For my whole career in public education as an Indian Counselor, 25 years at MHS and Will Rogers, the years you were all there becoming the people you would grow to be. Many of you were and remain my "kids." I like to say we grew up together.

When Evans Ray Satepauhoodle, a fellow Oklahoma Indian Counselor, was a bit older than I am now he phoned bemoaning he was in the "4th quarter," (having  turned 75). Evans Ray, a Kiowa, the grandson of Satank, known as Sitting Bear, was a full-grown former football player, determined to find ways to ensure the songs, language and the stories he knew in his language could be remembered into the future.

So at the oddest of times, he would phone and sing, tell the origin story of that song and who was there when he birthed it and why. I didn't know the Kiowa language, but I learned to love the sound of it and the way the words lay together bringing the message, the story forward. I was frantic because I could hear his plea. The guy was full blast and had more to give. Huge Foley at Rogers State University did capture some of his songs and stories which are now on the internet. He was in a race which he completed to some degree.

His story is more relevant now. It is profound. We all must be in the race of our lifetimes. We are still in the early days of a deadly pandemic that is taking the lives of Americans. We flew past the number of dead from WWI too quickly adding 23,000 more. Lives cut short, races lost by people who had hopes and dreams and stories to tell. Stories to help us remember each one of them. The mosaic of faces expands each evening on the news. We must listen to those numbers. Each one has a name, each had more to do and all gone too soon."Oh, the old ones. They had good lives, we can spare them." But we didn't have to.

So I am joining the race. The human race, to finish the thing begun, to bring it closer to the place to hand it off to those who remain. I am not sick. I am broken hearted for those who have been sick and who have died from the virus among us. But I am sharing with you my hope and dream for the future. I long for justice. Not for me. I don't need it. I live on a pristine prairie. The most toxic thing I have on the property is the poison ivy that followed me home from some place long forgotten, or was gifted here by the birds passing through.

I long for justice for the people who might not even know they have been wronged. Justice is big, and yes justice for all. But let's bring it in closer. Honed in tighter, I long for justice for the people and for the environment in Ottawa County.

That is why 22 years ago some folks sat in a circle and read documents in the library. We were looking to learn all we could about why and how we were poisoned and look for every avenue to seek justice to repair  the damaged lands and water. We organized as LEAD Agency, which stood for Local Environmental Action Demanded. This has been my 3rd quarter's work.

Demanded is a loud and pushy word and it has seemed a little out there for me personally, since generally I do not see myself as a demanding sort. But the pushy part does fit. I have been told more than once.

The lights for the most part are off at our office on A. Street, but we are working.

We are asking questions and we are demanding answers. Justice demands them. Why wouldn't LEAD Agency join the Waterkeeper Alliance in a lawsuit against the State of Oklahoma over coal ash rules that won't protect the public? What is the back story about the Inhofe Amendment which could ensure Miami gets much wetter in the future?  Why are we pushing EPA for a better Human Health Risk Assessment for the Tar Creek Superfund Site? We won't get justice for Ottawa County without pushing for more protections now. There is no chance later. This is it and those comments are due August 17. We will share ours with you. Won't we join in the effort to force Oklahoma's Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry to do their job and protect the public not just poultry industry wishes? You would not expect less from us. EPA removed asbestos from BFG, a slice of justice, but not enough.

Join our efforts and become a member. Make us stronger. How can you help? Debra Warner reads the news and forwards articles on environmental issues. JoAnne Walkup dropped off garden gloves, Debbie East and Georgeann Roye brought tomato plants. Shirley Giles and her daughter Caroline brought BOXES of books for our Little Free Library. Hands-on volunteering has been limited to be protective, but let's get creative. We have work to do, justice to seek, wrongs to be righted.

Races to win. This could be our 4th Quarter.

Respectfully Submitted ~ Rebecca Jim

A few years before I was born, Woody and Jack Guthrie birthed a song that comes 'round to me while crossing parts of my land in Craig County which lies as a prairie and dips down into a gully and up the other side, as if the land was attempting to become hills.
 
There is a cowboy buried out in the back portion. My dad always pointed where it was, sort of an Indian type of pointing, with a nod of his head in that direction. There was never a headstone and who he was and how he died are no longer known.
 
There is much mention of death and nameless numbers in the news and charts, numbers growing daily even in this state. I regret each loss. Where the dead are laid to rest will be known to only the few who take them since gatherings that bring large groups together have come to be dangerous in these times. Funerals I have attended in the past continued on to the graveyard and when revisiting those grounds, I am also visiting the people from my neighborhood, in their new neighborhood. (Which takes me regrettably to the Sesame Street Song, The People in the Neighborhood.)
 
Just this week, I was unable to attend the funeral of Larry Daylight, one of the world's finest Champion Fancy Dancers, who took great care back in the late 70's to teach my son those fancy moves. Much later, I learned the techniques required to fully bead a dance fan, a skill few can teach since there are so few artists with those skills who are willing to share those secrets.

Larry and his wife Blevins became Lay Health Advisors with LEAD Agency and could teach community and family how to protect children from lead poisoning. He was an important person in my neighborhood. How many others are we losing and failing to see laid to rest? What else is happening?   
 
Last Wednesday I went to sleep in Oklahoma and after waking and coffee when 9:00 came my son read aloud from a Supreme Court ruling I learned I had woken up in Indian Territory, right there in the Indian Nation Woody sang about. I woke up in the Cherokee Nation. I could not contain myself as tears fell.
 
In 1907 our tribal government ceased to be recognized as it was. The State of Oklahoma took our schools and other public buildings as its own. Throughout the Cherokee Nation grief settled in as the powers we had held were all gone, we thought for good. But last week, with the words written by Justice Gorsuch  which read like poetry. Justice. Treaties are law. Congress had failed to disestablish us.
 
Cherokee Nation if it was a single person, she would have been standing taller and proud beyond belief. So after the tears stopped, I stood up proud and tall, as possible.
 
'Way down yonder on the ... in those Oklahoma hills where I belong. I live on the land I belong on. When Cherokees were moved to Indian Territory, we were given a trade, Georgia, and our other lands in the east for the lands here. Equal value. So this is our Georgia and though our origin stories are not here, the rest of our stories are. We can value this place and run ourselves right up to the borders of our very own reservation and delight in knowing we are home.
                                               On the far end of the Trail of Tears was a promise.
                                          ... their new lands in the West would be secure forever.
 
The action of the State of Oklahoma dishonored each tribal member and made those living then  to feel lessened, perhaps shamed. But read this decision and over and over the State of Oklahoma is given the lecture on wrongs done and in every way the state had tried to prove the reservation of the Creeks was long gone, the court rejected. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The court all but pissed, excuse the language, on Oklahoma's reasoning and all the ways in this last one hundred and 15 years the state had justified taking our land, our resources and our pride.
 
All of that went away with every word of this decision. Rise up, and remember we were Nations, sovereign Nations, enough so the United States made TREATIES with us, like real countries. And those treaties are not over, dead and gone, they are the Supreme Law of the Land. This Decision said they live on and so do we.
 
No more Pinocchio's, we are real people, as our names would call us The People in most of our languages. We are not diminished. We are not disestablished. That would take an Act of Congress and they have not done it. They did not act.
 
This decision in the history of the United States is our Brown v. the Board of Education, this is our Roe v. Wade. In McGirt v. Oklahoma Oklahoma got "a talking to" as the Navajo call a session that is shy of a "go to your room" more like what is done during an intervention in the hope of bringing a loved one to sobriety.
 
What tribal people in Oklahoma got was some respect. Yep, those are our boundaries and we belong here and we got the papers to prove it.
 
Respectfully Submitted ~ Rebecca Jim

Oklahoma Hills
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie and Jack Guthrie © Copyright 1945 (renewed) by Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc., Michael Goldsen Music Inc., & Warner-Chappell Music Inc

Many a month has come and gone
Since I wandered from my home
In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.
Many a page of life has turned,
Many a lesson I have learned;
Well, I feel like in those hills I still belong.
'Way down yonder in the Indian Nation
Ridin' my pony on the reservation,
In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.
Now, 'way down yonder in the Indian Nation,
A cowboy's life is my occupation,
In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.
But as I sit here today,
Many miles I am away
From a place I rode my pony through the draw,
While the oak and blackjack trees
Kiss the playful prairie breeze,
In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.
Now as I turn life a page
To the land of the great Osage
In those Oklahoma hills where I was born,
While the black oil it rolls and flows
And the snow-white cotton grows
In those Oklahoma hills where I was born.

Drought can be declared after as little as 15 days without rain. It hasn't rained in weeks. Craig and Ottawa counties  have now officially been included on the 2020 drought map. Thunder brought hope this week, but not a drop came from the low lying clouds. The soybeans in my field were planted today with slim hope the rain will come. Gardens are struggling, yards and fields are stressed. That early rainy season ended abruptly, thankfully without disastrous floods this year, but not before our plant friends were spoiled and failed to put those deep roots they need now to thrive.

We have had too much rain during past summer holidays, Memorial Day and 4th of July bring up those memories. But during these holidays we think of water in that other way, as our relief and lots of people seek access to get into it. Oklahoma's Department of Environmental Quality posted their Tips to Keep You Safe at Lakes, Rivers, and Streams this week. DEQ reminds you to follow some simple tips to help keep you and your family safe while swimming, boating, canoeing, or enjoying other water activities since natural bodies of water, especially warm and stagnant water, can contain organisms that may cause illness. When swimming pay attention to water conditions: if it looks bad, smells, has dead fish stay out. AND don't get water in your nose, mouth or ears! Wash up with soap and water after swimming.

Both DEQ and the CDC state we should all Avoid swimming if you are ill. To stop the spread of COVID-19 if you feel ill limit close contact with people.

https://www.deq.ok.gov/2020-news-releases/deq-offers-tips-to-keep-you-safe-at-lakes-rivers-and-streams-14/

Many of us are not quivering in fear about our next flood, but we want to better understand when and how it may come for us. We know it may because of the number who are now required to buy flood insurance for the first time ever.  There are a number of "flood" maps and the latest one came out recently. We would like you to try it, the makers would like your feedback on how it works and if it is correct. How often do we get to "test drive" a tool like that? Check out https://floodfactor.com/ and type in your address to find out the risk right now you have for flooding with their modeling. (The makers: First Street Foundation notes their flood and climate change risk estimates not intended as precise estimates, or to be a comprehensive analysis of, all possible flood-related and climate change risks.)

https://www.propublica.org/article/millions-of-homeowners-who-need-flood-insurance-dont-know-it-thanks-to-fema

ProPublica discussed this tool stating there are millions of homeowners in the US who need flood insurance and don't know it. Homeowners outside of FEMA’s high-risk zones often believe they’re safe, underestimating their vulnerability. The researchers show how risk changes over time. Explore this interactive flood map and look at historic floods and how flood risk will change in the future. Look at any of the 143 million US properties analyzed.  
LEAD Agency is hoping to understand from this map and the other available maps how quickly flood waters rise and where the escape routes are. Residents who are new to the alert know it because they are now having to pay flood insurance. But what else do they need to know?

Those who have experienced local flooding can help us compile the best list of "to do's" to share with those uninitiated by water who will be new to being flooded.

For a couple of months LEAD Agency was taking the temperature of the folks in and around Miami, not with thermometers like are used now. Hundreds of people simply signed they had flooded and were TIRED of it.  Citizens were committing to do their part in making that different by voting. We dropped the ball. We didn't remind you that if you flood now or are affected by the local flooding it can get worse and the blame in the future floods can be given to a single person. We have never been able to give blame for a flood on a person, we have always blamed the "elements" - "climate change" - "God's plan" and of course GRDA, the gatekeeper at the Pensacola Dam. A single person, if ultimately successful in the near future may be responsible for widening future area flooding.

As individuals we can feel powerless to the natural elements or the forces of evil that swirl around us. But we have powers, almost super powers and can undo and unseat any person who is abusing power, certainly we have the ability to band together and use that power to protect our families, our community and our very own homes.

Ottawa County did not do that this week. The Senator who has put a specific amendment in the powerfully funded National Defense Authorization Act could raise the level of Grand Lake by 2 feet. If you think we have a flooding problem now, think what that would do. 1,236 people in Ottawa County must want you to flood because they voted for the single person who had the personal power to do this to us. Voting is your super power. November can bring us hope we won't have to float our boat on. You vote and I flood,

Respectfully yours,

Rebecca Jim