Copyright © 2002 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

Osiyo,

Dear Cherokee Citizen,

This week I went to Washington D.C. to testify at a Congressional hearing on legislation to settle our claims on the Arkansas Riverbed issue. This issue has long been in the public eye, and I would like to bring you up to date on its current status in the hope that you encourage your U.S. Representative and Senators to support HR 3534.

First and foremost, the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations own the Arkansas Riverbed from Muskogee to Fort Smith. Under the settlement legislation, that will not change.

7,750 acres of the Arkansas Riverbed are now dry land, occupied by Indians and non-Indians. That land belongs to the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. In the past, court action has been initiated to remove those people from that land.

This settlement would instead compensate the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations for disclaiming interest in those lands, and allow the Cherokee Nation to spend the settlement money to quickly take other land into trust in Sequoyah, Muskogee and Sequoyah counties, near the Arkansas River. This would allow us to avoid lengthy and controversial court battles with the present occupants of the land and allow those occupants to move forward with their lives.

The Cherokee Nation, the Choctaws and the Chickasaws are supporting the passage of HR 3534, which would settle the three Nations' damage claims against the United States now pending in the Court of Federal Claims, and it would give us, in a single lump sum, the past and future fair rental value of the lands being used for the two electric powerheads that were constructed on tribal lands on the bed of the Arkansas.

HR 3534 will be of great benefit not only to the people of the Cherokee Nation, but also to many non-Indian citizens of Oklahoma as well. Again, the tribes are not selling the Arkansas Riverbed. Instead, this settlement gives the Cherokee Nation an opportunity to exchange disputed lands for other lands which we choose to acquire.

To offer your support for HR 3534, contact your U.S. Representative by going to:

URL: http://www.house.gov/writerep/

And contact your U.S. Senators by going to:

URL: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm

Wa-do,

Chad Smith,
Principal Chief

Source: Cherokee Link
(News letter of the Cherokee Nation, OK)