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NASHVILLE, TN - Concerned Native American Indians from major American Indian organizations, from across the state of Tennessee, will hold a press conference at 12:00 noon, Monday, October 16, on the steps of Legislative Plaza, in Nashville, Tennessee. Among the issues to be addressed are the following:

- The Tennessee State Legislature's Government Operations Committee is threatening the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs with being "Sunset" (Tennessee Governmental Entity Review Law, commonly known as "Sunset Law", Section 4-26-101 et seq., Tennessee Code Annotated).

- The Indian Commission is blamed for being less-than-functional when it is not allowed to be fully functional with a full complement of five (5) Commissioners. See: CITA/TCIA

- Two (2) vacant Commissioner positions currently exist for persons of not less than twenty-five percent (25%) Native American lineage.

- One (1) of these positions has been vacant for over eighteen (18) months and the other for over four (4) months.

- It is both the Governor's responsibility and executive privilege to appoint these Commissioners. However, the Governor's office says it cannot find anyone "qualified".

- We have evidence of four very qualified people with large numbers of supporters who have been nominated to the Governor's office of appointments but have not been appointed or even acknowledged by the Governor.

- The Indian Commission is being reviewed next Thursday, October 19, at 9:00 am by the Government Operations Joint Subcommittee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, Room 14, Legislative Plaza, under the state-mandated "Sunset Law", and the Indian Commission's less-than-functional state has been noted as a potential reason for killing it off.

We raise this issue because we are concerned Native Americans who want to keep the state Commission of Indian Affairs.

Ruth Allen Knight of Memphis, Cherokee and Choctaw, member and secretary of the original Commission established in 1983, will be addressing the aforementioned topics as well as others during this Press Conference.

Press packets will be available to media representatives.

Contact: April Tramel, Nashville TN
Phone 615-365-9044 ~ FAX: 615-365-9044
E-mail: a.d.tramel@worldnet.att.net

We encourage people to call and write their Tennessee state representatives and senators, see: Legislature Joint Committees List, to urge them to support the continuation of the Tennessee Commission of Indian Affairs (TCIA), and to call (615-741-2001) and write Governor Don Sundquist urging him to get on with the appointments of the two fuller-blood commissioners he is charged with appointing. Especially as we approach (November), National American Indian Heritage Month, we don't want to be the Governor's or the General Assembly's next road-kill.