Air, Ollie, Grind, and Fakie are just a few of the many skateboard terms that’ll be used frequently at the new Cherokee Action Sports Park, located across from Bradley’s Campground on Acquoni Road in the Yellowhill Community, which officially opened on Friday, June 10.

The U.S. Department of Justice reports that 1 out of every 3 American Indian women will be raped in their lifetime and 75 percent will be physically assaulted. Rashica Manjoo, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, visited Cherokee in January specifically to gather information on the problem in Indian Country.

A federal jury sitting in Bryson City found James Ernest Lespier, 33, an EBCI tribal member, guilty of fatally shooting Erien Amanda Smith on the in the Rought Branch Community on the Cherokee Indian Reservation on May 18, 2010, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.