Minutes Archive

Minutes of 02/03/01 Tribal Council Meeting

John Duke addresses audience

John is known as Red Hat, member of long hair clan, from a Cherokee township in New Mexico Wishes to bring peace to the tribe, to establish seven-event ceremonial cycle beginning on March 24. Says the thing tearing us apart is lying “It is better that our nation end than Cherokee continue to harm Cherokee” Says we are facing corporate dissolution if the fighting does not end. Says we must make peace, alludes to the peace accord “The council I have great faith in; I have talked to all of them” Says we have to trust the council to pull us through this

Elmo Foster briefly addresses the audience as well

John Duke opens the meeting in prayer

Paul Matheny calls the meeting to order at 10:13

Robert Shaver is present in proxy for AJ Glover; all other non-resigned council members are present (see below), although Sandy Counts doesn’t show up until after the new council members are instated (see below)

Paul requests that due the nature of the items to discuss, we need to maintain an orderly meeting and that people will be given an opportunity to speak at the appropriate time; but if anyone is disruptive they will be asked to leave

James Green moves to suspend rules temporarily to conduct business; Bill Linley seconds and the motion passes

In lieu of reading of the minutes of the last meeting, Michael Green explains that Diana Lawson never got the minutes to us

Paul recalls that last meeting there were several banishments of individuals, that there were several votes:  to investigate the possibility of moving the tribal offices, to discuss a trip to the Arkansas State Legislature, to vote on reinstatement of Lola as principal chief

Paul says he had a meeting last week with representatives of Arkansas State University who have offered us storage space and archival space; Paul and Tim Jones have been invited back to discuss the possibility of getting office space set up on campus

Paul reports on a trip he and David Youngwolf made to the Arkansas State Legislature and what a positive experience it was; he mentions specific meetings with four state senators and that most of the people they met claimed Cherokee ancestry

Michael Green briefly mentions the topic of banishments, and Paul reminds the group that we will address the issue later in the meeting

Michael Green announces that Randall Miller will present what financial information he can when he arrives; Michael reports that David Youngwolf and Mitch Stein each paid themselves $7500, that there is still a $65000 grant waiting for us under the administration of Lola, that Lola says Randall Miller was paid $2000 as well

Carlo Carlino reminds the council that in order to consider any action we must first address the issue of his banishment, John Duke recommends that we address the issue and consider rescinding all banishments

Michael Green recommends that we accept Carlo back onto the council; Bill Linley moves to rescind Carlo’s banishment and accept him back onto the council; Tim Sanders seconds and the motion passes

Paul introduces candidates for nomination to the council:

          Paul Drew, Bold Eagle, moved to Oregon briefly, was Representative Speaker for our Tribal Council when he was here previously, lives in northeast Arkansas

          Lee Overturf, retired from the Navy, served as a delegate, says we need to come together as a people and consider what’s best for the people, lives in Tennessee

·          Jan McDonald, from Oklahoma, looking forward to giving a voice to our people in her state

·          James Ellis, Quiet Bear, has experience running websites, from Salem Missouri, goal is for unity of our people

·          Kathy Householder

·          Art Cook

Paul reads an affidavit that each nominee will need to sign

(Tim asks for a list of the current council members.  Paul Matheny and James Green assure us that this is the complete list:  Carlo Carlino, AJ Glover, Diana Spurlock, Paul Matheny, James Green, Tim Sanders, Bill Linley, Sandy Counts)

James Green moves to accept the full slate of nominees, Bill seconds; Tim asks that we make sure everyone on the council, current and new, be aware that they could be up for election as early as the next election.  Paul explains that elections are scheduled to be phased so that a portion of the council will be up for election each cycle.  The motion passes, and Paul administers the oath of office to the six new council members

Recess is called at 11:00, meeting is called back to order at 11:22

·          Paul Matheny is nominated for Tribal Council Chairperson.  James Green makes the motion, Bill seconds, passes

·          Lee Overturf is nominated for Tribal Council Vice Chairperson.  Bill makes the motion, James seconds, passes

·          Tim Sanders is nominated for Tribal Council Secretary/Parliamentarian.  James makes the motion, Bill seconds, passes

·          Lee Overturf is nominated for Tribal Treasurer.  James makes the motion, Bill seconds, passes

·          Kenneth and David Householder and John Watson are nominated for Sergeants at Arms.  Paul makes the motion, James seconds, passes

·          Michael Green is nominated for Tribal Spokesman.  Paul makes the motion, Tim seconds, passes.  James Green recuses himself from the vote

·          Randall Miller is nominated for Lead Counsel for the tribe, i.e. Tribal Attorney.  Paul makes the motion, Bill seconds, passes

Randall addresses the audience on legal issues; paraphrase of his words follows:

·          Review of initial papers filed indicated Lola, Harold Turman, and Kaye Harris were originally on the Board of Directors.  There are several resignation letters from Kaye on file, but legally it may be true that she can continue to function until replaced. Harold insists that he is still on the Board.  So there is still a question of exactly who is on the Board

·          The council needs to decide how to handle proceedings against Mike Harmon

·          Harold and Kaye have formed a new Board for the 501C3 corporation and are claiming to be in charge of the corporation.  Recommend we file a suit for a court to decide what the true nature of the Board is, and to get an injunction against the current ‘members’ doing any activity on behalf of the Board in the interim

·          The State of Arkansas is concerned about our ability to function as a corporation, and has at least four different alleged lists of Board members

·          Recommend an election to determine who is on the Board; this would need to be agreed to by the persons currently claiming to be on the Board

Jim Shepherd asks the council to do something about a child that was taken from him by the court; after some discussion it is pointed out that this item should be tabled for later

John Duke says that the Council has a responsibility to keep commitments the Council has made regardless of who was on the Council at the time.   He says if the Peace Accord is not signed, the only option for our tribe is corporate dissolution

Paul Matheny reads the Peace Accord

Carlo motions to recess for lunch at 12:40

Meeting called back to order at 1:50

Randall Miller addresses the audience again, mentions that after discussing over lunch with Lola, Harold, and Mike, he is optimistic that we will be able to resolve the Board issue peacefully

Discussion of banishments – Elder Elmo Foster speaks; Council members Carlo Carlino, James Green, Tim Sanders, and Bill Linley speak; and tribal member Jack Shepherd speaks

Paul reads letters of resignation from the tribe written by Floyd Masterson and his wife, and Floyd speaks briefly to clarify

Several more people speak about the issue of banishments; Tim moves to rescind all banishments completely, Bill seconds.  After brief discussion, the vote is taken.  Tim asks for a roll call vote:  13 yes and 1 no (Sandy)

James Greene moves that we halt the legal proceedings against Mike Harmon, Lee Overturf seconds, motion is unanimous except for Sandy who votes no

Randall addresses the issue Jim Shepherd brought up earlier about seeking WCN help for him to gain or regain custody of a child; Randall’s opinion is that the WCN is not required to provide legal assistance and that furthermore the facts of the case do not warrant voluntary WCN assistance; in addition, the court has already found that the status of our tribe with the federal government is not sufficient to warrant treatment of this case under the laws pertaining to Indian child welfare

Paul mentions that he will go ahead and make another visit to the Arkansas State Legislature

John Duke mentions once more that he hopes everyone will sign the peace accord

Mike Green comments that the Nation’s website has had information recently that the Council feels could be considered unauthorized, and that we might want to reconsider what we are paying to have the website maintained

Lola assures the Council that enough revenue is coming in to maintain the payroll, which consists of Robby, Amber, and Kyle full time and Deborah part time

Lola reports that applications are being processed in a timely manner

Bill moves to change the composition of the Business Committee to:  Council Chairperson, Vice Chairperson, Secretary, and Treasurer.  James Green seconds, passes

Next meeting is set for April 7

Bill Linley announces his resignation as of this meeting due to impending retirement of himself and his wife; Lola says she has a recommendation for someone to replace him in southeast Missouri, Paul rules that we will deal with this at the next meeting. Paul reads a letter that Charles Holt has resigned as an elder

John Watson asks that the council take roll call votes on all issues from now on and have the results posted on the website; Paul agrees that this is a good idea and can be done. James Green moves to adjourn the meeting, Carlo Carlino dismisses in prayer and the meeting is adjourned at 3:15

It is felt people have the right to know
Past Council
Meetings & Minutes

According to emails and postings there are no minutes being posted for any meetings since 2007
 

Even if it's not good new.
it's good news to know.

Over $22,000 and no accounting for it!

COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF SUMMERS, WATSON & WESTERN CHEROKEE  3 TIMES

As of this date the defendants and their associates have not surrendered Western Cherokee Property as stipulated in two court orders and supported in the Stipulation and Order.

What are the fundamental differences between the thinking of the Plaintiffs Jerry Summers, John Watson and the Western Cherokee a Missouri Non-Profit and the Defendants, Unincorporated Association claim and filing with the court. See the legal differences between being a Organized Group Vs. Unincorporated Association. Proof is in their filing with the court Click Here to read PDF file.

A court order did state that Chief Jerry Summers and Vice Chief John Watson have been found to be the true officials of the Western Cherokee. This should clearly show the defendants and associates were wrong in their take over attempt but they continue to refuse to abide by the Court Order. By a court ordered election which the defendants controlled they are now legally in control of the Western Cherokee future. Many people believe this ordered election was due to a filing by Timothy Spencer which was a threat of upward of 100 men, women and children would die defending the property if the judge held his ruling.

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