WEBVTT

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Five ninety Bible. Good morning,
good morning, good morning, and welcome,

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welcome, welcome. It's time now
for our community connection. On K

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one, the one you trust and
standing by. We have the Principal Chief

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of Cherokee and Agent Chuck Hoskin Junior. Good morning, Chief, how are

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you doing today? He tom and
doing great well. You know you've been

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kind of busy, of course you
always are, but summertime is no exception

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for the Chief. You are just
down the road from us here, so

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to speak, in Bartelsville at the
BA clinic last week. Tell us a

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little bit about Yeah, we like
to celebrate when communities show progress, and

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of course that happens a lot in
the Barnsville area. The VA putting in

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a clinic there in the area is
a boost for everybody, and we just

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wanted to have some folks there to
celebrate. I actually couldn't make it,

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but our local council member Dour Patskowski, as always, was there, and

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our Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Cee
Critten was there, and so any veterans

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that are listening. In addition to
having that wonderful VA clinic there in Bartlesville,

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we welcome all veterans in Talent Wall, Tom to come see our Veteran

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Center. So if they happen to
be in talc Wall, they're always welcome

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in our veteran center. Any veteran. Well, you know, healthcare has

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been a big thing with Cherokee Nation, not only you know with COVID,

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but even beforehand, it's kind of
been a cornerstone of your tenures. Chief.

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Yeah. Absolutely, healthcare is I
think the most important thing that anybody

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or any family thinks about, the
outside of caring and loving for their family,

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is are we going to be healthy? Do we have access to healthcare?

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And so we do a range of
things at the Cherokee Nation and the

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people there in the Basil area.
You know that down the road in ocean

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An, we've got that wonderful facility, and you can go across the region

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Tom and see our presence. But
of course we're continuing to build in Tallequall,

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we've got a hospital that's underway.
It is a massive project, Tom.

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In fact, anyone in the commercial
construction business right now can find opportunities

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to help build this four hundred million
dollars healthcare center because we really need all

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hands on deck. There's a website
by the way, Thomas and whether you're

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a handyman wanting to fix an elder's
home or you're wanting to help build this

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largest in Indian country hospital, Cherokee
bits dot org, Cherokee bits dot org.

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Everything's there to do business with the
Cherokee Nation, and we do a

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lot of business. Indeed, you
do. I understand that you've contributed quite

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mightily do the NSUE School of Optometry, and you attend to that groundbreaking recently

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too. The ad is a great
success story. So back in nineteen seventy

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nine, this is just a great
visionary work by a really state of Oklahoma

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and education leaders. Back in nineteen
seventy nine they founded the Northeastern State University

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what they call the Oklahoma College of
Optometry. Since then, that's school developed

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such a reputation where it is one
of the top optometry doctoral programs in the

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United States. In fact, there's
only twenty three in the United States,

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only one in the state of Oklahoma, and it's right in our capital city

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of taalok Wall. Now, the
Cherokee connections Number one is that it's at

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NSUE, which of course has its
roots with the Cherokee Nation. But since

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nineteen seventy nine we've had this great
partnership, so we've been able to care

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for a lot of our people in
terms of eye care with a partnership with

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NSU. So over the years,
lots of Cherokees have gone in and gotten

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their initial eye exam by one of
these NSU students who are learning to be

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eye doctors. And that's a great
partnership. So that's the reason that we

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went in with five millions, what
is overall thirty three million dollars new school.

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They deserve a new school because where
they are right now at NSU is

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a well cared for building. Come, but it's an old building. It's

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it's the fact that used to be
the Indian hospital in Taalok Wall, the

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original Hastings and that is really out
lived the usefulness as a school. So

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they're looking forward to that and we
were happy to partner. One added bonus

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though, come is that through this
partnership, there's going to be a full

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scholarship, full tuition and fees for
a Cherokee student over the next five years.

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So we're going to have more Cherokee
optometrist as a result of this.

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Well, there you go. I
like that. It sounds great. Also,

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Trek Kinnahan has been busy with the
USDA grant for WICK. Tell us

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a little bit about that. Yeah, you know, our partnership overall with

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USDA has just grown and grown,
and tom USDA is a massive agency and

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it touches lots of aspects of the
economy and people's lives. This is a

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particularly important project though WICK. People
that may go to the grocery store may

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see certain foods or WICK eligible and
many many listeners may have been on WICK

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at one time. So this is
for really for low income moms. And

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and the point of this grant,
which was a million dollar USDA grant,

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was how can we do more outreach
to our WICK participants, how can we

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get more eligible people participating? Now, keep in mind time we run a

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WIK program, but everybody's eligible.
We just happen to be the ones that

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administer a WICK program in the region. The state administers one too. So

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this is a win for everybody because
the statistics show, the studies show that

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the more people that are low income
that get on WICK, the better they

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do from a health and nutrition standpoints. We're talking about the earliest years of

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a young person a baby. They're
going to be better off if they're low

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income if they have access to better
food. So this million dollar grant will

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help us do outreach. And then
as an added bonus, we have a

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new program where we're giving an incentive
to go to farmer's market. Now,

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not everybody can reach a farmer's market, Tom, but if you're a WICK

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participant this summer, you've got an
opportunity to get a farmer's Market voucher.

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If a chair connection with participants,
just one more way we can give access

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to better nutrition, and we're doing
that through our program. People going to

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visit our Cherokee dot org page and
find out more about our wid program.

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Jeeve Hoskin, I understand that you're
eighteen thirty nine. Cherokee Meat Company is

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now accepting SNAP benefits. That's right, so access to good proteins. We're

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talking about beef. We're also talking
about getting into processing and advising at some

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point, Tom, but we're going
to keep growing this meat processing plant.

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People can go to Talle, call
to our facility and purchase it. But

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if you've got SNAP benefits, that's
what we used to call the food Stamp

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program, people can access that that
tom is really going to be key to

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our future's Cherokee people because it's economically
good. I mean, this plant is

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just really growing and we're having to
really strategize about the future of this facility.

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But it's also good for nutrition.
It's good for all of us to

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have a locally sourced and supplied beef
and other other proteins. So it's really

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good for everybody. I think we're
living in an era tom in which the

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few big meat producers in this country, you know, there's a concentration of

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that. We saw a big bottleneck
during COVID. I think we're going to

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be in an era, thankfully,
in which that is diversified. You've got

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a lot more smaller producers, certainly
Cherokee Nation compared to the big corporate monsters

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as a smaller producer. But really, this is a story I hope people

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continue to follow because it's really good
for everybody to have another producer in the

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region. We take a lot of
pride in it, you know, Chief.

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Every now and then I go past
to your town of Nita, because

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I play music all over the place, and I've been up in Miami and

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Grove and that place called Monkey Island, I guess, but I keep seeing

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the travel center, the welcoming Center. Is that? What are the hours

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on that? Because I think I'm
going there and it's a little bit closed.

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I want to stop. Yeah,
well it's it's it's a it's a

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it's a nine to five operation,
as I recall, uh and it's uh

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and and I think there's a I
think it has some hours on Saturday as

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well, which is also great because
it's right on Root sixty six. And

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we have, of course the stable
attractions there, which is our gifts shop

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and in our gallery. But from
time to time we have different events.

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Recently we had this wonderful ribbon Skirt
fashion show which drew a lot of people.

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We've had different artists in residence type
galleries in the facility. So if

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you live in the region, it's
something to go to from time to time.

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But if you're traveling across the country, it's another reason to stop in

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Oklahoma, spend some time, and
let's face it, Tom spend a few

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dollars. That's what we also want
them to do because dollars in this region

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and tourism that is a real factor
in the economy, and we like to

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play our role in it. So
it's a great place that they're on Root

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sixty six, just off I forty
four. They need to exit, tom

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if you've lived around, they need
as long as I had. You know

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it as the old country clubs.
If you tell people the old country Club

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and Benita, they know where that
is. Yeah, it's changed, It

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has changed remarkably. It ever looks
so good, and that is absolutely true.

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But I will try to get over
there a little bit earlier so I

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could make that a part of my
little quest over there every now and then.

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I'm trying to make some extra cash. Anyway, it's always great to

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have you on board. We understand
that you've been doing some things with roads

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and even in your capital city of
Telliqua. People don't always understand that the

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Cherokee Nation are partners with local governments
as well. You helped them out with

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a with a fire truck down there. We have so one of the things

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we did when we built the or
we decided to build a high hospital.

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It's a four story building. What
we realized and what the local fire department

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mentioned to us is hey, by
the way, chief, we don't have

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a fire truck that can go up
four stories in the town of Taliquaw and

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so we were glad to help.
Of course, it's it's a win win

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because we have to have fire protection. But it turns out that that you

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know, really I think it's a
multimillion dollars fire truck. That fire truck

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turns out to be good for everybody
because it lowers the ratings that we have

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to determine our insurance rates in this
area. So that's a win. But

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you know, that's on top of
tom about thirteen million dollars, nearly fourteen

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million dollars that we're providing two first
responders and public safety through our Public Safety

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Partners program. This is a one
time program, but these this means that

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fire departments, police department, sheriff's
departments, in emergency nine one one EMS,

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departments, ambulance services. They're getting
up to fifty thousand dollars right now,

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which checks are going out the door
to equipment so that the firetruck catches

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the news because it's a big investment. But hey, y'all, and with

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the region, we're helping because we're
all in this together when it comes to

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first responding. What I could tell
you our county Commissioners appreciate the partnerships that

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have been formed with Cherokee Nation.
It seems like every couple of weeks or

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so we keep hearing about new partnerships
or a new agreements and memorandum is of

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understanding and all. What it means
is that we're working hand in hand with

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each other. That's right, that's
right, and we love it and we'll

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get a lot done that way,
and it takes care of a lot of

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business. Hey, what's on the
future. I know what's coming up.

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It's the big national holiday. Is
it too early to tell folks about that?

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It's never too early to talk about
the cheregy national holiday, because the

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people are planning to visit, particularly
planning to book a room. The clock

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is taking because tom is you know, one hundred thousand plus people to send

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on Teleclaw a town still of about
seventeen thousand people for the cheery national holiday.

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But it's a great time. The
Labor Day weekend and multiple days of

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events. We've got an inter tribal
powow. We've got you know, some

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civic activities such as the State of
the Nation address, which I'll be proud

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to deliver again. We've got cultural
activities. We've got people selling wonderful Cherokee

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arts and crafts. So I'm just
scratching the surface on lost you can do.

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But what people can go to our
Cherokee National Holiday website. I could

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rattle off a lot of websites.
One of my favorites I always mentioned here,

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Tom, that was a visit Cherokee
Nation. That's the hub of all

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cultural tourism, including that Cherokee National
Holiday. So Tom, it's never too

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really to talk about it. It's
the end of this summer. We're looking

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forward to it, and folks who
can't visit in person, we still have

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a lot of stuff that we put
on non social media in the Internet.

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I like a day, Folcus,
is that you're not going to get bored

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because there's always something to see,
something to do, something to enjoy,

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something to learn, something to eat, something to drink, and then plenty

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of room to walk around. Now. I don't know if you still do

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this or not, but this,
this I think was in the early two

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thousands. First time we were we
were there, they had the Cherokee Nation

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World Series of Softball. You know, we still do a softball tournament,

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and I love that we still have
a softball tournament and it's one of the

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one of the favorites. Uh.
You know, our creatures, a car

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culture is a growing and evolving tom
and so you know today it's in this

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air, it's inclete softball. So
there you go. And it was just

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one of the things I said,
that was the last thing that I was

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thinking I was going to see.
I'm sitting this is pretty good. But

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you know, by the way you've
taken over the the one part of that

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one museum, I do believe,
or the center that used to be in

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private hands in Telentqua. Bring me
up to speed on it, because I'm

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so we I think we've how to
be talking about the Cherokee National History Museum,

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and just a brief history. That
is the capitol building that our people

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built in about the eighteen sixties.
As I recall, so middle late nineteenth

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century is the era we're talking about. For most of the twentieth century was

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in the hands of the state of
Oklahoma as a county courthouse. We got

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it back, you know, probably
a journey chief man Killer's time. But

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since then, as we've prospered,
we've been able to put some resources into

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it. It is a first class
museum, Tom, in fact that it

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is worth visiting. You disclosed our
Cherokee Freedom and Exhibit, which was a

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powerful exhibit about the enslavement of people
by the Cherokey nation under our laws and

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their emancipation and their experience since then. The good news is that exhibit will

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travel, and we don't have a
full schedule yet. I think tuls is

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what we're going to take it next. But in terms of that museum,

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and people come to downtown Tlacola,
which is just pitt your esque, you've

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got to visit that building, even
if you are in there in the evening.

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Just looking at that building where it
minds people, certainly reminds me of

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the grit and determination of the Cherokee
people and the fact that we are still

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here. And so I think it's
a great thing to just look at.

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And for folks who are curious,
once you walk in and you start the

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tour, you're going to find out
where the Cherokee came from, and that

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is an awesome story in and of
itself. Absolutely, Hey, Chief,

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thank you very much for being with
us today. Tom Good as always,

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all right, Chief Chuck Hoskin,
Junior Principal Chief of Cherokee Nation with US

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on Community Connection