By
Benny Polacca
Inauguration Day 2018 will take place at the Ponca City Osage Casino Hotel on Saturday, July 14 for Osages elected to the Executive Branch office, as well as the Sixth Osage Nation Congress.
The inauguration will start at 10 a.m. in the casino’s banquet rooms, which served as the inauguration venue for Osages elected to office in the 2016 and 2014 elections. Those elected in the June 4 general election include Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear and Assistant Principal Chief Raymond Red Corn (both re-elected to their second four-year terms) and Sixth ON Congress members Scott BigHorse, Eli Potts, Alice Goodfox, Brandy Lemon, Angela Pratt, and Paula Stabler.
All three ON Supreme Court Justices received majority “yes” votes for retention and they will also be sworn in to serve four-year terms. Sitting on the Nation’s high court are Chief Justice Meredith Drent and Associate Justices Elizabeth Lohah Homer and Drew Pierce.
Jason Zaun, Chief of Staff for Standing Bear’s office, said the inauguration emcee will be Vann Bighorse, who is the ON Language Department director. Bighorse, a former Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center director, is known throughout the Osage and Native American communities for his singing, language, and Osage cultural knowledge.
Oklahoma City Mayor and Osage citizen David Holt will serve as the event guest speaker, Zaun said. Holt, a former Oklahoma state senator, took his oath of office in April after winning the city’s Feb. 13 election. Holt, 39, took office as the youngest current mayor of an American city with more than 500,000 residents and is Oklahoma City’s first mayor of Native American descent, according to a city news release.
In its respective June 4 election, the Fourth Osage Minerals Council will also take their oaths of office in July. Those elected to four-year OMC terms are Everett Waller, Talee Redcorn, Andrew Yates, Susan Revard Forman, Paul Revard, Marsha Harlan, Myron Red Eagle and Margo Gray.
The Fourth Minerals Council is scheduled to take their oaths of office on July 2, with its members also participating in the July 14 inauguration ceremony in Ponca City for the executive, legislative and judicial branches.
Original Publish Date: 2018-07-03 00:00:00
