working for the Dist. 27 District Attorney Office, which includes Cherokee County. While working there she said she realized she wanted to work on cases first hand.

Information provided by the New Mexico State Police website states the police provide much more than highway patrol duties. The NMSP has statewide authority to investigate and enforce criminal statutes, motor vehicle statutes and administrative statutes and is a division of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.

Tribe applauds passage of JOM reform bill

BY STAFF REPORTS TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee Nation officials are applauding the recent signing of the Johnson-O’Malley Supplemental Indian Education Program Modernization Act by President Trump.

The bill is expected to establish a new baseline count of JOM-eligible Native students and institute a modern accurate allocation funding formula.

The federal funding formula for JOM has been frozen since 1995, and restrictive caps have limited the number of students served each year by the program.

The fiscal year 2018 federal budget allocated only $15 million of the estimated $42 million required for fully funding JOM in the United States.

Officials said the CN and leaders of the Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Tribes have made JOM reform legislation a priority, passing a resolution earlier this year in support of the bill and encouraging the federal government to stop a decades-long decline in perpupil funding.

“JOM reform is vital to the future of the Cherokee Nation and other tribes across the country,” Principal Chief Bill John Baker, who serves as president of the Inter-Tribal Council, said. “While per-pupil federal JOM allocations have declined, Indian Country has grown by leaps and bounds.

We must raise the bar. Here in the Cherokee Nation, we serve more than 26,000 students. With the passage of this bill, I believe we are poised to build a stronger future for the Cherokee Nation, for Oklahoma, and for all of Indian Country.”

The federal JOM Program provides books, fees, equipment and other necessities to hundreds of thousands of Native children across the country.

JOM programs also incorporate tribal cultures and heritages in school curriculum.

CN JOM Program Manager Mark Vance serves as vice president of the National Johnson-O’Malley Association and has spent years advocating for modernization of JOM funding methods.

“We’ve spent several decades advocating for reform, and I’m very pleased to see this bill signed,” Vance said. “JOM is incredibly important for students to retain a cultural connection to their tribe through education. It instills within them a sense of pride.

This bill is a major step in the right direction, and I look forward to seeing the positive changes it will make throughout Indian Country.”

Though federal JOM allocations have declined, the CN continues to invest millions of dollars into education each year. In FY 2018, the tribe gave 108 schools in northeast Oklahoma a total of more than $5.4 million from the sale of tribal car tags, bringing the total to about $50 million since 2002. The CN has nearly doubled funding for its Higher Education Scholarship Program from $8.5 million in 2003 to nearly $16 million last fall, increasing the number of scholarships awarded by 43 percent. More than 27,000 scholarships have been awarded in the past decade.

To learn more about the CN JOM, visit www.cherokee.org/ services/education.

Hoskin delivers OCIE keynote address LAWTON – Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. delivered the keynote address for the Oklahoma Council for Indian Education’s 39th annual Conference Dec. 4-5 at the Apache Casino Hotel.

The OCIE advocates throughout the state on behalf of Native American students and shares effective educational strategies that address cultural and academic needs of Native students. This year’s conference theme was “Tribal Sovereignty: Our Place in Education.”

“The Cherokee Nation is always looking to build strong partnerships with entities like the Oklahoma Council for Indian Education,” Hoskin said.

CN supports Chelsea FFA toy drive CLAREMORE – Tribal Councilor Keith Austin gave $1,500 from his community assistance funds to the Chelsea High School FFA to help with the group’s annual toy drive.

Austin presented the check to Chelsea FFA sponsor Travis Jinkens, President Courtney Jinkens and Reporter Keely Potteiger during a special Dist. 14 community partner appreciation breakfast at Cherokee Casino Will Rogers Downs.

Jinkens said the donation is a blessing to the group and community. In 2017, Chelsea FFA served 95 families through its toy drive.

“We want to thank the Cherokee Nation for stepping up and graciously offering a donation to help with the purchase of toys for the families we will serve,” Jinkens said.

Leeds named University of Arkansas’ economic development vice chancellor FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Cherokee Nation citizen Stacy Leeds, former dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law, has been appointed vice chancellor for economic development. She has served in the role on an interim basis since August 2017.

The Office of Economic Development directs and coordinates the university’s campus-wide efforts to expand economic opportunities and improve quality of life in Arkansas and beyond. Leeds will be responsible for assessing, increasing and communicating the university’s economic and social impacts.

“Stacy’s spirit of collaboration and administrative experience are a natural fit for this position that touches many offices around campus and is so important to the university’s land-grant mission,” Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz said. “She brings a deep knowledge of the state’s business community and nonprofit partners, providing a connection to university resources in talent development, research and innovation and stewardship of place.”

Leeds will oversee the offices of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Industry Engagement and Corporate and Foundation Relations, as well as The Sustainability Consortium, World Trade Center Arkansas, the Arkansas Research and Technology Park, Technology Ventures, the Small Business and Technology Development Center and the newly developed Tribal Governance and Economic Empowerment Consortium.

8

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • JANUARY 15, 2019

Services • ᎾᎾᏛᏁᎲ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ • ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019

CN citizens try solar panels on homes to lower utility costs The Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation is using a grant for the pilot program.

BY STAFF REPORTS

ARCHIVE Cora Lathrop, Cherokee Nation mortgage loan officer and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance coordinator, helps Eric and Christy Young, of Tahlequah, file their taxes as part of the tribe’s free VITA program.

CN to again offer tax prep service In 2018, 1,589 families saved an average of $200 in tax service fees via the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance.

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY Senior Reporter TAHLEQUAH – Beginning Jan. 15, income-eligible households can schedule appointments with the Cherokee Nation to prepare and file state and federal income taxes at no cost.

In partnership with the IRS, the tribe’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program has offered tax preparation services to eligible families for more than 30 years. In 2018, 1,589 families saved an average of $200 in tax service fees.

“Cherokee Nation’s longstanding partnership with the IRS helps lowto-moderate-income families keep the money they’ve earned and take advantage of tax credits they may be due, bringing additional money back into the household,” Shay Smith, CN Small Business Assistance Center director, said.

VITA is operated by the tribe’s Commerce Services and open to Native and non-Native families with annual household incomes that do not exceed $55,000. In addition to free filing, the

program gives taxpayers an opportunity to hold one-on-one discussions concerning their options.

Appointments can be scheduled at 13 tax prep sites including Tahlequah, Pryor, Westville, Stilwell, Sallisaw, Catoosa, Claremore, Jay, Salina, Muskogee, Vinita, Ochelata and Nowata. Walk-ins will be accepted at the Tahlequah and Westville sites.

Taxpayers must provide a photo ID; Social Security card and date of birth for each person listed on the return; individual taxpayer identification numbers; W-2s, 1099s; a copy of the previous year’s tax return; documentation of deductions; and bank account information for direct deposit.

Preparers may request additional documents.

Commerce Services officials also suggest individuals or families with less than $66,000 income visit www. myfreetaxes.com to prepare their own federal and state taxes at no cost to the taxpayer.

For information or to make an appointment, call 918-453-5536.

“Cherokee Nation’s longstanding partnership with the IRS helps low-to-moderate-income families keep the money they’ve earned and take advantage of tax credits...”

Shay Smith, SBAC director

VITA LOCATIONS AND TIMES Each site will be open at certain times and on certain days of the week: • Tahlequah – open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at CN O-Si-Yo Room, 17695 S. Muskogee Ave. Call 918-453-5536. Walk-ins accepted.

• Pryor – open Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at CN Career Services, 2945 Highway 69A. Call 918-772-4219.

• Westville – open Feb. 21, March 7 and March 21 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Westville Public Library, 116 N. Williams. Walk-ins only.

• Stilwell – open Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Wilma Mankiller Clinic, Highway 51 East. Call 918453-5536.

• Sallisaw – open Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation, 2260 W. Cherokee. Call 918-774-0770.

• Catoosa – open Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation, 310 Chief Stand Watie. Call 918-342-2607.

• Claremore – open Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation, 23205 S. Highway 66. Call 918-342-6807.

• Jay – open Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation, 1300 W. Cherokee. Call 918-253-4078.

• Salina – open Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at CN Food Distribution Site, 904 Owen Walters Blvd.

Call 918-207-3939.

• Muskogee – open every Monday in February, and March 8 and March 15 from 9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Three Rivers Health Clinic, 1001 S. 41st St. East. Call 918-772-4219.

• Vinita – open Feb. 7, Feb. 28, March 21 and April 11 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Vinita Health Center, 27371 S. 4410 Road. Call 918-342-2607.

• Ochelata – open Feb. 14, March 7 and March 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Cooweescoowee Health Clinic, 39500 W. 2900 Road. Call 918-342-2607.

• Nowata – open Feb. 21, March 14 and April 4 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Will Rogers Health Clinic, 1020 Lenape Drive. Call 918-342-2607.

TAHLEQUAH – A Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation pilot program is using solar energy panels on several Cherokee Nation citizens’ homes to save on monthly utility costs.

The program is funded through an Indian Community Development Block Grant, which covered the cost of installing solar panels on 17 homes the HACN was remodeling for elders.

Installations began in October 2017 and so far, families living in the energy efficient homes have saved an average of 50 percent on their monthly electric bills, officials said.

“We know that solar energy is both renewable and plentiful, and over time, more and more homes around the country are taking advantage of this resource,” HACN Executive Director Gary Cooper said. “This pilot program in the Cherokee Nation gives us the opportunity to not only reduce utility costs for Cherokee families, but to study whether it is feasible to place solar panels on more homes in the future. So far we have received excellent feedback from homeowners.”

Electricity consumption, direct hours of daily sunlight, the size and angle of a home’s roof, local electricity rates and the size of the solar panel system all play a role in determining how much a family can save on utility costs by using solar panels, officials said.

“The Cherokee Nation has been a trend-setter in Indian Country when it comes to its use of renewable energy, so it should not be surprising to see the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation using this pilot project to find even more opportunities,” Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “It is clear that Cherokee families who are participating in this program have seen great benefits to their budget, while our

environment is also benefitting. That’s the kind of win-win scenario we’re always looking for in the tribe.”

CN citizen Linda Gifford and her husband, Johnny, live in Spavinaw, a small community of around 450 residents in northeast Mayes County.

When the HACN began a rehab project on the couple’s home, the Giffords agreed to participate in the solar panel project.

Like other participating families, the Giffords’ electric bills have seen reductions since the panels were installed.

“The impact of these solar panels has been quite noticeable at our home,” Linda said. “They have cut our utility bill each month. We relied on window air units to cool our house in the summer. In 2017, we paid around $180 one month for our electricity bill, and in 2018 during that same month, we paid a little over $70 with the solar panels installed. We are thankful for the opportunity to participate and appreciate the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation for approaching us about it.”

Placement of solar panels cost an average of around $19,780 per home, but varied depending on the home’s location, the size of the solar panel system, agreements with utility companies and other factors.

The solar panels carry a 10-year warranty and will be monitored quarterly with rural Wi-Fi or a cellular network. The tribe is evaluating the results of the pilot program and is looking for future grant opportunities that would provide more solar panels for the homes of Cherokee families.

There are six homes in Adair County with the panels, three in Cherokee County, four in Mayes County, one in Muskogee and Sequoyah counties and two in Rogers County.

CNB donates $10K for elder/vet subscriptions Using the Cherokee Phoenix Elder/Veteran Fund, citizens who are 65 and older, as well as military veterans, can apply for free one-year subscriptions.

BY TRAVIS SNELL Assistant Editor TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee Nation Businesses officials recently donated $10,000 to the Cherokee Phoenix’s Elder/Veteran Fund, which provides free subscriptions of its twice-monthly newspaper to elders and veterans who are Cherokee Nation citizens.

“The Elder/Veteran Fund was put into place to provide free subscriptions to our Cherokee elders and veterans,” Executive Editor Brandon Scott said.

“Some of our elders and vets are on a very limited budget, and other items have a priority over buying a newspaper subscription. The donations we receive have a real world impact on our elders and vets, so every dollar donated to the Elder/Veteran Fund is significant.”

Using the Cherokee Phoenix fund, elders who are 65 and older, as well as any Cherokee veteran, can apply to receive free one-year subscriptions by visiting, calling or writing the Cherokee Phoenix office and requesting a subscription.

The Cherokee Phoenix office is located in the Annex Building on the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex. The postal address is Cherokee Phoenix, P.O. Box 948, Tahlequah, OK 74465. To call about the fund, dial 918-207-4975 or 918-453-5269 or email justin-smith@cherokee.org or joy-rollice@cherokee.org.

Subscription rates are $15 for one year and apply to either the physical

newspaper, which is delivered to the subscriber’s home via the U.S. Post Office, or an electronic PDF version that can be obtained at https://issuu.com/ store/publishers/cherokeephoenix1828/ issues/2019-01.2-01.

No income guidelines have been specified for the Elder/Veteran Fund, and free subscriptions will be given as long as funds last.

“We are proud to support the Cherokee Phoenix and its long history of keeping Cherokee Nation citizens informed,” CNB CEO Shawn Slaton said. “We are extremely pleased to see the subscription fund continue to grow and bring important information and updates to Cherokee elders and veterans.”

Tax-deductible donations for the fund can also be sent to the Cherokee Phoenix by check or money order specifying the donation for the Cherokee Phoenix Elder/Veteran Fund.

Cash is also accepted at the Cherokee Phoenix offices and local events where Cherokee Phoenix staff members are accepting Elder/Veteran Fund donations.

Those who donate also have entries submitted into the Cherokee Phoenix’s quarterly artist giveaway. For every $10 donated or spent on Cherokee Phoenix merchandise, a person gets one entry into the quarterly drawing.

The Cherokee Phoenix will hold its first 2019 quarterly drawing on April 1 when it gives away a necklace and matching earrings by artist Brandi Brown.

Money • ᎠᏕᎳ

ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ

JANUARY 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

9

Butler helps people reach financial goals Cherokee Nation citizen Tanya Butler is a financial adviser with the Edward Jones investment company.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

BROKEN ARROW – Tanya Butler, a Cherokee Nation citizen and financial adviser, has been working for the investment company, Edward Jones, for the past 16 years helping people reach their financial goals.

She said Edward Jones aims to advise clients on retirements, education planning, estate planning and other financial savings plans they might have.

“As a financial adviser, we work one-on-one with clients to understand what’s important to them. Then we use an established process, what we call personalized strategies, to help our clients achieve their financial goals. Then we partner together throughout their lifetime to keep them on track for those goals,” Butler said.

Butler said she uses a five-step process to identify a client’s needs by gathering information of the client’s current financial picture and translate it into what is called SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Balanced).

COURTESY Cherokee Nation citizen Tanya Butler is a financial adviser with the Edward Jones investment company in Broken Arrow. She works with people to help them achieve their financial goals.

“We really have to look at all aspects of it because it all comes into play. It’s a lot of fun to see people reach their goals.

They’ll come into the office and just aren’t sure if they’ll be able to retire, if they’ll have to work until they’re 90.

Then we sit down and look at what they currently have in place and what we can

offer them at Edward Jones. It’s very rewarding to watch them sit back and relax, smile and say ‘Yeah, I can do what I want to do,’” Butler said.

At Edward Jones, Butler is also part of a new strategy called diversity and inclusion, which is a “nationwide initiative to advance diversity and

inclusion in the workplace as a means to improve corporate performance, drive growth and enhance employee engagement,” according to the Edward Jones website.

Butler said as a CN citizen, diversity and inclusion are important to her and will help the company reach a more underserved population.

“In order for us to effectively serve the diverse communities that represent the entire fabric of our country, we have to become more diverse and inclusive.

People like to do business with firms that are representative of them and understand their needs. People like to work for firms who value who they are. So diversity and inclusion enables us to learn about and understand the unique needs and nuances of different ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds. So with that knowledge and understanding, we can embrace a different perspective and embrace the knowledge to deliver outstanding service to our clients,” she said.

She said for Edward Jones to maintain its competitive edge or be the preferred financial services firm it’s been known to be, it must integrate those elements to better serve others.

“We like to do business with people who look like us and understand our needs. So that’s important,” Butler said.

For more information, visit www. edwardjones.com.

CN honors TERO-certified companies The Tribal Employment Rights Office has more than 820 Indian-owned companies that are TERO certified and able to do business with the tribe.

BY STAFF REPORTS

COURTESY Cherokee CRC, a division of Cherokee Nation Businesses, recently completed a two-year project for the construction of two dormitories at Riverside Indian School in Anadarko. The company is now one of seven companies to support a five-year $500 million contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Cherokee CRC to join BIA construction effort The Cherokee Nation-owned company is expected to support a $500 million contract.

BY STAFF REPORTS TULSA – Cherokee CRC, Cherokee Nation Businesses subsidiary, is one of seven companies chosen to support a five-year contract with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, according to a CNB release.

The BIA’s recent National Multiple Award Construction Contract includes work on buildings and facilities located throughout the United States and Indian Country.

“This is a wonderful victory for CCRC and a significant opportunity for small business,” Steven Bilby, president of Cherokee Nation’s diversified businesses, said. “We are pleased to be utilizing our broad range of capabilities and extensive experience to support and grow our partnership with the Department of Interior.”

The release states that Cherokee CRC will begin the contract’s first project by installing a water line to the rural community of Bear Springs, New Mexico.

The water line project, at the nearby Old Fort Wingate Elementary School site, will bring a consistent water supply to the rural Bear Springs community. The line is expected to provide clean, safe drinking water and a sufficient water source to fight fires.

The BIA owns the water and sewer lines at the 25-acre Wingate tract. Cherokee CRC has the potential to earn more than $3 million through the water line project, the release states.

“Cherokee Nation Businesses’ environmental and construction companies have a great history with the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” Jodie Gilbert, Cherokee CRC program manager, said. “With this award, we will be able to utilize the relationships we have built over the years to serve the BIA and the Native American people in an even greater capacity.”

The NMACC projects include construction, renovation, demolition, equipment and piping repair or replacement, as well as electrical, mechanical and site work. It may also include roofing, painting, fencing installation, removal and disposal of lead based paint or asbestos containing materials, welding, masonry and installing renewable energy source technologies.

According to the release, Cherokee CRC is an environmental, construction and professional services company that provides government agencies and commercial clients with custom-tailored services to fit their specific needs. It is headquartered in Tulsa and certified by the Small Business Administration as a Tribal 8(a), Small Disadvantaged and HUBZone business.

For more information, visit http://cherokee-crc.com.

CATOOSA – The Cherokee Nation honored hundreds of Native-owned businesses during its 11th annual TERO Certified Indian Owned Business Awards Banquet recently at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.

“Eleven years ago we had around 330 TERO-certified vendors, and today that number is well over 800,” Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden said. “Cherokee Nation has, by far, the largest and most progressive TERO program in Indian Country. It is growing more and more each year and enabling more Cherokees to earn a quality job and make a good living. These Indianowned businesses are vital to northeast Oklahoma’s economy.”

The CN Tribal Employment Rights Office has more than 820 Indian-owned companies that are TEROcertified vendors able to do business with the tribe and compete for government contracting jobs. In fiscal year 2018, TERO vendors earned more than $40 million in contracts with the tribe.

“I am so grateful to our TERO certified businesses, because they have played such a vital role in Cherokee Nation’s economic growth,” Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “The ripple effect of Cherokee Nation’s recent economic success is evident when you see the growth of Cherokee Nation certified TERO businesses.

We are not only helping Natives establish and succeed in business with the awarding of contracts, but also indirectly providing even more jobs to all Native people through our TERO vendors.”

Nine of the TERO-certified businesses received special recognition for their outstanding performances as part of the annual awards banquet.

Turtle Nation Engraving, located in Proctor,

received the Retail Business of the Year award. The company has been a TERO vendor since 2013. It has completed a number of projects for the CN since becoming a TERO vendor.

“Being the TERO Retail Business of the Year is a great honor and something we are extremely proud of.

Receiving the award with our boys present was a very grateful moment,” John Turtle, owner of Turtle Nation Engraving, said. “Being TERO certified has been a huge asset to our company over the past five years.

Majority of our jobs come from being TERO certified and we would not be the business we are today without TERO.” The nine certified Indian-owned businesses for 2018 are: · Woman-Owned Business of the Year – L & H Services, Tahlequah, · Pioneer Award – C & L Supply, Vinita, · Community Leadership Award – Frame Tek, Bixby, · Consulting Firm of the Year – HP Engineering, Rogers, Arkansas, · Customer Service Award – Maska Builders, Jenks, · Retail Business of the Year – Turtle Nation Engraving, Proctor, · Small Business of the Year – Walkingstick Painting, Westville, · Large Business of the Year – Lynxsystems, Tulsa, and · Construction Company of the Year – Contech Inc., Broken Arrow.

The tribe’s TERO also presented Cherokee Elder Care a check for more than $17,000.

The money was raised through the annual TERO golf tournament and will help provide Christmas gifts to Cherokee Elder Care participants this year.

CNB company provides DHA security services

BY STAFF REPORTS TULSA – The Defense Health Agency’s Mission Assurance recently selected Cherokee Nation Security & Defense to provide safety, security and occupational health support to all DHA personnel and facilities.

CNSD, a Cherokee Nation Businesses subsidiary, is working to identify, address and minimize any risks to DHA staff or its properties, including security vulnerabilities and safety hazards.

“We are pleased to continue growing and expanding our relationship with the Department of Defense,” Steven Bilby, president of Cherokee Nation’s diversified businesses, said. “It is an honor to support the DHA in its mission of improving health care for soldiers, veterans and their families.”

The tribally owned company will inspect all DHA locations for existing or potential hazards. CNSD’s teams will develop recommended systems, procedures and organizational changes. They will also conduct operational reviews to ensure safety and security benchmarks are implemented and maintained.

“We are very proud of the work our team is doing in service of DHA and its many employees,” Brandon Hill, CNSD operations general manager, said. “We are

working to ensure the staff, patients and visitors of our country’s Military Health System remain safe and secure while spending time at DHA properties.”

DHA has facilities located in Aurora, Colorado; Arlington and Falls Church, Virginia; San Diego; San Antonio; and Silver Springs, Maryland.

The DHA is a joint, integrated Combat Support Agency that enables the Army, Navy and Air Force to be medically ready in both peacetime and wartime. It provides integrated, affordable and high quality medical services to Military Health System beneficiaries and is responsible for driving the integration of health care and business processes across all branches, including care in military clinics, hospitals, medical centers, satellite locations and patient-centered medical homes.

CNSD specializes in comprehensive services that secure facility perimeters against all threats. It implements smart design, cutting-edge technology and proven mitigation strategies into command and control stations. The company provides comprehensive turnkey solutions to help maximize simplicity and security.

CNSD is headquartered in Tulsa. For more information, visit http://www.cherokeesecurity.com.

Cherokee Nation Mission Solutions services military base

BY STAFF REPORTS

TULSA – Cherokee Nation Mission Solutions, a Cherokee Nation Businesses subsidiary, is providing enhanced emergency communications services to parts of Tennessee and Kentucky through the Emergency Communications Center at Fort Campbell.

“Our mission is to provide soldiers, family members, citizens and visitors of Fort Campbell the most professional, courteous, efficient and effective emergency and non-emergency communications as possible,” Tabitha Frost, CNMS operations general manager, said. “At all times, we are focused on assuring the safety of all responders and preserving and protecting the lives and property on base and its

surrounding areas.”

According to a CNB press release, during its fiveyear contract with the U.S. Army, CNMS will provide personnel, management, administration and clerical functions as needed to dispatch emergency first responders, monitor intrusion detection and fire alarm systems, perform National Crime Information Center queries and provide a non-emergency telephone answering service at the base.

The fort is located between Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee. It consists of more than 112,000 acres and more than 3,500 buildings with a population of nearly 55,000, including military, government, civilian and contract personnel, as well as family members of residents.

10

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • JANUARY 15, 2019

People • ᏴᏫ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ • ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019

New Sallisaw head coach hopes to revive winning culture

Randon Lowe was named head football coach at Sallisaw High School with expectations to revive the winning culture lost in the past couple of seasons.

BY GRANT NEUGIN Reporter

SALLISAW – In 1988, Randon Lowe was in elementary school when he went to his first football camp.

Waiting for him there was head football coach of Sallisaw at the time, Ron Etheridge. Coach Etheridge won two state championships in the early 1980s and currently works as the deputy executive director of Cherokee Nation Education Services.

During the camp, Lowe noticed all of the coaches having fun and enjoying themselves while they coached the youth. After the football camp was over, he knew exactly what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

Lowe started taking mental notes of every coach’s teaching style through every sport he played. When he arrived at Sallisaw High School as a freshman in 1994, there was a new football head coach in charge, Ron Lancaster. Coach Lancaster eventually retired with more than 300 wins, a state championship with two different Oklahoma 6A high school football teams and a state championship in California. Lowe said he took mental notes of everything Coach Lancaster did.

“I wanted to mold my coaching philosophies around Coach Lancaster the most. He is one of the best, and definitely the best high school football coach I have ever met,” Lowe said. “He was a good mentor to me and gave me great opportunities to coach with him.”

Immediately following Lowe’s graduation from West Texas A&M University in 2003, Coach Lancaster hired the 23-year-old as an offensive coordinator at Muskogee High School.

Lowe began sharing an offensive scheme he learned while in college known as the “air raid” offense. Lowe would often visit Texas Tech with the WTAMU coaches where the Red Raiders coaching staff would share their knowledge of the offense. During that time, TTU had

COURTESY PHOTOS ABOVE LEFT: Sallisaw head football Coach Randon Lowe speaks to his team’s quarterback during a timeout. ABOVE RIGHT: Coach Lowe speaks to his players during a timeout. Lowe just completed his first year as head coach of the football team. BELOW: Sallisaw head football Coach Randon Lowe walks the sideline preparing for his opponent.

“I would have never come to Sallisaw if there was no pressure from the community to win. I am doing what it takes to revive the culture of Sallisaw football.”

Sallisaw head coach Randon Lowe offensive masterminds Mike Leach and Lincoln Riley on staff.

Lowe did not stay with Muskogee High School long. He instead moved around to get a change of scenery and to gain more knowledge of the game. He ended up coaching as an offensive coordinator at Stillwell, Sallisaw, Roland, Broken Arrow, Tahlequah Sequoyah, Locust Grove and the University of North Texas.

In 2006, Lowe also went back to Muskogee High School to be the OC with head coach at the time, Matt Henessy.

During Lowe’s five years with Muskogee, they made it to the 6A high school semifinals every year. Muskogee’s football success earned them the nickname, “Legion of Doom.” In 2013, Lowe coached with Henessy for a second time at Locust Grove and helped change the culture.

Lowe’s “air raid” offense has been successful at every school where he has coached.

Lowe has also been fortunate to coach some great athletes in his career, such as Archie Bradley, Arizona Diamondbacks

pitcher; Brayden “Cub” Scott, Memphis quarterback; Stacy McGee, Washington Redskins defensive end; Robert Thomas, Buffalo Bills defensive tackle; Zach Veach, Oklahoma State tight end; Mason Fine, North Texas quarterback; Jason Purdle, North Texas wide receiver; and Manny Bunch, Tulsa University free safety.

“Pressure is privilege,” said Lowe.

“I would have never come to Sallisaw if there was no pressure from the community to win. I am doing what it takes to revive the culture of Sallisaw football.”

Sallisaw went 3-7 in 2018, but the school has a rich history of winning with 20 district championships, eight semifinal playoff appearances, two runner-up state championship trophies and two state championships. Lowe coming into his first head coaching position knows how tough Sallisaw athletes are and believes he can win with the players who are currently on the team.

His family, which includes daughters

Julie, Maggie and Carlie Lowe, son Mickey Joe Lowe and wife Amber Lowe are his biggest support group. With his family by his side and the Sallisaw community behind him, Lowe is determined to make next season better than the last.

Luper begins media career with Lakes Country

After completing an internship, Colby Luper became an on-air personality and eventually production designer at Lakes Country Radio.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee Nation citizen Colby Luper is succeeding in his media career as Lakes Country Radio’s on-air personality and production director.

After completing a 2017 internship during his junior year at Northeastern State University, Lakes Country hired Luper to host an afternoon program and produce commercials. Luper is studying media studies at NSU and is expected to graduate in May. “After my internship was over, I was a good fit here. They liked the work and I guess the effort that I put in to learn how to do all the duties around here. So they hired me as an on-air personality. So it was like I’m still in school, it would be cool to have a job that’s in the media field so I can build that experience,” Luper said.

Luper said he started as an on-air personality for the AM station Billy Country and eventually became production director for his work producing commercials.

“Being an on-air personality is fun.

I really like that. On Billy Country, we focus mostly on classic country music.

When a song plays, I might come in to do a break and I’ll just talk about naming the songs on the radio in case somebody doesn’t know. I’ll let people know what they just heard and what’s coming up later on in the hour,” he said.

He also announces events happening in the Cherokee County area and tries to throw in “fun stuff” such as information about country artists and country music.

“I’ll throw in some fun things, but I don’t have any regular bits, nothing like characters or anything like that yet.

That’s something I would like to work on in the future, but right now it’s kind of just getting information out about promoting the local community,” he said.

He said while being trained to be an on-air personality, he didn’t have to create a radio voice. He just kept it conversational as if he’s hanging out with a listener. But he said he draws inspiration for his work from TV personalities.

“I do like a lot of TV personalities like David Letterman, who also have some background in radio. They also have a

very presentational voice and interviewstyle conversations where they’re just having a conversation with somebody, where they’re just sort of in a more intimate and relaxed tone than like a big announcer-type personality. I think that, that is pretty cool, when you can just be somebody who a listener or a viewer would like to sit down and talk to as well,” Luper said.

As for commercial production, he was able to also develop that skill after being hired. “I started helping out with commercial production, and I just started

voicing spots. Then I would learn how to produce them myself, so if somebody needed me to make a spot, I could come in and read it, produce it fully myself.”

He said it’s how he was offered the position of production designer in addition to his on-air personality work.

He communicates with vocal talents across the country to read scripts, and he produces them by adding music or sound effects.

“I’ll send our scripts to people all over the country to have them voice it so that we can put their voice on our station,

help diversify the voices that we have here because if it was just the four or five people in the station at a time and I used those same voices all the time, then our voices would get stale,” he said.

Luper said upon graduation, he would like to go into television or film though he enjoys radio.

“I’m not sure exactly how I can move into that field. I’ve considered looking at Cherokee Nation as a potential employer in the future. But radio is something that I enjoy, but I’m also interested in other things as well. So it kind of depends on which life takes me,” he said.

Luper is featured on Afternoons with Colby Luper from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Monday through Friday on Billy Country KEOK 96.3 FM or 1350 AM.

“Being an on-air personality is fun. I really like that. On Billy Country, we focus mostly on classic country music.”

Colby Luper, Cherokee Nation citizen

LINDSEY BARK/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation citizen Colby Luper works at Lakes Country radio station in Tahlequah as an on-air personality for Billy Country and as a production designer producing commercials.

ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ

Culture • ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏁᎵᏓᏍᏗ

JANUARY 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

Waytula fuses Indigenous culture, contemporary art

Clay Walker returns to The Joint at Hard Rock on Jan. 25

Cherokee artist and former art teacher Bryan Waytula shares his culture through the art he creates.

BY GRANT NEUGIN Reporter SAND SPRINGS – Cherokee artist Bryan Waytula expresses his culture through various art forms such as pop, portrait and pointillism.

“Growing up I was trying to find my niche, just something I was good or excelled at,” Waytula said. “Growing up I was always at my grandma’s house on the weekends. Both my sister, mom and grandma would weave baskets and teach me how to do the same.”

Waytula was raised in the Cherokee culture and at a young age was introduced to the art of traditional basket weaving with honeysuckle. He never could quite get the hang of it like his sister or mother, so instead his grandmother gave him crayons and paper to be creative. The 2-D world soon became his favorite place to play.

When he started elementary school, Waytula got the opportunity to be in an art class. This was a class he excelled in. Later, he won an award for most outstanding artist.

He carried his artistry on to Sapulpa High School where he earned an art scholarship to the University of Oklahoma.

After receiving his degree in visual communications at OU in 2002, Waytula decided to join a vinyl company and did freelancing on the side. He ending up disliking his job and decided to go back to school.

“I got tired of putting people’s bad ideas on shirts and banners and wanted to teach art while coaching basketball,” said Waytula.

“I wanted to get my teaching degree from Northeastern State University because I was familiar with the institution. My mother is from Tahlequah and my dad, who was from Chicago, played basketball at NSU.”

Bryan Waytula finishes a picture of a crane for a family member.

COURTESY PHOTOS Bryan Waytula’s popular “Storyteller” portrait is drawn in his own style of pointillism, a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image.

In 2006, Waytula graduated from NSU with a degree in secondary education. He was certified to both teach and coach. Waytula wanted to give back to the community and decided that teaching art to students was the best way to go. He ended up retiring after teaching for 13 years with three different high schools, Chapman High School, Sapulpa High School and Metro Christian Academy in Tulsa.

Waytula is now able to take part in more art shows during what used to be a school year. He gets invited to shows across the country including shows in Santa Fe, the Indian Art Market at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles and the Cherokee Art Market in Tulsa. His ability to paint portraits with pointillism - a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image, create awareness of Native appropriation in graphic designs and fuse Indigenous culture with contemporary art - makes his work both riveting and inspiring.

For more information, follow Bryan Waytula on Facebook or visit his website www.bryanwaytula.com.

Daniel H. Wilson Named Guest Editor of TCJ Student

Cherokee Nation citizen Daniel H. Wilson is the author of the New York Times bestselling “Robopocalypse” and its bestselling sequel “Robogenesis.”

BY STAFF REPORTS

WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Bryce Adair, of Alva, won a collection of seven books by the late Cherokee author Robert J. Conley. His widow, Evelyn Conley, donated the books in 2018.

Cherokee Phoenix announces quarterly giveaway winner

Bryce Adair, of Alva, wins a collection of books by the late Cherokee author Robert J. Conley.

BY STAFF REPORTS TAHLEQUAH – Congratulations to Bryce Adair, of Alva, for winning the Cherokee Phoenix’s fourthquarter giveaway contest.

Adair won a collection of seven books by the late Cherokee author Robert J. Conley. His widow, Evelyn Conley, donated the books in 2018.

He joins Naomi Birdtail, of Tahlequah; Dusty Helbling, of Ozark, Arkansas; James McNew, of El Dorado, Kansas; Geneva Collins, of Park Hill; Steven Rice, of Bartlesville; Patrick Swartz, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Charlotte Foster from Chelsea; Dana Parks from Brownsboro, Texas; Nan Butler, of Wellston, Wauneta Wine of Columbia, Maryland; and Dale Easky of St. Clair, Missouri, as Cherokee Phoenix quarterly giveaway winners.

Birdtail won a handmade buffalo tooth necklace by Cherokee artist Sherri Hattori.

Helbling won a custom 12foot, two-piece fishing pole by Larry Fulton of Larry’s Bait and Tackle in Fort Gibson.

McNew won a loom-woven blanket by Cherokee weaver Janice Dreadfulwater, of Tahlequah. Collins won a handcrafted wooden art by Cherokee artist Jay Cox of Notchietown Hardwoods. Rice

won a booger mask and scissorcut art by Tana Washington of Scissor Cut Art. Swartz won an 18-inch-by-24-inch limitededition giclee on canvas titled “Gifts of Life” by Traci Rabbit of Rabbit Studios. Foster won a finger-woven belt made by Cherokee artist Jules Brison of Waterspider Creations.

Parks won beaded jewelry made by Native Uniques owner Samantha Barnes. Butler won four painted tiles by Cherokee artist MaryBeth Timothy of MoonHawk Art. Wine won a carving by Cherokee sculptor Matthew Girty, and Easky won a knife by Cherokee knife maker Ray Kirk.

The Cherokee Phoenix will hold its first 2019 quarterly drawing on April 1 when it gives away a necklace and matching earrings by Cherokee artist Brandi Brown.

Entries for the drawing can be obtained by donating to the Cherokee Phoenix’s Elder/ Veterans Fund or buying a Cherokee Phoenix subscription or merchandise. One entry is given for every $10 spent or donated.

For more information regarding the giveaways, call Samantha Cochran at 918-2073825 or Justin Smith at 918-2074975 or samantha-cochran@ cherokee.org or justin-smith@ cherokee.org.

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MANCOS, Colo. – The Tribal College Journal has announced that bestselling author and scientist Dr. Daniel H. Wilson, a Cherokee Nation citizen, will serve as guest editor for the 2019 edition of TCJ Student.

Wilson joins writers, poets and artists who have served as guest editors or essayists for TCJ Student, including Kimberly Blaeser, Joy Harjo, N. Scott Momaday, Luci Tapahonso, and Joan Naviyuk Kane.

Wilson is the author of the New York Times bestselling “Robopocalypse” and its bestselling sequel “Robogenesis,” as well as nine other books, including “How to Survive a Robot Uprising,” “Guardian Angels & Other Monsters,” and “Amped.”

He earned a doctorate in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a master’s degree in artificial intelligence.

His latest novel is called “The Clockwork Dynasty.” Wilson lives in Portland, Oregon.

“We are thrilled to have Daniel Wilson as the TCJ Student guest editor this year,” TCJ Publisher Rachael Marchbanks said. “Dr. Wilson is a great example of someone who has turned his academic interests into a writing career and who is undoubtedly inspiring others to study the field of robotics and also to be creative in their own endeavors, whatever they may be.”

The TCJ is also soliciting short stories, poetry, memoirs, artwork and short films from tribal college students for the contest. The winners will be awarded prizes and will be published in the 2019 edition of TCJ Student and online at TCJStudent.org.

The deadline for writing submissions is Feb. 8. The deadline for art and film submissions is March 22. For contest guidelines and the official entry form, visit www.

CATOOSA – Country artist Clay Walker is taking the stage at The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa on Jan. 25. Tickets are on sale for $39.50.

Walker hit the country music scene in 1993 with the hit singles “What’s It to You” and “Live Until I Die.” Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa is located off Interstate 44 at exit 240.

Tickets are only available through Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.

Ticket prices and information on upcoming shows are available online in The Joint section of www. hardrockcasinotulsa.com or by calling 918-384-ROCK. The Joint: Tulsa box office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The Commodores to light up Hard Rock on Feb. 14 CATOOSA – The Commodores are set to perform on Feb. 14 at The Joint inside Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. Tickets start at $29.50.

The Motown group has hits including “Machine Gun,” “Brick House,” “Easy,” “Three Times A Lady,” “Just To Be Close To You,” “Sail On,” “Sweet Love,” “Oh No,” “Goin’ To The Bank,” “Still,” “Lady (You Bring Me Up),” “Slippery When Wet,” “Fancy Dancer” and “To Hot Ta Trot.”

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa is located off Interstate 44 at exit 240. Ticket prices and information on upcoming shows are available online in The Joint section of www. hardrockcasinotulsa.com or by calling 918-384-ROCK. The Joint box office is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Cherokee Casino Grove to host FLW event GROVE – The Cherokee Casino Grove will host a Fishing League Worldwide event on March 28-31 at Grand Lake.

The FLW, the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, made the announcement in late November when it presented its 2019 FLW Tour season.

The 2019 tour features seven regular-season tournaments around the country with competition kicking off Jan. 10-13 at the Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Brookeland, Texas, and culminating Aug. 9-11 with the world championship of bass fishing – the FLW Cup at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Uncle Kracker to perform at West Siloam Daniel H. Wilson tcjstudent.org/contest.

The TCJ Student helps foster creative writing and highlights the talents of tribal college students. TCJ will announce the winners at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s student conference on March 17-19 in Billings, Montana.

The TCJ is a national, nonprofit media organization operated by AIHEC. It has covered the news, newsmakers and issues of the tribal college movement for 29 years, earning multiple awards from organizations such as the Native American Journalists Association, Association Media and Publishing, and Western Publishing Association.

“Dr. Wilson is a great example of someone who has turned his academic interests into a writing career and who is undoubtedly inspiring others to study the field of robotics and also to be creative in their own endeavors, whatever they may be.”

TCJ Publisher Rachael Marchbanks

WEST SILOAM SPRINGS – Uncle Kracker – the musician, rapper and singer-songwriter – will perform a free show on Jan. 25 at the SEVEN Bar inside the Cherokee Casino & Hotel West Siloam Springs. Uncle Kracker takes the stage at 9 p.m.

His 2000 major label debut, “Double Wide,” was certified RIAA double-platinum and delivered the Billboard No. 1 smash hit “Follow Me.” The follow-up album, “No Stranger To Shame,” was released in 2002 and went RIAA gold. The second record spawned cross-format hits, including “In A Little While” and the powerful cover of Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away,” which set a Billboard record for most weeks at No. 1 on any chart.

Uncle Kracker’s most recent fun-loving single, “Floatin’,” along with an accompanying music video, was released in mid-2018.

Cherokee Casino & Hotel West Siloam Springs is located off U.S. Highway 412 and State Highway 59. For more information, visit www.cherokeecasino.com or call 1-800-754-4111. All guests must be at least 21 years of age to attend.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • JANUARY 15, 2019

Culture • ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏁᎵᏓᏍᏗ

Entertainment Center

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᎤᎯ • ᎥᏍᎩᏱ 15, 2019

Merchandise by, about and including Cherokees PLASTIC INDIAN: A Collection of Stories and Other Writings. (Robert J. Conley, Edited by Evelyn Conley, University of Oklahoma Press, 174 pages, paperback – $19.95) “So what does it mean to be a Cherokee?” asks Cherokee author Robert J. Conley at the start of this delightful collection of his writings. Throughout his prolific career, Conley used his art to explore Cherokee identity and experience. With his passing in 2014, Native American literature –and American literature in general – lost a major voice.

Fortunately, this posthumous publication, edited by the author’s wife, Evelyn L. Conley, offers readers the opportunity to appreciate anew the blend of humor, candor and creativity that makes his work so exceptional.

Best known as a novelist, especially for his beloved Real People series, Conley was also a masterful writer of short stories, essays, plays and speeches. The breadth of his talents is on full display in this wide-ranging collection, which begins with his last public address, delivered in North Carolina in 2013. Following that speech, the reader is treated to what may be Conley’s most famous short story, “Plastic Indian,” the hilarious tale of three Cherokee youths who try to take down a giant plastic Indian located along Highway 51 between Tahlequah and Tulsa.

Like many of Conley’s works, “Plastic Indian” is set in contemporary times, but as we discover through the stories that follow, the author drew inspiration from traditional Cherokee folktales and oral storytelling. His delight in the spoken word is evident in the single play featured in this volume, based on the writings of ethnographer James Mooney and originally performed for radio.

Conley is also celebrated for his accurate depictions of the Old West (it is no accident that he was the first American Indian president of the distinguished Western Writers of America association), so the collection would not be complete without two of his cowboy stories, namely “The Execution” and “Nate’s Revenge.”

The volume concludes with four of the author’s speeches. Laced with the author’s typical dry humor, these personal testimonies serve as a moving coda to the author’s extensive and illustrious career. (2018) STOKING THE FIRE: Nationhood in Cherokee Writing, 1907-1970. (Kirby Brown, University of Oklahoma Press, 296 pages, hardback – $39.95) The years between Oklahoma statehood in

1907 and the 1971 reemergence of the Cherokee Nation are often seen as an intellectual, political, and literary “dark age” in Cherokee history. In STOKING THE FIRE, Kirby Brown brings to light an array of writing that counters this view. A critical reading of the work of several 20th-century Cherokee writers, this book reveals the complicated ways their writings reimagined, enacted and bore witness to Cherokee nationhood in the absence of a functioning Cherokee state.

Historian Rachel Caroline Eaton (1869–1938), novelist John Milton Oskison (1874–1947), educator Ruth Muskrat Bronson (1897–1982) and playwright Rollie Lynn Riggs (1899–1954) are among the writers Brown considers within the Cherokee trans/ national contexts that informed their lives and work. Facing the devastating effects of allotment and assimilation policies on Cherokee communities that ultimately dissolved the Cherokee government, these writers turned to tribal histories and biographies, novels and plays and editorials and public addresses as alternative sites for resistance, critique, and the ongoing cultivation of Cherokee nationhood. STOKING THE FIRE shows how these writers – through fiction, drama, historiography, or Cherokee diplomacy – inscribed a Cherokee national presence in the twentieth century within popular and academic discourses that have often understood the “Indian nation” as a contradiction in terms.

Avoiding the pitfalls of both assimilationist resignation and accommodationist ambivalence, STOKING THE FIRE recovers this period as a rich archive of Cherokee national memory.

More broadly, the book expands how we think today about Indigenous nationhood and identity, our relationships with writers and texts from previous eras and the paradigms that shape the fields of American Indian and Indigenous studies.

(2018) AFTER REMOVAL: Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation. (Sharon Baker, Roy Boney Jr., Cecile Ganteaume, Candessa Teehee, Edited by Caroline Foutch, Gilcrease Museum, 104 pages, hardback – $34.99) Gilcrease Museum recently showed an exhibition titled “After Removal: Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation.” The exhibition illustrated not only a critical time in the history of the Cherokee people, but also a decisive moment in what would become the state of Oklahoma. It then published a book

under the same title, which tells this story through the stark contrasts of the human experience discord and harmony, war and peace, success, and failure and in the end, the creation of a solid foundation for the future of the Cherokee people.

The publication features research conducted locally Gilcrease Museum and the Helmerich Center for American Research by the following scholars: introduction and memorandum to Duane H. King, Ph.D., by W. Richard West Jr.; Cherokee Men’s Clothing From Removal to Rebirth: an Assertion of Cultural and Political Identity by Cécile Ganteaume; The Park Hill Cherokee Intelligentsia: Examining the Role of a Cherokee Community in Shaping History by Candessa Tehee, Ph.D.; The Cherokee Syllabary: Its Development and Evolution by Roy Boney Jr.; The Emergence of the Cherokee Nation Post-Removal through Architecture by Sharon Baker, Ph.D. (2018) THE CLOCKWORK DYNASTY. (Daniel H. Wilson, Vintage, 320 pages, paperback – $16.25) From the New York Times bestselling author of ROBOPOCALYPSE comes a new thriller about a race of ageless automatons who have been hiding among us for untold centuries.

In the depths of the Kremlin in 1725, the tsar’s loyal mechanician brings to life two astonishingly humanlike mechanical beings. Peter and Elena are a brother and sister possessed with uncanny power and destined to fight an ancient war.

When June Stefanov, a young anthropologist specializing in ancient technology, uncovers a terrible secret concealed in the workings of a 300-year-old mechanical doll, she finds herself in the middle of the hidden war that has raged for centuries. As June plunges deeper into their world, her choices will ultimately determine their fate.

THE CLOCKWORK DYNASTY interweaves past and present, exploring a race of beings designed to live by ironclad principles, yet constantly searching for meaning. Richly-imagined and heart-pounding, Daniel H. Wilson’s novel combines exquisitely drawn characters with visionary technology—and riveting action. (2017)