Winning Kaw Nation Vehicle Tag design
Javier Yanez's design was chosen as the winner for the Kaw Nation Vehicle Tag design contest. The tags should be available within the next month or so. The final approval of the actual license plates will be this week.
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Washunga Days Intertribal Powwow 2010 - Council Grove, KS
 The 26th Annual Washunga Days Festival is an event that celebrates the relationship of the Kaw Indians with the City of Council Grove, KS. This two day family festival honors the last full blooded Kaw Chief named (Washunga). It also celebrates the long relationship of the Kaw Nation Native Americans with the White Settlers and the development of Council Grove as an active and key location on the Historic Santa Fe Trail.
The Kaw Nation Cultural Committee hosted the Kaw Inter-Tribal Powwow which was held on the front lawn of the Kaw Mission. A Public Reception Honoring the current Washunga Days Kaw Princess, Bogahdah Nicole Murray, Kaw Nation CEO/Chairman, Guy Munroe, Executive Council Members, and the Kaw Nation Cultural Committee was held at the Kaw Mission.
 A variety of afternoon music filled the air, as Eddie and Robert Hiebert Hiebert's longtime favorites, performed music on the Dulcimers. TerryLee Whetstone, (Native American Flute player, Poet, and Author) played with several of his more than 3,000 flutes. He played one that was made from a buffalo horn. We were also honored to have award winning artist Arvel Bird entertained us with beautiful music from the violin and flutes. In 2009, he took home top honors for Best instrumental Album and Best Producer/Engineer (with Grammy-winning producer Tom Wasinger and Nashville engineer Chas Williams) at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards for Tribal Music Suite: Journey of a Paiute. 
Sponsors for the Washunga Days Festival were: Kaw Nation, Friends of Kaw Heritage, Kansas Historical Society, City of Council Grove, Bill B. Young Foundation, John E. Trembly Foundation, and the Ida & Oscar Nystrom Foundation.
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Ultimate Eagle Watch
Kaw City, Okla. - Jan 16, 2010
With heavy fog over the weekend, this was not the best
viewing conditions for the Ultimate Eagle Watch tours.
However six to eight Bald Eagles were spotted at Pioneer
Cove.
Unfavorable conditions did not stop the 500 visitors from
pouring in and filling each session. A variety of programs
were available at the Kaw Nation Complex and the Kaw City
Community Center. There were people from Tulsa, OKC,
Perkins, Oswego, Bartlesville, Oklahoma and Independence,
KS. This sets a new record for attendees at this annual
event.
Kids and adults both filled the room as Ryan Van Zant (Avian
Research Center) and his assistant presented the Live Eagle
Program . Fiona, the live eagle always draws a big crowd.
Kathy and Gary Siftar, Raptor Rehabilitators (left), gave a
very educational presentation on how raptors are injured and
then brought to them for healing. Kathy and Gary take care
of these animals out of passion and the love of their work.
No funding is given to them; it s strictly by donations
only.
Mark Howery (Biologist, ODWC), presented the history of the
eagle, while Luther Pepper (Kaw Nation Elder and Executive
Council Member) told about the significance of eagles to
Native Americans. Dave Hensley (Kaw Nation Environmental
Program) presented a slide show on The Water Eagles .
 
Cinnamon Valley Exotics, and Jennifer Lance (Critter Tales),
both brought live animals for everyone to see. From
hedgehogs, snakes, owls, to porcupines and fur pellets,
everyone seemed to be in awe
A new addition was added to the programs this year. The
Oklahoma Falconers Association brought in live falcons and
told us everything you ever wanted to know about falcons.
State Representative Ken Luttrell, wife Brenda, and Wayne
Mitchell, Director for Kaw Nations ICDGB Program, also
attended the Eagle Watch.
 
Last but certainly not least was the free Native American
luncheon served at the Kaw Nation Community Center. From
corn soup, fry bread, boiled potatoes and grape dumplings,
it was absolutely yummy.
The Ultimate Eagle Watch is sponsored and presented by the
Kaw Lake Association, Kaw Nation, Kaw City Chamber
of Commerce, Oklahoma Department of Wildlife
Conservation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sutton Avian
Research Foundation and Ponca City Energy.
A special thank you to everyone for making these programs
such a success, and we encourage you, your family and
friends to join us next year.
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Groundbreaking For New Water Tower
Braman, Okla.- Official groundbreaking took place Tuesday,
December 22, 2009 for a new 210-foot, 300,000 gallon water tower to
be located at the Kanza Travel Plaza in Braman.
The Kaw Nation is constructing the $1,266,750 (75/25 percent
grant match) tower which will provide greatly improved water
service for the City of Braman, and rural customers
northward to the Kansas State Line. Completion is projected
for late summer, 2010.
Pictured from left: J. E. Miller, Kanza Travel Plaza General
Manager; Jerry Johnston, Braman Mayor; Luther Pepper, Kaw
Elder; Kaw Executive Council members Lonnie Burnett, Marilyn
York and Carol Hare; Gary Kinder II, Engineer for Mehlburger
Brawley of Oklahoma City; State Sen. David Myers; and Bob
Kennish of Mehlburger Brawley.
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New member of the Kaw Nation Executive Council
 Guy Munroe, Chairman/CEO is shown swearing into office,
Carol Hare as the newest member of the Kaw Nation Executive
Council. Carol will assume the duties as Secretary.
November 18, 2009 |
President Obama Talks With Tribal Leaders
(WASHINGTON) President Barack Obama assured American
Indians on Thursday Nov. 5, 2009 they have a place in his
White House and on his agenda, telling tribal leaders their
marginalized community deserves more from its government.
I get it. I m on your side, Obama told the largest
gathering of tribal leaders in U.S. history.
Obama devoted part of his own time that Thursday and even
more of his administration s attention toward renewing
relations with American Indians. He opened a conference that
drew leaders from 386 tribal nations, the first meeting of
its kind in 15 years and he ordered every Cabinet agency to
take more steps toward more cooperation.
The president returned to the event at the Interior
Department late in the day for closing remarks, as
scheduled, but he altered his message to address a deadly
shooting rampage that occurred the same day at the Fort Hood
Army base in Texas. He said his administration would get
answers to every question about the incident.
Obama s outreach to tribal leaders amounted to a campaign
promise kept from a president who got significant support
from Native Americans on his way to the White House.
It comes as American Indians remain entrenched in a
class-action lawsuit against the federal government,
claiming the government has long swindled them out of land
royalties. Obama said he didn t blame tribal leaders for
skepticism about another politician offering hopeful words.
But said he has no interest in going through the motions of
just holding a summit with them.
The president seemed to connect best when he told his
audience that he was like them: an outsider who grew up
without a father, moved around a lot, and understood what it
was like to struggle and be ignored. You will not be
forgotten as long as I m in this White House, Obama said
to a sustained ovation.
Whether that promise results in action over the next few
years will be the test. In a question and-answer session,
audience members pressed Obama for government help on a
litany of matters, from more respect for sovereignty rights
to environmental cleanup to concerns about offshore
drilling.
One leader pleaded with Obama to find a way to make the
federal commitment lasting, so that it would not be at the
whim of White House elections.
In the process, the speaker predicted Obama would win
reelection, which apparently stuck with the president as he
pledged to enforce the laws of the land. For the next eight
years the next four years at least, let me not jump the
gun, Obama said, catching himself.
He finished the thought more narrowly by saying that for
the next three years and one month of his term that he
would ensure a new relationship is in place.
During the conference, agency officials and tribal leaders
discussed problems facing American Indians, including
economic development, education, health care, public safety
and housing.
The president signed a memo calling on every cabinet agency
to give him a detailed plan to improve the relationship
between the government and tribal communities. He has made
good on pledges to hold the summit and to give American
Indians a prominent voice on his senior staff. We respect
you as a man of your word, responded Jefferson Keel,
president of the National Congress of American Indians.
I promised you a voice on my senior staff in the White
House so that you d have a seat at the table when important
decisions are being made about your lives, your nations, and
your people, and that s why I appointed Kimberly Teehee of
the Cherokee Nation as my Native American policy advisor;
and Jodi Gillette of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to work
directly with all of you, Obama said. That s why Secretary
Salazar and I selected Larry Echo Hawk of the Pawnee Nation
to serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs here at
Interior. And they are doing great work so far.
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Brief description of the latest awardsWASHINGTON Tribal justice advocates are bailing awards
from the Department of Justice to aid and improve three
reservation-based domestic violence programs. Los Coyotes
Band of Indians located in California, Kaw Nation located in
Oklahoma, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota was
the three tribes who received these awards.
Justice is awarding $366,882 to the Kaw Nation to assist
victims of domestic violence and sexual assault by providing
intervention and support services and developing a
coordinated community response team through collaboration of
nonprofit victim services to create domestic violence
protocols and policies.
The tribe will also use the funds to develop response
policies and procedures that address domestic violence and
sexual assault, provide training to tribal law enforcement,
court system, nonprofit victim services and educators and a
public education campaign.
The Northern Oklahoma Domestic Violence Shelter is a
project partner under this grant.
Indian Country Today October 28, 2009
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Kaw Nation Tribe To Receive IRS Funds
Kaw Nation is one of four Indian Tribes approved by the
Internal Revenue Service to issue $22.5 million apiece in
tax-exempt bonds for economic development and infrastructure
projects.
"We are extremely excited," said Kaw Nation Chairman
Guy Munroe. "We have had this project in mind for a long
time. When completed the project will benefit Kay County and
surrounding communities.
The IRS started sending approval applicants on Wednesday.
The maximum possible bond allocation a Tribe could receive
was $30 million.
Earlier this year, as part of federal economic stimulus
efforts enacted under the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (ARRA), The IRS Service established a new
tax-exempt Tribal Economic Development (TEDB). The IRS set a
$2 billion cap on the total amount of TEDBs that could be
issued nationwide.
The proposed projects for the Kaw Nation, include rebuilding
the water infrastructure at Chilocco. If the water
infrastructure provides excess water it could be used for
surrounding communities such as Braman, according to Ken
Bellmard.
Also, making better water resources available at the Kaw
National headquarters in Kaw City, and for the facilities at
Newkirk including the housing and the clinic.
The bond applications were prepared and submitted with the
help of attorneys Ken Bellmard and Valerie Devol from
Rubenstein McCormick and Pitts, in Edmond.
"Tribes have long needed easier access to the capital
markets to finance economic development and infrastructure
projects," Bellmard said. "Our hope is that this
stimulus program will help demonstrate that investments in
Tribal projects are safe and profitable."
Devol agreed, "Many people have been hesitant to invest
in Tribal projects in the past without realizing the
tremendous opportunities and advantages Tribes have to
offer. Through this bond program, we can now promote these
benefits to a wider audience.
Tribes that received bond allocations have until Dec. 31,
2010 to actually issue the bonds.
Permission granted to reproduce portions of this article
from the Ponca City News Sep 18, 2009
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Pictured left - Guy Munroe (Chairman/CEO Kaw Nation)
along with Col. Archie Frye and Major Travis Clark (McConnell Air Force Base)
McConnell Air Force Base and the Kaw people have
had a relationship for over a decade. McConnell AFB
approached the Kaw Tribe to ask permission for the
use of the word Kanza and the tribal seal; this
would be put on their uniforms, and refueling
planes. They needed something different that would
provide a distinct identification. With the help of
a young enlisted man, a new emblem was created using
the roach and seal together. It wasn t long before
the 931 USAF/RAFG was using Kanza to identify
itself over the air ways.
But with the changing of time, these old refueling
planes were decommissioned and parts of the plane
that were covered with the emblem and of Kaw art was
removed and donated to the Kanza Museum. These two
items will be on permanent display to view at the
Community building at Washunga Powwow grounds.
Col. Archie Frye, Commander, and Major Travis Clark
of the 931 USAF Reserve Air Refueling Group asked
Kaw Nation in helping name a new building which is
being constructed at McConnell Air Force base in
Wichita. They recommended when choosing a name for
the building that it not be of an individual but a
medically significant name. This will give Kaw
Nation the opportunity to be a part of the division
that is named for them.
Your suggestions can be sent directly to Guy Munroe,
CEO/Chairman, Kaw Nation, Box 50, Kaw City, OK 74601
- or phone our toll free number 1-866-404-5297 with
your suggestions.
If you are a young tribal member or know of someone
who is thinking of a career in the Air Force, Col.
Frye would like to make you a jet pilot, along with
many other career opportunities such as Civil
Engineering, Medical, Security Forces, Aircraft
Maintenance, Human Resources, IT and Administration.
It is his wish to show the Kaw people just how
serious they are in keeping our relationship
ongoing. Keep in mind: it cost over $2 million to
train a jet pilot. This is a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity for a Kaw tribal member.
If you know of someone who would be interested in
becoming a jet refueling pilot, please direct your
calls to Technical Sergeant Jason Summers at
316-681-2522 or his cell at 316-671-6408.
We hope to make our relationship with McConnell
stronger as time continues.
Guy Munroe
Chairman/CEO
Kaw Nation
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