This is a criminal docket date for the Cherokee Tribal Court.  All of the defendants listed have only been charged with the crimes/offenses listed and should be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

A program that would help subsidize the power bills for elder members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has been re-submitted.  The “Power to the People, Putting our Elders in the Comfort Zone” legislation was discussed and tabled by Tribal Council during its Budget Council session on Tuesday, Jan. 30. 

Principal Chief Richard G. Sneed spoke to the annual meeting of the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police (NCACP) held at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

News from the Nations (Jan. 22-28)

U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Stephen Russell Dean McCoy, 27, an EBCI tribal member of Cherokee, on Thursday, Jan. 25 to 108 months in prison on federal charges stemming from a string of robberies of hotels and businesses across three counties, announced R. Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

For the second year in a row, Great Smoky Mountains National Park welcomed over 11 million visitors. In 2017, a record 11,338,894 people visited the national park, which is a slight increase, 0.2 percent, over 2016.

Mitchum Scott Turpin, Tilmon Gene Fortner, and Kasey Lynn Keffer, all of Sylva, have pleaded guilty in federal court in Asheville to one count each of Robbery before the Honorable Dennis J. Howell.