Tribes voice joint opposition to recognition for Lumbee, other tribes

Cherokee tribes voice joint opposition to recognition for Lumbee, other tribes

Vice Chairman Albert Rose speaks to the gathering at Tri-Council. EBCI photo

BY HOLLY KAYS STAFF WRITER

During their annual Tri-Council session held Thursday, June 23, the three Cherokee tribes agreed unanimously to a resolution opposing state and federal recognition of groups they say erroneously claim Cherokee identity.

“The Tri-Council of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes does hereby oppose federal or state recognition of the Lumbee Tribe, the Chickamauga Tribe, MOWA Band of Chocktaw, Wolf Creek Cherokee Tribe and any other recognition effort from a group claiming Cherokee identity that seeks to avoid or circumvent the Department of Interior office’s federal acknowledgement process,” the resolution reads.

Held each year in June, Tri-Council is a gathering of the tribal councils for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation and United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. This year’s Tri-Council was held at The Venue in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and hosted by the United Keetoowah Band.

The group passed a total of three resolutions, all by unanimous vote. The first requests that museums, media and other entities refer to living Cherokee people by their tribal enrollment and/or affiliation, while the second supports President Joe Biden’s nomination of Roselyn Tso, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, to serve as the next director of the Indian Health Service. The recognition resolution was the third, last and most-discussed item on the agenda.

“There is a war on our identities right now, and just us having to go to D.C. and educate our senators and congressmen about who we are, this is going to be huge what we’ve done today,” EBCI Vice Chairman Albert Rose said of the approved resolution.

The EBCI has for years opposed recognition of the Lumbee Tribe in particular. The 55,000-member tribe is centered in Pembroke, North Carolina. Though it has enjoyed state recognition since 1885, the tribe has so far failed to secure federal recognition — and the funding and benefits that would come along with it.

Over the years, the tribe has tried numerous times to claim federal status through congressional legislation. In January 2020, EBCI Principal Chief Richard Sneed testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States, together with Lumbee Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr., on a bill seeking to do just that.

Sneed argued that the Lumbee had little to no support in the historical record for their tribal and individual identity and that granting the tribe federal recognition would draw federal resources away from impoverished tribes in desperate need of them.

“After that particular congressional meeting, I said to my fellow elected officials and to our lobbyist Wilson Pipestem, it cannot be just us fighting this fight,” Sneed told TriCouncil. “It’s too easy for the members of Congress to dismiss us as, ‘Well this is about money,’ money being gaming.”

It is about money, Sneed said, but not casino money. While the EBCI is more fortunate, hundreds of the country’s 573 federally recognized tribes are completely dependent on Indian Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs funding. With annual increases of 2-3% those appropriations don’t even keep pace with healthcare inflation or inflation overall. If recognized, the Lumbee would become the country’s nineth-largest tribe, but there is no guarantee that federal funding for Indian Country would increase accordingly.

Following the January 2020 hearing, Sneed said, the EBCI built a coalition of almost 60 tribes opposed to federal recognition for the named groups.

“There was one piece missing, and that piece missing was Resolution Three that just passed today,” said Sneed. “So I applaud everyone here today — the chiefs, the council members. We must stand together.”

Distillery foreclosure auction heats up

BY KYLE PERROTTI NEWS EDITOR

The foreclosure auction for Maggie Valley’s beloved Elevated Mountain Distillery kicked off on May 24, and although it could have been over quickly if there was no interest, it’s still ongoing with three bidders intent on one-upping each other.

The company’s owner, Dave Angel, signed a Small Business Administration loan for almost $1.1 million to pay for the property and equipment back in July of 2016. According to court documents, the last payment he made on the loan was in April 2021.

Ultimately, First Citizens Bank, which had merged with original lender Entegra Financial Corp. in late 2019, demanded a payout of $1,156,598 — an amount that included the principal due, along with interest, late fees and “miscellaneous” fees. Angel was served with foreclosure papers on May 2 of this year.

The tax value of the building is listed at $583,600, and although the first bid, placed by Ken Wells, was just $383,197, the most recent bid, also placed by Wells, was $546,981 and the next bid would have to be at least $574,330.

Wells, who made his money as a developer and contractor in Key West, Florida, lives in Maggie Valley seasonally. He told The Smoky Mountain News last month that he sees the property as an investment and hopes to rent it to someone who will continue to use it as a distillery.

After Wells’ first bid, a bid came from the owners of BearWaters Brewery in Canton who indicated they would possibly move all brewing operations into that location. However, they have not placed a bid since June 2.

Another person who has continued to bid is Mark Cahill, who lists a Florida address on his paperwork but told The Smoky Mountain News last month that he kept a second home near Maggie Valley for years that he only recently just sold.

The other interested party is Micheaux Resource Management, which operates out of Indian Trail in the Charlotte area and had its bids signed by Frankie Wood. Wood has spoken about developing the dormant Ghost Town in the Sky property, as well as several other properties in the area for about three years. Currently, Micheaux owns a 205-acre property off Hall Top Road valued at about $900,000.

Angel, who is the spokesman for Wood’s group, Ghost Town in the Sky, LLC, said Micheaux is an investment team backing his bid to keep operating out of the building — although he would have to form a new LLC and rebrand since Elevated Mountain Distilling Company is in default on its SBA loan.

“It won’t be me as sole owner as it has been in the past,” Angel said.