1TH CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE j ed each Thursday by First American Publications, Pembroke, NC THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER It, 1997 TWENTY-FIVE CENTS Rev. G Locklear seeks election to Lumbee River EMC Board Rev. Clester Locklear. Evangelist with the Lumber River Holiness Methodist Conference, has announced his bid for election to the Lumbcc River EMC Board of Directors. He has filed for one of the three at-largc scats on thai Board. ? Rev. Locklear is a Missionary Representative to South America w ith the Lumber River Conference and also scrvesas alTi liatc pastor at New Prospect Holiness Methodist Church. He has been associated with the Lumbcc River Confer ence for thirteen years. He has made several missionary trips to South America and is presently involved with a missionary effort inNewYork. He is dedicated to the cause of Christ and continues to share the Gospel with the world. In making his announcement. Rev. Locklcar released the following statement: "I have been encouraged b> many people to seek election to the EMC Board. After much prater and meditation 1 have decided to offer the member-consumers of EMC a choice for the al-largc position on the EMC Board. If the consumers are happy with the status quo. then they should vole for the board to remain thcsamc. However. if they arc interested in making a change. I am available to serve. "There arc many problems that I feel need addressing on that Board and I would like the opportunity to address the issues. I know that it is unrealistic to think that electric bills will ever be lower than they are now. But there arc sev eral w ay s to prevent a steady increase in the price of electric services. "The running of an electric cooperative isbigbusincssand should be approached as such. I would, if elected, endeavor to bring sound, fiscal, business sense to the decisionmaking process. r"A.rXv Carc Center R^^i"?5r20aM()a m unl'?^J?, .bcs?rvcd There will be basketball and volleyball for children of all ages. Guest speakers will include Senator David Wcinslicn. ShcrilTGlenn Mavnor and Congressman MikeMcln'lvrc. as wcllasDr. Dal ton Brooks. Tribal Chairman and members of the tribal council West Robeson C.M. Church to hold 10year Celebration u. X* Unitcd Methodist Church will hold their 10 year anmsvary at the current location oh September 14. 1997 Hu?TkC P?sfor and thc members or ^SSSSSSSSSS beginning at 2 pm 88 Submitted b> Emin Jacobs Revival Services at Union Chapel vices September 14-17.1997 M"nm? Service The public is welcome the Pastor* Jimm> S,rickland is reunion planned The Steve and Magnolia Maynor family reunion will be held Saturday. September 13, 1997 in the Pembroke Elementary School Cafeteria at 3:00 p.m. Reservations should be made bv callino 5214666. 52M27,^r^?-g Relatives are encouraged to at ICIIU A report on the 1997 long session of the North Carolina General Assembly from Rep. Ron Sutton, District 85 The 1997 long session of the North Carolina General Assembly is now history . It was only two days shorter than the previously longest session in state history. The session began with unusual circumstances due to the political make up of the: Senate and House. The Senate had a majority of 30 to 20 in favor of the Democrats. The House having had a Republic can majority of68/52 in the 199496 term now had a slimmer majority of 61/59. The slim Republican margin fueled speculation of a deadlocked House that would produce nothing but gridlock and as time would tell, that speculation was far from tnlc This lurried out to be a most productive long session In this article I will report on and analyze some of the major legislation before the General Assembly this past year with an emphasis on specific actions in the House. In addition. I will give some insight as to why and how ccrjain issues and activities were successful or unsuccessful The session began with the customary selection of House leadership. Prior to the first day of the session there were numerous behind the scenes discussions, negotiations, promises and commitments as to the Speaker candidate each of us would support. A vote alongparty lines, the way one would generally expect, would have meant the Republicans would retain the leadership and have a Republican Speaker. It is important to note, the party in power has significant advantages and controls. They control House floor seating, office assignments, committee assignments. committee chairman assignments and control of the flow of bills through the House. Naturally this is an important function to have - House leadership. There are some dissident Republicans that were reluctant to support the Republican leadership slate and gave hope to the 59 Democrats that they would Vote to select a Democrat Spcakeiv This would have meant much more power for the Democratic party.. Obviously, there were some Domocrats who felt they could vote with the Republicans thus negating any such move by the dissatisfied Republicans. The lobbying the last few days prior to the session convening was extensive and went late into the night on several occasions. There were commitments on both sides but all the Democratic commitments fell apart when the first Democrat left his party cstablishmcnt and voted for the Rcpublica Speaker. Assoonasthat happened, we Democrats knew that all hopes for a Democratic Speaker were lost because wc were previously told by the Republican dissidents they would not come over to our side on this critical vote if any of our Democrats swayed On the date of the actual vote three (3) Democrats voted for a Republics Speaker. The three were . Rep. Dewey Hill, District 14; Rep Walter Church, District 47 and ,Rep. James W. Crawford. Jr. of District 22. Each did so for their own reasons and were rewarded in some manner through committee appointments or other perks. the session began with several major issues before us. At a state wide level some major issues were the Excellent Schools Act. Smart Start funding, environmental issues, campaign reform, tax cuts, transportation needs, congressional redisricting, welfare reform, economic development and the requirement to develop a balanced budget for the 97-98 term. On a local level sonic pressing concerns were congressional rcdist ricti ng. economic dc\ clopmcni. funding for a UNC-P dorm, funds for the Southeastern Farmers Market Complex and (he May 12.1997 deadline facing the North Carolina Indian Cultural Center Board As a member of the minority party I was pleasantly surprised when I received my committee assign nicnts. The speaker asked each of us to list by priority our seven choices. He assigned me to five committees I listed thereby allowing me to participate in areas of my interest. My committee assignnicntsarc Appropriations, sub-committccon transportation; Ethics, Judiciary II. Congressional Redisricting. and State Government, sub-committee on Military, Veterans and Indian Affairs. The first major agenda item for me was getting the NC Indian Cultural Center some breathing room for fund raising As has been explained in previous articles. by prior legislation the Cultural Center Board was to raise 4.16 million dollars by May 12. 1997. A failure to raise the money meant that title to all the Cultural Center lands located near Red Banks, west of Pembroke in Robeson County, would revert to the State Of North Carolina with a fight to do with it as the slate desired The Cultural Center Board had not raised that amount and needed an extension of time to avoid the reversion. My bill passed both chambers and was signed into law b) the Governor This gave the Cultural Center Board an additional four (4) years to raise money but also reduced the amount to be raised from 4 16 million to ^ million It also directed that the NC Indian Cultural Center Board be completely reorganized by the end of this year. The NC Commission of Indian AfTairs was given oversight of the activities of the NC Indian Cultural Center Board and final authority on appointment of Cultural Center Board members This sweeping legislation was a product of discussions and inputs front various sources However, the final product was what I be licvcd to be in the best interest of the NC Indian Cultural Center, the Indian people of NC and the citizens of this state Throughout the entire process 1 made it adamantly clear to all concerned that 1 have a strong desire to see the NC Indian Cultural Center a reality and my position has not wavered from that posture My second initial major concern was that of Congressional Redisricting Since the US Supreme Court had declared Congressional District Twelve(12) unconstitutional. that meant the General Assembly had a April I. 1997 deadline to redraw all the congressional lines to make them conform to the Court's ruling. Even though our congressman and congresswoman serve in Washington. D C the N C. General Assembly draws their district lines It would be impossible to redraw district lines for one district without affecting other congressional lines So a complete redrawing of the lines was necessary. Nort h Ca rol i na's Congrcssionn I Delegation consist of 12 members, including our own Congressman Mike Mclntyrc. District 7 and Congressman Bill Hefner, District X As a member of the House Congressional Redisricting Committee. I had a special commitment to look out for Robeson and Hoke Counties I worked closely with both Congressmen Mclntyrc and Hefner and their staffs during the entire process. It should be stressed that I was genuinely concerned that as many as possible of the Indians in and around Robeson and Hoke Counties should be in the same voting district. Naturally 1 knew that there may be some splitting of counties in order to get the districts to balance but every effort was made to keep Hoke and Robeson Counties in at least the same posture as before. Basically that was accomplished but there were some slight changes in the two counties between Districts 7 and 8. However, for the piost part our two congressional districts came out in good shape. You may recall from previous ncwSarticlcs, hadl not been on the House Congressional Redisricting Committee, two of the key predominately Indian precincts in Robeson Countv. Oxcndinc and Prospect, would (ta\ cbccn changed from District 7 toDistrict 8 Fortunately. through alertness and prompt action. 1 was able to forge a return to the status quo. thereby keeping most of the greater Indian voting block together. Upon concluding these two significant events. I began to settle down to other matters. One of the responsibilities of a member is to prioritize issues and bills. While other issues were just as important as the previous two, they did not have specific suspense dates as did Congressional Redisricting and the NC Indian Cultural Center matter