Feb. 2012 issue of the Cherokee Phoenix online

LIHEAP funds down
At the start of fiscal year 2012, the
program was $1.2 million lower than
the start of FY 2011. NEWS, 4
February 2012 • cherokeephoenix.org
Free tax help
The tribe is offering the service to
people within the Nation’s jurisdiction
until April 13. MONEY, 11
184 Years of Cherokee Journalism
CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Rules Committee selects new officers, chairs
The new speaker, deputy speaker
and secretary still have to be
confirmed at full council.
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – At the Jan. 26 Rules Committee
meeting, Tribal Councilors chose their new speaker,
deputy speaker and secretary as well as 15 chairs and cochairs
for their committees.
Tina Glory Jordan was chosen as the new speaker, while
Chuck Hoskin Jr. was elected as deputy speaker. Jodie
Fishinghawk was elected secretary.
Glory Jordan, who replaces Meredith Frailey as speaker,
said she looks toward a productive term and is eager to
start.
“The council will have a lot on its plate, and I’m honored
to be selected as its leader as we work on issues like
housing, education and health care,” she said.
Glory Jordan, Hoskin and Fishinghawk are expected to
be elected and sworn in for their respective offices at the
council’s Feb.13 meeting.
See Rules, 3
Raising an Ancient Village
Cherokee Nation day worker Bo McDaniel, left, and Cherokee Fire Rangers Issac Merchant, Faron Davidson and
David Hadley frame the roof of a summer home for the expanded Ancient Village at the Cherokee Heritage Center
in Park Hill, Okla. WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
BY jAmI cuStER
Reporter
Work is moving ahead on the
Ancient Village expansion at the
Cherokee Heritage Center.
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Cherokee
Nation citizen and former Attorney
General Diane Hammons began working
for the tribe as a public defender in 1995.
She took over as CN attorney general in
2006, a period of tremendous advances,
she said.
“We at the AG’s office are, I believe, are
the top in-house counsel for any tribe
across the country,” she said. “We’ve
made significant strides in advancing the
Indian Child Welfare Act, and we’ve made
significant changes to the law by arguing
cases in not only Oklahoma, Kansas and
now South Carolina…virtually all over
the U.S.”
The office has also educated groups
and individuals on the tribe’s initiatives
regarding Indian Country, sovereignty
and jurisdiction.
“We’ve been on panels, and gave talks
and gave workshops and participated in
CLEET (Council on Law Enforcement
Education and Training) training
programs. You know we do that now
almost monthly, where we’re going out
somewhere and talking about the tribe and
jurisdiction and sovereignty, and I really
think that we’ve made some headway in
the state,” Hammons said.
Despite the office’s strides, Hammons
turned in her resignation letter on Jan. 3,
with her last day being Jan. 26. She said
the decision to resign was hers.
PARK HILL, Okla. – The frames of one Cherokee
summer and three winter homes have risen near the
Cherokee Heritage Center as work on an expanded
Ancient Village progresses.
Workers are building 16 houses – eight winter and
eight summer – and will construct winter and summer
council houses, an orchard, ball field, gardens and a recirculating
stream for the expanded village. Plants and
trees important to Cherokee people also will be planted in
the village, including river cane.
CHC work crews completed the first winter and summer
home pair in 2011 and used them as prototypes for the
houses being built.
“I think we might have the house pairs done by May.
We’ve still got some major landscaping and the council
house to go. If all goes well, we could have everything
finished by the (Cherokee National) holiday,” said CHC
Executive Director Carey Tilley.
The exhibition is set in the early 1700s before increased
trade between the Cherokee and their white neighbors
brought more non-traditional items into the Cherokee
world.
“This period is sort of a last glimpse of the Cherokees
before there is a major shift in their material culture,” said
Tilley.
He said 90 percent of the expansion’s funding is in place
and that the museum recently received $125,000 from the
Carson Foundation, which has provided $250,000 for the
project.
Original estimates for construction costs were $950,000,
but are now $750,000. In-kind donations from CN Natural
See Village, 3
Hembree replaces Hammons as tribe’s attorney general
Former Tribal Council attorney Todd Hembree is
sworn in at a Jan. 26 special council meeting.
BY jAmI cuStER
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Former Tribal
Council attorney Todd Hembree took his
oath of office as the Cherokee Nation’s new
attorney general during a Jan. 26 special
council meeting.
The council’s Rules Committee
unanimously approved Principal Chief Bill
John Baker’s nomination of Hembree to the
position earlier in the day at its meeting.
“I will equally, fairly enforce the laws
of the Cherokee Nation and defend our
constitution,” Hembree said. “I cannot
promise any more than that, but will not
do any less than that.”
By becoming attorney general, he
relinquishes his role as the council’s
independent attorney, a position he held
for 12 years.
“I first came to this body as the attorney
in 1999, and I am proud to have played a
small part in building up this institution...
this separate, independent, equal branch
of government,” he said. “I have spent the
majority of my professional career to it,
and let me tell you it doesn’t matter what
office I hold in the Cherokee Nation, or if
I hold no office in the Cherokee Nation, I
will always be a strong, sternest defender of
this legislative branch.”
Originally from the Greasy community
in Adair County, Hembree is a graduate of
Stilwell High School, Northeastern State
See Hembree, 5
On the rise
Prescription drugs are the second-most
abused substance in the Cherokee
Nation. HEALTH, 15
New Cherokee Nation Attorney General
Todd Hembree acknowledges his family
after taking his oath of office on Jan.
26 at the Tribal Council Chambers
in Tahlequah, Okla. ROBERT STINSON/
CHEROKEE PHOENIX
NEW tRIBAL cOuNcIL LEADERS
SPEAKER: Tina Glory Jordan
DEPUTY SPEAKER: Chuck Hoskin Jr.
SECRETARY: Jodie Fishinghawk
RULES: Chuck Hoskin Jr.
EXECUTIVE & FINANCE: Jodie Fishinghawk
EDUCATION & CULTURE: Joe Byrd
HEALTH: Janelle Fullbright
COMMUNITY SERVICES: Dick Lay
RESOURCES: Curtis Snell
Diane Hammons dedicates nearly 17 years to the
Cherokee Nation with nearly six years as AG.
“I was not asked to stay on as attorney
general. One of the administrative staff
told me that the administration would like
for me to stay on in a lesser position as a
prosecutor here,” she said. “They certainly
did not ask me to leave.”
After some rest, Hammons said she’ll
join the Campbell and Tiger law firm in
Tulsa because it handles a lot of Indian
See Hammons, 5
Former Attorney General Diane
Hammons shows a photo of herself
being sworn in as Cherokee Nation
attorney general in 2006. JAMI CUSTER/
CHEROKEE PHOENIX

BY DILLON tuRmAN
Reporter
2 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
CNB makes offer on Woodmark building
Cherokee Nation Businesses
officials are pursuing buying
the closed cabinet factory for
potential job opportunities.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Cherokee Nation Businesses
officials have made an offer to buy the former Woodmark
cabinet factory for its Cherokee Nation Industries
subsidiary for potential job opportunities.
“We have made an offer and are waiting for approval,”
CNB CEO David Stewart said at the Jan. 16 Tribal Council
meeting.
CNB officials refused to disclose the offer’s amount
citing competitive reasons. According to Wright Realty, the
listed price is $6 million. American Woodmark officials in
December announced they were selling the facility citing
a housing slump.
CNB officials said if purchased the building would be
used as a resource for relocating businesses to Tahlequah
and providing possible job opportunities as well as
warehouse space.
“The building would be part of an infrastructure plan
for the 14 counties,” Stewart said.
According to Wright Realty, the facility located at 950
Parkway Drive sits on 6.88 acres of land with 275,000
square feet in production area, 11,300 square feet of office
and break room area, 10,000 square feet for a maintenance
area/storm shelter and 2,500 square feet for a detached
storage building. The property’s total valuation is more
than $6.2 million, according to Wright Realty.
A potential holdup of the purchase is a possible conflict
of interest. Scott Wright of Wright Realty is the property’s
realtor. He is also the husband of CNB board member
Tommye Sue Bradshaw Wright.
On Jan. 16, Tribal Councilor Cara Cowan Watts
questioned Stewart about the possible conflict of interest.
Dist. 5 Tribal Councilors Cara Cowan Watts, right, Buel Anglen, second from left, and Lee Keener, middle, present
a plaque to Principal Chief Bill John Baker and Deputy Chief Joe Crittenden, left, on behalf of veterans at the
Claremore Veterans Center for the Cherokee Nation’s support of the CVC. The tribe provided funding that allowed
the center to purchase computers for it computer lab. WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Baker touts feats of first 100 days
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – During his Jan. 16 state of the
nation address, Principal Chief Bill John Baker said he
was closing in on the 100-day mark of his administration.
Despite not having a normal transition period, he said he
and his staff have made strides since his Oct. 19 oath.
One accomplishment he touted was working with the
council to increase the dividend received from Cherokee
Nation Businesses by 5 percent. The additional 5 percent
has been set aside exclusively for contract health services
for Cherokee Nation citizens for needs such as eyeglasses,
dentures, prosthesis, cancer treatments and hearing aids.
Baker also said job creation is a priority for his
administration and that his administration has put a
packet together informing companies why they should do
business in the Cherokee Nation.
“We have a superior workforce. We have new job tax
credits,” he said.
He added that he’s sent teams to recruit companies to
bring jobs to the CN. And if all goes as planned, he said
200 new jobs would soon be coming to the CN-owned
building formerly used by Cherokee Nation Industries on
Water Street in Tahlequah.
Baker did not disclose specifics of the jobs plan, but said
whatever company uses the Water Street building, the CN
would find the needed Cherokee workforce for it and that
workers would make approximately $15 an hour.
“I look forward to sealing that deal,” he said.
In the next 100 days, Baker said the tribe’s new housing
program would also be implemented. He said within the
next 30 to 45 days two model homes would be built in
Tahlequah for councilors to inspect. The homes are to be
prototypes the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation
plans to build for qualified applicants under the new
housing program.
A stipend for Cherokee elders who are “in most need”
is still in the works, Baker said. Under the program, Low
Income Home Energy Assistance Program-eligible elders
would receive an unspecified stipend every six months.
“So, if the federal government doesn’t do LIHEAP or
doesn’t do this, we can help with their medicine or their
utilities and the things they need the most,” he said.
Baker also said that a hangar and airplane owned by
Cherokee Nation Businesses is for sale. The two items are
located at the Tahlequah airport.
The turbo-prop plane was a source of controversy during
the 2011 campaign for principal chief. Baker claimed use
of a private plane, which had been used for more than 30
years mainly by the tribe’s executives, was too costly and
vowed to sell it if he was elected principal chief.
He also announced that Tribal Council attorney Todd
Hembree is his pick for the next attorney general. Hembree
is expected to replace Attorney General Diane Hammons,
who has turned in her resignation.
“I’m going to take the 12 years of knowledge that he
built up with the council,” Baker said. “I’ve looked long
and hard across the Cherokee Nation and cannot find
anybody that has more institutional knowledge and has
probably read the (CN) constitution more than anybody.”
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
“I was unaware we were even considering it (purchase)
until I was contacted by the Cherokee Phoenix,” she said.
“I understand there may be a conflict of interest?”
Stewart said a conflict may exist, but the issue is part of
a proposal to be presented to the CNB board of directors.
He added that CNB officials are reviewing the entity’s
conflict of interest policies.
Woodmark suspended the Tahlequah plant’s activities
in April 2009, approximately seven years after the $19
million facility was constructed. The work stoppage
affected approximately 100 workers, company officials
said. Woodmark makes media cabinets, file cabinets,
residential cabinets and kitchen cabinet doors.
CNI in the past year closed its Tahlequah location along
Water Street, relocating its telecommunications division to
the MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor. Principal Chief
Bill John Baker said that Cherokee Nation-owned building
would also be used to attract businesses to Tahlequah.
dillon-turman@cherokee.org
918-207-4975
4 donors hired by
Baker administration
Some were hired as new
employees, while others
were hired with employment
agreements.
BY cHRIStINA GOOD VOIcE
Multimedia Editor
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Four donors to Bill John
Baker’s campaign for principal chief are now Cherokee
Nation employees, according to a list of new employees
hired since Oct. 20 and campaign contributions reports.
Some employees were hired as new employees, while
others were hired with signed employment agreements.
In an emailed statement, Baker said he chose the
employees based on their experience, not which
campaign they donated to.
“When selecting my staff and nominees, I didn’t go
through donor lists for ideas. I want the best people
serving the Cherokee Nation, regardless of whose
campaign they financially supported,” he wrote.
Billy B. Dougherty was hired as a special projects
officer in the executive branch. Records show he
donated $500 to Baker’s campaign on May 26. Chuck
Hoskin Sr. was hired as Baker’s chief of staff and has a
group leader employment agreement. He donated $97
on June 16 and $500 on May 1. Marsha Lamb was hired
as the group leader of Human Services via a group leader
employment agreement. She donated $500 on June 10,
$30 on Aug. 5 and $100 on Sept. 1. Tom Been was hired
as a dentist and has an employment agreement. He
donated $200 on Aug. 4.
Although those four people donated to Baker’s
campaign, 25 other people who were on the new hires
list did not donate to his campaign. Those hires included
group leaders in Human Resources and Government
Relations, people for medical jobs, teachers and people
for Communications and Community Relations.
Along with the four hires who donated to his
campaign, Baker nominated seven donors to tribal
positions, boards and commissions.
The Tribal Council in December confirmed Baker’s
nominee for treasurer, Lacey Horn, who donated
$50 on June 11 and $500 in Aug. 16. Treasurer is a
constitutionally mandated position. Also, four of Baker’s
10 nominations to the Cherokee Nation Businesses
board of directors donated to his campaign.
Brent Taylor donated $2,500 on Dec. 30, 2010; Bob
Berry donated $5,000 on July 27; Tommye Sue Wright
donated $5,000 on Jan. 25, 2010; and Michael Watkins
donated $200 on Sept. 1.
The Tribal Council approved 13 CN citizens to
various boards and commissions at its Jan. 16 meeting,
with only two of those donating to the Baker campaign.
Angela Jones and her husband jointly donated $2,000
to Baker’s campaign on May 12. She was confirmed as
a board member of the Administrative Appeals Board.
John Garrett, who was confirmed as a member of the
Gaming Commission, donated $1,000 on April 9.
christina-goodvoice@cherokee.org
918-207-3825
Nation’s Burial Assistance offers help in tough times
The tribe provides assistance to
more than 200 burials annually
to those who qualify.
BY DILLON tuRmAN
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – When a family member dies, the
last thing the family wants to think about is a funeral cost.
Fortunately for low-income Cherokee Nation citizens,
they can get help covering funeral costs with the tribe’s
Burial Assistance Program.
CN Family Assistance Director Jerry Snell said the
Nation’s service includes a one-time maximum payment
of $2,500 for traditional burial and cremation services
in partnership with more than 100 churches and funeral
homes across Oklahoma and even some out of state.
He said several areas in which
the tribe has partnerships are Tulsa,
Muskogee, Nowata, Vinita, Grove,
Tahlequah, Stillwell, Locust Grove
and Siloam Springs, Ark.
However, there are income
guidelines for the program. Snell
said simply showing a citizenship
card to a federally recognized tribe
won’t get you assistance.
“The deceased must be a member of a federally
recognized tribe, and must not exceed $22,000 in income
annually,” Snell said. “The services are strictly for lowincome,
federally recognized tribe members.”
He said the family is also asked questions about the
deceased’s resources, income and address before burial
assistance is granted. “We also focus on dependents and
resources before we provide service.”
The CN also considers financial dependencies. Such
as bank accounts, trust funds, life insurance policies and
The services are strictly
for low-income, federally
recognized tribe members.
– Jerry Snell,
Family Assistance director
veteran benefits before providing
assistance.
Snell said the tribe provides
assistance to more than 200 burials
annually, making no limitations on
how many burials are assisted as
long as the deceased has met all of
the requirements and lived within
the CN jurisdiction. To acquire
assistance, one must provide the
following for the deceased: proof of physical address such
as a utility bill; Social Security card; CN citizenship card;
Certificate Degree of Indian Blood card; proof of income
for the previous year and for his/her immediate family;
and proof of all available financial resources, including but
not limited to bank statements.
For more information, call 918-453-5000 or email
human-services@cherokee.org.
dillon-turman@cherokee.org
918-207-4975

Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
BY jAmI cuStER
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH,
Okla. – Principal
Chief Bill John Baker
brought in consultant
Mike Bailey, a
Choctaw, to help with
business development
inside the Cherokee
Nation’s 14-county
jurisdiction. And Mike Bailey
Bailey said the CN is
going after every opportunity “both in the
private and in the government sectors”
that would benefit the Nation.
“That is the vision of the chief,” he said.
“What his main initiative is, is to try to
bring in jobs inside the 14 counties of the
Cherokee Nation and not only just jobs,
but jobs that pay a salary where young
men and women can make a living and
not only young men and women, but
Cherokee citizens in general.”
At the Jan. 16 Tribal Council meeting,
Baker said the tribe is trying to bring in a
business that could create nearly 200 jobs
paying around $15 per hour.
“If we get this business, it will be also
one that will provide opportunities
like (working) on Saturdays to young
Cherokees that go to college,” Bailey said.
“It will be able to provide some work
beyond the 8 to 5. It’s something that if
it happens, it won’t cost the Cherokee
Nation a lot of money, but it’ll provide
several hundred jobs in the beginning
stages and hopefully will expand well
beyond that.”
Although Bailey couldn’t elaborate on
what business is considering moving to
the CN, he said it’s a customer service
operation and there are “opportunities on
the table” aside from it.
“I’m not free to say because they are
in negotiations and all, but he’ll (Baker)
make the announcements later,” he said.
Bailey’s contract with the CN ran from
Oct. 20 to Dec. 31. He said he worked 20
to 25 hours a week at $150 an hour for a
sum of about $33,000. However, he said
the CN no longer pays him and he would
only be compensated when a business he’s
negotiated with contracts with the CN,
and that would come from the business.
“At the present, I am not on the payroll
of the Cherokee Nation. I’ve been doing
some volunteer work and trying to finish
up deals we have coming,” he said.
Bailey said there are advantages for
companies moving to the CN, including
accelerated appreciation of financing for
buildings or equipment and a $4,000 tax
break per hired Cherokee.
“The Cherokee Nation has its own
structure that it offers new market tax
credits, which can basically bring back to
the bottom line of revenue up to 15 and
18 percent,” he said. “We can train these
individuals and help pay a portion of
their salary while they’re in training. Not
only that, but we can train them however
they need us to train them.”
Bailey said he’s discovered that in
the private sector multimillion- and
multibillion-dollar companies are eager
to team with the Nation.
“I just know I’m in contact daily with
companies that we’re sending to CNB
(Cherokee Nation Businesses), and CNB
is doing an excellent job of working with
these people and getting them in here,”
he said. “You’re just going to see some
good things happen within the Cherokee
Nation.”
Although Bailey is now helping the
CN, in 2003 he helped the Choctaws
buy Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw
before CNB could bid on it. Bailey said
he’s responsible for that purchase, but
contrary to rumors, the Choctaws never
tried to place the land into trust. “It was
in the Cherokee Nation, but no effort was
ever made, in spite of what anyone says to
place that land in trust.”
He said the BRD buy tried to get
horsemen on board with State Question
712, which established state-tribal
gaming compacts and authorized tribes
to operate certain electronic games
in return for payments to the state. It
also allowed three horse tracks to have
electronic games.
But now, he said his business experience
and knowledge bring a lot to the table for
Cherokee Nation.
“…when you work from maintenance
all the way up, you understand the
programs. And the main thing, you
understand that there is a tremendous
need for the people and I enjoy helping
people,” he said. “I am not a member
of the Cherokee Nation, but I am truly
honored to be working with the Cherokee
Nation.”
jami-custer@cherokee.org
918-453-5560
While nominating Glory Jordan for
speaker, Fishinghawk requested the
ending date of the speaker’s term be
amended from August 2013 to August
2015, causing debate.
Cara Cowan Watts said she believes
constituents want a two-year term for
the speaker because the council now has
staggered terms, and a four-year term is
“a grab for power.”
“Essentially, we have a new council
every two years not every four years
because half of us could potentially
turn over. Our leadership then would
be acknowledged and reaffirmed or
changed every two years as the council
is seated and the dynamics of the council
changes,” she said.
Elections will be held for nine of the
17 council seats in 2013 as part of the
staggered-term system, as defined in the
1999 Constitution.
Fishinghawk asked council attorney
Todd Hembree if the constitution
specifies a two-year or four-year term
for the speaker. Hembree said the
constitution did not mention either term,
and it was up to the committee whether
to allow for a four-year term. He said
it’s the first time the council addressed
a term limit within the staggered-term
system.
Cowan Watts said she didn’t believe it
was proper to mix the vote for speaker
with a vote on the speaker’s term. She
suggested the two questions be divided
and voted on separately.
The committee voted to extend the
speaker’s term to August 2015 by a 10-7
vote with Lee Keener, David Thornton,
Cowan Watts, Buel Anglen, Jack Baker,
Julia Coates and Frailey voting no.
The committee then voted on the two
speaker nominees, Glory Jordan and
Thornton. The vote resulted in a 9-8
split. Hoskin was elected deputy speaker
by acclamation.
Fishinghawk and Thornton were
nominated for council secretary and the
term limit for the position was reaffirmed
February 2012 • Cherokee Phoenix 3
CN to expand recycling efforts with new facility
BY tESINA jAcKSON
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – After receiving a
$478,000 grant from the U.S. Department
of Energy, the Cherokee Nation will
construct a building to house and expand
its recycling program.
“We procured a grant from the U.S.
Department of Energy to actually take
those recycling efforts a bit further to
construct our own building to house our
recycling program in and to hopefully
expand it in the future as the economies
allow,” Pat Gwin, Natural Resources
Department director, said.
The CN started recycling paper in the
mid-1990s. In 2009, the Tribal Council
expanded the recycling and conservation
system to include cardboard and eventually
other products such as aluminum, glass,
plastic and electronics. Gwin said the
additional products would be recycled
once the new building is constructed.
The current holding facility is located
at the Southgate Business Center on
choctaw consultant strives to
bring businesses to Nation
Consultant Mike Bailey
was contracted by
the administration to
help create jobs for the
Cherokee Nation.
Students sought for 2012
‘Remember the Removal’ ride
BY StAFF REPORtS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Applications
are being accepted from students wanting
to participate in the 2012 “Remember the
Removal Bike Ride,” a journey that takes
crosses seven states to experience what is
commonly known as the Trail of Tears.
The three-week trek begins the first
week of June. Interested students need to
apply and start preparing. Applications
must be submitted by March 2.
The ride begins in New Echota, Ga., the
last capital of the Cherokee Nation before
removal, and will follow the northern
route of the Trail of Tears ending in
Tahlequah. The 950-mile journey spans
Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois,
Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Participants will travel an average of
60 miles a day, mirroring in part the
hardships of their Cherokee ancestors
who made the same trek on foot. Of the
estimated 16,000 Cherokees who took
that journey, about 4,000 died due to
exposure, starvation and disease, creating
the Trail of Tears.
Participants also will visit historically
important sites along the trail, connecting
their ancestor’s experience with theirs.
They will also provide daily updates of
the ride by documenting their personal
journeys through blogs, social media,
photos and videos.
An applicant must be a CN citizen and
a student in high school or college that
is at least 15 years old. Space is limited
to 10 riders and applicants will be asked
to provide background and health
information, parental consent if under
18 and a brief statement about why they
would like to participate in the project.
An advisory panel will interview each
candidate to determine interest and
commitment to the project. Students need
to be in good physical shape and make
the commitment to bike daily for several
weeks in various weather conditions.
For more information or to apply, visit
www.remembertheremoval.org.
Muskogee Avenue, west of the Tribal
Complex. The new building will be located
at the Tribal Complex.
“We’ll have more facility of space,
more square footage. We’re going to get
some other equipment, some more semis
(trailers) and that type of stuff to help us
handle and better manage the recyclables,”
Facilities Management Director Taylor
Alsenay said.
The grant also allows the Nation to
purchase a tractor, two compactors and
waste receptacles that will be placed around
Village
from front page
Resources and using the CHC’s full-time
maintenance crew to build structures
have cut costs, Tilley said.
“Our crew is the most experienced at
building these houses because nobody
has built them in 300 years. So, the folks
we are using are the only people that
have done it,” he said.
Tilley added that the crew learned
from difficulties they encountered while
building the two prototypes and realized
they didn’t need to hire contractors to
build the 18 village structures.
“Our guys could build this. We could
go out and look all over the country and
not find anybody with any experience
on this. Our guys built the first two and
built them well. Our own crew are the
experts,” Tilley said.
Workers from the CN
Day Work Program and
Cherokee Fire Rangers
are also assisting. Four
rangers have been
working four hours a
day framing the homes. Cherokee Fire
Ranger Leader David Comingdeer said
he’s a carpenter by trade and volunteered
to be a part of the building process.
Having only an archeological pattern and
no blueprints for building the winter and
summer homes has been challenging, he
said, but now the crews working on the
buildings are experienced with ancient
building techniques.
Rules
from front page
the complex so people and departments
can recycle the additional items. The new
building is expected to be finished in
September and have more space for more
recyclables to be stored before being sold.
“Once this new building is constructed,
not only can we store that for longer
periods of time, get larger volumes at a
time, we can actually store it on sight, wait
for the market to go up and then take it all
over there,” Gwin said.
tesina-jackson@cherokee.org
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
“We’ve put up three winter homes so
far. We’ve got four left to go, and each
one of the winter homes we have put
up has evolved, and we’ve become more
efficient at building as we move along,”
Comingdeer said. “To me this is the
most fascinating thing I’ve ever built.”
He added that he appreciates the fact
that when children visit the finished
village they will be seeing authentic
Cherokee architecture.
Comingdeer said he learned that in the
1700s Cherokee homes could be built in
a day because the work was parceled
out among the village with each person
contributing.
“Everyone in the town would have
pieces to gather whether it be the logs
or some type of mud that was used for
plastering or the cords that were used
to tie everything together. Everybody
got an assignment,” he said. “They were
master craftsmen. It brings a whole new
meaning to what a Cherokee is in the
sense of architecture and craftsmanship.”
Tilley said he expects the larger and
more accurate village to boost tourism,
and with increased visitation, provide
an opportunity to more richly portray
the Cherokee story. He said he hopes the
Cherokee community will get excited
about the village now that construction
is progressing.
“I’m feeling a little bit of buzz about it
now that there’s some construction,” he
said. “So far people have been supportive.
I just want to get a lot of Cherokee folks
excited about this. It’s representing their
history.”
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
to be one year. Fishinghawk was elected
to serve until January 2013 in a 9-8 vote.
Hoskin was also elected Rules
Committee chairman and immediately
replaced former Chairwoman Frailey
during the meeting.
David Walkingstick was elected
Rules Committee co-chairman by a 9-8
vote. He voted for himself along with
Janelle Fullbright, Fishinghawk, Glory
Jordan, Frankie Hargis, Curtis Snell,
Joe Byrd, Hoskin and Dick Lay. Also
nominated for the co-chair spot was
Keener. However, he only received eight
votes from himself, Frailey, Don Garvin,
Thornton, Baker, Coates, Cowan Watts
and Anglen.
The same 9-8 split occurred for nine of
the 15 positions considered during the
meeting.
Fishinghawk and Baker were
nominated for chair of the Executive and
Finance Committee, with Fishinghawk
winning by a 9-8 vote. For co-chair,
Hoskin and Baker were nominated.
Hoskin won by a 9-8 vote.
Fullbright was the sole nominee
for Health Committee chair and was
approved by acclamation.
In a 9-8 vote, Lay was elected over
Cowan Watts to co-chair the Health
Committee.
Byrd and Coates were nominated for
the Education and Culture Committee
chair. Byrd was chosen by a vote of 9-8,
and Garvin was approved as co-chair by
acclamation.
The Community Services chair and
co-chair were also selected by a 9-8 vote.
Thornton and Lay were nominated for
the chair with Lay being elected. For
co-chair, Hargis and Thornton were
nominated with Hargis winning.
Snell and Hargis respectively won the
Resources Committee’s chair and cochair
spots by acclamation.
The votes for new council leaders
normally occur in August of an election
year. However, with a disputed principal
chief’s election that lasted until October
and two council seats left vacant by
former Councilors Bill John Baker and
Joe Crittenden, who are now principal
chief and deputy chief respectively, the
votes could not take place until now.
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961

BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
4 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
Tribe’s LIHEAP funding reduced significantly
Current Low Income
Home Energy Assistance
Program funds are more
than $600,000 less than
last year’s level.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Heating and
cooling assistance for needy Cherokees
may not be readily available through the
Cherokee Nation’s Low Income Home
Energy Assistance Program because of
drastic cuts for fiscal year 2012.
The tribe’s LIHEAP received more than
$529,000 in federal funds for FY 2012,
which was $1.2 million less than the
$1.79 million it received in FY 2011. The
U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services administers LIHEAP funding to
assist low-income households with heating
and cooling assistance.
To help with the shortfall, the Tribal Council
appropriated $200,000 in December to ensure that nonelderly
and non-disabled clients of LIHEAP could be
helped with heating costs. Before the appropriation, only
elderly clients 60 and older and disabled clients could have
received assistance, and that assistance was reduced by 25
percent compared to past three funding levels.
“We were able and did open the LIHEAP application
process a couple weeks ago to all age categories,” CN
Director of Family Assistance Jerry Snell said.
However, part of the agreement for the council funds
Anthony Pritchett, Cherokee Nation Human Services property management
technician, loads two air conditioners to be delivered to elders as part of the tribe’s
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The program is currently funded more
than $600,000 less than last year’s level. ARCHIVE PHOTO
was that CN LIHEAP would return the $200,000 if
adequate federal funds were received. On Dec. 30, CN
LIHEAP received an additional $450,000 in federal funds.
However, Snell said it’s not yet clear if the $200,000 would
need to be returned to the council.
Current CN LIHEAP funding is slightly more than $1
million, but still about $773,000 less than FY 2011.
“Yes, we are down. What that means is we probably won’t
be able to make supplemental payments to our elderly or
disabled like we’ve done in the past and our payment levels
won’t be as high as they were in the past,” Snell said. “If we
have a cooling program at all for the elderly and disabled
this summer…it will probably be a reduced
payment.”
Snell said he’s hopeful President Obama
would make available contingency funds
such as he did in FY 2011 when CN
LIHEAP received an additional $100,000.
Compounding this funding shortage
is the fact the Oklahoma Department of
Human Services also reduced its LIHEAP
assistance for non-elderly and disabled
households. Snell said this could possibly
increase assistance requests from CN
citizens who previously received LIHEAP
aid through the state. He added that the
state should also receive additional federal
funding but not enough to serve many
people needing heating assistance.
Like many current federal budgets,
LIHEAP funding is part of a continuing
resolution, which expired on Dec. 16. The
federal government funded LIHEAP at
$4.7 billion for 2012 and state LIHEAPs are
depending on $2.57 billion in block grants
that include emergency contingency funds
until Congress resolves the nation’s budget.
“For whatever reason, the way I
understand it, they used the Presidential
Green Book instead of last year’s federal budget for
(Cherokee Nation) LIHEAP, and that put the funding back
to what it was in (20)08, which was a significant decrease
in funding,” Snell said.
Details of the president’s annual budget proposal
are described in the Treasury Department’s General
Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2012
Revenue Proposals or Green Book.
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961

Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
Cherokee Phoenix Radio
celebrates first year
Phoenix staff members
plan to expand the show
to other markets in
northeast Oklahoma.
BY jAmI cuStER
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee
Phoenix’s radio show will celebrate its
one-year anniversary in February, and
there are plans to expand the broadcast to
other northeastern Oklahoma markets.
The Cherokee Phoenix increased its
multimedia effort
on Feb. 6, 2011, by
creating a weekly
radio news show
that airs from 9 a.m.
to 9:15 a.m. each
Sunday on Lakes
Country 102.1 FM in
Tahlequah.
Phoenix Executive
Editor Bryan Pollard said the show has
come a long way in a year.
“When we started working with Shane
and Cindy (Sellers) at Lakes Country to
develop the program we had a modest
15 minute news brief in mind and since
that time we have really developed a
much broader idea of what the show
can become,” Pollard said. “So now we’re
looking into new markets, new radio
stations and actually developing different
types of content for the program. So
the future is very exciting for Cherokee
Phoenix Radio.”
Pollard said he would also like to see the
types of stories in the program expand.
“I’d like to see more long-form
interviews where we sit down with
newsmakers and news leaders in the
So the future is very
exciting for Cherokee
Phoenix Radio.
– Bryan Pollard,
Phoenix executive editor
Cherokee Nation and kind of go indepth
about the pressing issues that the
Cherokee Nation is facing right now with
the decision makers who are going to be
determining the course for the Cherokee
Nation,” he said.
Lakes Country Radio personality Shane
Sellers said the Phoenix’s show sounds
“better and better all the time.”
“I think the more you talk about
community events and things that matter
to the Cherokee Nation the better,” he
said. “I do get positive feedback on
covering the Cherokee Nation as a whole
and you all (Cherokee Phoenix) are now
a big part of that.”
Pollard said the radio show is a natural
progression in
the development
in the Cherokee
Phoenix. Since
the newspaper’s
inception in 1828,
the Phoenix has
been the “primary
source of news and
information for the
Cherokee people in
regards to the culture and government.”
“When we launched the Cherokee
Phoenix Radio program, it was
consistent with that mission,” Pollard
said. “Everything that we do is going to
be aimed at reaching more and more
Cherokee people so that they can have the
news and information that they need to
improve quality of their lives.”
The weekly show is posted each Monday
on the Cherokee Phoenix’s website www.
cherokeephoenix.org.
The show can also be heard as a podcast
on iTunes, which can be found in the
iTunes store by searching for Cherokee
Phoenix Radio.
jami-custer@cherokee.org
918-453-5560
cherokeephoenix.org
Hembree
from front page
University and the University of Notre
Dame Law School. He said he attended
Notre Dame on an American Indian
Fellowship he received from the tribe.
“That enabled me the opportunity to
go to any school that I wanted to,” he
said. “(Notre Dame) also instilled in me
a sense of duty that I had especially to
the Cherokee tribe and all Native tribes.
Had it not been for that scholarship
I still would have went to law school,
but I don’t think I would have been as
successful that I was able to be.”
Several councilors at the Rules
Committee meeting
expressed appreciation
for Hembree’s work as
council attorney as well
as sadness to his leaving.
Councilor Chuck
Hoskin Jr. said “we hate to lose him… it
really is a blow to the institution.”
“Now we will recover, but it’s hard to
replace him. But it’s a net gain for the
Cherokee Nation that Mr. Hembree has
agreed to accept the nomination for
attorney general,” Hoskin added. “I feel
very proud that someone associated
with this body is going to represent us as
Hammons
from front page
Country work. She jokingly said that at
her age “it’s a little scary to start a new
venture,” but that she’s looking forward
to it. She chose to work for the firm
because of her appreciation for it.
“They don’t charge exorbitant fees to
the tribes and I think that having Native
lawyers as outside counsel for tribes is
a good thing,” she said. “I think there’s
some unscrupulous folks out there trying
to take advantage of the tribe’s relative
economic prosperity and this firm is not
doing that.”
Hammons said she knew Yonne Tiger,
of Campbell and Tiger, socially but
not professionally. She said she got to
know Tiger during the recent Freedmen
decisions when Tiger’s firm represented
Deputy Chief S. Joe Crittenden while he
was acting principal chief.
Hammons stepped down as attorney
general as former Tribal Council
attorney Todd Hembree replaces her.
He was sworn in on Jan. 26 in a special
Tribal Council meeting. Principal Chief
Bill John Baker nominated Hembree for
attorney general since Hammons’ term
ended in 2011.
“Todd has been a very serious
advocate for the Tribal Council while
he’s been there, and I know he’ll be a
serious advocate for this office and its
independence and I feel very good about
that,” she said.
CN Communications officials said the
February 2012 • Cherokee Phoenix 5
attorney general.”
Also during the committee meeting,
Councilor Cara Cowan Watts asked
Hembree his position on the status of the
tribe’s 1999 Constitution.
“My position on that is quite clear…let
there be no doubt that the constitution is
the 1999 Constitution,” he said.
Hembree said the tribe is operating
under the 1999 Constitution because
it was developed and approved by the
Cherokee people and confirmed by
tribe’s Supreme Court.
“That’s good enough for me, and I
intend to enforce the laws of the Cherokee
Nation and defend this constitution,”
Hembree said.
Though Hembree’s departure is a loss
for the legislative branch, Baker said it’s a
gain for his administration.
“Todd has a wealth of Indian law
experience,” Baker said. “His professional
and personal backgrounds make him a
natural fit to be our attorney general.”
Hembree replaces A. Diane Hammons
as attorney general, who tendered her
resignation on Jan. 3.
Hammons served in the
constitutionally mandated position since
the CN Supreme Court confirmed the
1999 Constitution in 2006.
jami-custer@cherokee.org
918-453-5560
administration appreciates Hammons’
tribal service and wishes her well on
future endeavors. And though her
tenure as attorney general has ended,
she plans to continue advocating for CN
citizens. “I am Cherokee, always have
been Cherokee. So of course I will stay
involved as a Cherokee citizen. I don’t
foreclose the idea of being involved in
the Nation in some capacity, I’m certainly
open to that.”
In her nearly 17 years of working
for the tribe, she said she’s most proud
of the Attorney General Act. “I came
into the AG position when it was first
created. I had been on the Constitutional
Convention, so I knew what we had
envisioned for the position and I always
tried to advocate very strongly for its
independence and autonomy…that’s one
of the thing that I’m very proud of.”
Hammons said the position “does not,
should not have anything to do with who
is chief” and as the Nation’s top legal
representative it shouldn’t change with
who is in office.
“I have tried very, very hard to
fulfill that independence and that
responsibility. And it has been hard
sometimes. I’ve caught quite a bit of both
personal and public criticism because I
wasn’t strong enough campaigner for
this individual or I was seen as being
favorable to this individual…but that
wasn’t my responsibility to campaign for
anyone. I tried very hard to maintain the
dignity and the professionalism and the
independence of the office.”
jami-custer@cherokee.org
918-453-5560
The Cherokee Phoenix is now on Twitter. Be sure to check often for
updates on what what is going on within within the Cherokee Cherokee Nation.
http://twitter.com/cherokeephoenix.
The Cherokee Phoenix Phoenix is mobile. mobile. Keep informed on your iPhone,
iphone.cherokeephoenix.org.
Become a fan of the Cherokee Phoenix on Facebook.

February 2012
Bryan Pollard
Executive Editor
(Cherokee)
Travis Snell
Assistant Editor
(Cherokee)
Will Chavez
Senior Reporter
(Cherokee/San Felipe Pueblo)
Jami Custer
Reporter
(Cherokee)
Tesina Jackson
Reporter
(Cherokee)
Dillon Turman
Reporter
(Cherokee)
Christina Good Voice
Multimedia Editor
(Muscogee/Choctaw/Rosebud Lakota)
Mark Dreadfulwater
Media Specialist
(Cherokee)
Roger Graham
Media Specialist
(Cherokee)
Nicole L. Hill
Advertising Coordinator
(Cherokee)
Dena Tucker
Administrative Officer
(Cherokee)
Joy Rollice
Secretary
(Cherokee)
Adam Brewer
Distribution
(Cherokee/Oglala Sioux)
Anna Sixkiller
Linguist
(Cherokee)
Editorial Board
Dan Agent
(Cherokee/Choctaw)
John Shurr
(Cherokee)
Jason Terrell
(Cherokee)
Robert Thompson III
(Cherokee)
Gerald Wofford
(Cherokee)
Cherokee Phoenix
P.O. Box 948
Tahlequah, OK 74465
(918) 453-5269
FAX: (918) 458-6136
1-800-256-0671
www.cherokeephoenix.org
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Published monthly by the Cherokee Nation with offices
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mail subscriptions and changes of address to the Cherokee
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copyright 2012: The entire contents of the Cherokee Phoenix
are fully protected by copyright unless otherwise noted
and may be reproduced if the copyright is noted and credit is
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Requests to reprint should be directed to the editor at
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Please query by telephone or mail before sending copy and/
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The Cherokee Phoenix also publishes an In memoriam
section at no cost to families to honor Cherokee citizens who
have recently passed away. That section includes the name
of the deceased; age; birthplace and date of birth; place and
date of death; and occupation.
member
Native American
journalists Association
6 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
Oklahoma Press
Association
CHIEF’S PERSPECTIVE
BY BILL jOHN
BAKER
Principal Chief
One of the
consequences of
being the country’s
largest federally
recognized tribe
is that we often
receive a lot of outside attention for
our efforts to take care of our citizens,
especially those involving our future.
Some of the programs and services
offered through Cherokee Nation are
unique, such as our immersion school.
Others simply involve a Cherokee
twist on programs available at the
local, state or federal level.
Lately, the mainstream media has
paid a lot of attention to adoption
law cases involving Indian children,
with some outlets going so far as to
mistakenly paint a federal law as one
that is exclusively ours. The Indian
Child Welfare Act was passed during
Talking Circles
This is service?
I called in my request for refills of my medications on Dec.
14 and was told by the conversant to pick them up Dec. 16 at
the Bartlesville Health Clinic. When I arrived to pick them up,
several people were standing at the door and the office was
closed for the Christmas program in Tahlequah. I called the
phone numbers provided on the sign on the door intended
to help us get our meds and learned that they were only the
same numbers we use to request refills. The sign also said to
call the Nowata office, which was also closed for the Christmas
program. So, now what are those of us who are out of our meds
supposed to do? The avenue to serve our needs is simply a run
around and we have learned that there is no way to get the meds
we need.
These offices had the list of clients who would need meds
at their fingertips, but made no effort to contact us to make
alternate arrangements. Is this how Cherokee Nation citizens
are served? Perhaps it’s time for a change.
Derek A. Murphy
Bartlesville, Okla.
Perspective on Freedmen citizenship
I would just like to reaffirm some positive in relation to
the Cherokee Freedmen. The Cherokee Freedmen enjoyed
the protection of U.S. citizenship for not less than 59 years
before we Cherokee outlaws. Naturalized government will
intervene Cherokee Nation sovereignty by Cherokee Freedmen
connivance. Negro slavery had been the germ of dissatisfaction
for which ultimately led to the emigration of the Western Band
(of Cherokee).
I personally feel my safety and well-being are threatened
by Freedmen accusations of prejudice. I’ve been accosted
and beaten by mixed black Cherokees while explaining our
traditional heritage. My clan affiliation is burden to say the least.
David Bailey
Wheelwright, Ky.
Benefits for all everywhere
Why is it that, even though I’m a Cherokee Nation citizen,
because I don’t live in northeastern Oklahoma I cannot partake
of any of the benefits that the Cherokee people in that area
do? I cannot buy a tribal tag because I live in Oklahoma City.
There are no classes here that teach the Cherokee language. My
Indian Child Welfare more than a law
the Jimmy Carter administration to
help protect every tribe’s most precious
resource – their children.
Although ICWA does not make
it illegal to break up a Native family,
when a child can’t be with parents, the
first choice is to put the child with a
family member. If a relative – Native or
otherwise – isn’t available, then tribal
citizens are, under this law, considered
the next best option.
The CN is considered among the
best in Indian Country in terms
of time and resources poured into
protecting our children and ensuring
they have a voice in the legal system.
The more than 100 employees in the
Indian Child Welfare Office and 10
lawyers in the Attorney General’s
Office work more than 1,100 cases
each year nationwide.
Part of the tribe’s commitment to
our children is finding homes for its
youngest citizens who, for whatever
reason, can’t stay with their parents.
In addition to providing a voice, our
COUNCILOR’S PERSPECTIVE
Land is sovereignty
BY LEE KEENER
Tribal Councilor
For practical
purposes, the
first Cherokee
land cession was
in 1721 with the
British colony of South Carolina.
Sixty-four years later in the first
treaty with the U.S. in 1785, the U.S.
Congress gave the Cherokee Nation
peace and received us into favor and
protection. Fifty years later, at the
time of removal, only a fraction of the
“protected” land was left. Within 50
years machinations were put in place
that led to allotment. Throughout
the CN has persevered but at an
enormous cost.
Our land has always been inextricably
linked to the happiness and well-being
of all Cherokees. Doublehead was
described as “one of the most eminent
chiefs and a very intelligent man.”
Once he started selling Cherokee land,
however, “no one in the Nation could
bear him.”1 Elias Boudinot (Buck
Watie) was also an intelligent man and
first editor of the Cherokee Phoenix.
He came to believe that signing a
“treaty” to relinquish all lands east of
the Mississippi would preserve the
Nation. His position was that “…if one
hundred persons are ignorant of their
true situation and are so completely
blinded as not to see the destruction
that awaits them, we can see strong
reasons to justify the action of a
minority of fifty persons to do what the
majority would do if they understood
their condition, to save a nation from
political thralldom….”2
Recently, I was most gratified when
Legislative Act 24-11 passed. Provisions
of this act are: “The Nation, through its
Principal Chief, shall object when any
foreign Native American Tribe makes
application, requests, or proposes
an agreement to acquire, transfer, or
otherwise obtain land into trust within
the jurisdictional boundaries of the
Cherokee Nation. Formal approval
of land into trust for foreign Native
American Tribes shall be obtained
by consent of the Cherokee Nation
through a resolution of the Council
of the Cherokee Nation, approved
by 2/3 of the Council membership,
and submitted for the approval of
the Principal Chief under Article
VI, Section 10 of the Constitution
of the Cherokee Nation. Neither the
Principal Chief nor any other officer
has authority to authorize acquisition
of land in federal trust status, and a
failure to object shall be considered a
‘willful neglect of duty.’”
Hopefully, with this act in place if
there is ever a time when the wrong
people are in office they will be forced
to do the right thing. We must never
again allow a few to usurp the will of the
many. However, even the knowledge
of certain death sanctioned by the
13-year-old son is also a tribal citizen, but can’t learn Cherokee
because they don’t teach it in the schools here. I believe if one
is a tribal citizen, regardless of where they live, they should be
entitled to all the benefits the same as the rest of the tribe.
Terry Katz
Oklahoma City
Go off fact not prejudice
In the January 2012 issue, a man gave his critique on Chief
John Ross and the opening of the Chief John Ross Museum in
Park Hill, Okla., suggesting we hold off praise for the chief.
In general, I suggest that he and many people with bias
need to be slow to speak and do more research before unjustly
attacking others.
In a new book, “Toward the Setting Sun: John Ross, the
Cherokees and the Trail of Tears,” author Brian Hicks admits
his Cherokee history knowledge was practically nil. He is a
young man who has done deep research giving research sources
I didn’t know existed. It checks with my 30 years research – a
quest to determine where the truth lay between the two major
factions. I am related to both factions.
They say ignorance is bliss, but I believe in facts and truth
– not prejudice. Facts prove that many people have wrongly
condemned just and honorable men not just in the Cherokee
Nation, but everywhere.
The Bible condemns wrongful condemnation. Let’s improve
our world starting with me. John Ross was an upright leader
devoted to the Cherokee people giving literally his life to
them. Our government, Georgia, and the settlers stole the
Cherokee lands. The strong take by brute force. We are paying
that price today.
The opposing Cherokee faction was entitled to its opinion,
but “rabble” Cherokees took measures unapproved, causing
untold grief upon the majority, still existing today, blaming
the wrong people. Even to death Major Ridge and Chief Ross
maintained a great love and respect for each other. Chief Ross
did not orchestrate their deaths, but he’ll always be blamed.
Both men were good and wise men. Major Ridge was Ross’
mentor throughout life. It was a great loss to Ross.
This book is a must for all concerned Americans. Best I’ve
ever read.
Frances Goodnight
Porter, Okla.
Indian Child Welfare Office provides
adoption placement services and
foster care for Cherokee children
across Oklahoma.
I ask that you all at least consider
opening your homes and hearts to a
Cherokee child in need of someone
to call “Mom” or “Dad,” either
permanently as an adoptive parent,
or as a stand-in through the foster
care system. Even if you do not live in
Oklahoma, our Indian Child Welfare
Office can help put you in contact with
state and tribal agencies in your area, as
there is a real need for Native adoptive
and foster parents nationwide.
Although our tribal government
takes great pride in the efforts made
to help our children, those efforts
are only successful when embraced
by the community as a whole. We all
come from one fire – help us keep
that fire burning brightly for future
generations.
bill-baker@cherokee.org
918-453-5618
National Council did not stop some.
In our earlier history the penalty was
much more severe. Doublehead was
killed for selling land in 1807. In 1839
Elias Boudinot was killed for signing
our land away. Major Ridge and John
Ridge were killed on the same day.
Incidentally, Major Ridge had been
involved in Doublehead’s death. The
killings set in motion events that would
ultimately divide the Nation and result
in many more Cherokee deaths. We
live with that legacy still.
History has shown that once our land
base is compromised we can no longer
control the consequences. Today,
every CN citizen can choose to unite
in the cause of CN sovereignty. Today,
let us not surrender to pressure from
the Housing of Urban Development
or Bureau of Indian Affairs. Today, in
light of the nescience of some of our
elected and appointed leadership at
home and in Washington, we Cherokee
need to stand together so that we will
have a bright tomorrow for future
generations. Cherokee Nation today,
Cherokee Nation forever.
1 Crews and Starbuck, Records of the
Moravians, Vol. 3, p.1066, 2011. Excerpt
from letter from Gottlieb Byhan to The
Rev. Carl Gotthold Reichel, 1807
2 National Intelligencer, May 22,
1838
To view LA-24-11 go to http://
cherokee.legistar.com
lee-keener@cherokee.org
918-550-3351

Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Tribal Council approved
Principal Chief Bill John Baker’s 13 nominations for
various tribal boards and positions during its Jan. 16
meeting.
Former interim Bureau of Indian Affairs Regional
Director Charles Head was unanimously confirmed and
sworn in as the tribe’s secretary of state.
“With his experience working with the federal
government and tribes across this area, Charles Head is a
natural fit to be secretary of state,” Baker said. “His talents
have served the Cherokee Nation well in the past and
they will once again be a tremendous asset.”
Head worked for the BIA for more than a decade.
Before his October 2010 promotion, he was the interim
deputy regional director for the same office and was
the superintendent of the Miami, Okla., office for two
years. He also worked for the CN, including stints as the
U.S. Department of Agriculture liaison and director of
finance.
After questioning his decision to allow Freedmen to
have CN citizenship, councilors unanimously approved
District Court Judge John Cripps to serve another term.
Councilor Julia Coates questioned Cripps about why he
decided the case after years of waiting and why he did not
address the tribe’s arguments. The case was nearly four
years old when Cripps ruled for the Freedmen in Nash v.
Cherokee Nation in February 2011.
She said Cripps made a ruling that “simply said”
Freedmen had treaty rights based on the 1866 Treaty and
he did not explain the reasoning.
“I took my time to go over all of the arguments. When
I reviewed them I determined that was the basis for the
ruling – the treaty said they were to be citizens,” Cripps
said. “It took a long time because it was an important
issue. I did my job. It was not a popular decision. I would
have much rather made the other decision. It would have
been more popular, but I’m not paid to make popular
decisions.”
Also, Claryce Doyle was approved to serve as a Cherokee
Phoenix editorial board member.
Councilors also confirmed Harold Ray “Sam” Hart,
Gary Cooper, Jerry Holderby, Rick Doherty and Deacon
Turner for the Cherokee Nation Businesses board of
Byrd takes oath for
Dist. 1 council seat
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Former
Principal Chief Joe Byrd went from being
Tribal Councilor-elect to Tribal Councilor
after taking his oath of office on Jan. 23 in
the Tribal Council Chambers.
Byrd will serve as the Dist. 1, Seat 1
council representative until August 2013.
He replaces Bill John Baker, who took
over as principal chief on Oct. 19 after
winning the chief’s race.
Cherokee Nation Supreme Court
Justice Jim Wilcoxen swore in Byrd with
the councilor’s two daughters, Julia and
Candice, at his side. After taking his oath
of office, Byrd thanked his supporters
and volunteers for helping him with his
campaign.
“It took everybody. It was a grassroots
effort to make this thing happen,” he
said. “I look forward to serving Cherokee
County and District 1 and hope I can just
fulfill some of the responsibilities that our
former council member, now chief, Baker
did.”
On Jan. 17, the CN Election
Commission certified the results of the
special election for Dist. 1, Seat 1, naming
Byrd the winner. The election was held
Jan. 14.
According to the results, Byrd received
1,189 votes for 65 percent of the vote
directors. Also confirmed were Lyle Burris and Angela
Jones for the Administrative Appeals board. Ima Jean
McCollum was confirmed for the Comprehensive Care
Agency board, and J. Anthony Yates was confirmed for
the Housing Authority of the Cherokee Nation board.
The nomination of John Garrett for the Gaming
Commission was confirmed but with reservations
by several councilors. Councilor Cara Cowan Watts
questioned him about a decision he made as a Cherokee
County district judge in 2000 that prevented the state from
enforcing alleged gaming violations against the United
Keetoowah Band’s casino in Tahlequah. His injunction
still stands, allowing the casino operate though the state
alleges it does not sit on Indian land.
Garrett assured councilors he would serve only the CN
and was confirmed by a 10-6 vote with Councilors Cowan
Watts, Buel Anglen, Coates, Lee Keener, Jack Baker and
Meredith Frailey voting against his confirmation.
In other business, the council amended the 2012
budget, adding nearly $8 million for a total budget of
more than $483 million. However, Cowan Watts objected
to transferring $100,000 from the Attorney General’s
Office to pay the salary of Baker’s general counsel, Kalyn
Free, and made a motion to stop it.
totals. Former CN employee Pam Iron
received 431 votes, while Raymond Vann
received 106 votes. Candidates Geneva
Reves and Brandon Girty got 48 votes and
32 votes respectively.
Byrd said he plans to spend time in
the communities to learn firsthand the
needs of his constituents. Health care
and helping Cherokee people become
healthier are other priorities.
“I really want to stay involved in the
communities. I enjoy being with the
people,” he said.
Byrd previously served on the Tribal
Council from 1987-95 and as principal
chief from 1995-99.
He said compared to when he first
served on the council, the council’s
activities now are more transparent
and technology such as cell phones and
computers make the job of serving the
Cherokee people easier.
“I think when I ran for council in (19)87
I was the youngest council member. I may
be the oldest now,” he said.
Byrd said he looks forward to working
with fellow Councilors Tina Glory Jordan
and David Walkingstick to serve Dist. 1.
The district consists of Cherokee County
and part of Wagoner County.
With Byrd taking office, the council has
all 17 seats filled. Dist. 2 Councilor Frankie
Hargis became the 16th representative
on Dec. 12. She won a Dec. 3 runoff for
Seat 1 in the district, which consists of
Adair and Delaware counties and part of
Ottawa County. That seat became vacant
after S. Joe Crittenden took the deputy
chief’s office on Aug. 14.
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
February 2012 • Cherokee Phoenix 7
Council approves 13 nominations, amends budget
Councilors approve all of
Principal Chief Bill John Baker’s
nominations, but some question
a $100,000 transfer to pay for his
general counsel.
Charles Head: Secretary of State
Gary Cooper: CNB Board
Ricky Doherty: CNB Board
Harold Ray Hart: CNB Board
Jerry Holderby: CNB Board
Darreld Ray Turner: CNB Board
Joe Byrd assumes
the seat vacated by
Principal Chief Bill
John Baker.
At-Large Tribal Councilor Julia Coates, right, questions John Cripps, left, before councilors reconfirmed him as a
Cherokee Nation District Court judge during the Jan. 16 Tribal Council meeting in Tahlequah, Okla. Listening to the
discussion is Dist. 5 Tribal Councilor Buel Anglen. WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Lyle Burris: Administrative Appeals Board
Angela Jones: Administrative Appeals Board
Ima Jean McCollum: Comprehensive Care
Agency
John T. Cripps: District Court justice
Coates claimed Free is receiving $350 an hour, but
was corrected by Cowan Watts who said the amount is
actually $250. According to Free’s contract, she is limited
to $150,000 a year.
“It’s not unreasonable that we should expect the chief of
the largest tribe in the United States to have legal counsel,”
said Councilor Chuck Hoskin Jr. “It’s not an outrageous
fee. In fact, we ought to be careful about throwing around
numbers if we don’t have a firm handle of what those
numbers are.”
Councilor Jodie Fishinghawk said the previous
administration paid attorneys $850 an hour to represent
the CN and that she has a letter from former Principal
Chief Chad Smith stating he was allowed to pick his
counsel when she questioned why he hired a non-Indian
attorney.
Cowan Watts’ motion failed 9-7 with Councilors
Tina Glory Jordan, David Walkingstick, Curtis Snell,
Fishinghawk, Frankie Hargis, David Thornton, Janelle
Fullbright, Hoskin and Dick Lay voting against it.
The budget modification passed 12-4 with Keener,
Anglen, Cowan Watts and Coates voting against it.
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
NOmINAtIONS GAINING APPROVAL At jAN. 16 tRIBAL cOuNcIL mEEtING
Clarice Doyle: Cherokee Phoenix Editorial
Board
John Garret: Gaming Commission
J. Anthony Yates: Housing Authority of
the Cherokee Nation

BY tESINA jAcKSON
Reporter
8 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
Councilors reject
travel policy revision
They do not amend
the Compensation
Act, which would have
allowed $700 a month
for travel stipends.
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – At their Jan.
16 meeting, Tribal Councilors rejected
amending the Cherokee Nation’s
Compensation Act, which in turn
prevents the legislative body’s revised
travel expense policy from taking affect.
The revised travel policy called for
setting travel allowances for councilors at
$700 a month or $8,400 annually. However,
the policy cannot take affect because the
Compensation Act wasn’t amended. The
two documents have conflicting language
regarding travel reimbursement.
The revised policy would have only
applied to travel within the CN. In a
previous travel policy, councilors serving
the 14-county area were allowed $500 a
month for travel within their respective
districts. The new policy would have
allowed $700 a month for travel in all 14
counties. Currently, there are no travel
stipends for councilors traveling within
the jurisdiction.
Also, the new policy called for
accountability and required councilors
to follow three rules when taking the
stipend: pay or incur deductible expenses
while performing services as a councilor;
adequately account for expenses within a
reasonable period of time; and return any
amounts in excess of expenses within a
reasonable period of time.
The revised policy also states that
amounts paid to councilors are generally
not wages and should not be included in
the councilors’ W-2 tax forms and are not
subject to income tax withholding, Social
Security, Medicare taxes and the Federal
Unemployment Tax Act.
A councilor could have chosen to
refuse the stipend and continue turning
in receipts for his or her expenses for
reimbursement, the act states.
Councilor Chuck Hoskin Jr. said
amending the act would have allowed the
council to “retain the ability” to adjust its
travel reimbursement.
However, At-Large Tribal Councilor
Julia Coates voted against the amendment
because she said it was a backdoor pay
raise. “We had $600 previously in travel
funds, which most members of this body,
I dare say, did not utilize in that way, so
Administrative Procedures Act
amended by tribal council
It requires all three
judges to preside over
employee and Tribal
Employments Rights
Office hearings.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – At its Jan. 16
meeting, the Tribal Council unanimously
amended the Administrative Procedures
Act, requiring all three judges from
the Administrative Appeals Board to
preside over employee appeals and Tribal
Employments Rights Office hearings.
The act previously stated that parties in
agency proceedings, judicial reviews or
civil enforcement
proceedings could
request judges to
decide the matters.
With the change,
all three appeals
judges are required
to hear each
employee appeal
and TERO hearing.
Tribal Councilor Cara Cowan Watts
questioned whether there was enough
funding in the Administrative Appeals
Board budget to require all three judges to
preside over cases.
According to CN records, the judges
earn a $200 monthly stipend and $500
per case. Since all three judges will be
required to hear each hearing, the budget
will require an increase.
it was predominately declared as income.”
She said the tribe’s independent
Compensation Committee recommended
the council eliminate using a monthly
travel stipend, which previously was $500,
not $600.
Councilor Cara Cowan Watts said if the
act were amended, it would have allowed
the council to amend its travel policy in
Rules Committee and not at full council.
“I support adequate compensation
for talented individuals to afford to be
on the council to serve the people so
that we know we attract good talent, but
doing it in a fashion that doesn’t allow for
transparency on compensation creates
problems for me,” Cowan Watts said.
She said she believes the policy also
does not allow CN citizens an opportunity
to see a councilor’s mileage sheet, if they
take the monthly stipend, to see if they
are traveling within and outside their
respective districts as part of their council
duties.
“If we don’t have that transparency I
think we lose an aspect of our government,”
she said. “I think that’s sad on top of people
that campaigned against a pay raises who
are suddenly backdooring an additional
pay raise.”
Hoskin disagreed with Coates and
Cowan Watts.
“The issue isn’t a backdoor pay raise,” he
said. “It’s difficult to see how something
could be backdoor or lack transparency
when everything was done in a public
meeting.”
Councilor Dick Lay said whether the
travel policy was implemented or not
wouldn’t make much difference to him
because he routinely surpasses $700 in
mileage traveling for council business, for
which he is reimbursed.
Councilor David Thornton said he’s also
accumulated more than $700 in expenses
traveling on council business.
“If I vote for it, I’m going to be paying
taxes on that $700. It’s going to up my endof-the-year
taxes, but the thing about it is I
don’t have to keep records of every minute
I’m gone inside the Nation,” he said.
He said he would welcome the
opportunity to not have to track mileage
like he does when he compiles receipts for
reimbursements.
The vote ended in an 8-8 tie. Councilors
Don Garvin, Lee Keener, Thornton,
Cowan Watts, Buel Anglen, Jack Baker,
Coates and Meredith Frailey voted against
it. Councilors Hoskin, Curtis Snell, Jodie
Fishinghawk, Tina Glory Jordan, Janelle
Fullbright, Lay and David Walkingstick
and Frankie Hargis voted for it.
“I’m not opposed to this except that I
don’t know if we can financially provide
for it and we can’t constitutionally
authorize anything that there’s not money
for,” Cowan Watts said.
Doug Evans, the council’s executive
director of financial oversight, said there
would be a $56,000 increase in the budget
modification, which had already been
submitted for review. The board’s fiscal
year 2012 budget began at $33,075.
Tribal Councilor Tina Glory Jordan
sponsored the change at the Dec. 13 Rules
Committee meeting after she said several
constituents brought it to her attention.
“It was brought to my attention by several
constituents that came to me that said that
they have been through that process and
did not realize that they weren’t going to
get all three judges sitting together, which
is called an en banc-type setting,” she said.
“When it comes
to employee rights
I am for adding
to a budget if we
need to do so to
make sure that
those employees
have the full rights
awarded to them.
It’s a hard process
for an employee to
go through anyway and I just do not see a
problem with giving them three judges to
hear their case versus one.”
Councilors unanimously approved Lyle
Burris and Angela Jones as new judges
on the board. The third judge, Kenneth
Limore, will continue to serve until 2013.
When it comes to
employee rights I am for
adding to a budget.
– Tina Glory Jordan,
Tribal Councilor
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
tesina-jackson@cherokee.org
918-453-5000, ext. 6139

Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
BY jAmI cuStER
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – New Dist. 1 Tribal Councilor Joe
Byrd filed a complaint Jan. 11 with the Cherokee Nation
Election Commission accusing opposing candidate Pam
Iron of mailing election material that’s not reflected in her
financial disclosure report.
Both individuals ran for the previously open Dist. 1,
Seat 1 on the council. The election was held Jan. 14, and
according to results certified on Jan. 17 Byrd won with
1,189 votes or 65 percent of the vote total.
According to the mailer, a third party called “No on Joe
Byrd” sent the material. Byrd’s complaint states the postage
stamp used is one that’s been used on mailers for Iron.
“On Jan. 9, hundreds of citizens throughout the Cherokee
Nation received a mail piece from an organization calling
themselves ‘No on Joe Byrd,’” states the complaint. “The
mail piece is affixed with postage permit No. 2146. This
mail piece was enclosed in an outer envelope which bears
postage permit No. 849. The ‘Elect Pam Iron’ campaign
has used postage permit No. 849.”
According to a letter sent to the EC, Attorney General
Diane Hammons and Marshal Shannon Buhl, Byrd states
CN law “does not allow anonymous contributions or
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – A memorial for
Cherokee people who used Blythe Ferry
on the Tennessee River to begin their
journeys west during the forced removal
may not be built if sufficient funding is
not raised by March.
The memorial is part of a project that
includes a visitor center, which was built
and opened in 2009.
Blythe Ferry played a role during
the forced removal of Cherokee people
in 1838. It was an exit point from the
Cherokee Nation where many Cherokee
people camped for up to six weeks waiting
to cross the Tennessee River and journey
west to Indian Territory.
CN citizen Shirley Hoskins has been
working with the Meigs County Tourism
Board in Tennessee to get the memorial
built. She said its construction was
deferred until the visitor center was
complete, and because of cost overruns
and misunderstandings about how funds
were to be used, plans for the memorial
were put in limbo.
She said when things were cleared
up only $180,000 was available for the
memorial’s construction. An additional
$45,000 in matching funds is needed to
construct the memorial.
“Currently we have raised about 75
percent of this amount and will need
an additional $12,500 by March if the
project is to proceed and be completed by
October,” she said. “I feel the memorial
will never be built if we are unable to take
advantage of the current opportunity.”
If the money isn’t raised by March, the
available grant funds will be lost.
The memorial fund recently received
a $20,000 donation. Hoskins and
her husband contributed $5,000 and
additional contributions of $8,500 have
been received for a total of $33,500.
expenditures in Cherokee elections. Printing, mailing and
postage may have been paid for by a third party. Clearly,
the entity or person sending out the mail piece went to
great lengths to hide his or her identity.”
Byrd states that naming the organization “No on Byrd”
and not listing a candidate who could be backing the effort
is an anonymous contribution.
However, Iron said she did not know who mailed the
material and her campaign had nothing to do with it. “I
use a professional mailing service. That’s basically all that I
know. I didn’t put the piece out and I didn’t get one in the
mail myself. I didn’t have anything to do with it.”
EC Chairwoman Susan Chapman-Plumb said she didn’t
think there were any election law violations, but that didn’t
mean the commission wouldn’t take action.
“That just means we’re going to research it to determine
if a law exists or if one was violated,” she said. “We’re
getting ready after the District 1 election is over with to sit
down and have a comprehensive review.”
The mailer resembles a four-page tabloid newspaper
and cites controversies during Byrd’s principal chief term
of 1995-99. The mailer also uses apparently copyrighted
material from past newspaper articles, and does not
indicate whether permission was granted to use it. Some
of the mailer’s claims against Byrd include that he lobbied
and supported former California Rep. Diane Watson’s
attempt to cut the tribe’s federal funds and that he’s been
a paid lobbyist for the United Keetoowah Band. Byrd said
both statements are false.
It states that he has worked to get the UKB trust land.
Byrd said he’s in economic development, not trust land
She added that a basic memorial can
be built for $225,000, but some desirable
features such as interpretive panels,
decorations and landscaping would have
to wait until later.
The 2,400-square-foot memorial will
have seven-point star to represent the
seven Cherokee clans and seven panels
with the names of Cherokee people who
crossed the Tennessee River using the
Blythe Ferry.
Today, the ferry site sits along the
eastern bank of the Chickamauga Lake
enclosure of the Tennessee River, just
south of the Hiwassee River. The ferry
was once an important river crossing on
the “Great Road” between Chattanooga
and Knoxville. William Blythe and his
Cherokee wife Nancy Fields established
the ferry around 1809, but sold it before
the removal and moved west.
In 1838, the ferry was used to transport
nearly approximately 9,000 Cherokee
people across the Tennessee River to
begin their treks west. It took several
weeks to move the entire contingent
across the river, with the last detachment
crossing on Nov. 12, 1838.
Those 9,000 Cherokees and 300 Creeks
had been imprisoned in stockades in
Bradley County, a few miles to the
east of the ferry, prior to the removal.
Descriptions of the stockades said that
conditions were terrible and that people
were left exposed to the elements for
weeks prior to being taken to the ferry.
The site is now part of the Cherokee
Removal Memorial Park that was
dedicated in 2005. Former Tennessee
Congressman Zack Wamp secured a
federal grant in 2008, which together with
state and local funding provided $1.65
million for a memorial park that included
a History Wall to tell the Cherokee story,
a visitor center and the memorial. It was
decided in 2008 to defer building the
memorial until supporting facilities were
complete.
Tax-deductible contributions can
be made directly to Mayor Garland
Lankford, Meigs County/Cherokee
Removal Memorial, P. O Box 156,
Decatur, TN 37322. People can call his
office at 423-334-5850.
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
BY StAFF REPORtS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The North
Carolina Utilities Commission recently
attempted to resolve a nearly two-year
dispute over Duke Energy’s plans to build
a substation and transmission lines near
a sacred Cherokee site in Western North
Carolina, near Bryson City.
The commission closed the matter Dec.
28 and reaffirmed Duke Energy’s plans to
build the substation and power lines. The
commission said the issue is resolved, but
also said if those groups who filed the
challenge have still have concerns, they
will need to pursue further remedy in an
appropriate court.
In March 2010, Swain County
commissioners and an ad-hoc group
calling itself Citizens to Protect Kituwah
Valley filed a complaint with the NCUC
stating that the substation would desecrate
the Kituwah Valley, a sacred site of
“fundamental importance to the spiritual
and cultural life of the Cherokee Indian
tr ibe.”
February 2012 • Cherokee Phoenix 9
Byrd files complaint alleging illegal contribution
Tribal Councilor Joe Byrd says
the “No on Joe Byrd” mailer is a
violation of election laws.
tennessee River memorial for
cherokees short on funding
A planned memorial to
commemorate the Trail
of Tears needs another
$12,500 before March.
A painting depicting the site where Blythe’s Ferry once operated on the Tennessee
River. The ferry played a role in the forced removal of Cherokee people from their
homelands in eastern Tennessee and Georgia. PAINTING BY BILL McDONALD
matters, and he’s working on getting the UKB its federal
8A certification, which provides government contracting
opportunities to disadvantaged ethnicities.
It states that his administration couldn’t audit financial
records, jeopardized payrolls and laid off workers. Byrd
said none of the allegations were completely true and all
audits done by federal agencies received approvals.
The mailer also ties Byrd to Principal Chief Bill John
Baker employing non-Cherokees to run CN offices. Baker
said the “anonymous” campaign mailer “incorrectly
smeared” his administration. With respect to his
contracting of General Counsel Kalyn Free (Choctaw),
Communications/Government Relations Executive
Director Jim Gray (Osage) and consultant Mike Bailey
(Choctaw), he said hiring citizens of neighboring tribes
“should not reflect a broken campaign promise, but that
he is assembling an independently qualified team that will
have an immediate, positive impact.”
The mailer also makes claims regarding administration
officials’ salaries, stating Free stands to earn $1 million a
year, Chief of Staff Chuck Hoskin Sr. will earn $158,000 a
year and Senior Adviser Gina Blackfox will earn $128,000
a year. It also claims a James Admont will earn $468,000.
According to CN documents, Free’s salary is capped
at $150,000 per year, Hoskin has an annual contract for
$130,000, and Blackfox will make nearly $125,000. There
is no James Admont working for CN, but a Jason Aamodt
is an attorney contracted at $200,000 a year to work on the
Freedmen litigation.
jami-custer@cherokee.org
918-453-5560
A marker designates the historic Kituwah site near Cherokee, N.C. Kituwah is the
birthplace of the Cherokee people, according to tribel tradition. ARCHIVE PHOTO
NCUC rules on flap about
substation near Kituwah
The North Carolina
Utilities Commission
reaffirms Duke Energy’s
plans for a substation
and power lines.
Duke Energy stated the substation was
needed to upgrade the company’s ability
to provide more electric power due to
increased demand, and the primary reason
for the upgrade was the major expansion
of Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel
and the expected growth in the vicinity of
the hotel.
All three federally recognized Cherokee
tribes had objected to Duke’s plans, and
Swain County commissioners adopted
an ordinance establishing a 90-day
moratorium on the issuance of building
permits and soil and erosion permits when
it applied to utility substations or tie-in
stations.
In August 2010, Duke officials announced
they would find another location out of
the Kituwah Valley to build its substation.
They eventually chose a site in the Swain
County Industrial Park.
However, the state’s utilities commission
was left with the complaint filed in March
2010. The Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians had been alarmed by the proposed
location of the original site, but the tribe
had not challenged the project before
the NCUC. The tribe, numbering some
14,000 citizens in this state, approved of
Duke’s alternate site in Swain County, and
the NCUC approved Duke’s $3.7 million
project in the industrial park in June 2011.
Kituwah is the birthplace of the Cherokee
people, according to tribal tradition. Many
Cherokees believe its significance and
symbolism are comparable to that of Eden.
The Cherokee Phoenix is now on Twitter. Be sure to check often
for updates on what is going on within the Cherokee Nation.
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10 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
Classifieds dgCAm
GENEALOGY
cherokee Adairs book. Large, hard bound, well-referenced. $60 plus $6 s/h. Send $60
+ $6 s/h to Cherokee Reunion Association, 104320 S. 4610 Rd., Sallisaw, OK 74955
REAL ESTATE
VERDIGRIS – OWASSO 2-3-4bdrms $675-1195, 918-371-2316.
www.homesbyfreeman.com
OWASSO Business Space CG zoned – Offices – Garages – Beauty Parlor, 918-371-
2316. www.homesbyfreeman.com
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
(LcSW) Licensed clinical Social Worker FT M-F Salary negotiable. Apply @ Cherokee
Elder Care or online @ eldercar.cherokee.org/ or e-mail karen-griffin@cherokee.org .
1387 W. 4th St., Tahlequah, OK 74464.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
cherokee Nation tax commission (tahlequah office only) are changing extended
hours of operation from Tuesdays and Thursdays to Tuesdays only. Beginning February
1, 2012 (Tahlequah office only) Tuesday 8:15 am – 6:00 pm.
congratulations Eagle Scout Eric thomas Lukezich! Cherokee citizen, Eric Thomas
Lukezich of Troop 466 in Gladstone, Michigan was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout
on October 12, 2011. The Court of Honor will be on March 17, 2012. His Eagle Scout
Project, a Native American dance drum, was made for the Gladstone area school’s Title
VII Indian Education Program. A junior at Gladstone High School, in Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula, he is the son of Tom and Laura Lukezich of Gladstone and the late Cherokee
citizen Daniel Myron Hill is his great-grandfather.
the Sequoyah Schools policy for free or reduced-price means for children served
under the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program and the
After-School Snack Program is available in the office of the Cafeteria Secretary. For
more information, contact Deena Johnson at (918)453-5191 or P.O. Box 520, Tahlequah,
OK 74465.
The Cherokee Phoenix publishes classified ads in good faith. However, we cannot guarantee the integrity
of every ad. If you have doubts concerning a product or service, we suggest contacting the Better
Business Bureau and exercising proper caution.
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must be prepaid by check or money order to the Cherokee Phoenix, Attn: Classifieds, P.O. Box 948,
Tahlequah, OK 74465
In Memoriam dmcdsdi
Kenny Dale Stopp
Funeral services
for Kenny Dale Stopp
were held on Friday,
December 30, 2011
at the Reed-Culver
Chapel.
Interment followed
at Barber Cemetery
Near Stilwell, Okla.
Pallbearers for Kenny included Jimmy
Woodward, Duke Palmer, Robert Swenson,
Billy Lee Murphy, Brent
Smith, Kenny Austin, Dennis Hamby, and
Derry Wadley. Honorary pallbearers were
Brian Page, Jason Stopp, Nathan Stopp,
Ricky Stopp, and Billy George Stopp.
Kenny Dale Stopp was born on
September 19, 1959 in Tahlequah, Okla.,
the son of Betsy Stopp. Kenny was kind
and thoughtful, always helping with chores
to help his mother. He was gifted with
a sense of humor and a great smile. He
worked for Oklahoma Production Center
as a supervisor, a job he enjoyed greatly.
He always coached Special Olympics and
loved helping the athletes reach their full
potential. When he had a day off, Kenny
enjoyed spending time hunting or fishing.
Kenny was called home to his eternal rest
on December 24, 2011 in Tulsa, Okla. He
was 52 years old.
Kenny Dale was preceded in death by his
mother, Betsy Stopp; grandmother, Nellie
Waterdown; two nephews, Kenny Vann
Baker and James Baker; and two uncles,
Allen “Bullet” Waterdown and Sundie
Waterdown.
Those left to cherish his memory include
daughter, Jaime Stopp of Coweta, Okla.;
two sisters, Geneva Strawn of Tahlequah,
Okla. and Genell Stopp of Tulsa, Okla.; as
well as two brothers, William Dale Stopp
and wife Rita of Tahlequah, Okla. and
George Edward Stopp and wife LaJenna of
Mounds, Okla. Kenny is also survived by
his special companion of nine years, Tammy
Brookshier and her two daughters as well
as many nieces, nephews, cousins and a
host of friends and loved ones.
Community Meetings
Feb. 2
Lyons Switch, 7 p.m.
Karen Fourkiller 918-696-2354
Greasy, 7 p.m.
Charlie Shell 918-774-0857
Washington County Cherokee Association
Potluck dinner 6 p.m.
7 p.m., Ann Sheldon 918-333-5632
Feb. 6
Belfonte, 6 p.m.
Glen Qualls 918-427-1700 or 427-0227
Eucha, 6:30 p.m.
Juanita Bark 918-207-4925
Marble City Community Organization
7 p.m.
Ellen McClendon 918-775-2158 or 774-0074
Feb. 7
Tulsa Cherokee Community Organization
6 p.m., Jean Vann Breed 918-808-4142
Muldrow Cherokee Community Organization
7 p.m., Tim Laney 918-427-4006
Feb. 12
Rogers County Cherokee Association
2 p.m., Cyndi Vaughn 918-704-1588
Feb. 13
Brent, 6 p.m.
Sam Bush 918-316-1054
Marble City Pantry, 7 p.m.
Clifton Pettit 918-775-5975
Four Corners, 7 p.m.
Sue Fine 918-386-2352
Feb. 14
Collinsville, 7 p.m.
Danny Stanley 918-798-2402
Oak Hill/Piney, 7 p.m.
Dude Feather 918-235-2811
Feb. 16
South Coffeyville, 6:30 p.m.
Vickie Brokeshoulder 918-822-2893
Tailholt, 7 p.m.
Sam Bush 918-316-1054
Feb. 21
Fairfield, 7 p.m.
Jeff Simpson 918-696-7959
Feb. 27
Christie, 7 p.m.
Shelia Rector 918-778-3423
Feb. 28
Vinita Indian Territory Coalition, 6 p.m.
Lisa Trice-Turtle 918-453-2988
Dry Creek, 7 p.m.
Shawna Ballou 918-457-5023
Rocky Mountain, 7 p.m.
Doris Shell 918-207-4924
The Cherokee Phoenix is now on Twitter. Be sure to check often
for updates on what is going on within the Cherokee Nation.
http://twitter.com/cherokeephoenix.
The Cherokee Phoenix is mobile. Keep informed on your iPhone,
iphone.cherokeephoenix.org.
Become a fan of the Cherokee Phoenix on Facebook.

Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
BY DILLON tuRmAN
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Cherokee
Nation volunteers, in conjunction with
the Internal Revenue Service, are once
again offering federal and state income tax
preparation for low- and middle-income
families as well as independents with an
earned income.
The service is provided free for
those residing in the tribe’s 14-county
jurisdiction.
“Cherokee Nation assists anyone under
the annual income mark of $60,000 as well
as people between the ages of 25 and 65
who have no children and qualify for tax
credit.” Cora Lathrop, CN mortgage loan,
said. “We save people on average $200
by allowing Cherokee Nation to do your
taxes.”
The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
program uses CN volunteers with financial
backgrounds who are IRS trained and
certified. The tribe has offered the service
for the past 32 years in partnership with
the IRS. This year the service will be offered
from Jan. 23 through April 13.
In 2011, the VITA program filed 2,400
returns and on average saved taxpayers
who participated $200. It also helped
redeem more than $3.5 million in tax
refunds in 2011.
Lathrop said taxpayers interested in
the VITA program will need to bring
photo identification; a Social Security
card for everyone listed on the return; all
W-2s, 1099s as well as interest, dividend,
royalty and Social Security statements;
1098 receipts for child care with the name,
address and employee identification
number or Social Security number for
the care provider; receipt of real estate
taxes paid in 2011, home loan interest
and medical expenses; information on all
other income and deductions or credits;
proof of account information for direct
deposit of refund; information on all other
deductions; and a copy of 2011 tax returns.
Volunteers offer assistance preparing
returns using the basic 1040 form with
Schedules A and B, Earned Income Credit,
Form 2441 (Child and Dependent Care
Credit), Form 8863 (Education Credits),
February 2012 • Cherokee Phoenix 11
CN offering free tax preparation help
The tax assistance
can aid families and
independents who
qualify acquire larger
refunds.
BY DILLON tuRmAN
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Through
its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance
Program, Cherokee Nation tax preparers
will again help people who qualify file for
the Earned Income Tax Credit on their tax
returns.
While preparing returns, volunteers will
check if taxpayers qualify for the EITC,
which is a refundable federal income
tax credit for low- to moderate-income
working individuals and families.
To qualify for the EITC, taxpayers must
meet requirements and file a tax return
even if they did not earn enough money
to be obligated to file a tax return. EITC
dollars can be claimed if a person’s family
earned less than $49,078 during 2011,
and depending on income and number
of qualifying children, a person or family
could receive up to $5,751 in EITC.
“Congress originally approved the tax
credit legislation in 1975 in part to offset
the burden of social security taxes and to
provide an incentive to work,” the Internal
Revenue Service Web site states. “When
the EITC exceeds the amount of taxes
owed, it results in a tax refund to those
who claim and qualify for the credit.”
Earned income includes wages, salary,
tips, other taxable employee compensation
and net earnings from self-employment.
The credit normally benefits low- and
middle-income working families, as well
Cherokee Nation mortgage loan officer Cora Lathrop helps Eric and Christy Young of
Tahlequah, Okla., file their taxes as part of the tribe’s free tax preparation.
ARCHIVE PHOTO
Earned Income tax credit offers big benefit
The tribe’s volunteer
tax preparers will see if
taxpayers qualify for the
$5,751 credit.
as some single individuals with earned
income and no children.
Shay Smith, CN Self-Sufficiency
supervisor, said taxpayers could benefit
largely by allowing the tribe to prepare
their taxes with the VITA Program. In
2011, CN tax preparers helped 2,681
families receive more than $3.5 million.
She said she expects to help at least 2,900
families receive the EITC this year.
“The Cherokee Nation has participated
in the VITA Program for 30 years and
runs from mid-January through April
15,” she said. “Families with income
less than $50,000 can contact the IRS at
1-800-906-9887 to find the nearest VITA
site. Cherokee Nation sees clients by
appointment only. To utilize a Cherokee
Nation VITA site, tax filers should call 918-
453-5536 to schedule an appointment.”
Smith said the CN assists anyone living
within the counties offering VITA. The
tribe’s VITA sites are in Tahlequah, Pryor,
Westville, Stilwell, Sallisaw, Catoosa,
Claremore, Jay, Collinsville, Salina,
Muskogee and Vinita.
A person or family wanting assistance
will need to bring all necessary documents
and meet income requirements. To file
taxes electronically on a married-filingjoint
tax return, both spouses must be
present to sign the required forms.
VITA offers direct deposit and users
receiving assistance may receive their
benefits quicker than regularly filed
income taxes if this route is chosen.
“Tax filers who elect to have their
refunds sent to them via direct deposit can
receive the refunds in as little as a week,”
said Smith.
For more information, visit www.irs.gov.
dillion-turman@cherokee.org
918-207-4975
Documents required
for EITC aid are:
• Proof of identification
• Social Security cards for
taxpayer, spouse and dependents
and/or a Social Security Number
verification letter issued by the
Social Security Administration
• Individual Taxpayer
Identification Number assignment
letter for taxpayer, spouse and
dependents
• Proof of foreign status, if
applying for an ITIN
• Birthdates for taxpayer, spouse
and dependents on the tax return
• Wage and earning
statement(s) such as Form W-2,
W-2G, 1099-R, from all employers
• Interest and dividend
statements from banks (Forms
1099)
• A copy of last year’s federal
and state returns if available
• Proof of bank account routing
numbers and account numbers
for direct deposit, such as a blank
check
• Total paid for daycare provider
and the daycare provider’s tax
identifying number (the provider’s
Social Security Number or the
provider’s business Employer
Identification Number)
Form 8812 (Additional Child Tax Credit),
Schedule C-EZ (self-employment with less
than $5,000 in total expenses) and educator
credits.
The tax preparation centers are to be in
Pryor, Westville, Stilwell, Sallisaw, Catoosa,
Claremore, Jay, Collinsville, Salina,
Muskogee and Vinita. All returns are filed
electronically and taxpayers can expect
refunds to be deposited in their respective
banks in 10 days or less, according to a
VITA flier.
Volunteers will also be checking to see
if taxpayers qualify for the earned income
tax credit, which is a refundable federal
income tax credit for low- to moderateincome
working individuals and families.
“Congress originally approved the tax
credit legislation in 1975 in part to offset
the burden of social security taxes and to
provide an incentive to work,” the IRS Web
site states. “When the EITC exceeds the
amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax
refund to those who claim and qualify for
the credit.”
To qualify for the EITC, taxpayers must
meet requirements and file a tax return
even if they did not earn enough money
to be obligated to file a tax return. EITC
dollars can be claimed if a person’s family
earned less than $49,078 during 2011,
and depending on income and number
of qualifying children, a person or family
could receive up to $5,751 in EITC. For
more information, call 918-453-5536.
dillion-turman@cherokee.org
918-207-4975
Tribe to offer
classes for
business owners
Students will learn
about business plans,
which can help secure
loans and investments.
BY StAFF REPORtS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Throughout
February, the Cherokee Nation will host
a series of business entrepreneurship
classes that teach new business owners
how to write a successful business plan,
which can help new business owners
secure loans and investments.
Brenda Alley, CN business consultant,
will teach the course. The course will
cover mission statements, executive
summaries, marketing strategies and
budgets that together create a basic
outline of objectives and goals that
business owners want to achieve. With a
good business plan in place, owners can
look ahead, allocate resources, focus on
key points and prepare for problems and
opportunities.
Classes are held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
on Feb. 2, 9, 16 and 23 in Claremore at the
Rogers State University Innovation Center
located at 1701 W. Will Rogers Blvd. The
classes are open to the public, but seating
is limited to 20. Registration is $15 and
participants must submit applications by
Feb. 2. For more information or to request
and application, call Valerie Diffee at
918-453-5536 or email valerie-roberts@
cherokee.org.

12 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
Luper sets sights on playing professional hoops
Cherokee Nation citizen Kevi Luper continues to excel at the college
level, but she has WNBA and overseas aspirations.
BY mARK DREADFuLWAtER
Media Specialist
TULSA, Okla. – Oral Roberts University guard Kevi Luper
is no stranger to success. She won an Oklahoma Class
3A state championship and garnered Oklahoma Player of
the Year honors her senior season at Adair High School in
2009.
In 2009-10, her freshman year at
ORU, she was named the Summit
League’s Player of the Week seven
times as well as the league’s Player
of the Year, Defensive Player of the
Year and Newcomer of the Year. In
her sophomore season she made
NCAA Division I history by becoming
the first player to lead the
nation in points and steals.
And because of that individual success,
Luper was named to the 2011 USA Basketball
Women’s Pan American Games
Team. The team finished seventh overall
with Luper averaging 18 minutes and
eight points in four games.
“It was a really good experience, and it was great getting
to play with all the different caliber of players from all over
the country,” she said.
“Anytime you get to play for USA and represent it on
your chest when you are playing a basketball game, it’s a
pretty honorable experience,” she added.
Luper said she would eventually like to be selected to
Team USA for the Summer Olympic games. “I would love
to be on the summer games team. I’d love to play in the
Olympics,” she said. “We’ll see. It depends on where I go
and how well I accomplish things at the next level.”
Now in her junior season, Luper continues to earn individual
awards such as a record-setting 13th career Summit
League Player of the Week on Dec. 6, surpassing former
ORU standout Elisha Turek.
ORU women’s basketball head coach Jerry Finkbeiner
said he has coached three “elite” players in his career, and
Luper is one of them. He said it makes his job as a coach
easier.
“Kevi is a once-in-a-decade type of player, maybe
once-every-two-decade type of player,” Finkbeiner said.
“She has a natural scoring ability
in women’s basketball and even in
men’s. You can’t coach that…she’s
a special player that makes coaches
look good.”
Despite earning individual
awards, Luper focuses on the team
and winning basketball games. It
keeps her striving to play at a high
level.
“It’s the drive to win and the hunger to make it to the
NCAA tournament and to accomplish things as team that
haven’t been accomplished here before,” she said.
Although she’s only midway through her junior season,
Luper said she hopes to be drafted by a Women’s National
Basketball Association team or play overseas after her college
career ends. She said if one of those scenarios occurs,
she would base how long she plays on the overall experience
of playing professionally.
Finkbeiner said he sees her playing beyond college, too.
“She’ll definitely have WNBA opportunities, but I don’t
know at what level right now,” he said. “I think at the minimum,
she’ll have tryout camp experience. I think, with
further development her junior year and this coming summer
before her senior year, she has a chance to be drafted. I
think she’s a lock to a very nice paying situation in Europe.”
Kevi is a once-in-a-decade
type of player, maybe
once-in-a-two-decade.
– Jerry Finkbeiner,
ORU women’s basketball coach
mark-dreadfulwater@cherokee.org
918-453-5087
Oral Roberts University junior guard Kevi Luper drives past South Dakota State forward Leah Dietel on Jan. 7 at the Mabee Center in Tulsa, Okla.
PHOTOS BY MARK DREADFULWATER/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Oral Roberts University junior guard Kevi Luper shoots
over South Dakota State forward Leah Dietel.

Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee
Language Immersion School recently
received more than $465,000 in state
charter school funds, and officials have
earmarked the money for offsetting
personnel costs and improving technology
availability.
Principal Holly Davis said the state funds
would be provided to the school in monthly
installments instead of a lump sum and has
been budgeted to offset personnel costs
incurred by the Cherokee Nation.
“We are freeing up some of our Cherokee
Nation money and this (state money) is
offsetting the cost of personnel,” she said.
Davis added that she wants to improve
the technology that’s available to the
students. Beginning in the second grade
students use Apple laptops at school, but
Davis said she wants to ensure students
use the computers to their fullest potential
by learning more about them through indepth
computer classes.
Another effort the school is working on
is developing software that would allow
the school to place its Cherokee language
curriculum on computers rather than
using textbooks.
“We’ve got a few projects with
BY jAmI cuStER
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Three
years ago Sequoyah Schools
began its music program after
an absence of 20-plus years.
Now, in an attempt to get
students involved earlier,
band director Sam Morris
has expanded the program to
include fifth and sixth graders
from the Cherokee Language
Immersion School.
Morris said the immersion
students only meet a couple
times a week because of
scheduling, but he’s been
impressed with their abilities.
“The immersion students
have really, really adapted well,”
Morris said. “I was a little leery,
but those kids have really really
come on and I think more so
than what I really expected
them to. So there’s a good group
of kids that will be coming up
in a couple years.”
Morris added that the high
school band has also progressed
since 2009, and while it’s small,
the band packs a big sound,
earning superior ratings at
contests at Northeastern
Oklahoma A&M in Miami,
Okla., and Arkansas.
“So we’ve
gone up
against some
Arkansas
schools as
well as some
Oklahoma
school. The kids have really
worked hard and we’ve been
able to go and do well.”
Morris said the goal is
to receive a superior rating
technology…we’d like to see smart boards
(interactive whiteboards) in all the
classes. We’d like to get iPads to all of the
teachers…things that would put us a little
ahead of the game,” Davis said. “A lot of our
testing that we are going to be required to
do eventually will be online testing, so the
more kids can maneuver on a computer,
the better they will do on their testing.”
She also said she wants to invest more in
professional development for the teaching
staff to further improve its teaching skills
and provide more learning field trips for
the students.
In June, the Tribal Council gave
approval to the tribe’s Education Services
to apply for state charter school status for
at a March competition in
Tahlequah, which will give
it the opportunity to qualify
for the Oklahoma Secondary
School Activities Association
state contest.
“To my knowledge, this
would be the first time to even
go to an OSSAA competition
with a band. So we’re kind of
shooting high,” he said.
Aside from playing in
contests and parades, the band
also performs during Sequoyah
football and basketball games.
Morris said the students
probably prefer pep band at
games than anything.
“Because it’s up-to-date stuff
and in concert band we don’t
use the trap set, so it allows a
kid to play a trap set and learn
some songs that a lot of times
end up on the radio,” he said.
Sequoyah High School drum
major Rachel Buckner said
she’s been in the band since
2009 and has watched it grow.
“We started off real bad and
couldn’t even play anything.
But now we’re playing all
sorts of different songs and at
football games and basketball
games,” she said.
Buckner agreed with Morris
about seeing more students get
involved in the band.
“I’d really like to see the band
grow and want people to have
fun because people think it’s
boring, but really it’s a lot of
fun,” Buckner said.
Morris said for the future
he is working on getting the
program uniforms.
He said now that band
members have excelled in their
playing abilities, they should
look the part, too.
“I want to pick something
out that is going to really catch
the eye, and whenever they see
and hear a Sequoyah band they
will remember,” Morris said.
“We marched on the field for
the immersion school, which is part of
Sequoyah Schools.
The Oklahoma Charter Schools Act
provides for creation of charter schools
when sponsored by “a federally recognized
Indian tribe, operating a high school under
the authority of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs…if the charter school is for the
purpose of demonstrating native language
immersion instruction and is located
within its former reservation or treaty area
boundaries.”
The school, which has 115 students in
grades pre-school through sixth, received
state charter status late in 2011. By
becoming a charter school, it can receive
state funding but is not subject to some
February 2012 • Cherokee Phoenix 13
Immersion school gets state charter funds
The Cherokee Language
Immersion School
will use its initial state
funding for technology
availability and
personnel costs.
Sequoyah band grows
with immersion kids
Third and fourth grade Cherokee Language Immersion School students use their
Apple computers in a classroom. School officials want to place a majority of its
Cherokee language curriculum on computers. WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
ABOVE: Fifth and sixth grade immersion students, from left,
Dalyn Patterson, Maggie Sourjohn, Emily Chavez and Ethan
Winn warm-up at Sequoyah Schools’ band room in Tahlequah,
Okla. BELOW: Sequoyah students play during a basketball
game on Jan. 10 against Cascia Hall. PHOTOS BY JAMI CUSTER/
CHEROKEE PHOENIX
the first time this past year and
the crowd seemed to really like
that and appreciate that, and
hopefully, we can do that next
year.”
jami-custer@cherokee.org
918-453-5560
rules, regulations and statutes that apply
to other public schools. In exchange for
the funds, the school accepts some type
of accountability for producing certain
results, which are set forth in the school’s
charter.
Davis said the state is more lenient with
charter schools like the immersion school
because the school would be testing its
students in subjects using the Cherokee
language.
She said there is a movement among
state charter schools that emphasize other
languages besides English, such as Spanish
or Chinese, to have the state allow testing
be done in the main language taught at that
school. Davis said the immersion school
would join that movement.
“To be perfectly honest, what little testing
I’ve done here for my own purposes, our
kids test well. This second language thing
is just really generating some real thinkers.
They are really ahead of the game,” she said.
The immersion school began in 2001 as
a program for pre-school children to be
immersed in the Cherokee language by
having teachers who spoke and taught only
in Cherokee.
A sixth grade was added this past
fall, and those sixth grade students will
transition next fall to Sequoyah’s middle
school. The sixth grade class currently
has nine students who have been with the
immersion program since its inception.
While attending the immersion school,
students learn the Cherokee culture and
history as well as other subjects such
as science and math. English study is
introduced in the fifth grade to help
transition students into a more traditional
school setting.
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
28 students
selected for
scholarship
program
BY StAFF REPORtS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Cherokee
Nation Foundation and Cherokee
Nation Businesses have selected 28
students for a new scholarship program
focusing on science, technology,
engineering and math.
The program is designed for longterm
enrollment beginning in the
seventh grade and continuing to
high school graduation. The selected
students represent 12 of the tribe’s 14
counties and are currently high school
sophomores and juniors, chosen to start
the program’s online presence and raise
awareness about an upcoming College
Prep Institute in June.
Students in the program are required
to fulfill core curriculum requirements.
Each semester beginning their freshman
year of high school, students are awarded
a $500 contribution to their college
funds, with the potential to earn $4,000.
CNF representatives manage the funds
and assist students in college research,
applications, essays and ACT prep work.
“Each scholarship is an opportunity
to positively influence the lives of our
students, their families and the future of
the Cherokee Nation,” CNF Executive
Director Kimberlie Gilliland said.
The program accepts new scholars
on a yearly basis. Applications will
be accepted in March and applicants
must be a CN citizen, have a minimum
3.0 grade point average and entering
seventh, eighth or ninth grade.
For more information, visit www.
cherokeenationfoundation.org.

BY tESINA jAcKSON
Reporter
14 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
college Research center creates student profile website
BY tESINA jAcKSON
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee
Nation Foundation and College Resource
Center recently created a website that
allows students to access scholarships by
creating online profiles.
In previous years, students went into the
CRC and filled out paperwork, which they
then took to different tribal departments.
Jurisdictional scholarships
• Graduate Scholarship: Up to $2,000 per semester
for Cherokee students pursuing a master’s degree.
Students must reside in jurisdiction or contiguous
counties.
• Directed Studies Scholarship Program: The purpose
of the competitive CN Directed Studies Scholarship
Program is to provide financial assistance to students
pursuing higher education in a specific study area
aimed at strengthening the CN government and
economy. Upon degree conferment, students are
required to complete an employment payback of at
least two years of service.
• James R. Upton Memorial Award: Available to CN
citizens who have permanent residence in Cherokee
County and will be a 2012 graduate of Sequoyah High
School. Scholarship amount is $1,500 per semester
or $3,000 for the academic year if a 3.0 grade point
average is maintained. This award is for students
attending a four-year college or university. This is a
one-time scholarship.
• Jiggs Phillips Scholarship: The Harold “Jiggs”
Phillips Scholarship is available to CN citizens who will
be a 2012 graduate of an Adair County high school.
Scholarship amount is $1,000 per semester or $2,000
per year if a 2.5 grade point average is maintained.
Non-jurisdictional scholarships
• The At-Large Tribal Council Award: This is available
to a CN citizen who is a 2012 high school graduate and
who resides outside of CN jurisdiction. The scholarship
amount is $1,500 per semester or $3,000 per academic
year if a 3.0 grade point average is maintained. This is a
one-time scholarship.
MUSKOGEE, Okla. – This past fall,
Bacone College started an expansion
project consisting of adding a library off
campus so the current on-campus library
can house its Native American collections.
“We plan to create a research library
in the existing library facility in Samuel
Richard Hall,” Dr. Clara Sue Kidwell,
associate dean for Program Development,
said. “That’s not going to take place until
sometime over the spring semester. The
main thing that is staying is the Indian
room collection,
which contains
some rare materials.”
Bacone’s Native
American collection
is currently locked
in the basement of
Samuel Richard Hall.
Once the renovation
is finished, the
collection will be
moved upstairs and
more accessible.
“In terms of history, most of this
stuff pertains to the field of history,
but we also have our American Indian
studies program, which relies strongly
on historical, and what we called
ethnographic or anthropological,
sources,” Kidwell said. “But that is going
to be the core of a research library, which
will be open to outside scholars. And we
do have occasional scholars coming in, to
people that are interested in the history,
specifically the history of Bacone, and
then more to specific tribal history.”
The current library’s renovation is
expected to be done by the end of the
spring semester and will include new
shelving units, carpet, Wi-Fi access and an
updated online research catalog.
“I do think that it is going to be a great
advantage to have those materials more
accessible to researchers and to students.”
To make room for the Native American
collection, more than 48,000 volumes
of books and other items from Samuel
Richard Hall were moved to the off-
Now they will be able to search and apply
for scholarships online by filling out a
general application.
“With this (website) they’re able to
make sure everything is submitted,” CRC
Manager Gregg Simmons said. “Once we
determine, once we verify the award and
make an offer, they’re able to accept the
award online.”
Once students create the online general
application and profile, they will be able
Bacone College expands its
Native American library
campus facility, which occupies half
of the former Boy Howdy store at the
Northpointe Shopping Center.
“Basically Bacone has owned the land
down the hill where this old shopping
center, Walmart, grocery store, etc., was
located and those were leased by outside
vendors,” Kidwell said. “The college has
now gotten title to the facilities down there
and so we now own the shopping center as
well as the land.”
The off-campus library was funded by
a donation of more than $600,000 from
the Betts family through the Daughters of
the American Revolution. The facility is
expected to be twice
as large and include
at least 60,000
volumes. Plans also
include making the
book collection and
electronic resources
more modern.
“Much of what
we have on the
shelves now, the
newer books were
from back in the 1980s,” Kidwell said. “We
also need to update our library system to
include, much more directly, things that
support the curriculum here.”
The off-campus library, which was
expected to be available for students by
the end of January, will have new book
shelves, an art display and lounge area,
study cubicles with Wi-Fi access and small
meeting rooms.
“We really want to create an environment
where students feel comfortable working
independently and individually on their
research papers,” Kidwell said.
The other half of the former Boy Howdy
store will be a welcome center with
registrar, admission, financial aid and
other offices. Those offices in their current
spots will become dorm rooms.
The old Walmart building in the
shopping center will become athletic
offices, while the old Warrior Gym, where
the athletic offices are currently will
become the Center for American Indians.
tesina-jackson@cherokee.org
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
...it is going to be a great
advantage to have those
materials more accessible.
– Dr. Clara Sue Kidwell,
Bacone Program Development
to see CN, CNF and Cherokee Nation
Businesses scholarships they qualify for.
Students can also search for scholarships
from organizations outside of the CN
and view the scholarship criteria and the
scholarship organizations’ websites.
CN scholarships are available for
students who are CN citizens and live
within the CN 14-county boundaries as
well as outside. Scholarships on the CRC
website are continuously updated, and
Open scholarships
• Undergraduate Scholarship: Up to $2,000 per
semester for CN citizens pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
Pell-eligible students have no residency requirement;
non-Pell eligible students must reside in jurisdiction
or contiguous counties.
• Cherokee Nation Businesses Scholarship: The
scholarship is available to CN citizens who are pursuing
higher education in a specific study area aimed at
strengthening CNB. Applicants must be enrolled fulltime
and accepted into a professional, master’s or
upper level bachelor’s program or school and have
an approved major degree plan on file. To be eligible,
students must submit official transcripts at the end of
each semester, maintain a grade point average that is
in good standing with the school, must complete the
CN history course, complete at least one paid summer
internship with CNB and sign a contract to work
for CNB after graduation. Approved areas of study
include accounting, finance, engineering (biomedical,
chemical, mechanical and electrical), corporate law,
marketing and mass communications.
• Gammon Scholarship: The Gammon Scholarship
is a four-year scholarship at $1,500 per semester.
Students must maintain a 3.0 grade point average and
there are no residency requirements. Students must
show a level of engagement with the CN.
• Institute of American Indian Arts: Students must be
in good standing at the institute and must maintain
a 3.0 grade point average for a renewable $1,000 per
semester.
• John Shurr Journalism Award: The John Shurr
Journalism Award is available to a CN citizen who is
an undergraduate or a graduate student who has
been accepted in an accredited journalism or mass
communications degree program. Scholarship amount
is $1,000 per semester or $2,000 per academic year if a
students who receive scholarships will be
able to accept the award online.
To create a profile, visit www.
cherokee.org/Services/Education/30836/
Information.aspx and click on “Apply
for the CN Scholarships” link. For more
information, call 918-453-5000 or 1-800-
256-0671 or email collegeresources@
cherokee.org.
tesina-jackson@cherokee.org
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
3.0 grade point average is maintained. Students must
also write an essay on journalism career goals, provide
two samples of writing, published preferred, and
be willing to apply for an eight week, paid, summer
internship with the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper in
Tahlequah, Okla.
• Marquis Scholarship: The Marquis Scholarship
is available to a CN citizen in his/her third year of
undergraduate studies or has entered graduate
school and is working toward a degree to preserve the
Cherokee language.
• Oklahoma State University/Cherokee Nation
Foundation Award: The OSU/CN Foundation award
is for CN citizens who are currently full-time students
or 2012 high school graduates who have been
accepted to OSU. This award covers remaining costs
after all other financial awards have been applied.
This award is renewable up to five years as long as
the student maintains grade point average and is in
good standing with the university. The student must
be willing to complete the CN history course as part
of their course work.
• Martha J. (Marti) Aleshire Farrington Scholarship:
The Martha J. (Marti) Aleshire Farrington Scholarship
is available to CN citizens who will be attending a
four-year university. The scholarship is renewable up
to five years as long as the student maintains a 3.0
grade point average and is in good standing with
the university.
• Robert J. and Evelyn L. Conley Award: The Robert
J. and Evelyn L. Conley Award is available to a citizen
of the CN, United Keetoowah Band or Eastern Band
of Cherokee Indians who is an undergraduate
or graduate student with an English or creative
writing major. Scholarship amount is $1,000 per
semester or $2,000 per academic year if a 3.0 grade
point average is maintained. Must also provide two
samples of writing.

Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
James Chapple, pharmacist at the Cherokee Nation W.W. Hastings Hospital, fills a prescription.
The Center for Disease Control recently stated that prescription drug overdose death rates in the
United States have more than tripled since 1990 and Oklahoma is one of the leading states for the
growing addiction and overdose epidemic. TESINA JACKSON/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Prescription drug abuse
increasing within CN
BY tESINA jAcKSON
Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Officials at the Center
for Disease Control said that prescription drug
overdose death rates in the United States have
more than tripled since 1990, with Oklahoma
being a leader in the growing addiction and
overdose epidemic.
Dr. B.J. Boyd, Cherokee Nation Behavioral
Health Services director, said when he started his
job in 2003 he noticed that methamphetamine was
the second-most abused substance with alcohol
being No. 1. Today, while alcohol remains the topabused
substance within the CN, the second-most
abused substance is the prescription drug.
“Prescription drugs have become more readily
available than they used to be,” he said. “People
will get a legitimate prescription and then it may
sit on the shelf and someone may steal it and use
it recreationally. Eventually it will get to the point
where they become dependent on them.”
To reverse the prescription drug abuse trends
within the tribe’s jurisdiction, Behavioral Health
Services offers counseling and substance abuse
programs within the clinic and the community,
Boyd said. The programs offered are mental
health services, substance abuse treatment and
community-based programs promoting mental
health. Behavioral Health Services also contracts
with two rehabilitation centers – one in Tulsa and
one in Fort Smith, Ark. The Fort Smith center also
has a program for woman with children.
Behavioral Health Services also offers outpatient
services consisting of individual and family
therapy, relapse prevention, parenting skills for
disorders of childhood, psychological testing, crisis
intervention and substance abuse counseling.
Boyd said there is a growing epidemic of
prescription painkiller abuse as well as tranquilizers
and benzodiazepines, which are used for anxiety.
Nearly three out of four prescription drug
overdoses are caused by prescription painkillers,
which are called opioid pain relievers.
“The number of people abusing alcohol and
drugs has stayed the same,” he said. “It’s what
they’re using that has changed.”
In 2011, more than 12 million people reported
using prescription painkillers without a
prescription or for the feeling they cause, states the
CDC.
“The prescription drugs are similar to alcohol,”
Boyd said. “They have the same things in them
that people enjoy about getting drunk. They can
get those same effects from prescription drugs.”
Prescription painkillers work to decrease the
perception of pain and can create feelings of
enjoyment or relaxation, which can lead to an
addiction. Painkillers can also slow down a person’s
breathing. A large dosage can cause breathing to
slow down too much resulting in an overdose.
Most prescription drugs being abused come
from prescriptions originally. Once prescribed, the
drugs become more available to people without
prescriptions. Behavioral Health Services officials
are looking more thoroughly to ensure patients
aren’t misusing prescriptions.
“One sign of when patients are starting to
misuse the prescription is that they will say
that the prescription isn’t working,” Boyd said.
“The patients start to develop a tolerance of
the prescription. Signs of withdrawal from
prescription painkillers are nausea and panic and
stress for anxiety prescriptions.”
According to the CDC, 20 percent of prescribers
such as internal medicine doctors and dentists
prescribe 80 percent of all prescription painkillers.
The quantity of prescription painkillers sold to
pharmacies, hospitals and doctors’ offices were
four times larger in 2010 than in 1999.
“So many prescriptions have become more
readily available to the public and more are being
prescribed because they are available and they cost
less than previous years,” Boyd said.
He added that the Behavioral Health Services
clinic never gives more than one month per
prescription to help avoid substance abuse.
To help prevent the misuse of prescription drugs,
the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics has established
a database where it monitors prescriptions and see
how much are being prescribed in each county.
The database is used to track the prescribing and
dispensing of controlled prescription drugs to
patients. This information can help prescribers
and pharmacists identify high-risk patients.
“Our psychologist runs reports on every patient
to see where they get prescriptions and where and
when they received the last one,” Boyd said. “We
are currently working on our database system so
other providers will be able to see the Hastings
(hospital) database.”
tesina-jackson@cherokee.org
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
February 2012 • Cherokee Phoenix 15
Dietitian’s Corner
Heart healthy habits
BY RAcHELLE
HOLmAN
Registered
Dietitian
As red and
pink line the
aisles of your
local store, it’s
not hard to think of hearts this
time of year. Yes, Valentine’s Day
is right around the corner, but
February also marks National
Heart Health Month, so I have
researched the most important
habits to develop for a healthy
heart.
First and foremost, tobacco
kills. Did you know that within
just 20 minutes of quitting
smoking, the body changes?
After just one year of quitting,
your risk for heart disease is cut
in half of what it was as a smoker.
Smoking continues to be the
leading cause of preventable
death in the U.S. For help with
quitting, contact your local
Cherokee Nation health clinic
or 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
Being at a healthy weight is
important for reducing your
risk for heart disease, especially
high blood pressure and
elevated cholesterol levels, both
of which can lead to heart attack
or stroke. For most people, just
a 10 percent reduction in their
current weight will drastically
reduce their risk for chronic
health problems.
The habits necessary for being
at a healthy weight are well
known, just rarely adopted into
lifestyle. Being physically active
should be part of your daily
routine, not just hit-or-miss.
The good news is that small
amounts of activity will reap
big payoffs. My motto is “even a
poor workout is better than no
workout.” Start by carving out a
time in your day to devote to a
minimum of 20 to 30 minutes
of moderate to intense activity
such as brisk walking, or other
activity that you will enjoy.
Then look at ways to increase
your activities throughout the
day such as sitting less, taking
the stairs, walking on break,
parking farther away – all which
add up. Remember, even if you
don’t lose a pound, your health
is benefiting in other ways with
exercise, including increased
energy, improved mood and a
more positive outlook.
Of course, as a dietitian, I’d be
remiss if I didn’t devote ample
space on healthy eating habits.
For starters, an adequate calorie
level is important for weight loss
or maintenance. Calorie needs
vary by individual, but for most
adults around 1,600 to 2,000
calories is probably appropriate.
Simply put, when a person
consumes more calories than
their bodies burn, weight will be
gained and vise versa.
Next, those calories need
to be balanced with adequate
amounts of carbohydrates, fats
and proteins. The types each of
these energy nutrients are also
important. Complex, higher
fiber carbohydrates such as
whole grains, brown rice, beans,
fruits and vegetables should
be chosen in place of refined
products and sugary items.
Healthy fats such as canola
or olive oils, nuts, natural nut
butters, fish such as salmon,
tuna and mackerel as well as
avocados should make up the
bulk of the fat in your diet. Lean
proteins such as skinless poultry,
lean cuts of beef, and egg whites
should also be daily staples.
Chose low-fat cooking
methods like grilling, baking,
steaming and broiling as the
preferred method for preparing
foods. Fried foods should be kept
to a minimum. Other important
food-related habits are to make
sure there is adequate fiber in
your diet, avoid added salt and
high-sodium foods and limit
processed foods (think hot dogs
and bologna), sugary beverages
and excessive alcohol. For
assistance with dietary strategies
for weight management or heart
health, contact your local CN
registered dietitian.
Lastly, stress can affect
your health in negative ways,
including physical aches and
pains, reduced energy level/
fatigue, feelings of anxiety, anger
and fear. Identify what causes
negative stress in your life and
set a plan in motion for dealing
with it. Stress can be relieved
through regular activity, quiet
time relaxation, stretching
and deep breathing. Stress
should not be relieved through
overeating, increased tobacco or
alcohol use.
This February as you give out
hearts, don’t forget to take extra
care of your own.
The Cherokee Phoenix is now on Twitter. Be sure to
check often for updates on what is going going on within the
Cherokee Nation.
http://twitter.com/cherokeephoenix.
The Cherokee Phoenix is mobile. Keep informed on
your iPhone,
iphone.cherokeephoenix.org.
Become a fan of the Cherokee Phoenix on Facebook.

BY tESINA jAcKSON
Reporter
16 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
CNB’s Mobility Plus
moves to bigger building
The new Claremore, Okla.,
location is a 3,500-square-foot
space that allows for easier
customer access.
CLAREMORE, Okla. – Due to an increase of customers
and demand, Cherokee Nation Business moved its
Mobility Plus facility, which was next to the Claremore
Hospital, to the Claremore Medical Park on Route 66.
“We kind of outgrew our previous location and decided
that we needed a little more easily accessed property,
one that had some mobility for growth because we plan
to continue to grow,” Scott Knowles, CNB Health Care
Division president, said.
Mobility Plus specializes in the sales and rental of
rehabilitation technology devices, respiratory products
and durable medical equipment. It also provides personal
consultation to clients and customizes equipment for each
individual’s needs.
The company had been in business for 10 years before
CNB purchased it in 2010. Mobility Plus’ Claremore
location has been open for four years. “We purchased it
as part of the (Cherokee) Nation’s diversification efforts,”
Knowles said. “This was an area that we were interested in
moving into, in the health services area, so it fit very well
with what we were trying to do. It had a good reputation
for delivering high-quality service.”
The new location is a 3,500-square-foot space that
allows for easier access to the parking area and has
increased spaces and ramps for handicapped parking. It
also provides a larger retail floor for more demonstrations,
offices for diabetic shoe fittings and a larger storage area
for inventories. Knowles said the new facility also helps
give back to the surrounding communities.
“Part of what we’re doing with Mobility Plus is we’re
serving the people within these communities and by
providing the best service that we can in the highestquality
products. We want to establish ourselves as a good
community partner,” he said.
The Claremore location serves customers in Rogers,
Mayes, Nowata, Delaware, Craig and Ottawa counties.
Mobility Plus offers 24-hour emergency service delivery,
repair services, equipment set-up and instruction
reimbursement assistance.
Knowles said he would like to open two or three more
Mobility Plus locations within the tribe’s 14-county
jurisdiction this year. Mobility Plus also has offices in
Cherokee Nation citizen and Mobility Plus delivery
technician Scott Fields checks oxygen tanks in a van
used to deliver Mobility Plus equipment around the
Claremore, Okla., area. TESINA JACKSON/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
Muskogee, Tahlequah, Tulsa and McAlester. It employs
approximately 80 people, an increase of about 20
employees since CNB purchased the business.
CN citizen Scott Fields, who came out of retirement
to work for the CN, was hired as a delivery technician in
October at the Claremore office. He said CNB’s purchase
of Mobility Plus shows CN citizens that they don’t have to
work at casinos when working for the Nation.
“I think it’s a good deal for everybody, everybody
concerned because it seemed like at some point, even now,
I think a lot of people, Cherokee Nation people, still have it
in their head that they only jobs there are in the Cherokee
Nation are in the casino,” Fields said. “They don’t realize
the variety of jobs that are available for the Cherokee
people.”
For more information, visit www.mobilityplus.
pridedealer.com.
tesina-jackson@cherokee.org
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
Diabetic youth more
likely to quit high
school and college
BY StAFF REPORtS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – A new study from researchers
at Yale University suggests that the disease diabetes,
which currently affects nearly 8 percent of the U.S.
population, could have significant non-medical costs to
society as well.
The study, which appears in the January issue of
Health Affairs, suggests that young people diagnosed
with the disease are more likely to drop out of high
school and to forgo or fail to finish college. As a result,
they’re likely to earn less than those without diabetes.
“These differences are pretty large,” said Jason
Fletcher, an associate professor at the Yale School of
Public Health and lead author of the study.
The differences, for example, are larger than
differences between males and females and between
whites and African-Americans.
The study, which used data from a national survey
that followed the same group of 15,000 high school
students from 1994 to 2008, found a rate of diabetes in
line with other studies of similar age groups.
Researchers found that even after adjusting the data
for family background, obesity and other illnesses,
those with diabetes were 5 to 7 percentage points more
likely to drop out of high school. They were also 8 to
13 percentage points less likely to attend college or to
complete a degree than those without the illness.
As they aged, young people with diabetes lagged
their high school classmates in employment by 8 to 11
percentage points, and were 8 to 13 percentage points
more likely to receive aid from social programs.
The estimated 30,000 additional high school dropouts
cost society an estimated $7 billion to $11 billion over
those dropouts’ lifetimes, the authors estimate. Those
with diabetes went on to get jobs experience reduced
annual earnings of between $1,500 and $6,000.
During 40 years in the workforce, that could reduce
earnings by of more than $160,000, the authors estimate.
Fletcher acknowledges that the study’s results aren’t
“bulletproof” because they are self-reported. Still,
the data comes from a population that was in similar
circumstances – they all attended high school together.
Following the same population over a long period of
time is also considered an advantage in research like
this.
When it comes to diabetes “most people look at the
medical costs,” Fletcher said. With this study, people
may have to begin to acknowledge that “there are some
pretty large non-medical costs” associated with the
disease, and they start early.

Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
Phyllis
Edwards
The translation
specialist is trying to
bridge the generational
gap between Cherokee
speakers.
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Cherokee Nation
translation specialists Phyllis Edwards first
learned the Cherokee syllabary from her
uncle Ben Bush when she was a young girl.
“My first language was the Cherokee
language. That was all that was taught in
the home. I was about 6 years old when I
first starting learning the English language
and it was very hard.”
She was 8 when her uncle taught her,
her siblings and cousins how to use the
Cherokee syllabary chart.
“After a stickball game at the (stomp)
grounds, he would take the young kids and
he would sit down and teach the syllabary
charts. He did that for maybe two years
and then he passed away.”
After his death, everyone “drifted away”
from the syllabary, she said. Edwards, who
was raised in Marble City in Sequoyah
County, was reintroduced to the syllabary
chart about four years ago, when the CN
began sponsoring language classes in
communities. She attended a class for two
years and relearned how to read and write
the syllabary. About three years ago, she
joined the tribe’s translation department.
“To me, I think everything that we do
here in this department is important. You
can’t say this is more important than this,
and that’s also dealing with the public…if
you can help them it makes you feel good
that you were able to help somebody.”
But Edwards didn’t teach her children to
speak Cherokee because of the difficulties
she had in public school.
“The reason I really did not really push
our language in my home was I had such
a problem when I started when I was 6
years old...You were not allowed to talk
Cherokee, and there was not anyone
available at that time like a bilingual
speaker to translate what was being said to
us,” she said. “I did not want to put my kids
in that situation, so therefore I let them
learn the English language so it would be
easier on them because you don’t how it is
to feel like that where you are thrown into
a situation where you don’t understand
what’s going or what’s expected of you.”
Edwards said being forced to learn
English has stayed with her and regrets not
teaching her children to speak Cherokee.
The result of her children’s generation
not learning to speak Cherokee is a
language gap between her generation and
the generation of children attending the
Cherokee Language Immersion School.
The future of the language may rest in
the hands of the 100 or so students at the
immersion school, and Edwards said she
enjoys visiting the students.
“I just love to hear them talk. They’ll
come running to you saying ‘osiyo, osiyo’
(hello). It’s so good to hear that.”
She said it’s not important that the
children always speak proper Cherokee as
long as the elder speakers can understand
them and there is communication.
“In each community the language is
spoken differently, and there’s dialects, and
I think it can be wrong. I mean, so long
as two people can communicate with each
other and understand what is being said, I
think that’s fine,” she said.
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
Translation specialist Phyllis Edwards
studies a Cherokee-to-English dictionary.
Edwards is one of six people who
translates documents and other
materials from English to Cherokee for
the Cherokee Nation.
This is the first of a two-part series on Cherokee
Nation translation specialists. In March we will feature
Dennis Sixkiller, Durbin Feeling and David Pettit.
For the full stories and Cherokee translations, go to
cherokeephoenix.org.
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
Anna Sixkiller
Translation specialist Anna Sixkiller became
dedicated to learning the written Cherokee
language after reading the Bible.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Evenings
listening to her parents tell Cherokee
legends and stories from the Bible
began Anna Sixkiller’s journey
to becoming a Cherokee Nation
translation specialist.
Sixkiller, 66, grew up in the Leach
Community in Delaware County
and Cherokee was the only language
she knew until school.
“That was the language in our
home. My parents both spoke the
language. I just learned by listening
and hearing it every day,” she said.
“As I was growing up I thought that
was the only language people spoke,
but I learned otherwise when I
started school.”
After dinner,
she listened
to her father
tell Cherokee
legend stories,
the stories now
shared in books
created by the
CN translation
department.
“The stories
they told back
then were the
lessons to be
learned when
you were
growing up.
They meant for
you to think
about the stories being told and
learn from it,” she said. “When it
was Momma’s turn to tell stories, she
read the Bible.”
As a girl, Sixkiller knew she would
have to learn to read the Cherokee
syllabary before she could read her
mother’s Cherokee Bible. It wasn’t
until she was older with her own
children when she became dedicated
to learning to write the syllabary.
“I had studied it throughout the
years, but then one day I picked up
the Bible and read a verse and then
from then on I read a whole chapter.
What motivated me was seeing Mom
reading stories from this book.”
She began working for the CN
Cultural Resource Center in 2000.
Previous to that she taught Cherokee
in communities for 12 years. She said
she taught Cherokee using phonetics
instead of the syllabary. Since 2000,
she said there’s been a shift, with the
syllabary largely replacing phonetics
when the language is taught.
“For me, I just learned the syllabary
and for a long time it was very hard
for me to use phonetics,” she said.
“To me, if that (phonetics) is what’s
going to teach a person to pronounce
and talk the language then I think it’s
good, but still yet the syllabary was
invented by Sequoyah and that’s our
language.”
She believes it is easier for a person
who speaks the language to learn to
read and write it. However, being
a translator requires more than
knowing how to speak Cherokee.
“To be a translator you have to
think in the language. You have to
think in Cherokee,” she said.
She and the translation
department are asked to help people
and programs with translations.
Along with translating materials for
the Cherokee Language Immersion
School, she translates for universities,
libraries, the tribe’s Cultural Tourism
and clinics and hospitals. She also
translates inside and outside signage
for CN buildings and casinos.
Before the translation department
hired more staff, Sixkiller translated
stories from English to Cherokee for
the Cherokee Phoenix, sometimes up
Translation specialist Anna Sixkiller shows a story she
translated from English to Cherokee for the Cherokee
Phoenix. PHOTOS BY WILL CHAVEZ/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
to five stories for an issue within two
or three days. Now, other translation
specialists help her translate two to
four articles a month for the tribal
newspaper and website.
“It gets easier and easier, and now
I can probably translate an article
in two and a half hours, three at the
most,” she said.
At times, she said the staff must
consult the Cherokee Bible or
other older documents written in
Cherokee to find the proper words. It
can be a challenge, but Sixkiller said
she enjoys it because it allows her to
discover words and explore Cherokee
thought written in the syllabary.
Some older documents, force the
department to provide input about
the meaning of old Cherokee words
that are no longer used.
“When there’s more people to
study then we throw ideas around,
and we say ‘I think they meant this.’
After awhile it all comes together.”
Sixkiller said she considers her
translation legacy. Many books and
documents she has translated have
her name on them. “My great-greatgreat
grandchildren may pick up a
book and say ‘I know this person.
That was my great-great-great
grandma.’ That’s what I think I’m
leaving behind,” she said.
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
February 2012 • Cherokee Phoenix 17
John Ross
He enjoys being a part
of the tribe’s effort to
revitalize the Cherokee
language.
BY WILL cHAVEZ
Senior Reporter
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – Cherokee
speaker and translator John Ross is
focused and determined to do his part in
preserving the Cherokee language.
Ross, 56, originally of the Greasy
Community in Adair County, is one of
six translation specialists in the Cherokee
Nation’s translation department where
documents, signs, books and other items
are translated into Cherokee.
Ross said his main task is translating
three books a month for Cherokee
Language Immersion School students.
“That’s our priority. Then we work with all
the departments in the Cherokee Nation.
We translate words and phrases, and we
do about 30 translations a month.”
The department also coordinates the
Cherokee language proficiency test for
employees wanting to be recognized for
their language knowledge.
“It makes you feel good about our
language. As a Cherokee speaker, I like
to see more people learning the language
and also come in here and talk to us. That’s
what we are here for, to try to promote the
language,” he said.
Ross said during a busy week 30 or
more people, employees and community
members will come to the department
needing help with a word or reading a
document written in Cherokee. He also
get calls from people wanting help with
phrases, words and prayers.
“There’s stories that they have that
have been passed down, and they want it
translated,” Ross said. “It makes you feel
good when you help people like that.”
Translating for people and programs
keeps him on his toes. “It sharpens your
language and writing skills. It just helps
you all around to be able to translate. Like
we say here, ‘not everybody that speaks
the language can be a translator.’ It’s a gift,
I believe. If they work at it, I think they
become translators too, but it’s not easy.”
The staff is also part of the Cherokee
Speakers Bureau – a group of Cherokee
speakers from communities who meet
once a month to discuss Cherokee
words, translate words into Cherokee
and fellowship. The bureau is also part
of a larger group consisting of Cherokee
speakers from the Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians. Ross said the most
rewarding experience he’s had is translating
historic documents written in Cherokee.
Some are located at the Gilcrease Museum
in Tulsa. And sometimes while translating
documents, he finds Cherokee words
that are no longer used. Ross said the
department is beginning to use those
“lost” words again, and a found word may
be one less word the translation group and
Cherokee Speakers Bureau has to create.
Ross handles historic documents
perhaps hundreds of years old while
embracing the latest technology that
helps him do his job. The translators use
Apple iPhones, iPads and computers with
the syllabary. He said the staff uses iPads
to send emails in the syllabary to other
Cherokee language users.
Ross said his generation is the last
that speaks the language in everyday
conversations. He said his generation
learned Cherokee from their parents.
Following Cherokees did not for various
reasons, and most of the next generation
of speakers will likely come from the
immersion school. “We have over 100
children learning the Cherokee language.
It’s so wonderful when we go visit them,
and we do that a lot. To converse with our
kids in our own language is a wonderful
thing,” he said.
will-chavez@cherokee.org
918-207-3961
Translation specialist John Ross
translates a document from English to
Cherokee. Ross and five other translation
specialists translate documents
and create materials for the tribe’s
immersion school.

BY tESINA jAcKSON
Reporter
18 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
Donelson keeping traditional
Cherokee fashion thriving
Cherokee Nation citizen
Frances Donelson has
made tear dresses and
ribbon shirts since 1993.
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee
people love their traditional games, foods,
stories and clothes. In 1993, Cherokee
Nation citizen Frances Donelson decided
to use her sewing skills to keep the tradition
of tear dresses and ribbon shirts alive.
“It’s just something that I’ve done for
years,” she said.
The tear dress is the traditional dress
for Cherokee women. The ribbon shirt,
which has ribbons on the front and back, is
popular for Cherokee men.
According to CN website, the dress is
believed to be the style of dress from the
Trail of Tears era, when most women
had no access to scissors because of the
removal and confiscation of belongings. So
the material was torn from larger pieces.
The traditional dress has diamonds around
the skirt and sleeves. Today, some dresses
have been modified to utilize triangles,
circles and even the seven-pointed star of
the Cherokee.
The Trail of Tears-era dress had quarter
length sleeves and
a mid-calf skirt
length. Women’s
dresses had buttondown
tops, while the
buttons were usually
fastened in the back
for infants. Today,
the dress has been
modified to be floor length with full-length
sleeves.
Donelson said she began sewing when
she was young. But it wasn’t until 1993,
when her sister was a Cherokee National
Holiday vendor, that
Donelson made tear
dresses and ribbon shirts.
“She was doing jewelry
and she said ‘you can
make a couple of skirts
and we’ll see about selling
them,’” Donelson said. “So it just kind of
evolved from there. I started working on
the tear dresses. I’ve found by observation,
looking at some, and I finally decided that
I could make one of those and the first time
I did I had only five. After I sold all five of
them, I started making more.”
Cherokee Nation citizen Frances Donelson sews a tear dress in her home near Fort
Gibson, Okla. TESINA JACKSON/CHEROKEE PHOENIX
She quickly learned that it’s better to add
elastic to the waist and wristbands to fit
more people.
“I started making them a little bit more
flexible because a lot of it is custom made
and when you don’t know who you are
going to make it for you have to make it
a little bit larger or
try different ways
of making it flexible
instead of having
a fitted waist,” she
said.
Donelson also
makes Muscogee
Creek and Choctaw
tear dresses and ribbon shirts.
“I figured out I can do a Cherokee tear
dress; it takes me approximately 20 hours,”
she said. “The Choctaw dress involves a lot
of handwork and I figured out that I sit for
80 hours doing one dress.”
Donelson has made dresses for people
living in California, Texas, Hawaii,
Washington and New Jersey. She has even
made one for someone in Germany. “People
say ‘do you have a website?’ No I don’t have
a website and I’m not on Facebook, I don’t
do any of that,” she said. “All the orders I
get are just word-of-mouth.”
She even made Principal Chief Bill John
Baker’s ribbon shirt that he wore at his Nov.
6 inauguration as well as several dresses for
his family.
“For the last three years, Frances has
It’s just something that
I’ve done for years.
– Frances Donelson,
Cherokee seamstress
Call Frances Donelson at
918-687-5897 or email
donelsonf@hotmail.com.
made a tear dress for our granddaughter.
She’s made her one for every (Cherokee
National) holiday,” said first lady Sherry
Baker. “She just does a beautiful job and
she always makes it to fit and she just goes
out of her way to take care of it.”
Donelson charges $60 for an adult ribbon
shirt, $45 if material is provided; $75 for a
Cherokee tear dress for ages 3 to 7, $50 if
material is provided; $100 for a Cherokee
tear dress for ages 8 to 12, $75 if material is
provided; and $150 for an adult Cherokee
tear dress, $100 if material is provided.
She said she doesn’t rely on her hobby for
a living and tries to keep her costs low.
“…it’s something that I enjoy doing, so I
try to keep it down as much as possible, but
you always feel like you need something
for the cost of the material and the amount
of time you put into it,” she said. “Someone
asked me once if I wasn’t doing this then
what would I be doing. I’d probably be
sitting and just watching TV and not doing
much of anything. It keeps me busy and I
enjoy doing it and as long as people seem to
like the dresses I’ll continue making them.”
tesina-jackson@cheroke.org
918-453-5000, ext. 6139
Cherokee Arts
Center now
open full time
It’s open for Cherokee
artists to show their
work and teach others
their crafts.
BY StAFF REPORtS
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The Cherokee
Arts Center is now fully operational,
giving Cherokee artists a place to teach,
learn, create, exhibit and sell their work.
It is located at 212 S. Water St. It houses
classrooms, studios and a gallery. “The
Cherokee Arts Center is a gathering
place for artists to mentor and network
with one another in order to become
artist entrepreneurs,” said Donna
Tinnin of Cherokee Nation Commerce
Services. “The creative space can be
used for a variety of artistic mediums
such as metalsmithing, pottery, loom
weaving, painting and more.
The CAC building was originally
constructed as a Works Progress
Administration project during the Great
Depression in the 1930s. The property
needed an overhaul to make it suitable
for use as an artistic center.
Using federal American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act money and tribal
funds, the CN worked to revitalize
the aging structure by putting on a
new roof, installing central heating
and air conditioning and updating the
plumbing and electrical wiring.
The CAC offers artists a place to meet,
share their knowledge and learn new
techniques. Artists have the opportunity
to explore a number of creative avenues
at the center while creating a viable
source of income for themselves and
spreading awareness about Cherokee
culture, said Tinnin.
“Also, the gallery is available to
Cherokee artists to have another venue
to show and sell their work. We see the
Cherokee Arts Center as a great way
to perpetuate the Cherokee culture
through art and artistic expression and
to share it with visitors to the Cherokee
Nation,” she said.
CAC hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday through Saturday. Studio artists
and those giving or receiving artistic
instruction may have access to the center
after hours. To inquire about available
studio space or for more information,
call 918-453-5728 or 918-453-5536, or
email donna-tinnin@cherokee.org or
valerie-diffee@cherokee.org.

Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012
February 2012 • Cherokee Phoenix 19

20 Cherokee Phoenix • February 2012 Ewf #>hAmh • Kgl 2012