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Tribal Council candidates make their case
BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER
Early voting is underway for the June 3 Primary Election in Cherokee, which will determine the final slate of candidates progressing to the General Election Sept. 2. This year, all 12 Tribal Council seats are up for election, as well as School Board seats for Wolfetown, Big Cove and Birdtown. The Primary Election will whittle the number of candidates down to four per township for Tribal Council and two per community for School Board, with General Election voters selecting two Tribal Council representatives and one school board member to represent their community. Due to smaller numbers of candidates in those townships, Tribal Council hopefuls from Big Cove, Painttown and Cherokee County/Snowbird will not face a primary contest.
The Smoky Mountain News contacted all 19 Tribal Council candidates facing a primary contest next month with an opportunity to introduce themselves to voters. Below are responses received by the initial deadline, listed in alphabetical order. Over the coming weeks, SMN will run additional responses as they are received.
CYNDI LAMBERT
Lambert, 55, is seeking her first term in elected office as a Tribal Council member representing Birdtown. She owns and operates a carwash, self-service Laundromat and hotel in the casino district. Lambert has been in private business for 25 years, starting businesses from the ground up, and she believes that business acumen is essential for success as a Council member. Lambert served as “First Lady” while her husband Patrick Lambert was principal chief and has been involved in the tribe’s political landscape for more than 20 years. Between 1993 and 1997, she worked as a front office clerk in the EBCI Finance Department and was the person primarily responsible for getting the first per capita distribution out to tribal members in 1995.
Opinion on tribal government’s current direction:
“I think our Tribe’s current direction is fair, but I think there is still more work to be done to get it headed in a better direction. I believe recently we have been spending way too much money on outside ventures while ignoring our issues here at home. We need to get back to taking care of our people and remind ourselves that a position on Tribal Council is a position of service. While business diversification is an important goal, we must not lose sight of our needs at home and protection of our assets. I think so much focus has been on venues outside of our area that we have lost protection of our own sphere of political influence. I think our relationship with the State of N.C. needs some attention and repair, as this is vitally important to our political and financial wellbeing.”
Top priority if elected:
“Immediately I want to make sure that our people are the direct beneficiaries of the new $1.9 trillion American Relief Plan Act money. There are billions of dollars that are heading into Indian Country, just like for states. And I want to add my voice to make sure this money gets directly into the pockets of our enrolled members. I know there are some spending guidelines, but a large discretion is placed with each tribe to determine the exact way this money will be used, and I want to see it directly benefit all our working families with direct financial relief to every tribal member.”
Cyndi Lambert
CHRISTOPHER REED
Reed, 32, is seeking his first elected term and hopes to represent Yellowhill on Tribal Council. He currently works as the JonesBowman Leadership Award program specialist for the Ray Kinsland Leadership Institute and Cherokee Boys Club. He holds a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Opinion on tribal government’s current direction:
“When I’ve asked my community members what they are worried about most, it seems to always come back to the wasteful spending. Numerous projects are being planned or advanced when we truly need to reign in the hurtful spending the tribe is doing. This could be everything from office printer paper to land
Christopher Reed purchases. If a budget is developed and approved, programs must adhere to them. Our tribe does not have bottomless pockets. If I can live on a budget, then surely the tribe can; the numbers might be larger, but it’s still a budget.
“Old ideas and the political game of ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ must be addressed. Our politicians and program ile an economy based on gaming and managers must be held accountable for any tourism can be. While I was in my underviolations of ethics and integrity as well as graduate studies, I found the hypothetical be the voices of their communities.” examples of pandemics, terrorism and other
Top priority if elected: ‘acts of God’ to be interesting thought exer“Economic diversity and stability. The lockdowns of 2020 have shown us how fragcises. Never in my dreams did I think we’d see the mass closures, F
Also on the primary ballot
TRIBAL COUNCIL
Birdtown
• Albert Rose • Boyd Owle • Gilbert Crowe Jr. • Gloria “Punkin” Griffin • Robin Lambert • Jacob George • Cyndi Lambert
Wolfetown
• Jesse “Fonzie” Sneed • Bo Crowe • Bill Taylor • Chelsea Taylor Saunooke • Sam “Frell” Reed
Yellowhill
• Tom Wahnetah • T.W. Price Saunooke • Dave Wolfe • Stephanie Saunooke French • Christopher Reed • Shannon Ross • Elvia Walkingstick (Write-in)
SCHOOL BOARD
Big Cove
• Kristina Hyatt • Lavita Hill • Karen French-Browning • Lori Taylor • Damian Solis
Birdtown
• Melanie Lambert • Ashford Smith • Bree Stamper • Ray Long
Wolftown
• Isaac “Ike” Long • Berdie Toineeta • Bucky Squirrel
To have a profile published in an upcoming issue of The Smoky Mountain News, Tribal Council candidates can contact holly@smokymountainnews.com.
layoffs/furloughs and regional/local economic frenzy as we did in 2020. Now with the vaccines available, we can begin to forge a new path for regional and local wealth building. Not just growth but actual wealth building.
“Financial principles should be taught at early ages to change the family tree and reduce the dependency of credit and loans. The military and trade schools must not be thought of as a last resort for our young people but rather, ‘How do we utilize your specific skill/expertise?’ We also need to clean up downtown Cherokee. The unused, dilapidated shops are an eyesore.
“And finally, the idea of establishing marijuana for medicinal and recreation use would help in the avenue of medical tourism and tourism in general. Environmental biologists and other agricultural experts could receive work in helping us establish greenhouses and other regulations.”
Contact info:
828.507.6355 or cjreed0514@gmail.com
JESSE “FONZIE” SNEED
Top priority if elected:
“It appears the top priority of our people is to make prosperous opportunities for our families. The ‘old saying is ‘Rome was not built in a day.” If one piece of legislation would cure all our problems, I would champion that in a heartbeat. However, I think a series of legislation would be needed to ensure that Cherokee will prosper. We face many challenges and will have more in the future, but without a solid foundation our house will fall. If elected, I will earn my pay to ensure that our tribe will be an example to others in Indian Country.”
Contact info:
828.736.8040 or jesse.c.sneed@gmail.com
Sneed, 37, is seeking his first term on Tribal Council and hopes to represent Wolfetown. He currently works as a supply coordinator for Qualla Housing Authority — his employer since 2012 — and has been a member of the Wolfetown Community Club Council since 2019, serving as vice chairman for the 20192020 term and chairman for the 2020-2021 term. He has been a Wolfetown representative to the Sgadugi constitution group since 2019 and worked for Jess “Fonzie” Sneed the Cherokee Boys Club from 1999 to 2012. Sneed has been learning the definition of “gadugi” since childhood, from watching his great-grandfather’s involvement with Wolfetown Free Labor to creating Wolfetown Community Club Free Labor with friends and family. As a community club leader during the pandemic, he worked to keep the club functioning by hosting drive-thru events and streaming meetings on social media.
Opinion on tribal government’s current direction:
“Our government is at a crossroads. You may have noticed two schools of thought about representation. Some representatives make their decision for you. If you vote for me, we’ll make our decisions together! If elected I will be a true voice for our community. I will be able to do this because I will answer your calls and if I do miss your call, I will get back to you soon. I have not missed a community meeting at Wolfetown since becoming involved three years ago, and I have only missed one Big Y meeting in that time because I thought it was canceled during the pandemic. In closing, I feel the community needs to choose a direction. If elected, I promise to work with my Wolfetown/Big Y partner to ensure that we go in the direction that you, the people, wish to travel.”
DAVID WOLFE
Wolfe is seeking his eighth term on the Tribal Council and is currently serving his second term as vice chairman. Born and raised in Yellowhill, he graduated from Cherokee Central Schools and coached youth basketball while working and pursuing an education. Wolfe earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Western Carolina University in 1994 and David Wolfe served as a Tribal Council representative from 2005 to 2015 and 2017 to present for a total of seven terms. That includes two terms as vice chairman, three terms as Health Board chairman and six terms as council representative to Cherokee Central School. He has also served as chairman of the Yellowhill Community Club.
Opinion on tribal government’s current direction:
“As a tribe we are making tremendous progress. Our tribe has done more recently than at any point in our history to diversify revenue, expand our reach into other markets, protect what we’ve built locally and provide services to our people. We are investing more than ever in housing, education, health care and public health, and community infrastructure. We have established long-term investment funds that will help ensure the financial success of our tribe that will enable us to continue to serve our people. More than ever, we are thinking and acting strategically about future generations.”
Top priority if elected:
“My top priority is to make the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians a worldwide name. We are well known across the country as being a leader, and I want to protect and grow that reputation. My legislative priorities are centered on revenue diversification and long-term investment to achieve key goals: 1.) protect and grow current assets, 2.) establish permanent reserves to support health care, education and housing so those services are always available to our members, 3.) invest locally in cultural and language preservation, and 4.) begin to rebuild our local economy by supporting small business and our cultural attractions.”
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Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS EDITOR
Last summer, the tiny Haywood County tourist town of Maggie Valley was rocked by not one but two peaceful “Black Lives Matter” marches that quickly became heated and confrontational, while also disrupting traffic and commerce.
Last week, the owners of a Maggie Valley motel ignited a fresh furor by posting an antipolice message on their sign that’s since resulted in death threats and a visit from the FBI.
Now, community leaders are calling for calm as a “Back the Blue” rally is scheduled in response.
Much like last summer, the conversation over police reform is taking place not in person, but in separate camps — on social media, on marquees and on opposing sides of Soco Road.
Much like last summer, the intense divisiveness may be a sign of things to come.
Elk bring cars to a halt on Soco Road from time to time and just the other day some random horses showed up to do the same, but traffic on the main drag of the idyllic, family-friendly Appalachian tourist town of Maggie Valley usually flows into attractions like restaurants, the distillery, the ski resort, the gem mine, the putt-putt course or one of the vintage 1960s-era mom-and-pop motels.
Usually, the signs out front of them say things like, “Welcome to our valley,” or “Kids eat free,” but last week one of them displayed a different kind of message.
The sign at Our Place Inn uses the acronym “ACAB,” which originated in the 1940s in the United Kingdom but was adopted last summer by groups of demonstrators calling for police reform after the May 25 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
ACAB stands for “All Cops Are Bastards.”
In 2020, Our Place Inn owners Kitty and Cody Currin took on central roles in a pair of local Black Lives Matter marches, as law enforcement officers from Maggie Valley, Haywood County and Waynesville were all that stood between the 30 or so BLM marchers and hundreds of counterdemonstrators yelling and waving Confederate flags.
At the time, Mayor Mike Eveland called the encounters “chaotic and grossly confrontational.”
Since then, the Currins say they’ve been involved in a zoning dispute with the town and were issued a littering ticket over what they say is a compost heap, which is why they haven’t backed away from the controversy their sign has generated.
“Do I believe that every single individual cop as a person is a bastard? I don’t believe in judging the individuals themselves,” said Kitty. “They might be perfectly fine individuals, but once they put on that uniform, they’re not just an individual, they are representative of a system that is faulty.”
While some would describe the Currins’ “ACAB” statement as a sweeping oversimplification of national problems with policing, Cody disagrees with the theory that criminal acts committed by bad apple cops like Chauvin are simply misanthropic deeds by misguided individuals — the sign also reads, “The barrel is rotten.”
“When one police officer abuses authority or misuses the trust of the community and a 99 other police officers don’t stick up or say anything about it, then in my opinion, all 100 are responsible for the misuse of authority,” he said.
The Currins say they posted those sentiments on their sign along busy Soco Road so as to start a conversation. It appears they’ve succeeded.
A Canton-based food insecurity nonprofit, called Feeding the Multitude, announced
on May 2 that it would sever ties with Our
Place Inn. The Currins had been working with Feeding the Multitude through
Haywood Outdoor Pantries to supply their own food pantry — the shed at the center of the zoning dispute.
The story also caught the attention of national outlets like Law Enforcement Today and Glenn Beck’s Blaze Media, just as Our Place
Inn was bombarded with negative internet reviews despite being closed for renovations.
Cody said he’s received “hundreds of calls, day and night” both in support of and in opposition to the sign, and Kitty says they’ve received death threats on social media.
“You’re f—-ing dead,” Kitty said, reading a few of them from her phone. “I see that you posted ‘ACAB’ on your advertising billboard.
Well, I for one hope you have someone rob you at gunpoint, rape your women, beat the hell out of any kids you have and then shoot your idiot ass and not one of those police
‘bastards’ you hate does a thing to protect your sorry ass.”
Shelley Lynch, public information officer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s
Charlotte field office, confirmed to The
Smoky Mountain News that an FBI agent had been sent to the Currins’ motel “out of an abundance of caution” in response to a tip submitted to the FBI’s national hotline about the threats.
At least a dozen other merchants in
Maggie Valley and across Haywood County have posted messages on their own signs, reiterating longstanding regional support for police.
“We proudly support our law enforcement. One love, all humanity,” reads the sign outside A Holiday Motel, just down the street from the Currins’ motel.
Robert Edwards, owner of A Holiday
Motel, said that he’s talked to members of the business community in Maggie Valley — of all political stripes — and said that most of them believe the broad generalizations of the law enforcement community posted on the
Currins’ sign are just as bad as stereotyping people based on race, color or creed. l “The grotesque message being displayed is just a disgusting and divisive message that d shouldn’t be tolerated,” Edwards said. “If there is an issue that needs to be addressed, it certainly could be addressed, but a more loving message is healthier for everybody.”
A healthier message is exactly what Rev.
Chris Westmoreland is advocating for as tensions over the Currins’ sign continue to rise.
“I don’t think this conversation gets elel vated when we try to reduce it to sound bites, and I think a billboard is a soundbite and the y law enforcement folks in our community and in our congregation that I’ve talked to felt very indicted by that,” said Westmoreland, y who serves as lead pastor at one of Haywood
County’s biggest churches, Long’s Chapel.
“The law enforcement officers that I know want to have a meaningful conversation about community policing and how we are expecting them to do too much in their role.
They’re begging for those conversations.”
In a letter to his congregation on May 8,
Westmoreland wrote that he was grateful for those who serve the community in law d enforcement while also acknowledging that troubling disparities exist in the justice system as a whole.
“I’ve certainly been in churches before — not in the church I currently serve — where there were all kinds of icons and symbols of God, but God was kind of hard to find,” he said. “I’ve been in justice centers that are named ‘justice centers,’ but they seem to be the antithesis of justice, where not a ton of justice happens. The challenge for me is, how do we help stand in that space where we don’t just talk about some of those problems, but where we actually stand in the gap and actually walk with folks and begin to understand?”
Westmoreland looks to his faith for a good starting point towards mutual understanding.
“Blue lives matter, and Black lives matter. We ought to be able to hold those two things together,” he said, “because those two things are not opposites of each other.”
Not long after the sign outside the Our Place Inn went up, calls for a response began to emerge on social media.
“I am proud to announce that on Saturday, May 22 from 10 am to 4 pm we will be having a peaceful sidewalk march in support of our LEO,” reads a May 6 post in a private Facebook group called Maggie Valley Patriots. “A back the blue rally.”
At the time, the group was headed by a man named Steven Rich, although it’s not clear if it still is. A subsequent post by Rich in the group brags about banning Mountaineer reporter Kyle Perrotti, and a membership request by this reporter was originally granted but revoked several hours later, making it difficult to ascertain the group’s leadership, message and intentions.
Rich is the same man who walked into a special called meeting of the Maggie Valley Board of Alderman on July 30, 2020 — just after the “chaotic” July 18 BLM march but just before a slightly less hostile Aug. 1 BLM march — and volunteered to relinquish First Amendment rights of assembly and speech based on recommendations from his Facebook friends.
First, Rich said that there should be a limit on how many times any one group is allowed to demonstrate in the town. Then, he suggested that only residents should be allowed to organize a demonstration. Finally, he called for onerous fees that would have a chilling effect on protected speech.
In conjunction with Town Attorney Craig Justus and the UNC School of Government, attorney Brian Gulden drafted the enhanced protest ordinance being considered at the meeting. Gulden rejected Rich’s legally dubious demands along with the suggestions of others who wanted to ban demonstrations within the town, or ban demonstrations on busy tourism weekends, or force demonstrators to remain in one place.
The ordinance passed unanimously, without the proposed restrictions.
“The events of July 18 showed many of us that Maggie Valley is not isolated,” Mayor Mike Eveland said during the meeting. “In fact, these events illustrated how connected the town is to an evolving landscape of ideas and ideals that are being debated throughout our country.”
Police officers from Maggie Valley keep BLM marchers and counter demonstrators separated (above) during a march in 2020. Messages of support for law enforcement (below) have
popped up well outside of Maggie Valley, like this one in Hazelwood. Cory Vaillancourt photos
The practical aspects of the enhanced ordinance dictate that poles or staffs upon which signs, flags and banners are mounted must be made of “corrugated material, plastic or wood,” may not exceed 36 inches in length and must be blunted at each end.
Poles or staffs made of metal or metal alloys are expressly prohibited, as are dangerous weapons, fighting words, threats that might provoke a reasonable person to a breach of the peace, and profane, indecent, abusive or threatening language.
But to help the town ensure public safety for the inevitable constitutionally protected demonstrations that periodically occur even in times of relative calm, aldermen also implemented a procedure whereby groups wishing to demonstrate must deliver something called a “notice of intent to picket” to the chief of police no later than 72 hours before the scheduled action.
When reached for comment May 9, Maggie Valley Chief Russ Gilliland said that Steven Rich hadn’t yet delivered such a notice for the May 22 event but had rented out the pavilion adjacent to town hall instead, apparently opting to remain in one place instead of conducting a march.
Whatever form the event takes, Western North Carolina’s congressman Madison Cawthorn, R-Hendersonville, said he’d be there because he disagreed with the sign.
“Statements like these, that attack law enforcement and the officers who stand between us and violent gangsters are disgusting,” Cawthorn told SMN on May 9. “I am proud to stand with law enforcement in my district and nationwide. We must always back the blue. The rule of law is not a partisan issue, nor should it be.”
The Currins will be there too, or at least right down Soco Road — Our Place Inn is less than 100 yards from town hall.
“I will be operating my business as usual,” Cody said.
They’ve also created a Facebook event.
“We do invite our friends to come visit us on that day,” said Kitty. “We do have parking, we do have grills, it’s probably a great day for a cookout and to just kind of hang out in solidarity and discuss police reform, like we all want to do.”
