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Subject: [GRANNYS-NA-PANTRY] Guntersville News
Date: Sat, 5 May 2001 10:53:29 EDT

http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/?May2001/4-e20669.html


Area Indian tribe may get state recognition

Lawmakers back group from Guntersville; some in fold object

05/04/01

By STEVE DOYLE , Huntsville Times Staff Writer []


GUNTERSVILLE - Two Marshall County lawmakers say an American Indian group

from Guntersville deserves to be recognized as the state's eighth official

Indian tribe.


State Sen. Hinton Mitchem and Rep. Frank McDaniel, both of Albertville, are

sponsoring bills that would make United Cherokee Intertribal Inc. the first

new tribe approved by the state in nearly two decades. The group, led by

Chief Gina "Still Waters" Williamson, claims about 600 members, mostly in

Marshall, Madison and Cullman counties.


If the bill passes, United Cherokee would get a seat on the 11-member

Alabama Indian Affairs Commission, created in 1984 to be a liaison between

state government and American Indian residents. Children from the group

could also apply for about $20,000 in college scholarships reserved for

members of state- or federally recognized tribes.


"I know a lot of those folks," Mitchem said Wednesday, "and I felt like they

were legitimate and very worthwhile."


He said he expects the bill to pass before the legislative session ends

later this month.


But Williamson apparently stepped on some toes when she asked Mitchem and

McDaniel for help. The Legislature can grant tribal status to a group,

Lawmakers push for state recognition of Guntersville tribe Indian but the

normal route is to file a petition with the Indian Affairs Commission in

Montgomery.


'Splinter group'


Commissioner Wilford "Longhair" Taylor, chief of the MOWA Choctaw Indians

near Mobile, said Williamson has not filed a completed application with the

board. He also said he's been told United Cherokee is a "splinter group"

made up of defectors from other tribes, rather than a distinct group with a

common history.


Williamson was a member of the Echota Cherokee Tribe of Alabama until 1998,

when she left to start United Cherokee Intertribal.


"If they're a legitimate tribe, I'll be the first to come out" in favor of

state recognition, Taylor said. "Personally, I think (Williamson) is more or

less just power hungry. She wants it, but she wants to go around the

process."


Williamson said she filed a petition with the commission more than a year

ago, presenting a thick binder tracing the family history of every United

Cherokee member. Any group seeking to become a state-recognized Indian tribe

must provide a list of at least 250 tribe members, with ancestral charts

proving that each person is descended from a historical Alabama tribe such

as the Cherokee, Creek or Choctaw.


She said she approached the Legislature after it became apparent the

commission was sitting on her application. Another Indian group, the Piqua

Sept of Ohio Shawnee Tribe based in Shelby County, applied for state tribal

status in 1997 and is still waiting for a decision.


The commission's recognition committee is scheduled to meet May 25 to review

both applications. The board has not approved any new tribes in its 17-year

history.


"We've done everything we've been asked to do; we haven't hidden anything,"

Williamson said Wednesday. "Our prayer was that our own people would

recognize us."


Opposition called ironic


Nine of the commission's 11 members are American Indians. Williamson said

it's ironic Taylor is speaking out against her group. His MOWA Choctaw tribe

has been fighting for federal recognition for years.


"If there's anybody that should understand, he should," she said.


Michael Gilbert, executive director of the Indian Affairs Commission, said

part of the holdup is that Williamson has not been willing to leave copies

of United Cherokee's genealogy charts in Montgomery to be reviewed. The

one-year review process can't start until the commission has all the

paperwork in hand, he said.


"This is not a one-day deal," Gilbert said. "We would be remiss to try to

look at the genealogy and the ancestral charts and everything involved in an

hour. That would be totally reckless."


But Williamson said the former head of the commission, Darla Graves, told

her to keep the genealogy charts in Guntersville until someone from the

board requested them. "That's what we have done," she said.


Education main goal


Williamson said state recognition won't change her group's main goal:

educating area residents about Indian history and culture. United Cherokee

members can often be found performing traditional dances for Marshall County

school and civic groups.


She said the tribe wants to become even more visible by building an Indian

museum in Guntersville. Buffaloes would roam the 105-acre property. Kids

could learn to make baskets and pottery while their parents visit stone

markers commemorating the Trail of Tears and American Indian veterans of the

U.S. military.


"When all is said and done, we're still going to be who we are," Williamson

said. "We're a tribe. In our eyes, all of humanity is one big tribe."


---

=A9 2001, The Huntsville Times.



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