Symbol of connection: A decade of collaboration yields 300-mile MST trail section
From towering mountains to shimmering seas, North Carolina has a little bit of everything — and for the trail that ties it all together, a major milestone has just been marked.
On Wednesday, Oct. 3, trail volunteers, government officials and natural resources workers from across the state gathered at Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee to celebrate completion of a 300-mile section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, starting at Clingmans Dome and ending at Stone Mountain State Park in Allegheny and Wilkes counties.
Tribal budget looks to shrink spending
As the 2019 fiscal year begins for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the tribe is operating under a recently passed budget that trims $40.4 million off the $604.7 million budget passed last year.
Cherokee widens window for election law changes
Tribal Council extended its deadline to complete a slew of amendments to its election ordinance with a unanimous vote during its Sept. 6 meeting.
Cherokee from the heart: Beloved Woman reflects on a wandering life rooted in Cherokee language
If anyone ever had an excuse to leave her hometown and never return, it would be Myrtle Driver Johnson.
Born May 21, 1944, to a mother who didn’t want her, Johnson had a hard upbringing in the Big Cove community of the Qualla Boundary. While her younger siblings — one brother and four sisters — lived with her mother and their father, Johnson, who never knew which of two men her father was, was sent to live with her grandparents.
Cherokee strengthens free press law
Free press law in Cherokee got a little more free following Tribal Council’s passage of amendments to the tribe’s Free Press Act Sept. 6, but there’s still work to do, said Cherokee One Feather Editor Robert Jumper.
McCoy alleges political motivation in marriage fraud prosecution
While the federal marriage fraud case that’s been the topic of much discussion on the Qualla Boundary over the past year is winding down, FBI activity in Cherokee is likely to continue.
Cherokee program yields harvest of self-reliance
With harvest season underway, members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are now reaping the benefits of a springtime program the tribe has sponsored for 15 years running.
McCoy sentenced to probation in marriage fraud case
After pleading guilty to involvement in a marriage fraud scheme, Ruth Marie Sequoyah McCoy, of Cherokee, was sentenced to two years of probation and a $2,000 fine in a hearing held Aug. 23 at the Western District of North Carolina U.S. District Court in Asheville.
Turkeys played important role in Cherokee culture
Editor’s note: This George Ellison column first appeared in The Smoky Mountain News in August 2016.
The comeback of the wild turkey in the southern mountains in recent years is one of the notable success stories in wildlife restoration. Thirty or so years ago, the sighting of a flock of wild turkeys was a rarity. Thanks to the combined efforts of the National Wild Turkey Federation and its local chapters, working in conjunction with federal and state wildlife agencies, such sightings — while always memorable — have become rather commonplace.
History through story: Cherokee storyteller seeks to preserve historical memory with filming project
Kathi Littlejohn can get lost in stories. Especially Cherokee stories. Their origins are often moored in worlds long past, but these stories have a tendency to twist through the years to end up knocking on the door of modernity.
“One of my first jobs as a teenager was working at the Oconaluftee Indian Village, which I absolutely loved. I was a tour guide,” recalled Littlejohn, who is now 63. “And on bad weather days when it was real slow, it was so much fun for me to sit with the people that were doing the crafts or some of the older guides and listen to stories.”
