Northern California Osage

June Tribal Election Candidates for the Chief, Asst. Chief, Congress and Mineral Council, have been invited to speak to the Northern California Osage.

Meeting Date: Sunday, April 25, 2010

Location:
Park Plaza Hotel, Oakland, CA
150 Hegenberger Road
Oakland, CA 94621

Time: 9 AM - 5 PM,  optional no-host dinner following

RSVP by sending an email to forest@tracyemail.com or by calling Forest Tracy
at (925)351-8585.

We are less than a week away from our opportunity to meet with the candidates for the June election. I think this upcoming forum will provide everyone in attendance with an opportunity to learn about the issues and how the candidates plan to deal with their roles for the next four years if they are elected. You might also have seen the court ruling against the Osage regarding the reservation. That should be yet another interesting topic the candidates can address on April 25th.

The hotel for our April 25th meeting has been reserved. If anyone wants to use the group rate to stay there either April 24th or April 25th contact osage@king2d3d.com for the group room block code and other specifics.

As of April 13, 2010,  the following candidates have responded they will be attending our Candidate Forum on April 25th

CHIEF:
John D. Red Eagle
Carl Sellers
Tim Tall Chief
Roy St John
Jim Gray

ASSISTANT CHIEF:

Jeffrey Irons
Everett Waller
Anthony Shackleford

CONGRESS:
Raymond Red Corn
Jake Heflin
Geoffrey Standing Bear
Kugee Supernaw
Alice GoodFox
Randolph A. Crawford
Margo Gray-Procter
Daniel Boone
Alice Goodfox
Joseph Shunkamolah
John Maker
Anthony Webb
Dannette Daniels

MINERALS COUNCIL:
Myron Red Eagle
Cynthia Boone
Galen Crum
Jewell Purcell
Kathryn Red Corn
Gregory Woodell
Talee Redcorn
Linda Heskett
Curtis Bear
Andrew Yates

The following candidates have stated that they will not be attending:
Scott N. BigHorse
Jenny Miller
James Elsberry

For those of you that weren’t able to attend our meeting on Saturday you missed out! The Osage Language Seminar given by the Osage Language Program was informative and interesting. Representing the department were Herman Mongrain Lookout, the program director, Talee Redcorn, program teacher and data collector, and John Maker, the Hominy language site coordinator. The day began with Mogri presenting a historical description of the language and the plan for its revitalization. A video was shown of a proprosed Language Institute and included the staff of the language program and their thoughts about the program. Talee talked about the effort to keep and store language information, showing various screenshots of a database being used. Mogri talked about developing the orthography and how it is still evolving. John Maker told a very funny story about his first year in college while in the dorms but you’ll have to ask him to tell it if you want to hear it! Finally, he went through the orthography and the sounds of the different symbols. We practiced our pronunciation of the different sounds by going through several lessons in the workbook they provided. The day was concluded with a prayer in Osage delivered by Mogri. I don’t know what he said but it sure sounded wonderful!

Dust off your thinking caps and welcome the Osage Language Department from Pawhuska. Our Spring meeting will be primarily dedicated to learning about the Osage language.

The meeting will be from 9:00 - 5:00 at the Hermann Sons Hall, 860 Western Avenue, Petaluma, CA 94952.

As always, please pass the word on to those that don’t have email or access to the web.

Download the May 16 announcement.

Download the Agenda for May 16 Language class.

About 20 Northern California Osages and their guests met on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at the home of Melani King, in Pt. Richmond, California. (Note: The meeting was moved at the last minute due to the fact that the community center personnel never showed up and could not be reached. Our apologies to anyone that may have come late and had difficulty finding Melani’s house.) Christy Marani spoke about educational opportunities for Native American students at U.S. colleges. Her daughter is now attending Dartmouth University under one of these grants.

Kugee Supernaw, Osage Congressman from Oklahoma was our featured speaker. Kugee spoke to us about issues under consideration by the Congress. He urged us to pay attention to the business of the Nation by listening to Council meetings on the Osage Tribe website or reading the minutes in the Osage News, and to provide feedback to our Congress members. There was a lively discussion of tribal politics during the Q & A session following his talk.

Chuck Maker, who has been appointed to the Osage LLC, described the LLC and how it can be used to bring development to the Osage. If successful it will provide income and jobs for the tribe. The LLC will consist of 5 members and a CEO. Chuck is one of 2 Osage members. The remaining 3 will be non-Osage businessmen, with knowledge of development. Their first task is to hire a CEO to direct the LLC. A discussion followed.

The following decisions were made: Karen Elliott was confirmed as Treasurer. Melani requested nominations for President. Since there were no nominees, Chuck Maker offered to continue as Interim President until our next meeting.

A steering committee was formed, which includes Chuck Maker, Melani King, George Baldwin, Jim Norris and Karen Elliott. It was agreed that they would meet in Petaluma.

George Baldwin offered to host the next N.C.O. meeting on the campus of CSU Monterey Bay in Seaside, CA. We agreed to meet again in early May. The steering committee will plan the next meeting. We hope to see all of you there!

Please plan to attend our annual Northern California Osage meeting on Saturday, October 18. We have invited Kugee Supernaw, Osage Congressman to be our guest speaker.

The meeting will be from 11:30 - 4:30 at the Pt. Richmond Community Center, same as the July meeting. As always, please pass the word on to those that don’t have email or access to the web.

Plan to contribute an item for our raffle!

View Larger Map
This location is more centrally located and hopefully will make it easier for people to attend. If you’re interested in helping out let me know. Please pass the word on to those that don’t have email or access to the web.

A small but interested group of us met on Saturday at the Pt. Richmond Community Center. (There were a few more attendees than shown in the picture.) Cora Jean Jech of Pawhuska, Oklahoma gave an impassioned talk about current events with the Mineral’s Council, the Congress, the Executive branch, and other items of interest which prompted some lively discussion.

Minutes from the first part of the meeting.

RE: Temporary Officers
The current temporary officers was approved by consensus. The topic will be revisited at the next meeting.

RE: Next meeting date / location
The Point Richmond Community Center was approved by consensus for the location of our next meeting. The date was set for October 18th, from 11:30 am to 4:30 pm and also approved by consensus. (Pending availability)

RE: Mailout for next meeting
It was decided by consensus that the next mailout would be compiled by a team consisting of Liz, Chuck, Duane and Jim. Duane volunteered his copy machine to make the needed copies. Melani and Jim will work on the mailout and it may include a questionnaire to find out what members would like to see at future meetings (traditional arts, language, music, I’lonska information, political speakers etc. and topics)

RE: Dues
Cora Jean stated that $25 may be too small for people and in the future we could ask for more $30-50 even. No decision was made, it was merely brought forward.

We welcome Cora Jean Jech from Pawhuska and look forward to any news and information she can provide about current affairs in Oklahoma. Cora Jean is the Vice Chairman for the Osage Shareholders Association.

If you are planning to attend, please bring something to donate to the raffle!

Saturday, July 26
11:30 - 4:30
Pt. Richmond Community Center
139 Washington Street
Richmond, CA 94801

After many months of planning an Osage gathering, a group finally met at the California Indian Museum in Santa Rosa on September 8, 2007. It was an opportunity to get acquainted and begin to discuss future gatherings.

Minutes of 9/8/2007 Meeting of Northern California Osage:

Osages from both NCOA and Osage Friends met at the California Indian Museum and decided to form a new organization called Northern California Osages. Annual dues were set at $25.00 per family.

Chuck Maker was selected as the interim President and Karen Elliott as the interim Treasurer. Officers will be voted on at the next meeting, tentatively to be in July 2008.

Meeting locations were discussed and Barbara Kessel said that she possibly could find a free location for our next meeting. She expressed a desire to help plan our next meeting. The Marani family offered to help with the next meeting, including finding a location for the meeting. Their son, Jordan, will work on communication.

Melani King offered to be our webmaster and will set up a website for NCO with a blog for information and comments. Once the website is operative, she will send an email with a link to the website and solicit information for planning our next meeting.

Patty and Manda Mello will handle the drawing at the next meeting.

A suggestion was made that we look for a Pendelton blanket with the Osage symbol on it.
Fundraising: it was suggested that we have 50-50 drawing, with 50% of the money going to the winner and the remainder to NCO.

N.I.J.C. – California Indian Museum. Talk to Sherry if we decide we want to have a meeting there. She will be able to get a lower price than if we went directly

As a follow up on trying to get another meeting scheduled, Melani King, Jim Norris, Karen Elliot, and Chuck Maker met on April 17 to discuss possibilities. Stay tuned.