Tag: Delaware Tribe

Contractor crews have started construction of the Bartlesville outpatient Veterans Affairs clinic after years of delays on the project. Though work is still in the early stages, it should be complete by the end of the year, said Jonathan Plasencia, associate director of the Eastern Oklahoma VA Health Care System.

“(The timeline) has slid a little more than we would like, but is on track now and moving forward,” Plasencia said. “We hope to be seeing patients at the end of the calendar year or right at the start of the next one.”

The clinic will be located in the former Hastings Entertainment building, at 3005 E. Frank Phillips Blvd.

Planning for the clinic started in 2018, when funding was allocated for a Bartlesville clinic to open in 2020. In October 2020, the agency awarded the construction contract for the facility, announcing plans for it to be operational in summer 2021. 

More: Bartlesville coalition takes community approach to prevent military veteran suicides

In May 2021, Plasencia said officials were “close to giving them notice to proceed to start construction,” and the clinic’s opening was delayed to January 2022.

Most recently, the construction delays were caused by workforce shortages and supply chain problems, Plasencia said.

Currently, contractor crews have removed the external Hastings sign, painted the building and gutted the former Hastings of its internal signage, registers and shelves that remained as recently as December.

More: Lenape Veterans Memorial Wall Ground Breaking Ceremony

When selecting the location for the Bartlesville clinic, officials considered several buildings, including a former church and grocery store, said Eugene…

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The Michigan Indian legal community is mourning the passing of Jim Keedy, who served as the executive director of Michigan Indian Legal Services (MILS) for 30 years before his retirement in 2018. Keedy passed away from complications from COVID pneumonia this past Tuesday. Keedy was 69.

During his long tenure leading Michigan Indian Legal Services, a statewide provider of legal services to income-eligible Native Americans and tribes, the organization assisted six Michigan Indian tribes gain their federal reaffirmation—recognition—and countless Michigan Native American families with Indian Child Welfare Act and Michigan Indian Family Preservation Cases.

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A product of Wyandotte, Mich., Keedy became acquainted with Michigan Indian concerns when he worked on a tribal enrollment/disenrollment case while working at UAW-Ford Legal Services in 1987,

“He contacted MILS attorneys at the time for insights and assistance. Coupled with his love of history, he was hooked and jumped ship and joined the staff at MILS by the end of 1987. Judge Mike Petoskey (Ottawa) was hired as the new executive director of MILS around the same time as when Jim joined the staff. When Mike left that position, Jim was the obvious choice given his prior experience managing a legal aid office in Jackson,” Cameron Fraser (Delaware Tribe of Indians), MILS’ current executive director, said to Native News Online.

The obvious choice lasted for over 30 years. After stepping down as MILS’ executive director, Keedy remained on the staff. During his long history at MILS, Keedy became well respected for his strong dedication to ensuring Native Americans strong legal representation.

Matthew L.M. Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians), the editor of Turtle Talk and professor at Michigan State University’s College…

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David Shannon

He’s been The Phantom in “Phantom of the Opera.” Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables.” And Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Now on Feb. 15, David Shannon will be Ireland’s Greatest Showman as he reprises some of his most iconic Broadway roles on the Bartlesville Community Center stage.

Presented by the Bartlesville Community Concert Association, the concert will also feature music from Elton John, Billy Joel, Ed Sheeran, Josh Groban, Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble and Frankie Valli.

Shannon has performed Broadway songs on London’s West End, Australia, and the US, and most recently starred as Kevin T. in “Come From Away,” an original West End production.

David Shannon

More: Delaware Tribe breaks ground on veterans wall with smoke ceremony

Born in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, he grew up and went to school in Ireland where he performed in the country’s many regional theatres. His first break came at the age of 21 when he won a role in the touring production of Les Miserables in Dublin, and then traveled with the company to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Shannon’s accolades include a nomination for Best Actor at the Olivier’s (the British version of the Tony Awards) for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Beautiful Game.” Recently, he released a second solo album, “Abhaile,” which showcases some of his favorite Irish songs.

For tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show, contact the BCC Box Office at 918-336-2787 or online at www.bartlesvillecommunitycenter.com. Minor students are free with a paying adult and college students are free with valid ID. Free student tickets are only available in person or over the phone.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Ireland’s Greatest Showman brings tour to Bartlesville

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He’s been The Phantom in “Phantom of the Opera.” Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables.” And Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Now on Feb. 15, David Shannon will be Ireland’s Greatest Showman as he reprises some of his most iconic Broadway roles on the Bartlesville Community Center stage. 

Presented by the Bartlesville Community Concert Association, the concert will also feature music from Elton John, Billy Joel, Ed Sheeran, Josh Groban, Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble and Frankie Valli.

Shannon has performed Broadway songs on London’s West End, Australia, and the US, and most recently starred as Kevin T. in “Come From Away,” an original West End production. 

More: Delaware Tribe breaks ground on veterans wall with smoke ceremony

Born in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England, he grew up and went to school in Ireland where he performed in the country’s many regional theatres. His first break came at the age of 21 when he won a role in the touring production of Les Miserables in Dublin, and then traveled with the company to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Shannon’s accolades include a nomination for Best Actor at the Olivier’s (the British version of the Tony Awards) for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Beautiful Game.” Recently, he released a second solo album, “Abhaile,” which showcases some of his favorite Irish songs.

For tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show, contact the BCC Box Office at 918-336-2787 or online at www.bartlesvillecommunitycenter.com. Minor students are free with a paying adult and college students are free with valid ID. Free student tickets are only available in person or over the phone.

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PHOTO: PENNSYLVANIA GREAT OUTDOORS VISITORS BUREAU

Updated at 9:15 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 2

This morning, you might be wondering: how exactly did we decide that a Pennsylvania groundhog’s shadow has anything to do with the weather? By the way, Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow Wednesday morning, thus forecasting six more weeks of winter.

As it turns out, this is a tradition centuries in the making. 

The holiday began as the Christian celebration of Candlemas Day, which took place every year on Feb. 2. On this day, Christians would take candles to their church to be blessed. 

At this time, the holiday had nothing to do with groundhogs nor the weather — the goal was to bring blessings into the home for the rest of winter.

Over the years, people began to predict the seasons based on the weather of Candlemas Day, says the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. As the following English folk song shows, if the day was bright and sunny, the winter season would be longer and colder; if skies were cloudy, a temperate spring would come soon. 

If Candlemas be fair and bright,

Come, Winter, have another flight;

If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,

Go Winter, and come not again.

This interpretation of Candlemas gained popularity across Europe, including Germany. The Germans were the first to introduce animals to the Candlemas tradition. s prediction beginning at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2.

However, a different kind of “hog” was the center of attention on German Candlemas Day: the hedgehog. If the hedgehog saw his shadow, a six-week “Second Winter” would come. 

When Germans migrated to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania, they brought the celebration of Candlemas with them. However, there…

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The Delaware Tribe of Indians came together Saturday in prayer, ceremonial cedar smoke and song to bless the ground for a soon-to-be-constructed Delaware Veterans Memorial Wall. 

“It was a beautiful day the creator presented us with,” Lenape Veterans Committee chair Kenny Brown said Monday. “It was just a very unique and exciting experience.”

The committee has been raising funds to erect a veterans wall for several years. Following auctions, raffles, a GoFundMe account and a significant donation from the tribe, a construction company has now been hired to make way for its construction on the north side the pond at the Delaware’s tribal headquarters at 5100 Tuxedo Blvd. 

Attendees included committee member and veteran John Sumpter, the Lenape Color Guard, Chief Brad KillsCrow, Assistant Chief Jeremy Johnson, Tribal Princess Morgan Messimore, tribal domicile commissioner Allan Barnes, representatives from the Delaware War Mothers and others. 

Brown, who served in the US Army from 1966 to 1973, said he believes the Lenape Color Guard to be one of the first tribal color guards in the area to ask female veterans to participate as members. Auxiliary members include the Lenape Gourd Dance Society and Delaware War Mothers.

“We have four ladies in our color guard who present the colors with us. Two were in the Army, one was a Marine and one is Navy and they are special ladies,” Brown said.  

The wall will be about 60 feet long and 7 feet high with bronze lettering. It will feature service flags from all branches of the US military, the tribe’s turtle, wolf and turkey clans,  an honor to Prisoners of War, benches and 12×12 paving tiles etched with veterans’ names.

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Delaware Bandolier Bag, 1850. Photo by Gregg Richards

With a mix of historic artifacts and recently crafted works, a new exhibit at the Greenpoint Library and its accompanying calendar of public programs connects the past and present of the Lenape people.

The exhibit, Lenapehoking, is a partnership between the Brooklyn Public Library and the Lenape Center and is the first Lenape-curated exhibition of Lenape works in the city, according to the library. Brooklyn, and New York City, is the center of the Lenape homeland, which stretches from Western Connecticut to Eastern Pennsylvania and from the Hudson Valley to…

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NEW YORK — It’s a sight to behold: a beaded bandolier bag that dates back to the 1830s, created through intricate stitchwork and made by a member of the Lenape Nation, who were indigenous to present-day New York City and the surrounding area.

“They probably started during the winter months, when people were indoors, and people were working on these bags over the course of let’s say, one year, so they take a lot of time to create,” said Joe Baker, co-founder and executive director of the Lenape Center. “And during the process, woven into the bags, are the stories and experiences of the maker.” 

What You Need To Know

• Lenapehoking is a new exhibition at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center 
• The Lenape are an Indigenous people of what is now New York City and surrounding areas 
• The exhibition features work from Lenape artists past and present  
• It’s organized through a partnership between the Brooklyn Public Library and the Lenape Center, which is a not-for-profit with a mission of continuing Lenape art and culture in their homeland 

Baker is also curator of the first-ever Lenape curated exhibition in New York, at Brooklyn Public Library’s Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center. It’s a partnership between the library and the Lenape Center, which was founded in 2009 with a mission to continue Lenape art and culture in what they recognize as their homeland, Lenapehoking — that being right here in New York City.

(Photo: NY1/Roger Clark)

“There’s a real opportunity for all of us to benefit from this complex history, and the best way to do that is to have this ability to no longer be silenced, to no longer be erased, but to be with the public telling…

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Winter in Wyoming brings to mind frigid temperatures, blowing and drifting snow along with multiple road closures. It’s also the time of year when duly elected senators and representatives from each of Wyoming’s 23 counties travel to Cheyenne as a new legislative session convenes.

The Wyoming State Legislature began like other Western states, first as a territorial legislature, with nearly all of the parliamentary regulations that guide other fully-fledged state legislatures.

Have you ever wondered why and how Wyoming was named? The musical name, “Wyoming,” was used by J.M. Ashley of Ohio, who, as early as 1865, introduced a bill to Congress to provide a “temporary government for the territory of Wyoming.” The bill was referred to committee until 1868. During a debate at that time in the U.S. Senate, with other possible names suggested, such as Cheyenne, Shoshoni, Arapaho, Sioux, Platte, Big Horn, Yellowstone, Sweetwater and Lincoln. However, “Wyoming” was already commonly used and remained the popular choice in Congress.

The state name itself, Wyoming, is Indian though not western in origin. It is usually said that Wyoming came from eastern Pennsylvania, from a Delaware word, Waumic, or Muchu-waumic, meaning “end of plains” and that congressional irritation over the prolonged debate on a name for the new territory arbitrarily assigned this eastern word to a western state. The word has had many spellings, such as Wauwaumie, Wiwaume, Wiomie, until it reached Wyoming. The name was first used by whites as the name for a valley in Pennsylvania where a portion of the Delaware tribe of Indians lived. Calwallader Colden in his history of the “Five Nations” spelled it Wyomen. 

Former Wyoming State Historian A. J. Mokler had convincingly argued that the Delaware Indians, when they traveled westward first to Ohio, then to…

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For about 14 years now, several Shawnee Public Schools students representing various Native American tribes have competed and performed in the Spirit Wolf Dance Troupe, expressing their love of dance and their culture.

According to SPS Indian Education Coordinator Graham Primeaux, the dance troupe is composed of a group of students who perform at SPS school sites and in the Shawnee community.

“When schools need some cultural education, we use our own Native American students who dance to go out into the district to share their cultural, heritage and traditions,” Primeaux said.

He explained students of multiple ages in the district participate in the dance troupe and each presentation is different.

“We have anywhere from six to 18 students that we have in our district that do dance,” he said. “There are no auditions; we just know a lot of the students’ families.”

He explained about 30 percent of SPS students are Native American students and 41 different tribes are represented by those students.

About 13 different tribes are represented by the students on the dance troupe.

Those tribes include the Kickapoo Tribe, Absentee Shawnee Tribe, Sac and Fox Nation, Delaware Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ponca Nation, Osage Nation, Otoe-Missouria Tribe, Pawnee Nation, Choctaw Nation, Comanche Nation, Caddo Nation, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

Primeaux explained the troupe is beneficial to students because it gives them the opportunity to share their heritage and be confident in who they are.

“Our dancers are building on their own identity and are able to participate in their own cultural teachings and traditions through dance,” he said. “So when we go out into the schools we’re able to use our own students to teach and educate non Natives about the culture, heritage and traditions of our Indian people.”

More: Shawnee Middle School students participate in Shawnee Shops Market

For Shawnee High School junior Makiah Tilley,…

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