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Osage Congress passes Grayhorse roundhouse bill

By

Shannon Shaw Duty

The Grayhorse District can breathe a sigh of relief.

The Second Osage Nation Congress unanimously passed ONCA 12-20 Jan. 20, a bill that appropriates $550,000 to the Grayhorse Five Man Board to begin design and construction on a new Roundhouse for the district.

Upon signature of the Principal Chief, the Osage Nation Properties Department in the Nation’s Executive Branch can begin bidding out construction on the project which will level the current arbor and construct a roundhouse in it’s place.

The board and dance committee of Grayhorse wish to have the new roundhouse completed before the Grayhorse War Mother’s annual dance, which usually happens on the first or second weekend in May. That would give the board roughly three months to complete the project.

In a Jan. 19 presentation to congress the Grayhorse board, dance committee members and community members stressed the importance of passing the bill and getting construction started immediately – even after several members of congress warned that the project might not get finished before June.

“What we have right now is a danger, what we’re losing sight of is what we have now is a hazard,” said Chuck Tillman, Grayhorse Five Man Board member. “If we have a good snow, we might not have a structure at all.”

Congressman William “Kugee” Supernaw said that the congress wants the district to have their new roundhouse, but he was worried that if left up to the Executive Branch, the structure might not get built in time before the June dances.

The money appropriated in ONCA 12-20 goes to the Grayhorse Five Man Board, but the board members at the Jan. 19 presentation said they will turn the project over to the properties department to oversee.

Speaker Jerri Jean Branstetter echoed Supernaw’s comments.

“We’ve had laws that was passed in the last nine months that haven’t been implemented and there are some laws that has been completely ignored,” Branstetter said. “There are a lot of other factors other than us passing this law. I wish I could say we pass the law and it’s implemented but that’s just not always the case.”

As an example she used the legislation sponsored by Congressman Raymond Red Corn to build storm shelters in the Pawhuska Indian Village. The legislation passed last spring but so far, no construction has began for the shelters.

Roundhouse

A new dance arbor has been talked about and debated for years, with arguments for and against it. Every June, with the interest to participate in the In-Lon-Schka growing, dancers have crowded under the arbor.

The designs for the new roundhouse allow for two rows of seating for the dancers, more room for family benches and a ventilation system. Responsible for the new design is Chuck Tillman, member of the Grayhorse Five Man Board and Grayhorse committeeman; Tim Tall Chief of Wichita, Kans., and Grayhorse committeeman; Scott Heskett, a design consultant and Grayhorse committeeman; and Mike Hyatt, Grayhorse committeeman.

The Grayhorse Five Man Board is made up of Tillman, Mark J. Freeman (Chair), George Pease III, Carol Kliesen and Judy Johnson. Members of the Grayhorse Five Man Board are appointed by the Principal Chief.

Location

Grayhorse Indian Village GrayhorseOK

United States

Original Publish Date: 2012-01-23 00:00:00

Author

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Shannon Shaw Duty
Shannon Shaw Dutyhttps://osagenews.org

Title: Editor
Email: sshaw20@gmail.com
Twitter: @dutyshaw
Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community
Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. She has served as a board member for LION Publishers, as Vice President for the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education, on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (now Indigenous Journalists Association) and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive NAJA's Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.

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