OK Choctaw Tribal Alliance, Inc.

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Halito! Chim achukma? This is the page where we will post general news. If you have an interesting item to report, send it to us by email by clicking on the Contact Webmaster link at the bottom of the page. Or, tell Stormy Bryant at the regular meeting, the board meeting, or wherever you can catch him.

We should have plenty of room, so we invite you to also include personal news such as anniversaries, births, deaths, graduations, marriages, attendance at meetings, recognition by other organizations, or other important events in your life. This is your web site, but we can't show it unless you tell us about it. Plus, everybody likes to see their name in print. The more stuff we have about people, the more people will visit the web site.

    ◊◊◊  If you have read the Home page you will know that we now have a big, shiny pickup to pull the Indian Taco Trailer. Start making plans to attend the Labor Day Festival and volunteer to work in the trailer. We are going to try to secure a place to stay at night for those who work in the trailer. Also, everyone should start thinking of other places we could take the trailer. The proceeds from taco sales are the lifeblood of our organization.

We had the new pickup on display at the April 14 meeting!
It might not be at the next meeting because Ken Jacobs thinks
too much looking at it wears the finish out…

    ◊◊◊  The Annual Trail of Tears Walk will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at Wheelock Academy near Millerton, OK. Ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. at the Millerton Park with opening remarks by Chief Pyle. The walk will end at the historic Wheelock Academy, which is approximately three miles from the starting point in Millerton. If you drive your car the Nation asks that you please park at Wheelock between 8 and 10 a.m. and ride a shuttle bus to the starting point. Lunch will be provided after the Walk.

The Choctaw Nation has approved our request for a bus. We had the sign-up sheet at the April 14 meeting and we will also have it at the May 12 meeting. You can also call Stormy Bryant at 755-6983. We think the bus holds 54 passengers, so the first 54 persons to sign up will have precedence. Others will be taken in order if seats are available.

We encourage everyone to take advantage of the bus. It is about 250 miles to Wheelock. Five hundred miles there and back sure is a long way to drive in a day. Also, at the price of gas nowadays it is a big chunk out of your pocketbook. It is very thoughtful of the Nation to provide this service for us, so let's take advantage of it and fill the bus to let them know we appreciate it. 

The Choctaw Casino, which is the organization that operates the buses, has established written rules for passenger bus conduct. We will post them in the OCTA building lobby. Please note that they include no eating, smoking, using smokeless tobacco, or possessing alcohol on the bus. Only drinks with bottle caps are acceptable. Ice chests must be stored beneath the bus.

Bus riders will meet at the OCTA building at 4:30 a.m. and we will leave at 5:00 a.m. sharp. We will leave Wheelock after lunch, so we will probably arrive home at 6:00 p.m. or later.

    ◊◊◊  We have discovered that we have run out of dish cloths and dish towels in the kitchen. Donations of new or like new ones will be appreciated. If every family donated just one dish cloth and one towel, we would be up to our eyeballs in them.

   ◊◊◊  The OCTA membership and the Choctaw Language Classes participated once again in the Oklahoma City St. Patrick's Day parade on Saturday, March 15, 2008. You can view photos of the parade on the Photographs page. Thanks to Ken Jacobs and Walter Chrysler for rigging up the trailer and to everyone who participated in the event. Mark St. Patrick's day on your next year's calendar because we will probably do it again. The parade organizers appreciate us, the spectators enjoy us, and everyone who participates has a good time.

Fittingly, on the very morning of the parade The Oklahoman published an article on its editorial page remembering the famine relief donation by the Choctaws to the Irish during the Great Potato Famine. The following link will take you to the story on their web site. **THE CHOCTAWS' GIFT TO IRISH** We thank The Oklahoman for its recognition of our ancestors' act of humanity.

In case you have never read it, The Long March by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick is a wonderful book about a Choctaw boy in 1847. He wonders why the adults want to give a bunch of money to the Irish even though the nahullo have taken their homeland and forced the Tribe to move to Oklahoma under brutal conditions. The Irish author came to Oklahoma to do her research for the book. She illustrated it herself. The drawings are not only very good, but they are also historically correct. It is a child's book, but it carries an adult's message. You don't even have to buy it because The Oklahoma County Library has copies of it.

  ◊◊◊  We will be considering having a float again in this year's Edmond Fourth of July parade. Stay tuned and attend future OCTA meetings for further developments. The Chickasaws will probably have another float and you don't want to be outdone by them, do you? Neither group won a prize last year, but 2008 is a brand new ball game.
NEW: We now have that big, new pickup with which to pull the float. Don't miss the chance to ride behind the new Choctaw pickup in the parade!

   ◊◊◊  At the March 10, 2008 meeting we decided to encourage people to register and vote by making Oklahoma Voter Registration Application forms available to our members and guests. The forms, along with several informative pamphlets provided by the Election Board, are located in the lobby of the OCTA building.

In Oklahoma we use just one form, the Oklahoma Voter Registration Application, for most purposes. You can use it to register to vote, to change your address for voter registration, to change your name, or to change your political affiliation. Just be sure to read the instructions and fill out all of the information it calls for. You should fill it out and mail it in as soon as possible, for voter registration closes 24 days before an election, and you cannot change your political affiliation between June 1 and August 31 in even-numbered years.

You can also find the forms at county election board offices, tag agencies, public libraries, post offices, and the State Election Board. You may also download a copy of the form from the State Election Board's website at www.elections.state.ok.us.

Please, please, please, just remember one thing. Your civic duty does not end when you register to vote. Many people get excited about the idea of registering to vote and forget that the whole purpose of the drill is voting. If you register to vote, be sure to vote. If you know that you cannot make it to the polls on election day, contact your county election board and make arrangements for them to send you an absentee ballot. You can also vote an absentee ballot at your county election board from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the Friday and Monday before every election. In federal and state elections, you can also vote at the county election board from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on the Saturday before the election.

  ◊◊◊  The Wild Onion Dinner on Saturday, February 23, 2008, was a great success. Thanks to everyone who attended it, to everyone who worked and donated goods, and especially to Myrtle King, the pehlichi (boss). We have some photos of it on the Photographs page.