UKB councilors discuss banishing Chad Smith from their tribe

By Eddie Glenn
Press Staff Writer

United Keetoowah Band councilors discussed Saturday the possibility of banishing Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith from their tribe.

Smith and Cherokee Nation Deputy Chief Joe Grayson are both dual-enrolled in the Cherokee Nation and the UKB. The Cherokee Nation allows members to be dual-enrolled, but the UKB does not.

Cherokee Nation spokesman Mike Miller said in 2003 - shortly after Smith was re-elected to a second term as chief - that following Smith's birth, he was enrolled in the UKB by his grandmother, who once served as secretary for that tribe.

"Chad is a dual enrollee from back when the Keetoowahs still allowed dual enrollees," UKB Attorney General Diane Barker-Harrold said in 2003. "He's publicly acknowledged that several times."

Barker-Harrold said the UKB council voted in 1990 to prohibit dual citizenship for UKB tribal members. At that time, the council allowed dual enrollees five years to decide which tribe they would call their own. But at Saturday's UKB council meeting, Flint District Representative Woodrow Proctor suggested the tribe banish Smith from the tribe.

Under Smith's leadership, the Cherokee Nation recently opposed efforts by the UKB to have Keetoowah land put in trust by the Cherokee County commissioners. The Cherokee Nation also contends the UKB casino in Tahlequah is operating illegally, because it isn't located on trust land, as required by the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The UKB has no trust land, but is currently involved in a lawsuit with the state of Oklahoma to prevent the state from shutting the tribe's casino down. The UKB contends the land where its casino is located is a dependent Indian community, and therefore exempt from state jurisdiction.

According to Proctor, the UKB constitution allows the council to develop a system for banishing members from the tribe. He suggested such a system be developed soon, and applied to Smith's enrollment in the UKB.

Proctor himself served as a Cherokee Nation tribal councilor in the 1990s, and ran unsuccessfully for a Cherokee Nation council seat in 2003 before winning his UKB council position in 2004.

"If Chad Smith is a member of the Keetoowahs and is causing us this much hardship, I figure there's good grounds right there for banishment," said Proctor.

UKB Chief George Wickliffe concurred with Proctor, adding that Grayson is also dual-enrolled, but hasn't been as outspoken about his opposition to the UKB as Smith. Therefore, Wickliffe said, Grayson may be spared the banishment process.

But concerning Smith, Wickliffe said, "I think if there is a case to banish somebody, you've got one right there."

Former UKB Chief John Ross was impeached, but as far as any of the current Keetoowah councilors know, no one has ever been banished from the UKB.