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Candidacy Seminole
Nation General Councilman, Willis Deatherage has officially announced his
intention to vie for Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation.
The Seminole Nation Principal Chief term is four years and is currently
held by Kelly Haney. Deatherage will run on the primary theme of “Focusing on
our Tribal Members” Deatherage believes the Nation can still see prosperity
even in the midst’s of these uncertain economic times.
“I
feel that the Nation can still be an influential player in the economic market
and we should be able to experience growth in our Nation’s programs and
services.” Especially those that provide services
to our Tribal Members.
Deatherage,
who served as a General
Council Representative
for the Tusekia Harjo Band of the Seminole Nation from 2001 through 2005 was
re-elected to that position by his Band after the untimely death of Marland
Tiger in January of 2007. Deatherage says he is a firm believer in Honesty,
Integrity and Accountability
and will incorporate those as part of the thought process during his term,
should he be elected. “We
need open communication within our Nation. Our people deserve to hear the truth
about the state of the Nation. It may not always be what they want to hear, but
they deserve a Chief that will tell them the truth and not avoid the issues.” Deatherage
says should he be elected, that his administration would focus on many areas of
the Nation. Some of those being, our Elders, Health
care,
Historical Preservation, Education for the youth as well as for the
adults, Jobs and job training for the Tribal members, Rural Roads, Affordable
Housing, Increasing the Seminole
Nation land base and expanding the economic development ventures of our Nation
with something other
than just gaming. “I
don’t believe the Seminole Nations economic ventures should begin and end with
gaming. As it is the Seminole Nation has to depend too much on our gaming
enterprises to help fund the essential day to day expenses of running our Tribal
Government. I’m often asked why we
the Seminole Nation can’t give out the prizes and do the promotions that other
Nations do at their casinos. The simple answer is that we have to use the money
that gaming brings in to the Nation for our essential government purposes. If
the money could go back into our gaming enterprises then we could afford those
promotions, our cliental would increase and our gaming revenue would increase. “Building
a bigger and better casino is not the answer.”
There are several avenues the Nation could pursue to increase revenues for
governmental purposes, One way is pursue government contracts, Most Tribes that
have become successful economically have 8A contracts that bring money into
their Nation. In order to have a chance at obtaining a government contract we as
a Nation have to have our Annual Tribal Audits current and up to date. Our Language Our language is another area of concern, No I don’t believe you have to be able to speak our language to be a good Seminole; I’m one of those who is unable to speak or understand our language as fluently as I would like. We have lost an entire generation in our tribal language, which means our culture is fighting to stay alive. The majority of our children simply do not know the Seminole language; they should at least have an opportunity to learn our language. This is an area that our Elders could and should play a very important part. If we do not learn from our Elders, when we lose them, we lose parts of our culture that we will never get back. _________________________________________________________________________ Our Children
Our children are our future, they deserve the very best
education possible. We as a Nation need to demand and expect that they be
afforded this. However, at the same time we as parents and grandparents can’t
sit back and lay all of that responsibility on our teachers, we have to again
assume a large portion of that responsibility for ourselves. We need to have our
children being leaders, not followers. This way if they choose a life out side
of our Nation they will be ready for those challenges and are less apt to fail
in the job market or in life. Contact Informationwillisdeatherage@earth-comm.com
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