September 3 issue of the Cherokee Phoenix

INsPIRED BY Agitsi

Brandi Hines combines her Cherokee heritage with creativity to craft colorful stained-glass pieces such as a signature feather CULTURE, 15

CHEROKEE CHEROKEEPHOENIX.ORG

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

PHOENIX 191 YEARS OF JOURNALISM

Councilors approve $1.16B tribal budget All 17 legislators accept the fiscal year 2019-20 funding in one day.

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY Senior Reporter

PHOTOS BY CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Chuck Hoskin Jr. wraps up his first speech as principal chief during the Aug. 14 ceremony at the Cherokee Casino Tahlequah. Hoskin and other elected leaders were sworn in during the ceremony that attracted hundreds of spectators.

NEW LEADERS TAKE OATHS Chuck Hoskin Jr. asks Cherokees to rally around ideas, not politicians.

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY and CHAD HUNTER Senior Reporter and Reporter TAHLEQUAH – Concluding months of campaigning and waiting for election results, the newly elected principal chief, deputy chief and tribal councilors made it official on Aug. 14 when they were sworn into office during a ceremony at the Cherokee Casino Tahlequah.

Chuck Hoskin Jr., of Vinita, assumed his role as principal chief, and Bryan Warner took his post as deputy chief.

“Today we come together to celebrate a tradition that crosses three centuries – Cherokee democracy and the transition of public office,” Hoskin said. “But as we celebrate, let us remember that this moment, and all the other moments in which we celebrate Cherokee democracy, are not preordained. They are not guaranteed.

SEE INAUGURATION, 2

SEE BUDGET, 3

New and re-elected members of the Tribal Council, including Keith Austin, left, and Dora L. Smith Patzkowski are sworn into office on Aug. 14 at the Cherokee Casino Tahlequah.

$30M planned to rehab Cherokee homes The funding is expected to alleviate a backlog of requests for aid.

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY Senior Reporter CLAREMORE – On Aug. 2, while visiting the home of a Cherokee Nation citizen who received housing enhancements from the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation, then Principal Chief-elect Chuck Hoskin Jr. announced a $30 million proposal to reduce the backlog of requests for housing repairs.

Lola McKinzie, 73, hosted Hoskin and several tribal councilors on her front lawn, and voiced gratitude for the new roof and air conditioning unit installed on her home. She said problems with her roof had drawn the

SEE HOUSING, 2

D. SEAN ROWLEY/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Dist. 7 Tribal Councilor Canaan Duncan prepares for a television news interview on Aug. 1 in Claremore.

Duncan is among the councilors sponsoring the Housing, Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act.

By nominating a delegate, the tribe is initially enacting its treaty right.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – In a “historic first step” for his first 100 days in office, Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. on Aug. 22 at the Cherokee National History Museum nominated Kimberly Teehee as the Cherokee Nation delegate for the U.S. House of Representatives, enacting a treaty provision that the tribe has never enforced.

Teehee is the Cherokee Nation Businesses vice president of government relations and a former advisor to President Barack Obama.

The congressional delegate provision is outlined in

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation employees react to an announcement on Aug. 7 by then Principal Chief-elect Chuck Hoskin Jr. that the tribe’s minimum wage will rise from $9.50 to $11 an hour beginning Oct. 1.

Hoskin calls for raise in CN minimum wage

The starting wage at Cherokee Nation will jump from $9.50 to $11 an hour.

Teehee nominated as CN delegate to Congress

SEE DELEGATE, 4

TAHLEQUAH – After only a day of deliberation, the Tribal Council’s Executive & Finance Committee unanimously approved the fiscal 2019-20 budget, totaling $1.16 billion, on Aug. 19.

Janees Taylor, committee chairwoman, was happy to see the legislators approve the budget with one voice. “(I) appreciate the council giving so much time to this budget, because this is how we take care of our people,” Taylor said. “I am always impressed that, by far, the majority of our resources, both financial and human – in the form of our employees – go to actually serving our citizens.”

It was the fifth consecutive year that the budget hearings were completed in one day. All departmental budgets were reviewed and discussed. The Tribal Council was expected to officially approve the budget at its next regular meeting on Sept. 16.

Jamie Cole, CN controller, said the biggest boost in funding went to health care.

“The Health Services Department received the largest increase in funding as compared to last year, largely in part to the full year’s operating budget being included for the new Cherokee Nation Outpatient Health Center in Tahlequah,” Cole said.

Council Speaker Joe Byrd applauded all who took part in allocating the budget, adding that additional funding was acquired through the joint venture with the Indian Health Service to build and operate the outpatient facility.

COURTESY Kimberly Teehee on Aug. 22 was nominated by Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin as a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Teehee is a former advisor to President Barack Obama.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Nation’s incoming administration plans to raise the tribe’s minimum wage from $9.50 to $11 an hour.

The surprise announcement was made Aug. 7 at the W.W. Hastings Hospital outpatient clinic. More than 100 employees affected by the change showed up, but were unaware of the planned pay increase until then Principal Chief-elect Chuck Hoskin Jr. revealed it during a group photo.

“I was ecstatic,” minimum-wage earner Michelle Keys with Human Services said. “Before, we would do the merit raise, which is 3 percent or a lump sum.

Well I would always have to take the lump sum because something would come up. I’d be regretting it later because it didn’t up my wages. This is going to allow me to have an emergency fund where I don’t have to rely on the lump sum. It’s going to do a lot for my family.”

Other employees in the pool of 415 making less than $11 an hour echoed Keys’ enthusiasm.

“It was great,” housekeeper Joanne Lowery said of the announcement. “I was so happy.”

For Jerrad Dry with facility maintenance, the increase in pay “will make bills a little easier.”

The lowest-paid CN employees already earn more than the state’s minimum wage. Oklahoma is one of 16 states that follow the federal minimum-wage requirement of $7.25 that was enacted in 2009.

SEE WAGES, 2

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019

Law governing adoptions of Native children upheld NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A 1978 law giving preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings involving American Indian children is constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled on Aug. 9, reversing a lower court judge in a case fraught with emotional arguments over adoptive families being “torn apart” and the urgency of protecting tribal families and cultures.

The decision from a three-judge panel the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal in New Orleans upholds the Indian Child Welfare Act in a lawsuit involving non-Indian families in multiple states who adopted or sought to adopt Native American children.

Opponents of the law called it an unconstitutional race-based intrusion on states’ powers to govern adoptions. But the 5th Circuit majority disagreed, saying the law’s definition of an “Indian child” is a political classification.

The opinion by Judge James L. Dennis said the U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized that Congress has broad power to regulate Native American tribes. And it said the act’s definition of Indian child is broad.

“As Defendants explain, under some tribal membership laws, eligibility extends to children without Indian blood, such as the descendants of former slaves of tribes who became members after they were freed, or the descendants of adopted white persons,” Dennis wrote.

“Accordingly, a child may fall under

ASSOCIATED PRESS Oneida Nation Chairman Tehassi Hill stands outside a federal appeals court on March 13 in New Orleans, following arguments on the constitutionality of a 1978 law giving Native American families preference in adoption of Native American children. On Aug. 9, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld the constitutionality of the law.

ICWA’s membership eligibility standard because his or her biological parent became a member of a tribe, despite not being racially Indian.”

The decision was a victory for the U.S. Justice Department, which defended the law, and supporters who say the law is needed to protect and preserve Native American culture and families.

“We are pleased that the court followed

decades of legal precedent in its ruling, preserving a law that protects Indian children and allows them to retain their identity by staying within their families and tribal communities,” leaders of the Cherokee Nation, Morongo Band of Mission Indians, Oneida Nation and Quinault Nation said in a joint press release.

Tyson Johnston, vice president of the

HOUSING: 668 tribal households are on a HACN waiting list for housing repairs, CN officials say from front page attention of her insurance company.

“It is wonderful to be able to know that you’ve got that new roof, and you’re fully insured,” McKinzie said.

“I can’t tell you how wonderful it is, because it’s great.”

According to the CN, 668 Cherokee households – more than 400 of which include citizens who are low income, elders or people with disabilities – are on a HACN waiting list for housing repairs. Requests are commonly for electrical work, climate control systems and roofs.

“We have a wonderful housing program, an awardwinning housing authority,” Hoskin said. “But the resources need to be there, so this will shift our business revenue – a portion of it – to something I think is a very high priority, which is taking care of our elders and those who need it.”

Hoskin said funding Housing Rehabilitation would be obtained Waiting List (by county) through dividends • Adair, 110 from Cherokee Nation • Cherokee, 117 Businesses, amounting to • Craig, 19 $10 million per year for • Delaware, 86 three years. The Housing • McIntosh, 3 Jobs and Sustainable • Mayes, 58 Communities Act of • Muskogee, 35 2019 still must get Tribal • Nowata, 15 Council approval, but • Ottawa, 7 passage is anticipated.

• Rogers, 35 Three-quarters of the • Sequoyah, 112 funding will go directly • Tulsa, 36 toward the expense of • Wagoner, 10 renovating homes, but • Washington, 25 $7.5 million will go to remodeling or installing energy efficient measures – including solar panels – on non-residential structures, particularly tribal community centers.

Dist. 7 Tribal Councilor Canaan Duncan, of Stilwell, is among those sponsoring the act. His district includes much of Adair County, where the CN reports 110 households requesting rehabilitation. Of the 14 counties within the Nation’s jurisdiction, only Cherokee and Sequoyah counties have more requests with the HACN – with 117 and 112, respectively.

“This news is huge and the need is huge, both in District 7 and District 8, which include Adair County,” Duncan said. “Words can’t express how great it is to be part of something like this. This is something that will not only have an effect now, but affect future generations. It provides safe, adequate living.”

tribal council of the Quinault Indian Nation in Tahola, Washington, was one of numerous tribal representatives who attended arguments in New Orleans in March. “This serves the best interest of our native children and families,” he said in a telephone interview.

The ruling’s immediate effect on adoptive families was unclear. Matthew McGill, an attorney who represented four families was not immediately available for comment Friday evening.

The lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit challenging the law are Chad and Jennifer Brackeen, a Texas couple who fostered a baby eligible for membership in both the Navajo and Cherokee nations.

The boy’s parents voluntarily terminated their parental rights and the Brackeens petitioned to adopt him. After legal battles, they were able to keep him when a placement with a Navajo family fell through. They hope to adopt his younger half-sister, according to briefs.

McGill represents the Brackeens and a Minnesota couple, Jason and Danielle Clifford, who were unable to adopt a child who lived with them after having been shuttled among foster homes. “The Cliffords’ family was literally torn apart,” he told the appeals court judges during arguments in March.

Dennis wrote for a panel that also included judges Jacques Wiener and Priscilla Owen. A footnote in the opinion said Owen dissented in part and would soon file a separate opinion.

WAGES: 99 full-time

employees making $9.50 an hour will earn $3,120 more annually from front page

D. SEAN ROWLEY/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation citizen Lola McKinzie speaks with then Principal Chief-elect Chuck Hoskin Jr. on Aug. 1 in Claremore. McKinzie received a new roof and air conditioner through housing rehabilitation assistance from the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation.

SCAN Duncan supported Hoskin’s CODE conditional claim that $30 million TO SEE would be sufficient to alleviate the VIDEO backlog and upgrade community

centers. However, both allowed for possible cost overruns not currently anticipated. “(HACN Director) Gary Cooper works with the rehab department and the housing,” Duncan said.

“He has seen the needs and been able to look at the list and information in the applications, and give a good estimate of the cost to take care of it.”

The Housing, Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act of 2019 is among the initiatives the Hoskin administration will support in its first 100 days. Hoskin was sworn in Aug. 14.

“Relying on federal funding alone has led to a great backlog in housing rehab projects that need to be done,” Hoskin said. “For every elder like Lola, there are many more out there that need help. The Cherokee Nation is in a position of strength, particularly in terms of our businesses – they’re very profitable. Today, we are taking the step of shifting a great deal of those dividends from our businesses to help the people that need it the most.”

For information, visit hacn.org, or call 918-456-5482 or 1-800-837-2869.

ARCHIVE

“Out of 39 tribes in the state of Oklahoma, we do really well,” Tribal Council Speaker Joe Byrd told those in attendance. “We’re here today to make sure that you’re getting the resources that you need to take care of our Cherokee people – 366,000-plus Cherokees we have throughout the United States.”

To a round of applause, Hoskin announced that the increase would take effect Oct. 1 via executive order and the Tribal Council’s budget. It will apply to CN governmental employees.

“It’s fiscally responsible,” Hoskin said. “It keeps us sustainable. But it’s the right thing to do because you all are on the front lines delivering the services and programs to our people.”

The tribe’s 99 full-time employees earning $9.50 per hour will make an additional $3,120 annually.

The change, part of Hoskin’s “first 100 days of office” initiatives, will be his first executive order as chief.

Funding for the wage increases is part of the fiscal year 2020 budget, subject to approval by the Tribal Council at its budget hearings.

Hoskin’s running mate and Deputy Chief-elect, Bryan Warner, the outgoing Dist. 6 Tribal Councilor, told employees to “keep up the good work because good works pays off.”

“As far as I can tell the last four years being on the council, our workforce is second to none,” he said.

“We have great people who want to come in and do great things.”

Hoskin, Warner and other leaders elected June 1 were sworn in Aug. 14.

“We constantly want to improve,” Hoskin said.

“That’s one of the reasons we’ve gathered you all here today. (Warner) and I want an administration that listens to the employees, that finds out what the needs are and tries our level best to meet those needs. It’s important to me that people show up to work and feel like they’re making a difference, and that the people they work with and the people that supervise them know that they’re making a difference.”

CN employees are eligible for health, dental and life insurance; a 401k matching plan; paid vacation and sick leave; and other perks such as educational reimbursement and a Christmas bonus.

INAUGURATION: 8 tribal councilors and the deputy chief also swear in from front page These moments are not simply handed to the Cherokee people. These moments come because for generations, when allowed the God-given right to self-identify and govern ourselves, Cherokees have fought, shed blood, shed tears, lost land and treasure for the right to govern ourselves as free people.”

Speaking to an overflow crowd numbering about 1,200, Hoskin said it was perseverance and a willingness to acknowledge their differences that have allowed the Cherokee people to continue governing themselves despite often facing tall odds.

“Every day, the Cherokee Nation and its more than 370,000 citizens are making history,” Hoskin said. “I believe we survived because we found those things that bind us together. Generation after generation, we find that common cause and we move forward, together, past the obstacles before us. This does not mean that we should not honor and respect our differences. There has never been a time in the history of the Cherokee Nation in which there were not differences between Cherokees.”

Hoskin pointed to the determination of past Cherokees to move forward through the Removal (Trail of Tears) and allotment, and that “moving forward” did not mean rallying to a chief or politician.

“Politicians and chiefs come, and they go,” he said.

“Future generations will measure us less by who we elected, and more on whether we remained a people committed to each other as countrymen and committed

to this great democracy. I instead call on the Cherokee people to rally around the ideas and initiatives that bind us together today. I call on my fellow Cherokees to rally around those pursuits that create a bright future to keep this great nation strong long after I leave office.”

Among the issues Hoskin has said his administration will address are health care, the tribe’s minimum wage, preservation of the Cherokee language and dealing with a state government that has indicated it wants to renegotiate the gaming compact.

Hoskin touched on those issues in his inauguration speech. He said citizens “must rally to the cause of saving our precious Cherokee language” and that Oklahoma and the U.S. “have never had a better friend than the Cherokee Nation,” but that the friendship must be “built on respect for the Cherokee Nation.”

Also, at the ceremony, former Principal Chief Bill John Baker passed the leadership post to Hoskin. “(Hoskin) will serve as your principal chief with as much loyalty, devotion and energy as when he served as my secretary of state. Our best days remain ahead of us.

Through the tremendous success of our businesses, the strength and tenacity of our people and the transparency and openness of our government, we have ushered in a new golden age for the Cherokee people.”

Following remarks by the outgoing deputy chief, S. Joe Crittenden, who held the post for eight years, Warner was sworn in as deputy chief.

“I don’t have to tell any of you, he is a tough act to follow,” Warner said. “I am much obliged to Chief Baker and Deputy Crittenden for the dedication they have

demonstrated throughout the last eight years. They have been our watchmen, day after day, every single night, standing firm at their post to ensure our sovereign nation is protected and allowed to flourish under the guidance coming from each they serve.”

Warner, of Sallisaw, served a term as the Dist. 6 representative before being elected deputy chief. A former college science instructor, Warner was campus director at Carl Albert State College in Sallisaw, but stepped down to focus on his new role with the CN. “I come before you today humbled by the opportunity to continue to serve my tribe,” Warner said after he was sworn into office. “We are all here because of the sacrifices and dedication of Cherokees who came before us. We come together today to build a stronger future for those who will follow.”

Warner thanked his wife, Maco, children and Hoskin.

“It will be my esteemed pleasure to take the post with the man I hold in high regard,” Warner said. “Chuck Hoskin Jr. is more than a teammate. He is a friend, and I will forever be grateful for his guidance from yesterday, today and tomorrow.”

Before the speeches, the recently elected tribal councilors were sworn in. Taking their oaths for their second terms are Rex Jordan-Dist. 1, Shawn CrittendenDist. 8 and Keith Austin-Dist. 14. New councilors are Wes Nofire-Dist. 3, Daryl Legg-Dist. 6, Dora L. Smith Patzkowski-Dist. 12 and Joe Deere-Dist. 13. At-Large Councilor Julia Coates returns to the Tribal Council after previously serving from 2007-15.

ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

Baker named CNB chairman, Garrett new chief executive officer Former Principal Chief Bill John Baker’s role is to be an ambassador to the business community and advisor to the Cherokee Nation Businesses board.

BY STAFF REPORTS CATOOSA – The Cherokee Nation Businesses board of directors has named former Principal Chief Bill John Baker as CNB’S executive chairman, effective immediately, while former Executive Vice President Chuck Garrett has been named the entity’s new CEO. According to a CNB press release, Baker’s position will be an ambassador to the larger business community and federal government, senior most advisor to the CNB board of directors and will be tasked with setting strategic vision and long-term benchmarks for the company.

“I started my career in Tahlequah as a small businessman 50 years ago, before dedicating my life to the Cherokee people, first as a tribal councilor and then as principal chief for the past eight years,” Baker said. “Serving the Cherokee people in elected office has been the honor of a lifetime. Now, to come full circle is both a new challenge, and a new honor. I’m excited for the opportunity to continue to serve and I thank (Principal) Chief (Chuck) Hoskin and the CNB board of directors for the privilege of serving in this new role and for their confidence in me.”

Hoskin said Baker has been a friend and mentor to him for more than 25 years and praised Baker’s business acumen.

“During his tenure as chief, he took our tribe from an economic impact of just $1.06 billion in 2012 to $2.17 billion in 2018,” Hoskin said.

“His leadership helped secure a joint venture with Indian Health Service that will bring $105 million per year into our health system and the economy of northeast Oklahoma. He established the first tribal medical school partnership with OSU Center for Health Sciences, so we can train our own doctors and keep those highly trained and well-paid professionals in rural Oklahoma. He brought large retailers like Amazon and Macy’s to northeast Oklahoma, along with manufacturers like Greenheck and Sofidel. With all the strides he’s made in luring large businesses to northeast Oklahoma, he’s also made sure small businesses are supported. Bill John Baker created business incubator programs, mentorships and strengthened our TERO (Tribal Employment Rights Office) process. With all this success as an elected official, I’m more than optimistic at what he can do as a business leader.”

Garrett replaces Shawn Slaton, who has served as CEO since 2011. Garrett is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and Harvard Law School. A native of

Muskogee, with family ties in Adair County, and a Cherokee Nation citizen, Garrett worked in real estate investment, asset management and investment banking prior to returning to Oklahoma to join CNB in 2013.

“CNB is a company with competitive Bill John Baker advantages that are so unique to a tribal business, that the opportunities are nearly endless. I couldn’t be more grateful and optimistic to be taking the helm at this time,” Garrett said.

“However, my time at CNB has also taught me the deeper meaning of purpose. There really is no greater job than helping generate profits for Chuck Garrett the benefit of our people, to help make lives better for our citizens. Every day CNB employees come to work, we know the work we put in and the money we help generate puts a roof over someone’s head, sends a young person to college or helps our loved ones with a medical treatment that may be life-saving. As a Cherokee Nation citizen, I can honestly say taking the role of CEO at Cherokee Nation Businesses is the responsibility and the honor of a lifetime.”

Hoskin said to provide for CN citizens and expand services and programs, CNB leaders must be vigilant in pursing new ways to expand CNB’s business portfolio.

“Chuck Garrett’s national and international business experience across multiple sectors make him the right Cherokee for the job at the right time. I know he’ll do a fantastic job for our people,” he said. “I’m also confident his skills, combined with Bill John Baker’s ability to form coalitions for the purpose of achieving long-range goals, will be the recipe for a winning success.”

The release states Slaton will stay at CNB where he has served in various roles since 1997. Under his watch, revenue generated by the tribe’s businesses has grown to more than $1 billion, with nearly 40 percent being generated through the tribe’s non-gaming businesses.

“Shawn has served CNB admirably for more than 20 years, starting when the Cherokee Nation operated only bingo halls and smoke shops,” Hoskin said. “In addition to our 10 gaming and hospitality properties, growing museums and cultural offerings and federal contracting all over the globe, we are actively and successfully pursuing our first commercial gaming venture outside of Oklahoma.”

“There really is no greater job than helping generate profits for the benefit of our people, to help make lives better for our citizens.”

Chuck Garrett, CNB CEO

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BUDGET: The

Commerce Department will see less funding initially from front page

“I am always impressed that, by far, the majority of our resources, both financial and human – in the form of our employees – go to actually serving our citizens.”

Janees Taylor, E&F chairwoman

“Although this is the largest budget we have passed for the Cherokee Nation, we have experienced executive directors presenting their budgets, providing us with the appropriate insight to make this decision,” Byrd said. “Even with the federal funding for the joint venture increasing the overall budget, we were still able to put a budget together that appears to service the people.”

There were departments that will see less funding in the initial budget, though the Tribal Council routinely passes modifications throughout the fiscal year.

“The Commerce Services Department saw the largest decrease in funding, largely due to some grant funding received in the previous year and for which awards have not yet been made for next year,” Cole said.

Additional funding for payroll was also required after Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. announced an increase of the tribe’s minimum wage from $9.50 to $11 an hour, which takes effect Oct. 1.

“The cost of the minimum wage increase is estimated to cost up to $12.8 million,” Cole said. “However, funding for raises and the Christmas bonuses are included within the approved comprehensive budget for fiscal year ’20.”

“This budget funds, and in many cases increases funding for, programs and services vital to the Cherokee people as well as an employee pay increase. I look forward to final budget approval at full Council,” Hoskin said.

Once approved by the council, the budget will be posted online at Cherokee.org/about-the-nation/ financial-reports/comprehensive-budgets/.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

DELEGATE: The delegate seat is

outlined in two treaties with the U.S. from front page two treaties with the U.S. government, in Article XII of the 1785 Treaty of Hopewell and in Article VII of the 1835 Treaty of New Echota. It is also outlined in the tribe’s 1999 Constitution.

The New Echota Treaty states, “…it is stipulated that they shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provision for the same.”

“I think that anytime we can raise our voice in the Congress that it’s important,” Hoskin said. “Our most essential relationship from a government-to-government standpoint is with the government of the United States. We work in the Congress all the time. Kim Teehee has worked on Capitol Hill. She’s worked for the Cherokee Nation advocating our interests so it’s certainly a natural fit to nominate her as delegate.”

According to the 1999 Constitution, a delegate will participate in congressional activities, advocate for the best interest of the Cherokee people, make reports to the Tribal Council and principal chief on congressional activities and administrative matters in relation to federal law and policy, and produce an annual report to the Cherokee people.

“Every time I have gone outside of the 14 counties and the comfort of my own home here in Oklahoma, whether it’s to serve as the vice president and director of government relations for the Cherokee Nation, director of a bipartisan congressional Native American caucus, as an advisor to the president of the United States, or as just a young woman from Claremore, Oklahoma, I have always tried to represent the best of our Nation and the best of its people,” Teehee said.

If accepted, Teehee will be considered a non-voting delegate but is expected to still make an impact for Cherokees and Indian Country.

“Non-voting delegates actually have quite a number of impacts. They can vote in committee. They can introduce bills.

They have staff. They have resources.

They’re an extra voice in Congress,” she said.

However, Hoskin said there is public concern that the treaties under which a delegate is outlined will not be honored at the federal level.

“We certainly take our treaties serious, and Cherokees always have ever since we’ve had a government-to-government

relationship with the United States,” Hoskin said. “So this is a provision that we have not enforced, but just because we haven’t enforced it doesn’t mean that it’s not valid and enforceable now.

You have to remember through most of the 20th century the government of the United States suppressed the Cherokee Nation government. Today we’re in a position of strength. We ought to be asserting our rights under the treaty.”

He added that Teehee now begins a long process of obtaining a delegate seat in Congress.

“It will be a process of educating members of what our rights are and working through that process,” he said.

“This will be the first time that an Indian nation has sent a delegate to Congress.

It’s certainly the first for Cherokee Nation. Kim Teehee, in addition to being someone who could serve as delegate, also is the natural person to shepherd us through this process.”

Teehee said the process would not “open a floodgate” for other tribes because there are only three tribes with delegate language within their respective treaties – the Choctaw and Delaware tribes being the other two.

Teehee’s nomination was expected to go before the Tribal Council on Aug. 29 for confirmation.

Before being named the tribe’s vice president of government relations in 2014, Teehee served President Obama as the first-ever senior policy advisor for Native American affairs in the White House Domestic Policy Council for three years. Prior to that, she was senior advisor to the U.S. House of Representatives Native American Caucus Co-Chair, Rep. Dale Kildee D-MI. Republican U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, himself a CN citizen, said that while the path to seating a delegate remains murky, he is a strong supporter of tribal sovereignty.

“Appointing a tribal member as a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives is unprecedented and there are many unknowns ahead,” Mullin said. “As a member of the Cherokee Nation, I firmly believe tribal sovereignty and treaties must be honored by the federal government.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, a Chickasaw Nation citizen, said that while he hasn’t reviewed the Cherokee treaty language, he said he has great respect for the tribe and takes any case it makes seriously.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019

CN opposes push to widen eagle feather use

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee Nation leaders officially opposed a proposal to change federal regulations that would allow citizens of federally recognized tribes and “all sincere religious believers” to possess eagle feathers.

Under current law, possession of an eagle feather is illegal, though tribal citizens are permitted to have one for religious or spiritual reasons. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has been asked by pastor Robert Soto and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to revise rules to include the feather expansion.

“Our position has been that allowing non-Indians to possess eagle feathers prohibits federally recognized Indians from having access to feathers, which are already difficult to get a hold of,” then CN Secretary of Natural Resources Sara Hill said. “If you put in a request for feathers from the (Fish & Wildlife) service, you know how long it can take to get those feathers. It also creates an opportunity for more of that black market trading that already goes on.”

The Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 – revised in 1962 to include golden eagles – made it illegal to possess eagles and eagle parts without a permit. An exception was made “in recognition of the significance of eagle feathers to Native Americans,” according to the Fish & Wildlife Service, which established the National Eagle Repository to “provide Native Americans with the feathers of golden and bald eagles...”

Submitted a year ago, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s petition includes formalizing the feather rule into a federal regulation with the stipulation that it “apply to all sincere religious believers who use...protected feathers in their religious exercise.”

“No sincere religious believer should be banned from possessing feathers or risk criminal prosecution for simply possessing the feathers necessary to practice their faith,” the petition states.

The petitioners describe policies surrounding the religious use of federally protected bird feathers as “unjust” and “unlawful.”

“The department’s regulations are so restrictive that they ban all kinds of sincere religious behavior,” the petition states. “Today, nearly every

bird species native to North America is federally protected. So, a grandmother who bestows an eagle feather on her non-enrolled grandson to honor his college graduation turns both herself and her grandson into criminals. A Native American teenager adopted by a non-Native family breaks the law when he prays with a feather to reconnect with the spirits of his ancestors. And a member of a state-recognized tribe is subject to prosecution merely for possessing a single protected feather.”

The Fish & Wildlife Service sought feedback on the revisions until July 16.

The CN was among 532 tribes, tribal citizens and other individuals and organizations to respond.

“The Nation strongly opposes the use of eagles and eagle parts by nonIndians,” the tribe’s comment states.

“Bald and golden eagles are connected directly to our ceremonial practices, oral traditions, lifeways, clans and kinship in ways that are unique to the Nation and having access to bird feathers and parts is critical to the continued existence of the Nation.”

CN citizen Tanya Peila, of University Place, Washington, voiced her opposition in part based on what she feared would be “longer wait times for those of federally recognized tribes” to “obtain these sacred feathers.”

“Please do not open the registry up to anyone claiming sincere religious beliefs,” she wrote. “Many people will disingenuously make this claim for the legal right to posses these feathers.”

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians expressed similar concerns.

“The use of eagle feathers remains important to the exercise of some Cherokee traditions,” the EBCI said.

“Today, we continue to use eagle feathers as implements of prayer in ceremonies the Creator has given us.

As (Fish & Wildlife) knows, the backlog on access to some eagle feathers leads to years and years of waiting for our members to receive the feathers they need. Opening access to individuals who are not members of federally-recognized tribes would unduly limit our access to eagle feathers.”

A review of comments indicated that while tribes typically opposed the changes, many individuals supported them via similar templates to which names and tribal affiliations were added.

Comprehensive Cancer Control

SEPTEMBER: WHAT EVERY MAN SHOULD KNOW Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and the second-leading cause of cancer death among men is the US. Some early signs may be frequent urination especially at night or difficulty starting urination. Cherokee Nation Comprehensive Cancer Control encourages you to discuss symptoms with your doctor and learn about available screening methods.

Made possible by funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

OPINION • ᏃᎵᏍᎬ

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

5

Cherokee Phoenix SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 Volume 43, No. 17

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CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee National Youth Choir members sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Cherokee Nation’s inauguration and swearing-in ceremony on Aug. 14 in Tahlequah.

The Cherokee Nation: Rising Together

BY CHUCK HOSKIN JR. Principal Chief Osiyo.

I am humbled and grateful for your confidence in me to serve our great Cherokee Nation as your principal chief for the next four years. Being elected to this office brings me the unique opportunity to lead our Nation and to work with other leaders, both within and outside our tribe, as I serve the Cherokee people.

I look forward to what we can achieve together. Serving as principal chief of the largest tribe in the nation is a great responsibility but also presents a tremendous opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of my fellow citizens. Our tribal government, along with our businesses, is a conduit for progressive growth for our citizens and communities.

In my inauguration speech, I mentioned that I am only the second principal chief of the Cherokees to hail from Vinita, Oklahoma. When Principal Chief Tom Buffington was elected in 1899, he took office to oversee a CN in decline. In Chief Buffington’s time,

our tribe was soon to be displaced by allotment and the creation of a new state. He was forced to watch as the sun was setting on the great Cherokee democracy.

Fortunately, in the intervening decades, our people have been blessed with a revitalization of our Nation.

I’m taking office under quite different circumstances than Chief Buffington.

Under the guidance of former Principal Chief Bill John Baker and Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden, amazing things have taken place over the past eight years. Although Deputy Chief Bryan Warner and I have our own important initiatives, we will be building on the successes we’ve seen. Our new first lady, January Hoskin, has some initiatives of her own that will further build on our success.

Though I’ve only been in office for a little over a week, we have hit the ground running and begun launching initiatives intended to grow our communities, strengthen our families and preserve our culture.

As principal chief, I recently: • Proposed the Housing, Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act. This calls for $30 million to repair hundreds of Cherokee homes, remodel community

buildings and create construction jobs across northeast Oklahoma.

This initiative will provide our most vulnerable citizens to get the help they need. The investment includes stateof-the-art improvements, such as solar power and other green energy measures.

• Announced a plan to raise employee pay at the CN. The $11 minimum wage is simply the right thing to do. Wages at Cherokee Nation Businesses will soon follow suit. We must ensure our employees have a living wage that allows them to support their families.

• Called on the U.S. Congress to implement the CN’s first delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, a right guaranteed in multiple federal treaties and reaffirmed in our tribal government’s Constitution.

My goal is to accomplish something each day that builds healthier communities and stronger Cherokee families, things that preserve our language, our culture and our way of life. This will be the foundation of our success going forward.

I am honored to lead the CN today, at a time when the Cherokee people are clearly working together, moving forward together and rising together.

Legacy of homes, health and hope

BY Bill John Baker Former Principal Chief The past eight years have been the pinnacle of my public service career.

Nothing has been more important to me than serving the Cherokee people. I had the privilege of working side by side with a man of great moral integrity, Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden. It has been the blessing of a lifetime, and I am so proud of the monumental things we achieved.

They are not only making life better for Cherokees today, but will be empowering our tribe generations from now.

My grandparents had a saying: If you leave the woodpile a little higher than when you started, it benefits all of us. I think we have done that, left the tribe in a better spot than when we assumed office. We have created policies and developed ideas that will have a positive effect well into the future. We have focused on homes, health and hope, and by doing so, we have built stronger Cherokee families. We have: • Increased opportunities for our citizens to thrive. We continue to diversify and expand our business interests, creating good, quality jobs. The Cherokee Nation’s economic impact has doubled in the past eight years, growing from $1.06 billion to over $2.16 billion.

• Reestablished the new home

construction program and built about 700 new homes for Cherokee families, and we increased the amount available through the Mortgage Assistance Program, which has eased the burden of purchasing a new home for more than 1,800 families so far.

• Issued more academic scholarships than ever before and nearly doubled the scholarship funding, from $8.5 million to almost $16 million. Since 2010, more than 27,000 scholarships have been awarded through the Cherokee Nation higher education program. We have increased the number of scholarships awarded by nearly 45 percent.

• Created a renewed focus on health care. The Cherokee Nation now operates health centers in Tahlequah, Muskogee, Jay, Nowata, Salina, Sallisaw, Stilwell, Vinita and Ochelata, which means no Cherokee citizen within the tribe’s 14 counties has to drive more than 30 miles for quality health care. In our capital city of Tahlequah, we have expanded the W.W. Hastings Campus and are opening a new, 469,000-square-foot, state-of-theart health care facility, as well as the first medical school in the country built on tribal land through a partnership with the Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

• Awarded more than $13.5 million in

small-business loans, and with those dollars, more than 1,250 jobs were created within our tribal jurisdiction.

Close to 300 Native-owned businesses were launched, expanded or stabilized.

Our tribal resources are allowing these unique business ideas to bloom in full.

We have partnered with others to better our infrastructure, improve public schools, expand health care access and bolster education for the benefit of all Oklahomans, not just Cherokees. We are also expanding our Cherokee language revitalization efforts, which includes developing new Cherokee speakers of all ages.

Our most vulnerable and valuable citizens – elders, young children, military veterans, domestic violence survivors and Cherokee youth in the foster system – have been the inspiration for many of the things we accomplished together. I am proud we have a government that is responsive and protective of its citizenry. That’s the Cherokee way.

We have laid a strong foundation for our people going forward, and I know the next administration, led by Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and Deputy Principal Chief Bryan Warner, will continue this progress. I believe they, too, will leave the woodpile a little higher.

The best is ahead of us, and our future is brighter than ever. May God continue to bless the Cherokee Nation.

CHEROKEE PHOENIX EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS POLICY • The content of submissions shall not contain personal attacks or statements denigrating another person’s character either directly or implicitly.

• The content of submissions shall not contain false or unsubstantiated claims or statements that make claims which cannot be independently verified.

• The content of submissions shall not contain political rhetoric intended to advance the political position of a candidate for Cherokee Nation office.

• The Cherokee Phoenix reserves the right to edit any submitted letter or column so that it conforms to this policy. Such changes to submissions shall be made at the discretion of the editorial staff.

• Submissions shall include the name and phone number or email address of the author so the editorial staff may confirm the author.

Submissions without contact information will not be published.

• Submissions shall be received by the 15th of the month prior to the month of publication. Submissions shall not be published anonymously. Submissions will be attributed by author’s full name and city of residence.

• Letters from Cherokee citizens will be given preference. Letters from non-citizens will be labeled as such.

• Letters shall not exceed 350 words.

• Columns will be published at the invitation of the Executive Editor and shall not exceed 800 words. Columns submitted without invitation shall not be published without specific permission from the Executive Editor.

• Submissions that are deemed to not comply with this policy shall be sent to the Editorial Board for review.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019

Baker cites his tenure’s accomplishments

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY Senior Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – With the baton passed to a new principal chief, the Cherokee Nation’s top executive of the past eight years can look toward other opportunities and perhaps a less hectic schedule.

Bill John Baker said he is proud of the accomplishments of his administration during his tenure, pointing to improvements or enhancements to tribal services, but specifically for home construction, health care and education.

Plus, he said he never wielded his veto power.

“We hadn’t built any homes for the Cherokee people in about a decade when I was elected principal chief,” Baker said.

“We hadn’t even voted on a budget in a couple of years, and I knew I wouldn’t vote for a budget that didn’t have something in it for home construction. It was to be Cherokee homes for Cherokees, built by Cherokees. It created a good job market for tradespeople, which we have an abundance of in the Cherokee Nation.”

Baker said more than 800 families had received tribal housing and a cost to each of $350 a month plus taxes and insurance.

“I visited with single mothers who were in tears because they never believed they would be homeowners,” Baker said.

“I am extremely proud of our housing program, and thousands of Cherokees are benefitting from these 800-plus homes – kids, parents, grandparents.”

Among the tribe’s education efforts, Baker pointed to 5,500 students attending classes on CN scholarship funds and the tribal funding issued to schools with Cherokee students – though the aid is not categorical and can be spent to benefit all students. He also pointed to educational projects with a cultural focus, including

WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Bill John Baker is sworn in as principal chief on the back steps of the Cherokee Capital building on Oct. 19, 2011, in downtown Tahlequah. Baker served two terms from 2011-19. the “Remember the Removal” bicycle ride, National Youth Choir, the Summer Youth Employment Program and trips east to the old Cherokee homeland.

“When I came in, we had about 2,500 (on tribal scholarships),” he said. “That doesn’t count the kids in vo-tech and trade schools. We’re trying to entice young people with the idea that college and trade school are not out of reach.

They have something to look forward to and something to work toward.”

Upon assuming the role of principal chief, Baker said citizens made it clear that health care was their top concern.

During his terms, the CN has built the Cooweescoowee Health Center in Ochelata, Sam Hider Health Center in Jay and expanded the Redbird Smith Health Center in Sallisaw and Wilma P. Mankiller Health Center in Stilwell.

CHAD HUNTER/ CHEROKEE PHOENIX S. Joe Crittenden, the outgoing deputy principal chief, speaks Aug. 14 during an inauguration and swearing-in ceremony for new tribal leaders at the Cherokee Casino Tahlequah.

Crittenden says run as deputy chief pinnacle of his career

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – When then-Tribal Councilor S. Joe Crittenden was elected deputy chief in 2011, he was briefly thrust into the role of principal chief following a disputed chief’s race.

“We used to play a game with little kids where you’d spin them around and around for a while, then turn them loose and watch them,” Crittenden said.

“That’s kind of the way I felt when I got sworn in. Finally, I got focused, and I thought ‘well, I’m going to try my best to keep this thing between the white lines on the road.’”

Eventually, Tribal Councilor Bill John Baker was elected principal chief in a special election that year, allowing Crittenden to focus as Baker’s advisor.

Now 74, Crittenden departed his post as deputy chief Aug. 14 after serving two consecutive terms, noting that he’s spent the majority of his life “serving people in some form or fashion.”

“But this has been the pinnacle, the highlight, the icing on the cake if you want to look at it that way,” he said.

“These past eight years as deputy chief have been an honor for me.”

Crittenden and Baker served together before reaching their term limits.

At the Aug. 14 inauguration and swearing-in for new tribal leaders, Crittenden told Baker, “It’s been quite a trip. You’re a partner. I think it was meant to be, sir. I’ve enjoyed every step.”

First elected to the Tribal Council in 2003, Crittenden is the only Cherokee Nation citizen to serve as a councilor, deputy chief and principal chief.

Throughout the years, Crittenden was an advocate for government initiatives that focused on education, improving health care access for Cherokees, expanding the CN car tag program and constructing health care centers, CN officials said.

“Faith and family have been at the core of my service,” Crittenden said. “I’ve often said the strength of our Nation is its people. The people, the Cherokee

families, should always be at the center of every policy, every program and every service. I’ve got to help more and see more people get help in these last eight years than ever before in my life. It’s rewarding. It’s touching to see people who get a life-changing home or the health care they need or whatever the service is. I know that Chief Baker and I get credit for achieving many things that have happened across these 14 counties in the last eight years, but that’s only possible because of the hard work and the talent of the employees we have.”

A 1962 Stilwell High School graduate, Crittenden earned a business and accounting degree from Northeastern State University. He retired in 2004 from the U.S. Postal Service following a 30-year career in public service.

Crittenden also served in the Navy from 1964-67 during the Vietnam War. “One of the deputy chief’s deepest passions is ensuring Cherokee military veterans are recognized for their service and have all their essential needs met,” his bio on the CN website states. “He helped ensure the new $2 million stateof-the-art Cherokee Nation Veterans Center was completed and opened so that military men and women who served the United States always have a place of honor at the tribal headquarters.”

Crittenden has signed agreements with federal agencies related to health care and housing for Cherokee veterans.

He has also helped oversee Cherokee Warrior Flights, which enables WWII, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans to visit their respective memorials in Washington, D.C. In addition, he took part in recognizing and honoring Cherokee veterans with the tribe’s Medal of Patriotism during Tribal Council meetings.

He said he hopes to continue serving the tribe with a focus on veterans. He’s been nominated for a new Cabinet-level position called secretary of Veterans Affairs. “I see the opportunity to devote my full time to veterans. I want to be part of the team and help those efforts.”

CN Health Services will also soon open its 496,000-square-foot Outpatient Care Facility in Tahlequah. It will include exam rooms and MRI and outpatient surgery capabilities. It is the largest such facility in Indian Country funded by $200 million from the CN for construction and $80 million per year for at least 20 years from the Indian Health Service for operational expenses and staff.

In May, the tribe announced the start of construction on the 84,000-squarefoot Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at Cherokee Nation. The college is scheduled to open with an inaugural class of 50 in 2020.

Once fully operational, the school is expected to serve 200 students. The first graduating class is expected in May 2024. The facility will include 16 fulltime faculty, five part-time faculty and

several adjunct clinical faculty, and hold certification from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.

“We are partnering with OSU to build a medical school on the same campus as a clinic,” Baker said. “Hopefully, we will recruit as many Cherokees as we can….

Many will do their residencies and stay in the Cherokee Nation, giving us access to more professionals than we have ever seen before.”

Baker said the CN had seen other “wins” in the past eight years. He pointed to the office of Secretary of Natural Resources and the conclusion of a 40-year effort to remove radioactive materials from the shuttered Kerr-McGee Sequoyah Fuels uranium processing plant near Gore, which he said would have been “devastating” had the waste been present during the recent flooding along the Arkansas River.

The CN also encouraged Macy’s to build the Macy’s Fulfillment Center in Owasso, and Baker said the economic impact of the CN has grown from $2 billion to $8 billion this decade.

“More than 70 percent of our employees are Cherokee citizens – without breaking down those who are married to Cherokees or caring for Cherokees,” Baker said. “We help every fire, police and sheriff’s department, every superintendent with school funding, every county commissioner with building roads.”

With his time as principal chief concluded, Baker can turn to other interests or leisure, but would miss the interaction with others and the public service associated with leading the tribe.

“It’s been a good ride,” he said. “I made it eight years and never vetoed any legislation. We’ve left the woodpile a whole lot higher than we found it.”

Councilor Anglen says farewell However, Buel Anglen is not ruling out another run.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter TAHLEQUAH – Buel Anglen, who served a total of 15 years on the Tribal Council, said his final years in office in particular were rewarding.

“I’ve really enjoyed the last four years that I’ve served,” the outgoing Dist. 13 councilor said. “It just seems like we’ve got a lot of stuff accomplished. We did it with a lot of agreement and a lot of disagreement.

But at the end of the day … you come together and you work as a group.

That’s the thing I like about it.”

Anglen, 69, has represented portions of Rogers and Tulsa counties since 2002 when he was appointed to fill a council vacancy.

“I’m glad I got to serve the people,” he said. “I’m glad I got to serve the district that I live in, because they are the people that sent me down here. I never had an agenda. I just always tried to do what was right for the people who voted me in.”

Anglen said that during the years he’s had a hand in community efforts beyond his district.

“The Cherokee Nation has no boundaries,” he said. “We have to take care of all Cherokees no matter where they’re at. That’s kind of my philosophy.”

On the way out, Anglen acknowledged the tribe’s employees.

“They’re great people,” he said. “I’ve worked with a lot of them during the past. I’ve been around the tribe since 1992.”

Anglen had hoped to run for office again, but was removed from this year’s race based on term limits. His only election opponent and eventual winner, Joe Deere, filed the eligibility challenge, which the CN Supreme Court later backed.

Following Anglen’s appointment to what was then Dist. 8 in 2002, he was elected to the seat a year later. In 2007, when term limits took effect, Anglen was elected again. However, the typical

four-year term was extended to six years to stagger terms of half the council.

After losing his seat due to redistricting in 2013, Anglen sat out Buel Anglen two years, then ran for and secured the new Dist. 13 seat in 2015.

Deere and his attorney successfully argued that Anglen should be required to sit out four years before he’s eligible to run again. CN law restricts councilors to two consecutive four-year terms. The Constitution states that, “All Council members having served two consecutive terms must sit out one term before seeking any seat on the Council.”

“I would not have run this time if I’d known I was termed out,” Anglen said.

The Supreme Court’s opinion stated that staggered terms and redistricting created “a unique fact scenario that would be difficult to repeat” in Anglen’s case.

“Anglen has been elected to the Tribal Council in every single election held in his district since 2003, although the shape and number of that district have changed, at times drastically, during the previous 15 years,” the Supreme Court opinion stated. “In this case, it was not the tribal member that moved, but the district that moved around him while he stayed in the same location. However, the language adopted by the convention limiting consecutive terms in office demands the same result.”

Despite the setback, Anglen isn’t ruling out another run in four years.

“It is a sad day to leave, but I’ve had so many messages asking me to please remember four years down the road,” he said. “It’s in the back of my mind. I have served on the Tribal Council for 15 years. I know we have term limits, but that started later on. This is my second go-around of being out of office. But, I’m almost 70 years old now, so I can’t really make that promise. Only if my health holds up, I may come back.”

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

7

Hoskin Jr. assumes principal chief role

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY Senior Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – After the summer’s elections, the Cherokee Nation has a new chief – sworn in Aug. 14 – who was part of the previous administration and wants to continue many of its policies, with enhancements.

Chuck Hoskin Jr. is now principal chief after serving as secretary of state, in which he often represented the CN in negotiations with other governments, be they local, county, tribal, state or federal.

“I’ve seen the recipe for success,” he said. “We need to continue that. I’ve seen what a difference it makes when a chief takes the resources that the Cherokee Nation can harness from our businesses, from the federal resources that we have, and puts them toward priorities that are really investments for the Cherokee people and their future.”

On occasions, Hoskin has stated he intends to focus on health care – particularly access. “We are poised to open the largest outpatient facility in the country for Native Americans here in Tahlequah. We have, in the last eight years, seen a dramatic improvement in the health care infrastructure of the Cherokee Nation with the outlying clinics and opening a medical school. I think health care is the most important service we can provide our people, because it is so fundamental to a good quality of life. If we can provide good health care to our people, we can help them to live the kind of lives they want to live,” he said.

Hoskin said another priority of his administration will be job creation, adding that good work with good pay contributes to quality of life.

“We will continue to grow our businesses, and we will diversify what we do in our businesses,” he said. “The most important thing we will see in the coming years is the Cherokee Nation creating an environment in northeast Oklahoma where jobs can be created

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Flanked by his wife, January, Chuck Hoskin Jr. is sworn in as the Cherokee Nation’s new principal chief on Aug. 14 by Supreme Court Justice John C. Garrett. in our communities. They may not necessarily be jobs the Nation creates, but jobs created because we fostered an environment where there is a workforce ready to work, infrastructure in place that can attract capital investment, and that this is all happening in communities that in many ways the rest of the world forgot about. These small towns that Cherokee Nation and its people created generations ago, they are still here and still need a champion, and I think the Cherokee Nation and its leaders can be that champion.”

With a vibrant economy, northeast Oklahoma and the CN can retain its young professional and trade workforce, Hoskin said.

Hoskin’s administration also plans to continue to prioritize education. Hoskin said projections of scholarship funding often fall short of demand, which he said was “a great problem to have – more Cherokees going to college.”

“We have to find more dollars every year to meet that need,” he said. “That

CHAD HUNTER/ CHEROKEE PHOENIX Bryan Warner is officially sworn in as deputy chief

by Supreme Court Justice John C. Garrett on Aug. 14 as Warner’s wife, Maco, looks on.

New deputy chief says teamwork key to success

Bryan Warner hopes to be a leader who empowers others.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

checked, we’re all Cherokee and we all serve one another. I think that’s the thing to remember.”

TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Nation’s A former college science instructor, newest deputy chief says he’s focused Warner worked at Carl Albert State on supporting the principal chief while College in Sallisaw as campus director. helping enrich the lives of tribal citizens.

He left to serve as the chief’s advisor.

“I’m excited to see how we can “This is all new for me,” Warner told improve,” Bryan Warner said.

CN employees at a recent gathering. “As Warner, 42, was elected June 1 along of July 31, I officially left Carl Albert with his running mate, Chuck Hoskin Jr., State College as their campus director. the new principal chief. One of Warner’s It’s kind of strange waking up and not primary goals is “being there for the going to a place that you’ve been for the chief, to support him,” he said. last 10 years. But it’s exciting times. I was “(Hoskin) has kept me in the forefront excited in December when (Hoskin) and I of everything and let me add my thoughts decided to run together.” to the process of what we’re doing,” The Hoskin-Warner team has already Warner said. “That means a lot to me. We announced several “first 100 days” believe in being strategic in any process initiatives that include an increase in we do. I think it helps to have a chief and the tribe’s minimum wage from $9.50 deputy chief on the same page.” to $11 an hour and a $30 million plan to Hoskin replaced Bill John Baker, who rehabilitate homes for elderly, disabled termed out as chief after eight years. and low-income Cherokees.

Warner replaced S. Joe Crittenden, a Other areas of importance, Warner former tribal councilor who spent eight said, include health care, education and years as deputy chief before reaching his preservation of Cherokee culture. term limit.

“Some things will be over time,” he “Chief Baker and Deputy Chief noted.

Warner said he hopes to “be a leader who empowers others and supports the conviction that we all have a divine purpose.”

Deputy Chief Bryan Warner “The Cherokee Nation is a work in progress, Crittenden, they laid a lot of good constantly evolving, and it is still not groundwork. I’m excited to be able to complete,” he said after being sworn close the loop on some of the things in along with Hoskin on Aug. 14. “We they started,” Warner said, adding that believe in its greatness because it Baker, “always set the tone looking seven was built by the people we loved and generations ahead.” respected – our ancestors. Those who Warner served one term as the Dist. 6 persevered to manifest one of the representative before voters elected him most important qualities in any life – deputy chief over challenger and former resilience.”

Tribal Councilor Meredith Frailey.

Warner lives in Sallisaw with his wife, “It’s been an honor, and it is a privilege Maco, and three boys, Kaden, Luke and to serve on here,” he said at his final Clayton. After graduating from Sallisaw meeting as councilor Aug. 12. “I look High School in 1995, Warner earned forward to continue working with each a bachelor’s degree in biology and a and every one of you because, the last I master’s degree in education.

“We believe in being strategic in any process we do.”

means the Cherokee people are more oriented to going to college and realizing a dream for many people, to get a higher education so they can get jobs that pay a good salary.”

Hoskin said the Nation must also ensure access to job training and trade schools for those who do not wish to go to college, and a further priority will be preservation of the Cherokee language.

Further diversification of tribal revenue streams will also be a goal, Hoskin said.

“We’ve done a good job with diversifying, particularly in federal contracting, and it has impacted our expertise to engage in health care management, construction, IT and security,” he said. “We have a business presence in 47 states and a dozen or so countries around the world. The challenge for my administration is to increase capacity and expertise to shift focus closer to home, so there is even more of a presence in the 14 counties.

There is nothing wrong with creating

jobs around the nation and the world, because you increase revenue and bring dollars home. We have created 500 jobs in the 14 counties just to support those operations. But there are chances to diversify beyond gaming in the 14 counties. If we use those, we can create an even stronger business portfolio, and it can be a hedge against economic ups and downs.”

The first big challenge faced by the Hoskin administration may be the state’s insistence that the gaming compact be renegotiated. He said he was often “the face” of the tribe during intergovernmental bargaining.

“I was fortunate to have a good team to help with those negotiations,” Hoskin said. “That included government relations, managed by Kim Teehee, and colleagues in the Cabinet such as the attorney general and the secretary of Natural Resources. People have titles, but my expectation is that we will work with others to accomplish things, and that means working and dealing with other governments. As I take office, we are facing a state government that is looking to renegotiate the gaming compact, which has been win-win for the state and the tribe. I expect that to consume a lot of time in the months to come.”

Hoskin said his ambition to become principal chief did not really arise until after he became secretary of state in 2013. He said politics is an honorable profession, “if you do it honorably.” He called public service the second-most rewarding pursuit of his life, after his family.

“I’m so grateful to the Cherokee people for giving me the opportunity to serve,” he said. “The offices don’t belong to individuals. They belong to the Cherokee people. We occupy the offices for a while, then we give them back. I will do my level best to serve the people. January, the first lady, and I look forward to getting out into the communities.”

Hatfield ends term on Council

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter OKLAHOMA CITY – At-Large Tribal Councilor Wanda Hatfield on Aug. 14 ended her four-year term, and she said she’s proud of being a voice for at-large Cherokee Nation citizens.

“Probably the most thing I’m proud of is bringing to the council table the at-large voice. I don’t think that’s been done so much in the past,” she said.

She said she was aware that most programs for CN citizens were within the tribe’s jurisdiction but always questioned if some programs could be extended to at-large citizens.

Scholarship, housing and health care were the three biggest challenges she faced in helping her constituents, she said. “It seems like scholarships was one area that our at-large citizens could benefit from. Recently Section 184 housing, that’s going to help whatever at-large citizens. As far as like health issues, I’ve answered many, many questions for our at-large citizens to get connected to a local clinic. For the most part, they have to come to the 14-county area if they’re going to use our facilities.”

She said her constituents want more of a connection to the tribe, services and culture, and though they are able to connect through social media and the CN website for information or events, they still need a “human touch.”

“I think sometimes the human touch

means a lot more than you can get on a computer screen.

Really one of the things, is I was very accessible. As the majority of people Wanda Hatfield don’t know it’s a 24/7 job. I have my phone seven days a week. I answer my phone, I receive emails and I try to answer all of them,” Hatfield said.

As one of two at-large councilors, she said at times she felt like she needed help, but gave it her best effort to help everyone who called or emailed her.

“I took care of all my office work phone calls, emails, or whatever I had to do and even meetings I had.

I represented Cherokee Nation Businesses a lot in events here (Oklahoma City) and even in the 14-county area. It’s just more than I think anybody could think it could be, the amount of time working,” she said.

Hatfield said she could run for Tribal Council again, but for now she is focusing on family, the opportunity to help open a women’s shelter for CN citizens and as a liaison to the mayor’s office in Oklahoma City working with entities on tribal issues.

“I feel very, very fortunate. I’m from a very, very large family, and I know how Cherokee families work. It’s about love, respect and kindness, and I hope people will remember that,” she said.

Lay finishes 2nd Council term

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

OCHELATA – Dist. 12 Tribal Councilor Dick Lay’s second term ended Aug. 14. During his eight years, he represented Washington County, southern Nowata County and the northwest portion of Tulsa County.

Lay previously ran for and won the Dist. 4 council seat in 2011. After a redistricting of seats, he won the Dist.

12 in 2015. In 2019, he ran for principal chief seat, but finished second.

As a councilor, he said he was proudest of the health care initiatives that allowed several clinic expansions throughout the Cherokee Nation.

“There’s one for Washington County, the one at Jay, the addition to Stilwell, and the new addition to Sallisaw, as well as bringing on line the clinic at Tahlequah,” Lay said. “Those are the biggies, as you can imagine, to me, and for all of us probably. The health care initiatives, I was a part of it. I didn’t do it all. Our employees sure jumped in, and without them we could have never pulled it off, so I’m very appreciative of the council and administration, but especially our employees for jumping in there and making it happen.”

One thing he and other councilors attempted to change was the CN election code with regards to how absentee ballots are distributed, Dick Lay handled and returned to the Election Commission.

“I’m just saying that we had pushed, the council in totality, that we had pushed a little harder for some election reform. There’s too much money in our elections, and the absentee ballot harvesting has got to go. We’ve got to get that done, but it’s going to be up to someone else now. We made an attempt at it. Now that I look back it’s going to take a big overhaul instead of small increments,” he said.

As far as running for a CN elected office again, Lay said he would “take a look at it and see” but for now will work at his ranch. He also said he appreciates the people in his district for their support. “I’ve had a lot of support in my district, and I appreciate that. We’ve done the clinic expansion, and I’ve got two brand new community buildings in District 12. I’m awfully proud of those accomplishments.”

8

Community • ᎾᎥ ᏄᎾᏓᎸ

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019

In Memoriam Michael Lynn Bailey, of Durant, Oklahoma, age, 59, was born March 2, 1960 in Hugo, Oklahoma, the son of William Harvey Bailey and Elsie Marie (Foster) Bailey. Mike moved to his heavenly home on August 8, 2019. Mike grew up roping calves and riding horses achieving high school rodeo finals, Indian National Finals, USTRC (United States Team Roping Championship), and Booger Barter finals numerous times in team roping and rodeoed all over the United States. Besides being an avid team roper, Mike loved raising horses and fishing. His greatest enjoyment was his God given gift of helping kids and older people both in and out of the Choctaw Nation, no matter the need, large or small which was demonstrated through his giving heart, exceptional mind and excellent memory. Wherever he saw a need, he met that need, most of the time, without asking. He just did.

You see, Mike never met a stranger.

He connected with people from all walks of life, rich or poor, famous or not, young and old, through his love of God. With his Bible as his guide, Mike has left huge footprints for us to follow.

Mike was a member of the Full Gospel Church of Atoka, Oklahoma, where he taught an adult Sunday School class until his health began to fail. Mike’s contributions and accomplishments are too numerous to mention. Mike received his B. A. (Bachelors of Arts) from SEOSU (Southeastern Oklahoma State University) in Physical Education.

He later received his Master’s and partial Doctorate in Administration from ECU (East Central University). Mike began his professional career as Assistant Coach in Whitesboro and Leonard, Texas, later transferring to Jones Academy as Administrator. Mike worked as Administrator at Jones Academy for 13 years, Assistant Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma for 10 years,

Troy Don Reese, 56, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, crosses over into the next life on July 4, 2019. He was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on December 21,1962, the son of Geauwana & Billie Reese. He was patient, and caring, fun loving, strong willed, and independent.

He was very proud of his Cherokee heritage. Troy was a southern straight dancer who could be seen at pow wows in and out of the state. Troy is survived by his daughter, Megan Reese Richardson, and his sister, Tonya Reese Ashcraft, and his father, Geauwana Reese. Troy was preceded in death by his mother Billie Reese.

Consultant to the Cherokee Nation, and worked with Washington D.C., HWH (Harrison, Walker & Harper) of Paris, TX., Corp of Engineers and various other entities. Mike was on the Board of Regents at EOSC (Eastern Oklahoma State College). He was recognized and was a recipient of President George H. W. Bush, “Thousand Points of Light”.

Mike was also an honorary Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Mike traveled all over Japan, Europe, and Germany in the official capacity of Assistant Chief of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Mike was a member of APHA (American Paint Horse Association), and AQHA (American Quarter Horse Association). He is preceded in death by his father, William Harvey Bailey, his mother, Elsie Marie (Foster) Bailey, and his brother, Randy Bailey.

Mike is survived by his brother, Billy Bailey of Hugo, Oklahoma; Great Aunt, Alma Louise Laney of Indio, Ca.; a host of aunts, uncles, & cousins from both sides of the family and a vast number of friends who became family throughout the years, becoming his most priceless treasures.

Lula Mae Bird Feb. 14, 1947 – July 28, 2019

Sampson Leach Nov. 6, 1943 – July 10, 2019

William Henry Sellers March 2, 1935 – Aug. 16, 2019

Verna Caviness Dec. 5, 1935 – Aug. 3, 2019

Earnest Eugene Lock June 7, 1952 – Aug. 2, 2019

Mary Snell-Butler Nov. 30, 1931 – Aug. 7, 2019

Guy Cornshucker Dec. 27, 1929 – July 31, 2019

Billy Ray Martin May 11, 1933 – Aug. 6, 2019

Merle Ann Stand Nov. 26, 1947 – Aug. 17, 2019

Betty Jo Gonzalis July 10, 1967 – Aug. 17, 2019

Ima Jean McCollum Sept. 10, 1931 – July 25, 2019

Gerald William Stanley June 16, 1949 – July 20, 2019

Nathaniel Ray Hummingbird Feb. 13, 1941 – Aug. 2, 2019

Connie Jo Mouse Feb. 2, 1943 – July 22, 2019

Robert Sweeney March 11, 1965 – July 21, 2019

Louie Mouse July 11, 1937 – Aug. 16, 2019

Ardith Faye Taylor Jan. 13, 1940 – July 24, 2019

Peggy Kilpatrick Dec. 22, 1928 – Aug. 12, 2019 Jerry Lane Jr. Oct. 23, 1968 – Aug. 12, 2019

Doris Kay Oaks April 2, 1952 – Aug. 1, 2019

Community Events Sept. 3 Vian Peace Center 604 W. Schley, 5:30 p.m.

Muldrow Cherokee Community Organization MCCO Building, 6 p.m., 918-427-5440 Brushy Cherokee Action Association 465406 E. 1010 Road, 6 p.m.

918-775-6914 Tulsa Cherokee Community Organization, 6:30 p.m., 805-551-6445 tulsacherokees@gmail.com One Fire Association Kenwood Community Building, 7 p.m. emmahayes87@yahoo.com Sept. 5 Greasy Fellowship Community Organization Greasy Community Building, 7 p.m.

Washington County Cherokee Association 300 E. Angus Ave., Dewey, 7 p.m.

918-333-5632 Sept. 9 Rocky Mountain Cherokee Community Organization, 6 p.m., 918-696-4965 Brent Community Association

461914 Hwy. 141, Gans, 6 p.m.

918-774-0655, brentcomm@live.com

Okay Senior Building, 3701 E. 75th Street, 7 p.m.

Fairfield Community Organization Inc. 6:30 p.m., 918-605-0839

Lyons Switch, 7 p.m.

Marble City Pantry 7 p.m., 918-775-5975 Oak Hill/Piney 7 p.m., 918-235-2811 Sept. 10 No-We-Ta Cherokee Community 1003 Lenape Drive, Nowata, 6:30 p.m.

918-273-5536 Victory Cherokee Organization 1025 N. 12th St., Collinsville, 7 p.m.

918-371-6688 or 918-696-2354 victorycherokee@att.net Sept. 12 Stilwell Public Library Friends Society 5 N. Sixth St., Stilwell, 5 p.m.

918-315-4279 Native American Fellowship Inc. 215 Oklahoma St., South Coffeyville 6 p.m., 620-252-8883 Adair County Resource Center 110 S. Second St., Stilwell, 6:30 p.m.

Okay Senior Citizens Inc.

Sept. 16 Neighborhood Association of Chewey Chewey Community Building, 7 p.m.

Sept. 19 Tri-County (W.E.B.) Association J.R.’s Country Auction, 6 p.m.

Orchard Road Community Outreach (Stilwell), Turning Point Office, 6 p.m.

Sept. 23 Christie, 7 p.m., 918-778-3423 Illinois River Area Community Organization Inc. Illinois River Area Volunteer Fire Department building, 6 p.m.

Sept. 24 Dry Creek, 7 p.m., 918-457-5023 Tuesdays Veterans Affairs representatives Cherokee Nation Veterans Center Tahlequah, 918-772-4166 or 918-453-5695 The Veterans Center will host VA reps for all veterans to speak to from 9 a.m. to 3 pm.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays Marble City Nutrition Center 711 N. Main, 918-775-2158 The Marble City Nutrition Center serves hot meals at the Marble City Community Center at 11:30 a.m. Meals are free to anyone over 50, but a small donation is suggested to help with expenses. Gather for fellowship and friendship. Volunteers welcome.

First Friday of every month Concho Community Building 405-422-7622, The Indian Art Market invites all Indian artists to come and sell/share their work.

Year Round Will Rogers Memorial Museum Claremore, 918-341-0719 The museum honors the Cherokee cowboy, movie star, writer and humorist from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with nine galleries, three theaters and a special children’s museum. Closed on Monday and Tuesday from Nov. 11 through February.

Community Events Contact To have your event placed in our Community Events section, call Assistant Editor Will Chavez at 918-207-3961 or email will-chavez@cheorkee.org.

ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

Community • ᎾᎥ ᏄᎾᏓᎸ

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

9

Oaks to celebrate first founder’s day

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

OAKS – In honor of the founding of the small town of Oaks in Delaware County, Cherokee Nation citizen Kim Whorton is planning the first Oaks Founder’s Day for Sept. 21.

Oaks was established on the basis of mission work, Indian education, allotment and the dismantling of the Cherokee government.

According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, Oaks was founded in 1842 by Moravian missionaries and called New Springplace. It was later subject to allotment and granted a 4-acre reservation for a Lutheran mission. In 1906, a plat for the town was filed with the Northern District of Indian Territory. Oaks Indian Mission was established in 1926 and was later separated from the Lutheran Church and turned into a public school. The town was incorporated in 1962.

Whorton said she wants to celebrate Oaks Founder’s Day by having games for children and adults, craft vendors, food sales and a parade.

“I started everything myself. We’ve been wanting to do it for years. I finally asked the (Oaks Indian) mission if we could use their lots to put the games and stuff on and they said we could. So that’s when it all started,” Whorton said.

The event is scheduled to include football and ring tosses, a cornhole tournament, arts and craft vendors, a fun run and walk, a concession stand, a sack race, tug of war and a parade.

Games will be five tickets for $1, and the cornhole tournament entry is to be determined upon the number of entries.

The parade, set for 1 p.m., will include the Oaks Fire Department, Oaks High School football and cheerleaders, an overall school float, floats from surrounding churches and possibly vehicles from the nearby car show that is scheduled for the same day at the Oaks Fire Department.

The first Little Mr. and Miss Oaks Founder’s Day winners will lead the parade.

The Little Mr. and Miss Oaks Founder’s Day competition winners were expected to be selected by penny votes the participants gather and count one week before the Oaks Founder’s Day event.

Funds that are raised from the games, concession and the Little Mr. and Miss Oaks Founder’s Day competition will help fund the event next year.

“We’ll get it going this year, and maybe it will do really well next year,” Whorton said.

The event is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Oaks Indian Mission 155 N. Military Road. For information, email kwhorton1972@gmail.com.

LINDSEY BARK/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation citizen Kim Whorton stands next to the Oaks Indian Mission sign in Oaks. The mission is the location for the first Oaks Founder’s Day event. Whorton worked to gather donations and items for the event from community members. The event is slated for Sept. 21.

Oklahoma’s largest preserve undergoes habitat restoration

KERI THORNTON/TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS VIA AP City officials take a break during their July 18 walk of the greenbelt trail in Tahlequah. From left are Mayor Sue Catron, Planning and Development Director Clinton Johnson and Street Commissioner Wayne Ryals.

Officials: Tahlequah on track to soon expand Greenbelt Trail The 10-foot-wide portion of the trail will use features already available in existing parks by connecting Sequoyah Park to Ross Park, and then to Felts Park.

TAHLEQUAH (AP) – Expansion of the city’s Greenbelt Trail is on the horizon, and city officials say the work should begin sooner rather than later.

The Tahlequah History Trail originally started as a conceptual drawing of paths near Town Branch Creek in 1992 and expanded to a twomile trail system connecting all city parks to form the “Greenbelt.” The 10-foot-wide portion of the trail will use many features already available in the existing park system by connecting Sequoyah Park to Ross Park, and then to Felts Park, the Tahlequah Daily Press reported.

Tahlequah Mayor Sue Catron, other city officials and curious residents recently took a “walk and dream” tour of the trail and exchanged thoughts and ideas while they painted a picture of plans. Tahlequah Planning and Development Director Clinton Johnson said the trail will include two emergency phone stations and the same lighting as on Bluff Avenue.

The Street Department will be involved in the construction process by preparing the ground to support the asphalt trail and laying the surface of the trail.

Tahlequah Street Commissioner Wayne Ryals said the next step is having the funds released to Johnson so his department can be given the go-ahead.

“As soon as those are released, we can start,” said Ryals. “Most of the grant will be spent on gravel and asphalt, and we will match it with excavation. We are ready.”

The budget is based off of a Community Development Block Grant that will help fund construction.

In 2017, $85,456 was tentatively

approved by the City Council, and former Mayor Jason Nichols estimated that $800,000 had been put into the project.

“The grant is going to pay for the materials and the street department is going to be who installs the trail,” said Johnson.

Catron said the project will keep the city moving ahead and vibrant. She, along with Johnson and Ryals, walked the trail a week before, and they thought others would like a similar opportunity.

“We spent an hour or so walking along a little bit of the trail, and we were dreaming and envisioning what was going to be here,” said Catron. “It really helped to be on site and to see the lay of the land.”

She challenged the group to picture the potentials the trail had to offer and to throw out ideas while they walked.

In certain areas – especially with shade along the creek – the addition of picnic tables and benches was discussed.

Concerns were expressed on whether being close to the road will be a safety issue. Johnson said there was enough space, and there was a benefit while building the trail.

“It’s going to be 10 feet wide; you’re not going to have to be hugged up against the road. If we backed up the trail to the street curb, it’s going to be cheaper and easier for our construction,” said Johnson.

The mayor said there has been a back-and-fourth discussion on whether the trail should go under street bridges or whether crosswalks to major roads should be created.

“We obviously don’t have a crosswalk across Downing – and initially, at least, it will be a crosswalk just to get people safely through the trails,” said Catron.

“We spent an hour or so walking along a little bit of the trail, and we were dreaming and envisioning what was going to be here.”

Tahlequah Mayor Sue Catron

TAHLEQUAH (AP) – Magic has happened this summer on a former cattle ranch that for 19 years has been home to one of Oklahoma’s largest, but lesser-known, nature preserves.

Following one of the wettest spring seasons on record, the 17,000-acre J.T. Nickel Family Nature Preserve is showing just what 19 years of intense habitat restoration work can accomplish, and a man who has worked the land since 2005 only sees improvement from here on.

“For me, I get excited when I see these changes since I’ve been here and I think what it’s going to be like 100 years from now,” said Jeremy Tubbs, director of the preserve for The Nature Conservancy.

Gone are cattle pastures and overgrown timber patches. Now the land resembles what existed 200 years ago. At sunrise on a summer day, the bird songs, the smells and colors of wildflowers, and the chance to see elk, black bear or white-tailed deer can feel like a magical step back in time.

The birth of the preserve goes back to one outstanding feature of the area.

John T. Nickel, owner of Greenleaf Nursery Co. among others, said the sight of Goat’s Bluff, which is a high ledge outcropping above the Illinois River, stayed with him from the time he was 10 years old and he floated the river with his father and younger brother.

“We camped on a sandbar right below the bluff,” he said. “I’ve always had an emotional love for that part of Oklahoma.

There is a special beauty and I wanted to see some of it preserved before it all got fragmented and torn apart.”

With his business success, he was lucky enough to find a 14,000-acre parcel to purchase in 1989. He turned it over to The Nature Conservancy in 2000.

Purchases of inholdings have brought it to 17,000 acres in the Cookson Hills that feature several hollows (pronounced “hollers”) with spring-fed creeks.

Moving forward, the goal is to grow to 20,000 acres and to keep working to return the land to its natural state, which is an Ozark savanna mosaic — a mix of open prairie and post oak and shortleaf pine forest, Tubbs told Tulsa World.

“Their promise to me is it will remain undeveloped into perpetuity,” Nickel said.

Forty to 50 elk from a small herd transplanted in 2005 roam the area. Black bears are returning and other wildlife is more and more plentiful as the diversity of plant life grows, Tubbs said.

Wildlife watching and photography along the roads that surround the

preserve and along 3 miles of trails near the preserve headquarters draws visitors, he said. Bathtub Rocks, formed by spring water flowing over a limestone outcropping, is a popular local swimming hole that is growing in popularity with tourists.

“People have sent me photos of elk that are standing right on the trails,” he said.

“Being from Oklahoma, I never really thought I’d see a bear in Oklahoma.

To work in an area now that they’re returning is pretty amazing,” said Tubbs, who grew up in Shidler and graduated from Northeastern State University in 2006.

Herbicides were used to kill the old cattle pastures. They then were burned and native wildflower and grass seeds were planted. Chainsaws and herbicide worked to clear overgrown forest from 1,000 “sticks” per acre to 35 to 75. That meant sunlight could hit the ground and grass and flowers could grow beneath the trees.

Spot application of herbicides, chainsaw work and hand-pulling some weeds continues to keep non-native plants in check, Tubbs said. Fire does the rest.

A University of Missouri study of old trees and stumps from the area showed that from 1650 to 1925 the area burned an average of every three years, Tubbs said.

“Lightning strikes started fires and Native Americans used fire,” Tubbs said. “It burned in different ways and times and created this mosaic. That’s what we try to mimic.”

Fire breaks define 16 areas of the preserve. Some are burned every other year, some every three years, some every five or six, he said.

Preserve staff have collected by hand seeds and seed heads from native plants, dried them and processed them for supplemental plantings.

“It’s very tedious work,” Tubbs said.

In 2012 the staff collected, dried and screened 2,200 pounds of native seeds to create its own local-source seed mix.

“Some are these tiny, tiny seeds that ride on the wind,” he said. “Twenty-two hundred pounds is a lot of seeds.”

“What’s rewarding is you see this and you know you went out and actually, possibly, hand-collected the seed that plant is growing from,” Tubbs said as he looked over a prairie with patches of native big bluestem grasses towering 8 to 10 feet high and other areas with purple, yellow and white wildflowers dancing in the breeze.

MIKE SIMONS/TULSA WORLD VIA AP This July 18 photo shows liatris in a prairie at the J.T. Nickel Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve in Tahlequah. Following one of the wettest spring seasons on record, the 17,000-acre J.T. Nickel Family Nature Preserve is showing just what 19 years of intense habitat restoration work can accomplish, and a man who has worked the land since 2005 only sees improvement from here on.

10

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Baker-Limore named CN Health Services legal counsel TAHLEQUAH – Former prosecutor and Indian Child Welfare Executive Director Nikki Baker-Limore has been selected to serve as general counsel of the Cherokee Nation’s Health Services.

Health Services is the largest tribal health system in the country with more than 1.3 million patient visits per year in its eight health centers and W.W. Hastings Hospital.

This fall the tribe will also open its 469,000-square-foot outpatient health center on the Hastings campus and is partnering with Oklahoma State University to open a medical school.

Under her leadership with CN ICW and the One Fire Victims Service Office, she implemented career ladders for employees to advance, developed Title IV-E certification for more funding, helped launch a Care Portal system for easy access to donate to children in the foster system and implemented curriculum, including art therapy and equine therapy for Cherokee foster children.

She also wrote and received two grants to hire a life coach and cultural advocate for abuse victims.

“I look forward to this opportunity and the exciting times ahead for our Cherokee Nation health system,” Baker-Limore said. “ICW will continue to do great things, and I am grateful to have been a part of it, and now I look forward to being part of another program that calls for new growth.”

Health • ᎠᏰᎸ ᏄᏍᏛ

Young Cherokee endures rare genetic disorder

Gavin Day struggles daily with the rare disorder FG1 syndrome, an X-linked neurodevelopmental disorder that causes learning difficulties, weak muscle tone and other problems.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter MUSKOGEE – Although living with a rare genetic disorder known as FG1 syndrome, 11-year-old Cherokee Nation citizen Gavin Day is a hilarious, social and good-natured boy, his mother and CN citizen Jade Day said.

His daily life consists of taking numerous medications, and he often sees specialists and therapists for his condition.

FG1 syndrome is an X-linked neurodevelopmental disorder that causes learning difficulties, weak muscle tone, cardiac defects and vision problems, Jade said. Through this disorder comes cerebral palsy with spastic/ataxic diplegia and visual impairment.

“I am an X-linked carrier of a variation on MED12 that causes FG1 syndrome.

Our journey with Gavin started at birth after a relatively normal pregnancy. He was born via emergency C-section due to oligohydramnios at (W.W.) Hastings Hospital,” she said.

Oligohydramnios is a deficiency in the amniotic fluid during a pregnancy, and she said he came out struggling to breath and had other birth defects.

“In his first year of life, he had a feeding tube, multiple surgeries and as many therapists as we could find. As he grew older, more issues were noticed and addressed. All his doctors swore there was a genetic issue there, but after numerous testing, nothing was found. It took us until he was 7 and a half years old to get our answer,” Jade said.

She said the answer was discovered using

whole exome sequencing through a nonprofit for undiagnosed patients.

Gavin’s medical expenses are covered through Sooner Care via children with disabilities who medically qualify as disabled through the Social Security Administration.

He sees eight specialists, is in need of five different therapists and takes up to 15 medications daily. He endures several tests and procedures annually. He also uses a CPAP machine and oxygen to sleep safely at night, and a cane and orthotics to walk around.

“Costs for his care are insane. We call him our million-dollar baby because he hit $1 million care cost before he was 1 year old,” Jade said.

Earlier this year, Jade was appointed by the National Organization for Rare Disorders and the Oklahoma Rare Action Network as an ambassador for Oklahoma to serve as liaison between NORD and state agencies, networks and officials to increase awareness of rare diseases and disorders.

“I feel it is my duty as his mom and ambassador to educate doctors, other medical professionals and the general public on rare disorders and the struggles that come with being rare. Awareness is key on getting funding for research and developing services to serve this patient base and families better,” she said.

She added that Gavin is the best advocate for those with FG1 syndrome because he is the one living with it. There is no cure for his disorder, and he will endure it for the rest of his life.

She said Gavin would like people to know when they get a diagnosis, it doesn’t change who they are.

Oklahoma confirms first measles case, in Okmulgee County OKMULGEE (AP) — Health officials in Oklahoma say the state has its first confirmed case of measles in the past 12 months.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health says the case was confirmed in Okmulgee County. The department says the person who fell ill had returned to Oklahoma after traveling both domestically and internationally.

Oklahoma last had a confirmed case of measles in May 2018.

Nationwide, a total of 839 cases of measles were reported.

That’s the most since 1994, when 963 were reported for the entire year. The majority of illnesses have been in New York — most of them among unvaccinated people in Orthodox Jewish communities.

Measles was once common in the U.S. but gradually became rare after vaccination campaigns that started in the 1960s. follow us on twitter! @cherokeephoenix and on instagram The Cherokee Phoenix

Gavin Day “It is just a small part of you no matter what it is,” he said.

In 2017, Gavin was selected out of thousands of children and named a “Little Lobbyist” of the week. Little Lobbyists is an organization that advocates, outreaches and educates about children who have complex medical needs and disabilities. Organizers deliver to lawmakers photos and stories of children so they can see firsthand who needs the protection of laws and programs under threat such as the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Americans with Disabilities Act and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that are for families reliant on specialized health care, accessible public spaces and inclusive education, according to littlelobbyists.org.

“I am raising Gavin to know he is the expert, and his opinions and concerns matter most in regards to his life and health. I want him to be the best advocate for himself,” Jade said.

Hospitals put Native Americans at opioid risk, audit says

Mental health project a go after survey requested by tribe LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – A proposal for a behavioral health campus in Lawrence will proceed, after a survey of the site requested by the Delaware Tribe found no archaeological or human remains.

The tribe asked for the survey earlier this year to ensure no historical tribal artifacts or burial sites remained on the land where tribal members once lived.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports the Kansas Historical Society completed the survey on the 1-acre site this spring.

Surveyors found no significant cultural resources.

Brice Obermeyer, director of the tribe’s Historic Preservation Office, says if the survey didn’t find any artifacts, the tribe supports the new Douglas County behavioral health campus.

The project would include a 10-unit housing complex located near a mental health crisis center and a supportive group home.

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019

All five Indian Health Service hospitals that were reviewed had patients who were given opioids in amounts exceeding federal guidelines.

COURTESY Former Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden receives a flu shot from W.W. Hastings Hospital Occupational Health Nurse Randi Duncan in this 2017 photo.

The hospital is among 47 in the state to meet a 96 percent vaccinate rate of health care staff.

OHA recognizes Hastings Hospital for flu vaccination rate

BY STAFF REPORTS TAHLEQUAH – The Oklahoma Hospital Association has recognized W.W. Hastings Hospital for vaccinating more than 96 percent of its staff with flu shots and preventing the spread of the common illness.

The tribal hospital is among 47 in the state to meet the association’s annual challenge to vaccinate 96 percent of health care staff during the flu season.

More than 800 staff at W.W. Hastings Hospital were vaccinated.

“The W.W. Hastings Hospital staff in Tahlequah works tirelessly to ensure that hospital and state standards are not just expectations, but building blocks to provide even better care,” W.W. Hastings Hospital CEO Brian Hail said. “The recognition from the Oklahoma Hospital Association is a testament to the level of care and compassion that our staff provides on a daily basis.”

According to a recent OHA press release, hospitalized patients are particularly vulnerable to the dangers of influenza because their immune systems are often compromised by the illness that caused their admission or by the treatments they are undergoing.

“And the risk of complications from influenza is higher among the types of people who are admitted to our hospitals,” LaWanna Halstead, OHA vice president of quality and clinical initiatives, said. “These hospitals have developed policies and processes that ensure their patients and employees are protected.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that influenza is responsible for between 9.2 million and 35.6 million illnesses, between 140,000 and 710,000 hospitalizations, and between 12,000 and 56,000 deaths annually since 2010.

The CN operates the largest tribal health system in the country. It oversees W.W. Hastings Hospital and nine other health centers in northeastern Oklahoma. In fiscal year 2018, the tribe had more than 1.3 million patient visits.

cherokeephoenix.org

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) – U.S. government hospitals placed Native American patients at increased risk for opioid abuse and overdoses, failing to follow their own protocols for prescribing and dispensing the drugs, according to a federal audit made public on July 22.

The report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General does not draw conclusions about actual abuse or overdoses. But it said all five Indian Health Service hospitals that were reviewed had patients who were given opioids in amounts exceeding federal guidelines.

“There are vulnerabilities with this particular population in the opioid prescribing and dispensing practices,” said Carla Lewis, one of the auditors.

The overdose epidemic that has killed more people than any other drug epidemic in U.S. history has hit Indigenous communities hard. Native Americans and Alaska Natives had the second-highest rate of opioid overdose out of all U.S. racial and ethnic groups in 2017, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report made more than a dozen recommendations to the IHS to better track patients’ health records and pain management, ensure opioids are stored under tighter security and update its information technology systems. The agency agreed on every point and said changes are coming.

The IHS, the federal agency that administers primary health care for Native Americans, has put an increased focus on opioids lately with a new website and the creation of a committee focused on decreasing overdose deaths, promoting culturally appropriate treatments and ensuring that communities know how to respond.

The audit covered five of the 25 hospitals directly run by the IHS: the Phoenix Indian Medical Center in Phoenix; Northern Navajo Medical Center on the Navajo Nation in Shiprock, New Mexico; the Lawton Indian Hospital in Lawton, Oklahoma; the Cass Lake Indian Hospital on the Leech Lake reservation in Cass Lake, Minnesota; and the Fort Yates Hospital on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in Fort Yates, North Dakota.

Auditors considered the amount of opioids each hospital dispensed and the percentage increase over three years when deciding which ones to review.

They looked at 30 patient records at each hospital, visited the facilities and interviewed staff.

The auditors found that the hospitals strayed from guidelines in the Indian Health Manual in reviewing treatment for patients and their causes of pain every three months. Patients also must sign a written consent form and an agreement to treat chronic pain with opioids so they know the risks and benefits, as well as the requirement for drug screenings. More than 100 patient

records did not include evidence of informed consent, and dozens did not have evidence that providers adequately educated patients.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends that patients be prescribed no more than 90 morphine milligram equivalents per day, a measure used to compare an opioid dose with morphine.

The audit found that each hospital met or exceeded that amount at times. At the Shiprock hospital, the daily dosage was more than four times as high. The auditors also found some patients were prescribed opioids and benzodiazepines – commonly used to treat anxiety and insomnia – at the same time, which “puts patients at a greater risk of a potentially fatal overdose.”

The IHS said it implemented a tool to track the dosages, and all of its facilities reported data in the first quarter of 2019.

Among the report’s other findings: • More than two dozen records showed no evidence patients were screened for drugs with urine tests when they started opioid treatment and periodically after.

Providers did not have an alert system to know when patients were due. The Phoenix hospital has since implemented one.

• Pharmacists are supposed to review patients’ files before filling prescriptions from an outside provider, but that was not done at four of the hospitals. In one case, Fort Yates filled a prescription from an outside provider despite the hospital discontinuing treatment because the patient violated a pain management agreement. The IHS said it would issue a directive in December for prescribers to track that information.

• Only the Lawton hospital had opioids secured in a storage cabinet that requiring employee authentication for access. One photo attached to the report showed the combination to a safe on the safe itself. The IHS said it has revised its manual to require opioids awaiting pickup to be locked up.

• Agreements with their states require that hospitals report daily on opioid prescriptions that are filled so patients do not seek the drugs from multiple providers at the same time. Fort Yates and Phoenix now are complying. The IHS said the reporting would be automated

by June 2020.

At all hospitals, auditors noted that providers did not always review the data before seeing new patients or during the time they were taking opioids for chronic pain.

“Part of it is to ensure the holistic approach of providing care,” Lewis said.

Hospital officials and providers often said they were overwhelmed by the number of patients or could not control how regularly they came in – sometimes due to the long distances between patients’ homes and the hospitals.

Lewis said auditors try to be reasonable in their requests.

“We try to make recommendations that are going to be actionable and costeffective for an organization,” she said.

ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

Education • ᏧᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗ

D. SEAN ROWLEY/ CHEROKEE PHOENIX Billie Fain, testing assistant, and Landra Alberty, manager of Alternative Education and Assessment for the Cherokee Nation, offer high school equivalency testing – the HiSET and GED – through Adult Education within Career Services.

Career Services offers high school equivalency testing

The Adult Education program offers HiSET paper exams and GED testing on computers.

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY Senior Reporter TAHLEQUAH – As the United States continues to journey into a realm of sophisticated technology, education has become ever more important.

As recently as 1950, only about half of Americans graduated from high school, but anyone without a high school diploma today is at a disadvantage.

The Cherokee Nation offers high school equivalency testing – including the HiSET exam – to help CN citizens and non-Natives achieve that basic level of academic attainment that is generally expected across the job market and in higher education. The tests are offered through the Career Services’ Adult Education program.

“HiSET test is a five-part test that states use in the process of issuing a high school credential.

It is a high school diploma,” Landra Alberty, Alternative Education and Assessment manager, said. “For many years we only had the GED, but in 2014, there were two other companies that worked with the state of Oklahoma. There are three tests that can be used. The TASC (Test Assessing Secondary Completion) is also available, but we use the GED and HiSET.” Many seeking high school equivalency choose the HiSET exam. It can be taken as a traditional test on paper, while the CN offers the GED as a computer examination. HiSET is also less expensive. The paper test is $15 per section, or $75 to take the complete test of reading, writing, math, science and social studies. It is also offered elsewhere on computer for $10.75 per section, or $53.75. The GED has four sections – language arts, science, math and social studies – but costs $34 each or $136 total.

“The HiSET gives our students the paper option if they aren’t very comfortable using a computer,” Alberty said. “But the HiSET is formatted like the GED. We also elected to go with the paper-based HiSET.” Alberty said the content of the GED and HiSET are not significantly different.

“When we hold our preparation classes, we don’t differentiate between homework or what we teach them,” she said. “We teach toward the GED and the information is pretty much the same. There is a little bit of difference in the math section. HiSET

requires only a four-function calculator, while a scientific calculator is needed for the GED.” The HiSET has become an increasingly visible option for students applying for an equivalency exam through CN Adult Education. The HiSET is administered once a month, and 75 were given during 2018 in Tahlequah and Pryor.

“In the last two years, we have graduated 110 GED and HiSET testers, and that is just our Native students,” Alberty said. “For Natives, we provide all the materials, class instruction and pay for the test. We also assist non-Native students. They can come in and we can give them materials, but they do have to pay for their tests on their own.”

Alberty said the list of reasons students don’t finish high school is as long as the list of students.

It is rarely a case of the child is too lazy to go to class. More often a student’s academic pursuit is derailed by personal tragedy, a chaotic home life or the student needing to find employment to help a financially strapped household.

“A lot of factors prevent students from completing high school,” she said. “Some who apply are 16 or 17, but we try to encourage them to stay in school. Due to extenuating circumstances, some aren’t able to do that. Those students must have permission from a parent and the last school they attended. The 16- or 17-year-old agreement has to be filled out and notarized before we will let them enroll in class.”

The tribe’s HiSET and GED programs are self-funded, but also adhere to all state rules and regulations. Career Services can also accommodate testers with disabilities or special conditions or needs. Alberty said some testers are allowed double time or extra time due to disabilities, and another diabetic student was allowed food and drink during the exam, and took the test alone.

Billie Fain, testing assistant, said she is proud to be part of an important community service offered by the CN. “People from all over schedule their tests here,” Fain said. “I am always glad we have that reach.

I like working here. I administer all the tests, and we also offer the HiSET in Spanish.”

CN high school equivalency classes are offered in other locales within the tribe’s jurisdiction, including Stilwell, Claremore, Jay, Belfonte, Pryor, Catoosa, Westville and Sallisaw. For more information, call 918-458-0577.

NSU offers free concurrent enrollment to high school juniors, seniors up to 9 hours

BY STAFF REPORTS

TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State University is partnering with the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education to offer tuition waivers to high school juniors for concurrent enrollment in fall 2019 and spring 2020 semesters.

As a pilot program, the Concurrent Enrollment Waiver Reimbursement Program is being expanded from high school seniors to include qualified high school juniors for up to nine hours for the academic year, subject to available funds.

This free tuition program will allow more high school students the ability to enroll in college, have a head start on their education and develop the confidence to earn a college degree, states a NSU press release.

Provost and Academic Affairs Vice President Dr. Deborah Landry said the program is a great opportunity for students. “Concurrent enrollment provides an opportunity for high school students to explore college classes and earn college credit from NSU, helping students get a head start on their college coursework.”

While tuition is free, students will be

responsible for course fees and course textbooks.

To take concurrent classes at NSU, students must have a 3.0 GPA, be in the top 50 percent of their class and have a minimum ACT 20 (composite) score or SAT 1020 (Evidence Based Reading, Writing and Math) score.

For more information, call NSU Admissions and Recruitment at 918-444-4675 or email admissions@nsuok.edu. To apply to NSU, visit apply.nsuok.edu.

Cherokee Nation citizens who are high school students and who are concurrently enrolled and receiving college credit may apply for the concurrent scholarship offered by the CN College Resource Center.

Concurrent scholarships are offered to high school juniors and seniors who are taking required general education courses, at a college or university, while still in high school. CN citizens must also have permanent residence within the CN or contiguous areas.

Applications for the CN concurrent scholarship for the spring 2020 semester will open Oct 1 and must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. CDT on Dec. 29, according to cherokee.org.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

11

Immersion school to use old Tahlequah casino

The previous Cherokee Casino Tahlequah will be donated to the Cherokee Immersion Charter School for classroom space.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter TAHLEQUAH – Plans for the facility that housed the old Cherokee Casino Tahlequah near Sequoyah Schools are to eventually donate it to the Cherokee Nation’s Cherokee Immersion Charter School.

CN officials confirmed that planning for converting the old casino for the school’s use is in the early stages. The facility is currently housing electronic gaming machines from the Cherokee Casino Fort Gibson, which closed due to flooding in May and is expected to reopen in September, CN officials said.

The new Cherokee Casino Tahlequah opened earlier this year inside a 92,000-square-foot facility at the Cherokee Springs Plaza, about 3 miles east of the old facility along Highway 62. The new casino holds more than 500 electronic games, a 144-seat restaurant, a grab-and-go café, a live music venue, complimentary non-alcoholic beverages and 33,000 square feet of convention and meeting space to accommodate up to 1,000 people.

The previous casino was 6,080 square feet, held a little more than 200 games and offered the River City Café. That facility is located at 16489 Highway 62, less than a mile from the current Cherokee Immersion Charter School.

According to a 2014 Cherokee Phoenix story, CN officials said the donation of the old casino to the immersion school would help expand and grow language programs for the tribe’s youth.

Then-Principal Chief Bill John Baker said following the opening of the new casino at Cherokee Springs Plaza, the immersion school would use the old casino.

“We designed it that way when we built it…so we won’t have two casinos. But when we build the one there (at Cherokee Springs Plaza), the one out here (near Sequoyah) will become the immersion school,” Baker said.

The immersion school started as a language preservation program in 2001 and instructs students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in the Cherokee language. The school also has a bridge program for seventh and eighth grade students who will transition to public school or to Sequoyah High School.

COURTESY An artist’s rendering of the former Cherokee Casino Tahlequah at 16489 Highway 62. With the new larger casino open at Cherokee Springs Plaza, the old casino will eventually be used for the Cherokee Immersion Charter School.

CN officials recognize young Braille expert

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee Nation citizen Hunter Kelley’s mastery of Braille has earned the fifth grader accolades across the state, nationally and most recently, within the tribe.

Kelley, a category finalist in June’s national Braille Challenge, was honored during the Aug. 12 Tribal Council meeting.

“We’re proud of Hunter, and we want to congratulate him here tonight,” then-Principal Chief Bill John Baker said before handing the 10-year-old from Claremore a certificate of recognition for winning honors in the regional competition and national event hosted by the Braille Institute. “He’s won overall top score in (the) elementary and middle school category for the past three years in the regional competition. Hunter is one of the best in his age group, not just in Oklahoma, but the entire country.”

At 17 months old, Kelley was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare childhood cancer that forms in the tissues of the retina, according to the National Cancer Institute. He later underwent chemotherapy treatments, radiation treatments, laser therapy and two surgeries to remove his eyes. Hunter has two prosthesis that match the color of his eyes.

Described by Baker as “another shining example that we survive, we adapt and we excel as a people,” Kelley is the son of Kimberly Politte-Pugh, a former instructor at the Oklahoma School for the Blind.

“We are very proud of him,” Politte-Pugh said of her son, adding that he received a special tribal pin along with his certificate. “He loved it. He wore it the rest of the week.”

Kelley was one of three students from the Oklahoma School for the Blind in Muskogee to participate in nationals this year.

He previously earned high honors in the “apprentice” and “freshman” categories.

“He’s participated every year since he’s been able to,” his mother said. “It’s one of his favorite things going to school there.”

Earlier this year, Kelley won a gold medal and the highest overall score in the same categories in Oklahoma’s regional contest.

The competitions measure proficiency in Braille reading and comprehension, speed and accuracy, spelling, proofreading and tactile graphics.

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Hunter Kelley, 10, of Claremore, center, is recognized by the Cherokee Nation on Aug. 12 for his success in Braille competitions.

12

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

Services • ᎾᎾᏛᏁᎲ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019

Tribal leaders hear plan to ‘grow’ bison herd

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee Nation leaders on Aug. 12 discussed the future of the tribe’s bison herd and its potential as a source of meat for citizens.

David Moore with CN Management Resources said he and his crew are expanding pastureland for the herd, which sits at roughly 150 bison including 26 calves.

“We’ve taken back some land to increase our footprint that we’re trying to raise these buffalo on,” he said. “I’d like to grow it, you know, grow the herd and not just let it sit there – try to make it big enough where we can do something with it.”

Tribal Council Speaker Joe Byrd, during the Aug. 12 Resources Committee meeting, suggested striving to offer bison meat to tribal citizens.

“We don’t just want to look at them,” he said. “We could put that in the elders’ program or Head Start program, or somewhere in there and utilize that.

It’s some of the healthiest meat. But instead we’ll serve unhealthy meat to our people out in the communities.

Let’s grow that and see if we can’t start utilizing that herd. I wouldn’t mind if we only had 10 out there if everybody was eating healthy.”

The herd, located on tribal land near Bull Hollow in Delaware County, was established in 2014 – following a 40-year absence – on 1,000 acres with 38 female bison from the Badlands National Park in South Dakota and 12 bulls from the Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.

On Aug. 12, then-Tribal Councilor Dick Lay asked Moore, “Did we know what we were doing when we got into it?”

“I cannot answer that for you,” Moore said. “I was not involved at that point. I inherited it. I’m going to try to grow and move forward with it. We doubled the land they were on. We’re in the process

WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX A bison cow stands close to her calf on land managed by the Cherokee Nation’s Natural Resources as part of the CN’s bison program near Bull Hollow. Some elected officials want to grow the herd so meat can be offered to citizens. of building a fence right now. The land we’ve taken back, there’s another 1,000plus acres. I hope to eventually…grow the herd into that area.”

Moore added that it would take “several times what we’ve got” to “maintain a herd and utilize it for commercial meat.”

“It’s going to be a slow process, but I’m excited,” he said. “That’s our goal is to grow it so we can get there. We’ve got to get some outside bloodline in this. We haven’t, and we need to. So we’re selling some of the calves and then we’ll keep some. Then we’re trying to get new bulls

in to grow the herd. Probably 200 to 300, I think, you could probably get some meat.

I don’t know if you can get enough to keep everyone happy, but I think that’d be a good starting point.”

Sara Hill, who was secretary of Natural Resources on Aug. 12, said she recently visited the Quapaw Nation’s multimillion dollar bison and cattle processing plant in northeast Oklahoma.

“They obviously spent a lot of money on it,” Hill said. “I was just very impressed with that facility. They have a large staff. They do bison and a lot of different types of animals there.

Obviously they are prepared and ready to take more animals than they’ve even got right now. I learned a lot on that visit with them.”

Tribal Councilor E.O. Smith said he was also familiar with the Quapaw operation.

“They’re making some money off that buffalo,” he said. “If we would take buffalo and put it in an attractive package in all of our travel plazas and put ‘Cherokee buffalo meat,’ it would be rolling out the door. We could sell it faster than we could produce it.”

MONAA working to provide resources for Native community

The Muskogee Oklahoma Native American Association expects to provide resources for local Natives and offer an Indigenous Peoples’ Day event in October.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter MUSKOGEE – After the city of Muskogee changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day in 2018, the Muskogee Oklahoma Native American Association was created to build an event around the holiday and give Native Americans access to resources throughout the year.

The group began meeting in January and now has about 70 members.

“A group of us in Muskogee wanted to make it a big event and make it our own,” MONAA Chairwoman Britteny Cuevas said of the upcoming Indigenous Peoples Day. “We used to have such a diverse group of Native Americans, and there’s a lot in Muskogee that need to be represented, though we always get looked over. We didn’t want to limit ourselves to just that one day. We wanted to help give people resources throughout the year, so we became an organization.”

Cuevas said there are many issues in Muskogee they want to help Native people with and provide resources for. Some of MONAA’s objectives

LINDSEY BARK/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Muskogee Oklahoma Native American Association Chairwoman Britteny Cuevas, left, and MONAA public relations officer Sara Megan Kelley since January have promoted the organization and its upcoming Muskogee Oklahoma Native American Holiday in October.

are increasing voting participation; decreasing alcohol-related crimes; family violence prevention; raising awareness for missing Natives; reporting sexual assault; decreasing incarceration, homelessness and suicide rates; exposing racism; decreasing school dropout rates; and increasing employment.

“Just to have all of these resources available because it’s time to change, and we can make change in Muskogee. There’s no reason why we can’t.

And it should have already been done,” Cuevas said.

MONAA public relations officer Sara Megan Kelley said there are several tribes represented in Muskogee but wants all to be included in the group’s COURTESY mission for Indian Country.

“This is for all Native Americans that want to participate and join in whether they know a lot about their culture, they were raised in a Native home or if they weren’t,” Kelley said.

Cuevas said MONAA also wants to focus on education for Native American youth with regards to their heritages, languages and histories.

“There’s so much history, and it’s not a good history. America wasn’t founded on roses and stuff. It was founded on racism. But we need to tell those stories and educate so we can grow from that because that’s the past. We know that happened. We’re all hurt, but we need to be identified and have the voice to speak up,” she said.

The Indigenous Peoples Day event, or Muskogee Oklahoma Native American Holiday, is expected to be held Oct. 1114 with activities such as stomp dance, Indian taco sale, film festival, comedy act, hymn singing, guest speakers, art and crafts vendors, storytelling, march and ceremony, veterans program and concert.

The event is in the planning stages, but MONAA members are promoting it, as it is the group’s first big project.

“We have a lot of support and everybody’s pitching in, and it’s going to be successful, I have no doubt about it,” Cuevas said.

MONAA is under a fiscal sponsorship with “Neighbors Building Neighborhoods” and is working to become an independent, nonprofit organization.

For information, call 918-351-1716 or visit Muskogee Oklahoma Native American Association MONAA on Facebook.

COURTESY The Cherokee Nation Food Distribution Program serves about 5,100 households per month. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has allowed a waiver for the tribe to fill a service area gap for more than 3,100 CN citizens in Bartlesville.

USDA waiver expands CN Food Distribution to Bartlesville Until the approval, Cherokee Nation citizens eligible for the program who lived in Bartlesville could not receive benefits because of residing in an urban area.

BY STAFF REPORTS BARTLESVILLE – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved Cherokee Nation’s waiver request that allows the tribe to serve its citizens living in Bartlesville through its Food Distribution Program.

Until the waiver approval, CN citizens eligible for the program who lived in Bartlesville could not receive benefits because of residing in an urban area.

Under Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations regulations, an urban place is defined as having a population of 10,000 or more.

“We are appreciative that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recognized the need and approved the waiver that allows our tribe to better serve its citizens,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “The Food Distribution Program can mean everything to a family, and it is so great that we will be able to now extend that blessing to tribal citizens living in the city of Bartlesville.”

Currently, the Food Distribution Program serves about 5,100 households per month through its seven distribution centers inside the tribe’s jurisdiction. The USDA waiver allows the tribe to fill a service gap area of about 3,118 CN citizens in Bartlesville.

“We have had inquiries from clients requesting to apply for our

Food Distribution Program, and unfortunately, we’ve had to tell them that we were not able to serve them,” said Leah Duncan, Food Distribution Manager for the Cherokee Nation. “Now they’ll be able to get those services through Cherokee Nation.”

Dist. 12 Tribal Councilor Dora Patzkowski said the waiver is a blessing for tribal citizens living in Bartlesville needing the service.

“The Food Distribution Program is such a blessing to Cherokee Nation citizens who are not necessarily looking for a handout, but may need a hand up in life,” Patzkowski said. “Due to regulations beyond the tribe’s control, we were not able to help citizens in need that lived in Bartlesville until the recently approved waiver. Therefore, I am so proud and thankful for the work of our staff who spent an immeasurable amount of time and energy to secure the USDA waiver in order to serve Cherokee Nation citizens in Bartlesville.”

Eligible CN citizens living in Bartlesville can begin using the Food Distribution Program on Sept. 3. The nearest CN Food Distribution Center facilities to Bartlesville are located in Nowata at 1018 Lenape Drive and in Collinsville at 1101 N. 12th.

For information about the Food Distribution Program, visit cherokee.org or call 1-800-865-4462.

ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

Money • ᎠᏕᎳ

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

Cherokee Nation Businesses submits Arkansas casino proposal with endorsement

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY Senior Reporter

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – After facing general opposition to gaming from residents and officials of Russellville and Pope County, Cherokee Nation Businesses reportedly submitted an application for a casino license in the county on Aug. 22, three days after the Arkansas Racing Commission began a new 90-day bidding period.

A Pulaski County circuit judge decided, also on Aug. 22, that a lawsuit filed by a competing casino interest against the racing commission should be heard in Pope County.

The CNB application also has the support of the Pope County Quorum Court, signed Aug. 13 after a special meeting was called.

“Since submitting our initial application to the Arkansas State Racing Commission in May, we have remained fully committed to the people of Pope County and to taking our proposed development to the next level,” then-CNB CEO Shawn Slaton said on Aug. 12.

“Today, with much excitement, we are pleased to unveil our plans. We’ve embraced the community’s feedback and are confident this resort destination brings something for everyone.”

The initial CNB application, and those of four other casino interests, to operate in Pope County were dismissed by the ARC because none had the required endorsements of local officials – required by the Arkansas State Constitution after voters approved Amendment 100.

Any casino in Pope County would be sited on about 135 acres near Russellville. The space is north of Interstate 40 along Nob Hill Road, between Weir Road and Alaskan Trail.

The CNB proposal, created

COURTESY A plan for a resort and casino by Cherokee Nation Businesses and Legends – a global planning, sales and hospitality company – has received authorization by leaders in Pope County, Arkansas. Shown is an artist’s rendering of the proposed $225 million facility. with the sports, stadium and entertainment company Legends, calls for a $225 million venue with 50,000 square feet of gaming space, a sports book within a sport-themed tavern, a 200room luxury hotel with a fitness center, pool and spa, 15,000 square feet of conference space, restaurants, a 100-space RV park, an outdoor music venue and a water park. The proposal states that construction would take approximately 18 months, and CNB estimates that about 1,000 jobs would be created.

Before the Aug. 13 special meeting, the Choctaw Nation and Tri-Peaks/Hard Rock Cafe claimed they would not submit new casino proposals, arguing that the process to decide on bids had not been sufficiently transparent or equitable. Hard Rock Arkansas actually posted

to its Facebook page on Aug. 10 that it already knew its proposal would not be selected, and that “another applicant will be granted a letter of support on August 13.”

The lawsuit against the ARC, filed by Gulfside Casino Partnership, includes endorsement letters from Jim Ed Gibson, a former quorum court judge, and former Russellville Mayor Randy Horton, written just before their terms expired.

“The whole town of Russellville erupted and accused them of going around the process,” Slaton told the Tribal Council in January.

“The outgoing judge, the outgoing mayor really took it on the chin from the community. So did the casino operator that basically tried to backdoor the process.”

A subsequent appeal by Gulfside was also thrown out by

the ARC. Amendment 100 does not specify when endorsements must be obtained, but a recently passed ARC regulation requires letters of support to come only from local officials in office at the time of submission of an application.

Gulfside’s suit claims the new ARC rule is unconstitutional.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox has ordered the case be moved to Pope County.

“It is patently clear from the Verified Complaint that the citizens, residents, and taxpayers of Pope County have a substantial interest in this matter being conducted in Pope County,” Fox wrote in his decision.

The fifth casino interest has submitted a proposal for the “River Ridge Casino Resort.” It is led by the family of Robert and Ruth Kehl of Iowa.

Hoskin calls upon CNB to raise Hard Rock Tulsa lands AAA Four minimum wage for workers

BY STAFF REPORTS

TAHLEQUAH – Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. on Aug. 14 called upon the Cherokee Nation Businesses board of directors to follow the tribe’s lead and implement a wage increase for employees working for the tribe’s business arm.

According to a CN press release, CNB employs more than 7,560 people and is the board-governed holding company for the tribe’s for-profit businesses. It also states that CNB pays a direct dividend of 37 percent of its profits to the tribe for services such as housing, health care, education and social services.

The remaining 63 percent is reinvested into growing jobs, wages, business development and special projects such as health care facilities construction, the release states.

“As chief of the Cherokee Nation, I respect CNB’s status as a wholly-owned business entity of the Cherokee Nation, overseen by a board of directors with the business acumen to balance the very real needs of our Cherokee Nation citizens today, with what will keep our businesses thriving in the long-term.

However, it is clear that CNB has experienced tremendous success during the past eight years in large measure due to the dedication of its employees,” Hoskin stated in the release.

“Accordingly, it seems appropriate in my view for CNB to raise employee wages in a manner consistent with my plan to increase Cherokee Nation government employee wages.”

According to the release, Hoskin anticipates CNB to review its budget and develop a fair and sustainable pay increase plan.

“Raising the entry level wage to at least $11 an hour further enhances our ability to attract and retain great talent at CNB,” CNB Executive Vice President Chuck Garrett stated in the release. “In addition to this very attractive wage, all regular, full-time hourly employees are offered a competitive benefits package, including a dollar-for-dollar match up to 6 percent on their 401(k) and participation in a rewarding incentive program. Likewise, employees at CNB have very meaningful career paths.”

A week before his Aug. 14 inauguration, then Principal Chief-elect Hoskin announced that starting Oct. 1 the tribe’s minimum wage would increase from $9.50 per hour to $11 per hour. All 3,850 government employees, regardless of salary, would receive an increase to their pay in October, the release states.

According to a Cherokee Phoenix story, on Oct. 1, 2014, entry level CN employees saw their wages increase from $9 per hour to $9.50 per hour. The increase came via a Feb. 24, 2014, executive order from then-Principal Chief Bill John Baker.

The story also states that in March 2014, the CNB board of directors answered a challenge

by Baker by voting to increase its minimum wage to $9.50 per hour for its businesses. That pay hike went into effect on Oct. 1, 2014.

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Oklahoma tribal leaders unite in gaming compacts stance OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Leaders of 29 Oklahoma tribal nations have sent a letter to Gov. Kevin Stitt saying they believe the current compacts governing tribal casinos in the state will automatically renew.

The letter signed by 30 officials representing the 29 tribes was released by Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association Chairman Matt Morgan.

It says the tribal officials believe the compact renews automatically on Jan. 1, that rates set by the compact should not change and that Stitt has the right to request a renegotiation of the rates. It asks that Stitt send his proposal to each tribe for consideration.

Tribal leaders say they were surprised by Stitt’s July 8 editorial suggesting the compacts be reevaluated now that the gambling industry has matured in Oklahoma.

Ground broken for $350M casino resort in Arkansas PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) – The Quapaw Nation has broken ground on a $350 million casino resort expected to open in Arkansas next year.

The Downstream Development Authority of the Oklahoma-based Quapaw Nation on Aug. 5 held a groundbreaking ceremony with local and state officials for the Saracen Casino Resort planned in Pine Bluff, which is about 38 miles south of Little Rock.

The casino is scheduled to open in June 2020, with its 300room hotel and entertainment venue opening in December 2020. The casino resort is expected to create 1,100 jobs.

Its gambling floor will include more than 2,000 slot machines and 50 table games. A smaller casino annex with 300 slot machines is set to open this October.

Arkansas voters in 2018 approved a constitutional amendment legalizing casino gambling in four counties.

Diamond Rating

Governor signs bill allowing Cherokee sports betting

CATOOSA – The American Automobile Association has recognized the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa with its Four Diamond Rating for the third year in a row.

A Four Diamond property is defined by AAA as one that is “refined, stylish with upscale physical attributes, extensive amenities and high degree of hospitality, service and attention to detail.”

Diamond ratings appear in online travel guides, on the club’s website and via the AAA Mobile app, as well as the printed Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri & Oklahoma TourBook guide.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa also sits at No. 2 on the U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Best Tulsa Hotels list, earning the destination with more national recognition as one of the top hotels in the country. Locally, the property holds the record for most awards in Tulsa World’s 2018 Best in the World, with accolades such as Best Casino, Best Hotel, Best Casino Dining, Best Buffet, Best Small Entertainment Venue and Best Wedding Venue. Voters also chose Hard Rock Tulsa as Best Casino in The Tulsa Voice’s 2019 Best of Tulsa awards.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina’s governor has signed legislation allowing an American Indian tribe to offer sports and horse wagering at its two casinos.

The measure letting the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians offer the betting passed by a wide margin in both legislative chambers earlier in the year.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s office announced Friday that the gaming measure was among more than a dozen pieces of legislation he signed. The law takes effect with Cooper’s signature.

Casinos in a number of states have added sports wagering after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that lifted a ban that had restricted sports betting in most states.

State law already lets the Eastern Band offer live poker and slot machines.

The tribe has casinos in Murphy and Cherokee in the mountains.

BY STAFF REPORTS

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People • ᏴᏫ

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019

Swayney working to share Cherokee culture, history

BY WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor CHEROKEE, N.C. – When she was a teenager Robin Swayney daydreamed of living somewhere else besides the Qualla Boundary, home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

She said growing up in the town of Cherokee in the 1970s and 1980s, she intended on graduating high school and leaving the EBCI boundary and never coming back because it was not “thriving.”

After high school, she went to Atlanta to attend school at an art institute. Not wanting to go right into the workforce, she attended Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, on a full scholarship and earned a bachelor’s degree in fine art.

“Long story short, I sat there one day and thought, ‘I’m not making it.’ I was working, but all I was doing was working and paying rent. I moved back home,” she said.

After coming home 21 years ago, she took a class with Right Path and it forced her to think about who she was both as a person living where she was and who she was as a Cherokee.

“I could spout out acreage, the number of people that were here, but to tell you why we were here, I had no clue. After taking that class I got these little snippets of history, and ‘here’s the small picture.

It’s your choice whether you go dig for more information.’ That’s kind of where I’m at right now. Here (Museum of the Cherokee Indian) it’s Christmas every day. I find something new all of the time, which reinvigorates that drive to want to know more,” she said. “I always tell everybody that’s a big room of stuff (archives) back there, but until you share it, that’s when it comes alive.”

“Ostenaco’s trip to London” is a historical exhibit at the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina.

PHOTOS BY CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Genealogist and archivist Robin Swayney talks about her role with the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, North Carolina.

“Being able to share that, even with our own local folks, that’s what I enjoy.”

Robin Swayney, Museum of the Cherokee Indian

In 2017, after 11 years as manager of the Qualla Boundary Public Library, Swayney began working as a genealogist and archivist at the museum in Cherokee. She said she enjoys getting to help others who want to better understand their family’s history.

She said her daily activities at the museum vary from answering genealogy questions to assisting researchers in the museum or assisting with museum exhibits. Each year, she helps EBCI

“Remember the Removal” Bike Ride cyclists trace their family histories.

Along with assisting with genealogy at the museum, she shares information about why Cherokee people are still in the mountains of western North Carolina instead of Oklahoma with their kin. She said one has to look at genealogy through history because they are intertwined and can explain why someone’s ancestors are Cherokee or not.

“Being able to share that, even with

our own local folks, that’s what I enjoy,” she said. “And I want us, as a museum to open the doors for more community involvement so we can dispel those (false) myths, legends.”

Swayney is also a founding member of the Qualla Boundary Historical Society.

It works to provide correct information about her tribe’s history and culture and to encourage people to share their knowledge of their Cherokee heritage.

She said she hopes Eastern and Western Cherokees can eventually combine efforts and share cultural and historical information “because it takes both” to have a true picture of the Cherokee people. She said the Trail of Tears is always considered the pinnacle of the tribe’s history, but there’s much more history before and after the forced removals of the early 1800s.

“Through the museum, through the library, we’re trying to push that information out, and it’s the only way we can broaden that sense (of history and culture),” she said. “We’re getting there. I was thinking the other day, ‘if we had only known this in high school, how much better would we be today.’”

Exit for latest Miss Cherokee ‘bittersweet’

Whitney Roach, the 2018-19 Miss Cherokee, was the tribe’s goodwill ambassador for the past year.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH — Whitney Roach, representing the tribe as Miss Cherokee for the past 12 months, recalls “an amazing year full of growth.”

“It’s been a blast to get to go around the United States and talk to Cherokee people,” she said. “It’s a year I’ll never forget. I hope to help the Cherokee Nation the rest of my life.”

Speaking to Cherokee Nation leaders at the Aug. 12 Tribal Council meeting, Roach said it was “bittersweet” to step down from a role that took the Northeastern State University student “as far east as you can go, and as far northwest as you can go,” Tribal Council Speaker Joe Byrd said.

“She’s had a chance to travel and

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Whitney Roach, the outgoing Miss Cherokee, speaks to tribal leaders in August about her year as an ambassador.

represent us in a good way,” he added.

Miss Cherokees serve a year as goodwill ambassadors promoting tribal government, history, language and culture. They attend events throughout the CN, including community meetings, parades and school functions, and at times, appear at state and national events. College scholarships are given to Miss Cherokee, as well as the first and second runners-up.

“You’ve always supported me, and you’ve always been at the events I’ve been at,” Roach told councilors. “It’s nice to see familiar faces everywhere I go.”

To the former principal and deputy chiefs, Bill John Baker and S. Joe Crittenden, she said, “You guys have always been like father figures to me. It’s really been a family here.”

Roach also thanked creators of the Cherokee Speaker Roll, a special book making the rounds to Cherokee communities for first-language speakers.

“My grandfather who passed away last year in March, he was a fluent speaker,” Roach said. “He had a brother that moved to Washington. That was my very last at-large meeting that I got to go to. He got to show up and sign the roll. I got to hold that paper while he signed it.”

The Cherokee Speaker Roll has been carried throughout the area, to the old Cherokee homelands of western North Carolina and to at-large communities.

Speakers sign the book, which is made with special archival paper and ink, in anticipation of it lasting 1,000 years.

If not for her role as Miss Cherokee, Roach said, “I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see my uncle again and have a dear memory like that.”

COURTESY Cherokee Nation citizen Ryan Dirteater was transported to a Tulsa hospital on Aug. 11 after being stepped on by a bull at the Professional Bull Riders’ championship round of the Express Ranches Classic.

Dirteater injured in his PBR return to Oklahoma

BY STAFF REPORTS

TULSA – Oklahoma cowboy Ryan Dirteater’s perfect weekend in his home state did not end the way he would have liked on Aug. 11 at the BOK Center.

Dirteater, a Cherokee Nation citizen, was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation after M.A.G.A. stepped on his mid-back and ribs following the Hulbert native’s 86.75-point ride in the Professional Bull Riders’ championship round of the Express Ranches Classic.

PBR Sports Medicine Director Rich Blyn said later in the day that Dirteater sustained broken ribs and may have a possible punctured lung.

Dr. Tandy Freeman later confirmed that Dirteater was admitted to the hospital with a collapsed right lung and was diagnosed with a lacerated liver and several rib fractures.

Dirteater was expected to remain in

the hospital for several days and was expected to be out of competition for about three months.

“Thanks for all the prayers, and messages people are sending me. I’m trying to get back with everyone the best I can. The good news is I’m going to be ok. Just a little bump in the road.

I’ll be back,” Dirteater wrote on his Twitter account.

Dirteater was close to flawless in Tulsa before getting hurt. Outside of his buckoff against Smooth Operator in the 15/15 Bucking Battle on Aug. 10, Dirteater made easy work of his opponents in front of a raucous crowd cheering him on, according to a PBR release.

The 30-year-old jumped up to No. 9 in the world standings after he earned 205 world points by riding Test Me (86 points), Red Bandana (86 points) and M.A.G.A., the release states. It also states that Dirteater has five Top 5 finishes in 2019.

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Culture • ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏁᎵᏓᏍᏗ

SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

15

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Tribe, CNB open Cherokee National History Museum

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Nation and Cherokee Nation Businesses’ Cultural Tourism on Aug. 8 celebrated its newest addition of tourism offerings with the opening of the Cherokee National History Museum, located downtown within the former Cherokee National Capitol Building.

“Cherokee Nation has invested in the historic preservation of the building and many others that now help share our story with Cherokees and visitors alike. The investment made preparing this site to be used as a museum was about $4.5 million, which includes exhibits,” Travis Owens, CNB Cultural Tourism director, said.

The museum shares the CN history and culture in 4,000 square feet of permanent exhibit space featuring the Cherokee lifestyle from pre-European contact to the forced removal and the tribe’s revitalization after the American Civil War. There is also 1,000 square feet of rotating gallery space, initially exhibiting a tribute to the achievements and contributions of Cherokee artist Cecil Dick, which runs until Jan. 31.

Other features are a gift shop; displayed artifacts on loan from the Smithsonian Institute, Gilcrease Museum, Oklahoma Historical Society and the Cherokee National Archives; and pieces commissioned by Cherokee artists and Cherokee National Treasures to reside in the museum. For example, Cherokee National Treasure Lisa Rutherford created a twined skirt and a one-shoulder feather cape for the “Beloved Woman” display.

Technology plays a big role in which several exhibits offer an “interactive augmented reality” through the use of iPads, according to a CNB press release.

“The Cherokee National History Museum is the culmination of years of thoughtful planning and careful execution in an effort to provide an engaging experience that allows visitors to immerse themselves in Cherokee history, culture and art,” Molly Jarvis, CNB Cultural Tourism senior vice president, said.

Former Principal Chief Bill John Baker said he remembers growing up in and around the building’s grounds from the

TAHLEQUAH – The Tribal Council, Principal Chief Bill John Baker and Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden honored Loretta Shade, of Hulbert, as a Cherokee National Treasure during the July 15 Tribal Council meeting.

Shade is the widow of former Deputy Chief Hastings Shade.

In 2018, she was selected as a Cherokee National Treasure for her contributions to preserving the Cherokee language, but because of illness, she was unable to receive the honor in person at that time.

Cherokee National Treasure is an honor given by the tribe to individuals who are keeping Cherokee art, language and culture alive.

‘Warriors for A Cure Powwow’ is Sept. 7 in Muskogee

PHOTOS BY WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX The Cherokee National History Museum opened Aug. 8 to a large crowd eager to see the inside of the renovated, historic Cherokee Nation Capital Building in Tahlequah.

LEFT: People look at a display in the new Cherokee National History Museum that showcases the history of the Miss Cherokee pageant. RIGHT: A crowd lines up to view the inside of the Cherokee National History Museum that opened Aug. 8 with a ceremony in the Cherokee National Peace Pavilion across the street from the museum in Tahlequah. time his grandfather owned a barbershop across the street.

“It’s been the most iconic photo’d building in Cherokee Nation. But now the inside tells our story from the trail all the way to present day. All the elected officials take an oath of office that we will protect and promote the culture, the heritage and the history of our Cherokee people.

And this truly represents the modern democracy that we have after the removal,” Baker said.

Built in 1869 as the Cherokee National Capitol Building, it housed the tribe’s executive, legislative and judicial offices until 1906, and recently served as CN Supreme Court until 2018.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic

Places and is designated as a national landmark.

The museum is at 101 S. Muskogee Ave. and open to visitors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday.

Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and students and free for ages 5 and under.

For information visit visitcherokeenation.com.

Cherokee artist inspired by ‘Agitsi’ to fulfill dream

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TULSA – From an artistic family, Brandi Hines carries on the tradition by combining her Cherokee heritage with creativity to craft colorful stained-glass pieces such as a signature feather inspired by her late mother.

“I grew up watching my grandmother and mom do stained glass together,” Hines said. “I always knew I wanted to do it. I wanted to be an artist.

That was what me and my mom’s dream was, that we were going to do it together.”

Today, the third-generation artist and Cherokee Nation citizen owns and operates a stained-glass business called Agitsi, which means “my mother” in Cherokee. A certified Tribal Employment Rights Office business, Agitsi is named in honor of Hines’ mother, Vicki White, who died in 2016.

“After my mom died, it was just so sad,” Hines said. “I just had a hard time with it. That’s when I was like I just need to do this for her. I just wanted to go ahead and continue what our plan was. That’s when I made the feather. These are more of a dedication to her.”

Hines said it took the better part of six months to create a stained-glass feather “how I wanted it to look.”

“But by the time I got this feather the way I wanted it, I was

Shade honored as Cherokee National Treasure

Stained-glass garden art is seen at Cherokee artist Brandi Hines’ studio on June 27 in Tulsa.

PHOTOS BY CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee artist Brandi Hines stands next to her stained-glass creations that include lanterns, feathers and Grandma Turtle on June 27 at the Tulsa Artery gallery.

OK, you know, and I was ready to move on,” she said. “This is what got me through it.”

Creating art “just takes away all that stress,” Hines added.

“Your mind is just not wandering anymore,” she said.

“It really does just kind of pull you away.”

Hines’ work can be seen at the Tulsa Artery gallery and other locations. In addition to creating artwork for sale, she teaches the craft to others, including daughter Hailee, a fourthgeneration artist and oldest of five children.

“Since I’ve been here teaching classes, that made it to where I can now bring her in, and she works with me part time,” Hines said. “Our goal is to continue our

family legacy and teach about culture through stained glass.”

Classes cover techniques for cutting glass, grinding, soldering and more. Inspiration for Hines’ art is in part drawn from Cherokee culture.

“I really enjoy the folklore like the grandma turtle,” she said. “I get to make those pieces.

They usually sit in here, so when everyone comes and does their classes, it gives you a chance to say, ‘Oh, that’s grandma turtle,’ then I get to share those stories.

They all enjoy it, whether they’re tribal or not.”

Before taking a chance on the business, Hines spent 11 years at Indian Health Care Resource Center of Tulsa.

“I loved my job,” she said. “As

a single mom with all these kids, they took very good care of me.

So I really, really liked my job.

Everyone was just shocked when I put in my notice at the clinic.”

Her first foray into selling artwork – at the urging of a nephew – was at the 2017 Cherokee National Holiday.

Hines is the Cherokee Phoenix’s third quarter giveaway artist. Her pieces for the contest include a stainedglass wall hanging and feather.

“Agitsi feathers are handcrafted and beaded to capture the love of our Native American heritage in the memory of Agitsi (my mother),” a business advertisement says.

She also created Cherokee Phoenix-themed feathers as awards at the newspaper’s inaugural Seven Feathers Awards Gala planned for Nov. 23 at the Cherokee Casino Tahlequah.

For more information about Hines’ work, visit agitsi.com.

MUSKOGEE – Team Phoenix made up of staff located at the Cherokee Nation Three Rivers Health Center in Muskogee is inviting powwow dancers, drummers, sponsors and volunteers to assist with and take part in the second annual “Warriors for A Cure Powwow” to fight cancer.

The powwow will be held 3-11 p.m. Sept. 7 at the Three Rivers Health Center at 1001 S. 41st Street East.

Head Man will be Mason Bighorse, Head Lady Emma Gutierrez and Head Singer Jamison Concha. Junior Head Man is Jasper Birdtail and Junior Head Lady is Lillie McCann.

Head Gourd Dancer will be Talon Satepauhoodle.

Mickey Girty will be the arena director, and Greg Bilby and Christopher Hill will be the masters of ceremonies.

The powwow is a familyfriendly event. No alcohol or tobacco is allowed.

For more information, call Derek Birdtail at 918-200-3022 or Lora Cortez at 918-839-1372.

‘Nanyehi’ inducted into Oklahoma Movie Hall of Fame MUSKOGEE – The awardwinning short film “Nanyehi” was recently recognized by the Oklahoma Movie Hall of Fame for sharing the compelling story of legendary Cherokee Nancy Ward.

The film was inducted into the Oklahoma Movie Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Roxy Theater.

“This film represents such an important part of not just Cherokee history, but of Oklahoma and U.S. history as well,” said Becky Hobbs, “Nanyehi” co-writer.

Produced in 2016, the film shares the story of Ward, who was a Cherokee warrior turned peacemaker, and her role in the fight to preserve tribal land in the 18th century. A cast of 44 from northeast Oklahoma, the vast majority being Cherokee Nation citizens, depicts the struggle between peace and war. The film was shot entirely within the CN. Since its debut, the film has received industry accolades, including Director’s Choice Award, Native American Vision Award, Best Family Short and three Audience Choice Awards for Best Short, Best Theatrical Trailer and Best Theatrical Poster.

It was co-written by Hobbs, a CN citizen, award-winning songwriter and recording artist and a direct descendant of Nancy Ward. Additional co-writers are Holly Rice and Nick Sweet. The film is scored

by Duane Sciacqua and is coproduced by David Webb with Nanyehi Productions LLC in conjunction with Holly Rice Films.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • SEPTEMBER 3, 2019

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᎵᏍᏗ 3, 2019

N OW O P E N

E X P E R I E N C E A N AT I O N .

I N SPIR E A GEN E R A T I O N .

CHEROKEE

NATIONAL

HISTORY

MUSEUM

Experience the culture and history of Cherokee Nation at this unforgettable destination in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.