Governor Johnson Signs Atoka Pipeline Settlement (2021)

Tribal code

Ask Donna

What actually matters in this document.

Text

THE ABSENTEE

SHAWNEE NEWS

www.astribe.com

April 2021

Volume 31, No. 04

Governor Johnson Signs Atoka Pipeline Settlement

Left Photo (L-R): Michael D. McMahan, Hobbs Straus Dean & Walker; William R. Norman, Hobbs Straus Dean & Walker; Secretary Ezra DeLodge;

Representative Alicia Miller; Treasurer Joseph Blanchard; Front: AST Governor John Johnson. Right Photo: AST Governor John Johnson signing

Atoka Pipeline Settlement.

Six years ago, the city of Oklahoma City filed several condemnation actions against our Tribe

and several of our members to

take ownership of lands underlying the Atoka Water Pipeline

supplying water to Oklahoma

City for more than 50 years.

Thankfully, our Executive Committee members at the time

stepped in, using the Tribe’s sovereign authority to intervene

and stop the condemnation actions against our land owners.

Over the course of the next sev-

eral years, each of our Executive

Committees had stood strong to

protect our tribe’s and members’

and cultural interests along the

Atoka Water Pipeline.

Today, I am pleased to announce that I have signed off on

the Atoka Water Pipeline settlement. This settlement preserves

the lands along the pipeline

from condemnation by Oklahoma City, secures a payment for

affected landowners at 10 times

the amount of the appraised value, provides for the protection

of important cultural resources

and events, as well as requiring

the protection of the surrounding environment and encouraging the employment of Tribal

members for future work along

the pipeline easement.

In addition to the unwavering

support of the Tribe’s elected officials in recent years, our Tribe’s

Realty department played a key

role verifying and recording important transaction details. Likewise, our Cultural Preservation

department identified and con-

firmed key portions of the pipeline that pass near sacred sites,

recommending protections for

those locations, including a prohibition on any interruption of

tribal ceremonies.

Our thanks to the attorneys

at Hobbs Straus Dean & Walker, who worked diligently on the

Tribe’s behalf for the last six years

with Oklahoma City, the U.S.

Attorney’s office and the Field

Solicitor’s office to negotiate the

terms of this deal and bring this

settlement to completion.

Certain Court Fees Increase

Absentee Shawnee Tribal

Court fees were increased on

March 1, 2021. Court fees have

not been revised or updated

since the 1980’s. Absentee Shawnee Court Clerk Chelsea Cope

explained that the money will go

back into the court fund.

“This is where all our fines and

payments are placed once they

are in Finance. The biggest impact will be on our incarceration

fees. This money will recoup incarceration fees which cost the

court $40.00 a day to incarcerate

an inmate.” said Cope.

How much will the fees actually be? The court fees are increasing or have been added in

4 areas. The 2 that were added

are incarceration fees which will

be $40.00 a day and audio reproduction on USB Drive $40.00.

The 2 line items that were increased are transcript preparation and admittance & annual

fee to be on the AST Bar Association.

The incarceration fees line

item and the application and annual fee to practice did not exist or have a fee, so those were

increased to $50.00. Transcript

preparation was $100.00 and has

been increased to $200.00, because the Tribe’s pays an outside

contractor for this service. The

last line item was audio reproduction on USB Drive, which

did not exist so that was added

and is $40.00.

The increased fees will not af-

fect tribal members wanting to

use tribal court. There will be no

increase in small claim filings,

marriage licenses, guardianship

or petition for divorce.

Cope doesn’t expect another

increase. “Most likely nothing

will go up in the future, if anything were to increase it would

just be incarceration fees, and

that would only be if the safety

center started charging more for

incarceration.”

NOTICE

86TH SEMI-ANNUAL GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING OF THE

ABSENTEE SHAWNEE TRIBE OF INDIANS OF OKLAHOMA WILL

BE HELD ON SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021 AT 10:00A.M. AT THE

THUNDERBIRD CASINO POW WOW GROUNDS IN NORMAN,

OKLAHOMA.

www.astribe.com

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

GOVERNOR’S REPORT

John Johnson, AST Governor

Happy April tribal family,

GOVERNOR

John Johnson

With the start of spring, we have

exciting things happening at the

tribe. I hope you have seen the

announcement for the upcoming 86th Annual General Council

Meeting set for April 17th, 2021 at

10am. This council meeting will

be at the Thunderbird Casino Pow

Wow grounds in Norman, Oklahoma. I am excited to see everyone

and I hope you plan on attending.

I am pleased to announce that

on March 10th, 2021, I signed the

Atoka Water Pipeline settlement.

Since this began 6 years ago, prior

and present EC members, Realty

TREASURER’S REPORT

Joseph Blanchard, AST Treasurer

Hello Friends, Family, and Tribal

Members,

LT. GOVERNOR

Kenneth Blanchard

March really flew by. Before we

knew it, clocks were moved forward and Spring has sprung. This

month my report will be brief as

my office has been extremely busy

preparing for audit, keeping up

with all of our regular business

activities, and attending to the

monthly schedule.

First and foremost, as most of

you are aware, I want to again

express my condolences to the

Lt. Governor’s family. I was very

honored to present the Eulogy at

his Memorial Service. I believe

there is a special editorial dedicated specifically to him, with some

pictures and a brief description of

April 2021

and Cultural Preservation departments played key roles in verifying

important information for the attorneys at Hobbs Straus. This settlement preserves the lands along

the pipeline from condemnation

by Oklahoma City, secures payment for affected landowners at ten

times the amount of the appraised

value, provides for the protection

of important cultural resources

and events, as well as requiring

the protection of the surrounding

environment and encouraging the

employment of tribal members

for future work along the pipeline

easement.

The tribal complex is in modified

Phase 1 of the Recovery Plan. All

staff has returned to campus. For

the safety of the employees and

tribal members visitors are not

allowed on campus at this time.

Please remember we do have drop

boxes in front of the police station

if you need to conduct business.

As we continue to see the number of COVID-19 cases go down,

please continue to do your part

and follow all CDC recommendations. Get your vaccine, wash your

hands, wear your mask and practice social distancing.

I want to send my prayers and

condolences to the family and

friends of the long time tribal leader Kenneth Blanchard. Lt Governor Blanchard , who passed away

on March 12, 2021. He served our

tribe in many positions throughout his tenure and he will be greatly missed.

accomplishments during his tenure with the Tribe. His dedication

and service to his people spans six

decades, beginning in 1978, up to

his last election in 2020. As I mentioned in my speech, he was our

walking Tribal encyclopedia. He

will be missed.

As you can also see, I’ve attached

a pie chart in this edition that

shows the specific breakdown of

how the CARES funds have been

allocated and spent thus far. A

considerable amount of the $33.1

million dollars went directly to

the members and their benefit.

As Phase I is completing, Phase

II will be announced shortly with

how the remaining monies will be

spent.

During the Election Campaign,

I mentioned the only way we can

progress is to create the “change”

we want. Quite a bit of that has

been happening on and around the

Complex. A lot of the preparation

for projects has begun and will be

presented to members in the very

near future From my perspective,

I truly believe our People will be

happy and excited for the opportunities we are about to bring to

fruition.

I look forward to seeing many

of you at General Council. If you

have any questions, please do not

hesitate to call me at my extension,

#6280, or Jan at #6309. You may

also send me email at: jblanchard@

astribe.com

Let me know if there is anything

else I can do to be of assistance.

the Lieutenant Governor which

brought smiles to our faces, but

then each of us would deeply exhale and shake our head in continued disbelief. I, myself, could not

remember exactly the first time I

met him but yet - I felt as if I always

knew him. Throughout the years,

he was just one of those constants

at the tribe. One of those individuals you would never think would

cease to be a constant.

I have to admit it has been particularly difficult to find the right

words to describe all what he has

contributed to the tribe since the

late 1970’s, and it almost seems

near impossible unless you have

lived it, experienced it or worked

with him in some capacity. There

is one thing for sure, he met many

people in his life and I am sure each

of those individuals has their own

warm memory, funny moment or

kind exchange with the Lieutenant

Governor. I hope it is the remembrances of those moments that

provides a smile to your face and a

comfort in your heart as we try to

move forward in the coming days

and months. I think he would

want that…along with a good cup

of coffee. We will continue to work

hard to move the tribe forward

and do the best we can to achieve a

level he would be proud of.

Respectfully,

Joseph H. Blanchard

SECRETARY

Ezra DeLodge

TREASURER

Joseph Blanchard

REPRESENTATIVE’S

REPORT

Alicia Miller, AST Representative

REPRESENTATIVE

Alicia Miller

Greetings Relatives,

March was a challenging month.

My heart goes out to all of our

tribal families who have lost loved

ones-my condolences to you. Of

course, there is one that particularly hit close to home and this is

the loss of one of our most knowledgeable tribal (government and

cultural) historians, Lieutenant

Governor Kenneth Blanchard.

In the days leading up to the

service for Lieutenant Governor,

the Executive Committee members were discussing some of the

service details in which we would

assist. When the conversation was

slowly concluding, we each ended up sharing a warm memory of

Si li no ke Ka no la Lieutenant

Governor Kenneth Blanchard.

Ne yi wa! (Thank you!)

Alicia (Aly) Miller

Tribal Representative

Cell: 405.287.5247

Email: aliciam@astribe.com

April 2021

www.astribe.com

Kenneth Blanchard

August 3, 1941 - March 12, 2021

Kenneth Blanchard, 79, of Little Axe, Oklahoma passed from this life on Friday, March 12,

2021 in Norman, Oklahoma.

Kenneth was born on August 3, 1941 in Little Axe, Oklahoma to Lewis and Cynthia (Creek)

Blanchard. He was a lifetime resident of Little Axe. He attended Little Axe High School and

went to trade school at Okmulgee Tech. He also received an Associate Degree from Rose State

College.

Kenneth married Bernice Starr on June 7, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

He was Lieutenant Governor of the Absentee Shawnee Tribe. He has been involved in tribal

politics for 30 plus years. He was fluent in the Absentee Shawnee language and was a tribal

speaker. He loved being involved in Tribal Ceremonies. He was a founder and served as Chief

of the Little Axe Volunteer Fire Department. His hobbies included working on old tractors,

raising cows, horses, and chickens, and racing cars in his younger days. He was an avid hunter, and fisherman, he played softball, coached, bowled, and loved following his grandkids

sporting activities.

Kenneth was preceded in death by his parents, Lewis and Cynthia Blanchard.

Those left to cherish his memory are his wife, Bernice Blanchard of the home; son, Leland

Blanchard of Little Axe; daughter and son-in-law, Sandra Blanchard and Tommy White Thunder of Shawnee; daughter, Rikki Blanchard of Little Axe; 7 grandchildren, Devin Leitka and

companion Lucia McKinney, Macklyn Leitka, Leland Blanchard, Jr., Leadra Blanchard; Sheldon White Thunder, Shelby White Thunder, and Shelsie White Thunder; 7 great grandchildren, Bryson Blanchard, Jensen Blanchard, Elliana Tackett, NaKiaus White Thunder, NaNami White Thunder, Praise Leitka and Tristan Smith-Leitka; brother, George Blanchard and

Kathleen of Miami, Oklahoma; sister, Cleta Johnson and Bud of Little Axe; brother, Chester

Blanchard and Cathey of Noble; brother, Duke Blanchard and Fredith of Little Axe; Redina

Miller and Glen of Norman; sister, Glendine Blanchard of Little Axe; sister, Betty Isaacs and

John of Noble; brother, Kevin Blanchard and Arlene of Lexington; numerous nieces, nephews

and other family and friends.

The Absentee Shawnee Tribe continues to mourn the loss of Lt. Governor Blanchard. His

groundbreaking and extensive list of accomplishments regarding the Absentee Shawnee

Tribe will be felt for many years to come. His leadership and presence will be greatly missed.

Highlights of his Political Career

The longest serving tenure of any elected AST official

Helped negotiate the Contract Support Compact or AFA

Political career spanned six decades

Helped negotiate the Tobacco Compact (OK), twice

Elected as the first Lt. Governor

Helped negotiate the Atoka Waterline Trespass

Involved with (638) BIA Self Governance Compact

Most known for the Model Gaming Compact and passage of the

Oklahoma-State Tribal Gaming Act

FY-2020

YTD TAX COLLECTIONS

(thru 2/28/2021)

TAX