WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:05.120 Cherokee Chat is an independent production and is not affiliated or endorsed by Cherokee Nation 2 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:08.880 or any of its entities, businesses, government, or otherwise. Any views, 3 00:00:08.919 --> 00:00:13.240 opinions, or content express in this program are solely those of the host 4 00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:17.120 and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of Cherokee Nation. 5 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:30.160 Good morning, good morning, good morning, and I'm going to try this 6 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:34.240 here, mister Weston O c O O c O. Tom Oh. There 7 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:38.399 we got souna lee, which is good morning. And another word phrase we 8 00:00:38.520 --> 00:00:42.880 like to use on today, especially is osto chunky losi losti, which just 9 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:47.240 means happy wash day. Okay, I think it's hinting I might need a 10 00:00:47.240 --> 00:00:52.320 bath. Uh. It's Cherokee Chat. And you brought friends, as you 11 00:00:52.359 --> 00:00:55.560 always I did, I did. I brought with me that kind of commissioner, 12 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:58.960 Mitch antl Uh, And we just want to welcome everyone to another edition 13 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:02.799 of Cherokee Chat. Everyone's having a good morning out there. I was driving 14 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:04.840 around the other day around Barnesville, and I noticed that we seem to be 15 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:08.879 doing pretty well with our cleanup efforts here. And I've noticed a few ward 16 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.159 up windows still and things like that. But it seems like we're starting to 17 00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:15.840 get things back on track, so that's always encouraging. Sign to see my 18 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:19.640 guest this morning. We'll have a little more to say about that here in 19 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:22.760 a bit. As always, would like to extend our thanks to our sponsor, 20 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:26.920 Cooperative Preyer Unit located at three thirteen West ninth Street in Coffeeville. They're 21 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:30.359 all about providing you with great personal financial services. They want to remind you 22 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.959 that when life happens, a little extra money can help and who doesn't need 23 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:38.200 that right and unexpected car repair, home repair, medical bills can really add 24 00:01:38.280 --> 00:01:42.640 up. They want to remind you they're here to help you. And Cooperative 25 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:46.760 Prayer Union it's where you belong. Check them out today on Facebook or their 26 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:53.319 website at Cooperative COOPERATIVECU dot com insured by NCUA. So I mentioned Washday at 27 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:57.079 the top of the broadcast. That's what it translates to in Cherokee when we 28 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:00.159 say Happy Friday. Today's day when everyone would get together, well before we 29 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:05.079 had washing machine machines and basically the women would get to there and wash everyone's 30 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:09.680 clothes with the tribe of the towns. It started me thinking about another tradition 31 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:15.159 we have in Cherokee Nation, and that's the going to water ceremony, and 32 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:21.680 that's something that's very important to us in daily life. The Cherokee acknowledged the 33 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:27.759 spiritual significance of our local rivers and our streams and ponds with the ritual ritual 34 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:30.840 called going to water, and each morning at daybreak, a party at Cherokee 35 00:02:30.879 --> 00:02:34.840 would be let out to it by a healer down to a running stream, 36 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:38.199 where the group would face the rising sun and immerse themselves completely in the flowing 37 00:02:38.240 --> 00:02:43.639 water, which was sort of a kind of a rebirth. This ceremony of 38 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:46.599 a communion touched on nearly all spheres of social life. Going to water was 39 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:51.520 part of the ritual for obtaining long life, for winning the affections of a 40 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:55.360 woman, for recovering from an illness, and for calling down prosperity upon the 41 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:00.759 family at each return of the new moon, and for century before the force 42 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:04.560 will removal back east. The Tennessee River was so closely associated with them that 43 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:07.520 English, Spanish, and French settlers often referred to the waterway simply as the 44 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:12.719 Cherokee River. It stood not just as the political and an economic center of 45 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:15.759 much of the Cherokee world, but also the spiritual center. And the Cherokee 46 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:21.919 word for river in fact is longman or more literally person long heat, which 47 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:24.400 evokes something of the sacred essence of these bodies of water, which the Cherokees 48 00:03:24.439 --> 00:03:30.240 saw living as entities and now with their own unique personalities and attributes. And 49 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:32.639 while a lot of American settlers they would see it sort of as an economic 50 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:38.719 opportunity, we've viewed it as a sacred aspect of our culture. And from 51 00:03:38.759 --> 00:03:42.560 the Cherokee perspective, when you radically transformed a river or a body of water, 52 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:46.960 you were basically killing it, because when the water stand still, they 53 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:51.080 often become stagnant and are considered dead waters. And that's why today we still 54 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:54.560 have going to water ceremonies, but we will never use just a standing body 55 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:00.599 of water for that ceremony because those are considered dead waters. And so today 56 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:04.599 I have with me District one County Commissioner Mitchannel. Mitch is a member of 57 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:09.759 Washington County Cherokee Association. I'll mention that, and he's been a great ally 58 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:12.520 to the Cherokee people. Mitch, how are you today? I'm well, 59 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:14.960 John, you great, great. It's great to have you here with us. 60 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:17.680 I understand your little road where you've been out working hard for the people 61 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:20.920 of Washington County and it's been a week. It's been a week. Yeah, 62 00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:25.600 absolutely, So you know, one of the things that I always like 63 00:04:25.680 --> 00:04:30.199 to bring home if we're talking about the border commissioners or a county commissioner's position 64 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:34.240 is people often equate it with the office or with the office of maintaining roads 65 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:38.439 and bridges and infrastructure things like that, which, yes, that's a very 66 00:04:38.439 --> 00:04:43.800 important part of what you do. But would you elaborate on some of the 67 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:46.360 other responsibilities you take on being a commissioner because there may be a few people 68 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:50.360 out there listening that really have no idea what your function is. Sure, 69 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:57.160 I don't want to oversimplify the roads and bridges section. Yeah, but that's 70 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:01.519 about ten percent of what I'm responsible for. And honestly, we've got road 71 00:05:01.560 --> 00:05:06.240 crews. Each district has a road foreman. Yes, each district has an 72 00:05:06.279 --> 00:05:11.319 assistant to that that position, if you will, that kind of handles the 73 00:05:12.279 --> 00:05:15.439 monetary side of things. So I've got one person that makes sure they've got 74 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:19.079 money to operate and one guy that actually handles the day to day operations. 75 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:24.720 And then we have those road crews. Our road crews handle most of that 76 00:05:24.879 --> 00:05:30.360 and it's almost seamless to us. So because we've got a crew under you 77 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:34.600 absolutely worry quite as much about being taken care of. Absolutely. Yeah, 78 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:41.879 And my road crew District one is exceptional. We're the smallest road crew out 79 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:46.240 of the three districts. But we also have the fewest road miles. We've 80 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:48.519 got about one hundred and sixty miles give or take that we maintain in fifty 81 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:54.120 two bridge structures, so that's quite a bit. A lot of those are 82 00:05:54.240 --> 00:05:58.000 farmed market roads, these smaller roads that just gets you out to a major 83 00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:00.800 collector, which gets you out to a highway. So there's a system behind 84 00:06:00.839 --> 00:06:05.079 all of this that I wasn't aware of. The funding is even more of 85 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:13.480 a system. But that's that's usually administratively where we we in Washington County put 86 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:16.920 our focus. But apart from that, the committees, groups, organizations that 87 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:24.160 we're a party two simply by the auspices of the office have just floored me. 88 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:30.319 I mean, there are so many organizations that we're involved in and regions 89 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:35.879 or region the regional concept of governance is nothing new County government has seen through 90 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:40.040 the years. Hey, we need to consolidate county government. We need to 91 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:44.240 do things differently. And every time those measures, you get them before the 92 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:47.879 people and they fail. So that's something that's been pushed for years. But 93 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:56.519 what we're now seeing in light of our in exchange with that concept of consolidation 94 00:06:56.720 --> 00:07:03.680 is a regionalization. So Washington County participates on several organizations and committees and other 95 00:07:04.360 --> 00:07:10.680 entities that place us in anywhere between a seven and an eleven county region in 96 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:15.199 the northeastern corner of the state. So we have to interact if we want 97 00:07:15.399 --> 00:07:19.800 the citizens of Washington County to have benefit of those programs. Things like your 98 00:07:19.800 --> 00:07:25.560 Council of Government. Ours is Grand Gateway Economic Development Association over in Big Cavern, 99 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.160 So I'm back and forth to Big Caven several times. Our Circuit Engineering 100 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:34.920 District is an eleven county conglomerate. UH Workforce Development is a seven county conglomerate, 101 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:42.399 and and then the list just goes on and on and on, card 102 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:48.720 services, pre k service. There's so many things that I had no idea 103 00:07:48.759 --> 00:07:54.160 we were we were tasked with, and a lot of these things are our 104 00:07:54.199 --> 00:07:59.480 mandates that that we're we're tasked with through the legislature by way of statute. 105 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:03.800 I know that. I go to church with Commissioner Bovia. We were just 106 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:09.360 talking one day after church and he mentioned that he felt extremely lucky. And 107 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:11.399 the crazy thing is, I've heard this, you know. I don't think 108 00:08:11.399 --> 00:08:16.240 he was just speaking a good line. I've heard this from other people that 109 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:20.399 are county officials, and they said that we have one of the best counties 110 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:28.879 as far as inter office relationships, communications, working together, and everyone in 111 00:08:28.920 --> 00:08:31.360 the commission, you know, gets along really well. From what I understanding, 112 00:08:31.360 --> 00:08:35.399 You're all working for the benefit the citizens here, you know. And 113 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:39.759 I think that's wonderful because he pointed out that not all counties are like that. 114 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:43.120 That is absolutely correct. They are not all like that. Yeah, 115 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:48.440 And to that point that that's the thing that a lot of people don't understand 116 00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:54.759 about leadership is it's about relationship, it's not about policy. That's exactly right. 117 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.639 And in Washington County, we've ate that the eight of us have come 118 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:03.399 together and done that. I think that's made easier by the fact that we're 119 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:07.200 managed financially by a budget board, which consists of those eight elected officials. 120 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:11.639 So instead of us being the board of county commissioners. That says, Okay, 121 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:13.840 tell us what you need in your budget, and we're gonna, you 122 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:18.919 know, we'll split the pie up. The three of us aren't beholden to 123 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:22.480 just that project. We've got all eight elected officials around a table making those 124 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:28.679 decisions because the electorate elected all eight of us, So it makes sense. 125 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:33.919 It's difficult for some counties to do that. And most times when I hear 126 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:39.879 problems from other counties or issues that are going on, they're not policy issues. 127 00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:43.120 It's relationships. Relationships exactly. Yeah. Well, I read recently that 128 00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:46.879 about twelve hundred phone was homes where our damaged right here and Barzel's thanks to 129 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:50.919 the tornado. What amount of damage occurred not only in Barzweil, but across 130 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:56.960 Washington County And what steps in the count as the county taking to help those 131 00:09:56.000 --> 00:10:03.720 folks out or help the situation, which was interestingly confined to Bartlesville itself. 132 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:07.960 We had very little damage out in the county. I believe District two had 133 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:11.159 a couple of trees down that they worked. We had one up in District 134 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:16.960 one that we worked on a dead end road, So we really didn't see 135 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:20.600 that damage extend. And I'm sure you've taken a look at some of that 136 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:24.639 tornado path data. So the Weather Service is a nice little map up that 137 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:31.000 shows that bath absolutely and well, one of the one of the employees here 138 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.879 at the radio station put something up from Noah Nathan. Yes, that's who 139 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:39.919 it was, and I was able to capture that and use that. So 140 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:46.639 maps to me communicate a lot better than words and statistics and numbers. So 141 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:50.159 when you put it on a map, suddenly people can visualize it and that 142 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:54.480 makes sense. So anyway you look at that damage path and that damage string, 143 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:01.639 we had two major pockets that kind of fit within the districts of Washington 144 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:03.519 County. A lot of people are, well, what are county are what 145 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:09.399 are county personnel doing in the city limits. They're still in our district. 146 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:15.159 As far as the county is concerned, we certainly don't self deploy. I'm 147 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:16.879 going to reach out to the City of Artlesville and say, hey, District 148 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:20.559 one has some damage over here, and I know you guys are working to 149 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:24.240 clean it up. What can we do to help? How can we make 150 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:28.559 this process go a little more smooth for you guys, Because it's that's a 151 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:31.200 lot of material that ends up moving even even in our case, and I 152 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:37.600 consider us lucky and blessed because of the fact that this this particular event was 153 00:11:37.919 --> 00:11:43.759 kind of rotating above us. When we look to our our neighbors to the 154 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:50.000 west and see the devastation in Barnsdall, we were just genuinely blessed. Yes, 155 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:56.480 So it's easy for us to take this large amount of material and reduce 156 00:11:56.519 --> 00:12:03.000 it to a a chipped form versus the loose material form, and that reduction 157 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:05.159 ratio is about fifteen to one. So I've got a crew of four guys 158 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:09.360 that went out, primarily four guys some days. It was three over six 159 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:13.960 days, and we moved one hundred and sixty two cubic yards of chipped material, 160 00:12:15.679 --> 00:12:20.840 which translates to about twenty four hundred qubic yards of loose material. When 161 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:24.919 I use the term loose material, I mean stacking brush at the edge of 162 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:28.720 your property allows us to come by collect it and reduce that waste substantially. 163 00:12:30.279 --> 00:12:35.480 So we moved a lot. District three was moving it with dump trucks, 164 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:39.559 so they were just taking the loose material and moving that. They moved over 165 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:46.039 one thousand yards qubic yards of material over five days. So those pockets of 166 00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:52.159 damage that we saw Osage twenty third Street area, and then over here north 167 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:56.159 and north of Tuxedo, east of Highway seventy five, that's where District run 168 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:01.519 work, District three was working down here. Annuinely, we were just in 169 00:13:01.639 --> 00:13:07.080 town to help help out help the City of Bartlesville do what they are continuing 170 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:09.759 to do. We knew it was going to be a long process for everybody, 171 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.440 and Keith Henry at the City of Bartlesville, he's run a great show 172 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.759 with this. You had mentioned at the outset, watching these recovery methods play 173 00:13:18.759 --> 00:13:22.799 out and getting back to normal, and they're having in a very orderly manner, 174 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:24.799 you know. And in fact, well I still notice that we have 175 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:31.919 State farm officials out at the lowest parking lot where a satellite link up, 176 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:35.840 you know, which I think is very interesting. They're staying out there in 177 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:39.639 a travel trailer. But I think that's wonderful thing. And we offer the 178 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:46.679 community here. Government moves intentionally slow on most things because we want to make 179 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:52.639 sure we're expending taxpayer funds correctly. In a disaster recovery mode, we need 180 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:56.159 to step that game up. So that's what we were doing. Sure and 181 00:13:56.279 --> 00:14:00.799 make it move faster in it. Okay, Well, I wanted to thank 182 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:03.600 you for coming on the air today, Mitch. It's been a great having 183 00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:07.720 you on and kind of explaining everything that's going on with the county and our 184 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:11.639 efforts there. I just wanted to mention everyone to follow us on the Cherokee 185 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:16.399 Community Facebook pages for the latest event news and meetings. Just to also remind 186 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:20.639 everyone, we're going to have the fifty ninth Annual Delaware Powow coming up May 187 00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:22.759 this weekend May twenty fourth, twenty fifth, and twenty six. That's on 188 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:26.919 Road six hundred, just three miles east the Highway seventy five, just about 189 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:33.039 a nine mile north of Copan. Just also want to touch on this. 190 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:37.279 This month's prize giveaway is two coffee cups and blazing with the Cherokee Nation Seal. 191 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:39.399 For those that don't know, the Cherokee word for coffee is cawie. 192 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:43.320 We're going to go ahead and drop the emoji in the comments section. We 193 00:14:43.320 --> 00:14:46.480 can go ahead and do that, and we are going to be back with 194 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:50.399 you here on the air on June third at nine to forty five. We'll 195 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:54.639 discussing the upcoming election in Cherokee. Nation whether or not we should hold a 196 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:58.879 constitutional convention. You can follow us on Facebook a Cherokee Chat or catch us 197 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:01.960 on the Barcel Radio Facebook page. You're on the band of the Barzel Radio 198 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.559 app, available on the Apple Store. A big waldo to my guest Mitch 199 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:09.320 Channel and to all of you. Go to the goha e until we meet 200 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:15.799 again. Cherokee Chat is an independent production and is not affiliated or endorsed by 201 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:18.320 Cherokee Nation or any of its entities, businesses,