By PRINCIPAL CHIEF RICHARD G. SNEED
Shiyo! These past two weeks I have witnessed a flurry of activity. I have had the pleasure to meet with students, enrolled members, and state representatives. I feel it is important for the community to see what your Principal Chief is doing with his time in office, and I look for your feedback if there are issues that are important to you.
The education of our youth is imperative to the progression of our Tribe. I want to encourage and inspire all our youth and support them in their learning regardless of which school they attend. In the past two weeks, I took the opportunity to visit students at Swain East Elementary and Smokey Mountain Elementary. I encourage these students to give their very best effort this school year and I look forward to celebrating their successes both academically and in their extracurricular activities.
OPENING: Principal Chief Richard G. Sneed speaks at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Wolftown Community Building on the evening of Thursday, Aug. 23. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather)
Each year, the EBCI Treasury Division works with the tribal program leaders to budget for the upcoming fiscal year. As Principal Chief of the Eastern Band, it is my responsibility to ensure that Treasury and the programs present a needs-based and balanced budget. The programs work with Treasury to determine those needs in preparation for developing the budget. I would like to thank the Treasury Division and all tribal programs for your work and I am very proud of the fact that our budget hearings went well. The final budget will go before the regularly scheduled September Tribal Council session.
I began the process of developing a plan to prevent and inhibit substance abuse by members of our community. I met with leaders from our Cherokee Indian Hospital, Higher Education, Public Health and Human Services, and Commerce to discuss various models the EBCI may adopt or adapt to suit the needs of our community. I appreciate the feedback from all those in attendance, and I look forward to tackling this issue with the help of our tribal programs and institutions.
The Birdtown and Wolftown communities held ribbon cuttings on their new community clubs, an event I and a lot of community members were very excited to celebrate. I am pleased this project came to fruition for these communities as I hope it will give an added life to events held at these clubs. I would like to thank all those involved with the implementation of this project.
Finally, I had the great pleasure of presenting our Seniors Bowling League with new bowling shirts. A few months ago I invited the seniors to bowl against our tribal leadership, and they requested bowling shirts. I was happy to deliver on that promise and we were able to play again. I look forward to holding another event in the near future with our seniors.
As always, if I or my office can be of assistance to you please call my office at (828) 359-7008.
Sgi!
