Real Men Wear Purple participants, from L to R: Cory Spotted Bear, Benny Polacca, Jasper Clark, Harold Hughs, Jeremy Spotted Bear and Everett Waller pose in support for men against domestic violence. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

Osage News

Men wearing purple shirts were all smiles as they lined up for a photo outside of the Osage Counseling Center in downtown Pawhuska. The photo will be made into a poster for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The men had volunteered their time Sept. 9 to pose for the photo, wearing their purple shirts. Purple being the DVAM official color.

“I just want to thank all the participants who came by to support this cause,” said LaVina Clark, domestic violence administrator for the counseling center. “To know that these men support Domestic Violence Awareness Month is heartening.”

Each of the real men received a ticket for a door prize in which Everett Waller, liaison to the Osage Minerals Council and cultural adviser in Chief John Red Eagle’s administration, won a $50 gift card. A long-time Hominy resident and Hominy Buck fan, Waller even wore his purple shoes.

According to the Domestic Violence Awareness Project Web site, DVAM evolved from the “Day of Unity” in October 1981, conceived by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The intent was to connect advocates across the country who were working to end violence against women and their children. The Day of Unity soon became an entire week devoted to a range of activities conducted at the local, state, and national levels, according to the site.

Activities for the month vary and are diverse. Common themes done by program sponsors include: mourning those who have died because of domestic violence, celebrating those who have survived, and connecting those who work to end violence.

In October 1987, the first Domestic Violence Awareness Month was observed. That same year marks the initiation of the first national domestic violence toll-free hotline. In 1989 the U.S. Congress passed Public Law 101-112 designating October of that year as National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Such legislation has passed every year since with NCADV providing key leadership in this effort, according to the site. Each year, the Day of Unity is celebrated the first Monday of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

If you are in danger and need help, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-SAFE (7233) or TTY (800) 787-3224.

For more information about Osage Nation DVAM activities from the ON Counseling Center, call (918) 287-5425.

The banner and theme for the first ever Osage Nation Watershed Forum is posted to the conference room wall at the Doubletree Hotel at Warren Place in Tulsa. The event was held August 24-26 and was hosted by the Nation's ENR Department. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

TULSA, Okla. – The Osage Nation’s first-ever Watershed Forum aimed to bring the region’s government entities together so they could network and build a foundation to build future partnerships in handling watershed issues.

The topic of watersheds is also vital because many Native American tribes, including the Osage, hold water in high regard because it plays a role in spirituality and identity.

“They called our ancestors by the Osage name Ni-U-Ko’n-Ska which means ‘the children of the middle waters’ and they also called us Wah-Zha-Zhi – that means ‘water people,’ Principal Chief John Red Eagle shared in his opening remarks to the crowd of about 100 on the forum’s first day. “It is our hope that our water that comes to us in our streams and is clean and clear as it comes from the sky.”

“We view water as a viable importance to our culture and know you are all in the same agreement with that and that’s why you are here today,” Red Eagle said. “The world would surely be a poor place without healthy streams where we can teach our children to fish,” he said hoping the event generates ideas on protecting the area’s water.

Also delivering remarks that day was Muscogee (Creek) Tribal Councilman George Tiger who is also a TV personality for hosting “Inside Native America.”

“We are indeed the original environmentalists. We were taught to take care of this land, we were taught to take care of the resources that we have,” Tiger said. “We were also taught to defend the resources that we have.”

“It is with great hope and great confidence that today we see that because of tribes and the impact that they have here in the state of Oklahoma – whether it’s economically or whatever the case may be – that we finally have the leverage where we can come to the tables as evens,” said Tiger. “And I believe that you would agree with me that’s not always been the case in the past. We use sovereignty to improve relations with state, federal governments… As Indian tribes, we’ve always aggressively pursued good-faith negotiations on state and federal levels and I believe that certainly has to be continued.”

Shanon Phillips, who is the water quality director for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, also spoke about the steps her entity used to address watershed issues. “Our primary partners are through the conservation districts” as well as local people who know the areas at issue, she said.

Phillips also told the attendees, who represent various state, tribal and federal environmental entities, that one of the most important components of addressing watershed issues is education in addition to partnerships.

“The more partners you have, the more likely your program is to be successful,” Phillips said.

Also addressing the forum were guest speakers from the Environmental Protection Agency which defines a watershed as “the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place.” In the continental United States, there are 2,110 watersheds; including Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, there are 2,267 watersheds, according to the EPA Web site. Dr. Andrea Hunter (Osage) of the Nation’s Tribal Historic Preservation office also spoke on Aug. 25 for a presentation on the cultural perspective on water.

The attendees were also treated to a handgame demonstration hosted by Bruce Cass, who emceed the first day of the forum. Cultural Center Director Vann Bighorse played the drum and sang while the participants played the handgame as part of icebreaking activities.

The event was sponsored by the Dallas-based Region 6 office of the EPA (which covers Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas, as well as 66 Native tribes) with additional support from the Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino and the Nation’s Childcare Department.

The Nation’s Environmental and Natural Resources Department hosted the forum and the department’s Web site is at www.osagetribe.com/naturalresources and the EPA Region 6 office Web site is at www.epa.gov/region6.

Osage Nation ENR workers Jason Bussey (front) and Andrew Yates, who is also an Osage Minerals Councilman, listen to the guest speakers at the Watershed Forum on August 24 in Tulsa. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Attendees of the Osage Nation Watershed Forum listen to guest speakers at the event's first day on August 24 in Tulsa. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Osage Nation employees enjoy the start of Employee Appreciation Day July 14. Photo by Shannon Shaw/Osage News

[Editor's note: This story was modified on Sept. 9 for clarification purposes.]

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

FAIRFAX, Okla. – Osages living on the tribe’s reservation tend to have “poorer health” statuses than their fellow tribal citizens living elsewhere, according to the results of a health survey in which more than 6,000 Osages participated earlier this year.

The survey – titled “Health of the Nation: Reservation at Risk” – questioned 9,850 Osages when applications for the $500 Health Benefit Card were mailed out this past spring. The survey was conducted by Fairfax-based Paradox Consulting LLC which is operated by Dr. Joe L. Conner (Osage) and his wife Dr. Carol Nice Conner.

The questionnaire polled Osages about their health history, demographics and income with 6,602 filled-out surveys returned which is a 67 percent response rate.

According to the survey results released in July, 25.1 percent of Osages living on the reservation rated their general health as fair or poor. That’s 10 percent greater than the 14.5 percent of the U.S. population with citizens rating their health as fair or poor in 2009. In Oklahoma, 19.5 percent of the state’s population also rated their general health as fair or poor last year.

“The local area is significantly at risk, people can get sick,” Joe Conner said of the survey which indicates obesity, smoking (which could lead to respiratory problems) and depression are health dangers associated with many of the survey takers.

Poorer qualities of health can shorten a person’s life span, Carol Conner said adding those who report fair-to-poor health statuses could have “a significant medical event in the next year” such as a heart attack or stroke, for example.

In comparison with other fellow tribal citizens, 14.4 percent of Osages living in Oklahoma (outside the reservation) rated their health as fair to poor and 12.5 percent of out-of-state Osages did too.

The survey also reports that poverty rates for Osages living on the reservation are higher than those not living there with 21.5 percent living in poverty compared with the United States rate of 10.3 percent. “Poverty extracts its effects on the health of populations in many different ways,” the survey reports, listing examples such as “fewer dietary and exercise opportunities that help maintain healthy lifestyles” and “less access to routine preventative health measures.”

“The health status is also reflected in very high rates of obesity and diabetes,” according to the survey which notes the “reservation rates of obesity are higher than any comparable rate in the U.S. Mississippi leads the U.S. with a rate of 32.8 (percent), while the reservation rate is almost 35 percent, a full 5 percent higher than Oklahoma’s.”

The diabetes rate on the reservation is more than double the U.S. rate with 20.7 percent of Osages reporting they have been diagnosed with diabetes and the U.S rate is 8.3 percent. Over 13 percent of Oklahoma Osages not living on the reservation reported being diagnosed with diabetes and the same rate for out-of-state Osages is 9.6 percent.
Joe Conner said officials with Indian Health Service have described the survey as “the largest survey of a single tribe” when it comes to health matters.

“The (2006) Constitution requires the tribe to provide health services and ‘prevention of illnesses and chronic disease, and of services that promote mental and physical well-being,’” Carol Conner said. “That’s part of why we did this (survey). You have to know the health status before you provide services.”

The percentage of Osages living on the reservation who have been diagnosed with heart disease is also double the rate of non-reservation Osages with 11.3 percent reporting a diagnosis and 5.7 percent for Oklahoma (non-reservation) Osages and 5.1 percent for those living out-of-state. The U.S. rate for heart disease is 3.8 percent, the survey states.

When it comes to high blood pressure, 35.4 percent of reservation Osages reported being diagnosed with it. The rates for other Osages were slightly lower with Oklahoma (non-reservation) Osages at 29.9 percent and out-of-state Osages at 25.3 percent.

Also noted in the health survey:

Just over 18 percent of reservation Osages report being treated for depression which is nearly three times the U.S. rate at 6.7 percent.

Thirty-five percent of reservation Osages report they smoked within the last 30 days, which is higher than the U.S. rate of 21 percent. Twenty-six of Oklahoma (non-reservation) Osages reported they smoked in the last 30 days and the rate is 19.3 percent for out-of-state Osages.

When it comes to binge drinking, 14 percent of reservation Osages report drinking five or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion in the last 30 days which is one point higher than Oklahomans (in general) at 13 percent. Men on the reservation are more likely to have binged (17 percent) than women (10 percent).

The average age of the survey takers was 44.6 with 45.4 percent being males and 54.5 female. The average number of people living in the household was 2.7.

Out of the total number of survey takers, 17.2 percent of reservation Osages completed the health survey; 32.8 percent (non-reservation Oklahoma Osages); 49.7 percent (out-of-state Osages); and 0.17 percent (Osages living outside the United States).

“Of the 6,602 adult Osage citizens, 18 years or older, who completed the survey, 17.2 percent or 1,135 live on the reservation, meaning a significant majority of nearly 60 percent of adult Osages living on the reservation completed the survey,” Conner said. “From previous studies it has been found that there are 1,700 to 2,000 adult Osages who live on the reservation.”

The average income of a survey taker was $50,878.84 but the poverty rates for reservation Osages is higher than those living off-reservation. Twenty-two percent of reservation Osages live below the poverty line set by the U.S. Census Bureau. “On the reservation, this represents 150 to 250 families living below the official poverty level. Some of these families are living on as little as $11,201 per year.”

More Osage women live in poverty than Osage men in all three areas listed in the survey. On the reservation, 24.8 percent of women live below the poverty line and the rate is 17.7 percent for Osage men on the reservation; for non-reservation Oklahoma Osages, 18.9 percent of Osage women live in poverty and 11.7 is the rate for men; and 14 percent of out-of-state Osage women live in poverty and the rate is 7.5 percent for out-of-state Osage males.

“Poverty is a terrible overriding issue that impacts health,” Carol Conner said. “If you got a job, you’re going to get up and go to work and less likely to smoke or sit on the couch,” she said of people tending to stay active while working. “On the reservation, economic opportunities are limited but if the tribe improves economic conditions there will be better opportunities for better health,” she said.

The average out-of-pocket cost for medical expenses for reservation Osages was $1,374; for non-reservation Oklahoma Osages, $1,468; and $1,843 for out-of-state Osages.

In the last year, just under 36 percent of Osages report having trouble paying for medical bills and of those who answered “yes” to this question, 36.4 percent are still paying on those bills.

Prescription medication and doctor visits top the list of out-of-pocket medical expenses incurred annually by all Osages with medicine costing an average of $500 per year and $300 for doctor visits.

In conclusion, the survey states: “many of the indicators of poor health, if not quickly reversed, cascade into other more serious problems. As an example, recent research shows that those who suffer from depression are more likely to suffer from dementia into their elderhood. Further, those with diabetes are also more likely to develop dementia.”

Newly-elected State Senator David Holt is shown here with his wife Rachel and son George at their home in Oklahoma City. Courtesy Photo

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Osage Nation will have one of its own taking the oath of office as an Oklahoma State Senator when the new state legislators are sworn into office in November. And two other Osages are vying for two elected office seats in this year’s General Election on Nov. 2.

David Holt, who is Republican and lives in Oklahoma City, was elected to the State Senate in the July 27 Primary Election. Since there were no Democratic challengers for this soon-to-be vacated seat and Holt won over 50 percent of the vote, he will begin a four-year term after taking oath on Nov. 16 and when the 53rd Oklahoma State Legislature convenes in 2011.

Holt is believed to be the first Osage elected to the state legislature since Assistant Principal Chief Scott BigHorse served a two-year term as state Representative in the 51st state Legislature from 2006-2008.

“I returned the Osage to the legislature,” Holt said of his election win, adding “I’ve always been interested in public service and helping people. I get to represent the people who made me who I am.” The 31-year-old will represent Senate District 30 which covers northwest Oklahoma City where he was raised and now lives with his wife Rachel and their infant son George.

According to the Oklahoma State Election Board, Holt won the July 27 election with 5,125 votes over opponent Matt Jackson who received 2,934 votes which is over 63 percent of the district’s 8,059 votes cast that day.

After taking oath as Senator, Holt will be bringing his experiences in working at the city and federal government levels to the table, which he believes will be an asset considering the Oklahoma state government will be undergoing changes with a new administration after the Nov. 2 election. Current Gov. Brad Henry is term-limited so either Democratic candidate Lt. Gov. Jari Askins or Republican U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin will be elected the state’s new governor.

“Turnover (in the state government) is inevitable so we need leaders who will inspire people in a new way,” said Holt who is currently the chief of staff to Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett. Holt will leave Cornett’s office when he is sworn in and plans to work part time in the private sector while serving as Senator.

Holt is the son of Stroud Holt and the late Mary Ann Fuller Holt (Osage) who he credits for his interest in politics because she was interested in public service. Mary Ann Fuller Holt, who died when David Holt was a teenager, wanted to work for a state senator but turned down an opportunity when her son was a toddler because she wanted to see him grow up.

Holt attended and graduated from Putnam City Schools and attended George Washington University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science. GWU is also the same institution attended by Mary Ann Fuller Holt, according to David Holt’s biography posted to his campaign Web site.

“When I filed my papers to start my campaign organization,” David wrote in his Web page bio, “I went back to my car and cried – because of what it would mean to (his mother). Because she died young, a part of me wants to live for her, to do the things she was unable to do, to realize her dreams and live her values. I want to make up for the life she lost, and I want to continue my family’s tradition of public service.”

Holt worked for former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert during his final semester at GWU. From 2002 to 2004, Holt worked in the White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs as an advocate to the U.S. Congress for the President’s policies during George W. Bush’s first term. In 2004, Holt worked on Bush’s re-election campaign in Oklahoma after moving back with wife Rachel whom he met while attending GWU.

Holt also has a law degree from Oklahoma City University thanks to night courses and believes that educational experience will help him as a senator. “I looked at the options and it made sense for a public service career. I’ve been around laws and it’s great to get an understanding of their foundation.”

Holt, who has been Mayor Cornett’s chief of staff since 2006, said his focuses, as a Senator, include “lowering the tax burden as much as possible,” supporting policies which improve public education and “pro-business reform so jobs can be created from Oklahoma City to Pawhuska.”

His area ties are through his late maternal grandfather Leonard Fuller who grew up in the Pawhuska area and served as an Army colonel during World War II and the Korean War.

“As an American Indian and Osage, I hope to be engaged in conversations to make sure we have great relations between the tribal governments and the state,” Holt said. One project Holt said he would like to see finished is the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum which is being built in Oklahoma City and is in need of building funds.

Holt also served as the Master of Ceremonies during the inauguration of the Osage Nation’s new government in 2006.

Eli Potts wins Democratic nomination for OK House seat, advances to Nov. 2 election

Sand Springs resident Eli Potts won the Democratic nomination for an Oklahoma House seat in the Aug. 24 runoff election and will be on the Nov. 2 election ballot. He will face Republican challenger Jadine Nollan for the District 66 House seat which covers Sand Springs (where he was raised) and west Tulsa.

In unofficial results provided by the state Election Board, Potts won the Aug. 24 runoff election with 601 votes which is 55 percent of the total votes cast that day while his challenger Andrew Williams received 488 votes.

Potts, 21, worked as a legislative aide to incumbent Lucky Lamons, who is not seeking another term, during the last legislative session. While working for Lamons, Potts helped with research, bill filings and met with voters who contacted Lamons’s office.

“I think people were able to see my dedication to serving the district,” Potts said of his runoff election win. If elected, Potts said he will work on “bringing quality jobs to the district” as well as work on supporting education-related legislation.

Potts also credits political work by his mother, Cheryl Potts, in helping fuel his interest in public office. Cheryl Potts served on the now-defunct Osage National Council in the 1990s.

“Politics have been in my blood,” Potts said. “My early memories are when (his mother) served in tribal politics and I remember going into the council house with her.”

Potts holds an associates degree from Tulsa Community College with plans to attend the University of Oklahoma. While at TCC, Potts was active in student government which included serving as student vice president. Potts is a Coca Cola Scholarship recipient for facilitating a Leadership 101 class at TCC and was recently recognized as a “distinguished alumnus at the Best of TCC awards banquet,” according to his campaign Web site.

Potts, who is single, believes his age (21 is the minimum age requirement for state House representatives) is an advantage in holding public office. He is also active with the Oklahoma Youth and Government Legislative Program which is aimed at teaching students about the government process.

“I don’t see my age as a problem,” he said adding new ideas can solve current problems. “Old ideas led us to current problems. We’re going to need people in office who have a new way of thinking.”

In the meantime, Potts says he will focus on the campaign trail leading to the Nov. 2 election. “We’re going to keep knocking on doors and keep listening to the people.”

Potts’s campaign Web site is online at www.elipotts.org.

Jeff Jones seeking District Attorney’s Office for Osage, Pawnee counties

First Assistant District Attorney Jeff Jones (Oklahoma District 10) is making a run for the District Attorney’s office as a Democratic candidate. Oklahoma’s District 10 covers Osage and Pawnee counties.

Jones, of Skiatook, will be on the Nov. 2 ballot and is running against Republican candidate Rex Duncan of Sand Springs.

Duncan is a state Representative who is a lawyer and Oklahoma National Guard officer. He represents District 35 which covers Noble, Osage, Pawnee and Payne counties.

Jones, who has a law degree from the University of Tulsa, worked in the private law practice field before joining the District 10 DA’s office as an assistant district attorney in 2002. He has served as First Assistant District Attorney since 2006.

Newly-elected State Senator David Holt, Osage. Courtesy Photo

Eli Potts, Osage, Democratic candidate for Oklahoma state house. Courtesy Photo

Jeff Jones, candidate for District Attorney of Oklahoma District 10 in the November 2010 election. Photo Courtesy of Jeff Jones

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.

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Osage Nation Health and Wellness Advisory Board is planning to meet with government officials to discuss legislation which will lengthen its life. It’s slated to sunset at the end of September.

The board was created through a 2007 legislation bill to start developing the structure of the Nation’s Health and Wellness Division. But the bill (ONCA 07-59) states the board will be “disestablished after a period of three years from the effective date.” Former Principal Chief Jim Gray signed the bill on Oct.3 of that year after the Osage Nation Congress passed the bill with a 7-4 vote.

“The board was created as an advisory one,” said Dr. Ron Shaw, the health board’s chairman. He addressed several executive and legislative branch officials who attended the health board’s Aug. 9 meeting. That means the board’s duties which include making decisions on health-related matters are made as recommendations to government officials, he said.

The health board has hired two consultant organizations to work with the board during its tenure, Shaw said. One consultant evaluated the Health and Wellness Division recommendations compiled and the other consultant conducted a feasibility study on whether the Pawhuska Indian Health Service clinic should be compacted.

One recommendation raised in the IHS clinic compacting study is the Nation should create a governing board, “which is required for compacting,” Shaw said.

According to the study, said Shaw, the governing board should “evaluate and improve the quality of health services provided to the community, provide for meaningful financial resources for ongoing operations and capital needs, provide for the selection and retention of qualified staff – to include the special requirements for licensed and credentialed personnel, to plant programs for the health needs of the community.”

This is the board’s first gathering since the July 19 runoff election in which John Red Eagle was elected Principal Chief and Scott BigHorse Assistant Principal Chief.

BigHorse, who attended the meeting, recommended more meetings between the health board and government officials, including Red Eagle, to pursue legislation that could prolong the health board and possibly turn it into the governing board which would pursue further IHS clinic compacting efforts, according to the feasibility study recommendations.

Red Eagle was at a gaming commission meeting held at the same time of the health board gathering.

The health board also plans to meet with Congressional members who sit on the Congressional Committee on Health and Social Services which is scheduled to meet on Sept. 7. The chairman of that committee is Congressman Archie Mason and vice chairwoman is Congresswoman Alice Goodfox.

Alex Stock, an up and coming Osage artist graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in December of last year. Her works can be found at her family's studio in the former Thunderbird bar on Main Street in Fairfax, Okla. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

FAIRFAX, Okla. – While technology buffs prefer the newest digital cameras to the old instamatics, Osage artist Alex Stock prefers to capture her images on canvas with oil paint.

“People have said painting’s dead and I’m like: ‘I’m going to hold onto an old idea of portraiture, it’s a moment you’re capturing,’” the 23-year-old said while sitting in the former Thunderbird bar along Main Street. She says painting is different because “photos flatten things. When you paint (images) from life, it’s different because you notice more details.”

Stock’s family, who ran the Thunderbird for three years, converted it into an art studio which is now used by Stock and her mother Wendy Ponca, also an artist who specializes in fabric and textile works. Several pieces of the bar’s furniture remain in the 1920s-era building alongside art equipment, supplies and several paintings placed against the wall.

Stock is also trained in drawing/ sketching, silk screen printing and fiber arts thanks to her studies at the Kansas City Art Institute. She graduated from KCAI last December with a Bachelor’s degree.

Stock is the third generation in her family to attend KCAI, which is a prestigious and private art school. “It’s hard to get into, if you can get in there, your chances for a master’s program are a lot (greater) too.”

Wendy Ponca is also a KCAI graduate like her father, Carl Ponca. “It’s one of the most recognized art institutes in the world like those in Paris and Athens,” she said, adding she also chose KCAI because it’s “close to home.” Ponca’s textile work includes making Osage regalia including otter hides for men, ribbons for women and woven belts.

Stock uses the bar-turned-studio to work and she’s invited fellow artist friends to visit her in Osage Country and to use the studio for their own work.

“A studio is more than just a space,” Ponca said. “You need a place to spend time by yourself. If you’re cooped up in a building, it’s not the same. Just like church, it’s got to be inspirational – that’s why some people paint outside.”

A self-portrait of Alex Stock sits on a stand by the front window next to a rectangular mirror, which she used as a guide for painting herself on canvas. “I’m a quick painter, but some people will take years on one painting,” she said.

Several portraits of friends and family painted by Stock are also in the studio. Those moments provided an outlet for Stock and her painting models to bond while she worked.

“I got into the habit of inviting friends over and they’d sit for three hours,” Stock said. “People have said they really enjoy it, there’s something about being immortalized in paint.”

‘Opportunity to express yourself’

Ponca, a former college art teacher, credits art outlets and schools with assisting people because “it’s a good opportunity to express yourself and it could help them – especially youth.” She is also a graduate of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, N.M. where she was an instructor from 1982 to 2000.

Stock initially attended Woodland High in Fairfax, but transferred to Santa Fe High School for her senior year to pursue a “bigger venue” with more art program opportunities and graduated in 2005.

At 21, Stock painted a scene of her family’s former New Mexico residence after she began having “weird dreams” which lasted over a month. “I dreamed I was shepherding children through the house.”

Stock began painting the dream sequence, which she learned was once “an old school house.” When the painting was finished, it depicted a two-story house with three groups of dark-haired children coming outside. Off to the side of the house are several animal tracks in the desert sand.

“After I finished painting, I stopped having the dreams,” said Stock who is considering moving back to Santa Fe. Early 20th century schools (government or church-funded) targeting Native American children hold a dark part in history because they were created as an attempt to assimilate Native students through mainstream education and the schools’ instructors shunned Native languages and culture while some school officials even abused the students.

The “house painting” is among several others inside the Thunderbird along with a “painting of dolls” in which Stock blends Russian and Native influences together.

Thirteen Russian Matroyoshka dolls are painted in different sizes and all are wearing Native clothing, regalia and have straight black hair. The Matroyoshka dolls are usually made in decreasing order and open in half so that one doll can be placed inside the larger one.

In another painting, Stock creates prints of two images which appear to be changing shapes while swimming or floating. The painting is a story about “two lovers who get separated. They become fish so they can meet together again,” Stock said.

Stock, Wendy and Carl Ponca are from the Grayhorse District. They are of the Ponca-Wash-Tage or Gentle Leader Clan and the Water People of the Hun-Kah Division. Wendy Ponca’s Indian name is Wah-Tsi-Wen (Star Woman) and Stock is Min-Ga-Shona (Star That Is The Sun).

Alex Stock, who graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in December of last year, painted this self portrait by studying her reflection in the mirror. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Oil on canvas is Stock’s preferred choice of art medium and here she shows a painting of Native American-themed Matryoshka dolls, also known as Babushka dolls that decrease in size and stack inside one another. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Several oil painting portraits by Alex Stock sit against the wall in her family's art studio in Fairfax. The paintings are of friends and family. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Osage artist Alex Stock discusses her interest in oil painting at her family's art studio in Fairfax. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Osage artist Alex Stock painted this image of her family's former residence in New Mexico. The painting is a depiction of a dream she had. The old house was once a school. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

Alex Stock discusses her art work at her family's art studio in Fairfax. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

A painting by Osage artist Carl Ponca hangs on the wall in the Fairfax art studio run by his daughter Wendy Ponca. Her daughter, Alex Stock, is also an artist. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

A painting by Osage artist Alex Stock hangs in her family's art studio in Fairfax. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

(L to R) Mary Bighorse, Talee Red Corn, Robynn Rulo, and Martin Parks pose for a photo. Parks, who is the Pawhuska High School Assistant Principal, presented a plaque honoring the students who took the school's first Osage Language course during the 2009-2010 school year. Bighorse and Red Corn work for the Nation's Language Department and Rulo was a class student. Photo by Benny Polacca/Osage News

By Benny Polacca
Osage News

The Pawhuska High School honored its students who completed the first Osage language class which started last fall.

Martin Parks, who is the school’s assistant principal and athletic director, presented a wooden plaque with the school’s orange and black colors to Osage Nation Language Department officials and language student Robynn Rulo on July 9. The names of 12 students who took the course were engraved into the plaque.

Parks praised the students who participated in the Osage I class this past year. “These teenagers are involved in a lot of extracurricular activities,” he said adding school is a great venue to teach more Osage students the language.

Pawhuska High is the first high school on the Osage Reservation to offer the tribe’s language class, said Mary Bighorse who is the Language Department’s event director. Skiatook High School offers Osage language classes to its students, but the school is not within the reservation boundary, she said.

Rulo, 17, said during this semester, the class learned Osage words and phrases to describe people (drumkeeper, for example) and objects that are involved during the June In-Lon-Schka dances at the three Indian villages. “Now (the students) know what was happening, what was taking part,” she said.

Rulo and fellow student Jamison Cass were the top students in the class this year.

“Robynn was my back-up when (course instructor) Talee Red Corn was away,” said Parks who was a substitute teacher while Red Corn, who served on the Osage Minerals Council until last month, was away for council business.

“I enjoy watching young people learn,” Red Corn said of teaching youth. “This is something that’s valuable to our Osage youth, something to be proud of.”

Other Osage language students who took the 2009-2010 course were: Norris Allred, Christen Ballard, Charlsie Cunningham, Josephine Horsechief, Jessica Hutson, Joe Pratt, Trey Rulo, Jeremie Tuller, Michela White, and Dora Williams.

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.