Archived News Item

The Delaware War Mothers will raffle off a Chief Eagle robe on Sunday, May 29 at the 52nd Annual Delaware Powwow.

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Interested in a seat of the Delaware Trust Board?

There is now an open seat. The candidate should submit a resume and letter of interest to the Chief’s office and be present at the next regular meeting on March 23, 2016 at 5:30pm.

Materials can be submitted to the Chief’s Office at:

Delaware Tribe of Indians
5100 Tuxedo Blvd
Bartlesville, OK 74006

They may also be emailed to Chief Chet Brooks at cbrooks@delawaretribe.org, with a copy to administrative assistant Dana Murrell at dmurrell@delawaretribe.org.

The Center for Native American Youth created the Champions for Change (CFC) program as an effort to shine a spotlight on inspirational stories and promote hope in Indian Country.

Please note that the deadline for applications has been extended to January 14, 2016.

To apply, go to cnay.org, click on Champions for Change, and Apply Online.

The January issue of the Delaware Indian News is now available online. To view the newspaper, click the link below:

» View January 2016 Delaware Indian News

For other issues of the Delaware Indian News, select Delaware Indian News in the top menu bar.

Tim Hudson

A delegation from the Delaware Tribe of Indians was among several tribes that attended a speech by President Barack Obama in July. 

The speech was during a stop the President made to Choctaw Nation land in Durant, Oklahoma. 

Attending the Presidential stop on behalf of the Delaware Tribe of Indians were Chief Chet Brooks, and Tribal Council Members Nicky Michael and Michelle Holley.

The visit to tribal land is the second time President Obama has visited tribal lands in as many years. In 2014 he visited Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Nation in North Dakota.

“President Obama has been kind to Indian Country during his years in office,” said Chief Brooks of the visit. 

The Obama administration is reportedly working with local leaders in high-poverty areas to further eduction and economic goals. Dubbed “ConnectHome” the project is launching in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. For areas that are known as “Promise Zones” like the Choctaw Nation, President Obama has also called on Congress to cut hiring and investment taxes to attract business and create jobs.

“This White House initiative, to provide internet access to rural Native American communities, is to alleviate education barriers identified by a group of Native American youth during the Generation Indigenous summit held at the White House earlier this year,” Holley said, adding that one Delaware youth, Joey Richard, attended the event in Washington D.C. 

Tim Hudson
918-815-2653

» View Speech on YouTube

SPECIAL NOTICE TO TRIBAL MEMBERS
General Council Meeting: Saturday November 7, 2015

This year the annual General Meeting will be held Saturday, November 7, 2015 at the Delaware Community Center, 5100 Tuxedo Blvd. in Bartlesville, OK. Doors will open at 11:30 AM and lunch will be provided at noon. The business meeting will start at 1:00 PM. The State of the Tribe address and staff department reports will be given. Following the meeting Lenape stomp and traditional dances are planned. Please attend !!!!!

Joey Richard, son of Steven and Ann (Tipton) Richard of Glen Carbon, Illinois, has received a scholarship to the INSPIRE pre-college Native American Political Leadership Program at George Washington University, located in Washington D.C., this summer. INSPIRE scholarships are awarded to students based on evidence of academic ability, leadership potential, and an interest in public service.

The INSPIRE Pre-College Program is a full scholarship open to Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian rising junior and senior high school students, who apply and are selected to spend three weeks on the GWU campus learning about intergovernmental relations between tribal governments and the federal government. As a scholar at GWU, Joey will study the process and practice of democratic representation in the U.S., focusing on the interplay between tribal interests and politics and government at the national level. He will closely study how national politics in the electoral and legislative arenas work.

INSPIRE students live on campus and participate in recreational programs with the community of high school students enrolled in GWU Pre-College programs. INSPIRE is funded by a grant from AT&T Foundation.

The INSPIRE application was recently highlighted in the Delaware Indian News January 2015 issue and it was instrumental in Joey’s decision to apply.

Joey is a junior at Father McGivney Catholic High School, Maryville, Illinois. Joey carries a 3.92 GPA and is active in National Honor Society, student leadership, scholar bowl, math team, academic committee, yearbook, soccer, and band. He teaches kindergarten Sunday School and is an active member of the music ministry at St. Mary’s church in Edwardsville, Illinois. Joey worked as an intern on a recent political campaign. Joey is interested in pursuing a business or international relations degree in college and a possibly a law degree.

Joey is the grandson of the late Alice and Virgil E. (Son) Tipton Jr., Springfield, Illinois, great grandson of Lida W. (Woodall) and Virgil E. Tipton Sr., Afton, Oklahoma and is proudly descended from the Woodall, Marker, and Killbuck lines.

by Tim Hudson

A delegation of Delaware Tribal officials were recently on hand for an open house for the new Cherokee Nation Health Center in Ochelata, Okahoma.

On May 5, Delaware Chief Chet Brooks, Assistant Tribal Chief Bonnie Jo Griffith , and tribal member Benita Shea were among those in attendance for an open house held at the new $10 million Cooweescoowee (prounounced coo-WEE-scoo-WEE) Health Center, which will serve Natives in northeastern Oklahoma.

The 28,000-square-foot facility is five times larger than the existing Bartlesville Health Center which it will replace, and also offers a much wider variety of services. It is the first of four new health facilities that will be completed under a $100 million health care improvement plan using Cherokee casino profits.

The new health center has 10 exam rooms and offers family medicine, full lab services, optometry, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy with drive-thru, radiology, disease prevention, and more.

“You’ve been a part of us for so long” Principal Chief Bill John Baker said of the Delaware group as he addressed the crowd.

“And we are happy to have you here.”

Delaware Tribe of Indians Chief Chet Brooks says the facility is wonderful.

“It’s a fine looking facility and it will provide all kinds of care,” he said.

“Medical, dental and optometry assistance to our tribal members…. I’m very pleased with the new clinic.”

He says that the clinic’s location is better for tribal members, in that it’s about 10 miles closer than the existing clinic and “will have additional services.”

Assistant Tribal Chief Bonnie Jo Griffith agrees, saying, “We appreciate it being so close and modern.”

“As tribal council members, we are happy the Delaware tribe will be able to use it” she said.

The facility carries historic Cherokee Nation Principal Chief John Ross’s Cherokee name, Cooweescoowee, which is a type of bird. Ross is the longest serving chief of the Cherokee Nation, leading the Cherokees from 1828 to 1866 and across the Trail of Tears. Cooweescoowee is also the name of the northwestern historic district of the Cherokee Nation.

“The health center, and this is true of of all our health centers, is open to any member of any Federally recognized tribe” Cherokee Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr said.

“And any member of the Delaware Tribe may certainly use the health center.”

He says that some of the programs however are limited to the Cherokee Nation’s citizens.

“Some of those programs will only be available to Delaware members who have dual citizenship….if a Delaware is carrying both cards they are eligible for any service.

He says that for more information on which services are available may be obtained by calling the clinic at 918-453-5000.

by Tim Hudson

Oklahoma weather and tornados weren’t enough to deter the Delaware Tribe of Indians delegation from a recent conference on Aging Listening Session.

According to Delaware Elder Nutrition Program Leader Allan Barnes, “We did get interrupted by the tornado sirens and were escorted to the designated Storm Shelter safe rooms until the all clear was given.”

The scare happened on May 11, during the 2015 American Indian and Alaska Native White House Conference on Aging Listening Session held in Norman, Oklahoma.

According to the OICOA, (Oklahoma Indian Council on Aging) the event was held in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services Region VI & VII Tribal Consultation Session and included attendees from thirty-one Tribal Nations from Arizona, Alaska, New Mexico, and Washington.

Attendees traveled from far and wide to voice their concerns about aging in Indian Country.

During a session with Assistant Secretary for Aging, Kathy Greenlee and Cynthia LaCounte, Director of American Indian/Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Programs, Oklahoma weather reared its ugly head in the form of a severe tornado warning in the area, sending attendees to seek shelter in the lower levels of the building.

“We were down there for 45 minutes to an hour,” Barnes said.

“No one seemed too ruffled by the idea of a tornado. If anything, there might have been a sense of claustrophobia.”

He says that the safe rooms the attendees were divided into were fairly spacious so there was no crowding and he got the opportunity to visit with several people.

“One lady from Albuquerque said when they had storms they were more concerned about lightning strikes and flash flooding” he said.

Another elderly Indian lady I sat down and visited with, said she was from southern Oklahoma and they would just sit out on the front porch and watch them because she was too old to be worried!”

After the threat had been lifted, Assistant Secretary Greenlee and Director LaCounte graciously resumed to the session and listened to every person presenting testimony until the session’s conclusion at 8:00 PM.

“All of these sessions, meetings, and conferences are very worthwhile and are a benefit to our tribe,” Barnes said.
“Our Delaware Tribe’s history and our origins from the East Coast is a very interesting story to most that don’t know we were one of the tribe’s to greet the first Europeans who came to America.”

He says that he feels like the seminar, even with the storm troubles, was very worthwhile.

“What I took away from the sessions for the Delaware people would be the influential contacts and their offers of assistance to our Tribe, whenever a need existed” he said.