OK Choctaw Tribal Alliance, Inc.

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.

Front row, left to right:
Robert Cast, Bobby Gonzales (Caddo Nation), Cyndi Houser (Choctaw Nation), Dr. Andrea Hunter (Osage Tribe), Mike Tarpley (Jena Choctaws, LA), Lisa LaRue (United Ketoowah), Terry Cole (Choctaw Nation), and James Munkres (Osage Tribe).

Back row, left to right:
Johnny Wesley (Muskogee Creek Nation), Dr. Ian Thompson, Olin Williams (Choctaw Nation), Dana Masters, Nick Hauffe (Jena Choctaws, LA), and Robin Dushane (Eastern Shawnee).

◊◊◊ On January 28, 2011, the Choctaw Nation hosted a meeting of the Coalition of Oklahoma and Southern Tribes at the OCTA building. The meeting was coordinated by Cyndi Houser and covered applications of the NAGPRA Law. A continental breakfast and lunch were served. We were very happy that the Nation chose to hold this meeting at our building and hope that we can serve them often in this manner.

◊◊◊ Our annual Christmas Dinner for members and friends was held on Saturday, December 18, 2010. We are pleased to announce that among our notable guests was Assistant Chief Gary Batton.

◊◊◊ We are sad to announce the death of William Jimmy, the husband of Edna Jimmy. He passed away on January 27, 2011. Services were held on January 31, 2011 at Glorieta Baptist Church, with interment at Resthaven Memorial Gardens. We extend our sympathy to Edna and their friends and families.


Chahta sia hoke! I am Choctaw!	Assistant Chief Gary Batton, Chief Greg Pyle, and Chahtanumpa nanikhvnanchi Lilly Roberts. (We tried to get a better picture but the Chief was so full of energy that we could never catch him holding still.)

◊◊◊ Chief Gregory Pyle, Assistant Chief Gary Batton, and many Choctaw Nation employees came to the Cox Center in Oklahoma City on Friday evening, October 15th, 2010. Chief Pyle gave an uplifting address in which he reported on the state of the Nation, its hopes and plans, and the outlook for the future. He told of many of the programs which are available to citizens that will allow them to educate themselves, improve themselves, and enhance their physical and economic well-being. He pointed out that by education the Nation does not just mean financial assistance in attending college, but that it also means training in all sorts of fields for all sorts of jobs. The Choctaw Nation is just that, a nation of Choctaws, and it is not limited by any hide-bound guidelines in the ways that it can offer assistance to its citizens. All the citizen has to do is to ask for assistance, and the Nation will seek to find a way to give him help.

The Outreach Program was accepting donations of coats for their annual Team Up 2 Warm Up coat drive for needy youths. If you did not get to participate, probably anyone in the Nation can tell you how to get a youth's coat to them.

Tribal photo IDs were issued and many divisions of the Nation had booths that provided information on their services. Everyone enjoyed a delicious appetizer buffet and went home with much information, as well as t-shirts, Choctaw Nation Seal pins, tote bags, and enough ball point pens to write with for the next year.

The meeting was very well attended and everyone is looking forward to the Chief's next visit. If you weren't there, you sure missed a good time and did not hear about a lot of things that could do you and your family a lot of good.

◊◊◊ Curtis Stewart, the Alliance's chaplain, who is a minister and a serious student of all things Choctaw, had these reflections on Chief Pyle's address.

The Chief’s address to the people is exactly what we need to embrace. Our culture will survive through our Choctaw Language. A great part of our culture is the respect we pay to our elders through their contribution of surviving tough times even those who endured the “trail of tears” and the boarding school horrors placed on our Grandmas and Grandpas who were literally beaten for speaking Choctaw. The language program is very important to the Chief because it is vital to me and you for our future mindset as a people. We must encourage our children to identify with their past and bring into the present a “new” yet “old” tradition that speaks on the behalf of others around us. It is not about me but about all those around me. What I do for the tribe benefits all of us. A “VISION” that our elders had about the future of the tribe is now coming to fruition. An ethic of hard work with dedication through education is causing the Choctaw Nation to be a force in the State of Oklahoma. Congressmen, Senators, lawyers, doctors, Attorney Generals are beginning to recognize the Choctaw Nation as a force to be used to the betterment of this state and its people. Oklahoma as of right now ranks third in being most successful and prosperous state in these difficult economic times and that is in relation to what the Choctaw Nation is doing to promote the economy. Training, job placement, personal finance programs, it is not simply good enough to have ideas but how we can put those plans and thoughts into action to help our TRIBE, our STATE, our NATION. This is what the future of the Alliance is and always should have been. A group of hard working people that will put aside petty differences for the good of our children and elders. I could say so much more but this is all I have to say about this for now---------“nana lawa achi la hinla amba ilappan achi li makla”---------Curtis Stewart

◊◊◊ In case you haven't noticed, the Alliance has been having more speakers from the Nation at its monthly meetings. Lana Sleeper has been working hard to find these speakers for us. We are grateful to all of them for the information on Choctaw Nation programs and services that are available to citizens. You should be sure to attend our monthly meetings to see what is going on in the Nation and to find out about services that can be of help to you.

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