Speaker 1: Forty four degrees. But that's all going to change. Oh
Speaker 1: goodness sakes, let's see we have on the line here.
Speaker 1: I do believe we do have Chief Chuck Hoskins Jr.
Speaker 1: From Cherokee Nation.
Speaker 2: How you doing, cheap, Tom, I'm doing great yourself.
Speaker 1: You know, I get the biggest charge out of our conversations.
Speaker 1: How's that for an opener.
Speaker 2: That's a great opener. Because we've got dollars for charging stations.
Speaker 2: We'll be able to charge anything you need.
Speaker 1: And tell us how this all came about. This is
Speaker 1: this is not a cheap This is an eighty million
Speaker 1: dollar trust settlement.
Speaker 2: Yeah, eighty million dollar trust settlement. This is significant and
Speaker 2: so a context in history is really important here, Tom,
Speaker 2: So primarily during the twentieth century, but not exclusively, but
Speaker 2: primarily during the twentieth century, think about what was going on.
Speaker 2: The federal government had suppressed the Cherokee Nation's ability to
Speaker 2: self govern almost out of existence. So the Cherokee Nation,
Speaker 2: on behalf of the Cherokee people, has various natural resources timber,
Speaker 2: coal land on which leases were let. Who is supposed
Speaker 2: to manage those resources? Not the Cherokee Nations Because we
Speaker 2: were suppressed the Government of the United States as our trustee.
Speaker 2: Fast forward to the early part of the twenty first century.
Speaker 2: My predecessor, Bill John Baker says, you know what, I
Speaker 2: bet the United States mismanaged it. I bet they can't
Speaker 2: even account for these resources. And it's just like any
Speaker 2: business deal. Tom. Think about this, if you put your
Speaker 2: affairs in the hands of somebody and they were supposed
Speaker 2: to take care of them, and they did, and boy,
Speaker 2: there'd be some legal consequences. That's what Chief Baker was
Speaker 2: concerned about. In about twenty sixteen, he asked his Attorney
Speaker 2: General at the time, Todd henbry Go, ask the United
Speaker 2: States to account for all those resources. Tom surprised surprise.
Speaker 2: The Department of the Interior could not do it. Could
Speaker 2: not do it because they mismanaged it. They did this
Speaker 2: with other tribes. We filed a lawsuit refiled in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2: If people look at the record, they think, well, this
Speaker 2: happened in nineteen. Third team we refiled it in a
Speaker 2: different court. We bent the United States to a settlement.
Speaker 2: Not an easy thing to do, Tom, And what we
Speaker 2: agreed to was eighty million dollars in damages, again for
Speaker 2: not accounting for what happened to all the cold, the timber,
Speaker 2: the land that was leased for various reasons, perhaps cattle.
Speaker 2: Perhaps Hey, we did a lot of really deep dive
Speaker 2: diving into archival records. I mean, you had a lot
Speaker 2: of people on the front lines who kind of toiled
Speaker 2: an anonymity that were in the archives of the United
Speaker 2: States looking at all these different records and saying, hey,
Speaker 2: this is evidence of mismanagement. So here we are today
Speaker 2: with an eighty million dollars settlement. It's a great day
Speaker 2: in history, and it's really good for the United States
Speaker 2: to kind of cleanse itself of another wrong, an injury
Speaker 2: towards an Indian tribe who were very pleased with. But
Speaker 2: just to put a sort of an EndNote on this
Speaker 2: eighty million dollar settlement, here's what we planned to do.
Speaker 2: The Deputy Chief and I Brown want our center, legislation,
Speaker 2: our council that says, look, this was a settlement about
Speaker 2: resolving an injustice through most of the twentieth century. Let's
Speaker 2: make an investment in justice in the twenty first century
Speaker 2: for the cherkerenation. So we're going to build a judicial
Speaker 2: center in taal Quah. It's going to house our Supreme court,
Speaker 2: the primary district court that we have our Attorney General's
Speaker 2: office mcgird as you know, and we've talked about this
Speaker 2: many times on your show, has really tested the Cherito
Speaker 2: conation in terms of not only exercising sovereignty, not just
Speaker 2: in the academic sense, but in the real sense. That
Speaker 2: means people, that means buildings, that means justice, justice system.
Speaker 2: We've got to have more space. We're going to build
Speaker 2: a state of the art Justice center. We're also going
Speaker 2: to build a district courthouse. We're setting aside some of
Speaker 2: these dollars for a district courthouse to build out in
Speaker 2: the field, so to speak, out elsewhere in the reservation,
Speaker 2: because we've got growing pains and a solution to that
Speaker 2: as this settlement. Glad to talk about though, the charging
Speaker 2: station charging station funds, which is a really significant investment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to go back to the federal your
Speaker 1: federal buildings. That's cool. What part of Taliqua are you
Speaker 1: going to be on. Are you going to be on
Speaker 1: some of the historic parks or maybe some other places
Speaker 1: in town that Yeah.
Speaker 2: So the Justice Center itself will be situated near the
Speaker 2: complex and Tahlequa. People who have visited here including yourself,
Speaker 2: will know that we've got a government complex kind of
Speaker 2: on the outskirts of tallequal in an area known as
Speaker 2: park Hill really, and then we've got historic buildings in
Speaker 2: the downtown area. We'll be out of the government complex
Speaker 2: where we're building up a new public safety center. We're
Speaker 2: building up the Mankiller Park that we've talked about on
Speaker 2: your show, the existing complex, which we've added to. If
Speaker 2: people haven't been the Tallequi in a few years, if
Speaker 2: they go by the complex, they'll really be blown away
Speaker 2: at the amount of construction. This will be construction that
Speaker 2: will have to be planned. It's in the planning phases,
Speaker 2: has to be approved by our council, and then we'll
Speaker 2: be you know, we'll be about the business of turning dirt,
Speaker 2: but it'll be out here. And I've seen the next
Speaker 2: few years, we'll see this justice center. I may not
Speaker 2: be chief at the time tom when this is done,
Speaker 2: but I hope they invite me to the grand opening.
Speaker 1: It would be nice. Yeah, Okay, now on to the electricity.
Speaker 1: There we go.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Charges. So you know, this is an amazing week
Speaker 2: in the chery Co nation. It started with an announcement
Speaker 2: of ten point seven million dollars and it's ending with
Speaker 2: an eighty million dollars settlement. So the ten point seven
Speaker 2: million dollars was going to sort of be our top
Speaker 2: story and tell the trust settlement. But I don't want
Speaker 2: to understate the significance of the ten point seven million
Speaker 2: dollars from the US Department of Transportation to its stall
Speaker 2: one hundred and twelve publicly accessible electric charging stations across
Speaker 2: twelve communities. This is a big investment. It's a lot
Speaker 2: of dollars. It makes us I think forward looking in
Speaker 2: terms of where we're going in this country. The twelve
Speaker 2: sites they're closest to Bartlesville include the Koyschool Clinic and Oceanleda,
Speaker 2: the Cherokee Casino in South Coffeeville, and then a little
Speaker 2: further down the road at the Will Rogers Health Center
Speaker 2: in No Water. Throughout the reservation, you'll see these at
Speaker 2: our business sites or our healthcare facilities. Here's the thing, Tom,
Speaker 2: I've been watching the social media response to this, and
Speaker 2: it's mixed. It's a lot of people that are excited
Speaker 2: and there are some people that take a dim view
Speaker 2: of ev charging green energy. There's plenty of room for
Speaker 2: debate and for all that. Here's what I'd like folks
Speaker 2: to know. When the United States said they're going to
Speaker 2: spend millions and millions of dollars, really billions of dollars
Speaker 2: on ev charging stations, all I thought was, we're going
Speaker 2: to bring those federal tax dollars, are hard earned tax dollars.
Speaker 2: We're going to bring them home. We're going to bring
Speaker 2: them home to Northeast Oklahoma, to Cherokee Nation, and then
Speaker 2: we're going to put Oklahoma's to work building these charging stations.
Speaker 2: That's where my mind when is we're not going to
Speaker 2: let these dollars go somewhere or else come because if
Speaker 2: we wouldn't have applied for this grant, these dollars are
Speaker 2: going somewhere else. Maybe they're going to California, maybe they're
Speaker 2: going to the East Coast. They're coming home. That's important
Speaker 2: to me. The other thing is this, this is where
Speaker 2: the economy is moving. This is where transportation is moving.
Speaker 2: We can debate whether we like it or not, we
Speaker 2: can debate the merits of it. The trends seem clear.
Speaker 2: This is where the economy is moving. I want Cherokeynation
Speaker 2: to be on the leading edge of that, not the
Speaker 2: back edge. Of that, and we're going to put some
Speaker 2: people to work. We're going to bring ten million dollars home.
Speaker 2: We're going to be ahead of much of the rest
Speaker 2: of the country. If I could make one more comment though,
Speaker 2: on charging Stessons, Tom, some folks will say, well, boy,
Speaker 2: there's not a lot of ed cars around here. I'm
Speaker 2: telling you, when you're talking about tourists driving through Oklahoma,
Speaker 2: driving past the Neda, for example, where we've got this
Speaker 2: amazing cultural center, I want them to pull off the road,
Speaker 2: charge that vehicle and go in and shopping Benita, or
Speaker 2: I want them to be stopping in Tahlequah. I want
Speaker 2: them to stop in Noah. Folks got people across the
Speaker 2: country with electric vehicles. I don't want them to pass
Speaker 2: Oklahoma by it. I want them to stop in Oklahoma,
Speaker 2: spend some money, boost our economy. Cherokee Nations on the
Speaker 2: leading edge of that.
Speaker 1: Very good, Very good. We have a new acting Marshal,
Speaker 1: can you tell us about that?
Speaker 2: We do so our longtime Marshall, Shannon Buell, who is
Speaker 2: probably one of the longest serving Executive Branch officials in
Speaker 2: the history of the Cherokee Nation. That's a big statement.
Speaker 2: Tom but he served a long time. He did well,
Speaker 2: but that's a job that is very demanding, and it's
Speaker 2: twenty four to seven. So Shannon Buell is retiring, but
Speaker 2: not really retiring because he's going to consult with Cherokee
Speaker 2: Nation businesses on security matters. I'm talking about our businesses,
Speaker 2: Tom that spanned the globe, span the country, multi billion
Speaker 2: dollar portfolio. Security is an important issue. He's going to
Speaker 2: handle that. The Council authorized me to name an acting
Speaker 2: Marshal for or not to exceed a year. That man
Speaker 2: is Daniel me Daniel Means an eighteen year veteran of
Speaker 2: the Marshall Service. He's a decorated combat Marine. This guy
Speaker 2: has been tested many times in his life professionally in
Speaker 2: the military. He knows what he's doing. He's going to
Speaker 2: guide this department for the better part of this year.
Speaker 2: We're going to do a search for a Marshall. Daniel
Speaker 2: will be considered, but we're going to search far and
Speaker 2: wide for our next Marshall, which is a key position.
Speaker 2: People should understand. That's the key law enforcement officer in
Speaker 2: a growing law enforcement agency that has always been regarded
Speaker 2: I think as top notch, really the best in the business,
Speaker 2: but it's growing and growing and growing because, as we've
Speaker 2: talked about on this show, Tom, in the post McGirt era,
Speaker 2: we've got responsibility for every square inch of a seven
Speaker 2: thousand square mile reservation. Daniel meets up for the job,
Speaker 2: we're all excited for him.
Speaker 1: I understand you have a new partnership with FEMA.
Speaker 2: We do. We do have a partnership with SEMA. We've
Speaker 2: worked with FEMA for a long time. And anybody who
Speaker 2: in the Bartlesville area, you know, there was a tornado
Speaker 2: last spring, at least in that part of Oklahoma, and
Speaker 2: there was a lot of damage done, and then I
Speaker 2: think it was a couple of weeks later, tornadoes hit Claremore.
Speaker 2: When that happens and it went through Mas County in
Speaker 2: places like that, when that happens, Tom, here's the reality.
Speaker 2: The first responders are your friends and neighbors or yourself
Speaker 2: though those are really the first responders. And then the
Speaker 2: first responders in a professional capacity are local folks typically,
Speaker 2: but it takes all different layers of governments and jurisdictions
Speaker 2: to really come in and do response and recovery. That's
Speaker 2: what we have seen time and time again. So we've
Speaker 2: worked with FEMA. We're taking it to the next level.
Speaker 2: This is the first time in history that a tribe
Speaker 2: has signed an inter governmental agreement with THEMA. What does
Speaker 2: that mean. It means that there'll be more opportunities for
Speaker 2: our emergency management team to get the kind of training
Speaker 2: that FEMA provides at a really high level. Significantly, it
Speaker 2: means that there'll be a stronger working relationship when it
Speaker 2: comes to responding to No only disasters that hit our
Speaker 2: region Northeast Oklahoma, but we've got such a great team
Speaker 2: Tom that will work with THEMA elsewhere. I mean, just
Speaker 2: a few months ago we saw a hurricane move inland
Speaker 2: in the United States. It really shocked me, but I
Speaker 2: think it's the way things are moving in terms of
Speaker 2: climate and so there's going to be a need for
Speaker 2: all hands on deck in this country. And some of
Speaker 2: the best hands on deck COOM turned out to be
Speaker 2: the Cherokee Nation Emergency Management Team. That's why we've got
Speaker 2: this first in the history of the country agreement with THEEMA.
Speaker 2: It's a good thing. It means better resources for all
Speaker 2: of us here, whether we're charity or not.
Speaker 1: Wow, very big news. Indeed, A question that some folks
Speaker 1: have had around our area. Is that and we brought
Speaker 1: this up before on the show. Is how soon will
Speaker 1: try Key Nation be building a casino near closure to
Speaker 1: Bartlefield with wonder remote is great?
Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, no specific plans yet. So here's what
Speaker 2: we did, and there was actually news yesterday or at
Speaker 2: least an action yesterday. We purchased land. We talked about
Speaker 2: this on your show before in Bartlesville. We went through
Speaker 2: a process called placing that land in trust for gaming
Speaker 2: purposes tom That takes a route through the Bureau of
Speaker 2: Indian Affairs, up through the Department of Interior, a sign
Speaker 2: off by the National inning Gaming Commission. You're talking about
Speaker 2: levels of federal bureaucracy that you can just kind of
Speaker 2: hurry up and wait most of the time, which we did.
Speaker 2: It requires some local notice, which we did as well.
Speaker 2: That was approved just excuse me, earlier this week, and
Speaker 2: it was placed in trust filed there in Washington County.
Speaker 2: That means we could tomorrow come in and game. We're
Speaker 2: not going to come any game tomorrow tom In fact,
Speaker 2: we don't have plans on the books right now for
Speaker 2: what gaming could look like, but we do have that
Speaker 2: piece of land where we could do it, we don't
Speaker 2: have the impediment of what is often a year's long
Speaker 2: process to get land and trust. In this case, I
Speaker 2: think it's maybe a little over a year that it
Speaker 2: took to get land in trust. But if in the
Speaker 2: world of business, you've got to be ready to move quickly,
Speaker 2: in the world of Indian gaming, nothing moves quickly. So
Speaker 2: we had to get that bureaucratic process out of the
Speaker 2: way so that we can keep looking at the market
Speaker 2: decide when to build in Bartlesville. We know where. It's
Speaker 2: just a question of when. I don't have anything to
Speaker 2: report though on the win, and if I did, I
Speaker 2: would and I'll say you what when I do, we
Speaker 2: should do it on the show tongue, Well.
Speaker 1: It sounds great. The where is just south of just
Speaker 1: south of Barlsfield? Correct in the game, right, that's.
Speaker 2: Correct, that's correct. And one other thing I should let
Speaker 2: folks know. People when a casino is potentially coming in
Speaker 2: the community, there's all sorts of questions and not everybody's happy,
Speaker 2: but many people are. What I would say is look
Speaker 2: at our other properties. If people want to see what
Speaker 2: the experience is, not just the gaming experience, what's the
Speaker 2: experience for the community. If you go to Katusa where
Speaker 2: the hard rock is. Boy, I can remember and that
Speaker 2: was almost a tent for Bingo and now it's one
Speaker 2: of the best casinos in the market. But here's what
Speaker 2: happened around that area. Economic development, jobs, increase in tax
Speaker 2: revenue for the community. That's what happens everywhere that we invest.
Speaker 2: It would happen in Bartlesville if we were to invest.
Speaker 2: And I want people to know we care about the community.
Speaker 2: We're not some outside corporation just coming in to PLoP
Speaker 2: down a casino. We live here, Tom, we live in Bartlesville.
Speaker 2: We want it to be a thriving community.
Speaker 1: Jeez, it's always great to talk with you. And we'll
Speaker 1: do it again next month.
Speaker 2: Let's do it again, Tom, take care, but all right, Chief.
Speaker 1: Chuck Hoskin Jr. Principal Chief of Jerokee Nation right here
Speaker 1: on Kaewa. Thank you all righty, And we've