Who's Paying the Bills

The Sylva Herald had an article about how no one seems to respond to invoices sent to the tribe. Hmm, that's no way for a government led by an accountant to act. Someone needs to rectify this situation or else the tribe stands to ruin its credit, if it hasn't already.

The Uproar of the Cherokee County Land Deal and the Casino

There's not much that I feel like commenting about this issue, but many in the public feel that something wrong occurred, and in large part, this can be attributed to the closed-door manner in which it was handled. Chief Hicks still doesn't get it. When you do things while hiding, people get the impression you have something to hide. Do you chief? If not, then open the doors.
That said, I look forward to what a gaming facility can do for Cherokee County, which has the highest unemployment rate in the state.

Oh, So Now Wal-Mart is Bad

The tribe's PR coordinator, Lynne Harlan, has a zinger of a piece bashing Wal-Mart in the Asheville Citizen-Times. Not that I disagree with the assertion that tribal members shouldn't shop at Wal-Mart, but her piece, as I've become accustomed, only looks at the issue from one point of view and makes an entirely false assertion, "Our community was disappointed." No, the Cherokee community's opinions were mixed. Some suppported it, but others opposed it.
Harlan is once again towing the line of her bosses, who never sought public opinion to see whether people in Cherokee actually wanted the damn store. It's not only basic marketing, it's basic public relations.
What would be nice is to see why so many businesses don't want to do business in Cherokee or on tribal land. I won't hold my breath waiting for that column from Harlan because it shines a negative light on her bosses, for whom her columns in the Asheville Citizen-Times have puffed up.
Many businesses don't want to operate in Cherokee because they have to seek permission from politicians, and it's from politicians who have a reputation for not playing fair.
That likely has more to do with why Wal-Mart didn't locate in Cherokee, not as Harlan suggested, that money spent by Cherokee people isn't valued. That's not to mention that for those who support Wal-Mart locating in Cherokee in the future, which Wal-Mart has not ruled out, Harlan's piece just may have ensured that the mega-store giant will bypass Cherokee for any future locations.
And for the record, I feel that Wal-Mart would've ruined Cherokee. I opposed it.

World Press Freedom Day

Amnesty International is shining a light on journalists who fight for press freedom. The human rights organization has been focusing this effort on journalists in countries like China, Iran and Zimbabwe.
Unfortunately, there's no focus other than that from the Native American Journalists Association, on the fight for press freedom in Indian Country. While native journalists who challenge tribal governments aren't being jailed, nor executed, the struggle for press freedom is still just as elusive as it is in the autocratic countries where Amnesty International puts its focus.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, for whom I worked until a chief, who questionably got reelected to office, didn't like the fact that I challenged the legitimacy of his reelection, among other issues for which he didn't approve of my coverage, fired me. It's the perils of working for a tribally-owned publication, despite laws to guarantee tribal press freedom.
I was hired in 1996 to act as a journalist. My job description never changed. I followed the profession's code of ethics to the best of my ability, among which was to give a voice to the voiceless and hold elected officials accountable. The ones who fired me in 2007 didn't see it that way. The current administration even attempted to censor non-tribal media as well through closed sessions, denial of information and threats.
There is no Cherokee medium holding Eastern Cherokee officials accountable now as the tribal newspaper is a shell of what it once was. It'd be nice to see Amnesty International look in its own back yard.

Wal-Mart Bails on Cherokee

I hate to say I told you so, Chief Hicks, but I told you so. So far, other than a few face lifts to a handful of souvenir shops, and a tribally-funded movie theater built for a cost well above for what it could've been done, Wal-Mart seemed to be the only real economic development initiative Michell Hicks had for Cherokee. Well, as Wal-Mart has done to the city of Clyde, it bailed on Cherokee with the tribe holding the costs of site development, and I'm willing to bet, construction as tribal government bent over backwards trying to bring the Mecha Godzilla company to Cherokee. How much has the tribe spent trying to bring it here? Good luck getting an answer, as chances are your council members probably don't even know, and Chief Hicks isn't known for being the most transparent chief.
The sad thing, just as it's been with so many of the chief's controversial initiatives, the tribal members who lived in Cherokee were never even asked whether they wanted Wal Mart there. Many of the retailers in Cherokee clearly didn't want it.
Here's a thought though, since so many pushing for this monstrosity argued it would save tribal members a trip to Sylva, how about charging tribal levy on gasoline, which would make a huge difference in price, plus actually and noticeably increase tribal levy? Chief Hicks, if you can make that happen, I will definitely have words of praise for you, something that hasn't happened often during your "proven leadership."