Native OK 4/5 Weekly Newsletter

Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton

Choctaw Chief Batton responds to Stitt interview

DURANT – Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Chief Gary Batton released a statement Thursday in response to an interview Gov. Kevin Stitt had with Tucker Carlson on Fox News.

“Once again, Gov. Stitt has chosen to blatantly misrepresent the issues involved in the McGirt decision and its impact,” Batton said. “Rather than cooperating with tribes to ensure public safety, he spreads falsehoods, misinformation and racist ideas.”

The Choctaw Nation has added more than 120 new public safety positions since the McGirt ruling, Batton said, including 38 police officers.

“And our prosecutors filed 622 felony cases in 2021. While some cases have moved from state to tribal or federal courts, the Choctaw Nation and other tribes are doing their duty and holding perpetrators accountable.

“Tribal nations, along with our intergovernmental partners, continue to ensure the safety of our communities and our neighbors, and we have expanded our criminal justice systems to handle our increased obligations,” Batton continued. “We have dozens of agreements in place that allow law enforcement officers to continue to do their jobs, and we are disappointed the governor continues to lie and denigrate that work.”

During the interview, Stitt was critical of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the case McGirt vs. Oklahoma that put limits on the state’s jurisdiction in criminal cases while recognizing that much of eastern Oklahoma remains in tribal reservation status.

“The state, if there’s an Indian involved, has lost jurisdiction to prosecute those crimes,” he said. “Our police have lost jurisdiction,” he said.

Osage Nation Election Supervisor Alexis Rencountre announces the 2022 Primary Election results on April 4, 2022. CODY HAMMER/Osage News

Primary Election Results: Standing Bear, Tillman, Walker and Trumbly advance

The April 4 election results are unofficial until the board certifies them; candidates have until April 8 at 4:30 p.m. to contest the results for cause.

Written byLouise Red Corn

In a win that suggests he’ll likely secure a third term as principal chief of the Osage Nation, Geoffrey Standing Bear garnered 52.61 percent of the votes in the primary election that was tallied April 4.

His nearest competitor, Joe Tillman, amassed more votes than Standing Bear on Election Day – 46.65 percent compared to Standing Bear’s 37.2 percent – but came up short overall with 37.12 percent of the vote. That second-place finish is enough to earn Tillman a place in the general election in June. In all voting – absentee, early and election day – Standing Bear received 1,050 votes compared to Tillman’s 741.

Eliminated from the race was Angela Pratt, who got 10.27 percent of the vote, or 205 of the total 1,996 votes casts.

R.J. Walker and Thomas Trumbly will face off for assistant chief in June, but Walker had a commanding lead out of the primary with 65.7 percent of the 1,936 votes cast in that race. Eliminated was Joseph Thornton, who trailed Trumbly by just 24 votes. Trumbly got 18.87 percent of the votes compared to Thornton’s 16.9 percent.

Tillman will have to wrest votes that were cast by primary voters for Standing Bear or drum up bigger voter turnout in the general election in order to win – a goal that might be achievable considering that only 11.47 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

“I’m good,” Tillman said. “Our goal was to make the top two. It’s a dead-even horse race.”

Standing Bear was subdued. “Work harder and congratulations to Angela and Joe for running strong campaigns, and that’s it,” he said.

Walker also had few words: “Thanks to all who got out and voted,” he said. “I appreciate the support.”

The race for assistant chief has been quiet, with little active campaigning for the job whose salary is rising from $75,000 to $115,000 a year.

Thanks to a vote by the Osage Nation Congress, the chief’s salary is also increasing, to $150,000 from $95,000, which is where it was set in 2006.

The April 4 election results are unofficial until the board certifies them; candidates have until April 8 at 4:30 p.m. to contest the results for cause.

The election appeared to go smoothly; all votes were counted within 50 minutes of the polls closing at 8 p.m., and Election Board Secretary Alexis Rencountre, accompanied by staff, Election Board members, and volunteers, announced the preliminary results in front of the Minerals Council offices after arriving there at 9:08 p.m.

As Rencountre walked up to a microphone, a few clusters of voters and candidate families were already waiting in the chilly drizzle for the results; others emerged from their cars, doors thudding, to catch her announcement of results.

Committee backs ARPA spending plan, ups sports team funding

By Chad Hunter

TAHLEQUAH – Tribal councilors supported a second spending plan for federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars in March and increased funding for sports teams that feature Cherokee players.

During a Rules Committee meeting on March 31, the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council backed the administration’s $174 million framework for a second round of ARPA spending. The tribe’s first COVID-19 relief spending package approved in May 2021 totaled more than $1.8 billion.

According to the resolution, funding will be used “for further response to and recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.” It is referred to as an extension of the tribe’s COVID-19 Respond, Recover and Rebuild Plan, the details of which were outlined in a May 2021 resolution.

“Cherokee Nation has taken various legislative and executive actions within the resolution’s framework to implement programs, services and investments in support of Cherokee citizens and the communities where they live,” the new legislation states.

Councilors also supported a workgroup-recommended plan to increase funding for league sports teams with a certain percentage of Cherokee players.

The previous threshold of 51% was lowered to 50% and the $500 team payment was increased to $595, just under the tax cutoff. A new category was added for teams that include 33% Cherokees. Those teams will be eligible for $300.

“I think overall, this is meant to broaden the pool of applicants,” said Tribal Councilor Candessa Tehee, a member of the workgroup. “Teams who are 33% or more Cherokee citizens will receive some funding, which in the past they have not received any funding. I think that’s a really positive move that’s going to support more of our youth in these competitive leagues.”

Also, the 14-county service area was changed to “Cherokee Nation Reservation” and now includes at-large portions of counties that lie partially within the reservation.

“This is a move that tells the entire population of our children that we honor and support their work in our sports and those leaders, as well,” Tribal Councilor Keith Austin said. “This is a very good thing to happen.”

The increased funding goes into effect immediately, according to tribal leaders.

Part of the Children Book Collection at the University of Oklahoma Bizzell Library. Photo provided by University of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma Becomes Latest State Seeking to Pass Book Banning Legislation

By Beck Connelley

Gaylord News

When Kyle Reynolds, superintendent of Woodward Public Schools saw that the book Fahrenheit 451 was on a list of books under review by the Oklahoma Attorney General, he thought “There's Irony in That.”

Fahrenheit 451, a novel by Ray Bradbury about books being outlawed and burned in a futuristic American society, was one of 51 books on a list being reviewed by Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor and his office. Although O’Connor eventually retraced his evaluation of the books, the announcement still sent ripples throughout the school system of Oklahoma.

Reynolds, who has been superintendent for 8 years, and employed by the district for 27, said that certain pieces of literature, including works by his personal hero Maya Angelou “can either reflect the society that it's in or give us perspective and hindsight for past societies and how things were.”

While the idea of restricting literature seems to be a partisan issue, Reynolds says some of the books on the list were reviewed and approved by his media specialists, whose choices he described as pretty conservative.

“My media specialists are all very active in their churches, Southern Baptists, First United Methodist. And so I'm pretty confident that their selections and choices for libraries are probably going to be pretty conservative… I trust mine (media specialists) to make sure that we've got appropriate content on our shelves.”

In Bixby, a suburb of Tusla, the public school district received a request last November to remove a book from its libraries. This was the first request the district had received in over 10 years. A parent sought to remove two books: “13 Reasons Why” by Jay Asher and “Me and Earl and The Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews from the high school’s shelves. These books, which feature some profanity, contain themes regarding sexuality, death, suicide.

Bixby Public Schools Superintendent Rob Miller said once the request was received, district policy called for a committee review.

“That committee consists of three administrators, two teachers, two parents, and a media specialist who are assigned to read those books, and then meet and discuss that complaint, and make a decision as to whether or not those books remain on the shelf or should be removed. But it is a committee process.”

The committee voted unanimously to keep the two books on the shelves, and the parent appealed to the board of education. The special board meeting took place on Feb. 16 and ended with a vote that kept both books on Bixby’s shelves.

“The parent and the district both had an opportunity to argue on behalf of their points of view, and then the board voted 5-0 for “13 Reasons Why” and 3-2 on “Me and Earl,” to keep both books in circulation,” Miller said.

Senate Bill 1142, authored by State Sen. Rob Standridge, seeks to remove or restrict certain books from public schools and public charter schools. When the bill was introduced on Dec. 16, Standridge clarified what type of books he wanted to restrict.

“Senate Bill 1142 prohibits public school districts, public charter schools, and public school libraries from having or promoting books that address the study of sex, sexual preferences, sexual activity, sexual perversion, sex-based classifications, sexual identity, gender identity, or books that contain content of a sexual nature that a reasonable parent or legal guardian would want to know about or approve of before their child was exposed to it,” the bill reads.

While some opponents have called it an attempt to ban books, Standridge said the bill is not about banning.

“It is not banning like what is being done to “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Dr. Suess,” and other books where protesters actually destroy their ability to publish is banning. S.B. 1142 is about empowering parents to guard their children in one single location, the public school library, while all parents are free to get any sort of book for their child at a public library, bookstore or the internet”, said Standridge.

The bill was co-authored by state senators Joe Newhouse and Mark Allen. It was advanced by the Senate Education Committee on March 1 and co-authored the next day by principal house author, Rep. Justin Humphrey.

Since then, the bill has been co-authored by seven state senators, with the most recent being Sen. Roland Pederson on March 21. Despite that apparent support, the bill did not receive a senate floor hearing by Thursday and is probably dead for this session. SB 1142 did not receive a Senate floor hearing before Thursday's deadline, which means the proposal is unlikely to advance further this session.

Gaylord News is a reporting project of the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication.