NEWS ᎧᏃᎮᏓ
EBCI Government Explained: Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) meetings
The Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) is established in the EBCI Charter and Governing Document. Laws regarding its meetings can be found throughout the Charter and Governing Document as well as Cherokee Code.
Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) tables resolution regarding weighted vote
The weighted vote used by the Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) has been in place since 2001. Dinilawigi tabled a resolution during an Annual Council session on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025 that seeks to evaluate the numbers based on a 2023 tribal census.
This Week in Native News
This Week in Native News
ONE FEATHER PHOTOS
COMMUNITY ᏍᎦᏚᎩ
113th Cherokee Indian Fair EBCI Cooperative Extension winners
113th Cherokee Indian Fair EBCI Cooperative Extension winners
113th Cherokee Indian Fair Qualla Arts & Crafts winners
Cherokee Indian Fair Qualla Arts & Crafts winners
Inheriting the game: Tsisqwohi’s Elias Griffin
Elias Griffin, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), is an Anetsovsgi (Ball player) for the Tsisqwohi (Birdtown) Anetso (Stickball) team. Griffin said he comes from the Griffin and Ledford families, and he is a member of the Tsisqwohi (Birdtown) community.
OPINIONS ᏃᎵᏍᎬᎢ
COMMENTARY: Don’t let the media become your Pied Piper
Conveying the news is a sacred trust. That is why, over the course of over a decade as editor of the Cherokee One Feather, I have focused my journalistic role to be one of gatekeeping.
COLUMN (Living the Arte Suave): Between a chair and a hard place
When pursuing healthy living habits people often find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Many of the prescriptions and suggested cures come with lengthy laundry lists of warnings and possible contradictions. Every pharmaceutical TV advertisement ends with a rushed litany of reported side effects. Sometimes the possible cures or prescriptives seem worse than the ailments!
COMMENTARY: Why are we having to ask “Show me the Money”?
Are we too stupid to know? A former tribal official stated in a leadership meeting that we would just be too confused by getting information on our projects and finances, so it is better to let the government handle it without community involvement.
SPORTS ᏍᎦᏚᎩ
Tribal member to be inducted into North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame
Rebecca Wolfe Damas, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, is a member of the Class of 2025 inductees into the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame (NAIAHF). She will be officially inducted during a ceremony on June 7 in Green Bay, Wisc. at the Onedia Conference Center.
Qualla Boundary Special Olympics team members place at Fall Tournament
Members of the Qualla Boundary Special Olympics team placed at the 2024 Special Olympics North Carolina (SONC) Fall Tournament held recently in Charlotte, N.C.
Cherokee Recreation Youth Wrestling Program will begin in March
Starting in March, Cherokee Recreation will launch a new youth wrestling program. Casey Reagan, from Smokey Mountain Judo, will be heading up the program with help from his family, including his sister, Erin Reagan Kirkland, from Cherokee Central Schools.
OBITUARIES ᏧᏂᏲᎰᏒ
OBITUARY: Sheridan Everett “Sonny” Smith
Sheridan Everett “Sonny” Smith, 76 of Cherokee, N.C., passed away peacefully, surrounded by his loving family on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025.
OBITUARY: Carly Elizabeth Johnson
Carly Elizabeth Johnson, 50, passed away suddenly and tragically on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in Asheville, N.C. Her unexpected departure has left a deep emptiness in the hearts of those who knew and loved her most.
OBITUARY: Mystical Parker
Mystical Parker, 54, of Cherokee, N.C., passed away after a period of declining health on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, at Cherokee Indian Hospital in Cherokee, N.C.
HAPPENINGS
Upcoming Pow Wows for February 2020
Note: This list of pow wows was compiled by One Feather staff. The One Feather does not endorse any of these dances. It is simply a listing of ones occurring throughout the continent. Please call before traveling.
Upcoming Pow Wows for January 2020
Note: This list of pow wows was compiled by One Feather staff. The One Feather does not endorse any of these dances. It is simply a listing of ones occurring throughout the continent. Please call before traveling.
Park to host annual Festival of Christmas Past program
Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host the annual Festival of Christmas Past celebration Saturday, Dec. 14, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Sugarlands Visitor Center.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Sneed’s art shown in exhibit at Hickory Museum of Art
Lenoir-Rhyne University students participated in an exhibit at the Hickory Museum of Art recently entitled “The Art of Profession” which featured students in the Advanced Studio Practices, and a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) was one of those featured. Tishara Sneed, an EBCI tribal member who also has Dine’ (Navajo) heritage, displayed three ceramic masks for the exhibit.
“Homelands”: EBCI artists featured in McClung’s mound exhibit
Four artists of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) are among Indigenous artists featured in a new exhibit at the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn.
Carving a path: The future of Cherokee art collection
Driver Blythe, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), is a graduate student and student teacher in Western Carolina University’s Cherokee Studies program.
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