Eddy's Platform, Pg 2
Eddy with three of his five grandchildren,(l.-r.) Michaela,
Rachel and Celena on May 5th at the 1st Annual Osage Youth Summit.
Educational Initiatives
Eddy is firmly committed to supporting the education of our Osage people. From our youth to our adult citizens, the future of our Nation, our tribal communities and our families depends upon access to quality and appropriate educational sources. We must partner with all schools on the Osage Reservation to enhance these educational opportunities and processes. We must stand with other Oklahoma tribes to restore, protect and enhance the original intent of the Johnson-O'Malley Act, which is vital to our Native youth attending our public schools. Eddy supports Osage Nation Head Start and will help ensure that this important step in a child's learning process is available and continually updated to include proper funding and providing quality facilities, services and support for our Osage children and their families. Again, Eddy believes that fair and equitable pay is deserved by the Osage Nation Head Start staff. Development should begin to provide electronic higher education classes at locations on the reservation, such as the tribal cultural center. A support and contact program should be created and maintained for our Osage people who are away, attending colleges and universities. Finally, Eddy believes that the Osage Nation should continually moniter tribal education levels and react positively to those findings.
Financial Viability
Eddy pledges to initiate continuing legislative oversight of the Osage Nation gaming operation. He desires a comprehensive and intense business review of gaming revenue streams, administrative practices and the financial viability of the Osage Nation's Million Dollar Elm Enterprise. Eddy believes that the Osage Nation should develop a clear and measurable financial forecasting process. The Indirect Cost process should be defined and tracked. The Nation should determine a "Strategic Investment Reserve" to be set-aside for critical purposes.
Finally, Eddy wants to begin to develop strategy for a "Tribal Member Supplemental Retirement Fund".
Cultural Initiatives
A tribe is identified by its culture, traditions and, most of all, its language. Without them, the Osage people cease to exist as a unique tribal people. Eddy, as a lifelong traditionalist, is committed to the continuation and strengthening of the Nation's efforts at language and cultural preservation and improvements in these critical areas. Included in Eddy's platform is the creation of an "Osage National Electronic Repository" that will collect and preserve Osage family photographs, maps, audio/video recordings and documents shared with the Osage Nation. He believes that the Nation should expand the use of the Annette Gore Genealogical Library and continue the oral history recordings of the Osage elders. Eddy will continue to support the Osage crafts and the sharing of those crafts with all tribal members through craftmaking classes, displays and other opportunities for Osage craftspeople.
Eddy with his Aunt Mag, the late Margaret Red Eagle Iron.
Historical Initiatives
The Osage Nation must be in the forefront in the maintenance and expression of its history. Eddy believes that several areas are critical to Osage history and of importance to you. He would like to create a program to identify, restore and preserve Osage family cemeteries within the Reservation, assist in the development of "Village Plans" for all three districts in order to enhance cultural activities, develop a strategic plan to elevate the Osage Nation Museum to a "world-class" level and to create a national listing of Osage Historical places in and outside of the Osage Reservation. To aid in these developmental plans, Eddy believes that partnerships must be created with higher learning institutions, museums, historical societies, etc, for long-term relationships which could result in internship programs, research, maps, photographs, documents and artifacts involving the Osage people. It is critical in this element to develop good working relationships with the states of Kansas and Missouri to identify and preserve Osage historical sites in those states.
Legal Issues
Eddy is committed to supporting tribal laws that protect the rights and sovereignty of the Osage people, as well as the rights of those entities and individuals doing business with the Osage Nation. Eddy believes that should include legal aid for tribal members and tribal social service liaisons to work with state DHS systems. Also, he strongly believes that the Osage Nation should spearhead a partnership with other law enforcement agencies in efforts to eradicate illegal drugs from the Osage Reservation.
Eddy is firmly committed to supporting the historic legal status and the inherent sovereign powers of the Osage Nation and how those relate to matters of tribal taxation and in negotiations and legal relationships with federal, state, county and local governments.
