Oct. 15, 2019 issue of the Cherokee Phoenix

AARP honors cherokees Seven Cherokees are among 52 elders from Oklahoma tribes honored

by AARP Oklahoma. PEOPLE, 10

CHEROKEE CHEROKEEPHOENIX.ORG

OCTOBER 15, 2019

PHOENIX

HUNTER’S HAUNTS?

191 YEARS OF JOURNALISM

Hoskin reveals $16M Cherokee language plan The tribe will use $5 million to renovate the old Cherokee Casino Tahlequah for language programs.

BY STAFF REPORTS

PHOTOS BY CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX An antique doll is seen in an upstairs bedroom at Hunter’s Home in Park Hill. Built in 1845 and formerly called the George M. Murrell Home, the site is steeped in history, legends and chilling accounts.

A ghost story event is held each Halloween season at Hunter’s Home.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. on Sept. 27 announced a $16 million investment in Cherokee language preservation – the largest language investment in Cherokee Nation history.

Hoskin announced the “Durbin Feeling Cherokee Language Preservation Act” during a celebration of Cherokee language speakers.

“Now is the time to be bold and act quickly so we do not fail the legacy of our ancestors or future of our Cherokee speakers,” Hoskin said. “We have focused on health care and economic development, and we have seen immeasurable achievements, but now we must also focus on saving our Cherokee language as another high priority.”

The Durbin Feeling Cherokee Language Preservation Act will: • Create a secretary of Language, Culture and Community Cabinet-level position under the CN administration; • Transfer Cherokee Nation Businesses’ former Cher-

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ARK HILL – A gaggle of ghastly spirits lurk within the walls of Oklahoma’s last remaining antebellum home – at least according to legend.

Built in 1845, Hunter’s Home, formerly called the George M. Murrell Home, is a site steeped in history, legends and chilling accounts.

“We do have unexplained things happen every year,” Lisa Rutherford, site historical interpreter and Cherokee National Treasure, said. “People sometimes want it to be haunted. I think it’s a thrill for them. They want to hear ghost stories, so there are a lot of stories associated with the house.

Being here every day, sometimes we hear noises or strange things. Most of it can be explained away because it’s a very old house. But it’s creepy at night out here.”

Murrell, born to a prominent family in Lynchburg, Virginia, established the home. He was married to Minerva Ross, the niece of longtime Principal Chief John Ross. The Oklahoma Historical Society oversees the home and 40-acre site, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Tales spawned from Hunter’s Home as early as the 1930s span the ghostly gamut of unexplained footsteps to attic apparitions, rattling chains, haunting shrieks and even an obese killer cook.

“These two cooks, one of them bullied the other one,” Rutherford said of the account transcribed in 1939. “They got into a fight, and one of them went after the other with a knife. Just before the mean one could stab the other, she fell dead of a heart attack.”

Ghost sightings recounted over the decades include past residents such as Murrell; his wife, who died in the home; family members; unidentified children; Civil War soldiers; a hunting dog; and other shadowy figures.

“There may be spirits here, but I’m not afraid to be in the house alone,” Rutherford said. “There was only one time I was spooked. I stepped out of the office and I heard a lady’s voice calling out. It was like someone was saying, ‘Hello, is anyone

SEE HOME, 2

Ghost stories surrounding Hunter’s Home in Park Hill, seen here on Oct. 7, have been documented as early as the 1930s.

Paintings of Minerva (Ross) Murrell (1819-1855) and husband George M. Murrell (1808-1894) hang in the parlor of Hunter’s Home in Park Hill

“We do have unexplained things happen every year. People sometimes want it to be haunted. I think it’s a thrill for them.

They want to hear ghost stories...”

Lisa Rutherford, Hunter’s Home historical interpreter

Seven Feathers Gala tix, sponsorships available The Cherokee Phoenix is honoring people in the areas of Business, Community, Culture, Education, Health, Language and Service.

BY STAFF REPORTS TAHLEQUAH – Tickets for the Cherokee Phoenix’s inaugural Seven Feathers Award Gala are on sale, and sponsorships to the event are available.

Tickets for the event are $20 each. All proceeds will go to the Cherokee Phoenix’s Elder/Veteran Subscription Fund, which provides free annual subscriptions to CN citizens who are 65 or older, as well as veterans and active military personnel.

The Cherokee Phoenix is also offering three sponsorship levels: gold, silver and bronze.

One gold-level sponsorship is available at $700.

With it, the sponsor gets reserved seating for four tickets, sponsor name in the program and mentioned at the event, as well as a full-color ad in the program.

Three silver-level sponsorships are available for $500 each. With it, the sponsor gets reserved seating

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The Cherokee Phoenix wil honor seven people at its inaugural Seven Feathers Awards Gala on Nov. 23 at the Chota Center in the Cherokee Casino Tahlequah.

COURTESY Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. on Sept. 27 announces a $16 million investment in Cherokee language preservation – the largest language investment in tribal history.

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX The Cherokee Nation’s four-story health center opened its optometry, audiology, physical rehabilitation, behavioral health, radiology, lab and pharmacy services Oct. 7 in Tahlequah.

Optometry, audiology, physical rehab, behavioral health, radiology, lab and pharmacy services open.

First phase of outpatient health center opens

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee Nation officials opened phase one of the tribe’s new four-story, 469,000-squarefoot outpatient health center with a ribbon-cutting on Oct 7.

Opened were the facility’s optometry, audiology, physical rehabilitation, behavioral health, radiology, lab and pharmacy services.

The facility is the largest tribal outpatient health center in the country, and is expected to service more than 1.3 million patient visits per year, according to a CN press release.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. made the announcement surrounded by CN dignitaries, employees and hospital staff.

“It is wonderful today to see this facility finally opening,” he said. “Cherokee Nation and the Cherokee people have always cared for each other. That is what is at the

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News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • OCTOBER 15, 2019

Legg assumes Dist. 6 Tribal Council position

Daryl Legg plans to think outside the box about job creation in his district.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

SALLISAW – New Dist. 6 Tribal Councilor Daryl Legg said he plans to continue the work of former Tribal Councilor Bryan Warner while also implementing his ideas in the district and for Cherokee Nation citizens overall.

On Aug. 14, Legg replaced Warner, and said he initially ran for the seat because he wants to help people, especially those facing unemployment, because as a convicted felon he understands the struggles they face.

“For me, I just enjoy helping people, and it does something internally for me by helping folks. But also I feel like I carry a big torch for those that are also convicted felons. My story is out there.

If people can see somebody like me make it, it gives them hope. It was really a great feeling to see everybody rally around you and elect you in such a high position. It just shows that people forgive you, you’re doing right,” he said.

Legg said he also plans to move forward on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facility that is planned for Sallisaw.

“That was a big cooperative effort between Cherokee Nation and the city.

So fulfilling that is going to be huge, especially for this area, the amount of jobs it’s going to create. Possibly we’ll get to see more houses being built. It will be good for the economy around here for

sure,” he said.

He said another goal is to get a long-term rehabilitation center for CN citizens. “One of my main goals, I know it’s not going to happen overnight, is Daryl Legg to definitely work with Council on getting a long-term drug rehab building for Cherokee tribal members. And I’d like to tie in a cultural emphasis to it.”

Another big goal is job creation for Dist. 6, which covers rural communities such as Nicut and Belfonte where employment is hard to find.

“For some of these areas, job creation is going to have to be creative. What do you do in Nicut? How do you make it easier for them to gain employment like anybody else? There’s some issues you got to think about. You got to think outside the box, come up with some ideas that are going to make it possible for employment opportunities for people in rural areas. You know, you’re not going to land a Macy’s in Belfonte,” he said.

Legg said his experience as a Sallisaw city councilor should help him as tribal councilor. “I’m just so thankful for this opportunity. I’m excited to get started and just wanted everybody to know that I’m very approachable and easy to talk to. You are there as that person they can call, and trust that if they call you, they’re not going to feel like they’re being judged because of their predicament, because I’ve been through every phase of life you can imagine. So I just think people feel comfortable being able to talk to me about their issues.”

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019

Nofire serving as Dist. 3 Tribal Council legislator

BY D. Sean rowley Senior Reporter TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee residents of the Tribal Council’s Dist. 3 now have a new representative who earned recognition as a successful athlete from high school through the pro boxing ranks.

Voters elected Wes Nofire in the July 27 runoff balloting for the seat vacated

by David Walkingstick, who termed out.

“I have always been interested in our ever-changing government, but when I moved back home four years ago, I saw many of our citizens in need,” he said. “I had the desire then to help change our tribe for the betterment of our people.”

Dist. 3 consists of much of southern Cherokee County. Nofire said he started receiving encouragement from Dist.

3 residents when discussing ideas to improve and enhance services offered by the Cherokee Nation. “After expressing my concerns and addressing how we could solve some of our tribal governing problems, citizens started suggesting I run for office.”

Though he only joined the Tribal Council on Aug. 14, Nofire believes the priorities are obvious. “Better health care, building of new homes and education. The Council also needs to address election reform. During the process of our last election, I saw the need to clarify our laws that govern our Election Commission.”

Nofire is a licensed realtor and active in the community. He advocates healthy living through diet, exercise and maintaining mental health, as well as communicates his message via visits to area schools. He supported the Sequoyah High School anti-bullying program as

part of his work to foster awareness of mental health among SHS and other schools.

Nofire is probably most remembered and recognized by many for his athletic career.

Wes Nofire He helped guide the SHS boys basketball team to the Class 3A championship in 2003, but his profile increased when he entered boxing.

“I attended Northeastern State University before pursuing a career as a professional boxer,” Nofire said. “I first pursued an amateur boxing career, making it to Golden Gloves in 2009 before turning professional in 2011.”

As a boxer, Nofire said he took pride in representing the CN and Native Americans as a whole. His boxing moniker was “The Cherokee Warrior,” and he served as president and CEO of his boxing promotion company.

Through 2011-18, Nofire compiled a professional record of 20-2 in the heavyweight division, winning his first 19 fights. His final bout was June 10, 2018, in Lancaster, California, against Gerald Washington, who had fought a WBC title fight in 2017. Nofire lost the 10-round bout by decision.

Nofire, 33, was born to Annette and Sherman Nofire. He was reared in Welling and attended the Rocky Mountain School before attending SHS. He credits his wife, Molly, and daughters, Isla and Norah, for backing him on his decisions.

“I am so thankful for my wife, who blesses me every day with her support, my family who never stopped believing in me,” he said.

Patzkowski brings ‘liaison-type’ experience to Dist. 12

Dora Patzkowski wants better communication for her constituents when it comes to tribal services.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

BARTLESVILLE – Dora Patzkowski is the Cherokee Nation’s new Dist. 12 Tribal Councilor. She takes the place of former Tribal Councilor Dick Lay. Patzkowski spent several years in the insurance industry and initially ran for Tribal Council in 2015. She said she brings her experience in insurance into her new role.

“I have worked in the insurance industry for a long time, so it was very much a liaison-type position between the company and the clients, which is really what

a councilor is as well,” Patzkowski said.

She said she decided to run for Council because of her relationship with groups in her community, and she feels there is a need for better communication Dora between CN citizens Patzkowski and the tribe.

“The reason for wanting to run is because I am currently involved in our Native community here, and I have a good working relationship with a lot of groups, and I just felt there was a need for some better communication. I just enjoy helping people,” she said. “I just want people to know I am out and about all the time. I’m just willing to get out and connect with people so they know what’s going on. I think that’s a big part of it, communication.”

Patzkowski said she is looking forward to being involved in the recent $30 million plan from Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. to reduce the backlog of housing requests through the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation.

“This most recent piece of legislation that Hoskin has proposed with the Housing Authority is quite exciting to me because in my campaign travels I spoke a fair amount of people that were on this waiting list and so I feel that once I’m in it’s something I’m going to work very hard towards. I have a few questions of course that I will be asking and I know that it’s just been rough draft at this point, but I’m very excited to be involved in that for sure,” she said.

She said she is also ready to learn more about how the tribe’s budget works.

“There’s certainly a lot of questions that I have for the council about how the budget works. I need to have a better

understanding of that so I can communicate things better to our people. I don’t know that that’s always been made clear.

I know people don’t always understand it,” Patzkowski said.

She is also the secretary for the Washington County Cherokee Association and has fielded “many, many” calls since she was elected in the runoff on July 27. She added that the WCCA is working to open a community building in Ochelata for the Cherokee community in the area.

“Well I know I’m not going to change the world, but I certainly hope to make things better. I don’t think the people up here are quite as aware of what is available, and I would like to help them understand that the services that are offered are between two parties that both have a responsibility. As long as both parties are fulfilling that responsibility, I think that we could just work very well together.”

OPEN: Tribe invests $200 million in the facility’s construction and equipment from front page heart of our health care system. That basic idea that as Cherokees we’re all in it together in terms of living and building our communities and raising our families, and you see that on display in our health system.”

The tribe invested about $200 million in general fund dollars into the facility’s construction and equipment.

Indian Health Services is funding $100 million per year in staffing and operating costs as part of a joint venture with the tribe, said CN officials.

The facility features more than 240 exam rooms, two MRI machines, an ambulatory surgery center, 34 dental chairs, full service optometry and specialty health services, officials said.

The facility will also bring more than 800 new jobs during the next several years as the need for physicians, providers, nurses, specialists, support and clerical staff are identified, states a previous Cherokee Phoenix article.

In addition to the opening, Hoskin announced the “reorganization” of the CN health system to implement patient advocacy positions to focus on customer services and improve patient wait times.

“It’s a reorganization of our health system that will

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation medical leaders applaud during an opening event Oct. 7 outside the tribe’s new outpatient health center in Tahlequah. commit us to improving the things that we do,” he said.

“We have the personnel in place and, of course, we’ll hire even more to fill this building. But they deserve a

system that supports them. They deserve plenty of resources and support of what they do, whether it’s patient advocacy, whether it’s making sure patients get seen on time, whether it’s making sure the patients that are new to our health system get seen by a provider as soon as possible.”

According to a CN study of patient health visits, the average CN citizen waited up to two hours from checkin-to-provider-visit completion.

“We did a study of something that I think is important to the Cherokee people,” Hoskin said. “How long does it take to get health care once you get in the door? If you look at what we do in terms of getting people in, getting them served, the good news is that our numbers look very good if you compare them to national averages.

But this is the Cherokee Nation. We are not going to be content with simply being ahead of average. We’re going to strive to be no. 1, to set the curve every single day in everything that we do.”

The second phase of the outpatient facility is expected to open Oct. 21, officials said. This includes opening primary care, dental and resident clinic services.

A grand opening is planned for Nov. 14.

The facility is at 19600 N. Ross St. with an additional entrance from W.W. Hastings Hospital.

HOME: This year’s ghost story event is set for Oct. 25-26 at the old plantation from front page here.’ I was calling back out, ‘Just a second I’ll be there.’

When I walked into the house I thought I heard a noise in the kitchen, and no one could have gotten past me.

So I walked up front … nobody was there, no cars in the parking lot. So I went outside and walked around the entire house. There was no one here.”

So plentiful are the spooky fables and legends surrounding the site that historian Jennifer Sparks compiled a book titled “Ghost Stories from the Murrell Home.” In it, a former site manager, Shirley Pettengill, recalls the frequent reports of flickering lights, opened doors and phantom footsteps.

“I cannot attest to whether or not these events are true, being somewhat of a skeptic myself,” she wrote.

“But I do not discount these stories either, and quite enjoy the re-telling of them.”

Supernatural yarns take center stage for two evenings inside the home each Halloween season.

“The stories are not all necessarily about ghosts, but about unexplained happenings and strange occurrences around the Park Hill area,” Rutherford said.

Storytellers in period attire recount the lore. Guests tour the home and encounter storytellers along the way.

“It seems that things get more ‘active’ or noticeable about this time,” Pettengill recalled in the ghost story book.

Unexplained events at Hunter’s Home are considered “simple folklore from the community,” and the historical society has avoided attempts to verify paranormal activity.

“From time to time we get requests, but we never do grant them permission to come out and search,” Rutherford said. “We kind of look at it like if there are spirits here, we don’t want them bothered.”

Ghost-hunting apps prompted the staff to request that phones be turned off during tours, Rutherford added.

“They’re disruptive, especially during our ghost story event. One year a lady told our new storyteller there was a spirit standing beside her, and she freaked out. It threw the entire evening off schedule.”

This year’s ghost story event is scheduled for Oct. 25-26.

Despite the ghost stories linked to Hunter’s Home, children, Rutherford said, are most afraid of antique dolls in the west bedroom. “Kids are terrified of dolls.

It’s because of the movies. These are the porcelain-head dolls, so they look different. It’s not what kids today are used to.”

Hunter’s Home is located at 19479 E. Murrell Home Road. For information, call 918-456-2751 or visit okhistory.org.

ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

Election Commission hones its voting reform wish list

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Nation’s election leaders have narrowed a list of reform suggestions for consideration by the Tribal Council, which will also offer its own suggestions.

According to the Election Commission, three “major” revisions to Legislative Act 12-16, which governs tribal elections, focus on a drop box, early voting and challenged ballots cast by citizens who assert they are eligible to vote in a particular district but do not appear on a precinct list.

Currently, challenged votes are counted or deemed invalid following a post-election probe.

“As everybody knows, the challenged ballots are always a problem in that it takes a lot of time to go through them,” EC attorney Harvey Chaffin said.

The recommendation is to hold and not count challenged ballots “if there’s not enough of them to change the outcome of the election or a runoff,” he said.

“Because if you counted all of them for one candidate, you still wouldn’t change the results,” Chaffin added. “That’s something the Council may or may not be interested in. But it’s a suggestion that a lot of commissioners have made over the years, and a lot of the states do it that way now.”

The EC also wants to nix large, last-minute drop-box submissions from “ballot harvesters.”

“Even in this last election, candidates that were so adamant against

ballot harvesting, or spoke out openly in their campaigns, came in and dropped a couple hundred or more at a time,” Commissioner Carolyn Allen said.

Chaffin said an influx of ballots on election night “slows down the process, because if the commission gets several hundred drops at 7 o’clock, it takes several hours to process those.”

“So the change that has been recommended is that they do not have a drop box,” he said. “Everybody would be required to go prior to 12 o’clock on Saturday to the post office and drop them in the post office box. We’d pick up the ones that are dropped at the post office before 2 o’clock on Saturday. That gives all afternoon to work on processing those ballots.”

After the drop-box deadline, citizens have other voting options, Allen said.

“From that point on, the voter still has another way to vote by going to the precinct. So we have not taken their right away to vote.”

Commissioners also hope to replace the term “in-person” absentee voting with “early walk-in” voting.

“People get confused about in-person absentee voting,” Chaffin said. “The state and about everybody else calls it early voting or early walk-in voting. So everywhere that we were talking about what you call in-person absentee in the old law, we’ve changed that to early walk-in absentee. We think that will eliminate some confusion.”

Issues addressed by the EC’s recommendations “are basically on

things that have come up during the election cycle that created a problem there wasn’t a good answer to,” Chaffin said, adding that revisions require Tribal Council approval. “The Council is the one that makes the decision. We just give recommendations to them.”

Councilors and the CN attorney general’s office will also make their recommendations for change.

“It’s a priority in our office,” Deputy Attorney General Chrissi Nimmo said. “We understand that there need to be election code revisions, specifically our office, because we were involved in so many of the issues that come up. The area of campaign finance, dealing with PACs and dark money and those types of things that we have had to deal with are complicated. Our code has kind of failed to keep up with other state and federal areas. So trying to write law to address those things takes a lot of time.”

Tribal Council Speaker Joe Byrd said many of his peers have requested election-related revisions.

“What usually takes place every two years is you have an election, then you have the Council members come on board with those codes and policies, and it’s OK then,” Byrd said. “But six months to a year down the road, we go ‘wait a minute now, we have issues here.’”

Councilors have expressed interest in forming either an eight-person election reform workgroup or larger sub-committee. Commissioners, councilors, attorneys and others are expected to address revisions during the Oct. 31 Rules Committee meeting.

OCTOBER 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

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‘Adopted white’ descendant sues for citizenship

BY D. Sean rowley Senior Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – A filing in the Cherokee Nation District Court could affect or clarify qualifications for tribal citizenship, depending on the legal decisions.

In Kacey Soliz v. Frankie Hargis, CN registrar, the plaintiff claims direct descent from a Cherokee Dawes Rolls, Indians by Blood, original enrollee. The plaintiff concedes she is not of Indian blood, because her Dawes ancestor is designated an “adopted white,” but argues precedent of inclusion of adopted whites in the CN, as well as others descended from people on the rolls, without regard to ethnicity. Soliz also claims her citizenship application is pending. The complaint is dated Sept. 10.

According to an Oct. 4 agreed order, Soliz and her attorney as well as the CN attorney general’s office, which is representing Hargis, have agreed that the tribe’s answer will be filed by Nov. 8. As of publication, the CN offered no comment on the case.

In Soliz’s complaint, she claims she filed a Dawes application between September 2017 and September 2018. She also claims that, during a May 13, 2019, phone call, Hargis said “a ‘denial’ of plaintiff’s application had been ‘sent to her’ on April 8, 2019, and ‘signed for’ on April 23, 2019, and ‘hadn’t been appealed.’” She claims Hargis “stated that ‘adopted whites’ are ‘not eligible for citizenship’ and that, if counsel didn’t like that answer, to ‘take it up with the attorney general’s office.’”

Included is an affidavit by former Registrar Linda O’Leary, filed in the 2018 case of Brackeen et al v. Zinke et al. According to the complaint, on May 25, 2019, the CN advanced Soliz’s argument in federal court in the Brackeen case with a brief that states CN “citizens also include descendants of various categories of ‘adopted whites,’ including descendants of white missionary Evan Jones and white trader Joseph Hardin Bennett.”

According to the CN Constitution, all CN citizens “must be original enrollees or descendants of original enrollees on the Dawes Commission Rolls,” including the Delaware Cherokees and Shawnee Cherokees.

A federal court in 2017 ruled that the tribe must also include descendants of Cherokee Freedmen as citizens.

CHEROKEE: The tribe will invest $7.5 million for language program operations from front page okee Casino Tahlequah building valued at $3.8 million to the CN for a language center; • Invest an additional $5 million from CNB dividends to renovate and expand the language center; • Officially name the language center the “Durbin Feeling Language Center” after modern-day Sequoyah and first-language Speaker Durbin Feeling; • Invest another $1.5 million annually for five years from CNB dividends for language program operations, with an option to reauthorize for additional years; • The Durbin Feeling Language Center will house the Cherokee Immersion Charter School, Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program and the tribe’s team of Cherokee translators.

“The Cherokee language, I believe, is the soul of the Cherokee people. It is the source of our pride and our strength as a tribe,” Deputy Chief Bryan Warner said.

“That’s why revitalizing the Cherokee language has become a priority of the utmost importance. The investments we are making in our language programs are meant not only to preserve the Cherokee language today, but to encourage us as Cherokee people to embrace our language and to use it for many generations into

the future. Today is a great day in the Cherokee Nation and a new chapter in the preservation of our Cherokee language.”

The CN has identified about 2,000 first-language Cherokee speakers.

The tribe invests more than $6 million per year into its language department, Cherokee Immersion Charter School, Master-Apprentice Program and Cherokee Voices, Cherokee Sounds Radio Show.

“I can say without a doubt that Durbin Feeling laid the groundwork for this generation’s preservation of the Cherokee language,” Tribal Council Speaker Joe Byrd said. “I believe because of his efforts and the work of so many of our first-language Cherokee speakers, including those here in the Cherokee Nation and our brothers and sisters from the United Keetoowah Band and the Eastern Band of Cherokees, that we’re going to save our Cherokee language. The Council of the Cherokee Nation has always been a supporter of every effort to preserve the Cherokee language, and we all look forward to seeing our language carried on to the next generation.”

According to a CN press release, Feeling is the Cherokee linguist who wrote the Cherokee dictionary and is the single largest contributor to the Cherokee lan-

GALA: Tickets are $20 each, and

sponsorships range from $300 to $700 from front page for two tickets, sponsor name listed in the program and mentioned at the event, as well as a half-page color ad in the program.

Four bronze-level sponsorships are available for $300 each. With it, the sponsor gets name listed in the program and at the event, as well as a quarter-page color ad in the program.

For information about tickets or sponsorships, call Samantha Cochran at 918-207-3825 or email samantha-cochran@ cherokee.org.

The event, set for 6 p.m. on Nov. 23 in the Cherokee Casino Tahlequah Chota Center, will honor Janelle Adair for Culture, Cindy Irwin for Business, Howard Paden for Language, Kaitlyn Pinkerton for Health, Zachary Self for Education, Richard Tyler for Service and Kirby Williams for Community.

Adair, of Tahlequah, is a former Miss Cherokee who works for Cherokee Nation Businesses as a storyteller, at which she shares her knowledge of the Cherokee culture and history.

Irwin, of Gore, owns Gambinos Pizza and holds an annual Easter egg hunt in which she pays for prizes, eggs and candy for children. She also donates profits from her business to aid local causes and residents.

Paden, of Leach, is the Cherokee

Nation’s Cherokee Language Master-Apprentice Program manager. Described as a “language warrior,” Paden perpetuates the Cherokee language by being active in Cherokee communities and promoting its everyday use.

Pinkerton, of Claremore, is a former Junior Miss Cherokee who advocates for mental health issues in Indian Country.

She has presented at national medical conferences about erasing the mental health stigma in Native Americans and plans to attend medical school to study psychology.

Self, of Stilwell, is a prevention specialist with the Chain Breakers Coalition of Adair County. He works in communities to educate youth on the dangers of opioid abuse. He also works with law enforcement, government agencies and businesses to implement community prevention strategies.

Tyler, of Vian, owns Native Oklahoma Aquaponic Harvest, a greenhouse that grows chemical-free produce. Tyler donates produce to his nonprofit food pantry, the Vian Peace Center, and the Northeastern Oklahoma Food Bank.

Williams, of Omaha, Nebraska, is the outreach coordinator of the Legal Aid of Nebraska’s Native American Program.

As coordinator, she raises awareness and promotes prevention of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and stalking against Native Americans.

guage since Sequoyah. He has worked at the CN since 1976.

Some of his accomplishments include adding the Cherokee syllabary on a word processor in the 1980s.

He also started the process to add the Cherokee language on Unicode, which today allows smartphones to offer the

syllabary, and he developed hundreds of Cherokee language teaching materials used today.

The Tribal Council passed the Durbin Feeling Cherokee Language Preservation Act in committee on Sept. 26 and is expected to pass the act at its Oct. 15 meeting.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • OCTOBER 15, 2019

OPINION • ᏃᎵᏍᎬ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019

Cherokee Phoenix OCTOBER 15, 2019 Volume 43, No. 20

The Cherokee Phoenix is published twice monthly by the Cherokee Nation, PO Box 948, Tahlequah, OK 74465.

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

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cherokee Phoenix, PO Box 948, Tahlequah, OK 74465

Editorial Staff Tyler Thomas Interim Executive Editor tyler-thomas@cherokee.org 918-453-5000 ext 7258

Travis Snell Assistant Editor travis-snell@cherokee.org 918-453-5358

Will Chavez Assistant Editor will-chavez@cherokee.org 918-207-3961

Mark Dreadfulwater Multimedia Editor mark-dreadfulwater@cherokee.org 918-453-5087

Reporters D. Sean Rowley Senior Reporter david-rowley@cherokee.org 918-453-5560

Lindsey Bark Reporter lindsey-bark@cherokee.org 918-453-5000 ext 4223

Chad Hunter Reporter chad-hunter@cherokee.org 918-453-5000 ext 7256

Administrative Staff Dena Tucker Administrative Officer dena-tucker@cherokee.org 918-453-5324

Joy Rollice Administrative Assistant joy-rollice@cherokee.org 918-453-5269

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX A statue of Sequoyah stands in front of the Cherokee Nation seal on the Tribal Complex in Tahlequah. Sequoyah invented the Cherokee writing system that is still used today by Cherokee people.

Minimum wage hike ensures CN remains positive economic force

BY CHUCK HOSKIN JR. Principal Chief Our employees here at the Cherokee Nation are the backbone of our government and business operations.

It is our mission to be the employer of choice in northeast Oklahoma.

Increasing the minimum wage for tribal employees was one of the first things I set out to accomplish as principal chief.

It is a financial investment in our people that will come back to us many times over.

Our government workforce is nearly 4,000 strong, with more than 7,000 individuals comprising our workforce at Cherokee Nation Businesses. Providing a minimum wage of $11 to hourly employees ensures that we remain a

positive economic force within the state of Oklahoma. The ripple effect from this action will no doubt boost many community economies across our 14 counties for years to come.

Living costs during the past decade have increased. By giving our workforce a fair, livable wage, hundreds of extra dollars per year will flow into our local market. It will allow more discretionary spending – extra dollars to help buy groceries, get school clothing for children or put gas in the car.

While the new minimum wage will be $11, there is a larger impact thanks to our employment benefits package.

We offer full-time employees top-notch health, dental and life insurance, as well as a 401(k) matching plan, paid vacation, sick leave and educational reimbursement. Those kinds of benefits are unheard of in most hourly jobs.

Creating full-time quality jobs allows us

to hire more Cherokees and, in turn, to retain them long term in our workforce.

Less turnover is better for employees, the CN and CNB. As the largest tribal government in Oklahoma and the United States, we plan to continue to raise the bar for our citizens and for our employees. The financial bump is fiscally responsible and within our budget. The success we have seen over the past decade deserves to be rewarded and shared with our employees.

Our economic growth has been significant, and the hard work of our employees was directly responsible for many of the successes we have seen here at the CN and CNB. Giving our dedicated employees a living wage is the right thing to do, and I hope the federal and state governments will eventually follow the leadership example of the CN on this issue.

Samantha Cochran Advertising Specialist samantha-cochran@cherokee.org 918-207-3825

Terris Howard Advertising Representative terris-howard@cherokee.org 918-453-5743

BJ Frogg Distribution Specialist billy-frogg@cherokee.org 918-207-4975

Editorial Board Lauren Jones Cusick Kendra McGeady Brenda Thompson Ceciley Thomason-Murphy Maxie Thompson Cherokee Phoenix P.O. Box 948 Tahlequah, OK 74465 (918) 453-5269 FAX: (918) 207-0049 1-800-256-0671 www.cherokeephoenix.org ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS Within the United States: $15 for one year Please contact us at the number above to subscribe.

Mail subscriptions and changes of address to the Cherokee Phoenix, P.O. Box 948, Tahlequah, OK 74465, phone 918-207-4975. Please include the words “Change of Address” or “Subscription” on the envelope.

Back Issues may be purchased for $2.50 postage and handling. Please inquire to make sure the issues are in stock by writing to Back Issues, Cherokee Phoenix, P.O. Box 948, Tahlequah, OK 74465; or calling 918-207-4975.

Member

Copyright 2019: The entire contents of the Cherokee Phoenix are fully protected by copyright unless otherwise noted and may be reproduced if the copyright is noted and credit is given to the Cherokee Phoenix, the writer and the photographer. Requests to reprint should be directed to the editor at the above address. Material provided through membership with Associated Press NewsFinder, identified by (AP), may not be reproduced without permission of the Associated Press.

Native American Journalists Association

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.

ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

Community • ᎾᎥ ᏄᎾᏓᎸ

OCTOBER 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

5

ARCHIVE Three trick-or-treaters venture toward a house on Halloween as another leaves Safekids.org recommends that children follow 10 steps to improve safety when trick-or-treating.

Trick-or-Treat safety a must

BY staff reports

TAHLEQUAH – Dressing up as witches, monsters and pretty princesses and getting candy all fall under the Halloween festivities that many people celebrate on Oct. 31.

Trick-or-treating and dressing up as something other than one’s self is an activity for kids and some adults, but the holiday can be unsafe if certain precautions are not taken.

Safekids.org, a global network of organizations with a mission to prevent accidental childhood injury, recommends that children follow 10 steps when trickor-treating.

• Always trick-or-treat with an adult until age 10.

• Only trick-or-treat in familiar areas that are well lit.

• Cross streets at corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks. Look left, right and left again when crossing. Always

walk, don’t run, when crossing streets.

• Make eye contact with drivers and watch for cars that are turning or backing.

• Walk on sidewalks or paths. If there are no sidewalks, walk facing traffic as far to the left as possible.

• Never dart out into the street or cross in between parked cars.

•Wear light-colored, flame-retardant costumes decorated with retro-reflective tape or stickers.

• Wear well-fitting, sturdy shoes to prevent trips and falls.

• Carry a flashlight or glow stick to increase visibility to drivers.

• Wear face paint and makeup. A mask can restrict a child’s vision.

• Drivers must also keep in mind that

they too need to do what they can to help trick-or-treaters stay safe.

• Be especially alert in residential neighborhoods. Drive slower and anticipate heavy pedestrian traffic on and near the road.

• Drive with your full headlights on so you can spot children from greater distances. Take extra time to actively look for kids at intersections, on medians and on curbs.

• Remember that costumes can limit children’s visibility and they may not be able to see your vehicle.

• Enter and exit driveways and alleys slowly and carefully.

• Remember that children are excited on this night and may move in unpredictable ways. Remember that popular trick-ortreating hours are during the typical rush-hour period, between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

• Reduce any distractions inside your car so you can concentrate on the road and pedestrians.

Since children can sometimes overdo it when eating candy from the night’s activities, it’s a good idea to set guidelines to how much they consume at one time.

Safekids.org suggests that parents use their best judgment when it comes to how much they can eat.

It also states a few “before trick-ortreating tips” to keep kids from making themselves sick on sweets: • Serve them a healthy meal so they won’t stuff themselves when the candy begins to come in.

• Hand out non-food items such as stickers, toys, temporary tattoos, false teeth, little bottles of bubbles and small games or pretzels, sugar-free gum, trail mix, small boxes of raisins and popcorn.

• Be careful to not hand out potential choking hazards to small children.

In Memoriam Wesley Cleward Allison Aug. 6, 1940 – Sept. 30, 2019

Leo Flute Sept. 5, 1938 – Sept 26, 2019

Brenda Martin Dec. 28, 1960 – Sept. 20, 2019

Elvin Ray Rich March 22, 1932 – Sept. 19, 2019

Bill Herbert Buckner Sr. April 23, 1936 – Sept. 25, 2019

Darlene Blount Harris Oct. 20, 1930 – Sept. 21, 2019

Dorothy Hellen Matthews July 11, 1935 – Sept. 22, 2019

Helen Ritchie Dec. 16, 1965 – Sept. 20, 2019

Dexter Cameron Oct. 14, 1977 – Sept. 26, 2019

Nancy Arden Hill Feb. 15, 1937 – Sept. 26, 2019

Shawn Morton Feb. 22, 1972 – Sept. 21, 2019

Mary Geneva Smith Dec. 25, 1941 – Sept. 28, 2019

Ronnie Cochran Feb. 13, 1963 – Sept. 26, 2019

Carrie Ann Larrabee Sept. 8, 1980 – Sept. 26, 2019

Jess Jim Oosahwe July 28, 1942 – Sept. 23, 2019

Loretta Standingwater April 13, 1953 – Sept. 23, 2019

Myron Collins May 15, 1965 – Sept. 11, 2019

Community Events Oct. 17 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.

Oct. 21 Neighborhood Association of Chewey Chewey Community Building, 7 p.m.

Oct. 24 Tri-County (W.E.B.) Association J.R.’s Country Auction, 6 p.m.

Oct. 28 Christie, 7 p.m., 918-778-3423 Illinois River Area Community Organization Inc. Illinois River Area Volunteer Fire Department building, 6 p.m.

Oct. 29 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.

6

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • OCTOBER 15, 2019

Health • ᎠᏰᎸ ᏄᏍᏛ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019

Elderberry: For more than just cough syrup

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter VINITA – Cherokees have been known to utilize several wild plants to create medicines that aid in treating various symptoms. Elderberry is a well-known indigenous berry that’s used to treat or prevent colds and the flu because of its medicinal properties.

The Cherokee word for elderberry is go-ga-sa-gi, pronounced koksagi.

Melissa Lewis, a Cherokee Nation citizen and assistant professor for the University of Missouri School of Medicine, said a study from the University of Maryland found several properties of elderberry to be antiinflammatory, antiviral, antioxidant, anticancer and helps reduce congestion.

She said, from her own research, that the berry is rich in vitamins A, B and C, contains high amounts of flavonoids and carotenoids, and is high in calcium and iron.

Lewis said in other studies elderberry is found to aid in arthritic conditions, improve respiration and asthma, boost the immune system and stimulate the digestive system.

“There’s one article out there that looks at the history of Cherokees and the Cherokee uses of elderberries and they document a few different things that Cherokees did historically with elderberries,” Lewis said. “Some Cherokee elders had told that Cherokees use the leaves to make poultice to reduce inflammation in your feet or legs. I’ve also been told that people use the roots to make different salves as well.”

For medicinal use, elderberry, along with other plants and ingredients used by Cherokees, can be made into syrup.

“Elderberry is often used for cold and flu symptoms. It helps to reduce the days a person is sick from cold and flu and can be used to help prevent getting sick. So it’s an immune system booster. I believe it’s also used for inflammation,” Feather Smith-Trevino, CN cultural biologist, said.

Mixing elderberry, echinacea, ginger and honey and a few spices, and then straining the mixture makes the syrup.

Echinacea, also known as a coneflower, also has medicinal properties similar to elderberry.

“Elderberry and echinacea together they’ve been found to have a strong relationship in helping colds and the flu when they’re together,” Lewis said.

Elderberry generally blooms from late May through July with berries ripening

from late July through September. The most common places to find them are along roads, ditches and creeks.

“In the spring look for big bushes with these big white flowers on them. If you get up close, they smell just a wonderful floral smell. Some people say (it smells like) licorice,” Lewis said.

When it ripens, the berries grow in clusters and are small, round and dark purple to black in color with red undertones.

Lewis said they are not to be confused with toxic pokeberries, which are similar but are about three times bigger and grow in a grape-like cluster.

She said elderberries do have a small amount of toxins, but are easily removed when cooked.

Aside from medicinal use, elderberry has other uses.

“It’s often used for food. The berries can be made into jams, jellies, syrups, pies, and tea. It should be cooked before eating. It’s not common practice here, but fried elderberry flowers are a known food in the south,” Smith-Trevino said.

Recipe for elderberry and echinacea syrup Ingredients:

COURTESY Elderberry, in the wild, is recognized as a cluster of small, round, dark purple-to-blackcolored berries that grow along roads, ditches and creeks. They bloom in the spring and berries ripen in the summer.

4 cups of water 1 cup dried or 3/4 cup of fresh elderberries 1/4 cup dried echinacea 1 inch of ginger 2 cinnamon sticks 3 cloves 2 star anise 1/2 cup (or less) of raw honey Instructions: Mix all ingredients, except honey, in a saucepan Bring to a brief boil and simmer for 45 minutes Strain mixture using colander and cheesecloth or muslin cloth Let cool and add honey to taste Pour into preferred size mason jar with lid Keep refrigerated (good up to six months) Dosage: 1-2 tablespoons 3-4 times per day while cold and flu symptoms last

PHOTOS BY LINDSEY BARK/CHEROKEE PHOENIX LEFT: A mix of elderberry, echinacea, ginger, cinnamon sticks, cloves and star anise is used to make an elderberry and echinacea syrup for treatment and prevention of cold and flu symptoms. RIGHT: Elderberry and echinacea syrup can be stored in mason jars and refrigerated for up to six months and taken by dosage to help treat cold and flu symptoms.

CN seeks volunteer greeters, way finders for health center

BY STAFF REPORTS

Kaitlyn Pinkerton

Jorge Mera

CN doctor earns national award for hepatitis C elimination

BY STAFF REPORTS

TEMECULA, Calif. – The National Indian Health Board presented Dr. Jorge Mera, the Cherokee Nation’s Health Services Infectious Diseases director, the Outstanding Service Award on Sept. 18 at the annual Heroes in Health Awards Gala in Temecula.

The Outstanding Service Award honors an individual or organization whose work has made an impact on American Indian and Alaska Native health care.

“I represent a whole team of health care workers who have gone beyond their duty during the last four years to accomplish what our Hepatitis C Elimination Program has achieved,” Mera said. “I am delighted to receive this award in the name of this group of people.”

Mera first completed his fellowship in Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. He now leads the CN’s Hepatitis C Elimination Program, which is the first of its kind in the United States.

“The impact of Dr. Mera’s work in the Cherokee Nation health system is as impactful as any work in the history of our tribal health care system,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “Under his leadership, the tribe’s Hepatitis C Elimination Program has reached heights once thought impossible. I commend Dr. Mera and all the staff who work tirelessly on the innovative project and the significance of Dr. Mera and our staff’s work is only affirmed by this award.”

The program utilizes aggressive screening and treatment to eradicate the disease by screening patients ages

20-65 who use CN Health Services.

The program, which has a 90 percent cure rate, has screened more than 50,000 Health Services patients and approximately 900 have received treatment for hepatitis C. The ultimate goal of the program is to cure the Native American population of hepatitis C in northeast Oklahoma by the year 2030.

“Cherokee Nation Health Services is blessed to have the highest quality of health care providers, including Dr. Mera,” W.W. Hastings Hospital CEO Brian Hail said. “His work with the Hepatitis C Elimination Program has changed hundreds of lives and is revolutionizing the way the disease is now treated. I am so proud that Dr. Mera is receiving national recognition for his work. It is very much deserved.”

Former Junior Miss Cherokee Kaitlyn Pinkerton, of Claremore, also received an award from the National Indian Health Board. The national organization gave Pinkerton the Outstanding Service Award for her advocacy work on mental health awareness.

“I never thought something like this would happen, and it is so crazy to even think about,” Pinkerton said. “I advocate for mental health because I suffer from depression and anxiety, and I never want another kid to feel like they are alone, like I did.”

As Junior Miss Cherokee, Pinkerton traveled the country to speak about innovative treatments for mental illness, presenting at the National Indian Health Board, United National Indian Tribal Youth, National Council for Urban Indian Health and Native Connections, and was a panelist at the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration National Conference.

TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee Nation officials are looking for volunteers willing to act as guides for patients and visitors at the new CN outpatient health center in Tahlequah.

According to a CN press release, volunteer way finders and greeters will help others navigate the health facility during the first few months it is open. The facility is the largest tribal outpatient health facility in the country at 469,000 square feet, the release states.

“The way finders and greeters are going to be some of the first faces our visitors see at the new health facility,” CN Career Services Executive Director Diane Kelley said. Career Services is organizing the volunteer program.

“The new outpatient health facility is going to be a challenge to navigate for new patients and the way finders

are going to be vital to find the way to their appointments.

Anyone who needs volunteer hours for scholarship purposes or wants to volunteer for the Cherokee Nation should sign up for this opportunity.”

The release states Career Services needs 120 volunteer way finders and 30 greeters during a course of three months.

Shifts are available from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday beginning Oct. 7, when the facility’s first phase opens.

Volunteer opportunities will continue through Dec. 31. Service hours are flexible for volunteers to work with their schedules.

For information, call Taryn Taylor at 918-453-5386 or email taryn-taylor@ cherokee.org. Or call Austin Patton at 918-453-7632 or email austin-patton@ cherokee.org.

ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

Education • ᏧᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗ

OCTOBER 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

7

Phillips surprises Stilwell seniors with new computers

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

STILWELL – During her first year as an educator at Stilwell High School, Cherokee Nation citizen Faith Phillips is making an impact on her students by wanting them to have the same opportunities as larger schools and leveling the playing field when it comes to education.

With the use of her influence as a published author and the Go Fund Me website, Phillips raised more than $7,000 in five days to help purchase 28 new Chromebook computers for her senior English classes.

“I started thinking about how in-depth it is when you’re writing a research paper, you have to be able to research resources. You have to be able to keep your research together in one central place. Then, of course, you have to do the rough drafts and go through all the steps of being able to create a research paper.

And there’s no really easy way to do that unless you have, today, a Chromebook,” Phillips said.

She said she looked at larger schools and their capabilities when it comes to helping students. She said her nephew attends a school near Tulsa and every night he takes home a Chromebook for homework use.

“I just thought if we expect our students in Stilwell, Oklahoma, to compete with students in Tulsa for jobs, they have to

LINDSEY BARK/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation citizen and educator Faith Phillips, standing left, works with one of her senior English classes on an assignment on Oct. 1 at Stilwell High School. Phillips recently raised funds to purchase Chromebooks for her students to use in the classroom. have access to the same tools,” she said.

SHS has 100 Chromebooks in the school’s library, but around 600 students have to compete to use them, and most are always on a waiting list.

“Most of our computers are outdated.

You have to get on a list to use them, and it takes a while. When you have time-sensitive assignments it kind of makes it hard,” CN citizen and senior Brent Harlin said.

CN citizen and senior Tristen But-

ler shared Harlin’s sentiments, saying because of low funding, there weren’t enough computers to use and that students had to use outdated books for research.

Phillips said one big assignment she wants to start with her seniors, once the Chromebooks are in and ready to use, is a research project on why the town was considered the “death capital,” according to a 2018 Washington Post article.

“That’s what we’re doing as a class is

this huge research project together because there are all these factors telling us that we’re the death capital. They list the number of factors, including our access to health care, our nutrition, perhaps some environmental factors such as mercury levels in the water,” Phillips said. “I think they would be excited to be able to tell their families ‘this is the work I did as a senior at Stilwell. It had to do with our family.’ This topic I think makes real connections to the issue.”

Phillips said her goal is to cycle the 28 Chromebooks through her 100 senior English students so they each go through a daily class working on a computer.

Phillips added that seniors will be able to build résumés and complete college applications using the Chromebooks.

“It means a lot. She’s a very helpful teacher. She wants to see us all go do good things and do well for ourselves,” CN citizen and senior Garner Buckhorn said.

Phillips’ next goal is to get Chromebooks in every English class for the other grades. She said she expects the students to receive and start using the Chromebooks by mid-October.

“Since I’m a first-year teacher I didn’t really know if I was stepping outside of my bounds or stepping on someone’s toes by doing this,” Phillips said. “I just want them to be able to step out of Stilwell High School and know where they’re going, either to college or some profession.

They seem driven.”

In Oklahoma, a discredited reading theory is widely used

BY JENNIFER PALMER Oklahoma Watch

D. SEAN ROWLEY/CHEROKEE PHOENIX U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, a Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen, speaking with Northeastern State University President Steve Turner, visited NSU’s Tahlequah campus on Sept. 25 for a free poetry reading and book signing.

U.S. Poet Laureate Harjo holds reading at NSU

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY Senior Reporter TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State University welcomed the U.S. Poet Laureate to campus for a Sept. 25 poetry reading, but she was not in unfamiliar territory.

Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen Joy Harjo, born in Tulsa and a onetime resident of Tahlequah, is the first enrolled Native American and first Oklahoman to be named the national Poet Laureate. Her work consistently receives international acclaim, and she is an award-winning musician.

“It is good to come back to Tahlequah,” Harjo said. “I was thinking about those times walking – walking to the hospital to give birth. Those were different times in my life, but they were important times.

The people were very much a part of my journey. My grandmother was raised over in Moodys…. I’m partly from here, too.”

Speaking to an overflow crowd inside the W. Roger Webb Educational Technology Center, Harjo said Tahlequah and many parts of northeast Oklahoma have long benefited from those who understood the need to conserve natural resources.

“I would like to acknowledge the original people and caretakers of these lands,” Harjo said “There are some wonderful caretakers, because Tahlequah has some of the most beautiful places. Every time I walk here – I used to walk and walk and walk – I was always fed by the beauty of these rocks and trees…. I was watching this fresh water, and I thought ‘what an amazing gift.’ There are fewer and fewer places in the world that are not contaminated by all the industrial processing of waste in the world. We have a special place here.”

After playing a brief traditional musical piece, Harjo opened with perhaps her most read and quoted poem, “Remember.” Before reciting, she said she didn’t always want to be a poet. She preferred painting because she “didn’t have to speak to anyone.”

“The spirit of the poetry came to me and said ‘you need to learn to listen,’” Harjo said. “I was the least likely person to be a poet, and I said ‘OK,’ and I knew I needed to learn how to listen. Poetry always teaches me something, and I think most artists will tell you that. Raising a

family will always teach you about humans and being a human being. I wrote this poem probably when I needed it. This was one of my earliest poems. I think of it as my spirit saying ‘OK, this is what you need to remember.’”

Harjo also spoke further of her time in Tahlequah, which was full of challenges as a teenaged mother. She had little money and little idea of what to expect.

“Our dreams are like living beings,” she said. “We are all given something to share – absolutely everyone has something uniquely given to them to develop and share, and we know when we are off kilter.”

She also compared time and its passage to a living person.

“I think about the time we are all in together right now,” Harjo said. “There are stories in a lot of our communities where we say this has all happened before. We reach a point where we stop listening and we destroy the world. Then it is remade beautifully and we have a chance all over again. Which is kind of like a day. We start out in the morning, and we have all this opportunity, and at the end of the day, what did we make of it?”

Harjo said she realized poetry could be about her own life, Native people and Native women.

“You can put almost anything in a poem,” she said. “They can be repositories. You can put time in there. It’s like a song. Songs are like little memory pieces.”

In 2016, Harjo joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and held the John C. Hodges Chair of Excellence within the English department.

When it was time to start the next chapter of her life, she was conflicted.

“It was in the homelands,” she said.

“These were original lands. When we were getting ready to leave, I was torn.

Everywhere you walk, there are places where our houses were. I stood there looking out, and looking back, and now we were going to leave, and that was disturbing to me. I looked out into the beautiful woods and my spirit asked, ‘What did you learn here?’”

Harjo’s works include nine books of poetry, including her latest “An American Sunrise,” children’s books and her memoir, “Crazy Brave.” Her awards are numerous, and she was inducted into the Oklahoma Writers Hall of Fame in 2014.

OKLAHOMA CITY – In classrooms across Oklahoma and the nation, students are taught to read using a theory that has been discredited by decades of research by brain scientists.

This “three-cueing system,” first proposed in 1967, is pervasive in reading instruction and curriculum.

Students are instructed to use strategies that include memorizing words, using pictures on the page to decipher a word and skipping words they don’t know.

Teaching these strategies actually makes it harder for kids to learn to read, studies show. Yet many educators and parents don’t realize there’s anything wrong with it, according to a documentary project from American Public Media’s APM Reports.

Debates over how reading should be taught have raged for decades.

The three-cueing theory formed the basis for “whole language,” which took hold in the 1980s even though countless studies have favored explicit phonics instruction for all kids.

Another approach used is “balanced literacy,” described as a mix of phonics instruction and whole language, but it still relies on three-cueing.

Oklahoma fourth graders scored below the national average in reading on the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card. Oklahoma’s scores actually slipped in 2017 compared to 2015.

With APM’s documentary drawing new attention to the issue among parents and educators, Oklahoma Watch spoke with Melissa Ahlgrim, reading sufficiency director for the state Department of Education about reading instruction in Oklahoma. Her responses are edited for clarity and brevity.

OW: How should schools teach students to read?

Ahlgrim: When I went to school and was trained early in my teaching career, I was trained on balanced literacy and the three-cueing system.

It’s where you teach strategies to attack words and you surround kids with books and you just kind of make it more organic, which made sense to me in some ways. But as I got further into it and became a little bit more experienced as a teacher, I started noticing there are kids who aren’t getting this and I don’t have the tools to help them. When I was able to move into a district leadership position and the position I’m in now, I was learning more and more. We know through

cognitive scientists how the brain learns how to read. We need to have that systemic and explicit instruction on phonological awareness and phonics.

OW: Are Oklahoma schools using the three-cueing system?

Ahlgrim: Yes, they are using threecueing all over the place. While we have standards districts use, we do not require a certain type of curriculum or curricular method. We are trying to push out the phonics, we strongly encourage it, but it’s not something we can require. That’s a local control issue.

OW: Are you seeing a shift in schools now that there is more awareness?

Ahlgrim: I’m seeing more conversations. We’re not necessarily seeing an active shift yet. I’m hearing more questions from district leaders and principals and teachers. What they’re really struggling with – and it’s a fair struggle – is they’ve invested time and resources and money into these programs that they are now finding out may not be as effective. And they’re trying to figure out how to salvage that and what to replace it with.

OW: What is the department doing to effect changes?

Ahlgrim: We’re trying to make sure teachers are really well-informed. For emergency certified teachers, they are currently undergoing a beginning LETRS (language and literacy skills) session in order to maintain emergency certification just so they can have effective practices in their toolbox about how to help kids learn to read.

And we’re always available to any district to have us come out and have a conversation with them.

OW: Does there need to be a mandate or legislation?

Ahlgrim: Where our focus has really been is on having an awareness of the research that’s out there and why this is important and the resources available. Trying to change a system is like trying to stop an ocean liner. You just do not do it immediately.

Also, this is not just an Oklahoma thing. This is a national and even an international thing. Do we teach kids how to love books or do we teach them how to decode books? Really, it’s not two different goals – it’s the same goal.

It’s really hard to love books if you can’t read them. And we want them to be able to read, but we want them to get those foundational skills down first.

Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) corporation whose mission is to produce in-depth and investigative journalism on public-policy and quality-of-life issues facing the state.

8

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • OCTOBER 15, 2019

Services • ᎾᎾᏛᏁᎲ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019

FOIA process allows access for public records

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Nation’s Freedom of Information and Rights of Privacy Act is designed for CN citizens to access a range of information within the tribe, including public documents, meetings and records and to ensure transparency of tribal operations.

The FOIA was enacted in 2001, and the CN is the first federally recognized tribe in Indian Country to implement a FOIA. “Citizens have a right to know the basis of the formulation of public policy,” the FOIA states. “Therefore, it is the public policy of the Cherokee Nation that citizens shall be advised of the performance of public officials and of the decisions that are reached in public activity.”

To access information, a CN citizen must complete a FOIA request form and turn it in to Information Officer Gwen Terrapin for processing. The form can be found online at attorneygeneral.cherokee.org/foia-gra-requests/. Terrapin’s office is located in Room 132 of the Annex Building (Old Motel) on the Tribal Complex.

“The Cherokee Nation is an open and transparent government, and having a freedom of information act allows tribal citizens to get information ranging from real estate to funding or employee directory information,” Terrapin said.

Information needed for the form is a date of the request; proof of CN citizenship; a reasonably written description of the records or information sought; specification of how information will be shared by either flash drive or hard copy; agreeing to a payment of copies or other fees if needed; and name, address and phone number of requestor.

A fee may be established or collected by the public body that does not exceed the cost of searching for or making copies of records, according to the FOIA. One can request a waiver of fees if the information will be used for public interest.

According to the act, each governmental department or branch of the executive or legislative public or corporate body has 20 business days from the date of the request to notify the requestor of its determination to relay the requested information or deny with reason

that it is a proper FOIA request.

According to the FOIA, “public records include all books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, recordings, or other documentary materials regardless of physical form or characteristics prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by the public body.”

The public body is any CN board, commission, agency, authority, any public or governmental body or political subdivision of the CN. Some records and information are exempt from disclosure including information of a personal nature that would constitute unreasonable invasion of personal privacy, trade secrets, records of law enforcement under investigation and documents to proposed contractual arrangements and proposed sales or purchase of property among other records and information that can be found in the CN FOIA laws.

“A tribal citizen can access records and business of the tribe that readily exists and is not proprietary, under litigation or discloses personal information,” Terrapin said.

For information visit attorneygeneral.cherokee.org.

Okla. mulling steps to curb missing Native women OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Rebecca Ponkilla still remembers the last moment she saw her daughter. She hugged Ida Beard inside their El Reno home as her daughter’s friends waited for her outside.

Beard, 29, walked to a friend’s house just blocks away, but never returned home. A citizen of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes, Beard is one of many Native American women and girls across the country who have vanished without a trace, The Oklahoman reported.

Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of missing or murdered Native women, according to a report from the Urban Indian Health Institute. But the report doesn’t show a complete picture of the problem because of a widespread lack of comprehensive data.

As Indigenous people have become increasingly more vocal about the alarming trend that has silently plagued the Native community for decades, one Oklahoma lawmaker wants to see what the state can do to help.

When Beard didn’t make it home later on June 30, 2015, Ponkilla assumed her daughter was having fun with her friends. But then she began to worry.

“I had no idea, no idea where she was,” she said. “I still really can’t believe she’s gone, you know?”

Over the years, the El Reno police never received any substantial leads on Beard’s disappearance, said LaRenda Morgan, Beard’s cousin.

Beard’s family hasn’t given up. They recently hired a private investigator to look at the case, Morgan said.

But the uncertainty surrounding Beard’s disappearance and the lack of closure haunts her family, especially her younger sister, Zina Deere. The two were nearly inseparable, and Beard always looked after Deere.

Deere, 27, regrets she wasn’t with her sister that night. “We would’ve helped each other,” she said. “But whatever happened to her, she was by herself.”

At the time of her disappearance, Beard’s children were ages 5, 6, 8 and 14.

Her oldest daughter now has a child of her own who may never get to meet her grandmother.

“We won’t stop looking and waiting for her to come through the door until we know what really happened to her,” Ponkilla said through tears.

Beard’s family is not alone. Linda “Lindy” Zotigh, also a Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes citizen, was brutally killed in 2017 in Hammon. A federal grand jury indicted Zotigh’s boyfriend, Tommy Dean Bullcoming, last year on first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree felony murder and other charges related to her death.

Bullcoming is accused of stabbing Zotigh, 55, which led to her death, “in an especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner in that the offense involved torture and serious physical abuse,” state court documents. The case is ongoing.

Bullcoming killed Zotigh because she tried to leave him, said Imogene Herndon, Zotigh’s friend.

“He actually treated her pretty good,” Herndon said. “Since he seemed like such a kind, quiet man and was nice looking, you would never dream there was this demon in him.”

Authorities from the Roger Mills County sheriff’s office and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol found Zotigh’s body on Sept.

7, 2017, on tribal land about seven miles from where her mobile home had been set on fire. Officials detained Bullcoming the next day on an unrelated drug charge.

Herndon, 60, describing an incident where she previously was stalked by a man, said she hates how Native American women always seem to get blamed for the violence they face.

“They keep putting it on the women,” she said. “It’s these men they need to do something with.”

Native American and Alaska Native women face higher rates of violence than the general populace with more than four out of five Indigenous women experiencing some type of violence in their lifetime, states a National Institute of Justice study. That violence can include stalking,

JIM BECKEL/THE OKLAHOMAN VIA AP Rebecca Ponkilla, left, mother of Ida Beard, and Zina Deere, right, Beard’s sister, sit in Deere’s home in southeast Oklahoma City. Beard disappeared in 2015, at age 29. A Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes citizen, Beard is one of many Native American women and girls across the country who have vanished without a trace. Ida’s granddaughter, Aileen Beard, 1, from left, Deere’s sons, Ezekial, 6, and Nathaniel, 4, are also seen. sexual violence or physical or psychological aggression by an intimate partner.

Overall, more than 1.5 million American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, which contributes to the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, according to the study.

Many women who do end up the victims of abduction or murder were previously assaulted, often by their partner, said Oklahoma Indian Legal Services attorney Jacintha Webster.

“There are domestic violence relationships that continue to escalate and a lot of times the most dangerous times of the relationship are when the individual attempts to report to the police, to leave, to get a divorce. ... Statistics show that that’s when those events occur,” she said.

According to the urban institute report, 5,712 cases of missing Native and Alaska Native women and girls were reported to the National Crime Information Center in 2016 alone.

Elizabeth Carr, senior Native Affairs adviser for the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, said the high violence rate Indigenous women face stems from unresolved historical trauma – psychological wounding passed across generations – Native tribes faced starting from when Europeans began colonizing America.

“There is a direct link to historical trauma that we share with people,” Carr said. “The loss of our land, our culture, our people and all of the federal policies that targeted our people kind of altogether tether to that violence. That’s the underlying reason that we have an epidemic of violence in our communities.”

When that violence boils over, limited law enforcement and jurisdictional issues can complicate matters. Depending on where a crime is committed, different law enforcement agencies could take the lead on the case, said Carr, who also works for the StrongHearts Native Helpline.

And the lack of a centralized missing and murdered Indigenous persons

database that can be used across all law enforcement entities doesn’t help matters, she said.

“There’s a lot of miscommunication between the databases and then a misunderstanding of who is responsible for an individual who went missing in location X,” Carr said. “There’s a lot of jurisdictional confusion.”

Native tribes also lack the authority to prosecute most crimes that occur on their lands because federal law places most major crimes under federal jurisdiction.

That’s part of the problem, Carr said.

Federal authorities have exclusive jurisdiction over sexual assault or sexual violence cases, but oftentimes, resources are so limited they can only pursue the most egregious of cases, she said. That leads to a cycle where many perpetrators continue to do what they’re doing because they know they can get away with it, Carr said.

As other states are passing legislation and forming task forces to study this rampant issue among the Native community, Rep. Mickey Dollens, D-Oklahoma City, is pushing to do the same in Oklahoma.

Dollens filed a request for an interim study to examine how cases of missing or murdered Indigenous women are handled so law enforcement can ensure that despite complicated jurisdictional issues, cases don’t fall through the cracks. The study also would look at creating a statewide database on missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Part of the problem stems from a confusion about which government entity – local, state, federal or tribal – should investigate the disappearance or murder of tribal citizens.

“I want to be the catalyst to provide a platform for the many tribal citizens who have stories to share, and I want to listen and learn and help in any way that I can,” Dollens said.

Morgan, Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes governmental affairs executive officer, informed Dollens about the issue by telling him about Beard’s disappearance.

Morgan hopes the study will result in better communication among law enforcement entities that can keep Indigenous cases from slipping through the cracks. “They should be communicating anytime a person is missing regardless of whether they’re Native or non-Native,” she said.

In recent years, state lawmakers in Arizona, Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota have filed legislation to devote research and law enforcement resources to reduce the number of Indigenous women who go missing.

Raven Word, spokeswoman for the Native Alliance Against Violence, called Dollens’ study proposal a first step.

Oklahoma officials have taken longer to dive into this issue because the state has a more complicated landscape than some other states, Word said. The sheer number of tribes in Oklahoma – the state has nearly 40 – and the fact that they’re spread across the state makes it harder for the tribes to communicate and coordinate with one another.

Federal elected officials also are paying increased attention to the issue. The Trump administration declared May 5 national Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives Awareness Day to raise awareness about the “crisis” of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.

U.S. Reps. Tom Cole, R-Moore, and Markwayne Mullin, R-Westville, introduced this year the Not Invisible Act of 2019 to combat the epidemic of missing and murdered native people. Cole is a Chickasaw Nation citizen, and Mullin is a Cherokee Nation citizen.

The federal legislation, also introduced by two Native American congresswomen, would establish best practices for law enforcement to reduce the number of missing, murdered or trafficked Native Americans and form a task force on violent crime to make recommendations to federal law enforcement agencies.

Politicians have finally taken notice of the issue in recent years because the Native American community has been more vocal about demanding change, Word said. Tribal citizens are holding events at the state Capitol to raise awareness about missing and murdered women, she said.

“Even though they may not be able to pass laws or write bills, they still come together so they can be there for the families of the murdered or missing women,” she said. “Let’s print out posters, let’s hold marches, let’s hold rallies, let’s walk out in the street, let’s be loud.”

Along with insufficient data on missing and murdered Indigenous women, there also is a lack of media coverage. Of the 506 cases the urban institute studied, only 129 received media coverage. About 7 percent of the cases made up more than half the coverage.

Part of the reason there are so many missing Indigenous women is that it’s “an unknown issue,” Webster said.

When Beard went missing, Morgan said she and her relatives reached out to media outlets to ask them to cover it.

None did, she said.

More women could be found sooner if the media reported each time a Native American woman went missing, she said.

“If (people) knew someone was missing from that location, they could call in and give information,” Morgan said. “Nobody knows until afterward when bodies are found.”

And every time the family hears of a body found, they’re on “pins and needles” waiting to see whether it’s Beard, Morgan said.

Beard’s family has lost and found their strength over the years. “We really fell into depression over the years where we would sleep all day, (we) wouldn’t get up to eat sometimes,” Deere said.

But now, Deere said she knows Beard wouldn’t want that for her family.

There are two things that keep her going. “Hope and faith,” she said. “Because hope gives me some kind of joy, knowing that maybe she’ll come back. My faith is knowing what happened, happened. And I believe I’ll see her again.”

ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

Money • ᎠᏕᎳ

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation citizen Haydn Williams shows off a pair of crappie he caught on Aug. 15 on Grand Lake near Grove.

Cherokee teen making splash as fishing guide

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

GROVE – Upon graduating from high school in May, Haydn Williams’ first order of business was to start a business on the familiar waters of the Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees.

The 18-year-old Cherokee Nation citizen, who grew up in nearby Grove, runs Williams Guide Service, specializing in crappie, white bass and catfish.

“This is what I want to do,” he said. “I just wanted to guide since I grew up on the lake. It just kind of all fell into place.”

Just months into his venture, Williams has seen steady work operating primarily out of Shangri-La Resort west of Grove.

“I’ve been busier than I thought I was going to be,” he said, noting that one guided trip in particular netted his seven clients 130 white bass. “My normal day is a five-hour trip. I’ve had some weeks where it’s been two a day every day.”

A thirst for fishing is in Williams’ blood. His father, Jeff Williams, was also a full-time guide on Grand Lake by the time he was 18.

“He guided for a long time, like 25 years,” Haydn said. “He stopped guiding about the time I was 7 years old. Now he has a tackle company, sells fishing products and stuff.”

Jeff, a catfish expert and brand-building entrepreneur, is associated with companies such as Team Catfish and Fle-Fly. “All the stuff I’m fishing with today, like this rod and reel, the line, the hooks, all this is his that he made,” Haydn said.

“He sells his stuff nationwide.”

Lake life for the Williams family dates back decades, the teenager said.

“My great-grandpa, they bought a lake house right over here whenever my grandpa was like 7 years old,” he said.

“My grandpa grew up here, my dad and his brother grew up here and now my brother (Owen) and I are growing up here.”

While Grand is one of the country’s top bass fishing lakes, Haydn said he would rather guide than become a professional tournament angler.

“One of the main reasons I wanted to guide was I kind of like going after different fish sometimes, not just the same fish all the time,” he said. “With those tournaments, it’s just bass, bass, bass.”

His guided fishing trips begin as early as 6 a.m.

“I like to get done about noon,” he said.

“If you don’t have an evening trip, you’ve got the rest of the day to just go find more fish or just do whatever you want. There are a lot of days where I clean fish, drop my clients off and go back out to find fish and have fun.”

He said his customers typically fall into one of two categories.

“You’ve got people who live around the lake that are serious about fishing,” he said. “They just want to go out with somebody else and see how they do it. Then you’ve got people that come in for kind of a vacation. I take a lot of moms and dads with their kids. Sometimes (the parents) won’t even fish at all. They just want to see their kids catch fish.”

In addition to traditional rod and reel angling, Haydn partakes in bowfishing – a method that employs specialized archery equipment to nab and retrieve fish.

Rates for his guided trips are $325 for the first two people. Children 12 and under are free, he said.

“But if they’re over 12, each person after two would be $100,” he added.

For information, call 618-946-9294 or email haydn@haydn-williams.com.

Buffalotown Clothing Co. mixes pop, Cherokee cultures

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter LAWRENCE, Kansas – Buffalotown Clothing Co., created by Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians citizen Luke Swimmer, pays homage to Cherokee culture and heritage with pop culture designs on merchandise such as T-shirts, hoodies, shorts and stickers.

The name is based on an old Cherokee township that once existed in North Carolina near Cherokee, which was combined with Ottertown to create the Snowbird Community, the home of Swimmer’s wife, Tabytha.

“The name Buffalotown is actually a name of a township that my wife’s from.

At one point after removal they combined those two townships into Snowbird.

That’s where the name came from, and it’s just a way to kind of shout out or honor where we’re from,” Swimmer said.

Commonly known as Buffalotown, the business started in 2017. Swimmer said he’s always done graphic design in some capacity and decided to create T-shirts.

“I’ve always done graphic design and stuff like that. I always thought about doing shirts, like taking some of my drawings and doing shirts. I thought ‘well let’s just try it.’ We bought some shirts and sold every one of them. Everybody loved them. It’s been going like that ever since,” he said.

Swimmer’s designs stem from his interests in skateboarding and tattooing and “revamping” old Cherokee concepts.

“Kind of a modernization of our culture and traditions. Trying to take old things and trying to revamp them,” he said.

His “Water Panther” design intertwines modern and traditional designs from different cultures, he said.

“The panther design is just a really cool design that I thought would look good on a shirt. What I did was incorporate a ‘traditional’ style tattoo panther with a truly traditional style panther design. The panther holds significance in our culture with the blue clan being referred to as the panther clan at times,” Swimmer said.

The brand can be recognized by its logo, an interpretation of Sequoyah, the originator of the Cherokee syllabary.

“It’s just a cool image. That was the first step was creating a brand and creating a logo. I wanted the logo to be strong to where once you see it it’s like ‘oh, that’s Buffalotown.’ It’s just like the strength of a Nike check,” he said.

He said he used brand awareness by creating the logo, a business tactic he learned while earning his master’s degree in business administration, to help market his business. He also plans to pass his entrepreneurism to his own children.

“We’re trying to make it where our kids can pick up and learn how to do it. Entrepreneurship is kind of woven into our culture. My grandma, Amanda Swimmer, I grew up watching her make stuff, go to town and sell it to make money. It’s kind of like my way of doing what she was doing. She taught my dad how to make pottery, and he does that to this day. I create art and we make shirts and hopefully they’ll learn how to do that,” Swimmer said.

For information, visit thebuffalotown. com or Buffalotown Clothing Co. on Facebook.

OCTOBER 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

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People • ᏴᏫ

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • OCTOBER 15, 2019

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019

LANGUAGE LESSON BLACKBERRY

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TO SPONSOR A LANGAUGE LESSON, CALL 918-207-3828 OR EMAIL samantha-cochran@cherokee.org

Park serving his country in Coast Guard

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation citizen Sharon Dawes, center, is recognized Oct. 1 at the 11th annual AARP Oklahoma Indian Elder Honors event held in Oklahoma City.

AARP Oklahoma honors 7 Cherokee elders

They are among 52 elders from Oklahoma tribes honored for their work in their communities and careers.

BY will chavez Assistant Editor OKLAHOMA CITY – Seven Cherokee elders were honored on Oct. 1 by the AARP Oklahoma at a ceremony in the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

The seven elders were among 52 elders from Oklahoma tribes who were honored at the 11th annual AARP Oklahoma Indian Elder Honors ceremony for their works in their communities and careers.

The evening’s main award, the Dr. John Edwards Memorial Leadership Award, went to Cherokee actor Wes Studi, who could not attend the ceremony but sent a video message. Edwards (Absentee Shawnee) was a member of the AARP Oklahoma Executive Council.

Studi, who has appeared in major films such as “Dances with Wolves,” “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Geronimo: An American Legend,” “Heat” and “Hostiles,” was born in 1947 in Nofire Hollow in Cherokee County and is an Army veteran who served in Vietnam. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“It’s quite the honor, and I have to say it really came as quite a surprise to me,” Studi said about receiving the award. “Actually, it kind of came quite a surprise to become or to be called an elder. I understand that, yes, I have reached that age.”

He added that he’s unsure that he can live up to the standards set by the late Edwards in his tenure with AARP Oklahoma.

“I can tell you I have strived in my life to continue to reach goal after goal, and hopefully those goals turn into successes.

I will tell you successes are a fleeting thing, and it’s good to enjoy them when you can, and I, in turn, think of this award, this honor you have bestowed upon me this evening, as a success. I thank you, AARP Oklahoma, and the Indian elders that I join the company of.”

Other Cherokees honored were United Keetoowah Band citizen Ernestine Berry and Cherokee Nation citizens Sharon Dawes, Calvin Rock, Curtis Snell, Charlie Soap and Ida Sue Stopp.

Ernestine Berry Berry is the executive director of the UKB John Hair Cultural Center and Museum in Tahlequah. She recognized gaps in Keetoowah history and culture and worked to fill those gaps, which resulted in the “Missing Pieces: Rediscovering Keetoowah Law, Language, Literature” exhibit at the museum.

“I think it is an honor for your tribe to nominate you and recognize the work that you do. I’ve been at the museum for eight years now, but all together I’ve worked for the tribe for about 20 years,” she said. “The tribe is my passion to be honest, it really is, and I never really realized it when I was younger.

My grandfather, my grandmother, my mother – they were all really gung ho, and I guess that rubbed off on me. It’s been hard, but it’s been very gratifying to work with my people, and I just love it.”

Calvin Rock After retiring from the Georgia Pacific Paper Company in Muskogee, Rock and his wife lived on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico for four years.

“I’ve always wanted to help people in whatever way I can.

I go around helping people register to vote, I help widows. I’ve even got out and bought groceries and helped people

that way,” he said. “When I was out on the Navajo reservation I would see a lot of elderly walking to town, and I would give them rides to town from Shiprock to Farmington.”

He added that he also drove an activity bus for a high school wrestling team on the Navajo reservation. “They got to where they called me ‘uncle,’ and among the Navajo that’s a pretty high honor.”

He said he was “humbled” to receive the AARP honor. “I’ve always been willing to help people and was raised that way. My parents always believed in helping people, and that’s what I’ve always done. I’ve been blessed by always having a good job so that I could help people.”

Charlie Soap Soap has dedicated much of his life helping strengthen Cherokee communities. He served as director of the CN Community Development Department for seven years, and in 2002, he oversaw the construction of eight community buildings and critical community initiatives for the CN. He also served as the founding director of the Boys and Girls Club of Tahlequah, and has served as the Oklahoma area director of the Christian Children’s Fund.

“I think it’s quite an honor. I didn’t know I was being nominated,” he said.

“When I work out in the communities I see a lot of elders still involved in their communities. I think they have a lot to offer just like the young people have a lot to offer, and I always say from the elders’ standpoint that we need to teach our young people, and we need to call on the young people to help us to do some of the work that we do. I want to congratulate all of the elders and their families who are getting an award tonight, and I think it’s quite an honor.”

Curtis Snell Snell is lifelong resident of the Kansas, Kenwood and Leach areas in Delaware County. He served on the Tribal Council from 2007-17 representing Dist. 9, which includes portions of Delaware and Mayes counties.

He said he was nominated by former Principal Chief Bill John Baker for his community service work.

Ida Sue Stopp Stopp’s life has revolved around service to others, according to her AARP biography. She has earned two associate degrees and a bachelor’s degree in social work. She also earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Oklahoma. She has served as a social worker in the state of Washington, as a public health educator and a CN community health representative serving Cherokee people in rural areas. These roles for her tribe impacted the rate of heart disease and diabetes where she worked, her AARP bio states.

She has also managed a women’s shelter in Salina and served as a substitute teacher in Adair County.

Sharon Dawes For more than 30 years, Dawes has served as director of the Miami Indian Health Center in Ottawa County. She also has made time to share her knowledge of the Cherokee language at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami. She helps organize the Ottawa Powwow and has served as the Ottawa tribal representative on the Northeastern Tribal Health Board.

HONOLULU – Cherokee Nation citizen Stuart Park grew up in Oklahoma and Arkansas but has since traveled the country after joining the U.S. Coast Guard in 2008.

After high school, Park followed in his family’s footsteps of police work or the military. The Coast Guard – being a coastal defense, search-and-rescue and maritime law enforcement branch of the U.S. military – offered a bit of both.

“My entire family was either military or police officers, so I didn’t know which way to go and discovered the Coast Guard and found out they were a military branch that was outside of the Department of Defense…they had a lot of law enforcement capabilities, so I thought that would be a good mix of the both. So that’s what kind of led me toward the Coast Guard,” Park said.

Once in the Coast Guard, he had to decide what job he wanted.

“I went to boot camp, and in boot camp they give you an overview of what all the rates or jobs are in the Coast Guard.

I remember hearing about boatswain mate and it sounded fantastic. You get to do law enforcement. You get to drive the boats. You get to be that frontline rescue.

I decided then and there that’s what I wanted to do,” he said.

After boot camp, before being sent to a trade school or “A” school like in other military branches, Park said the Coast Guard sends recruits to units as a nonrated specialist to get field experience.

“So I went to Hickman, Kentucky, originally working on the Mississippi River doing aids to navigation work, managing the buoy system on the river and keeping the traffic lanes open. I waited there for six months before I went to boatswain mate ‘A’ school. I went to BMA in January of 2009, graduated and was at my new unit in Gulf Port, Mississippi, in April of 2009,” he said.

He finished his Mississippi tour in 2013 and transferred to Texas for border control until 2016. From there he transferred to Alaska.

“I wanted to go to Alaska to kind of get out of the heat and see something I’d never seen before. I went to

Ketchikan, Alaska, and did what they call a commissioning of a new cutter of the Fast Response Cutters. We picked that up. We did some training. We Stuart Park took the boat from Key West (Florida) down through the Panama Canal and all the way up to Alaska. I did that for three years,” he said.

In August, Park transferred again, this time to Honolulu with his wife and 7-month-old daughter.

“I’m on the Fast Response Cutter platform. I came down here to help with taking over a crew. They did the same thing down here that we did up in Alaska, but the first turnovers are usually rough because you lose a lot of the qualified and educated people, so I came down to kind of ease that transition,” he said.

Park said he’s learned to appreciate the different cultures he’s been around while serving.

“In the Coast Guard I work with so many people from so many different cultures within and outside of the U.S. that being able to see how that reflects on my culture, it’s refreshing in a way,” he said. “Once you start moving out to south Texas and Alaska, and now Hawaii, you get to see those cultures that you don’t get to see if you stay in one place. And being able to reflect how they see things, their folklore, their stories, how they grew up and what they listened to and how to relate to the stories that I grew up and listened to, it’s interesting to see the similarities and the differences.”

Park said he appreciates the Coast Guard and the opportunities it allowed him. He said he will do a three-year tour in Hawaii before having eight more years until retirement.

“Honestly, I can’t say enough about the good things the Coast Guard can offer you. If it’s college or setting up for another federal job that you want to get into, even if its just a solid paycheck for four years, the opportunities that come out of it because it’s such a small service.

It’s amazing the connections you can get in a short amount of time,” he said.

ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

Culture • ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏁᎵᏓᏍᏗ

OCTOBER 15, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

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Lisa Rutherford: A Jill of Cherokee trades Continually influenced by past Cherokee art and present Cherokee artists, Lisa Rutherford extends her knowledge of Cherokee culture via her work.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – After a long-time interest in art and creating, Cherokee Nation citizen Lisa Rutherford has learned and added numerous artistic trades into her repertoire during the years and enjoys sharing Cherokee culture through her work.

Since 2004, Rutherford has immersed herself into learning ceramics, pottery, beadwork, twining, shell carving and piecing together historic clothing such as feather capes.

She is best known for her pottery, which earned her the title of Cherokee National Treasure and the Anna Mitchell Award in 2018. Anna Mitchell was a Cherokee National Treasure who revived Southeastern-style pottery.

Rutherford credits her artistic knowhow to learning from Cherokee National Treasures who preceded her. “I was influenced and taught by a lot of national treasures. I always think of Anna Mitchell. I just really looked up to her even before I was doing pottery.”

Rutherford’s many artistic talents come from the influences of Bill Glass for ceramics and sculpture, Anna Mitchell and Jane Osti for pottery, Martha Berry for beadwork and Knokovtee Scott for shell carving. She also credits her current job as a living history interpreter at Hunter’s Home for her take on historic 18th century-style clothing.

“When I really got into the living history, I started needing more clothing and outfits, so I made them myself,” she said She makes feather capes that are influenced by artists’ work in Cherokee, North Carolina. After she and two other artists worked together to learn how to make one, she’s since made nearly 30 capes “They were mostly worn for warmth.

De Soto has written about them in 1540, but he didn’t identify them as strictly Cherokee, he just mentioned the Indians.

He didn’t identify the tribes, but he was in Cherokee territory and he talked about the different Southeast tribes wearing mantles made of brightly colored feathers,” Rutherford said.

She added that she also took up twining because of imprints found on pottery artifacts.

“The reason I wanted to learn this was because I was doing pottery and I noticed a lot of the pottery had imprints from twined fabric on it. So that’s why I first learned to do (twining). You can find twined fabric imprinted in pottery hundreds of years ago.”

She said when creating her art, she is “inspired” by artifacts.

“The workmanship on these artifacts is just amazing. They are so much better than I am. You think that I’ve got modern tools and conveniences that really the quality of the workmanship is just outstanding,” she said. “I like to say I’m inspired by the old pieces.”

Rutherford said while working with Cherokee National Treasures she loves hearing their stories in how they became the artists they are today.

“One of these most valuable things you get out of them in the class is the stories,” she said. “The history of the artists here that have taught me, they opened a lot of doors for us. Like I’ve heard from Anna, from Bill, and from Knokovtee. You get all these stories about these artists that are a generation ahead of me and what they went through to make their art and the things that they’re passing down to us.”

PHOTOS BY LINDSEY BARK/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation citizen and artist Lisa Rutherford works on a twined skirt for a display for the Cherokee National History Museum at the Cherokee Arts Center in Tahlequah.

Twining is one of many artistic talents Rutherford has attained during the years.

LEFT: A close-up of Cherokee artist Lisa Rutherford’s twine work as she weaves a skirt for a display for the Cherokee National History Museum in Tahlequah. CENTER: Cherokee artist Lisa Rutherford works on a Beloved Woman outfit made up of a one-shoulder feather cape and twine skirt at the Cherokee Arts Center for the Cherokee National History Museum in Tahlequah. Rutherford is known for having multiple Cherokee crafts in her repertoire. RIGHT: Shown is an example of Cherokee artist Lisa Rutherford’s work in sculpturing, influenced by the late Cherokee National Treasure Bill Glass. Rutherford during the years has learned various traditional art forms.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • OCTOBER 15, 2019

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏚᏂᏃᏗ 15, 2019