The Osage Nation Police Department in Pawhuska. Osage News file photo

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Osage Nation Police Department is implementing a sex offender registry and plans to launch a Web site this fall which will provide public information on offenders living, working or visiting the Nation’s lands held in federal trust.

Launching the registry will help the Nation strengthen its monitoring and tracking of area sex offenders (who are Osage and non-Osage) as required by the Adam Walsh Child and Protection Safety Act which became law in 2006. In September 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded the Nation an Adam Walsh Implementation grant to start the project.

“We want to enhance the safety of our Osage people and children,” said ONPD Officer Brian Herbert who is project manager for implementing the registry. The police department is receiving training on using the resources and computer technology needed to maintain the registry, he said adding the department plans to launch the sex offender registry Web site in October or November.

If tribes do not comply with the Adam Walsh Act, they could lose their sovereignty rights and “we want to refrain from that,” Herbert said.

Herbert said ONPD will be focused on tracking offenders who live, work and are visiting the Nation’s trust lands. These trust lands include the three Indian villages, the Nation’s government campus and Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino locations.

When the Web site listing offenders (who have been charged, convicted in court and required to register with law enforcement agencies) is online, it will list the person’s name, age, photo, recent addresses and criminal history (excluding any victim identities), Herbert said. The police department will collect additional information which may not be viewed by the public, but will help the department and other jurisdictions such as employer information, driver license numbers, computer usage data, fingerprints and DNA samples, he said.

The offenders who are listed on the Nation’s registry will each receive a tier rating from one to three based on the crime(s) he or she has been convicted of, Herbert said. A tier of “1” will be for offenders who have committed minor offenses and “3” is reserved for major offenses, many of which require offenders to register their whereabouts with law enforcement agencies for the rest of their lives.

According to the National Congress of American Indians Web site, there is a section within the Adam Walsh Act requiring tribal governments “to affirmatively elect to comply with the mandates of the Act,” which is named for the son of America’s Most Wanted TV show host John Walsh. Adam Walsh was abducted from a shopping mall and murdered in 1981 which inspired his father’s career of apprehending fugitives and advocating for laws protecting children from sexual predators.

In July 2007, the First Osage Nation Congress passed a resolution (ONCR 07-12 sponsored by former Congressman Doug Revard and co-sponsor former Congresswoman Debra Atterberry) which states the Nation intends to comply with the Adam Walsh Act, prompting efforts to launch the offender registry.

Herbert said ONPD will be issuing more information on the Nation’s sex offender registry as it gets closer to launching the Web site.

The Osage Nation Police Department is at 1333 Grandview in Pawhuska and can be reached at (918) 287-5510 or toll-free at (800) 286-1867.

A car drives past a sign saying, “You are entering the Osage Nation Reservation” in Bartlesville, Okla. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

Principal Chief John Red Eagle confirmed Tuesday that the Nation will be appealing to the United States Supreme Court before Oct. 22 in it’s lawsuit against the Oklahoma state Tax Commission.

Hanging in the balance are three of the tribe’s Million Dollar Elm casinos located in Skiatook, Ponca City and north Tulsa. The casinos are in jeopardy of being closed because they are not on federal trust land, which is required by the National Indian Gaming Commission. However, two (Tulsa and Skiatook) of the three tribe’s land-into-trust applications have been filed with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the third (Ponca City) will be filed in September.

“I met with Larry Echohawk [DOI assistant secretary for Indian Affairs] yesterday and he is very positive about giving us high priority because of the economic impact it could have if those casinos are shut down,” Red Eagle said.

The tribe found itself in the situation when their nine-year-old case against the Oklahoma state Tax Commission, in which the tribe alleges the state of Oklahoma does not have the right to tax Osage tribal members who work and live on the Osage reservation, didn’t go in their favor. The tribe was denied a rehearing May 25 by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, forcing the tribe to either live with the decision or file an appeal to the Supreme Court. The tribe was granted an extension to Oct. 22 by Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor July 14, since the tribe was going through runoff elections and new leadership would be deciding the tribe’s next move. The original deadline was Aug. 23.

The land-into-trust process is a difficult one and could take anywhere from six months to three years.

Change in counsel

Red Eagle has been principal chief for six days and in those six days he has had to make monumental decisions for the nation concerning the reservation status case.

One of the first actions Red Eagle took was to relieve the services of Norman-based attorney Gary Pitchlynn of Pitchlynn & Williams, PLLC, who was the lead counsel of the case under the Gray administration for nearly 10 years. However, under Pitchlynn’s recommendation, Red Eagle has agreed to replace him with Patricia Millet of Washington D.C.-based firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

“This is positive news . . . [we have found] someone very well known in the Supreme Court area of litigation and she comes very highly recommended,” Red Eagle said. “We are in contact with Millet and she’ll be taking us forward.”

Millet co-heads the firm’s Supreme Court practice and has argued 28 cases before the Supreme Court, according to the firm’s Web site. From August 1996 to September 2007, Millett served as an assistant to the solicitor general in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, in Washington, D.C. During that time she argued 25 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and she briefed more than 50 cases.

Red Eagle said the Osage Nation Congress will call a special session next week to appropriate $88,000 to get the case moving forward.

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry sent a letter Monday to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in support of the Osage’s three casinos currently in jeopardy. Former Principal Chief Jim Gray and Pitchlynn met with Henry Aug. 3.

“It is my understanding that, due to recent rulings by the federal courts, there may be some uncertainty about the legal status of several of the Osage Nation gaming facilities that would be clarified if you were to take these lands into trust for the Osage Nation,” Henry wrote in the letter. “It is my hope that your office can assist the Osage Nation in completing the process of taking those properties into federal trust as promptly as possible in order to avoid any possibility of closure of those facilities.”

Henry, who has reached his term limit as the state’s governor, will soon be replaced by either Rep. Mary Fallin (R) or Lt. Gov. Jari Askins (D) on Nov. 2. When elected, Fallin or Askins will be the state’s first female governor. Askins attended Red Eagle’s Inauguration at the WahZhaZhi Cultural Center in Pawhuska Aug. 4.

“A closure, even if only temporary, would result in the unfortunate loss of many jobs and great hardship on many Oklahoma families,” Henry wrote in the letter to Salazar. “There can be no doubt that the success of our tribal economies has a significant impact on the health of our state economy.”

The tribe alleges that the Osage reservation boundaries were never disestablished and that what most Oklahomans recognize as Osage county is in fact the Osage reservation boundaries.

To view the letter to the DOI from Gov. Brad Henry, click here:

Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry letter to DOI

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

The Osage Minerals Council has selected three members to be the OMC’s representation on the Nation’s five-member Trust Team. The trust team is made up of three OMC members, the principal chief and the speaker of the congress.

Dudley Whitehorn, Galen Crum and Cynthia Boone were unanimously voted in by the eight-member OMC July 21, and Whitehorn was voted to be the trust team chairman. They will join Principal Chief John Red Eagle and Speaker of the Congress Jerri Jean Branstetter.

According to the Memorandum of Agreement, signed and dated July 21, 2006, between the executive, congressional branch and the minerals council, the trust team was developed to establish clear lines of communication between the three.

The trust team monitors pending and future lawsuits against the United States or its officials concerning federal mismanagement of Osage tribal trust funds and assets, legislation concerning the settlement of such lawsuits as Cobell v. Kempthorne; and federal administrative actions concerning reform of trust management systems for tribes and Indians, according to the memorandum.

Salary reductions

OMC Councilmen Curtis Bear and Joseph “Sonny” Abbott have voluntarily taken pay cuts. Bear asked the council July 21 in their regular meeting to reduce his salary from $30,000 a year to $13,000 a year. Abbott cut his salary completely. Bear said in the meeting that in order to receive his disability benefits he cannot make an income of more than $14,000; Abbott said he did not need the extra money.

Audience members thanked the councilmen for reducing and returning their salaries to the Osage shareholders. The OMC receives their funding from the Osage minerals estate.

For more information on the OMC contact Miya McKim at (918) 287-5433 or e-mail her at mmkim@osagetribe.org.

Osage News staff members Benny Polacca and Shannon Shaw hold four of the five Media Awards the newspaper won during the 2010 Native American Journalists Association Conference in St. Paul, Minn. on July 23. Photo courtesy of Tetona Dunlap

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Osage News took home five Media Awards from the Native American Journalists Association’s 2010 conference here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

The newspaper won second place in the General Excellence category for bi-monthly/ monthly newspapers. This year’s NAJA conference was held July 21-24.

The Osage News staff won first and second place for Best Online Writing for stories posted to its osagenews.org Web site and second place for Best News Story in the bi-monthly/ monthly newspaper category. The newspaper also won third place for Best Editorial in the same category.

All articles and newspapers submitted for this contest were published in 2009 and competed against other tribal media outlets across North America.

Editor Shannon Shaw’s Oct. 27 online story titled “Five members of Congress meet behind locked doors to discuss budgetary cuts” took first place for Best Online Writing. Shaw also won second place for “Chief Jim Gray files two suits Friday against the Osage Nation Congress” which was posted to osagenews.org on Nov. 10 and both lawsuits were mentioned in the newspaper’s November edition.

Staff writer Benny Polacca won second place for Best Online Writing for the Dec. 3 story “Tribal members write messages on their cars to ‘Pass the Budget!’”

Tara Manthey, a former Editorial Council member, won third place in the Best Editorial Writing category for her front-page article “Time is of the essence: Readers! Tell the Osage Congress we don’t have forever to set up a free press.” This article was printed in April during the legal debate over a free press which reached the Osage Nation Supreme Court and was decided in December 2009.

The Osage News operates under ONCA 08-07 which is the Independent Press Act of 2008.

This is the second year in which the Osage News has entered the NAJA Media Awards competition which honors Native and non-Native NAJA members for their outstanding contributions to journalism with a focus on Native American people. The newspaper won two Media Awards last year.

A car drives past a sign saying, “You are entering the Osage Nation Reservation” in Bartlesville, Okla. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The United States Supreme Court has extended the deadline from August to October for the Osage Nation to file an appeal in the reservation status case.

The Nation now has until Oct. 22 to file an appeal of its lawsuit against the Oklahoma state Tax Commission in which the question of whether the Osage Nation Reservation exists is at issue. If the case’s ultimate outcome determines the reservation does not exist, then the operations of three Osage Million Dollar Elm casinos (Skiatook, Ponca City and the nation’s largest in north Tulsa) could be in jeopardy. Currently, the three casinos in trouble were not built on trust land.

The nine-year-old case originated in federal court in Tulsa but was appealed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver where the Nation’s request for a case rehearing was denied May 25. The rehearing denial came at a critical juncture in the Nation’s history with the June 7 election occurring less than two weeks later which resulted in four first-time Congresspersons elected to the Second Osage Nation Congress and a July 19 runoff election in which John Red Eagle was elected Principal Chief and Scott BigHorse Assistant Principal Chief.

Now those elected officials of the Nation’s legislative and executive branches are left deciding the next moves in the case before the Oct. 22 deadline, which was extended 60 days from the original Aug. 23 deadline. The initial deadline would have left less than a month for a decision to be reached by the Nation because Red Eagle and BigHorse won’t be sworn into office until Aug. 4.

“I believe it’s a good thing,” Red Eagle said of the deadline extension. “It gives us more time to evaluate the situation.”

The deadline extension was granted by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor who is the high court’s circuit justice for the 10th Circuit which includes Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Gary Pitchlynn, whose Norman-based law firm is on record representing the Nation in this case, said the extension was granted by Sotomayor July 14.

“The Supreme Court designates separate justices for the (13) circuits” and Sotomayor is assigned to the 10th Circuit, said Pitchlynn, whose firm filed the request in an “application for extension of time to file a petition for writ of certiorari” one day earlier.

In the deadline extension request Pitchlynn described the ongoing change in the Nation’s government administration because of the June 7 and July 19 election outcomes and also “because of the potential ramifications of the decision on the incoming government and its people.”

“Both the (legislative and executive branches) desire and need additional time to consider and take appropriate government actions regarding the filing of (an appeal to the Supreme Court), including (the new administration) considering whether or not to file a petition,” Pitchlynn wrote in the deadline extension request.

“We wanted (the Supreme Court) to know that (outgoing Principal Chief) Jim Gray wasn’t the appropriate person to make the decision” on whether to make the appeal, Pitchlynn said.

Congress passes appropriation bill to fund litigation fees related to the reservation status case

News of the deadline extension request approval hit the Internet shortly after Congressman Raymond Red Corn, now the Congressional Second Speaker, wrote his latest Update electronic newsletter July 18 in which he discussed an appropriation bill passed by the Congress with a 5-4 vote, which would fund further litigation in the reservation status case. Congressman Geoffrey Standing Bear also discussed the vote on the Osage Shareholders Association blog two days earlier when the $207,000 appropriation bill was passed.

The bill (ONCA 10-57), sponsored by Congressman Eddy Red Eagle, was originally introduced with a request for $100.

Red Corn said in his Update the bill “was filed as a placeholder appropriations bill until the Osage Congress could hear arguments for funding past and future expenditures. That discussion was held in the Congressional Government Operations Committee (July 15). By the Executive branch’s own accounting, $189,000 was spent on attorneys during the appeals process, expenditures made with no prior authorization from Congress. The Executive (branch) sought an additional amount in excess of $300,000 for future expenditures. The Government Operations Committee voted 4-0 (Mason, Boone, Red Eagle, Red Corn) to appropriate the $189,000 already spent, plus $88,000 for future expenditures.”

The now-$207,000 bill became a target of debate during the July 16 Special Session of Congress after Standing Bear introduced an amendment to the bill to only spend the money on a selected list of attorneys who could defend the Nation if the case is appealed to the Supreme Court.

The amendment failed on a 4-5 vote. Standing Bear, Mark Simms, Alice Goodfox and Daniel Boone voted yes. John Free, Archie Mason, Speaker Jerri Jean Branstetter, Eddy Red Eagle and Red Corn voted against. William “Kugee” Supernaw, Anthony Shackelford and Shannon Edwards were absent that day.

In his July 16 OSA blog entry after the session, Standing Bear wrote: “I submitted an Amendment this afternoon to use the money only for attorneys on a list of the top attorneys in the country, that list provided the Osage Congress in a July 1, 2010 letter from Congress attorneys, the law firm of Crowe Dunlevy. Much debate followed with one group opposed to the Amendment for several reasons, including one Congressman who said it would restrict the Chief from choosing his own attorneys.”

Red Corn replied in the same blog posting that day: “At issue was the ability of this Congress to control, via the budget, the selection of attorneys by the Executive branch. Language to specify the legal firms on whom appropriated money would be spent (in this case, three) was challenged when presented on a floor amendment to the appropriation bill. As has often been argued, if the Congress can make that call, we can also dictate who the Nation’s plumber, electrician, and HVAC contractor is by inserting similar language in each appropriation bill.”

The final vote on ONCA 10-57 was 5-4 with Boone, Goodfox, Simms, and Standing Bear voting against. An emergency clause attached to the bill failed on a 7-2 vote with Standing Bear and Boone voting “no,” meaning the $207,000 cannot be spent for 60 days, Standing Bear reported in his posting.

Government officials to sit down and discuss next moves in the case

Red Eagle said he is planning to sit down with Gray and the attorneys involved to discuss all options in the case because “I think we’ve got to take safeguards.”

For example, “fee into trust land is a big one,” he said of options to protect the Tulsa, Ponca City and Skiatook casinos which are not on trust land. Government officials have said such a process can take more than a year to complete.

The Second Osage Nation Congress meets for the first time July 9 to elect committee members. Chief Jim Gray speaks on the importance of carrying forth with the Nation's suit against the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Second Osage Nation Congress is meeting this week for its first Special Session since the June 7 election. The Congress selected Jerri Jean Branstetter to be Speaker and it will consider a $100 emergency appropriation bill during this Special Session to fund any legal response to the lawsuit against the Oklahoma Tax Commission regarding the Nation’s reservation status suit.

On July 9, Congressman Eddy Red Eagle filed ONCA 10-57 which is an act to provide an appropriation to the lawsuit fund for $100. The bill was read into record by Red Eagle during this morning’s Special Session and the bill has been referred to the Congressional Committee on Government Operations. A committee meeting to discuss this bill has yet to be announced.

The Second ON Congress met for the first time that day with Principal Chief Jim Gray delivering an executive message in which he mentioned the Osage Nation’s reservation is referred to in the tribe’s 2006 Constitution.

“We’re faced with a issue that’s before us: the question of funding the piece of litigation that will continue to advance the interests of what this constitution says – about what we have all sworn an oath to defend which is the territory of the Osage people,” Gray told the Congress.

In May, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to rehear the Nation’s case against the Oklahoma state Tax Commission, which left the Executive Branch 90 days to make a decision on whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nine-year-old case was first filed in 2001 in federal court in Tulsa. The case then went to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals where it ruled in December 2007 that the Nation could proceed against individual members of the Oklahoma Tax Commission. U.S. District Judge James Payne ruled in February of 2009 that Osage Nation employees are not exempt from paying state income taxes and that Osage County is not the Osage Reservation’s boundaries. The Nation asked him to reconsider his “lousy decision,” as Chief Gray put it at the time, but Payne let the ruling stand. The Nation appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals again where they agreed with Payne’s ruling. The Nation asked the 10th Circuit to reconsider their decision in January of this year.

“Before the highest court in the land, we have to respond either by not responding, which is a response within itself, which means the 10th Circuit decision on this issue will stand and you know what the consequences of that is,” Gray said. “We also have an opportunity to appeal to the highest court in the land to have our case heard on its merits, to be considered on all historical facts that support our position, to be given a fair hearing for the sake of our ancestors. I ask you to consider that very carefully.”

Congresswoman Branstetter elected Speaker

Also on July 9, after Chief Gray spoke, the Congress held elections for their Speaker and Second Speaker positions in which all members unanimously elected Branstetter as Speaker and Raymond Red Corn as Second Speaker after each was nominated.

The Congressional Committees were also formed and held their first meetings immediately after the July 9 session.

The third day of the Special Session is slated for Tuesday July 13 at 10 a.m. in the Congressional Chambers.

Congressional Committees and selected leaders

Congressional Committee on Congressional Affairs: Raymond Red Corn (chairman), Jerri Jean Branstetter, John Free, Alice Goodfox, Mark Simms.

Rules and Ethics Committee: Jerri Jean Branstetter (chairwoman), Archie Mason and Eddy Red Eagle.

Congressional Committee on Education: Shannon Edwards (chairwoman), Archie Mason (vice chairman), Daniel Boone (Appropriations Committee representative), John Free and Alice Goodfox.

Congressional Committee on Commerce and Economic Development: Mark Simms (chairman), Anthony Shackelford (vice chairman), Alice Goodfox, Geoffrey Standing Bear, Eddy Red Eagle (Appropriations Committee representative) and Raymond Red Corn.

Congressional Committee on Culture: Anthony Shackelford (chairman), Geoffrey Standing Bear (co-chairman), Mark Simms, William “Kugee” Supernaw (Appropriations Committee representative), Jerri Jean Branstetter

Congressional Committee on Government Operations: Jerri Jean Branstetter (chairwoman), Archie Mason (vice chairman and Appropriations Committee representative), Daniel Boone, Raymond Red Corn, Eddy Red Eagle, William “Kugee” Supernaw.

Congressional Committee on Health and Social Services: Archie Mason (chairman), Alice Goodfox (vice chairwoman), Shannon Edwards, John Free (Appropriations Committee representative) and Raymond Red Corn.

Congressional Committee on Appropriations: Eddy Red Eagle (chairman), Archie Mason (vice chairman), Daniel Boone, John Free and William “Kugee” Supernaw.

Assistant Principal Chief candidate Amanda Proctor poses for the Osage News during the Pawhuska In-Lon-Schka. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

Before Amanda Proctor started her law career with a focus on Native American issues, she worked as a program director for two tribes where she found herself taking on duties which lawyers tackle on a day-to-day basis.

“I started as a housing director and I felt as a housing director, I was doing a lot of legal work which included drafting policies, negotiating intergovernmental affairs and litigation” such as eviction matters which ended up in court, Proctor said. Those experiences would fuel her efforts to help several Native tribes and causes by representing them in court after graduating from law school.

Now she is running for Osage Nation Assistant Principal Chief to bring her knowledge to the Executive Branch.

Proctor, 35, won the second highest number of votes in the Nation’s June 7 election out of six candidates for the assistant principal chief’s office. Now she faces a July 19 runoff election against Scott BigHorse while incumbent John Red Eagle makes a run for the Principal Chief’s office against Tim Tall Chief.

If elected, Proctor will be the first Osage woman to hold the assistant principal chief’s office. Proctor said she’s heard concerns about a woman holding the second highest elected position in the Executive Branch, but she believes the Nation is ready for another change in progress.

“We’ve never had a female chief or assistant chief. Some people have told me they didn’t feel the tribe was ready for a female leader,” Proctor told the Osage News during an interview after dancing at this year’s Pawhuska In-Lon-Schka dances. “There’s been a lot of evolution: originally these dances were not open to the participation of women. It might be time for leadership to open up as well.”

What’s next for the assistant principal chief?

As assistant principal chief, whoever is elected will have the task of performing duties which may be delegated by the Principal Chief and will serve as an ex-officio member of the Osage Nation Congress, according to the Nation’s Constitution. When meeting with Congress in committee of the whole, the assistant principal chief shall also have the right to join in debate and cast tie-breaking votes when the 12-member Congress is equally divided.

The assistant principal chief-elect also joins the tribal government which is at a crucial crossroads with the Second Osage Nation Congress taking oath of office this month with four new members and several litigations issues in the air, such as lawsuits filed in the Nation’s court system involving the executive and legislative branches and whether the tribe will make a move in response to the recent federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to not rehear the Nation’s case against the Oklahoma State Tax Commission.

On running for office, Proctor, says she’s “wanted to for quite sometime and really thought this through as the (candidacy filing) deadline approached because it involves sacrifices for me. Anytime you put yourself out there, there are risks and consequences.”

Proctor, who is co-founder of Tulsa-based Shield Law Group PLC which focuses on representing Native American tribes and organizations, said she “certainly will have to disengage from a number of my relationships” since the assistant chief position is full-time.

To date, Proctor has represented nine area tribes which, includes serving as general counsel for the Housing Authority of the Seminole Nation (Okla.) as well as the Absentee Shawnee Housing Authority. She is licensed to practice law in the tribal courts for the Iowa, Ponca, Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee Nations.

Last year, Super Lawyers magazine selected Proctor as one of their Rising Star attorneys who are age 40 and under. According to the magazine’s Web site: “[The Super Lawyers selection process] is a comprehensive, good-faith and detailed attempt to produce a list of lawyers that have attained high peer recognition, meet ethical standards, and have demonstrated some degree of achievement in their field.”

“If elected, I think I will be practicing a lot more law than I am now,” Proctor said. “We are at a critical juncture in the history of this tribe and I think I am in the position to make decisions for the Nation – especially without the comfort of an attorney general (for the Nation).”

Proctor is referring to the Nation’s lack of an attorney general, a position she believes could be instrumental in providing legal advice or resolving conflicts on issues that may arise within the tribal government. “It will keep me sharp in my skills,” Proctor said of holding office, if she is elected. The Nation’s latest effort to establish an attorney general’s office failed earlier this year when the First ON Congress voted down a bill, sponsored by Congresswoman Shannon Edwards which would have created the AG position, during the Hun-Kah Session.

One issue affecting the Osage Nation that Proctor believes she can help with as assistant principal chief is closing the issues raised by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last year after the agency issued a monitoring report to the Nation asking it to account for more than $666,000 in grant funding which had been awarded to the tribe but was unaccounted for.

A HUD spokeswoman told the Osage News in May the agency was still working with the Nation to close the findings in the monitoring report. A follow-up inquiry made last month has yet to be answered.

“Thanks to my background in housing authority, I really know the ins and outs of federal compliance and HUD audits,” she said.

Proctor also believes “we’ve got to put in some long hours” immediately if she’s elected because the Nation must decide on whether to respond to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to not the rehear the Tax Commission case (also known as the “reservation/ rez status case”).

“We need to figure out where we are and where we need to go,” she said because the Osage Nation’s reservation status is at issue which could affect three of the seven Osage Million Dollar Elm Casinos which are not on protected trust lands.

‘Humble’ start to helping Native Americans

Born in Dallas, Proctor (Osage/ Cherokee) grew up in Wichita, Kans., and graduated from high school in nearby Goddard in 1993 before heading east to attend Ivy League-famed Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. “My background is humble with no expectation of (rural residents) going to Ivy League school,” Proctor said adding her parents (mother Karen Proctor is Osage) grew up in rural Kansas.

Amanda Proctor’s uncle and newly-elected Osage Minerals Councilman Galen Crum is one of her most ardent supporters who has championed and defended her on the Osage Shareholders Association blog which has been a lightning rod of discussion, criticisms and praise for all the candidates, newsmakers and rumors aired through the Internet since the election seasons started heating up last year. In a June 29 posting to the blog, Crum wrote:

“When Amanda was barely in high school she announced that she was going to Harvard to study some major that would allow her to serve Native People. I smiled and encouraged her, (I’m her uncle) but I was certain her parents could never afford Harvard, even if she could qualify. But Amanda fooled me. She worked hard, got the grades, did the public service and extra curricular activities etc. that would land the necessary scholarships to pull it off. Harvard was very hard, not just the incredibly demanding curriculum, but also being a thousand miles from home, with little extra money. Scholarships pay for tuition, room, books etc., but not for plane trips home. I suspect a big, empty college campus is about the loneliest place on earth over Christmas and Thanksgiving breaks. But she stayed with her dream and got it done.”

Proctor completed her Harvard studies and graduated with an AB (bachelor’s) degree in anthropology in 1999. Proctor, who has participated in Native American cultural dances since childhood, founded the Harvard University Powwow in 1995 while attending the school.

After Harvard, Proctor started her work in Indian Country by working as housing directors for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe in Oklahoma and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians in Dowagiac, Mich., before returning to school to pursue her law degree.

Proctor attended the University of Tulsa from 2003 to 2005 when she earned her Juris Doctorate as well as the Native American Law Certificate. The following year, she was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association and joined the staff of Sneed Lang Herrold PC, a Tulsa-based law firm where she focused on Native American law and has signed onto cases involving various tribal matters and causes including the Fletcher v. United States case which involves shareholders of the Osage Minerals Estate.

Today Proctor keeps home in Skiatook where she’s lived for the past five years. She is raising three sons as a single mother: Grayson, 8; Amory, 3; and Rhett, 11 months.

As attorney, Proctor is also general counsel for the Ponca Tribe and has provided legal work for the Otoe-Missouria on some projects. She left Sneed Lang Herrold last year to start Shield Law Group PLC with fellow TU law school graduate Katrina Jacuk who is a member of the Kenaitze tribe in Alaska and is of Aleut descent.

In the eight-year-old Fletcher case, in which Proctor is one of the attorneys of record, Osage plaintiffs William Sam Fletcher and Charles Pratt are seeking the return of headright shares which are being paid to non-Osage shareholders and entities with hundreds of defendants who have been served in the case.

Assistant Principal Chief candidate Amanda Proctor poses for the Osage News during the Pawhuska In-Lon-Schka. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

William Sam Fletcher and Charles Pratt stand in front of the Osage Original Allottees exhibit in the Osage Tribal Museum. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

The Bigheart Times

As the Osage Nation’s massive trust case against the U.S. government winds slowly toward conclusion, two Hominy men are pushing ahead with another case, trying to recapture Osage headrights that fell into the hands of non-Osages.

William Sam Fletcher and Charles Pratt are the only plaintiffs left in the case thanks to the death of two others and the decision by a fifth plaintiff to drop out of the case.

On the other side: 821 defendants who have been served, 195 of whom have lawyered up to fight, 231 defendants who have not been found, and another 603 whose only address is care of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

One defendant, a church that has not been named, has capitulated, settling the claim against it by simply returning its headright and renouncing its ownership.

Bravo, said both Fletcher and Pratt: That is all they are seeking.

“In the name of justice, simply return these headrights to the Osages,” said Fletcher. “We never received any justice for those horrible injustices of the past, but we’re not concerned with money in the past.”

But Fletcher and Pratt say there’s an issue there: The Osage Nation has set up no mechanism to repossess the headright and redistribute income from it to Osage shareholders, so the money from the returned headright is now accumulating in an escrow account.

Fletcher and Pratt said that they have asked the Osage Minerals Council to figure out a system to accept the headrights, as well as for a statement of support from the tribal body that oversees the minerals estate but have not received an answer they find satisfactory.

Minerals Chairman John Henry Mashunkashey said that the reason for that is simple: The tribe’s lawyers have advised the Minerals Council not to take any action, however benign it might seem, on any litigation for fear that it could jeopardize the tribal trust case that recently yielded a $250 million summary judgment against the federal government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. That judgment is subject to appeal, and a trial is scheduled at the end of June regarding another $60 million claimed in the case first filed in 1999. The trust case is expected to be completed in the next two years.

“We’ve been instructed by our legal counsel to stay as far away as we can from the other two litigations by Bill Sam and Cora Jean Jech in the event that this might be a problem with our own litigation,” Mashunkashey said. “We don’t want to jeopardize payout in the spring of 2012. We’ve got to think of the 4,242 Osage annuitants.

“Personally, I am in total support of (the Fletcher) litigation, but when our attorney tells me to stay out of it, I’m going to.”

The Fletcher case, which for the first time publicly revealed the names of non-Osages who owned headrights, has turned up some hitherto unknown transactions involving headrights, Fletcher said, including that some of them have been traded by stock brokers.

The case has also failed to answer some large questions: Hundreds of entities are apparently receiving headrights despite the fact that there is no record of them having a business license or paying taxes.

“They’re non-existent,” Pratt said. “The Hissom Center (a state run mental hospital in Sand Springs) closed in 1993 but is receiving a headright interest. Where is the money going? It’s going somewhere, but we can’t find out where. It’s like a big cloud has been pulled over it.”

Responses to the Fletcher suit have been trickling in since the defendants were named and some were served. For the most point, the answers have been dry, simply denying that the plaintiffs have any right to the headrights in question and affirming that the defendants obtained the headrights legally, through inheritance or other means. One family, the Gardners, denied “they can be compelled to distribute trust property only to Osage Indians and their heirs” and said that the plaintiff’s claims are barred by the statute of limitations and other legal doctrines.

Osage Indian Baptist Church in Pawhuska, represented by former BIA solicitor Cecil Wood, replied that the 1906 Act upon which the case is built, does not bar Osages from willing headrights to whom they please. The church says it has .11395 of a headright, left to it in 1921 by Wy-e-nah-she, allottee No. 598, who had inherited that portion of a headright from his deceased wife, Mo-se-che-he, allottee No. 320.

The next step in the Fletcher case, Pratt said, is to start taking depositions: He is hoping to quiz non-Osage locals who own large numbers of headrights about how they obtained them.

The two plaintiffs are also actively seeking Osages and descendants of Osages who lost headrights or money that accrued in trust accounts during probate, whether they know how that happened or not.

[Editor’s Note: This story was originally published by The Bigheart Times and is used with permission.]

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Defendant in Fletcher case gives back shares of Mineral Estate

Osage News

The St. Lukes United Church of Christ in St. Louis is giving back their royalty payment of the Osage Minerals Estate in a step forward in Fletcher v. United States.

The church entered into an agreement with the Fletcher plaintiffs, William Fletcher and Charles Pratt, on March 26 to ensure that all their Section 4 Royalty Payments that are made to the church will instead be sent to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma in downtown Tulsa.

Currently the judge in the Fletcher case has barred the plaintiffs from giving out any details about the case. Fletcher and Pratt were asked about other defendants possibly giving back their shares and they had no comment.

However, they did comment on their disappointment that the Nation has not given any support for their case.

According to the settlement agreement, the royalty payment that was to go to the St. Louis church will go to the district court in Tulsa to be held in an account made by the court. According to Pratt, if the Nation had supported the Fletcher case the shares could have immediately gone to the Nation.

“Had [the Nation] cooperated four years ago, we could have had an account in place for the money returned,” Pratt said.

Both Fletcher and Pratt say the case is simply “in the name of justice” and they have no personal aspirations for any money for themselves. They just want the shares of the Mineral Estate that is going to non-Osage shareholders to be returned.

The Osage Nation campus. Osage News file photo

Osage News

The Osage News asked the Osage general election candidates this question for the week of May 31: The Nation has 90 days to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States in Osage Nation vs. Oklahoma Tax Commission. What should we do?

Their answers are below in the order they were received. Every week leading up to the election June 7 the Osage News will ask the candidates a question every Monday morning and will publish their answers every Friday morning.

Candidates who did not respond are Principal Chief Candidates Jim Gray, John Red Eagle, Roy St. John and Tim Tall Chief. Assistant Principal Chief Candidates that did not respond were Amanda Proctor, Anthony Shackelford, Cecelia Tallchief and Everett Waller. Congressional Candidates that did not respond were Daniel Boone, Randolph Crawford, Danette Daniels, James Elsberry, John Free Jr., Alice Goodfox, Margo Gray-Proctor, Jake Heflin, John Jech, John Maker, Jenny Miller, Raymond Red Corn, Joseph Shunkamolah, Geoffrey Standing Bear, William “Kugee” Supernaw, Anthony Webb and John Williams.

Scott BigHorse, Candidate for Assistant Principal Chief, received 3:42 p.m. June 1

We have no choice but to appeal and hope it will be heard. I hope we can get a ruling based on case precident and not what an Historian thinks.

Louis Gray, Candidate for Osage Nation Congress, received 8:14 p.m. June 1

My heart says to appeal to the highest court, but before my emotions speak it most certainly should be a legal decision based on case law and best strategies. This process should be happening now, it shouldn’t be rushed and it shouldn’t be short-changed. The question is just too important to not give it the proper resources.

More importantly, it should be recognized that this is an Osage decision not a political one. Not a campaign position but a legal one.

The court has still not considered long standing case law, which appears to be on our side. New perspectives are both dangerous and not attributed to anything but fear and scare tactics.

I would ask the Principal Chief to brief all of the chief and assistant chief candidates on the current state of the lawsuits. We can’t afford to wait on a political decision to determine what is best for the nation; we have a survival decision that needs to be considered today with all deliberate speed.

I would ask all candidates to please not use this crucial period in tribal history to talk politics when we should be forming a united front.

Vance Wyrick, Candidate for Osage Nation Congress, received 1:22 p.m. June 3

We cannot stand by as our heritage, our status as a reservation is stripped from us. Not only for what it means to the revenue but also the cultural intrinsic value it has for all Osages. We must aggressively appeal this decision to the United States Supreme Court. This decision not only changes the status of the Osages and our land but will affect all Tribes in the long run. As we take our appeal to the Supreme Court we must also aggressively pursue getting the three casinos’ lands into trust. Now is the time to come together as one singular united People to fight to save our Nation.

Vance Wyrick
“One People, One Truth, One Nation, Our Future”

www.vancewyrick4osagecongress.com

Facebook: Vance Wyrick for Osage Nation Congress

Jeff Irons, Candidate for Assistant Principal Chief, received 3:16 p.m. June 3

The US Supreme Court received about 10,000 petitions for writ of certiorari during their last term. The court normally issues an opinion or hears 1-2% of these petitions brought before them. This indicates the odds of the Court hearing our appeal are slim. In order to protect the Nations revenue(s) an application placing the land in trust should be filed immediately. Regardless of the outcome of Monday’s election ALL elected officials should come together without delay and UNITE to develop a plan of action and a contingency plan that will finalize this issue. Those elected officials should review without haste and determine the final action. I mention review because if there are new people in office they need to be brought up to date so an educated decision can be made. Once a determination has been made these elected officials should ensure the people of this Nation an application has been submitted to the BIA putting this and future land into Trust. There should be a committee that oversees future land purchases identifying the use before the purchase is made. This will prevent future purchases where the land is not in trust when the intent is for gaming.

David Conrad, Candidate for Osage Nation Congress, received 7:58 p.m. June 3

Appeal!

Carl “Chico” Sellers, Candidate for Principal Chief, received 9:12 p.m. June 3

It would be great to retain our land reservation, but most of us know that won’t happen. Osage Nation has always been a sub surface minerals reservation. Talk with the elders, and former Chiefs and they will tell you that Osage Nation was established and known as a minerals reservation. The idea to take this case to the courts was worth a try, I do agree, but the courts ruled against us as a land reservation. What was the most mitigating factor? It was the fact that only 6% of the population living in Osage County are of Osage descent. We would have a better argument if the population was at 40% or 50% or higher of Osage descent. As a nation we are throwing good money after bad by taking advice from lawyers who are more concerned with lining their pockets.

We are a highly educated tribe and it has actually hurt our case that a majority of our tribal members moved from here to pursue their livelihood. If a person were to look at other reservations they have 75% or higher of their population as their own tribal members. As a result, I would not pursue the case.

A car drives past a sign saying, “You are entering the Osage Nation Reservation” in Bartlesville, Okla. Photo by Chalene Toehay/Osage News

By Shannon Shaw
Osage News

The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied to rehear the Nation’s case against the Oklahoma Tax Commission Tuesday, leaving Principal Chief Jim Gray 90 days to make a decision on whether to appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States.

“Am I shocked? Yes,” Gray said. “Am I disappointed? You bet. But, am I conceding? No, I’m not.”

Gray said in a prepared release that he owes it to the Nation to use the 90 days to consider all possible alternatives and that the Nation has several legal options they can pursue. He did not say whether or not he will be appealing to the Supreme Court or what those other legal options are.

If the Supreme Court denies to hear the Nation’s case the Nation could lose three of its largest revenue sources, the Tulsa, Skiatook and Ponca City Million Dollar Elm Casinos. The Nation has been frantically trying to get the three properties put into trust but if they are unsuccessful before time runs out, the consequences could be disastrous.

“While I’m going to use my allotted time for consideration of an appeal, let there be no misunderstanding that the position of the Osage Nation is clear – we have a reservation,” Gray said. “If we concede or drop this case, we are admitting we have not had a reservation since 1906 – which is absolutely untrue and contrary to all legal precedent.”

The Nation maintains that the Osage Reservation was never disestablished by any act of the U.S. Congress and that it has been repeatedly recognized by the state in terms of gaming revenues and has been recognized by the National Indian Gaming Commission as Indian Country. The Nation argues that Osages working on the reservation are exempt from paying state taxes because of these facts.

The nine-year-old case was first filed in 2001 in federal court in Tulsa. The case then went to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals where it ruled in December 2007 that the Nation could proceed against individual members of the Oklahoma Tax Commission. U.S. District Judge James Payne ruled in February of 2009 that Osage Nation employees are not exempt from paying state income taxes and that Osage County is not the Osage Reservation’s boundaries. The Nation asked him to reconsider his “lousy decision,” as Gray put it at the time, but Payne let the ruling stand. The Nation appealed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals again where there agreed with Payne’s ruling. The Nation asked the 10th Circuit to reconsider their decision in January of this year.

Does Gray have 90 days to make a decision?

Another twist is the possibility of a new principal chief. The Osage elections are in 11 days and if Chief Gray does not win his bid for re-election it will be up to the new principal chief to make a decision on the Nation’s behalf.

Running for principal chief is Gray, current Assistant Chief John Red Eagle, Carl “Chico” Sellers, Roy St. John and Tim Tall Chief. There is also a possibility of a run-off election between two of these five men and if that happens, the Nation won’t know who their new principal chief is until July 19 and that new chief wouldn’t be sworn in until Aug. 4. That could leave the new principal chief with approximately 20 days to decide whether the Nation will appeal to the Supreme Court.

According to the Osage Election Law the new chief is sworn in on the first Wednesday of the first month after their election.

Gray said he does not plan on making a decision to appeal before the June 7 election and said he will leave it up to the Osage People on who they want as a principal chief to make that decision.

“My obligation to the Nation comes first and my duty is to collect all the relevant information before a decision like this is made,” Gray said. “Right now I haven’t decided whether or not [the decision to appeal to the Supreme Court] is something I need to make a decision on right now . . . but this is far more important than my re-election.”

Land into trust

Approval of a land-into-trust application could take between six months to three years. In order for tribal Nations to own and operate gaming facilities the federal government requires that those gaming facilities be on restricted Indian land, in other words, trust land. The Nation bought the land that houses the Tulsa, Skiatook and Ponca City MDE’s from private landowners.

The Nation didn’t immediately put the land into trust when it first bought the land for the three casinos because the National Indian Gaming Commission approved the Osages’ claim that Osage County was also the reservation, said a source in the Chief’s Office in a 2009 Osage News article. The state signed the compact as well, a de facto recognition that the county is also the reservation, the source said.

The state loses if the Nation loses

A ruling in favor of the Oklahoma Tax Commission would result in a net loss for the state, said Gray in a prepared release.

“What the Tax Commission declares is a win for the State of Oklahoma is actually a loss when you consider the financial consequences to the state,” Gray said. “What the state gains in income tax is multiplied in losses. At a time when Oklahoma is laying off teachers and critical services are crippled, it makes no sense to gut such a viable portion of the state’s economy.

“In trying this case, the Oklahoma Tax Commission is putting millions of Oklahoma dollars in jeopardy. The funding provided by the Environmental Protection Agency for much-needed, reservation-based services would disappear. The state would have to assume responsibility and liability for providing those services.”

The Nation employs more than 1,600 people in Oklahoma, with a payroll of more than $62 million.

Native American Caucus sends letter to Gov. Brad Henry

A letter from the Native American Caucus of the Oklahoma House of Representatives was delivered to Gov. Brad Henry Tuesday afternoon in support of the Nation in the case. The letter was drafted after Chief Gray addressed the Caucus earlier this month and warned how much the state would lose if they were to win the case.

“Although this lawsuit was brought by an Indian nation, we believe this is not solely an ‘Indian issue.’ The real economic facts reveal our State relies heavily on the Osage Reservation’s continued recognition and legal statutes as the Nation’s Indian Country,” according to the letter. “The Caucus believes it is in the best interest of the State … to resolve the lawsuit without further litigation …”

“It’s pretty clear that when people learn more about what’s at stake, they tend to side with us,” Gray said. “I am hopeful Gov. Henry will feel the same way.”

To view the letter sent to Gov. Brad Henry by the Native American Caucus click here:

Native American Caucus Letter