Tribal Election Results Are In - Seminole Tribe of Florida

The Seminole Tribune 3 May 20, 2005Indian Gaming AssociationCelebrates 20th BirthdayBy Shelley MarmorSAN DIEGO, CA — This year’s NationalIndian Gaming Association (NIGA) conference tookplace a the San Diego Convention Center, April10–13. The theme of this year’s 20th annual eventwas “Rebuilding Communities Through Indian Self-Reliance.”The conference began on Sunday April 10with festivities at the Chairman’s Welcome ReceptionShelley MarmorNIGA Chairman Ernest Stevens addressed the attendees.that included entertainment from native music artistsCarrington Cabaret and Robby Romero. TheAmerican Indian Film Institute also screened a promotionaltrailer from an upcoming Will Sampsonproject.On the following day, April 11, the conferenceagenda items actually got underway. After Tribalmembers from the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Nationand Oneida Nation of Wisconsin posted the colors,Chairman Ernest L. Stevens gave his welcomeaddress.Stevens presented many visiting elected officialsincluding Congressman Tom Cole, a ChickasawIndian who represents Oklahoma’s fourth congressionaldistrict. Cole received a bolo tie from Stevensfor his work in Indian Country.Following the introduction of elected officials,Stevens acknowledged the NIGA board memberswho were present. He commended their hardwork and informed everyone that because of the dedicationof so many, NIGA’s current membership is thelargest in the organization’s history.“These are the leaders that make NIGA happen,”he said. “I just do what they tell me to do.”In addition to the NIGA officials, Stevenssaid many other organization assist and create one bigteam. One of the organizations he highlighted was theNational Congress of American Indians (NCAI).NCAI President Tex G. Hall also briefly spoke at thewelcome address as well as during the jointNIGA/NCAI task force meeting on Wednesday April13.Stevens and NIGA Executive Director MarkBy Paul BusterGERMANY — I had awonderful visit with AnicaCyprian and her family inGermany. My wife and I hadwonderful privilege hosting her asan exchange student in2003–2004. At the end of herschool year she went back toGermany to be with her family.While she was here inAmerica, she became my daughter–justlike a daughter. Weexchanged our cultures with oneanother. She learned aboutAmerican culture as well asNative American culture. Sheassimilated very well with theSeminole Tribe of Florida.She is now back inGermany with her family. Sheattends a high school in the city ofSternberg, not too far from herhome. During my visit toGermany, I had an opportunity tospeak students at Anica’s schooland also another school. I presentedSeminole history to the students.C. Van Norman gave a State of the Industry Addresson the current state of Indian gaming. Stevens saidthat Indian gaming makes up 553,000 jobs nationally,which 75 percent of those jobs going to non-natives.“The state of Indian gaming in 2005 isstronger than ever,” he said. “Indian country is notlooking back, we’re looking forward.”NIGA Secretary Lynn Valbuena andTreasurer Charlie Colombe also gave addresses.Panel discussions followedin various rooms throughout theconvention center and people scatteredto hear speakers discuss topicsincluding Class II gaming litigationand Indian gaming hospitality, toname a few.On Tuesday representativesfrom the Indian Gaming NationalIntelligence Network hosted anearly-morning meeting where theypresented the Bruce LonghornAward for Excellence in Regulationto Milton LaClair, a retired officialfrom the Prairie Band ofPotawatomi Indians’ GamingCommission.Also on Tuesday the TradeShow opened to the public. Therewere more than 800 booths set upfrom native and non-native businessesand organizations such as:the AMERIND Risk ManagementCorporation, Mother Earth Products,the National Indian YouthLeadership Project, Inc., NativeAmerican Business Services, IndianCountry Today online news sourceand Tribal First Insurance Services.The NIGA elections also took place onTuesday, followed by specialized meetings on a varietyof gaming topics. A meeting with representativesfrom National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC)on Class II gaming.The NIGC in conjunction with SodakGaming, Inc., the country’s largest distributor of gamingequipment to Native American casinos, presentedan award to the Boys & Girls Clubs in Indian Countrylater that evening.The Trade Show continued on WednesdayApril 13 as well as meetings, including a round tablehosted by the American Indian Business Network.After the NIGA/NCAI task force meeting, attendeesmade their way to the presentation of the WendellChino Humanitarian Award Banquet hosted byChairman Stevens. This award is named in honor ofWendell Chino, a renowned Tribal leader who servedas Chairman of the Mescalero Apache Indians formore than four decades.The two recipients of this award wereStanley Crooks, Chairman of the ShakopeeMdewakanton Sioux Nation in Prior Lake, Minn. andRichard Milanovich, Chairman of the Agua CalienteBand of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs, Calif. Bothmen were recognized for their extraordinary leadershipand self-less commitment to their Tribe.Closing remarks followed, as well as closingentertainment from 1970s super group K.C. & theSunshine Band.‘Cowbone’ Visits Daughter in GermanyVisit of Native American at theDavid-Franck-GymnasiumBy Henry Kadow, German student[Editor’s note: This article was submitted by Paul “Cowbone”Buster]STERNBERG, GERMANY — On April 12 a NativeAmerican of the Seminole Tribe attended the David-Franck-Gymnasium. Paul Buster had come to Germany to meet AnicaCyprian and her family.Anica is a student of the 11th grade at the Gymnasium andhad been an exchange student in 2003–2004. She was living with PaulBuster and his family in Florida for that time.Her host father, Paul Buster, usually works in Hollywood asa language specialist. He is also active as a preacher and musician.He led the fifth period English class for the 12th grade. Allstudents of this grade therefore assembled in the auditorium, where heintroduced himself and gave information about his Tribe.At the end of his lecture students were able to ask questions.They raised questions according to the everyday life of NativeAmericans, the relationship between the Tribe and the U.S. governmentas well as personal experiences with racism.At the end of the lesson “Cowbone”–the original name givento him by his father–sang, accompanied by his guitar, some songs inhis native language, Miccosukee. NIGAContinued from page 1six of the President’s Leadership Awards.During his speech before the award’s presentationhe said, “I have been blessed with strongfriendships in Indian Country.”NIGA also recognized the Seminole Tribefor its involvement in the Second Annual Great PlainsChristmas Drive. This year’s Christmas drive raisedmore than $60,000 worth of clothes, toys, money andother essential day-to-day items through efforts fromNIGA, as well as six other Tribes.The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians,the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, the SycuanBand of the Kumeyaay Nation, the Mohegan Tribe ofIndians of Connecticut, the Forest CountyPotawatomi and the Seminole Tribe all receivedawards for their participation in the Second AnnualGreat Plains Christmas Drive.All donations from the drive went to childrenand families living on the Pine Ridge IndianReservation in South Dakota. This reservation containstwo of the poorest counties in the nation,Shannon County and Bennett County.Interns Reach Management Goals inTribal Career Development ProgramBy Shelley MarmorHOLLYWOOD — The Tribal CareerDevelopment Program formed in Jan. 2003 at therequest of the Tribal Council, which unanimouslypassed a resolution for its inception. The main purposeof the program is to teach Seminoles interestedin casino and hospitality management the necessarytools to take on such higher-up positions.Prior to this official program, Larry Frankfrom the Hollywood Casino created an unofficialmanagement training program. Much like the TribalCareer Development Program, Frank’s program wasfor Tribal citizens only. However, his programfocused solely on casino management, as it cameabout before the two Hard Rocks were created, whichboth have large-scale hospitality components.Director Betty J. Goosens currently runs theTribal Career Development Program and oversees 19interns, two of which have taken temporary leave.Goosens was the former director of the Employmentand Training section of the Education department andhas worked for the Tribe for many years.She, along with many other Tribal employees,including Gaming CEO Jim Allen, HumanResources and Education department employees, createdthe Tribal Career Development Program. Shesaid it took them approximately six months to lay outthe rules and procedures for the program.The program is set up with a two-phase curriculum.The first phase takes approximately twoyears and the second takes up to one year. In Phase I,interns go through all aspects of working in any oneof the Seminole casinos, from gaming to hospitality.In Phase II, the interns choose the area they wouldlike to specialize in and work in that area exclusively.However, the Tribal Career DevelopmentProgram allows Goosens the flexibility to tailor theprogram to each individual intern’s skill level, as wellas their professional goals. Certain interns with abackground working in a casino or in hospitality willlikely complete the program faster than someone wholacks that background.“If somebody’s a fast learner they can accelerate,”she said. “If someone needs more time theycan do that too.”For example, interns Jo-Lin Osceola, MarlonOther award recipients of the President’sLeadership Award include: the California NationsIndian Gaming Association, the Washington IndianGaming Association, the National Center forAmerican Indian Enterprise Development/NationalIndian Business Association and the Native AmericanBasketball Invitational.Accepting on behalf of the Native AmericanBasketball Invitational was former Phoenix Sunsplayer Mark West. West is currently the Suns’ generalmanager and co-founder of the Native AmericanBasketball Invitational with National Congress ofAmerican Indians President Tex G. Hall.During the invitational, 64 of IndianCountry’s finest native girl and boy basketball playerstook over the Suns’ home turf, the America WestArena, June 22–25. This was the third year of theinvitational and participation has nearly tripled sinceits first year from 24 teams to 64.When accepting the award Chairman Stevenspresented West with a bolo tie as a sign of appreciation.Also during his acceptance speech, West alsoissued a challenge to the Seminoles, the Miami Heatfans and all South Floridians in general.“Seminole Tribe,” he said. “I hope to see youin the finals.”Shelley Marmor(L-R, center) Leah Osceola and Ella DeHass display the NIGA Chairman’s Leadership award.Tommie and Myra Simmons have all bypassed PhaseI because the three had extensive knowledge in casinooperations; Osceola was the general manager at theCoconut Creek Casino, Tommie interned under LarryFrank’s unofficial career managerial program andSimmons has worked as a TAD, or technical aiddevice, operator for a number of years beforeenrolling in the Tribal Career Development Program.According to Goosens, persons wanting tointern with the program may do so at any time of theyear. Also, she added that the Tribal Council resolutiondoes not have an enrollment cap–any interestedand qualified person will be admitted to the program.“Council said hire as many people as wecan,” she said. “As long as they want to work.”Those interested in the program must first gothrough all the necessary steps to work for the Tribelike any other potential employee. They then have toapply for a gaming license, something most casinoemployees must do, according to Goosens.After filing for a gaming license, a temporarylicense is issued and interns may begin workingin the program. Goosens said the only thing thatwould disqualify a candidate from entering the TribalCareer Development Program is if he or she is a convictedfelon. She said no Tribal casino in the nationmay hire a convicted felon.Other than having no felony, an intern mustbe at least 18 years of age, an enrolled SeminoleTribal citizen and have a high school diploma orGED. They can work at any of the Tribes’ six casinos:Immokalee, Coconut Creek, Brighton, Hollywood oreither Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. To date, the programhas interns working at all casinos with theexception of the Brighton Casino.Currently, no one has completed Phase II ofthe program. Goosens said Marlon Tommie will bethe first to complete it, and she estimates he will finishin May of this year. She said Tommie is interestedin working with the senior level administration in theTribal Gaming department.Though the Tribal Career DevelopmentProgram does not have any curriculum for seniorlevel administration, Goosens said they are workingon creating one to accommodate Tommie’s ultimatecareer goal.This German newspaper, Schweriner Umland, featured an article on Cowbone’s visit.Submitted by Paul Buster