Ah-ho Khoygoo!

First, I wish to express my sincere appreciation for your vote of confidence in me. The election was certified yesterday (Saturday) and the newly elected members to the KBC, including yours truly, will take their oath of office on Monday, June 30, at 10:00 AM. The election results, including all the numbers, are posted on Kiowa Voices at http://kiowaok.com/news/newsletter.


Secondly, I took the above pic yesterday, Saturday, up at Indian City USA of a group of young dancers entertaining and educating a group of tourists on the first day of our "soft opening". Yes, we are now reopened full time and things will only get better from here on! The new hours are 10:00AM-6:00PM, 7 days a week. A number of new events are being planned including the revival of the annual Blues Festival, a powwow on Labor Day weekend, and a Holloween Haunted Trail Ride, for starters. KBC development activities continue with Leasure & Associates and we will be meeting at the State Capital next week with Oklahoma State tourism reps and others who wish to partner with us in the expansion of Indian City and tourism for Southwest Oklahoma. There are many development tasks to accomplish yet and we are fortunate to have an experienced and eager staff of employees to attend to the day-to-day operations of the facility, and we continue to receive numerous offers of assistance from many individuals, groups and tribal members who wish to be a part of the exciting possibilities.



This second pic was taken last Wednesday, June 17, at the Chickasaw Tribe's Treasure Valley Casino at Davis, Ok. Pictured are KBC members, L-R, Committeeman David Geimausaddle, Chairman Donald Tofpi, myself, Vice Chairman Charles Toyebo, Committeeman Richard Kauahquo, and Kiowa Casino Operating Authority CEO Lee Rhoades.

We also visited the Chickasaw's Cash Creek Casino nearby at Sulpher, OK for a visual survey and visit with their General Manager as a possible model for our new Carnegie casino. We are also diligently working on the Verden and Hobart area casinos and the Kiowa Tribe should see some positive movement on our gaming expansion within a short period. Stay tuned.

Recent KBC Activities

I am constantly questioned by tribal members of the latest issues being addressed by the KBC and it is sometimes difficult to determine which subject may interest the questioner the most. It seems we are constantly bombarded from many directions with some issues requiring immediate attention while other tasks leave us a little lead time for accomplishment. Being salaried allows the KBC to readily act on immediate tribal needs, and to devote more time in planning for long range goals. During my first service on the KBC (unsalaried) we would have maybe one or two working sessions per month and one required monthly meeting to act on all matters that arose during the previous month. Needless to say, the business of tribal governance at that time was agonizingly slow with very little time to devote toward new enterprise development.

My past five and 1/2 months on the KBC has been rather enjoyable as I prefer to maintain a constant, steady pace in whatever effort I apply myself to. The present KBC has assigned sub-committees for monitoring and assisting the various programs and enterprises in development and we are continually communicating our activities with one another so there are no surprises brought to the table during our monthly or special-called meetings. When I filed for this position I stated that one of my objectives was to lend some stability to the seated KBC as they were recovering from a turbulent political episode and I feel that we have been a unified, working body and able to make advancements toward long-range developments for our tribe.

This is leading to a listing of some of the recent issues and services we've covered during the past few weeks which might illustrate the range of our activities. As stated previously, please feel free to contact me with any questions, answers, and/or civil comments. Click the comments link at the end of the post(s).

• Acquisition and distribution of FEMA trailer houses to tribal members.
• Survey of AOA building for rehab.
• Bates Scholarship grant requests.
• Kiowa Hearing Board appointments.
• Indian City USA re-opening and expansion development.
• State Dept of Enviromental Quality compliance requirements for Indian City water system.
• Appointment of new members of Kiowa Gaming Commission.
• IHS expansion of Carnegie clinic.
• New and improved employee health insurance coverage.
• Establishment of Anadarko satellite office.
• Development of 3-story, 100-room hotel and events facility at Kiowa Casino.
• Public recall hearing for former KGC commissioners.
• Additional casinos development near Hobart, Carnegie, and Verden.
• Flooding of Headstart building and clinic due to heavy rains.
• Consultation with Devil's Tower Superintendent and staff re: scoping document and facilities renovations, and comprehensive interpretation plan.
• Numerous individual tribal member requests for various assistance needs.
• Tornado relief assistance to numerous tribal members in Anadarko.
• Reestablishment of 7 Tribes Consortium. Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes join the Consortium.
• Begin water rights planning for KCA territorial jurisdiction.
• Improve information, and governmental transparency, to tribal membership with new website development.
• Establishment of a new office for economic development.