Nov. 1, 2019 issue of the Cherokee Phoenix

BASKET GIVEAWAY

Basket weaver Merle “Cate” Fritz is the Cherokee Phoenix’s fourth quarter giveaway artist. CULTURE, 14

PHOENIX CHEROKEE Career Readiness Act doubles training funds CHEROKEEPHOENIX.ORG

NOVEMBER 1, 2019

191 YEARS OF JOURNALISM

An extra $1 million will help Cherokees obtain trade skills and employment.

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

PRYOR – The Career Readiness Act, signed by Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. at the Northeast Tech Center on Oct. 16, doubles funding to $2 million per year to train Cherokee Nation citizens for construction, health, information technology and lineman trade jobs.

Hoskin signed the legislation during an evening construction trade class currently offered by CN Career Services at the NTC. The career-readiness plan, outlined by Career Ser-

vices Executive Director Diane Kelley, involves partnerships with vocational tech centers such as NTC, Indian Capital Technology Center and Tulsa Tech.

“I know that not every hard working, intelligent, bright Cherokee needs to or wants to go to college. But they do need an opportunity to get a skill to get ahead to get a job in the economy where the demand is,” Hoskin said “I believe firmly that we will leave some of our people behind if we don’t invest in career tech-type training whether it’s IT, whether it’s health care, whether it’s the building trades. If we don’t put more resources into that, we are leaving too many of our people behind.”

LINDSEY BARK/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. on Oct. 16 in Pryor announces the Career Readiness Act and how it will help Cherokees learn new trades so they can obtain skills for future jobs.

A training course for health care industry jobs at ICTC is being planned and other courses in IT and line work will be offered, according to a CN press release.

SEE CAREERS, 3

Cherokee Phoenix to give away genealogical report Those who subscribe or renew their annual subscriptions in November could win a free Cherokee family genealogy valued at $200.

BY STAFF REPORTS

WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Attorney and former justice for the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Dwight Birdwell speaks after being honored by the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in October 2017. Birdwell served in the Army during the Vietnam War.

Birdwell earned 2 Silver Stars serving in Vietnam

BY WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor OKLAHOMA CITY – Fifty-one years ago, Dwight Birdwell was serving in Vietnam as a gunner on a 52-ton, M-48 Patton Tank. The native of Bell, in Adair County, was a soldier with Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 4th Calvary, 25th Infantry Division.

Today, his memories from that time include “choking dust from the dry season and the never-ending rain in the wet season.” “(Also) being on ambush patrol and suffering in silence as mosquitoes and a small fly unique to that part of the world would bite my body through my boots and clothes all night long, not being able to slap them off for fear the NVA/VC (North Vietnamese Army/Viet Cong) would hear the sound of the slap; leeches sucking blood from my face, neck and arms; fearing the sounds of the night, not knowing if it was human or animal making them; hearing explosions, small or loud; not knowing for the first few seconds what my reaction should be; the extreme brutal savagery of combat that resulted in the wounding or death of our guys; the NVA/VC as well as civilians, farm animals, dogs and the total destruction of civilian property,” he said.

At 20 years old, Spc. Birdwell was efficient with the weapons provided to him and used them to save his fellow soldiers in two battles, in which he earned two Silver Stars. The Silver Star is the United States Armed Forces’ third-highest personal decoration for valor in combat.

The first one was earned on Jan. 31, 1968, when he survived a battle with NVA troops and VC guerillas near the Tan Son Nhut Airbase, southeast of Saigon, the capital of what was then South Vietnam.

SEE BIRDWELL, 2

COURTESY Spc. Dwight Birdwell in his Army dress uniform. He served in the Army for three years and earned two Silver Stars while serving in Vietnam.

For more WE SERVED profiles of Cherokee veterans, see the People section on Pages 12 & 13.

TAHLEQUAH – As part of Native American Heritage Month, the Cherokee Phoenix will give away a genealogical report to one lucky person who subscribes to or renews the news organization’s print newspaper and/or digital version in November.

Those who buy or renew their $15 annual subscriptions in November will be entered in a drawing for a free genealogical report on their Cherokee family by genealogist David Hampton.

Hampton, who researches the Cherokee genealogies for the cyclists of the Cherokee Nation’s annual “Remember the Removal” Bike Ride, is a CN citizen who has researched Cherokee genealogy for more than 55 years and has a database with more than 120,000 names and information pieces.

“My database is about 120,000 names. Not all are Cherokee, however. Many of those are spouses of Cherokees and their parents,” Hampton said. “On Cherokee lines we can trace back, in some cases, to the early 1700s. Most full-blood lines trace back only to the early 1800s or later 1700s.”

The genealogical report is valued at approximately $200, Hampton said.

For the print subscription, subscribers can pay with a credit/debit card by phone at 918-207-4975, online at cherokeephoenix.org or mail a check or money order to Cherokee Phoenix Subscriptions, P.O. Box 948, Tahlequah, OK. Subscribers who mail payments must include the name, address and CN citizenship ID number, if applicable to the person who will receive the subscription. The Cherokee Phoenix also accepts in-person subscription purchases in its office at 22210 S. Huckleberry Circle, Room 231 in Tahlequah.

To subscribe to the digital version, go to cherokeephoenix.org and click on the current issue near the top of the page. Then click the “BUY 0.75 USD” button. Then click the box inside the “Get more. Pay less” box on the right side of the page and complete the needed information.

For the $15 subscription fee, subscribers get 24 issues.

Along with paid subscriptions, those who take advantage of the Cherokee Phoenix’s Elder/Veterans or At-Large subscriptions funds will also be entered to win.

The Elder/Veterans Fund provides free annual subscriptions to CN citizens who are 65 or older, as well as those who are military veterans or active duty personnel.

The At-Large Fund provides free annual subscriptions to CN citizens living outside of the tribe’s jurisdiction in northeast Oklahoma. There are no age requirements for this fund.

The two subscription funds are on a first-come, firstserved basis while funding lasts. For more information, call BJ Frogg at 918-207-4975 or email billy-frogg@cherokee.org.

The winner will be announced during a Facebook live drawing on Dec. 2.

Those who subscribe or renew annual subscriptions of the Cherokee Phoenix, either print or digital, in November will be eligible to win a Cherokee genealogical report by genealogist David Hampton. Annual subscriptions are $15.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • NOVEMBER 1, 2019

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019

BIRDWELL: The Cherokee Nation citizen was also awarded the Bronze Star from front page Troop C was responsible for securing the main supply route between Saigon and Tay Ninh in South Vietnam.

Birdwell and his unit were outside Saigon at Cu Chi, resting after weeks of field operations. At dawn and without warning, an estimated 70,000 VC guerillas and NVA soldiers attacked major cities in South Vietnam.

Their main target was Saigon. Another target was the American command center at Tan Son Nhut.

Troop C moved from Cu Chi to take up positions along Highway 1 on the west side of the airbase, heading off any withdrawing enemy soldiers attacking the base. The column of three M48 tanks and 10 armored personnel carriers or APCs made it to the blacktopped highway.

Unknowingly, the column, numbering less than 100 men, pulled onto the highway just as a Vietnamese force numbering approximately 1,000 to 2,400 men prepared to attack the air base. As the column passed huts that paralleled the highway to the west, rocket-propelled grenades were fired from the huts knocking out the lead tank and three APCs. Birdwell’s tank, assigned the number C-35, was equipped with a .50-caliber machine gun and a 90mm main gun. Birdwell, the gunner in the second tank, and his commander didn’t immediately realize what had taken place. When the tank commander, Sgt. Ron Breeden, finally returned fire and shot into the huts, a return barrage of fire seriously wounded him.

“Breeden who was standing in the tank commander’s hatch…was shot in the face and fell into C-35. Birdwell immediately jumped into C-35 and then emerged from the vehicle, and while completely exposing his body to the enemy fusillade, lifted Breeden’s wounded body upwards and then out of the tank, all the while ignoring the heavy automatic and small arms fire being directed at him,” reads a statement by Staff Sgt. Gary D. Brewer, who took part in the battle.

After carrying his commander safely to the ditch for medical attention, Birdwell climbed on the tank, put on the commander’s helmet and returned fire with the main 90mm gun and.50-caliber machine gun. RPG rounds were shot at the tank but missed, Birdwell later recalled. His firing kept the enemy at bay and the tank sheltered the more vulnerable APCs behind it.

“Birdwell continued firing at the enemy forces, and his sustained, intense firing was instrumental in saving several of his fellow soldiers from serious injury or possible death,” reads Brewer’s statement.

During the mayhem, Birdwell realized that no one was firing from the vehicles ahead of him. He also realized that some were on fire and enemy soldiers had clambered atop one of the disabled APCs. “They were monkeying with the M60s (machine guns).

I couldn’t believe it. I fired on them with the .50-cal., and hit about half of them. The burst really spread them out,” said Birdwell. “Saving the guys in my unit was a primary concern. I knew if I did not do it, no one else would or could, so it was up to me. A secondary concern was my background from Bell and not letting down my Cherokee heritage, plus I did not want to disappoint Lt. Col. Glenn Otis, our unit commander who was watching from above in his helicopter. He was shot down four times that day. I was hoping that I would not be taken

COURTESY A photo taken of Army Spc. Dwight Birdwell, of Bell, while serving in Vietnam. Birdwell earned two Silver Stars for his service in the war. out by enemy fire, as it was very intense. If I fell, I knew the enemy would overrun our position and slaughter the survivors. A constant distraction was the NVA/VC fire flying by my head and body – that is not a pleasant sound!”

Birdwell’s tank became the center of Troop C’s survival. Troops who had crawled into the ditch found shelter behind it, and because of his constant machine-gun fire and cannon fire, the enemy couldn’t overrun the column.

“Birdwell was part of that 10 percent that are good soldiers and understands fighting,” said fellow soldier Albert Porter, who fought alongside Birdwell that day.

Birdwell eventually used all 64 90mm rounds and all the .50-caliber ammunition. A medic with the troop, Oliver R. Jones, recalled when Lt. Col. Otis had to make a crash landing behind Birdwell’s tank, Birdwell jumped off of his tank, and under heavy enemy fire, ran to the helicopter and grabbed two M-60 machine guns and several boxes of ammunition. He gave one of the guns to a fellow soldier and took the other one to the top of his tank and began firing at the enemy.

“Birdwell continued firing the M-60 until it was hit by enemy fire, blowing it into pieces and away from his hands, wounding him in the face, neck, arms and chest.

Of all the enemy fire directed at Birdwell, it is amazing that he was not killed or more seriously wounded,” reads Jones’s statement.

Troop C eventually received artillery, ground and air support and evacuated the wounded.

Otis, later Gen. Otis, recommended Birdwell for the Medal of Honor for his actions on Jan. 31, 1968, but it was not awarded.

“Someone had to save those trapped friends.”

Birdwell earned a second Silver Star as the result of enemy engagement on July 4, 1968. He had moved up in rank and was now a tank commander. His tank was at the end of a column of APCs and two other tanks moving through the An Duc village, which was occupied by NVA sympathizers.

Upon entering the village, the column was attacked

and had to retreat. After the unit regrouped, it was discovered an APC had been disabled by enemy fire and left in the village along with its crew. Birdwell and his tank crew returned to the village to rescue stranded soldiers.

“In the darkness of July 4, 1968, I knew it was a long shot for me and my crew to survive, but someone had to save those trapped friends. So we had no choice. We had to save them or turn our backs on our fellow GIs. So we volunteered and charged into the village blasting away,” he said. “We had been told there was one disabled vehicle, so when we reached it, we loaded the crew on board, blasted our way out, and reached our unit, to the joy and excitement of everyone. Then, a few moments later, it was discovered another vehicle, disabled by NVA/VC fire, and its crew was in the village. So the request to me was, ‘Are you up to going in again C-36?’ So we went back in a second time, blasting away, under heavy enemy fire, and we rescued the crew of the second vehicle.

“My thoughts both times was that it was going to take a miracle from God for us to survive the enemy fire from the NVA/VC forces occupying and surrounding the village. But, when it was over, it was obvious we had been blessed by a miracle, as we all survived despite the intense enemy fire.”

Birdwell was honorably discharged in December 1968 after serving nearly three years in the Army. He was also awarded a Bronze Star, for meritorious service.

Also, for his bravery and service, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in October 2017.

With the help of author Keith William Nolan, Birdwell told about his service in Vietnam in a 1997 book, “A Hundred Miles of Bad Road: An Armored Cavalryman in Vietnam, 1967-68.” He said he has mixed emotions about writing the book. Looking at it from the standpoint of the men he served with who were killed in combat, he said their families have gained an understanding about the conditions their loved ones served in, sometimes more details about how they died and the “nature of the relationships they had with other members of the unit.”

“It was my duty to serve, and I satisfied that obligation. Our goal in Vietnam was valid, but the leadership failed to follow through and get the job done. I am proud of my service, and I will carry that pride to my grave,” he said.

He said he’s glad that today Vietnam veterans receive more respect than they did when they returned home from the war.

“When I came home, Vietnam veterans were not respected by many. Now respect for those who served is almost universal. I appreciate the change in attitude,” he said.

At 71, he practices law for Birdwell & Associates in Oklahoma City, but would like to come back home to Bell someday. “My wife, Virginia, is a Cherokee lady from Peavine, an area north of Stilwell. We have two children, Stephanie and Ed. Stephanie is married to Spike Bighorn, a Sioux gentleman from the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, and together they have two children, Willow and Raven. My son Ed works with me and lives in Norman.”

He also served on the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court for 12 years from 1987-99. He said the Army gave him a sense of understanding what it takes to get a job done and the “commitment required to achieve a goal.”

ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

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TOTA, NPS dedicate exhibits in Paducah Two National Park Service wayside exhibits give info about the water route used during the removal of tribes.

BY WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor

ᎾᎢ WILL CHAVEZ ᎠᎵᏍᏕᎵᏍᎩ ᏗᎦᎴᏴᏗᏍᎩ

PADUCAH, Ky. – Cherokee people used various routes to reach Indian Territory after they were forcibly removed from their southeastern homelands in 1838.

One route used the Tennessee River from Alabama and Tennessee to reach the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky, and then the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois, and finally the Arkansas River that took Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) people west toward Little Rock and then Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.

Members of the nine chapters of the Trail of Tears Association gathered on the bank of the Ohio River in Paducah on a cold, rainy evening on Oct. 11 to dedicate two National Park Service wayside exhibits that provide information about the route used during the removals.

The ceremony was especially meaningful for National TOTA President Jack Baker because one of his Cherokee ancestors was on one of the boats that stopped in Paducah for supplies in 1838.

“When the Cherokees were first rounded up, three detachments were sent west right away, and they came by water, by here,” he said. “One of my ancestors was in one of the first detachments to come through here.

Even before that, other Cherokees had come through here during the removals, so this is a special site. They stopped here for provisions. Many of them had been forced out with virtually nothing except what they were wearing and not allowed to gather any provisions.”

He said when the detachments came by Paducah it was a hot, dry summer with drought conditions.

“The first one (steamboat) made it all the way to Indian Territory. The other two ran aground on the other side of Little Rock and the people had to walk the rest of the way to Indian Territory. In that last detachment, about 450 arrived in the Cherokee Nation, but there were 147 deaths in that one detachment,” he said. “Thank you for remembering this part of our Cherokee history and helping us to interpret it.”

Baker said he appreciated the city of Paducah, Kentucky TOTA Chapter President Alice Murphee, the Kentucky TOTA Chapter and the NPS for their work in getting the exhibits placed.

Murphee said she’s prioritized getting the rivers in western Kentucky and southern Illinois marked with wayside exhibits.

“It has been three years that we have been working on these wayside exhibits for the riverfront site where six Cherokee steamboats came in and two (Muscogee) Creek (steamboats) came in during the Cherokee removals,” she said.

Aaron Mahr, NPS National Trails Office superintendent, also attended the Oct. 11 ceremony and said he is proud of the partnerships it took to place the exhibits in Paducah in such a prominent place next to the river. He said it’s a “vital story” that needed to be told in Paducah to better understand the removal of Cherokee and Creek people.

Mahr also thanked NPS Interpretive Specialist Carol Clark, who helped design the exhibits and get them placed.

“It’s a really wonderful thing when people come together to do something like this to remember the removal and commemorate the removal, and make this opportunity available for the public to come out here and learn about the history,” he said. “These (exhibits) are particularly special here. You can come here and learn about the history in Paducah, which is so important, but just with these two small exhibits it provides you with a sense of the entire trail. So, when you come here you get that sense of knowing about the places here, but you also get the feeling you can travel along the river and visit other sites along the trail and make your way either east or west. You get a site identity here, but you also get a context of the entire trail.”

PADUCAH, Ky.– ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎢᏧᏓᎴᏅᏓ ᏓᏁᎬᎢ ᎥᎿ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᏍᏛᎢ ᏭᏂᎷᎯᏍᏗᎢ ᏥᎨᎦᏬᎥᏗᏍᎬᎢ ᏙᏧᏁᏅᏒᎢ ᎤᎦᏅᏮᎢ-ᎧᎸᎬᎢ ᎢᏗᏜ ᎾᎯᏳᎢ 1838 ᏥᎨᏒᎢ. ᏌᏊᏃ ᏗᏜ ᏫᎦᎶᎯᏍᏗᎢ ᏔᏅᏏ ᎡᏉᏂ ᎤᏪᏴᎢ ᎡᎳᏊᎻ ᎠᎴ ᏔᏅᏏ ᎠᎴ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏭᏂᎷᎯᏍᏗᎢ ᎣᎭᏲ ᎡᏉᏂ ᎤᏪᏴᎢ ᎥᎿ ᏗᎨᏒᎢ Paducah, ᎩᏅᏛᎩ, ᎠᎴ ᎾᏍᎩᏊ ᎧᏍᎩᏲᎢ ᎡᏉᏂ ᎤᏪᏴᎢ ᎥᎿ Cairo, ᎢᎵᏃᏏ, ᎠᎴᏃ ᎤᎵᏍᏆᏟᏗ ᏚᏯᏓᏛᎢ ᎡᏉᏂ ᎤᏪᏴᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏫᏗᎨᎦᏘᏅᏍᏔᏅᎢ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᎴ ᎠᏂᎫᏌ ᏭᏕᎵᎬᎢ ᏗᏜ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏅᏯ ᏧᎾᏍᏗᎪᎢ ᏗᎨᏒᎢ ᎠᎴ ᏅᏊ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᏍᏛᎢ, ᎾᏊᏥᎩ ᎣᎦᎳᎰᎹ. ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᏐᏁᎳ ᎢᏳᏂᏨᎢ ᎠᏁᎳ Trail of Tears Association ᎤᎾᏓᏟᏌᎲᎢ ᎥᎿ ᎣᎭᏲ ᎡᏉᏂ ᎤᏬᏝᎥᎢ ᎥᎿ Paducah ᎤᏴᏟᎢ, ᎤᏒᎯᏰᏱ ᎠᎦᏍᎩ ᏚᏂᏃᏗ.11 ᏥᎧᎸᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎬᏂᎨᏒᎢ ᎢᏧᏅᏁᏗᎢ ᏔᎵᎭ National Park Service ᎬᏂᎨᏒᎢ ᎾᏅᏁᎲᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎠᎵᏍᎪᏟᏗᎭ ᎬᏕᎳᎰᎯᏍᏗ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᏄᏍᏗᏓᏅᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏧᏂᎶᏒᎢ ᎾᎯᏳ ᏥᎨᏥᎧᎲᏍᎬᎢ. ᎾᏍᎩ ᏓᎾᏠᏍᎬᎢ ᎢᎦᏃ ᎤᎵᏍᎨᏓ ᎤᏰᎸᏒᎢ Ꮎ National TOTA Jack Backer ᏂᏗᎦᎵᏍᏙᏗᎭ ᏌᏉ ᎤᎵᏏ ᎤᏣᎡᎢ ᎥᎿ Paducah ᎤᏂᏔᎳᏕᎢ ᏥᏳᎢ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎤᏅᏔᏂᏓᏍᏗ ᎤᏂᎳᎴᎢ ᎥᎿ ᎾᎯᏳᎢ 1838 ᎤᏕᏘᏴᏌᏗᏒᎢ. “ᎾᎯᏳᏃ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᏥᎨᏥᏟᏌᏅᎢ, ᏦᎢ ᎢᏳᎾᏓᎴᎢ ᎩᎳᏫᏴ ᎤᏕᎵᎬᎢ ᏂᎨᎬᏅᏔᏅᎢ, ᎠᎴ ᎠᎹᏱ ᏗᏜ ᏧᏂᎶᏎᎢ, ᎠᎭᏂ ᎤᏂᎶᏎᎢ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ. “ᏌᏉᏃ ᎠᎩᎵᏏ ᏥᏧᎾᏂᎩᏎᎢ ᎢᎬᏱᏱ ᎤᏂᎶᏎᎢ ᎠᎭᏂ. ᎠᏎᏍᎩᏂ, ᎠᏂᏐᎢ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏂᎶᏎᎢ ᎠᎭᏂ ᏥᏗᎨᎦᏂᎩᏍᏗᎲᎢ, ᎠᎭᏂᏃ ᎦᎸᏉᏗ ᎤᏙᏢᏒᎢ. ᎠᎭᏂ ᎤᎾᎴᏫᏍᏔᏁᎢ ᎤᎾᎵᏍᏓᏰᏗ ᎤᏂᏲᎲᎢ. ᎤᏂᎪᏗᏃ ᎤᎾᏂᎩᏎᎢ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎾᏂᏰᎲᎾ ᏚᎾᏄᏮᏊ ᏱᎦᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎥᏝ ᏱᎨᎦᎵᏍᎪᏟᏓᏁᎴᎢ ᎤᎾᎵᏍᏓᏰᏗ ᎤᏂᏟᏐᏗᎢ.” ᎢᎧᏃᎮᏍᎬᎢ ᎾᎯᏳᎢ ᏥᎨᏒᎢ ᎤᏂᎷᏣ ᎠᎭᏂ Paducah ᎤᏗᏞᎩᏃ ᎨᏒᎢ, ᎤᎧᏲᏗ ᎨᏒᎢ ᎾᎯᏳ ᎪᎩ ᎠᎹ ᏕᎦᎶᏍᎨᎢ. “ᎾᏍᎩ ᎢᎬᏱᎢ (ᎪᏗ ᎪᏢᎯ ᏥᏳᎢ) ᎤᏂᎷᏤᎢ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᏍᏛᎢ. ᏔᎵᎭᏃ ᎠᎹ ᏕᎦᎶᏍᎬᎢ ᎤᏂᏄᎸᏅᎢ ᎤᎾᏂᎩᏍᏗᎢ ᏅᏯ ᏧᎾᏍᏗᎪᎢ ᎤᏟᏗᏜ ᏧᏂᎷᏤᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎠᏂᏐᎢ ᏴᏫ ᎡᎳᏗ ᏧᎾᏂᎩᏎᎢ ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᏍᏛᎢ ᎤᏂᎷᏤᎢ. ᎣᏂᏃ ᎤᏂᎷᏤᎢ, 450 ᎢᏯᏂᎢ ᎤᏂᎷᏤᎢ ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ, ᎠᏎᏍᎩᏂ 147 ᎢᏯᏂᎢ ᏚᏂᏲᎱᏎᎢ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ. “ᏩᏙ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎭᏅᏓᏗᏍᎬᎢ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᏂᎶᏒᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎢᏍᎩᏍᏕᎵᏍᎬᎢ ᎠᏁᏟᏔᏅᎢ.”

Baker ᎢᎧᏃᎮᏍᎬᎢ ᎠᎵᎮᎵᎬᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ Paducah ᎤᏂᏚᎲᎢ, ᎩᏛᎩᎢ TOTA ᎤᎾᏙᏢᏒᎢ ᏄᎬᏫᏳᏒᎢ Alice Murphee, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎩᏛᎩᎢ TOTA ᎤᎾᏙᏢᏒᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎾᏍᎩ NSP ᏚᏂᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎸᎢ ᎬᏂᎨᏒᎢ ᏄᏅᏁᎸᎢ. Murphee ᎢᎧᏃᎮᏍᎬᎢ ᏚᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎸᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎡᏉᏂ ᎥᎿ ᏭᏕᎵᎬᎢ ᎩᏛᎩᎢ ᏗᏜ ᎠᎴ ᎤᎦᏅᏮᎢ ᏗᏜ ᎢᎵᏃᏏ ᏚᏂᎧᏅᎢ ᏅᏃᎱᏟᏗ ᎬᏂᎨᏒᎢ ᏱᏗᎬᏁᎯ. “ᏦᎢᏃ ᎾᏕᏱ ᏂᏙᎩᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎰᎢ ᎯᎾ ᎬᏂᎨᏒᎢ ᏱᏗᎬᏁᎯ ᏙᏥᎧᎲᏍᎬᎢ ᎡᏉᏄᏟᏗ ᏚᏙᏢᏒᎢ ᎥᎿᏃ ᏑᏓᎵ ᏣᎳᎩ ᏗᎪᏗ ᏗᎪᏢᎯ ᏥᏳᎢ ᎤᏂᎷᏨ ᎠᎴ ᏔᎵᎭ (mvsgogi) ᎠᏂᎫᏌ (ᏗᎪᏗ ᏗᎪᏢᎯ ᏥᏳᎢ) ᏚᏔᎳᏗᏨᎢ ᎾᎯᏳ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᏥᎨᎦᏬᎣᏅᏗᏍᎬᎢ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ.

Aaron Mahr, NSP National Trails Office ᎠᏍᎦᏰᎬᏍᏗ, ᎠᎴᎾᏍᏊ ᎤᏪᎵᏗᏙᎸᎢ ᎾᎯᏳᎢ ᏚᏂᏃᏗ.11 ᏥᎨᏒᎢ ᏓᎾᏠᏍᎬᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏃᎮᏞᎢ ᎠᎵᎮᎵᎬᎢ ᏚᎾᎵᎪᏒᎢ ᎬᏂᎨᏒᎢ ᎾᏅᏁᎵᏙᎲᎢ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎥᎿ Paducah ᎤᎵᏍᎨᏓ ᎤᏙᏢᏒᎢ ᎥᎿ ᎡᏉᏄᏟᏗ ᎾᎥᎢ. ᎢᎧᏃᎮᏍᎬᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ “ᎤᏟᏂᎩᏓ ᎧᏃᎮᏢᏅᎢ” ᎠᏎᎢ ᎧᏃᎮᏗ ᎨᏒᎢ ᎥᎿ Paducah ᏓᏤᏢᎢ ᎪᏟᏍᏗ ᏗᎨᏥᎢᎸᏍᏔᏅᎢ ᎠᏂᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᎴ ᎠᏂᎫᏌ.

Mahr ᎠᎴᏍᏊ ᏓᎵᎮᎵᏤᎲᎢ NPS ᎠᏁᏟᏗᏍᎩ Carol Clark, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᎵᏍᏕᎸᎭ ᎬᏂᎨᏒᎢ ᎾᏁᎲᎢ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏚᏂᎧᏅᎢ. “ᎢᎦᏃ ᎣᏍᏓ ᎾᎯᏳᎢ ᏴᏫ ᏱᏚᎾᎵᏍᏕᎸᎭ ᎠᎾᏅᏓᏗᏍᎬᎢ ᏗᎨᏥᎢᎸᏍᏔᏅᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎠᏂᏃᎮᏍᎬᎢ ᏗᎨᏥᎢᎸᏍᏔᏅᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎠᎾᏛᏅᎢᏍᏗᏍᎬᎢ ᏴᏫ ᎤᏂᎷᎯᏍᏗᎢ ᎤᏂᎪᏩᏛᏗᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎤᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗᎢ ᎤᏪᏘ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᏅᏧᎵᏍᏔᏅᏒᎢ ᎥᎿ Paducah, ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᏙᏳᎢ ᎤᎵᏍᎨᏓ, ᎠᏎᏍᎩ ᎯᎠ ᏔᎵᎭ ᎤᎾᏛᏅᎢᏍᏔᏅᎢ ᏗᎬᎪᏩᏛᏗ ᎠᎵᏍᎪᏟᏗᎭ ᏄᏍᏛᎢ ᏛᎨᏥᎢᎸᏍᏔᏅᎢ. ᎠᎭᏂ ᏱᏣᎷᏣ ᎠᏕᎶᎰᎯᏍᏗ ᏄᏍᏗᏓᏅᎢ, ᎠᏓᏅᏖᏗ ᎨᏒ ᎡᎵᏊ ᏰᏓ ᎡᏉᏄᏟᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏫᏓᏩᏛᎯᏓᏍᏗ ᏄᏓᎴᎢ ᏙᏧᏙᏢᎭ ᎦᏅᏅᎢ ᎠᏍᏛ ᎠᎴ ᎢᏧᎳ ᏗᎬᎦᏘ ᎧᎸᎬᎢ ᎠᎴᏱᎩ ᎤᏕᎵᎬ. ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᎥᎪᏟᎩ ᏂᎦᎵᏍᏗᎰᎢ ᏄᏍᏗᏓᏅᎢ ᎠᎭᏂ, ᎠᏎᏍᎩᏂ ᎠᏕᎶᎰᎯᏍᏗ ᏂᎦᎵᏍᏗᎲᎢ ᏂᎦᏅᎯᏒᎢ ᎦᏅᏅᎢ.” – TRANSLATED BY DAVID CRAWLER

PHOTOS BY WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Paducah, Kentucky, was used during the forced removal of Cherokee people as a supply stop as the Cherokee people switched from the Tennessee River to the Ohio River on their way to the nearby Mississippi River.

Kentucky Trail of Tears Association Chapter President Alice Murphee, left, and National Trail of Tears Association President Jack Baker listen to Superintendent of the National Park Service National Trails Office Aaron Mahr speak during an Oct. 11 ceremony dedicating two NPS wayside exhibits on the bank of the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky.

One removal route used by Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) people to reach Indian Territory was a water route that used the Tennessee River from Alabama and Tennessee to reach the Ohio River in Paducah, Kentucky, and then the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois, and finally the Arkansas River that took Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) people west toward Little Rock and then Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.

CAREERS: In FY2019, the tribe served 687 students in training programs from front page “I truly believe that what is being done here today will really make a landmark in Cherokee Nation, because I know for a fact that there are a lot of people out there that wouldn’t be working today were it not for the career tech centers and the work that we’ve done through our department,” Kelley said.

In fiscal year 2019, Career Services served 687 students in short-term customized training programs, in two-year vocational training programs or through tribal economic development job training, the CN press release states.

CN citizen Charles Burrow is a trade class student

training through Career Services at NTC. “I used to be a boiler maker. I fell on hard times, and I can’t do that kind of work anymore, so I’m trying to re-train. I’m looking into being an electrician when I’m done with these classes,” he said.

The first facet of the Career Readiness Act ties to the tribe’s $30 million Housing Jobs and Sustainable Communities Act of 2019. That act proposes to reduce a backlog of requests for housing repairs. According to CN officials, three-quarters of the $30 million will go toward renovating homes with $7.5 million going to remodeling or installing energy efficient measures – including solar panels – on non-residential structures, particularly trib-

al community centers.

“What we’re trying to do is give these people some information about general construction so that when we start the bidding process for these contractors to get people, we’ll have general laborers that understand how to use a tape measure, how to use a leveler, how to masonry work or basic electrical,” Kelley said.

She added that the Career Readiness Act may provide a better career path for CN citizens because the training programs make it free or affordable for participants.

“We look forward to partnering with our area career technology centers and vocational schools for these short, customized training programs,” she said.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • NOVEMBER 1, 2019

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019

OPINION • ᏃᎵᏍᎬ

ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

5

Cherokee Phoenix NOVEMBER 1, 2019 Volume 43, No. 21

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WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX At the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C., statues of infantrymen walk in a V formation out of woods into an open field. For three Cherokee veterans who visited the memorial earlier this year, the statues were a “moving” symbol of the war they fought in during the early 1950s.

Tribe makes historic $16M language investment

BY CHUCK HOSKIN JR. Principal Chief

Recently, we announced a historic $16 million investment to expand Cherokee Nation’s language initiatives. It is the largest infusion of resources in the history of the Cherokee Nation to preserve and revitalize the Cherokee language. Sadly, our language has reached such a critical point that we must make this kind of investment a priority in order to keep it alive.

Right now, there are only an estimated 2,000 first-language Cherokee speakers left. We recently hosted a gathering of Cherokee speakers in Tahlequah, in conjunction with the United Nation’s initiative to preserve indigenous languages worldwide. It marked the largest gathering of fluent Cherokee speakers in more than a century.

This language investment is part of the new Durbin Feeling Cherokee Language Preservation Act, and the language center it establishes will honor him in perpetuity. Durbin Feeling is a master Cherokee linguist who has single-handedly advanced our language more than anyone since Sequoyah himself. Durbin has made the Cherokee language his life’s work, devoting his

time, energy and knowledge to the continuation of our spoken and written language. He has authored numerous books on the subject, including the most comprehensive Cherokee dictionary available, has developed digital syllabaries and taught countless community language courses. For his lifetime body of work with our language, he was named a Cherokee National Treasure in 2011.

For the first time, under this act, all of our language programs – the Cherokee Immersion Charter School, the translation department and the Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program – will share common space at the Durbin Feeling Language Center.

The center will be located just up the hill from our Tribal Complex, in the former home of Cherokee Casino Tahlequah, which has been transitioned from Cherokee Nation Businesses to our tribal government. After we execute a planned $5 million expansion and modernization of the property, we have pledged another $1.5 million per year for the next five years for language programs for children and adults.

CLMAP is an adult immersion program that successfully pairs novice language learners with master-level fluent Cherokee speakers 40 hours per week. Under this plan, the program will quadruple in size, allowing many more Cherokees the opportunity to

participate. We have already seen the endeavor produce new Cherokee speakers and know that it is a roadmap to successful language revitalization for adults.

A generation or two ago, our people learned Cherokee at home through their elders and other family members. They were brought up learning Cherokee.

Times have changed greatly, and our reality is quite different today in 2019.

It’s important to me for our language to thrive, so that long after I am gone, the next generations in my family and yours will still be able to walk into a room and hear Cherokee spoken. Our language is the glue that holds our culture together. It creates a feeling of unity and hope among our people. Other tribes have already lost their living speakers. If we do not take action today, this could happen to us as well. As Cherokees, none of us want that.

If our language disappears, future generations of CN citizens will not care how big our hospitals were. They will not care how impressive our casinos were and may not even care who the chief was. What they will care about, though, is why the CN did not do more to save the Cherokee language.

This is something we cannot falter on; our language is intertwined with our identity as a people. We must continue to act boldly and quickly to preserve the Cherokee language before it is too late.

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

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

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

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

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

without contact information will not be published.

• Submissions shall be received by the 15th of the month prior to the month of publication. Submissions shall not be published anonymously.

Submissions will be attributed by author’s full name and city of residence.

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

• Letters shall not exceed 350 words.

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

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

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • NOVEMBER 1, 2019

News • ᏗᏕᏃᏣᎸᏍᎩ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019

In Oklahoma, governor tests power of tribal gambling

Dozens of casinos generate more than $2 billion a year, with $139 million going to the state’s coffers in 2018.

ADA (AP) – Oklahoma’s history is so deeply intertwined with the 39 Native American tribes located there that the state’s creation in 1907 was celebrated with a symbolic wedding ceremony between the Indian and Oklahoma territories.

The relationship between Oklahoma and the tribes has sometimes been contentious, but one of its undisputed successes has been a 15-year-old agreement to expand gambling in the state.

Since the tribes got the exclusive right to open casinos, Native American gambling has become a bigger economic factor in Oklahoma than in any other state except California. Dozens of casinos, including several glittering Las Vegas-scale complexes, generate more than $2 billion a year, with $139 million going to the state’s coffers in 2018.

But gambling money has changed more than the tribes’ bank accounts. It has greatly increased their political muscle, as the state’s new Republican governor recently discovered. After a clash with tribal leaders, Gov. Kevin Stitt and political supporters are facing a test of tribal power that now extends well beyond the state’s Native American population into the economy of many Oklahoma towns.

The dispute flared up suddenly when Stitt, a businessman who won election in 2018, announced in an op-ed piece plans to renegotiate the state’s share of casino revenue, which now ranges from 4% to 10% and funds mostly schools. Stunned, the tribes unleashed a multimillion-dollar advertising and political offensive to kill the idea.

The campaign, which took many political leaders by surprise, underscored a new reality in a place once ruled primarily by the oil and gas industry, but where tribal money now buys firetrucks, pays for school trips, floats rural economies and supports nearly 100,000 jobs statewide.

“The tribes are the best friend the state of Oklahoma has right now,” said Rep. Matt Meredith, whose district in eastern Oklahoma is home to the Cherokee Nation, the largest tribe in the U.S. “The last thing you want to do with your best friend is get in a legal battle with them.”

How the dispute will be resolved is unclear. The governor, who is a Cherokee Nation citizen, insists the current revenue agreement expires Jan. 1, while the tribes say it automatically renews. The state has hired a national law firm to negotiate with Native American leaders, who are calling on support from their wide network of local allies.

The governor and Attorney General Mike Hunter both declined to discuss the talks because of the “dynamic and delicate nature” of the matter, said Alex Gerszewski, spokesman for the state attorney general’s office.

For years Native American tribes have struggled to improve their economic position in what was once Indi-

PHOTOS BY SUE OGROCKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS Players play at poker tables on July 23 in the casino at the WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville. For the past 15 years, casino gambling has been a financial boon for Oklahoma and many of the Native American tribes located there.

Slot machine players are silhouetted on the floor of the casino at the WinStar World Casino and Resort in Thackerville. Since the tribes got the exclusive right to open casinos, Native American gambling has become a bigger economic factor in Oklahoma than in any other state except California.

an Territory. The federal government resettled dozens of tribes in this part of the nation’s midsection after expelling them from other regions in the 19th century, but then gradually whittled away at the tribes’ communal property here to make way for white settlement and eventual statehood. In the past century, the tribes in Oklahoma used their remaining assets to operate businesses and provide clinics, housing and other services for their citizens.

But the financial picture, both for the tribes and the state, changed dramatically after Oklahoma voters approved casino gambling in 2004 and the tribes received an exclusive concession. The overall economic impact on Oklahoma has amounted to $9.2 billion annually, according to a 2019 study.

Massive resort-style hotel casinos that feature a parade of major entertainment acts have popped up in large cities – the Tulsa area alone has a half dozen – and along the state’s border with Texas, which only has limited gambling and provides a wealthy flow of customers.

At the first exit north of the Red River lies the Winstar World Casino and Resort, with the largest gambling floor in the nation, surpassing those on the Las Vegas strip. Owned by the Chicakasaw Nation, it has 1,400 rooms in three hotel towers, two 18-hole championship golf courses, shops and more than a dozen restaurants.

On the state’s northeastern border with Kansas and Missouri lies the Downstream Casino Resort, owned by the 3,240-citizen Quapaw Nation. Tribal leaders started a cattle operation to supply food for the casino, along with a brewery and other businesses.

“Before gaming we had less than 40 employees, and today we employ close to 2,000 people all in,” said the tribe’s chairman, John Berrey.

Even small towns in rural areas have their own mini-casinos, and the money filters through counties that had been declining economically.

In downtown Sulphur, 90 minutes south of Oklahoma City, the Chickasaw Nation built a four-story hotel and spa that hosts prom night for half a dozen area high schools. A new state-of-the art, 72-bed medical facility in

Ada employs 1,600 people.

The benefits have come with social ills, including cases of problem gambling, embezzlement and family disruption that have prompted continued opposition from some community groups and social conservatives.

But the economic boost has lifted spirits where there long had been hardship, said Bob Blackburn, the Oklahoma Historical Society director and author of a book on the Cherokee Nation. He cited a growing sense of “self-determination, self-reliance.”

Stitt has said the state’s share of tribes’ casino revenue was “fair to help introduce the gaming industry” years ago but that today, “Oklahoma’s fees are the lowest in the nation.”

But available data from the 24 states with Native American gambling shows a wide variance. A 2015 federal analysis of 276 tribal compacts shows Oklahoma’s 6% average revenue share close to the national median. More than 100 tribes pay no fees while about 120 pay more than 10%. About a dozen pay between 20% and 25%. Oklahoma’s 4% to 10% revenue share varies depending on the type of game.

In addition to the blast of television and social media ads emphasizing the casinos’ economic importance, the tribes have spent to influence policy makers. Tribes doled out more than $1.1 million during the last two election cycles to state candidates from both parties.

The yearly legislative retreats for House Republicans and Democrats were held this year at tribal resorts.

Since Stitt’s election in 2018 with 54% of the vote, the majority Republican legislature has been supportive of his initiatives, including giving him expanded powers to appoint heads of state agencies. But many wonder whether even a popular Republican governor now has the clout to challenge the tribes in Oklahoma.

“The tribes are so influential now, and they’ve ramped it up a lot,” said Rep. Lewis Moore, a Republican from the Oklahoma City area. “And the way they’re going to do that is through their lobbyists. And if you personally have a business or live in these tribal areas, you’re going to get even more pressure.”

CHRIS PIZZELLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS Wes Studi accepts an honorary award at the Governors Awards on Oct. 27 at the Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles. He is the first Native American actor to get an Oscar and only the second Indigenous person to get one. A Cree songwriter won one in 1982 for best song.

Studi makes Oscars history for Native American actors

LOS ANGELES (AP) – When Cherokee actor Wes Studi was thinking about moving to Los Angeles to take a shot at being an actor in the 1980s, he asked a friend if it was a good idea. The friend said “why not? There aren’t many Native American actors.”

Instead of a deterrent, Studi took that as a plus. “I thought, ‘OK, so not a whole lot of competition then,’” Studi, 71, said laughing. “I thought why not take a leap and I did. And things turned out well.”

Although there was no way he could have known it at the time, the Oklahoma native came at the perfect time too. Hollywood had started to move beyond its past of casting white actors for Indigenous roles and looking for more authenticity in casting. Some of his first films included “Dances With Wolves,” ‘‘The Last of the Mohicans” and “Geronimo: An American Legend” that would lead to a fruitful 30-year career that’s still active.

On Oct. 27, Studi made history as the second ever Native American Oscar recipient at the 11th annual Governors Awards, alongside fellow honorary Oscar honorees David Lynch and Lina Wertmüller. In 1982, Cree musician Buffy Sainte-Marie, who was born in Canada, won an Oscar for co-writing the music to best song winner “Up Where We Belong.”

“I feel very honored about it,” he said on a recent phone call from Santa Fe, New Mexico, which he has called home for the past 26 years. He just feels more comfortable living outside of Los Angeles.

Studi came to acting somewhat late in life. He went to agriculture school, served in the Oklahoma National Guard and even went to Vietnam before dabbling in theater and local educational television.

“I had a life before getting into this business. A non-acting life,” Studi said.

“And it turns out that life has served me well. I can connect with characters I play

simply by referencing real life. It’s been very helpful over the years to have experienced life outside of entertainment.”

When he arrived in Los Angeles, a now defunct organization called the American Indian Registry helped him get his start.

The group promoted Native American actors and made opportunities for them to meet agents. It led to Studi securing representation and booking Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning “Dances With Wolves,” which then put him on Michael Mann’s radar for what would be his most memorable role to date: Magua in “The Last of the Mohicans.”

“I thank Michael Mann for having an open mind in terms of expanding the character of Magua to the point that he was sort of an antihero, but he had his qualities. He had his reasons for doing what he was doing,” he said. “He and the writer were open to that were creating more of a three-dimensional character.”

Mann would then go on to cast Studi again in “Heat” as a Los Angeles police detective – a somewhat rare opportunity for Studi to play a character who wasn’t primarily defined by his ethnicity.

“It can be frustrating,” Studi said. “I can understand the idea of wanting to get away from leathers and feathers. But it’s a double-edged sword in its own way.

Westerns and or period pieces in which Native Americans are portrayed have been the starting point and the bread and butter of Native American actors.

Fortunately I’ve been able to cross over in a few roles over the years. Sometimes it’s a matter of two steps forward and one step back.”

With a slew of projects just wrapped or in the works, Studi doesn’t appear ready to slow down or retire anytime soon.

“I retire every time we wrap a film,” he said. “So I’ve had a taste of retirement and I’m not sure I enjoy it all that much.”

ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

Community • ᎾᎥ ᏄᎾᏓᎸ

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

7

WCCA celebrates new community center BY staff reports

COURTESY Wanda Morris Elliott, Adair County Historical and Genealogical Association president, tours the Adair County Courthouse and discusses the significance of the historical photos that are now on display for the public.

Adair County courthouse displays art, preserves history BY staff reports STILWELL – Cherokee Nation Businesses and the Adair County Historical and Genealogical Association recently partnered to help preserve and promote local history at the Adair County Courthouse.

“The county is very appreciative of the artwork provided,” Sam Chandler, Adair County Commissioners chairman, said.

“The artwork portrays the history of our great county. We have visitors who come by just to see the photographs and art. We are proud to have again partnered with the Cherokee Nation on this project.”

The collaborative effort provided 28 restored, enlarged, matted and framed historical photographs from areas throughout Adair County, as well as 17 pieces of art to be displayed throughout the courthouse building.

“A photo is a window into our lives,” Sharon Treib, Adair County Historical and Genealogical Association treasurer, said. “Our volunteers were pleased to work with CNB to help display a treasure of historical photos depicting life in Adair

County in such a prominent way at the county courthouse. We are thrilled that our digitization and data preservation efforts assisted in this project.”

CNB employees helped restore the photos, as well as provided nameplates with historical information and professional framing for each piece. The Adair County Historical and Genealogical Association provided archived photographs and reviewed historical information to ensure accuracy.

“This project has been a neat experience,” Judge Jeff Payton said.

“If history is any indication, we’re going to be in this building with these for many years to come. We appreciate everything everyone has done for us and for Adair County.”

Located in Stilwell, the Adair County Courthouse building is a classically inspired art deco structure made of limestone, concrete and steel. The fourth to serve as the county’s courthouse, the J.J. Harrelson-designed 1930s building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

OCHELATA – More than 150 Washington County Cherokees were on hand Oct. 3 to celebrate the opening of the Washington County Cherokee Association’s new community building.

According to a Cherokee Nation press release, the building was constructed with community work grants awarded

by CN Community & Cultural Outreach and community assistance funds from the Tribal Council.

“The Washington County Cherokee Association is a strong community organization that was willing not only to work hard to see this building to completion, but also to work hard to maintain it as a service to the whole community,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “I’m proud that this building will serve as a hub of Cherokee culture and community for the entire area.”

The release states the community building was built east of the CN’s Cooweescoowee Health Center in Ochelata, a community about 12 miles south of Bartlesville.

“The Washington County Cherokee Association has done a fantastic job of

bringing together the people and the resources needed to take this from a vision to a completed project,” Dist.

12 Tribal Councilor Dora Patzkowski said. “I look forward to the wonderful opportunities this community building will provide to Washington County Cherokee citizens in the coming years.”

According to the release, the facility offers 5,000 square feet of space where the community association can host meetings, cultural events and other activities throughout the year.

“This community building wouldn’t have happened without the Cherokee Nation,” Richard Stephens, WCCA president, said. “We feel extremely privileged to have had all of the support we’ve received. We’ve received every resource we needed.”

Learn more about the WCCA at Facebook.com/WashingtonCountyCherokeeAssociation.

Community work grants provide funding to qualifying Cherokee community organizations planning projects that will benefit their communities. For a list of qualifications or for details on submitting an application, call 918-718-5522 or email bradley-wagnon@cherokee.org.

COURTESY More than 150 people attend the Oct. 3 opening for the Washington County Cherokee Association’s new community building in Ochelata.

In Memoriam Randy Bird May 11, 1970 – Oct. 15, 2019

Ronald Lewis March 15, 1946 – Oct. 15, 2019

Tillman Carl Morris Oct. 23, 1924 – Aug. 7, 2019

Michael Byron Smith June 1, 1949 – Oct. 7, 2019

Donna Jean Carlisle Nov. 7, 1945 – Oct. 5, 2019

Charles Leven Linn Nov. 23, 1941 – Sept. 10, 2019

Juna Phillips April 17, 1924 – Oct. 6, 2019

Diana Sue Foreman-Summerfield July 5, 1951 – Oct. 12, 2019

Lowee (Thurber) Ferrell Aug. 11, 1943 – Oct. 8, 2019

Nellie J. Loftis Dec. 18, 1933 – Oct. 18, 2019

Billy G. Poindexter May 12, 1949 – Oct. 10, 2019

Polly White Sept. 26, 1934 – Oct. 17, 2019

Linda Kay (Chicken) Jumper July 20, 1957 – Oct. 10, 2019

Kristi Sue Mayes Aug. 27, 1977 – Oct. 10, 2019

Martha Carol Salinas April 5, 1958 – Sept. 24, 2019

Reynold Bruce Wickliffe Oct. 16, 1964 – Oct. 2, 2019

Donna J. Lane Sept. 1, 1963 – Oct. 15, 2019

Samantha Estelle Moody Nov. 3, 1968 – Oct. 4, 2019

Billy Junior Sevenstar July 5, 1939 – Oct. 17, 2019

Susan Louise Wiley Sept. 27, 1937 – Oct. 5, 2019

Community Events Nov. 2 Rogers County Cherokee Association 2 p.m.

Native American Heritage Festival Call 539-777-2898 rogerscountygwys@gmail.com Nov. 4 Lost City Community Organization 6 p.m.

Native American Association of Ketchum, 280 East Gregory, Ketchum 6:30 p.m.

Belfonte 6:30 p.m.

Call 918-427-4237 Marble City Community Organization MCCO Building, 7 p.m.

Eucha Indian Fellowship Eucha Community Building, 8 p.m.

Nov. 5 Vian Peace Center 604 W. Schley, 5:30 p.m.

Muldrow Cherokee Community Organization, MCCO Building, 6 p.m.

918-427-5440

Brushy Cherokee Action Association 465406 E 1010 Road, 6 p.m.

918-775-6914 Tulsa Cherokee Community Organization, 6:30 p.m.

805-551-6445, tulsacherokees@gmail.com One Fire Association Kenwood Community Building, 7 p.m. emmahayes87@yahoo.com Nov. 7 Greasy Fellowship Community Organization, Greasy Community Building 7 p.m.

Washington County Cherokee Association, 300 E. Angus Ave., Dewey 7 p.m., 918-333-5632 Nov. 11 Rocky Mountain Cherokee Community Organization, 6 p.m., 918-696-4965 Brent Community Association 461914 Hwy. 141, Gans, 6 p.m.

918-774-0655, brentcomm@live.com Fairfield Community Organization, Inc. 6:30 p.m., 918-605-0839

Marble City Pantry 7 p.m., 918-775-5975 Oak Hill/Piney 7 p.m., 918-235-2811 Nov. 12 No-We-Ta Cherokee Community 1003 Lenape Drive, Nowata, 6:30 p.m.

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

918-371-6688, victorycherokee@att.net Nov. 14 Stilwell Public Library Friends Society 5 N. Sixth St., Stilwell, 5 p.m.

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

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

Lyons Switch 7 p.m., 918-696-2354

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.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Health • ᎠᏰᎸ ᏄᏍᏛ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019

Simmons determined to live healthy for family

HEALTH SUCCESS SERIES

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

COOKSON – Cherokee Nation citizen Gregg Simmons’s favorite meal used to be a package of hot links wrapped in tortillas and dipped in cheese sauce. Now he’s inclined to live a healthier lifestyle by eating better and going to the gym.

He said what triggered his change about seven years ago was overhearing his two older children, teenagers at the time, talk about when they would each get married saying “If Dad’s still alive…”

“That just hit me. My kids were so worried about it. It was an if. I was like I’ve got to do something,” he said.

Simmons was in his late 30s when he decided to change his lifestyle. Not knowing where to start, he called a friend who got him in touch with the tribe’s Male Seminary Recreation Center in Tahlequah.

“I came in here and a personal trainer came and they just took a measurement of everything. I smoked a cigarette in the parking lot before I came in here. I was just mortified. He took me through stretching and I couldn’t touch anything I was supposed to. I could hardly breath.

Like the baseline assessment, I could barely do. I couldn’t get it done,” he said.

He started lifting weights, cardio and taking classes such as CrossFit and yoga.

Before starting, Simmons said he used to smoke, drink, was on antidepressants, ate fast food, had high cholesterol and was about to be put on medication for high blood pressure.

“I had a stressful job. I smoked like a pack or more a day. I ate fast food all the time. When we didn’t eat fast food and we ate at the house, it was fried. It was like high-calorie processed food, very little fresh fruits and vegetables. It was just convenient food,” he said.

After obtaining a health plan, he started following it. “I made it for a couple of weeks without too many hiccups and I started noticing a difference.”

He was put on medication to quit

COURTESY Before taking a healthier approach to life, Cherokee Nation citizen Gregg Simmons said he used to smoke, eat fast food and not exercise. He is pictured here about seven years ago before deciding on a lifestyle change.

LINDSEY BARK/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation citizen Gregg Simmons exercises in the weight room at the tribe’s Male Seminary Recreation Center on Oct. 9 in Tahlequah. Around seven years ago, Simmons changed his eating habits and start exercising. He now goes to the gym five to six days a week. smoking and began focusing on eating healthier.

“My diet was bad. And I just started making it a priority. I said ‘you can’t put this much work in and not do these things.’ I cut way back on my drinking.

I quit the smoking. Then I just started small on the food,” he said. “My favorite meal used to be a whole package of Mountain View hot links. I’d wrap them in tortillas and dip them in cheese sauce.

And that was my favorite thing to eat. It was probably 1,500 calories.”

He cut out fried foods and added vegetables to each meal. He said he found things that work well with his body. His diet now consists of lean beef, chicken, turkey, vegetables and whole grain pastas and rice. “At this point, this is the food that works well with my body and it just tastes good to me. So it’s not a diet, it’s just how I eat now. I have found things that I like to eat that are good for me.”

He said people have a lot of misconceptions that they will not like foods that are healthy.

“To me that’s the most important part

CN coalitions take part in national drug take-back day

The event is part of a national effort to prevent the misuse and abuse of medications.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter STILWELL – Throughout the Cherokee Nation on Oct. 26, community coalitions joined a national effort to curb the misuse of prescription drugs by collecting old, unused, unneeded or expired medicines.

“The primary goal is to reduce easy access to opioid and pain medications,” Sam Bradshaw, CN Prevention director with Behavioral Health, said. “In national and local data assessments, people report they obtain prescription drugs from other people’s homes and medicine cabinets. The goal is to get unused medication out of the home, so others cannot easily obtain them to misuse and abuse.”

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration hosts the no-questions asked National Prescription Drug TakeBack event twice each year.

According to the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 9.9 million Americans misused controlled prescription drugs. The study shows that a majority of abused prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet.

“We get a lot of antibiotics and blood pressure pills that would probably go into water systems,” Bradshaw said.

“But we also get a lot of pain pills, which is our No. 1 targeted medication.”

Prevention coalitions supported by CN-related grant funding offered takeback locations in eight counties.

“There will also be one in April,” Zachary Self with Chain Breakers Coalition of Adair County said.

At his collection station inside the Stilwell Pharmacy on the damp weekend morning, drop-offs were slower than in past years.

“This is the first time we’ve had to come inside,” Self said.

This year’s national spring effort accepted a total of 468 tons worth of medications, according to the DEA. “Too often, unused prescription drugs find their way into the wrong hands,” the agency’s website states. “That’s dangerous and often tragic. That’s why

it was great to see thousands of folks from across the country clean out their medicine cabinets and turn in – safely and anonymously – a record amount of prescription drugs.”

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration recommends drug take-back events as a primary choice for disposal.

“If you cannot get to a drug take-back location promptly, or there is none near you, and your medicine is on the FDA flush list, your next best option is to immediately flush these potentially dangerous medicine down the toilet,” the FDA’s website states.

Available online at fda.gov are the agency’s “flush list” and instructions detailing how to discard medications in home trash.

Prior to the October event, CN coalition communities collected 1,473 pounds of medications from homes this year, Bradshaw said.

“All our coalition communities have permanent disposable drop boxes, which allows for community people to drop off unused medications anytime during the year,” he said. “They do not have to wait for the DEA take-back events.”

For information about safe medicine storage and disposal practices, visit thinksmartok.org.

For the first time, the DEA accepted vaping-related items during the event.

Bradshaw did not anticipate an influx of vaping devices or cartridges “mostly because it was not advertised early enough. However, we expect it will go up in the spring take back event.

Plus, people are just now starting to understand the dangers of vaping.”

CN Behavioral Health has several substance abuse prevention grants, and has been working on opioid prescription prevention since 2007, Bradshaw said.

“We fund community coalitions across the 14 counties to come up with their own local strategies,” he added. “We follow a framework called ‘strategic prevention framework’ and utilize evidence-based strategies to prevent the onset and progression of alcohol and substance abuse issues.”

because you can work in the gym all you want to, but the food really just pushed it over the top. It really makes a difference.

I really just try to find something that works for me,” Simmons said.

He said he’s noticed a major difference from the time he started his health journey to now. He primarily lifts weights, but adds other forms of exercise occasionally.

When he started, he said he weighed more than 200 pounds and his body fat was nearly 30%. Now, he weighs 185 pounds and is under 10% body fat at 43 years old.

“When I started, I hurt in the morning when I got up. My joints hurt and I was out of breath. Like I’d walk up the stairs and I’d be out of breath,” he said. “(Now) I can run and play with my kids.

I always tell my older kids ‘I’m sorry you got the out of shape, smoker dad.’ My younger kids actually get someone that can run around and play. It made a huge difference in my life. I was in my late 30s when I started. I think a lot of people also think it’s too late.”

“I always tell my older kids ‘I’m sorry you got the out of shape, smoker dad.’ My younger kids actually get someone that can run around and play. It made a huge difference in my life.”

Gregg Simmons, Cherokee Nation citizen

He said he’s thankful for the people at the MSRC for helping him and his answering questions. He exercises there five to six times a week and praises the staff for helping him.

With his transformed body, Simmons plans to enter his first bodybuilding show next year.

“I’ve been training really hard for the past year-and-a-half getting some things tuned up, and I think I’m almost ready.

I didn’t change everything overnight.

It’s just been a little here and a little there. But seven years ago if you told me I would be training for a bodybuilding show I would have told you, you were crazy. Like it didn’t even seem possible to me.”

CNI employee praised for saving choking child

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – From atop a float in this year’s Cherokee National Holiday parade, Becky Grimmett Bearpaw noticed a child choking on candy, then without hesitation sprang into action.

“She’s celebrating on the float,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said.

“She sees this child in distress. She immediately removes herself from the float, dislodges the piece of candy, makes sure the girl is safe, then gets back on the float.”

For her efforts, Bearpaw, of Stilwell, a Cherokee Nation citizen and employee of Cherokee Nation Industries, received special recognition and a certificate during the Tribal Council’s Oct. 15 meeting.

“I’m thankful to be able to serve my people and just be there when I’m needed,” she said. “I’m just very thankful.”

The Cherokee National Holiday parade took place Aug. 31 in Tahlequah.

“She saved a young girl’s life,” Hoskin said. “She didn’t bring attention to herself, and she would not have brought attention to herself. But I think Becky Grimmett it’s attention that should be brought to Bearpaw her for her bravery, her quick thinking and just as important, I think, her inspiration to each and every one of us to train ourselves up and to make sure we’re in a position to hopefully do what needs to be done in those situations.”

Hoskin added that Bearpaw saved the child using skills obtained via the Cherokee Nation Businesses first-aid/ CPR course. Matthew McCrary, CNB senior safety manager, said he helped provide some of Bearpaw’s training.

“It’s awesome to know that what we do as a company and a department benefits people not only in their job, but in their home life as well,” he said.

ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

Education • ᏧᎾᏕᎶᏆᏍᏗ

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

9

NEO unveils monument honoring tribes

BY KAYLEA M. HUTSON-MILLER Joplin Globe

MIAMI, Okla. – A monument of 10 steel feathers rising from a circular concrete base – the newest symbol of Native American unity and culture – was unveiled Oct. 14 as a tribute to 10 tribes that call Northeast Oklahoma home.

The monument dedicated as part of the first Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration on the campus of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College sits in front of Kah-Ne-You-Ah Hall. The feathers honor the nine federally recognized tribes of Ottawa County and the Cherokee Nation, and each tribal government played a role in creating the sculpture.

Mark Rasor, interim president of NEO, said the monument, in addition to marking the second Monday of October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, helps the campus community in several ways.

“It is important we never forget the historical injustices visited on the indigenous peoples so that those memories serve as a testimony to us of the perseverance and resilience of Native nations and the continued integrity and vitality of their cultures and governments,” Rasor said, reading from an official proclamation.

The monument was developed as Hannah Berryman, a mentor with the college’s American Indian Center for Excellence, and Ryan Orcutt, with the NEO Foundation, looked for a way to mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which a growing number of entities are recognizing on the second Monday of October rather than Columbus Day. Last spring, Berryman and Orcutt began working with Corey Winesburg, a welding tech instructor at the Afton campus of Northeast Tech. The pair knew they wanted to incorporate a feather into the design as a way to honor its cultural significance and to recognize its presence on the pin that NEO students in the AICE program receive at graduation.

The feathers on the monument represent the nine members of the Inter Tribal Council: the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, the Miami Nation; the Modoc Nation, the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, the Quapaw Nation, the Seneca-Cayuga Nation, the Shawnee Tribe, and the Wyandotte Nation, as well as the Cherokee Nation.

Rasor said more than 20% of the NEO campus comes from a Native background. NEO is also one of the top 10 two-year colleges in the nation to graduate the most Native American students.

than 7,000 inches of welding to create the multidimensional feathers.

“It means a lot to me to build this and put our inspiration into it,” said Winesburg, who is both Shawnee and Quapaw. “Several of my students said they can’t wait to one day show their children what they worked on as a class project.”

Dalton Cash, a graduate of Grove High School, was one of the students working on the project. He said it was inspiring and fun to work on the feathers as they learned how to shape metal and do various welds.

“To see it up now makes it even better,” Cash said. “It was nice to be able to do this and get this experience.”

Termination discussion After the monument’s dedication, the college conducted a panel discussion about the federal action taken in 1959 PHOTOS BY ROGER NOMER/JOPLIN GLOVE that stripped the Ottawa, Wyandotte and The Centennial Tribal Monument is unveiled at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Peoria tribes of their tribal citizenship.

Miami on Oct. 14, which the college celebrated as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Featured panelists were Cook, Chief Billy Friend of the Wyandotte Nation and “The rising feathers pointing skyward Chief Craig Harper of the Peoria Tribe. represent the potential of the tribes,” The move, which took place in August Rasor said.

1959, was designed to force natives to Chief Ethel Cook of the Ottawa Tribe, become mainstream and to assimilate who chairs the Inter Tribal Council, read into American culture, said moderator from a resolution signed by chiefs from David Dry, of the University of North each of the nine members recognizing Carolina. the significance of the monument.

Terminating rights meant legally the “My heart is bursting with pride,” tribes no longer existed, and its members Cook said after the ceremony. “This is so could not receive benefits from the wonderful; I wish some of the previous Indian Health System or the Bureau of leaders could see this. It’s a proud Indian Affairs. Approximately 12,000 moment. It looks at what we’ve done, Native Americans were part of this where we’ve come from and looks at action, with at least 2,000 coming from where we are going.” three tribes in Ottawa County.

In the early 1970s, tribal leaders What it represents including members of the Inter Tribal Council went to Congress to seek Berryman brought her sons, 12-yearrestoration of the rights. Federal old Bristol and 10-year-old Jack, to watch recognition was not returned to the the unveiling. She hoped they would see tribes until May 15, 1978. the monument as a representation of Each chief discussed how the what she does each day – strengthening terminations affected tribal elders at the tribal relationships and the educational time. Ultimately, Cook said, the time of experiences of indigenous students. termination, although difficult, made the Ravyn Whitebird, president of the Native She said it was important to mark tribes stronger and more determined to American Student Association and Miss the first Indigenous Peoples’ Day with function as a tribe.

Indian NEO, listens during the unveiling the ceremony, saying it shows the There are 573 federally recognized ceremony for the Centennial Tribal contributions made by indigenous tribes in the U.S., of which 38 are Monument on Oct. 14 at Northeastern peoples were more important than those located in Oklahoma and nine have Oklahoma A&M College. of Christopher Columbus. jurisdictional lands in Ottawa County.

“It’s very important because as you Of those federally recognized tribes, 238 can see, we are still here,” Berryman with his students spending more than are self-governing tribes, Friend said. said, comparing the event as a way to 100 hours taking the monument from The remainder are governed directly by mark the first day of a new future. concept to fruition. the BIA. Winesburg and his students at Each feather was created cutting Northeast Tech began developing the stainless steel using a computer – REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION monument in April. Much of it took numerical control plasma table.

FROM JOPLIN GLOBE shape in the past month and a half, Winesburg said students used more

NSU names Teehee as 2019-20 Sequoyah Fellow Kimberly Teehee joins a list of other Cherokees such as former Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller and former tribal Supreme Court Justice Stacy Leeds to receive the honor.

BY STAFF REPORTS TAHLEQUAH – Northeastern State University’s College of Liberal Arts has announced Cherokee Nation citizen Kimberly Teehee as its sixth Sequoyah Fellow.

Teehee is the CN director of government relations and vice president of government relations for Cherokee Nation Businesses.

“I am deeply honored about returning to the NSU campus in this capacity. It remains an important place for me personally, a university where I was inspired and challenged. And for the Cherokee Nation, NSU will forever be an iconic partner because of the shared history of the school and the tribe,” Teehee said. “I look forward to interacting with the current students and hope what I am able to impart is beneficial, especially to all the Native American students.”

Prior to joining the CN, she served as partner for the Mapetsi Policy Group, a Washington, D.C.-based federal advocacy group representing Indian tribes and tribal organizations. She served former President Barack Obama as the first-ever senior policy advisor for Native American Affairs in the White House Domestic Policy Council for four years.

Teehee’s work helped lead to a presidential memorandum on tribal consultation and an executive order on improving American Indian and Alaska Native educational opportunities and strengthening tribal colleges and universities. She guided the administration’s support for the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and addressed the U.N. Permanent Forum on issues affecting the world’s Indigenous peoples.

“I look forward to interacting with the current students and hope what I am able to impart is beneficial, especially to all the Native American students.”

Kimberly Teehee, 2019-20 Sequoyah Fellow

Teehee said she is proud of her work toward the administration’s support of proposed legislation to hold all perpetrators of domestic violence accountable for their crimes against Native American women, closing a jurisdictional gap in Indian Country. She also played a key role in three White House Tribal Nations Conferences and led a government-wide team to ensure that progress was being made on tribal policy and legislative priorities.

Prior to serving in the White House, Teehee was senior advisor to the U.S. House of Representatives Native American Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI). Serving the bi-partisan caucus for nearly 12 years, she established an impressive record of accomplishments on an array of Native American issues, including appropriations, education, economic development, energy, health care, housing, agriculture and transportation.

Teehee grew up in Claremore and held various positions at the CN prior to working in Washington, D.C. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science from NSU and her juris doctor from the University of Iowa, College of Law. “Kim’s experiences addressing concerns vital to the Native American community at the local, regional and national levels provide a unique

learning opportunity for our students,” NSU President Steve Turner said.

“Our Indigenous populations continue to benefit from her consistent commitment to strengthen our education systems.”

The Sequoyah Fellow program provides an opportunity for the university and College of Liberal Arts to recognize an outstanding scholar in the field of Native American Studies who will share their expertise with the NSU community during the fellowship year. Sequoyah Fellows are nationally and internationally renowned, have interest in scholarship and service to Native communities and have records of distinction at the highest levels of professional accomplishment in their fields.

“Kim is an incredibly accomplished professional who has tirelessly worked on improving the lives of Native people,” Dr. Mike Chanslor, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said. “We are excited that our students and broader university community will have the opportunity in the coming year to learn from such a champion of Native causes.”

Former Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller served as the inaugural Sequoyah Fellow. Other past Sequoyah Institute Fellows include America Meredith (2018), Jeff Corntassel (2017), Stacy Leeds (2016) and Neil Morton (2015).

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT Emma Coombes

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter STILWELL – Cherokee Nation citizen and Maryetta Public Schools sixth grader Emma Coombes was one of eight winners in the inaugural “Oklahoma 529 College Saving’s Plan’s Change the World” contest during the 2018-19 school year.

Coombes won $1,529 in college savings in an Oklahoma College Savings Plan account and $500 for her school. Her entry was to show how she might change the world after graduating college.

Entries included children who want to become doctors, veterinarians, meteorologists, help the homeless, save red pandas and more, according to an OCSP press release.

She entered a drawing that showed how she would change the world after college by becoming an author. The drawing features a book-cover background with a woman sitting at a table typing on a typewriter surrounded by books.

“I’m going to be a writer. I want to be a children’s book author,” she said. “I really like little kids, like the little bitty babies 3, 4, and 5 (years old.) I think they’re just adorable, and I thought that it would be really cool for me to write books for them when I get older.”

She said she enjoys reading to her younger sister and brother and watching their expressions.

“I just thought that would be really cool. I’d like to see them smile and stuff when they’re reading my books,” Coombes said.

She said her favorite subject in school is language arts because she likes to write essays.

Coombes also has a talent for drawing, hence her entry in the OCSP competition, and potentially wants to illustrate her own writings.

In the past school year, she entered several art contests, including one sponsored by the Oklahoma City Zoo and the Dr. Pepper Vending Machine Art contest. She was one of 12 honor roll recipients selected to have her drawing on display at the zoo.

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • NOVEMBER 1, 2019

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CN outreach program to make registration easier

BY LINDSEY BARK Reporter

ARCHIVE In this 2013 photo, a group of women gather around the Cherokee Nation’s Angel Project tree to pick angels for whom they can buy gifts. The angels represent needy children.

Youth, elder ‘Angel’ efforts underway

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Nation is seeking charitable people with the “Christmas Spirit” for a pair of donation-dependent projects that provide gifts to needy children and the elderly.

Both the Angel Project for youth and Elder Angel program are underway.

The Angel Project was established to provide Christmas gifts to low-income Native children up to 16 years of age living within the CN’s jurisdiction. Following an application process each fall, angels representing the youth are placed on Christmas trees. Gift-giving community members are then asked to “adopt” the angels and fulfill wish lists.

“So far this year we have about 1,300 angels,” Misty Blunt, Indian Child Welfare prevention manager, said Oct. 23.

“Last year we did around 1,700 total.”

Tree locations include the W.W. Keeler Tribal Complex, hospitals, medical clinics and Walmarts. Angels are put on the complex tree Nov. 19 to start the event.

“From there, we’re rolling,” Blunt said.

“People start taking them and gifts start coming back. (Cherokee Nation Businesses) takes a chunk. (W.W. Hastings Hospital) takes a big group. The general public takes a lot of the angels. We’ve had a lot of support.”

When it comes to gifts, “We want to purchase their needs first, then their wants,” Blunt said. “Needs” can include bedding, blankets, socks, underwear, winter clothing and hygiene products.

The long list of “wants,” Blunt said, tend to follow trends.

“A bike is always big, headphones and ear buds because the kiddos all like electronics these days, and super heroes,” she said. “I would average it out as $60 an angel, but we have had angels ask for a PlayStation and they’ve gotten it.”

No child on the tree goes without for the holidays, Blunt said.

“The angels that don’t get picked up off of the trees, we have volunteers that sign

CHAD HUNTER/ CHEROKEE PHOENIX Christmas gifts for Cherokee elders pile up at the Tribal Complex in Tahlequah.

To qualify, elders must be at least 60 years old, be a Cherokee Nation citizen or spouse of a CN citizen and live in the tribe’s jurisdiction.

Nov. 5 is the deadlie for elder gifts.

up and we do the shopping for those,” she said. “We generally end up shopping for around maybe 300-500 angels. So every child does get something.”

Buyers are asked to return gifts by Dec. 6. Gifts are handed out beginning Dec. 9 in Cherokee communities.

While the sign-up deadline for “angels” has passed, the office will take emergency applications, Blunt said. For information, call 918-458-6900 or visit icw.cherokee.org.

The CN is also accepting Elder Angel adoptions at the Tribal Complex and Human Service field offices.

To qualify, elders must be at least 60 years old, a CN citizen or spouse of a CN citizen and live in the jurisdiction.

“We don’t have an income guideline, but it is an indigent program for people who are not going to get a gift otherwise,” program coordinator Crystal Thomas said. “Sometimes they don’t have family or if they do have family, the family is too poor to buy gifts. We often have people that just cry when they get their gifts.

They’re just so happy because otherwise, they wouldn’t get anything.”

This year’s list was nearing 200.

“We put them on a little angel slip, put all their information on the back and hang it up on the wall,” Thomas said.

“People come down and adopt them, then bring the gifts back. We’ve already had over 100 of them adopted. What’s left over we will shop for.”

The top requests are socks and underwear, Thomas said. “A lot of the ladies request towels and bedding,” she added.

Nov. 5 is the deadline for gifts, which will be delivered in mid-November.

“We ask that they be returned wrapped and numbered with the angel’s number,” she said. “That helps us to sort them out.”

Already, gifts are piling up at the complex. “This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Thomas who helped start the program said. “I just saw there was people in the communities that didn’t get gifts that were poor. I thought we needed to do something for them.”

For information, call 918-453-5627.

TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Nation’s Registration Office has started an outreach program to make citizenship registration easier throughout it jurisdiction.

For the next fiscal year, the Registration Office will travel to predetermined locations. Each location will be visited on a quarterly basis to accept and process new applications, assist applicants with missing documents and answer questions. Photo IDs will not be available during the events, according to a CN press release.

“Registration used to go out to the sub-offices and they stopped doing that several years ago. We have people who have travel issues getting to Tahlequah.

So we thought we would reach out and see if it would make things easier for the citizens,” Registrar Frankie Hargis said.

Hargis added that tribal councilors have heard from constituents about travel issues and not being able to make their way to Tahlequah to take care of their registration needs.

“I mean they could always mail it in. But when you’re dealing with birth certificates and stuff you don’t always want to mail those documents. So they can bring them to these locations and we can scan them in and make the copies that we need to make that way they don’t have to put them in the mail,” she said.

Registration processes an average of 1,100 applications per month, Hargis said.

Criteria for citizenship requires proof of a lineal ancestor listed on the Dawes Rolls, according to a previous Cherokee Phoenix article.

“I expect it to be slow at first but we hope to get the word out so that people will have the opportunity to come visit with registration staff and get their questions answered,” Hargis said. “We just hope that it’s a benefit to the communities and we can continue.”

Stilwell was the first community to host the new outreach effort on Oct. 9.

According to the release, Registration officials will be at: • Stilwell: Second Wednesdays in January, April and July from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Third and Oak. Staff breaks for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Call 918-6963124.

• Jay: Third Wednesdays in January, April, July and October from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 12th and Cherokee. Staff breaks for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Call 918253-3243.

• Vinita: Fourth Wednesdays in January, April, July and October from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 27371 S. 4410 Road. Staff breaks for lunch from noon to 1 p.m.

Call 918-256-4576.

• Muskogee: Second Wednesdays in February, May, August and November from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 1001 S. 41st East.

Staff breaks for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Call 918-781-6504.

• Sallisaw: Third Wednesdays in February, May, August and November from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 100 E. Choctaw. Staff breaks for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Call 918-776-0416.

• Pryor: Fourth Wednesdays in February, May, August and November from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 2945 Highway 69A. Staff breaks for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Call 918-825-7988.

• Tulsa: Second Wednesdays in March, June, September and December from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 10837 E. Marshall St. Staff breaks for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Call 918-574-2749.

• Claremore: Third Wednesdays in March, June, September and December from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 23205 S. Highway 66. Staff breaks for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Call 918-342-7450.

•West Siloam Springs: Fourth Wednesdays in March, June and September from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at West Siloam Springs Hotel & Casino at 614 S. Stateline Road. Staff breaks for lunch from noon to 1 p.m. Call 918-422-6371.

For information, visit cherokee.org/ all-services/tribal-registration/.

Tribe gets federal funds to help fight crime, assist victims

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – The Cherokee Nation got nearly $800,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice in October to improve public safety and serve crime victims.

The CN’s $794,575 is part of the DOJ’s $273.4 million award to tribes across the country, including 15 in Oklahoma.

“The Cherokee Nation will use these funds to better protect our tribal lands and citizens as part of our fight against opioid and methamphetamine use and the potential criminal activity associated with it,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. “Our Cherokee Nation marshals patrol 4.4 million rural acres within our Cherokee Nation tribal boundaries, and we will use these dollars to upgrade radio equipment and smartphone devices so that our marshals can more quickly and effectively connect or call in local law enforcement agencies for quicker assistance. Arming our protectors with the latest technology is essential for us to be proactive in ending this national epidemic in Indian Country.”

The grants were announced Oct. 18.

“Violent crime and domestic abuse in American Indian and Alaska Native communities remain at unacceptably

high levels, and they demand a response that is both clear and comprehensive,” U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr stated. “We will continue to work closely with our tribal partners to guarantee they have the resources they need to curb violence and bring healing to the victims most profoundly affected by it.”

More than $3.1 million in grant funding was shared between the CN and three tribes in the northern district of Oklahoma – Delaware Tribe, Quapaw Tribe and Wyandotte Nation.

According to the DOJ, the Quapaw Tribe received $955,668 for corrections and correctional alternatives from the Bureau of Justice Assistance and $613,860 for tribal victim services. The Delaware Tribe received $672,192 for tribal victim services, and the Wyandotte Nation received $132,648 for public safety and community policing.

The CN is also receiving $719,994 in grant funding through a separate program “to improve services for victims of crime in tribal communities,” according to the DOJ. “Under this program, the Office of Justice Program’s Office for Victims of Crime directly awarded nearly $107.3 million to 175 applicants to help tribes develop, expand and improve services to victims of crime,” a news release stated.

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The Straight Edge Barbershop celebrates 5 years At 514 S. Muskogee Ave., it’s been voted Best Barber in Tahlequah four times.

BY WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor TAHLEQUAH – The Straight Edge Barbershop celebrated its fifth anniversary of being in business on Oct. 1.

The shop is owned by Cherokee Nation citizen Emily Hullinger, who has been cutting hair for about 12 years. She said she took a chance five years ago when she opened it.

“It’s a comfortable place for men to get their hair cut, and we use a scheduling app, so it makes it very convenient for customers to schedule their haircuts or they can call and walk in. There’s so many different options to make an appointment to get your hair cut here,” she said.

She and three other stylists work in the shop, and they all, on average, cut 20 heads of hair a day or 100 heads of hair each during a five-day week. Most cuts are short haircuts or fades where the hair is gradually faded on the sides and back of the head. Women who want a fade or a pixie cut or any kind of short haircut are also welcome at the shop located at 514 S. Muskogee Ave. Hullinger said she was cutting hair in a downtown barber shop before she opened her own shop about a quarter mile down the street. She said before opening The Straight Edge she didn’t think much about running her own shop.

“I never thought I’d have my own business or I could do men’s haircuts. It’s just something that grew over the years after doing hair,” she said. “I just wanted to go out on my own and give it a shot.”

She said when she opened her barber shop there were only three others in town. There are now more, but she feels like hers stands out because of its reputation. The Straight Edge has been voted Best Barber in Tahlequah in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019 by the Tahlequah Daily Press.

“We always strive to do our best haircuts and fades. And it’s our customer service, and it’s just a really fun atmosphere here. The customers and children always say they love the atmosphere, that’s it’s pretty cool with a chill vibe,” she said.

During the past five years she’s attended hair shows, but mostly stays busy in her shop. She said she gains experience by constantly cutting hair the way her customers want it. “I learn something new every single day, different techniques and different fades and different ways to cut hair. And all of the girls I have hired, they have their own way of cutting hair too, so with their techniques and my techniques we combine them all and we come up with all kinds of ways to fade and different ways to blend in certain parts of the hair.”

She said the location she chose for her shop has been good because “it’s not completely downtown.”

“There’s a little bit more traffic flow, and it’s not too far off the main roads,” she said.

The location has also “worked out perfectly” because she’s been able to expand her shop, adding more barber chairs, more seating for customers, a vending machine and a gaming table where customers can play chess or checkers. She also added space to carry hair and beard products.

“It was just half of this space when I was here by myself, when I first opened. I guess it was a year and a half after opening I did one remodel and then about two or three years in I did another remodel,”

PHOTOS BY WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Cherokee Nation citizen Emily Hullinger stands in front of her business near downtown Tahlequah. The Straight Edge Barbershop specializes in men’s and boys’ haircuts.

The Straight Edge Barbershop on Oct. 1 marked its fifth anniversary of being in business. The owner is Emily Hullinger, right, and the other stylists are, Hanna Eagle, left, Lanae Mike and Kerry Justus.

Cherokee barber Emily Hullinger works on a flattop haircut for Larat Teague, of Hulbert, in The Straight Edge Barbershop in Tahlequah. It celebrated its fifth anniversary Oct. 1. she said. “We’re kind of outgrowing this space, but we’re going to try to make it work for another two or three years, hopefully, or longer.”

Along with haircuts, the shop offers beard care and hot towel, lather straight-razor shaves. Hullinger also does designs on the back of heads, usually for boys. For example, she recently shaved the Batman logo onto the back of a boy’s head after he received a haircut.

“The kids are really into the new hair designs,” she said.

Hullinger also has advice for women thinking about starting a business: Don’t listen to people who say you can’t have a business because you’re a woman. “If you know you have the talent and you have the drive, you should have no problem.

It’s all about putting your heart into it.”

To schedule a visit, call 918-207-2098 or visit The Straight Edge on Facebook.

“It’s a comfortable place for men to get their hair cut, and we use a scheduling app, so it makes it very convenient for customers to schedule their haircuts or they can call and walk in.”

Emily Hullinger, The Straight Edge Barbershop owner

THE STRAIGHT EDGE’S OFFERED SERVICES Any haircut with clippers or scissors 15 minutes and up • $18

Hot Towel, Lather Straight Razor Cut 30 minutes • $10

Kid’s Haircut: 16 and under Duration varies • $15

Burr w/ Straight Razor & Head Shave 30 minutes • $24

Haircut & Beard Trim Duration varies • $24

Haircut & Beard Trim w/Straight Razor 30 minutes • $34

Beard Trim Duration varies • $10

Haircut w/ Straight Razor Neck Shave 30 minutes • $23

Edge Up & Beard Trim Duration varies • $12

Bald Fade & Beard Trim w/Electric Shaver Andis Foil Shaver fade w/Beard Trim 30 minutes • $26

Edge Up Duration varies • $5 Head & Beard Shave Straight Razor 1 hour • $20 Straight Razor Complete Edge Up 30 minutes • $14

The Straight Edge Barbershop at 514 S. Muskogee Ave. in Tahlequah offers men’s beard and hair products along with short haircuts and fades, but women who want fades or pixie cuts are welcome, too.

Bald Fade w/ Electric Shaver Andis Foil Shaver skin fade, low medium, or high fade 30 minutes • $20 Eye-Brow Wax Duration varies • $10

ᎾᎢ WILL CHAVEZ ᎠᎵᏍᏕᎵᏍᎩ ᏗᎦᎴᏴᏗᏍᎩ ᏓᎵᏆ – ᎾᏍᎩ ᎦᏥᏃᏍᏗ ᎠᎦᎵᏓ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ ᏛᎵᎮᎵᏥ ᎯᏍᎩᏁ ᎾᏕᏘᏯ ᎤᏙᏢᏅᎢ ᎾᎿ ᏓᎾᏓᏍᏙᏰᏍᎬᎢ ᎾᎿ ᏚᏂᏃᏗ ᎢᎬᏱᎢ. ᎾᏍᎩ ᎯᎠ ᎤᏙᏢᏒ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎠᏰᎵ ᎨᎳ Emily Hullinger, ᎯᎠ ᏗᏓᏍᏙᏰᏍᎩ ᏔᎵᏚ ᎾᏕᏘᏯ ᎬᏩᎴᏅᏓ. ᎠᏗᏍᎬᏃ ᏓᎦᏁᎶᏔᏂ ᎤᏪᎵᏎ ᎯᏍᎩ ᎾᏕᏘᏯ ᏥᎨᏒᎢ ᎤᏍᏚᎢᏎᎢ. “ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᏦᎠᏎᏗ ᏂᎨᏒᎾ ᎾᎿ ᎠᏍᎦᏯ ᎠᏥᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ, ᎠᎴ ᏙᏦᏪᎵᏍᎪ ᏚᎾᏙᎥ ᎢᏴ ᎤᏁᏓᏍᏗᎢ, ᎾᏍᎩᏃ ᎠᎯᏓ ᏂᎦᎵᏍᏗᏍᎪ ᎠᏁᏙᎯ ᏧᏃᏪᎶᏗ ᎢᏴ ᏗᎨᏥᏍᏙᏯᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏂᏓᏳᎾᏟᏃᎮᏗ ᏱᎩ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏂᎷᎯᏍᏗᏊ. ᎤᎪᏓ ᏧᏓᎴᏅᏓ ᎢᎬᏩᎾᏛᏗ ᎤᏂᎷᎯᏍᏗ ᎨᏥᏍᏙᏯᏗ ᎤᎬᏩᏟ ᎠᎭᏂ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ. ᎤᏩᏌ ᎠᎴ ᏦᎢᎭ ᎠᏂᏐᎢ ᎣᏍᏓ ᎢᏗᏅᏁ ᏚᏂᏍᏘᎬᎢ ᎾᎿ ᎤᏙᏢᏒᎢ, ᎠᎴ ᏂᎦᏓ, ᏂᏓᏙᏓᏈᏒ, ᎾᎿ ᏔᎵᏍᎪ ᏯᏂ ᏚᏂᏍᏘᎬ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᏙᏥᎦᎵᏍᎪ ᎠᎴ ᏯᏛᎾ ᏍᎪᎯᏧᏈ ᏯᏂ ᏚᏂᏍᏗᎬ ᏙᏥᎦᎵᏍᎪ ᎯᏍᎩ ᏧᏙᏓᏆᏗ ᏒᎾᏙᏓᏆᏍᏗ ᎨᏒᎢ. ᏂᎦᏓᏆ ᎢᏳᏍᏗ

ᏙᏥᎦᎵᏍᎬ ᏚᏂᏍᏘᎬ ᏍᏆᎳ ᏚᎾᏚᎵᏍᎪ ᎠᎴ ᏃᏊ ᏧᏓᎴᏅᏓ ᏥᎾᏚᏅᏃ ᏚᏂᏍᏘᎬᎢ ᏯᏛᎾ ᎪᎯᏴ ᏥᎾᏓᏅᏁᎯ ᏗᏍᏆᎨᎾ ᏂᏚᏂᏍᏘᎬᎾ ᎨᏐ ᎠᎴ ᏧᏓᎴᏅᏓ ᎨᏐᎢ. ᎠᏂᎨᏯ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᎾᏚᎵᏍᎬ ᏍᏆᎳ ᏂᏓᏅᏁᎰ ᎠᎴ pixie ᎠᏃᏎᎰᎢ ᎾᎿ ᏂᏙᏨᏁᎰᎢ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗ ᎪᏢᏒ ᎾᎿ 514 S. Muskogee Ave. Hullinger ᎠᏗᏍᎬ ᏓᏓᏍᏙᏰᏍᎨ ᏗᎪᏚᎲ ᎨᏎ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ Ꮟ ᎾᏍᏚᎢᏍᎬᎾ ᏥᎨᏎᎢ ᎾᎿ ᎩᏄᏙᏗ ᎢᏳᏟᎶᏓ ᏗᎦᏚᎲ ᎢᏗᏝ. ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ Ꮟ ᎾᏍᏚᎢᏍᎬᎾ ᏥᎨᏎ ᎾᎿ ᎦᏥᏃᏍᏗ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ ᏝᏃ ᎤᏟᎢᎦ ᏯᏓᏅᏖᏍᎨ ᎤᏩᏌ ᎤᏍᏚᎢᏍᏗ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ. “Ꮭ ᎢᎴᎯᏳ ᎠᏆᏓᏅᏖᎸ ᏱᎨᏎ ᎠᏋᏌ ᎠᏆᏤᎵ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎠᏂᏍᎦᏯ ᏗᎦᏥᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ. ᎾᏍᎩ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᏄᎵᏍᏔᏅ ᏚᏕᏘᏴᏌᏗᏒᎢ ᎾᏖ ᎣᏍᏓ ᏂᏕᎦᏥᏴᏁᎲ ᏚᏂᏍᏘᎬᎢ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ. “ᎠᏆᏚᎵᏍᎬ ᎠᏋᏌ ᎠᏉᏢᏗ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ ᎠᎴ ᎢᏳᎵᏍᏙᏗᎢ.” ᎠᏗᏍᎬ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᏍᏚᎢᏌ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ ᎾᎿ ᏦᎢᏊ ᏚᏃᏢᏒ ᎾᎯᏳ ᏦᎢ ᎠᏂᏐᎢ ᎦᏚᎲᎢ. ᏃᏊᏃ ᎤᎪᏓ ᏕᎪᏢᎭ, ᎠᏎᏃ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᏤᎵ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗ ᎤᎪᏓ ᏅᏗᎦᎵᏍᏙᏗ ᏚᏓᏃᏣᎸᎢ. ᎾᏍᎩ ᎠᎵᏍᏙᏯᏙᏗ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᎾᏑᏰᏓ ᏬᏌᏂᏴ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗ ᎾᎿ ᏓᎵᏆ ᎾᏍᎩ 2015, 2017, 2018, ᎠᎴ 2019 ᏂᏓᏳᏓᎴᏅ ᏓᎵᏆ Daily Press. “ᏂᎪᎯᎸ ᎣᏣᏁᎶᏗᏍᎪ ᏫᏓᏤᏢ ᏦᏥᏍᏙᏯᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏲᎬᏗ ᏄᏍᏛ ᎤᎾᏚᎵᏍᎬ ᎠᎦᎵᏍᏗᎢ. ᎠᎴ ᎾᏍᎩᎾ ᎠᏁᏙᎯ ᎢᏦᏣᏛᏁᏗ, ᎠᎴ ᎢᎦ ᎣᏍᏓ ᎤᏬᎳᏗ ᎨᏐ ᎠᎭᏂ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ. Ꮎ ᎠᏁᏙᎯ ᎣᏍᏓ ᎤᏂᏰᎸᏗ, ᎠᎴ ᎢᎦ ᎤᏬᎸᏗ ᎨᏐ ᏙᎩᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎲᎢ. ᎾᎿ ᎠᏁᏙᎯ ᎠᎴ ᏗᏂᏲᏟ ᏂᎪᎯᎸ ᎤᏂᎸᏉᏙ ᎤᏁᏓᏍᏗᎢ, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎢᎦ ᎤᏂᎸᏉᏙ ᎠᎭᏂ ᎤᏁᏓᏍᏗᎢ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ. ᎾᎯᏳ ᎨᏒ ᎤᎶᏐᏅ ᎯᏍᎩ ᏧᏕᏘᏴᏓ ᎤᏪᏙᎸ ᏚᏂᏍᏘ ᎣᏍᏓ ᏂᏓᏅᏁᎲ ᏓᎾᏎᎮᎲ ᎢᎬᏗᎢ, ᏂᎪᎯᎸ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎠᎾᏛᏁᎰ ᎾᎿ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗ ᎤᏙᏢᏒᎢ. ᎠᏗᏍᎬ ᎾᎿ ᏂᎪᎯᎸ ᏓᏍᏙᏰᏍᎬ ᎠᏁᏙᎯ ᎤᎾᏚᎵᏍᎬ ᎢᎬᏗ ᏗᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ. “ᎢᏤ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎦᏕᎶᏆᏍᎪ ᏂᏓᏙᏓᏫᏒ, ᏧᏓᎴᏅᏗ ᎢᎬᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏄᏓᎴ ᏂᏓᏅᏁᎲ ᎠᎴ ᏧᏓᎴᏅᏓ ᎢᎬᏁᏗ ᎠᏍᏙᏯᏍᏗᎢ. ᎠᎴ ᏂᎦᏓ ᎠᏂᎨᏳᏣ ᏕᎦᏥᎾᏢᏅ, ᎤᏅᏌ ᎠᏂᎦᏔᎰ ᏧᎾᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎠᏂᎦᏔᎲ ᎠᏢ ᎠᏯ ᏥᎦᏔᎲ ᏙᏥᎵᏍᏗᏍᎪ ᎾᎿ ᏂᏓᏳᏓᎴᏅ ᎢᏧᏓᎴᏅᏓᏊ ᎨᏒ ᏥᏂᏓᏅᏁ ᎣᏣᏕᎶᏆᏍᎪ ᏗᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ.” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ ᎾᎿ ᎤᏬᏢᏒ ᎤᏑᏰᏎ ᎣᏍᏓ ᏂᏕᎦᎵᏍᏙᏗ, “ ᏝᏙ ᎦᏚᎲᎢ ᏱᎩ.” “ᎤᎪᏓ ᏙᏆᎴᎷ ᏕᏙᎰ ᎠᎭᏂ, ᎠᎴ ᏝᏙ ᎾᏍᎩ ᏱᎾᏅᎯᏯ ᎤᎬᏫᏳᏒ ᏕᎦᏅᏅᎢ.” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ. ᎾᎿᎤᏙᏢᏒᎢ ᎾᏍᏊ “ᏚᎸᏫᏍᏓᏁᎵ ᎢᎦ ᎣᏍᏓ” ᏅᏗᎦᎵᏍᏙᏗ ᎤᏃᎮᏢ ᏂᎦᏓ ᏧᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗᎢ, ᏚᏁᏉᎡ ᎤᎪᏛ ᏗᎦᏍᎩᎶ, ᎾᏍᎩ ᎤᎪᏛ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᎬᏩᏂᏴᏍᏗ, ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎠᎩᏍᏗ ᎦᎴᏍᏗ ᏚᏂᎧᎲ ᎠᎴ ᏧᎾᏁᎶᏙᏗ ᎠᏕᎳ ᏗᎦᎶᏗ ᎠᎴ ᏐᎢ ᏗᏁᎶᏙᏗ ᎾᏍᎩ ᎡᎵᏊ ᏗᎬᏩᎾᏁᎶᏗ ᏯᏛᎾ chess ᎠᎴ checkers. ᎠᎴ ᎾᏍ Ꮚ ᎤᏝᏅᏛ ᎠᏱᏓᏍᏗ ᎤᏂᏍᏗᏰᏅ ᎠᎴ ᎠᎭᏄᎸᏒ ᎢᏳᎵᏍᏔᏅᎢ. “ᎯᎠ ᏥᏄᏍᏗ ᏃᏊ ᎠᏰᏟᏊ ᎢᎩᏓ ᎨᏒᎢ ᎠᏋᏌ ᏥᎨᏒᎢ, ᎠᎴ ᎢᎬᏱ ᏣᎩᏍᏚᎢᏒᎢ. ᎤᏛᎾ ᏑᏕᏘᏴᏓ ᎠᏰᏟ ᎬᎩᏍᏚᎢᏓ ᎣᏍᏓ ᎾᏋᏁᎵᏙᎸ ᎦᎵᏦᏕ ᎠᎴ ᏔᎵᎭ ᏫᏄᏕᏘᏴᎯ ᏏᏊ ᎣᏍᏓ ᎾᏋᏁᎸᎢ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ. “ᏍᏗᎩᏓᏃ ᎣᎩᏍᏗᎬᏎ ᎯᎠ ᎪᏢᏒᎢ, ᎠᏎᏃ ᏓᏲᏣᏁᎶᏔᏂ ᏔᎵᎭ ᎠᎴ ᏦᎢ ᏧᏕᏘᏴᏓ, ᎤᏚᎩ ᎣᎬᎭ, ᎠᎴ ᏯᎪᎯᎸ.” ᎾᏍᎩ ᏗᏓᏍᏙᏯᏗ, ᎯᎠ ᎪᏢᏒ ᎾᏍᏊ ᏓᎾᏓᏍᏙᏰᏍᎪ ᎠᎴ ᎤᏗᏞᎩ ᎠᎵᎧᏲᏗ , ᎤᎪᏓ ᎣᏟ ᎬᏗ ᎦᏥᏃᏍᏗ ᎠᎵᏍᏙᏯᏗ ᎬᏗ ᏓᏂᏍᏙᏰᏍᎪ ᎠᏂᏍᎦᏯ ᏓᏂᎭᏄᎸᏒᎢ.

Hullinger ᎾᏍᏊ ᎤᎳᏎᎦ ᎢᎬᏁᎸ ᎤᎾᏚᎵᏍᎪ ᎠᏂᏣᏣ ᏚᏂᏍᏘᎬ ᎠᎦᎵᏍᏗᎢ, ᏯᏛᎾ, ᎾᏞᎬ ᎤᏍᏙᏰᎲ ᎠᏧᏣ ᎾᎿ ᏝᎹᎭ logo ᎾᏋᏁᎸ ᏥᏍᏙᏰᎲᏥᏍᏙᏰᎰᎾ. “ᏗᏂᏲᏟ ᎾᎿ ᎢᏤ ᎦᎾᏄᎪᎬ ᏓᎾᎵᏍᏙᏰᏍᎬᎢ,” ᎠᏗᏍᎬᎢ.

Hullinger ᎾᏍᏊ ᎯᎠ ᎧᏃᎮᏍᎬ ᎠᏂᎨᏯ ᏯᎾᏓᏅᏖ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎠᏕᎳ ᎠᏙᏢᏍᎩ ᎤᏂᏍᏚᎢᏍᏗᎢ: ᏝᏍᏗ ᎠᏂᏴᏫ ᏱᏗᏣᏛᏓᏍᏗᏍᎨᏍᏗ Ꮭ ᏱᏂᎦᎭᏛᎦ ᎯᎨᏯ. “ᏱᏣᏅᏔ ᎯᎦᏔᎲ ᎢᏣᏛᏗᎢ ᏱᏣᏚᎵᏃ Ꮭ ᎪᎱᏍᏗ ᎢᎬᏯᏗᏢ ᏱᏂᎦᎵᏍᏗᎭ. ᏣᏅᏔ ᏣᏓᏅᏙᎩᎢ ᎢᎦᏣᏛᏗ ᎨᏒᎢ.” ᏗᏩᏛᎯᏓᏍᏗᎢ, ᏫᏣᏟᏃᎮᏗ 918-2072098 or visit The Straight Edge on Facebook.

12

CHEROKEE PHOENIX • NOVEMBER 1, 2019

People • ᏴᏫ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019

A Tribute to Cherokee Veterans

Billy Kaiser served, gained discipline in Air Force

BY WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor SPERRY – The youngest of three brothers, Billy Kaiser decided to take a different route when he joined the military.

His brothers, Kenny and George, served in the Army, but Billy shopped among the four military branches before joining the Air Force. He had dropped out of high school his junior year, at age 16, to work full time, but later realized he needed to find a career path.

“We were a pretty poor family. I was wanting nice clothes and a car, and I promised my mom I would go back to school the next year if I could just work.

And I did, I worked for about a year, but I never went back to school, but I did realize that I needed to get back on the right track. I went down and took the test for the Air Force. Actually, I went to all four branches, but the Air Force recruiter was the best salesman,” Kaiser, who is now 63 and lives near Sperry in Tulsa County, said. “I enlisted in May of 1973 and served until February of 1977.”

He first went to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and then to Shepard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, to learn how to work on one- and two-engine jet fighters.

“That was my career field, and that was why I joined the Air Force. They guaranteed me a job,” he said.

From Shepard Air Force Base he went to Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas, for two years.

COURTESY PHOTOS Airman Billy Kaiser joined the Air Force at 17 and learned how to work on fighter jets and bombers.

“After a couple of years of sitting in west Texas, I volunteered for world-wide duty to get another assignment and they sent me to (South) Korea for a year,” he Billy Kaiser said. “I enjoyed the Air Force life. It was neat.”

While serving in Kinson, South Korea, he earned his high school diploma.

“I was part of the training command

COURTESY Cherokee veteran Kenny Kaiser stands next to a supply truck in Vietnam where he served with an Army transportation company for a year.

Kenny Kaiser proud to have served U.S. in Vietnam

BY WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor

OWASSO – A veteran of the Vietnam War, Kenny Kaiser, 74, of Owasso, served with the U.S. Army from 196567.

“I was in Fort Eustis, Virginia, and orders come down for us to go to Vietnam, our company, in September ’66,” he said.

His company, the 264th Transportation Company, was ordered to take 30 more days of bivouac or camping in the field. “Basically, it was just like boot camp…getting us ready for Vietnam. We left out Sept. 10, 1966.”

He said part of his company went to Vietnam on C-130 transport planes, and the remainder of the company took a ship with the company’s equipment, which took about 28 days to reach Vietnam.

“We landed in Cam Ranh Bay probably the 12th of September. As soon as we hit that makeshift runway we heard an explosion, and it was a tire that blew out on that C-130. Well, the pilot, he shut it down as quick as he could and got off the makeshift runway on the sand there. Of course, there was 50 of us around our equipment in jump seats, so we piled off as quick as we could, and asked that captain, ‘what would have happened if that other tire went?’ He said, ‘we would have rolled.’

“Some of them thought we were getting shot, but I knew it was a tire that blew out the way it started hitting the bottom of that plane.”

Kaiser said his unit’s main task was to transport ammunition – including 175-millimeter projectiles, palettes of gunpowder, 105-howitzer rounds – “just anything that would support and supply the infantry boys.”

“Our mission was to support and supply and unload the ships and truck the ammo in to wherever they needed it. We had to worry about road mines.

The Air Force actually cleared the area when we left Cam Ranh Bay and went to Duc Phu,” he said.

Duc Phu is near the Pacific Ocean.

He recalled one time a 2-ton truck

caught on fire at the ammunition depot, which spread to ammunition stored near a beach.

“We finally got out down on the end of the beach, and they put us on a sea-going ship and we sat out there for eight hours and watched the 4th of July. Everything was going up. I don’t know how many pallets of powder we had there and how much ammunition,” he said. “The worst thing to happened was about 6 o’clock that evening, the mess (kitchen) sergeant asked for volunteers to do some KP (kitchen duty). We didn’t have much of the company area standing. Me and my buddy from Arkansas knew better than to volunteer. About dark we eased back to where the mess hall was looking for some chow and about that time it looked like the world caught on fire and knocked us to the ground, and what was left of the mess hall come down on us.”

Something had “cooked off in the ammunition dump” and exploded and killed five of the men who had volunteered to help in the kitchen.

Kaiser said he never saw them again.

“It could have been several pallets of powder. We never knew for sure.

Charlie (Viet Cong soldiers) might have mortared the ammo dump, too,” he said. “The hospital van came in with the red cross on it. I could hear some guys moaning. I said, ‘get in there, somebody’s hurt bad.’ We were in shock, and we’re getting as far away from there as we can.”

He said he suffered some shrapnel burns that “wasn’t nothing.”

He held the rank of E-3 when he arrived in Vietnam and was promoted to E-4 while he was in country.

“I turned 21 in Virginia and turned 22 in Vietnam. I came home in September (19)67.”

He returned to carpentry and concrete work after coming home and helped raise three kids.

“My heroes didn’t make it home, but to serve your country and learn the discipline – I think a lot more kids ought to go in. I wouldn’t trade it for nothing, to serve my country.”

at Reese, which included T-37s and T-38s (jets), and then in Korea I worked on F-4 (Phantom jets) and fighter-bombers. Then I came back to Homestead Air Force Base near Miami, Florida, and worked on RF-4s, which was a reconnaissance aircraft that carried cameras in the nose of the plane.”

He left the Air Force in Florida. He had gone in as airman basic and left the service as an E-4.

“They had a ‘dream sheet,’ which is what they called it, when you were

coming back from a remote tour. That’s what Kinson, Korea, was. They tried to give you the base of your choice if they could, to fit the need for your occupation to a vacancy. I thought Florida was good. I had never been out of Oklahoma to speak of, and I got to go to Florida the last few months,” he said.

He said the discipline he learned while serving in the Air Force helped him in civilian life and believes all young people should serve their country in some capacity.

“I know not everybody is cut out to serve in the military, but the country would be better off if they could find a way for our youth to serve whether it be in the Peace Corps or some other type of service to the country,” he said. “I grew up a lot. I went in at 17. My mom had to sign for me.”

He chose not to use the mechanic skills he learned in the Air Force in the civilian world and instead followed his older brother George into the Tulsa Fire Department and spent 24 years there. He retired as a district chief.

“So I kind of followed him around from his military service to firefighting. It was a great career. It’s a service. Looking back, I did get a lot out of serving the community and the country. It’s a source of pride. And, of course, a lot of firefighters are of that nature. They get a lot of self-fulfillment out of serving others, and you get a lot of self-gratification helping others in time of need,” he said. “I’ve always been proud of my Cherokee heritage, and of course I always took pride in my service to the country.”

Army vet George Kaiser credits Army for bettering his life

BY WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor KANSAS, Okla. – At 18, George Kaiser was drafted into the Army and served for seven years.

Now 66 and living in Kansas again, he said he’s glad the Army propelled him out of a tough situation at home and school and allowed him to see other parts of the country. He said the Army was good for him because he admits he wasn’t a good student in high school and “eked” by in his classes because they didn’t interest him. He said he also knew he wasn’t meant to go to college.

“The Army offered me an education in something that interested me,” he said. “It didn’t really surprise me (getting drafted) during that period of time. It was just expected that sooner or later, if you were out of school, you would be drafted unless you were going to college.”

He went to Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for basic training and then was sent to an electronics school.

“I was drafted for two years, but the school itself, which was for air defense, was 53 or 56 weeks long, which was kind of out of the ordinary for being drafted. I was expecting shorter training and straight to something else, but I felt I lucked out getting the electronics school. I went to Fort Bliss, Texas, for that,” he said.

He learned to repair tactical radar and missile-tracking radars for the Nike Hercules Missile System, which was an intercontinental ballistic missile system.

“It has since been made obsolete, but that’s what that training was for,” he said. “I was stationed at Chesapeake Bay, Maryland. Our headquarters was the Aberdeen Proving Ground, and I was assigned to a missile battery there on Chesapeake Bay.” When his time in the Army was up, he was offered a re-enlistment bonus and that spurred his interest.

“I think they thought they had enough invested in me that they were offering that to try to keep me in the service. So I re-enlisted for Alaska,” he said. “I had made E-5 (Specialist 5) when I was in the school and when I got out of the service I was an E-6 or Specialist 6.”

He said being in Alaska was “good” and an “adventure.”

“There I went through some more training and there was a research range that I was assigned to. (In Alaska) headquarters was at Fort Greely. I was detached to Fort Wainwright and then I was assigned to Poker Flat Research Range as the repair-type technician for the radar system,” he said. “We worked

COURTESY George Kaiser, of Kansas, Oklahoma, in his Army dress uniform. He served in the Army from 1972-79 after being drafted. in conjunction with NASA and the University of Alaska and of course the Army.”

During the day-to-day operations, he said, there were 12 people working at the range. He said NASA would run experiments at the range using the Army’s rockets, which required Kaiser and other soldiers to keep the rockets and boosters functioning. The rockets would be fired into the upper atmosphere and use the Army’s radar and equipment to record the data, which would be provided to NASA scientists.

He served in Alaska from September 1974 to April 1979.

“Myself and my wife at the time…I was kind of on the bubble as to whether to stay in the service. My re-enlistment was coming up again, and I was coming up for warrant officer school and/ or E-7. I was always strongly family oriented, and with our children the age they were, we decided that we wanted to go back home,” he said.

He said his children got to see their Oklahoma relations maybe once a year and got a greeting card every so often from home during holidays.

“I felt they needed more ties to the family, and that’s what made our decision to get out,” he said.

He said he and his family have always been “proud” of their Cherokee heritage, and he wanted to be home again to be near that heritage. When he was drafted in 1972 he was 18. In 1979, when he left the Army, he was 25.

He said he had always wanted to be a firefighter, so when he got home he took a test to become a Tulsa firefighter and began his second career. He served as a firefighter for 25 years and retired as a captain.

“I loved every minute of firefighting,” he said.

ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

People • ᏴᏫ

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

13

A Tribute to Cherokee Veterans

Stover recalls combat during Vietnam War

BY WILL CHAVEZ Assistant Editor OAKS – Claude Stover, 72, of Oaks, is proud of his Vietnam War service, and is a regular at Cherokee Nation events honoring veterans.

He was 22 in 1969 when he served as an infantryman for nearly six months before being wounded. He served with A Company, 1st Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division.

After being drafted, he did his basic training and Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in 1968.

In January 1969, he went to Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, an area of flood plains.

“When we got there, we went to Cam Ranh Bay, and from there we went to the units that was needing troops. A Company had been wiped out during Tet (Offensive), so they needed more troops, and that’s where I was assigned,” he said. “While we were in Cam Ranh Bay, you could hear shooting going on and see tracers (illuminated bullets), and I thought to myself, ‘what have I got into.’”

After settling in as a replacement with A Company, he was part of a platoon that set up ambushes at night. Stover carried the M-60 machine gun, which is sometimes used to start an ambush.

“We would stay out all night and then come back in for a couple of days and then go back out doing the same thing,” he said. “It wasn’t very good because you never did know what you were going to step on. I took turns watching while the other guy slept for an hour and then I got relieved and I went to sleep for an hour.”

His platoon ambushed the enemy a few times, and there was “a lot of shooting,” he said.

“We helped another unit out one night.

They had been fighting all night and we went over there. They had run out of ammunition and they had called in a chopper to bring in more ammunition and it was shot down,” he said. “After it was over with, we saw the enemy was in a bunker made out of cement. We lost a lot of people in that battle.”

His platoon also performed searchand-destroy missions.

“We would also go on search-anddestroy missions after they bombed a village. We would go in there and see if the Viet Cong was there or how many bodies was there,” he said. “My toughest days was when we went on search-anddestroy missions. You had to do what you had to do.”

While telling the story, Stover got quiet for a moment and said, “let’s go to something else now.”

While set up for an ambush, he said, sometimes it would rain all night. The Mekong Delta was constantly wet, and during the monsoon season soldiers had to deal with mud.

“The ground would be so slick you could hardly walk. When the sun came out, in 30 minutes it would be hard as rock again. It was pretty hot,” he said.

“And mosquitos were bad. You had to carry a towel with you and wrap it around your face because if you didn’t those mosquitos would bite you all over your face. You never knew when you were going to be laying in a bunch of fire ants. I tell you what, they do bite.”

In June 1969, almost six months into his deployment, his platoon was awaiting nightfall to prepare another ambush.

COURTESY Infantryman Claude Stover was assigned to carry the M-60 machine gun while he served with the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam.

WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEEPHOENIX Claude Stover, 72, of Oaks, served with the U.S. Army’s 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam and was wounded during his service.

“We were sitting on this dike, and my assistant (gunner) came up and stepped on a booby trap, and it got both of us. We were dusted off to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. I never did know what happened to the other guy because I never did see him after that,” he said.

The explosion hit Stover on the left side and injured his ear, shoulder and eye.

“They told us it could have been worse because what he stepped on was an old pineapple grenade. It was rusted out, and they said if it was new grenade it would have really made a lot of difference,” he said. “I thought it blinded me because when I fell into the dike I couldn’t see nothing. I got my canteen out and started washing my eyes out. It

COURTESY Infantryman Claude Stover eats a can of food during his service in Vietnam. Stover served with A Company, 1st Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. was blurry, but later on I could see.”

The next day his unit was sent back to the United States. He said it took about two weeks to recuperate, and when released from the hospital, he rejoined his unit in Hawaii.

“I still have problems with my ears,” he said.

He finished his Army service in 1970 while stationed in Hawaii and then served with the Army Reserve for two years.

He said after 50 years, when he is reminded of Vietnam, he’s “right there.”

“What really sets it off is when I hear those choppers. Fourth of July fireworks

always brings back a lot of memories,” he said. “When I’ve gone to Asian restaurants it brought back a lot, so I don’t go in those anymore.”

When he recently visited Washington, D.C., as part of the tribe’s annual Warrior Flight, he said the choppers he heard flying reminded him of Vietnam, and seeing the statues of soldiers at the memorials reminded him of his service.

He said seeing the thousands of names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall was moving, but he did not want to spend too much time there. “There were so many killed. It’s sad,” he said.

“I’m just thankful.”

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • NOVEMBER 1, 2019

Culture • ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏁᎵᏓᏍᏗ

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019

Artist’s spark reignited in darkest hour

Basket weaver is the Cherokee Phoenix’s fourth quarter giveaway artist.

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

TAHLEQUAH – The always-creative Merle “Cate” Fritz was inspired by a combination of cultural curiosity, an artistic grandmother and a series of painful events to embrace the art of basket weaving.

“This is the Cherokee double-wall basket that I do,” Fritz said. “Growing up, I didn’t have a whole lot of Native American influences, but I was always curious and interested. I’m always trying to learn more. That’s one of the reasons I got into basket weaving, because it’s traditional through the culture. I wanted to keep that going.”

Born Merle Omega Welch – named after both her grandmothers – the Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen from Tahlequah is also known as Cate, pronounced “chawtee,” which means red in the Creek language.

“I was always interested in arts and crafts because my grandmother, she was always making something or crafting something,” Fritz said. “She was hosting classes at church on arts and crafts. She did fabric crafts and beadwork. She could do anything.”

Fritz, now 31, was inspired to further her passion for art, specifically baskets, during a stressful stretch in 2014 “when everything went downhill.” Her husband, Josh, was severely injured in a headon car collision, requiring a lengthy recovery.

“My grandma passed away while my husband was in the hospital,” Fritz said.

“She was the one who raised me for the most part of my life. After all of that happened, that’s when I really started weaving to try to process all the grief. I’ve been creating my whole life. But baskets are really what I love doing. It’s just therapeutic.”

Her hobby morphed into a business when she began selling her baskets online that same year after taking a class taught by Cherokee National Treasure and storyteller Robert Lewis.

“I’ve sold hundreds of baskets,” she said. “I’ve shipped to Canada and all over the United States. People put them on their dressers, in their bathroom. I use them for everything. I have tall ones to

PHOTOS BY CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Basket maker Merle “Cate” Fritz, of Tahlequah, sells her Native art online and at the Tahlequah Creates gallery downtown. Fritz is the Cherokee Phoenix’s fourth quarter giveaway artist. put pencils in, pens. The small ones are really cute to put next to the bathroom sink so you can put your rings in, or your jewelry next to your bed.”

Fritz, the Cherokee Phoenix’s fourth quarter giveaway artist, sells wares on the e-commerce website Etsy under the shop name Chained2Kindness.

Fritz said she draws color inspiration from the seasons. “I typically like to make rainbows in the spring time, then I’ll do orangey, fall colors in the fall. I love the bright blues for the winter time.

But sometimes I just go with what I’m feeling. I really love the green, so I do a lot of green and purple and whatever sells the best. I sell a lot of purple and blues.”

Fritz looks back on 2014 and its challenges as a turning point.

“It’s led me to this, and this is pretty exciting,” she said of a new artistic endeavor called Tahlequah Creates. “I love being a part of this.”

Founded by Fritz and other artists, Tahlequah Creates features a gallery, gifts, music, events, classes and more.

“We just kind of all grouped up with

the idea and made it happen,” Fritz said.

“We’re a co-op so we all make decisions together. We have this wonderful community of artists. We just have a huge variety of cultures represented here.

We’ve all just blended together to make a wonderful family.”

Tahlequah Creates, located at 215 N. Muskogee Ave., opened in April.

“We do better and better every month and have more people coming to our events,” Fritz said, “and we have wonderful customers who keep coming back. We get pretty good foot traffic, too.

A lot of people like to stop in and just visit.”

The artist co-op has grown from less than 10 members to two dozen, including Fritz’s 13-year-old daughter, Libby.

“We are jam-packed with art,” Fritz said. “The best part about it is the networking that we bring together because each of us have a different type of art, customer base, different community we’re a part of. It exposes everybody to a new audience that might not have seen any of their work before.”

ABOVE: Artist Merle “Cate” Fritz weaves a basket Oct. 17 at the Tahlequah Creates gallery downtown. BELOW: Baskets for sale by artist Merle “Cate” Fritz are on display at the Tahlequah Creates gallery.

Fritz is one of several artists who lead classes. Her students learn how to weave a double-wall basket from start to finish.

“My students have made some great baskets. I’ve had three students come back to another class and another class.

It’s fun, though, because we all get to hang out. I guess it’s kind of like back in the day when the ancestors were sitting around together weaving baskets – that same type of community bonding.”

Her next class is scheduled for 5 p.m., Nov. 6. Cost is $25; all supplies are included. Call 918-931-8303 for information.

Culture • ᎢᏳᎾᏛᏁᎵᏓᏍᏗ

ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019 • ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ

NOVEMBER 1, 2019 • CHEROKEE PHOENIX

15

LANGUAGE LESSON VEHICLE

digaduleni

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

Cherokee artist invited to Monte Carlo, Venice

BY D. SEAN ROWLEY Senior Reporter

OJAI, Calif. – Many artists dream of having their works put under the spotlight of a big exhibition for public perusal, and one Cherokee Nation citizen had that dream realized when his pieces were included in European exhibits.

Stanley Boydston, 60, was one of two Americans included in the inaugural Biennale of Contemporary Sacred Art exhibit in Monte Carlo, Monaco, where he made a sale. That was followed by an invitation from Italian art critic Giorgio Grassio for Boydston to create a painting and display his work for an hour at the Biennale de Venezia. The “situational installation” was shown at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy.

“The (Monte Carlo) show had big-name people like Damien Hirst and Banksy – they get millions of dollars for their art works,” Boydston said. “Going there and teeing up with the big boys was huge. When the show got there, (Grassio) saw my work and invited me to the Venice biennale, which has been going on for decades and is the biggest art fair in the world.

It just kind of takes over all of Venice. I was beside myself, in tears, and excited to be invited.”

Boydston’s Cherokee heritage was not given prominence or highlighted with his works, but the artist directly credits his Cherokee roots for his artistic fascination with water. The ocean is the focus of his pieces – and was appropriate for an exhibition in Venice.

Stanley Boydston’s “Rincon Low Tide” piece, part of a series, received permission for display in the square of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy.

“Venice has a lot to do with water,” Boydston said. “The streets get flooded during high tide. I’ve been painting low tide at the same time over the years. It was significant that I

did my (artistic) installation in front of St. Mark’s Basilica. We Cherokee traditionally have a strong connection with water.

Our ancestors would take every opportunity to walk through

rising waters.”

Venetian authorities allowed the erection of the “site-specific” work before the basilica in St. Mark’s Square for an hour on Oct. 14, and it remains on display at the Pallazzo Zenobio until Oct. 31. The Monte Carlo exhibit was Sept. 30-Oct. 1.

“I put my painting down, and the lines in the ocean became the rays of Christ giving a blessing there,” Boydston said.

Drawn to art his entire life, Boydston – a Muskogee, Oklahoma, native – looked up COURTESY PHOTOS his Cherokee heritage about 10 Cherokee artist Stanley Boydston years ago. He claims lineage from Judge Franklin Faulkner, stands outside the Piazza San whose 19th century cabin is now Marco Venezia in Venice, Italy. a visitor information center rivers to get where they were on Sallisaw’s East Cherokee going. Even if you are on a dry Street. Faulkner was a scout path to the house, if you see and teamster who survived the water – you will then decide Cherokees’ forced removal. to carry yourself through it Boydston’s father was Max – a river, lake or creek to get Boydston, a 1954 all-American there. It slows down the walk. It tight end for the University reflects your image with what of Oklahoma, and his mother is above you, allowing you to be is Janey Boydston, mayor of wet and fused with nature and Muskogee. to become one – visually and During the 1980s, he resided ‘tactile’ – with the earth; rebirth for a decade in Madrid, but has at every opportunity.” called California home for the Hence, his situational past 20 years. installation, from his “Rincon “I want people to know how Low Tide” series, reflected the proud I am to be a Cherokee,” famous and tenuous relationship he said. “It is one of the most between Venice and its waters. important things in my life. To “Venice is also in danger have that knowledge and be of sinking and gets flooded proud – there is not a day that on almost every high tide,” goes by that it doesn’t fill me Boydston said. “My work of with a source of confidence.

‘Rincon Low Tide’ was a conduit To take my art to Europe as between a Byzantine blessing of a Cherokee, and to walk as a Christ on the front of St. Mark’s Cherokee through the streets Basilica at St Mark’s Piazza in of Venice with my art is my Venice and the Earth, in need proudest achievement as an of healing and protection from artist.”

Native artists find fellowship, earn esteem at Cherokee Art Market

BY CHAD HUNTER Reporter

CATOOSA – One of the many familiar faces at each year’s Cherokee Art Market, Choctaw-Chickasaw painter Norma Howard appreciates the event’s blend of Native American artists from across the country.

“I think the Cherokees are doing good for all tribes,” she said. “The way they honor Native Americans is good. We all have different cultures, but with that in mind, we come together as one.”

Artists specializing in beadwork, pottery, painting, basketry, sculptures, textiles and more competed for a share of $75,000 in prize money, then put their works up for sale during the 14th annual Cherokee Art Market presented

by Cherokee Nation Businesses.

Award-winning artwork was unveiled during an Oct. 11 reception, followed by the two-day market at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.

Howard, of Stigler, brushed her way to second place in the painting division for a watercolor piece called “Going Home.” She was one of 150 Native American artists representing 50-plus tribes at the event.

“It’s great to see all the different cultures come together,” Deborah Fritts, art market coordinator, said. “(Artist David McElroy), he is Choctaw, but he named his piece ‘The Gift of the Deer to the Cherokee,’ and he has Cherokee syllabary on it. So it is a merge of cultures. Often, a lot of people are a mix of different tribes; they’re not just one tribe.”

Former best of show winner and avid art competitor Glenda McKay said she enjoys the event “because it’s more personal.”

“It’s not so big that you get lost in the shuffle, and we get to meet all our friends we don’t get to see often,” she said.

McKay, representing the IngalikAthabascan tribes of Alaska, won best of class this year in the diverse art forms division for an ivory seal harpoon, and second place for a miniature rain parka made from a walrus stomach.

“I was just so excited to see the ribbons,” she said, adding that her harpoon can double as an emergency whistle to call for help. “If a polar bear is coming up on them, they can blow the whistle because the noise travels across

the water and ice.”

An artist closer to home, Cherokee National Treasure Lisa Rutherford, took home one of the six judge’s choice awards for “Da la la (Woodpecker),” a red, white and black feather cape and twine-style skirt.

“I’m pretty excited,” she said. “I worked so hard. I’ve been working on that feather cape for at least a month.

I’d been tying feathers weekly before that.”

Marcella Yepa, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was excited to discover she placed in the traditional and figurative pottery division for a pair of clay raccoons.

“I’m half Chickasaw and half Jemez Pueblo. In my Chickasaw clan, I’m a raccoon clan,” she said, adding that her pieces are hand-coiled. “I was raised by my grandmother in the Jemez Pueblo, so that’s how I learned pottery.”

Another potter, Caddo Nation citizen Chase Kahwinhut Earles, earned top honors with Best in Show for his piece called “Kee-wat: Caddo Home.”

“I didn’t see that coming,” he said after the win.

A third of the artists were Cherokees from the Cherokee Nation, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians or United Keetoowah Band.

Cherokee National Treasures in the show were Martha Berry, Vivian Garner Cottrell, Richard W. Fields, Thelma Forrest, Dorothy Ice, Troy Jackson, Vyrl Keeter, Clesta Manley, Eddie Morrison, Jane Osti, Lisa Rutherford, Betty Jo Smith, Candessa Tehee and Tommy Wildcat.

Other artists representing the CN were Mary Aitson, Dwayne Barnes, Karen Berry, Courtney Biggs, Joe Don Brave, Eva Cantrell, Toneh Chuleewah, Judy Comtois, Dan Corley, Crystal Hanna, Cody E. Harjo, Kenny L. Henson, Renee Hoover, Dino Kingfisher, Talon Kingfisher, John Knotts, Carrie Lind, Ramona Lossie, Marie Janelle Martin, Ron Mitchell, Traci Rabbit, Tama Roberts, Emma Sherron, Janet L. Smith, Karin Walkingstick, Crystal Acuff Walters and Bryan Waytula. EBCI artists were Joshua Adams, General Grant, Antonio Grant and Lucille Lossiah. Mel Cornshucker and Dorothy Ice represented the UKB. This year’s event also featured cultural demonstrations, including jewelry, weaving, Native fashion, quillwork and basketry.

Painting, Drawing, Graphics & Photography Tony Tiger, Sac and Fox/Seminole Nation/Muscogee Creek Nation, “Yellow Earth People” Sculpture Troy Jackson, Cherokee Nation, “The Passing of a Generation” Beadwork/Quillwork

PHOTOS BY CHAD HUNTER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX Potter and Caddo Nation citizen Chase Kahwinhut Earles, left, shares a laugh with fellow artists Bryan Waytula and Norma Howard on Oct. 11 after winning Best of Show with his piece “Kee-wat: Caddo Home” at the 14th annual Cherokee Art Market.

This piece created by Caddo Nation citizen Chase Kahwinhut Earles earned the top prize at this year’s Cherokee Art Market.

Marcella Yepa, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, placed second in the traditional and figurative pottery division for a pair of clay raccoons she made to represent her clan.

Ken Williams Jr., Northern Arapaho/Seneca, “Photoshoot: Pose- Mabel, a Comanche Beauty” Basketry David McElroy, Choctaw Nation, “The Gift of the Deer to the Cherokee” Pottery Chase Kahwinhut Earles, Caddo Nation, “Kee-wat: Caddo Home”

Cherokee National Treasure Lisa Rutherford stands next to “Da la la (Woodpecker),” her entry into this year’s Cherokee Art Market.

Textiles B Karen Berry, Cherokee Nation, “Ebb and Flow” Jewelry Peter Nez Nelson, Navajo Nation, “Separation of Seasons” Diverse Art Forms Glenda McKay, Ingalik-Athabascan, “Seal Harpoon & Sheath”

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CHEROKEE PHOENIX • NOVEMBER 1, 2019

ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ • ᏅᏓᏕᏆ 1, 2019