This letter to the editor is in response to an article published in the Feb. 11 issue of the One Feather entitled “In God We Trust motto withdrawn in Council”.

In January 2016, Tribal Council passed a law (Resolution No. 87) that did away with verbatim written documentation of Council sessions as a matter of course. In other words, the exact words of the Council no longer had to be made into a written record and minutes of the sessions could be summarized.

A quick search on Indeed.com, an employment research website, for “Native American Tribal Council”, “Native American Tribal Chief” and “Native American Vice-Chief”, results in annual average salary information of $92,000, $132,000 and $76,000, respectively.

There has been quite a stir recently over the proper place of the Tribal Court. We have had front row seats via cable and live stream during Tribal Council sessions to the debate over the powers of the different branches of tribal government. Just what is a “branch” anyway?

I have never been a gloom and doom person. I do, however, believe that each of us would be crazy not to see the signs that our world, and in some cases, our local communities are becoming more dangerous places to be. Right?

It’s 2016 and if you’re reading this, congratulations, you survived the Christmas dinner and the New Year’s Eve parties. And…you’re back at work. And…you’re looking at your bank statement in disbelief because no way did you really spend that much money in a month.

It has been an eventful year. The most significant of which for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians was the election of a new principal chief after 12 years, three consecutive terms, under a single administration

I was 26 years old when I was hired as editor of the Cherokee One Feather. I had no editing experience, no management experience, no supervisory experience, and I certainly had no experience putting together a budget.