Today's 9th Special Session audio is available on demand for listening online at http://on-web1.osagetribe.org/media/congress/audio/FY2014/2013-1114_3Con_9SS-Day1-pt1.mp3
REPRINT: Remember I will be asking you the same questions whoever you are. If you are going to run, why are you hiding behind anonymous?
I have always believed that the BIA is a necessary evil. We need them and the power that comes behind them. However you better watch Congress and Maria Whitehorn. She has already talked to us about a Bill she is working on, the bottom line is that you will have to ask Congress before you compact. do contracts etc. I asked her if she was going to remove or exempt the Mineral Council and she said no.
I believe that the 1906 Act has been amended only 12 times. At least that is the number I have and read.
My rants have gotten your attention. I hope I am getting my message across to our people - we need to clean up our act! We are wasting too much money and we have very little to show for it on one side, and on the Mineral side we have Producers who, over the years have taken advantage of us. We Osages need to get back into the drivers seat! One can not just look at the Mineral Estate, we have to look at the whole Nation and what everyone is doing.
Why do you keep calling Shareholders - Stakeholders? I personally prefer to be called a Headright owner!
I hate to burst your bubble, but a majority of the Shareholders only care about their check. One of the reasons why so few of them vote.
Paticia had problems with my computar and I would love to answer you questions and thank you Osageblogger for moving her question to the new thread have a virus keep trying to install updates my Adobe is possibly not compatible with the net so to make a long story short I have replied 3 times and each time it didn't show...lol...not! I'll respond in a few....
Here I go again...4th attempt...Patricia useing my name at this point is not an option not trying to hide but more or less I have huge reasons not to use my name....I come from a Great Line of family as every one probably feels the same of theirs. The M/E is our Baby not the Federal Gov..Not the BIA'S or the Nations....The M/E was not bought by us but was willed and we are thr heirs to this Estate in the first....that means we are unique in so many ways and that goes without saying, as you understand a lot more than meets the eye...keep posting.../// Stakeholder in the first is as good as headright owner....This gives us a number and account and a percentage...we are entitled in so many ways to have our voice heard...We didn't purchase the M/E this gives us more of right to have our voice heard...being the Stakeholder in the first allows us that freedom compared to just another shareholder. And this is why we matter.
2nd part Paticia..... We can no longer sit Idle and let failure happen again..we all know how we feel about the HPP case and this is an example why Osage Shareholders are upset....Had the STAKEHOLDER IN THE FIRST THATS YOU AND ME were adivised and kept comprised the turnout would have turned out differently I don't know but just the mere fact that we were kept in the dark is a huge understatement and this should have not happend period...I suspect that the big fat cats had something to do with this. Since I came on board in about 2008 or it could have been just a little sooner..My mouth must have dropped....didn't know what to think....had a lot of catch up time...and now I find that we need people with skills, ethics and so forth with the drive to see success and I'm that driver sort of speak it will take team players and thats you and me...the M/C and I hope that I can bring integrity and faith restored to the M/E...The M/C has had ample time to set up office with IT state of the art softwhere so we can track and map and facilitate and pick up where the BIA does not....There is no reason why we should be at square one still....and having this same arguement over and over again...We will always have the Nation trying to compact so they can get their hands on the M/E and we are watching how the Osage LLC is operating just handing cash over cash. Would like to take a look at the passive/agressive investments but that's anotother issue Congress and the Boards need to really get controll of....We need clearly need team players. Ah the oil fields and Business...do I understand yes...had several years to understand and research...not so different in running a buisness. And it is my belief that those who just receive a check are not clued in to what it is exactly what is at stake and I suspect the voter turnout could be higher in the future once we establish better communication lines...I hope that when and if I do get elected you will be the first of many reports to got out to the Shareholders. Stakeholders in the first/// In my time I have attended alot of symposiums or field trips out side of a business and never did a sponcer pay my way the company did this was to leave out any conflict of interest//// and the Producers knew exactly what they were doing...No longer can we or should we accept this behavior...we must inlist and subcribe to new Ideas with some of the old and get caught up to the 21st century....I know the intended consequence of losing another dollar another day but not at the expense of the MAJOR STAKEHOLDER that's you and me....To futher delay change is going to bite us in the long run//// Time to get this show rolling/// I hope I was able to answer the best as I could at this point I want to have a word with my computar...sooooo slow////
Thirdly Patricia. we know and have seen the negative connotations and how Neptosism and Croynism has affected the M/E and in everthing I posted above in this will solidiify this won't happen again....we need policies of which everyone can understand with enforcement of due process...of which we can work with....we need a working body for the As you would like to say and sounds right Headright owners the major stakeholders in the first should the Headright Owner deserve the Respect that they deserve as accordingly per the 1906 ACT long live our befloved Osage Tribe...Where or where had the 50 dollar gift certificate to each Osage family on ThanksGivivng gone. oh Where oh where has art though gone, opps I guess the Nation was so concerned about their Bonuses they forgot to feed the People that feed them....
BIA may be a necessary evil but how long are we going to wait for them to clean up their management and operational issues? At yesterday's meeting Sonny Abbott questioned the latest Acting Supt.(she is the third supt. acting or otherwise this year so far) why the OMC budget had not been approved by the BIA? He also pointed out to her that the past THREE BUDGETS he had to go to BIA Director Mike Black and force the Supt. to get it out of the Solicitors hands and get approved! He was informed that the Budget was NEVER required to be approved by either the BIA Supt. or the Solicitor! One year the Osage Nation had to advance money to run the OMC until the "approval"! They were also informed that as long as the Supt. has a Resolution approving the Budget (which they had) and a copy of the Budget then all they need is a signed request for a Drawdown! In the past Currey REQUIRED the OMC to submit a REVISED BUDGET on Line Item Changes to await her Approval too! How can this dysfunctional Agency continue to mismanage (according to the Court Ordered Settlement Agreement, read it!) the Osage Minerals Estate without any oversight by anyone? Another issue that was discussed was that Coffeyville Resources who are the Purchaser for most of our Osage Oil was late on their payment in April of this year. They normally paid on the 20th of the month, it is mandated to be paid by the 25th of the month yet their payment was NOT received until the 4th of the following MONTH! Everyone is late you say? Nobody was supposed to notice in FOURTEEN DAYS, THAT IS TWO WEEKS? Nominal Amount? You bet, it was ONLY FOUR POINT 2 MILLION DOLLARS ($4,200,000.00 Dollars) and NO ONE NOTICED??? Who is minding the store and the money?
About Wednesday meeting. I am very impressed with the new acting Superintendent. She comes to use well qualified and if she doesn’t have an answer, she will have one at the next meeting. You can tell just by her demeanor she is getting the BIA (Pawhuska) back on course.
As far as the Mineral Council’s Office, you have people who are not qualified in charge. Until the Council is willing to hire an Operational Manager who reports to the council as a whole, nothing is going to change as far as getting things posted on line and a decent newsletter that will actually give you some useable information.
Another thing that happened at Wednesday meeting, which I would like to report, because listening to the Meeting you are not aware of who was in the Executive Meeting. I just saw Cynthia Boone and Dudley Whitehorn try to give a producer a FOUR million dollar discount on a concession he was trying to renew. Two proposals for this were both voted down 7 to 1 and 6 to 2, thank the Lord. Ray McClain tells a little about it in his report on http://www.Osages-You-Need-To-Know.com . But, you would have just had to have been there to really believe it. I was there, and I had trouble believing what I was hearing. An old saying comes to mind “Nothing is free”. Coincidently, this producer was also on the Washington trip.”
Are you serious? Another one on the dole for $70,000 - $135,000 a year, this time paid out of the MC budget? They can't even get staff in there that can do the job of the trusts without having to hire two or three people to do even that. Are you dreaming or just delusional? I don't think Sonny Abbot will take advice from anyone and because of his influence over Crum, neither will Galen, and don't forget the influence of the Congress boys they hang around with, so we'll be paying money for nothing.
Here's what the Osage Nation Minerals Agency will look like in size in seven short years if they start hiring people: http://osagenews.org/article/employees-receive-merit-market-survey-increases Remember that many of the members of the Gray family believe that Headright checks are nothing more than a per-capita payment.
BREAKING NEWS--9th Special Session update: the Third ON Congress has just voted on the motion to go to trial to remove Principal Chief Red Eagle and the vote was unanimous to do so. All twelve members voted yes. There were no amendments to this motion put forward by any member of the ON Congress.
It's also sad for the Osage people that we have a brand new government with top leaders who think they are so above having to enforce the law or abide by it that it's had to come to this. I feel a lot sorrier for us having to shoulder the shame and disappointment than I do the Chief. All our hopes for the Osage Nation dashed and trashed by these selfish money grubbing corrupt people. More money wasted to get this thing back on the track it should have been on from the beginning. There are a lot of worthy, caring Osages who participate all over the country who could use the money they're spending and going to spend on this litigation and that says nothing of the trial he will be going through with the AG's office and the Osage News. Jim Gray set a pixx poor example and John Red Eagle continued in his path. If the Chief cared about any of us and was truly a religious leader, he would resign right away and save us the time it will take and the money it will cost to have to go through it.
The good part is that for the first time ever we have a "proof of life" that this new government is working from an enforcement standpoint. No government on the planet can work properly without enforcing the laws on its books and I am immensely encouraged that we are finally, after seven long years, moving in the right direction.
The Removal Trial of the Chief is scheduled for January 13, 2014 according to the Legislative Proclamation for the 11th Special Session of the Third Osage Nation Congress.
What I'd like to know is why the Osage AG is MIA on his ethics lawsuit with the Chief. Hasn't he dragged his feet on his end of things long enough? What does he do with his time to justify such a large salary? Does he even show up at the office every day? I don't even think he was there at his desk when that investigator in his office took that phone call from the Chief that lead to all hell braking loose was he?
To Anonymous Poster--You might be from a long line but you can't seem to manage to keep your remarks in line with the lead comment. In this case all three of the last comments were directed to Patricia and should come under her comment. There is a reply button there. Please use it. Your name isn't Tidy and neither is mine. Please pay attention and don't continue to make me have to clean up after you here on this Blog. Thank you.
Adds a general provision to require that gas used by the tribe must be odorized and treated to ensure human and public safety. ???? Lalique for men or Aerin Lauder Tuberose Gardenia for women ????? Bring it on
EnCana and Chaparral both requested to convert to vertical wells and keep their Concessions going. Both were refused. Why was the compromise not this: We will allow you to continue drilling vertical wells on your Concessions, IF there comes a time when there is another interested Party that wants to take up the Concession and drill horizontal wells or try a new process and wants to give a Huge Upfront Bonus as in the past for Concessions then we will Terminate Your Concession Agreement since you didn't complete your horizontal drilling program and then agree to a New Concession with the new players? Wouldn't it make more sense to drill SOME WELLS as opposed to NO WELLS??? The door would still be open to new players, the old ones would still be drilling and WE would all WIN with more production until a New Play wanted a piece of the Mineral Estate? Business is FULL of Compromises but that doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense to do so. This acreage is now available yet there was not a Lease Sale at the Summit and no discussions for any upcoming one either? Where are all those Operators beating a path to our door located again???
Everyone knows alternative energy is a BOONEDOGGLE wind farms and SOLAR...and AL GORE KNOWS THIS..taxation without representation...so, this being said, and all the information we have to date thus far in regards to the Wind Farm you would think any and all action that the Wind Farm is doing, you would still have to vote no/yes and..... in favor of the M/E and producer affected, why would Cynthia not vote? We know she didn't get the memo but common sense would dictate you would vote for the M/E./Shareholders in their favor...This is a given and another question, if the Wind Farm is building without any Court approval or BIA signing off on our land and we are still waiting on the decision of the Court how can the Wind Farm take entitlement? We have a right to go in there and bulldoze their property until otherwise granted, or get a security officer on that land full time till this is resolved period? To not allow further developement?1 of 2.
2 of 2. Ah, Drawdowns, How Long did you have to wait on the Drawdowns from the C395 account and in some instances the M/C had to wait 6 months for approval? Ah I think we need to look at the records and look at the drawdowns in history's past financials on this ACCOUNT by the way it looks ,needs a Serious Audit going back at least 10 years...if not more and this is just my Opinion but should not be looked over,.. either....We need to get to the bottom of the barrel sort of speak///....This situation does not make sense...who told the M/C this account had to wait for approval....? And instead use the Nations Money? Did this come from Melissa Curry?....Easy to put the blame on someone who is no longer here. We're a separate agency....did the Nation deliberately hold back money from the M/C deliberately? How ever which way this goes, these questions beg to be asked? During the period we were denied on two separate occasions for a drawdown request on the C395 account hinder the M/C in anyway? So when we read something of this Nature you got to wonder if someone has had sticky fingers regarding this account...We are a separate agency of which this New Gov.came from. We are not apart of the Gov. and never will be....though we have laws to abide by....We don't work for them or vise/versa...after all it's the Shareholders Money....What happens if there are funds in the C395 account at the end of the year? Does it not get paid out to the Shareholders at the end of the Year? As far as what the four producers having a meeting with the M/C , It would be beneficial would it not at least to make aware to the Shareholders, Lets get this on the Table now we should be kept at all musts comprised, any action of course could be taken at the next meeting on the 20th of Nov....It's our money..so how it is used, is all of our decisions....as far as the penalty assessed against Mr. Tim Burchett for paying on his lease till 2 wks later be firing someone because this just does not happen this blunder his company made, let it stand...in no way should we honor this request. give it back .let this not set the precedent in the future...........I know 65,000 thousand reasons to say let it stand as signed on the dotted line.....in the real world this just doesn't happen and this request would be counter productive with repercussions against the M/C/ I suggest we just move forward with Business as usual....this could be construed as favoritism...and would be a conflict of interest as well...I wouldn't even bat an eye with said request......./// So it's already paid I think it would be funny to ask the Fed. Gov. and ask for the money back...ah they are going to say no...duh... Next I think It is good to know that we have lookers that would like to see what is available for more leases and would like copies of seismic activity...It is known next year will be an eye popper for the Oil Industry....and we know our reserves are not tapped yet, ready for the ripen....now that the CFR'S have or are going to be changed to current industry standards will allow for the industry to come....seismic and leasing information and production history should be made public...how do you expect a major player to come if we don't get that information out there in the first? Of course this information should be made available to the credit of the M/C they approve the leases so where is the harm in giving this information that should be public any way? I would think the lease information is all about the process and who already exists is no secret. So give Nation Wide Oil and Gas information...I'm interested to know what the interest is, we know it's about oil? Advertising is so important...and if they want to put us on a map...for free heck yes.....next, why not donate to the Christmas Celebration...250.00 sounds about right....Rays letter was beneficial and always is thank you Ray McClain
Minerals Agency is under the ONG and so is the MC per the ON Constitution. Feds/BIA acknowledge this now as of the Tax/Res lawsuit. Jim Gray should have stayed out of court on this one. Pull up the BIA letter on Ray McClain's web site.
Drawdowns happen when the MC budget is submitted yearly to the BIA and they approve it. If there are questions about it then the ONG has to respond to them. If this doesn't happen right away, the drawdown it held up until a response is received and the BIA approves it.
Question did the Mineral Council do the diligence required when this Gov. was to form a Gov. notify the Osage Headright Owners what was going to happen and the intent?
They sent out information about the OGRC in the Osage News at first. Then, for the Referendum Election, I believe that they started sending out mailings. I could be wrong but I believe that they were sending out mailings by the time that the vote on the Constitution was conducted. They also called people on the phone and the word was that the calls were made in order to get people to vote for the Constitution. I thought this was unethical. There were also a number of Town Meetings conducted by the OGRC and Hepsi Barnett all during the time that they were trying to prepare Osages for a Constitutional form of government. None of the Shareholders received an FAQ about the process or the Constitutional government and how it would change things. The only document that arrived was the Constitution itself and no full disclosure or explanatory material as to how it would all work or be different from what it had been, was included at the time or at any time whatsoever.
Thank you OsageBlogger yes they did send the mailing in the Newspaper of which I did not subscribe to but at the time I was not aware we had a Newspaper...That was the word when I telephoned the Osage Nation that everything was sent by the NewsPaper of which I thought was odd...that's the reply I had received then, they signed me up...There was no mailers that went out as I see the continued practice is still going through the News and is not a practical method. No phone calls either hum....and I being a headright owner and not of just of one that we have and living in the same home for 20 yrs and not without a phone....my point is they didn't call all 4000 to 5000 headright owners and my thought is not all of the headright owners knew this was developing under and in front of our eyes let alone got a vote or phone call or ballot from a Newspaper either? See where I'm going...Now I've sat on the back burner for how many years to watch our Gov. shovel money down their gullet like it is theirs for the Gobble. Now I've had a Lawyer by my side pro-bono who says that it would just take one phone call to bring everything to a halt....I believe the process was weak and by no accident was this. Ah something wrong in Denmark and maybe I should just roll the Dice as they did, starting this DE FACTO GOV....My Point is if my rights were violated how many others were Violated? I know a few here are saying the same thing as well...So this leads me to believe that in the worst way another class action suit is on the way...The M/C..had the onus and obligation as well as the Nation to make every effort afforded them to notify and vote with the Shareholders before the DE FACTO GOV. existed. So under the guise of SOVEREIGNTY the Osage Nation becomes...My that word Sovereignty allowed a Gov. to form...even when they formed in Osage County..and not on Reservation..and the Casinos were to bring and build economic relief to those near and a far...instead a Gov. formed....hum, get that Per-Cap going..Get an Outside Auditor in here have our financials posted on the WEB. Post all earnings and who we are investing in, in the Newspaper...and what the boards are earning and titles..and so forth or the Nation can be held liable for not honoring the Open Records Act itself...and get that turkey bonus out to all Osage family's..Thank you OsageBlogger you have been really instrumental in answering questions on your site....and I thank you....again for having this site up....The diligence that was required by THE M/C in the best interest of the Shareholders of the M/E and Owners in the first, known in the Corporate world to be the first in stakeholder, rights have been abrogated in the worst way...and worst the BIA did not hold their end of the Process as well....and the Nation took advantage knowing that a lot things fall through the cracks...and was betting this would happen and knew this would happen by experience..// Can you say the M/E was used as Collateral to develope the Casino's? and does anyone have an update on the Tilman Case?
Jim Gray set a pixx poor example and John Red Eagle continued in his path. If the Chief Red Eagle cared about the Osage Tribe, he would resign right away and save us the time it will take and the money it will cost to have to go through it.
This goes out to the Shareholders.....Right now the economy is in what is coined as a economy that is in a "Secular Cycle". Where the cause and effect will impact drilling to slow down. As evidence in the price per barrel has dropped significantly and surely to impact your head right check in March...I am right about this and I write this so you can make up your minds what to do when your Cobell check arrives in the mail and my suggestion is to save. 2014 is not going to be a rocky year considering the impact and the trickle down affect Obama care has exascerbated the ailing fragile economy. The Debt rising on bets the fossil fuels of cheap energy is collasping as the population cathes up..to the new resource under the guise for job growth to spur the economy as much as it isn't a tax. A tax without representation it amounts to....So debt grows, wages lost and Gov. grows. Let the Osage Nation not follow in the same foot steps.......the Osage Nation should take a deep look and prepare...as should the shareholders as well. We are in for a ride next year, crime is increasing in my neighborhood up 150% coming in from other areas, camps for the living who cannot afford to live are going up everywhere...amazing what some of the Communities are doing to try to help the homeless and the everfasting middle income living turning for help from food centers...I know I volunteer....anybody just has to be willing to see the truth...can see..numbers do not lie.// People do..
Easier to deal with a truth than a lie.....and cover up with another lie to someday this is where we are at that some day....the future is up to us...we need to be proactive....The Osage can no longer turn a blind eye....
Contrast this situation and look at how the money is flowing like a raging river in the Osage Nation. Look at the number of offices and departments that have been added in seven short years; http://osagenews.org/article/employees-receive-merit-market-survey-increases This market survey is in-house and has nothing to do with the real world in the local area where the minimum wage is $7.25 as opposed to $11.50 an hour for ON employees. For the last seven years there have been 3% yearly pay rises, or bonuses after the Merit system came in. There have been two market surveys so far that have also increased salaries across the board and an education (Bachelor's-Master's-Doctorate) pay bump from 5%-20% of the total salary as well. Guesstimating, I would say that the salary rises are between 21% to 45% higher than what they were in May of 2006. I would believe it if someone told me that $20 million of Tribal funds are spent on government salaries alone, not including benefits that are additional. The Chief is responsible for the Executive Branch budget and the Congress is responsible for appropriating the money for it. It wouldn't be happening if those elected to office refused to go along with this kind of spending but they don't and they are the ones who are the most publicly liable for it to the Osage People.
Osageblogger what is the justification and criteria for this merit increase. It used to be based on competency, value, education, performance and so forth and this is just wasteful spending, not that some employees did not deserve , then you have the fact that when you put everyone in the same boat who gets the recognition for a job well done? You take that incentive at the end of the year away from someone who out performed, when we know the area and proxy dictates in the area this merit raise is above the Cost of living, way above. Where was the moral compass when the employees who picketed? Would have been fired in any corporation.....their attitude reflects entitlement as opposed to being proud that you have a job and let your profile reflect the work that was demonstrated and go through the proper chanel of evaluation .....Congress should not be involved in these decisions across the board as in the Office Manager to regulate this type of scenario, how would Congress know who did what throughout the year without a comprehensive profile to make this type of decison..Takes away from those who may have deserved better than what they got and at this point legislation needs to be created for the Emp. Packets and say all raises and bonuses will be contingent with overall performance. Any and all greivence you can take it up with the Dept head or HR... All merit and bonuses are contingent on the over all performance of your Dept....or desk. Did Congress look at each all, employees packets. I don't think so...so how did Congress come to conclusion that each and everyone should get a bonus merit raise? Where are the polices to gard against this type of poor behavior and to be honest embarassing to the Nation.
Congratulations! I think if you're alive that meant you qualified for the full 3% bonus unless you really did a poor job, were away from work a lot or had some other negative with the boss or the Director would be my guess and it's just a guess.
Public liability. That's a legal matter isn't it? That means they are legally liable for public funds and for how they appropriate them, right? If they're irresponsible with how they lie and represent to us that this is what is being paid in the local area, then they are responsible for those lies because they are the gate keepers and control the purse strings. Accepting such lies from the Executive Branch budget justifications from HR and passing them on to us as legitimate reasoning for such pay rises and bonuses still makes them legally liable to the the Osage people, doesn't it? High fallalutin' lawyers in the Congress who should know this and should know better who sponsor and push these employee pay rises and bonuses are even more responsible than the other members of Congress, not that the others aren't just as responsible in the end for their votes to pass these salary budget bills that are so inflated and infested with lies, yes? Raising a phony stink in the press and with the Osage people and then going ahead in the end and voting for these bills is even worse because they are manipulating the situation which compounds the legal public liability too, doesn't it?
This is one of the best questions I've seen. I'd say yes, they are legally liable for the shell game they play with the Osage people and our money that they stuff in the pockets of the employees after raising questions just to make it look like they disapprove probably because the election is nearing. You show your disapproval by the way you vote on legislation not by end running some story by the Osage News and thinking this is good enough to get by with for this budgetary cycle. Not even close.
The M/C better get a great Attorney whose are experienced with these types of cases. Looks to me the state of Oklahoma is telling the M/C to get their act together and stop playing house and clean house and get organized...I wouldn't be surprised if the State of OK comes in and seizes all Gov. ops to a stop and says this is a De Facto Gov.....Watch Out...keep taking and spending and not giving is not what this Gov. was intended to do...was to represent the Osage not create a Gov. within a Gov..and steal....and the lack of Due Process all eyes on the Osage Thanks Osage Nation/M/C...if the diligence would have been in the favor of the Osage we would not be here with the State overstepping the Boundaries ah lets push the envelope.....Lets just hand money fist over fist for non-performance...keep on doing what your doing....one thing is for sure the M/E is protected for now.....but the Nation not so fast or one of the owners of land that 96% of Osage Land well I'm one of many of the 2229 heirs who has property as well their so how did we not get a vote in how this Gov. came about?
What I'd like to know is why the U.S. Congress -- that has the plenary power under the U.S. Constitution to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes -- hasn't scheduled an emergency Congressional hearing of the pertinent Indian Committee in the House or the Senate calling the Attorney General of Oklahoma, Scott Pruitt to account for himself and to tell him that he is playing around in Federal matters that have nothing whatsoever to do with the State of Oklahoma and to back off, stand down and go away permanently. Commerce with the Indians does not include a restriction where Reservations are concerned no matter how large or small in size. It's a blanket, all encompassing power and commerce means business and for us that means the oil business. The Feds have told more that a few over the last 100 years to bug off and it seems like we have another candidate who needs to hear it too and sooner rather than later.
Then why is Mr. Pruitt causing such a ruckess? What's in this for him? What more can the State of Oklahoma do that we can't do for ourselves? Doesn't the State have enough money from Gaming and other Business to attend to and now they want to play in our back yard? Of course the Federal Government is going to tell them to go pound sand.......and the excuses is like everyone has one if you know what I mean....we are not the only one's with problems in the Field.....I do agree on one thing and one thing is enforcement...how do you enforce rules of which the BIA has failed severley to enforce the rules and the Imcompetence that should have not existed in the first falls back on the BIA for not complying....and by who's authority Melissa Currey...and 30 yrs finally catching up to the 21 st century was way over due...and it took the HPP case to clarify this in pudding. impacted the M/E and the Shareholders and we cannot continue the road we are on....so when I say it is up to the M/C to follow through from History's past to the future which is today are complicit to failure because they did not do the diligence that is required and expected from the Stakholders in the first the Headright Owners. Their lies a problem as well...The M/C is charged and responcible at all costs to the Headright Owners to do the dilligence..and make sure those rules are being enforced by the BIA....and if failure to Act by The BIA in a timely matter, who is going to hold them responcible for any and all fines...levied to the benefit of the M/E? but let us not become a Lawyer Nation...either. Bottom line everyone no matter how they voted for this Gov...thinking a little different? Cause and efffect and the trickle down affect. Just amazing the mess that has masticised into a Gov. of Bloat and this was not the intent.....clearly.
Well, perhaps he's looking for a way in so as to have Mary Fallin's job at some point in the future. State AGs have done this all over the country. Why not in Oklahoma?
Reminder: the filing period to run for Chief and Assistant Chief is 24 days away on December 16, 2013 and goes to January 6, 2014. Remember the Osage Surge!
RED ALERT--IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT--TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE: In view of the plethora of inexplicable choices that the elected officials of the Osage Nation have made during their tenure for the last seven years, the most recent of which was reported by Congressman Raymond Redcorn in his Update #170: "For employees, the full $1.4 ($1.5) million salary adjustment increase also made the cut, along with the full 3% Merit funding attached to salaries.", the Osage Blog is announcing its NEW Election Initiative that we are calling the Osage Surge for Candidates to come forward from outside of Osage County and the State of Oklahoma to run in the upcoming Osage Nation elections; "The Osage Surge" for short. We need boots on the ground, Osage members, to turn around the policies and spending practices of the Osage Nation government to one that is sensible and reasonable that includes ALL Osages no matter were they reside which was promised to us if we were to support a new Osage Constitutional government. We need to reestablish a proper balance from the top down and the bottom up! Please join this initiative and if you can, run for office in the upcoming Osage Nation elections in 2014. Since they won't, each one of us need to stand up and take responsibility and BE RESPONSIBLE for what our new government does in the future. Now IS the time for all good Osages to come to the aid of their new Constitutional government.
For the RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION AND OBJECTION TO PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR EXPEDITED TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST CONVENING OF THE NINTH SPECIAL SESSION OF THE THIRD CONGRESS AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION ENJOINING OTHER LEGISLATIVE REMOVAL ACTIONS, see http://edigital.iserver.net/osages/Response.pdf
Couldn't find that PDF...though it took me right back to comments on your thread here about Cynthia of which she could have written that letter of support on this blog...lol. Thought the action was helpful.
Not getting the point...the action I performed took me back to this thread got it...and pined comments of relation to her which I thought was interesting but was this the Action meant to happen? because I did not think that was correct and came across that thread it took me to of which the support for her could have been written by her...or anybody for that matter.
Exactly....and they want a license to kill up to a dozen of Eagles per year ah lets see at that rate everyone would get a permit and then you have extinction....
I posted this above, but the more I read it, I think everyone should see what happen at Wednesday's meeting.
At the wednesday's meeting. I am very impressed with the new acting Superintendent. She comes to us well qualified and if she doesn’t have an answer, she will have one at the next meeting. You can tell just by her demeanor she is getting the BIA (Pawhuska) back on course.
Another thing that happened at Wednesday meeting, which I would like to report, because listening to the Meeting you are not aware of who was in the Executive Meeting. I just saw Cynthia Boone and Dudley Whitehorn try to give a producer a FOUR million dollar discount on a concession he was trying to renew. Two proposals for this were both voted down 7 to 1 and 6 to 2, thank the Lord. Ray McClain tells a little about it in his report on http://www.Osages-You-Need-To-Know.com . But, you would have just had to have been there to really believe it. I was there, and I had trouble believing what I was hearing. An old saying comes to mind “Nothing is free”. Coincidently, this producer was also on the Washington trip.”
Once it was brought out in the regular meeting, and a motion was made, that allowed Councilman Crum to tell us what his motion was all about and why he was making the motion. He said he was going vote no, and explained the reasons. For your information, once a Motion has been made, it can and should be discussed in an open meeting. The Shareholder's have every right to know the reasons for any actions taken, as a result of the discussions that the Council does in Executive Session. Remember that the Council can not vote in Executive Session. Councilman Crum was doing his job properly. Call the council's office and ask for a disk of the meeting if you are interested.
Oh Patricia this kind of negotiations on the side for these concessions is getting out of hand and you are right Every Shareholder in the first or stakeholders in the first as a Headright owner you are right we have and expect to know what is exactly going on with the Estate...No more discounts. Ah maybe we should get the feds in here and see what they say to a discount hell no.
Be careful of following her line through to the end. She probably voted for Jim Gray and John Red Eagle. The next thing she'll be advocating for is compacting the Mineral Estate right along with her buddies in Congress.
Thank you I heed to my own advice but, you and I are on the same boat. Compacting with the Nation oh heck no...just another hand wanting to get their hand in the cookie jar.... At this point and juncture, I see huge flaws with how Concessions can allow for corruption in a Morbid way, not the first I have mentioned this, and after reading some of the updates after the last M/C meeting, ah, there is a darker side and we need to be extremely careful how we do business with the Producers with further concessions and paying attention to the activity and so forth......these good ole boys have robbed the cradle long enough... with respect to Whitehorn and Boone voting for Sullivan and Co. we would lose up 4,000000 dollars if the M/C did not vote down this negotiation, why would Whithorn and Boone vote opposite Contrary to the M/E, Headright Owners and expect us to eat the cost in these negotiations? Ah please explain Boone and Whitehorn..../////? Getting back to the M/E....in my opinion the way concession are dealt with or handled maybe these terms should be renegotiated to the current standard and criteria, should change for the benefit of the Headright Owner...We need to look at short term and long term revenue...and who is going to meet these expectations and live up to those performance standards should we evaluate and get rid of the reduncies to foster a better future for the M/E....We could be doing so much better....and we should not expect anything less. You need to set the Bar , M/C to create an atmosphere that will create competition...no more concession allowances...start opening up the spigot maybe? Good sound business ethics please....
It's my understanding that some of those in the Congress want to get rid of the BIA altogether. Compacting isn't really the issue. It's outing the BIA.
What I can't figure out is why this new Osage government has to try and tear everything apart that it touches. Payment has never been higher and still it isn't good enough. It's like they want to tear the whole thing down just to be able to get their hands on it and put on their stamp of ownership no matter how badly it's damaged or destroyed while getting their agenda accomplished. I don't think they really care about the mineral estate at all from the way they carry on.
Why do you see any parallels to the US. GOV if you do then you'll see the same with the Osage. After all the ON CONSTITUTION was made with one phone call. fashioned after THE U.S CONSTITUTION with the intent all money goes to the ON and we all become Slaves to our Own Gov....and truly this was the intent and if they keep on doing what they are doing, time to bring the wall down , sort of speak. I can only imagine if the Chief thought he could get away with the same tactics and take and run like a thief in the night and abuse his power....and what we know about thus far may be the corruption in that office, The Executive and with the five man board in Pawhuska is bigger than you or I can imagine.....not just with this Chief with priors as well.....This is not the Gov. for our People that we wanted. Take and take and take and is evident they can not even give out Turkey gift certs to the rest of the Nation.....but they get their merit raise...Happy Thanks Giving to the Nation that keeps on taking;;;;get that per-cap out to the Osages....Oh lets picket people...and then Congress will have no choice....that's how they got their Merit Raise...
I heard from one of the Mineral Council members that they are now going to mail checks out after the first of the year. Is that what they said in 2012?
The first quarter of the year per the site so the check now can come in March....A bunch of Hog Wash....they have the calculations...already tallied. I would call GCG to find out if your amount has increased.
And in addition to my post at 7:58 PM we know the cases that were appealed would hold up the Distribution and then the Judge would distribute the funds in Jan after 30 days....then the DOI has to verify the amounts and id, for security purposes...ah all our information is in the system at the DOI for those who are registered and already have received their notice they are apart of the class and a touch away from technology and just hitting send on there computer. And we don't even have the information yet on the 12000000 do we yet on the post settlement fees it would cost each class member about another 24 dollars more or less. So does this mean if this goes into the next year the interest will be calculated into our figures? Wow what an impact this would have for the holiday sales if this were to have been distributed as promised at the end of the year, sound familiar?
I'm afraid that all the hold up are a way to suck the account down to nothing,I personally check on my payment and it's already drop 1000$. and that's not enough their talking about pro rates now on top for more or less and my bets on less.so in the end we get little to nothing.just like always Indians need what or want what. Tough they should be so lucky to get scrap's!!!
The company distributing the money got big bucks to do so. Look at all the interest they have gotten on top of that fee. Was it 2.5 million handed over to them to mail to IIM account holders. Having all that money collecting interest in their bank account for over a year! Again screw the Indian. We aren't going to get that money either. We may never be paid! Too bad we can't sue that company for damages!
Does Hepsi Barnett consider the Shareholders to be members of the "Osage Taliban"? See http://nnidatabase.org/db/video/hepsi-barnett-how-did-we-go-about-remaking-our-constitution
Again Galen, I don't see anything in this summary that could stop the BIA from going past BLM Orders 5 & 6 right through them all. That's a lot of rules and regs to saddle the oil producers with on balance. Though it's good that the BIA is in control, the end result remains the same. It's BLM orders and notices that will prevail in these CFRs. If there is a flight out of the Osage oil patch, you will be the first one to be blamed for it. What lender are you referring to and in reference to what loan? To the Minerals Council? For the purpose of purchasing what?
Tina, I’m not quite sure what “loan” you are talking about but I can assure you it had nothing to do with the Minerals Council borrowing any money, because we have never borrowed any money and have no need or interest in doing so. I’m not even sure how they could go about it if some future Council felt the need. The only loan I can remember referencing was about a month ago. I was plainly quoting a producer that was venting his displeasure to me with the way the Producers Association leadership and some other Minerals Council members had been actively spreading false information about what was in the Neg/Reg proposals. He stated that his lender had even asked him questions about the rumors he (his lender) had heard and seemed alarmed until the producer had set the record straight for him with some actual facts. As to the way the BLM onshore orders are referenced in the proposed CFR changes, their mention gives the Superintendent no more power to borrow from the BLM technical guidelines (which is what onshore orders and notice to lease holders are) than what he/she now has under the current Regs. The Superintendent could have set any method he/she wished of metering the quantity and measuring the quality of our natural gas any time they wished without even consulting the Minerals or Tribal Councils. The same is true of establishing rules for the proper safe handling of H2S gas. Borrowing from the example of another DOI department would have been the logical place to check for guidance, yet they failed to do so, even though in the case of natural gas their inaction has cost the Osages dearly over the years. However the new regulations do set a method of using any additional BLM guidelines that require the Superintendent to consult first with the Minerals Council and DOI regulations require a public process similar to what you see the proposed CFR changes going through prior to using any other BLM onshore orders. The producers or anyone else would have a say within the public comment and approval process. So what you perceive as an open door is actually a method of making sure the Osages have a better say in what is now the complete power of the Superintendent to act unilaterally and also gives future Councils more leverage in making sure he/she acts on issues that they think are important.
So, established through a guideline for open communication....with the power of authority of ruling parties in favor of the M/E? In short. Thanks Galen for the clarification and quick response.
Nice story... however there are flaws in it. You voted to incorporate the Onshore Orders of the BLM into the new CFR instead of doing a Cut and Paste of what needed to be added to the New CFR. In doing this you three allowed the BLM to change the Osage Minerals Estate and the Regulations governing the operations. Any time that the BLM changes any of those Onshore Orders, they will be changed in the Osage... without any vote of the Minerals Council, approval of the Supt. and most especially without any input from the Operators. The BIA is already giving the BLM $500,000 of the $2 Million that was appropriated to the Osage, did you vote on that? Onshore Orders and Notices to Lessee's can be given at will without the OMC consent or approval if the New CFR's are approved as written. If the Osage Caucus was just wanting to have some teeth in the CFR for H2S and gas measurement then any high school student could have properly cut and pasted the necessary references. A feat that our highly paid attorney didn't seem to be able to accomplish judging from his poorly drafted original documents with incorrect references included! It seems that the door has not only been opened but that the BLM has a Welcome Mat laid out for them too. FYI, it is already being discussed how the BLM is going to handle the accounting for the Osage in the future just as they do every other Federal Land in the US. Is that what is going to be disclosed at the SUPER SECRET BI - ANNUAL Meeting (which is the FIRST AND ONLY ONE held this year although it is COURT ORDERED BI - ANNUALLY BY THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT beginning with 2011 (2), and 2012 (2) YET NONE WERE HELD)? Are there going to be any Osage Shareholders allowed at that meeting? If not, why not? You can't fall back on how you want it to be structured because you have not adhered to the requirements of the Order to this point and the Minerals Council has not requested the Bi - Annual Meetings as required.
To Anonymous, December 6, 2013 at 9:01 PM--Horse Hockey! Your understanding of plain, simple English is what is flawed. Apparently SOMEONE called the meeting, if a request is even required, because it is going to happen on Dec.10th. But I think only an agenda is required from the MC. As for the rest of your perceived problems, the excerpts from the proposed CFR’s listed below should make things a little more clear for you. I hope! DEFINITIONS: (m) Onshore oil and gas order means A FORMAL ORDER issued or adopted by the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs THAT IMPLEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THE REGULATIONS IN THIS PART. (n) Notice to lessees (NTLs) mean a written notice issued or adopted by the Superintendent. NTLs implement the regulations in this part and operating orders, and serve as instructions on specific item(s) of importance. § 226.36 Control devices of wells. (f) IF APPLICABLE GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES, lessees shall conduct activities in accordance with the standards and procedures set forth in Bureau of Land Management Onshore Order 6, Hydrogen Sulfide Operations, and any amendments thereto. 226.39 Measurement of gas. (a) All gas, required to be measured, shall be measured in accordance with the standards, procedures, and practices set forth in Bureau of Land Management Onshore Oil and Gas Order 5, Measurement of Gas, and any amendments thereto. TO THE EXTENT THAT ONSHORE OIL AND GAS ORDER 5 CONFLICTS WITH ANY PROVISION OF THESE REGULATIONS, THESE REGULATIONS SHALL CONTROL. § 226.44 Appeals. ANY PERSON, FIRM OR CORPORATION aggrieved by any decision or order issued by or under the authority of the Superintendent, by virtue of the regulations in this part, MAY APPEAL PURSUANT TO 25 CFR PART 2. § 226.45 Notices. Notices and orders issued by the Superintendent to the representative and/or operator shall be binding on the lessee. The Superintendent MAY in his/her discretion INCREASE THE TIME ALLOWED IN HIS/HER ORDERS AND NOTICES.
Taken Verbatim from the Osage Settlement Agreement regarding the Bi - Annual Consultations. If you will note, there is NOTHING in this ORDER that says that Osage Shareholders are not allowed to be present, or anyone else for that matter yet at the last Minerals Council Meeting a Shareholder was told that it was a closed meeting only OMC members were allowed. SOMEONE CAN'T READ PLAIN, SIMPLE ENGLISH, but it doesn't appear to be me: Consultation . The United States shall meet with the Osage Minerals Council at 17 least twice each year to review issues identified in writing by the Osage Minerals 18 Council relating to the management and administration of the Osage Mineral 19 Estate. The Parties shall establish the annual schedule for such meetings in 20 January of each year. The first such meeting shall take place in January 2012 on a 21 date that is mutually agreed. The Osage Minerals Council shall submit its agenda 22 of issues to be discussed in the upcoming consultation meeting in writing at least 23 thirty (30) days in advance of the meeting. The United States and the Osage 24 Minerals Council agree that the agenda for the first consultation will address a 25 plan to undertake a review of gauging activities on the Osage Mineral Estate and 26 make recommendations to the Parties as to how to improve the procedure and 27 frequency of gauging, including the means, techniques and tools for measurement
Execution Version
1 used for gauging sufficient to meet industry standards. The Osage Minerals 2 Council's agenda of issues to be discussed may include reasonable requests for 3 information from the Osage Agency relating to topics that are to be discussed 4 during the upcoming meeting. The Osage Agency shall make best efforts to 5 provide the information requested by the Osage Minerals Council in advance of 6 the meeting in which the information is to be discussed. The purpose of these 7 meetings shall be to identify and recommend in writing to the United States and 8 the Osage Tribe improvements that could be made in the overall management and 9 administration of the Osage Mineral Estate. At least one (1) representative from 10 the United States in these meetings shall be a representative from the Office of the 11 Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The United States and the Osage Tribe 12 agree to consider and pursue in good faith any recommendations made as a result 13 of these consultations . The United States and the Osage Minerals Council shall 14 prepare a joint written annual report setting forth the topics of issues discussed 15 during the preceding year, the recommendations and actions agreed upon, and the 16 outcomes identified, if any. The report shall also include a list of additional topics 17 and issues that the Parries have identified for further review and consideration in 18 future meetings. If the Parties are unable to agree upon the language of any part 19 of such annual report, each Party may include its own written views on the topic 20 in question. The Parties shall submit the annual report to the Secretary of the 21 Interior and the Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe no later than February 15 of 22 each year, beginning in 2012.
Anonymous 6-12, the purpose of placing complicated technical requirements of something like a gas metering system in documents such as onshore orders is so when technology advances, the technical requirements can be adjusted to meet the demands and opportunities of the new technology by changing only the onshore order and not the CFR’s. If we had done a cut and paste of the complete onshore orders #4 & #5 technical data into the CFR’s like you suggest, we would have locked ourselves into today’s technology with no way to adjust to future advances without changing the CFR’s. As to your claim that the changes the BLM makes to onshore orders 4 & 5 in the future will also automatically change Osage rules, I direct your attention to 226.3 in the proposed regulation changes. It clearly states that any adoption of onshore orders or NTL’s borrowed from the BLM must be after consultation with the Osage Minerals Council. And it goes on to state that they cannot be modified by any future action of the BLM. Only the Director of the BIA can direct that they be changed, and that must be done in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act. The requirements of adopting or modifying these documents under the administrative procedures act are what I referred to as being very similar to what is now happening with the CFR changes. These include public notice and comment periods, and of course the process can’t even be started without first consulting with the Minerals Council. Your claim that the BLM is being looked at to handle the accounting for the Osage agency shows your complete lack of knowledge about even the most fundamental workings of the Federal government. The BLM performs no accounting functions for Federal or Tribal lands in the rest of the USA so it would make no sense at all to ask them to start doing ours. However, in many open meetings during the NEG/REG process it was discussed the ONNR might be used as an outside contractor to the Osage Agency so as to more quickly get Osage accounting and auditing functions up to the standards provided to the rest of the Indian world. You are also completely inaccurate with your statement that the Council has not been holding its biannual consultation meetings as directed in the settlement. We have actually had far more meetings than are called for. BIA Director Black as been in attendance for all of the meetings, even the ones that were not the two per year “official” ones for which the Osage Minerals Council sets the agenda. Our first meeting this year was in April and the second is later this month.
Concerned Osage, the $500,000 dollars you refer to is not being “given” to the BLM. It is the estimated costs that will be incurred by the Osage BIA agency for doing a county wide environmental assessment study that will be done in conjunction with a state wide environmental assessment project be conducted by the BLM on other federal and tribal lands. The costs to the Osage agency would have been several times higher if had not been allowed to join in on this larger project. When it is completed this county wide EA will make it much easier and less costly for the Osage producers to complete their required EPA environmental assessment obligations. As long as they have no special environmental issues they can merely list this block study as meeting their E A requirements. The funding of this study also comes with an additional $500,000 for improvements in Osage agency functions. Prior to getting this funding the BIA had announced $1,000,000 in extra funding that was ear marked to create about 13 new positions to perform agency compliance and accounting functions. This additional $500,000 will bring that total to a million and a half dollars for these improvements.
ndntoo: No, the two onshore orders referred to above represent industry standard guidelines and are referenced as documents only as they currently read. And if the BLM changes them in the future those changes will not affect the Osage rules unless those changes are adopted by the BIA for Osage use. For instance if in the future a new way of metering gas is found that requires changes in industry standard guidelines to make it compatible with current rules. And if the BLM adopts these changes into its onshore order #5 that deals with gas measurement. This change will not be automatically incorporated in the Osage. First, the Osage Agency Superintendent and the Osage Minerals Council would consult. And if it is decided the changes are beneficial, the Director of the BIA would start the adoption process in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. The same process must also be used if any other onshore orders or NTL’s are to be adopted for use in the Osage. This is all spelled out quite plainly in 226.3 of the proposed CFR’s.
I am only going to address your statement above that states: You are also completely inaccurate with your statement that the Council has not been holding its biannual consultation meetings as directed in the settlement. We have actually had far more meetings than are called for. BIA Director Black as been in attendance for all of the meetings, even the ones that were not the two per year “official” ones for which the Osage Minerals Council sets the agenda. Our first meeting this year was in April and the second is later this month.
1. Where is the Agenda for these Meetings that were held even more frequently than required? REQUIRED to be submitted 30 days prior to the Meetings. 2. More importantly, where are the February 2012 and February 2013 Court Mandated Reports that are required to be submitted to the “Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe no later than February 15 of each year, beginning in 2012”? Are you telling us that the Chief is sitting on OUR Reports and no one has bothered to retrieve them? 3. “The United States and the Osage Minerals Council agree that the agenda for the first consultation will address a plan to undertake a review of gauging activities on the Osage Mineral Estate and make recommendations to the Parties as to how to improve the procedure and frequency of gauging, including the means, techniques and tools for measurement used for gauging sufficient to meet industry standards.” Exactly when was this meeting conducted, where is the Agenda, and where is the report on what recommendations were made, by whom, and how have they been implemented to correct the deficiencies that were discovered? I know that the Osage Minerals Council has been questioned as to where the reports were and I feel certain that if they had been made available that it would have been at the very least posted by Ray on his page. What was the level of gauging before the meeting and how much have they improved in frequency, means, techniques and tools for measurement to meet industry standards? Last report at MC meeting was 29, up from 15/month total previously. How much has that improved? Since there are at least 6 gaugers, down from the 9 previously and there are over 2,500 tank batteries, where has this been an improvement by any Industry Standard, unless it was another BIA standard? Out of approximately 2,625 transport loads out of the Osage every month that is 0.57% of the tanks being gauged. Do you find this acceptable? Does the BIA? Do we? This has been ongoing since 2011 when the Settlement Agreement was signed. It has been TWO YEARS so what has changed and improved at the BIA from this important FIRST Meeting? Where is the assessment of deficiencies that needed improvements? What was the base number that we began with and what is it consistently now? Who were the experts that went into the field to determine the deficiencies and where is their report? Where are the transparencies that we have every right to expect that we are not being informed? Why are we not allowed to be present at these meetings? Does the Osage Minerals Council truly believe that they have all the questions but most importantly, all the answers, and that this Consultation Committee wouldn’t benefit by other people who have more knowledge of what is actually happening in the field? 4. Why has none of this been presented at the Monthly MC Meetings and reported to the Shareholders who elected you?
226.3 says the BIA AFTER CONSULTATION (but NOT Approval) of the Osage Minerals Council is authorized to Issue and Make NTLs, Adopt onshore oil and gas orders, NTLs or related oil and gas regulations issued by the BLM. The Director of the BIA issues further orders to that effect in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. It appears that a publication in the Federal Register, which I am sure that no one reads like the morning paper, can change the Orders to match the BLM at will. Exactly how do you determine that this is a safeguard precluding the BLM changes to become effective in the Osage? The Director of the BIA has full autonomy over the Onshore Orders and the NTL, not the Osage Minerals Council where the authority should be final. You only have the right to be “consulted” it does not say that you must have a consensus or even an approval just that you must be consulted. It would not take any more time than to Google what happens to Indian Land that the BLM is controlling to see what will happen to the Osage Mineral Estate once the BLM has the authority that the new CFR will give them by incorporating THEIR ORDERS into OUR CFR. We are UNIQUE in the Osage thus why we have our own CFR 226 which ONLY APPLIES to the Osage! I stand corrected on the BLM Accounting; it is ONNR that actually performs the accounting function. Unfortunately, they have recently “upgraded” their system and it is still sending out error messages and is inoperable much of the time according to my sources. There has been a system in place for the BIA for several years, TAMS, that has yet to be fully implemented in the Osage BIA office even with the Settlement Agreement pointing out the inadequacies of the current system repeatedly since 2011 at least. It was a foregone conclusion that BLM would be involved in the accounting since the only true member of the Caucus that was BIA was your Co-Chair, the rest were all BLM/ONNR. The other Federal and Tribal Lands have already been almost completely shut down where the BLM operates, is that the goal for the Osage too? Why else would the BIA load their Government Caucus with a majority of BLM staff? Why was the Osage Minerals Council taken to a “model area” to see how well it is being operated which turned out to have ONE DRILLING RIG operating and it was pulling out after drilling that well and then there would be NONE on that Reservation? They also were largely gas areas when we have the majority of our Estate being Oil. Does any of this make you wonder why you were being led down that rosy little path? When our CFR can be changed at the whim of the Director of the BIA with the full consent of the Supt. who after all is appointed ultimately by the Director with only a "Consultation" with the Osage Minerals Council, how do you think that these new CFR's are going to better protect our Mineral Estate? Do you all peruse the Federal Register every day to see what is going to be changed in the Osage?
Wow what a great read to all who has posted even Galens comments were interesting as well...We have a lot on our Plate....a lot of issues and a lot of unforeseen issues as well....We can only surmise what's going to happen in the future and I personally would like to see the Estate run efficiently and operate smoothly as possible. We don't need another layer of bureaucracy to the M/E and we would not be in this position and well, at this point the blame game needs to stop and we need to be looking at other issues that led us down this path as you call it not as rosy after all....and really what's the best interest for the Shareholders/ M/E.. One, these meetings need to be held open at least to the interested parties involved mainly the Shareholders....That's a huge issue here since communication is so elemental with the Shareholders. We are not just Headright Owners/Shareholders we are in the first....And this all boils down to lack of communication....when there is a break down,creates the division and then the blame begins.....and we are stuck at square one again....The tides need to change starting with the M/C. This election can't come any faster...
I entirely agree. A very good read and the more the Shareholders come to know about these new proposed CFRs, the better. Some are more gullible than others and this is a fact of life. We need to be exceedingly shrewd about these changes and the ultimate cause and effect that they will have on the Mineral Estate income produced now and years into the future. See https://www.federalregister.gov/ and enter Osage in the search box on the top left of the web page. Example: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/search?conditions%5Bterm%5D=Osage&commit=Go
To Anonymous Dec. 8 20013 @ 8:08 again your litany of “facts” are anything but. For starters, the four man federal team of the Neg/Reg committee was made up of one BLM employee, one ONNR employee and two BIA employees, so one member out of four is hardly stacking the team with BLM influence. The BLM and ONNR members were a necessary component if we were to have experts in the services provided to the rest of the Indian world in the areas of accounting/auditing and oil and gas field management, since the BIA doesn’t provide these services anywhere other than Osage. Also, the BIA borrowing technical guideline wording from the BLM gives the BLM absolutely no regulatory power in the Osage. Any more than the fact that our producers are currently using borrowed Texas Railroad Commission H2S guidelines gives the Railroad Commission regulatory power in the Osage. And as I stated earlier, under the current regulations the Osage Agency Superintendant can unilaterally adopt any wording he/she wishes with no requirement for Mineral Council involvement. The added requirement for a Mineral Council role in this section of the new proposed regulations is just one of about a dozen places that adds a mandated Mineral Council role in what is currently solely Superintendent prerogatives. It wasn’t intended to stop the BIA from adopting and implementing needed technical requirements for protecting Osage interests, but rather as a regulatory tool to assure that the Minerals Council has a role in deciding what the needs are and seeing that they are met. As to the field trip taken by the computer system improvement subcommittee of the Osage delegation, they went to that tribal agency to look at their computer program for accounting and auditing, as those tribes had taken on part of those responsibilities themselves under a 202 agreement. The purpose wasn’t to look at their field operations because they have nearly nothing in common with the Osage. It was to look at how their on site accounting systems were being conducted. Your supposed statements of “fact” about how poorly the rest of the Indian mineral world is doing is pure baloney. Between the years 2008 and 2012 all tribal lands other than Osage saw an increase of 297% in oil and gas production. I only wish we had done so poorly! I can provide Tina with a chart that shows this nearly 300% increase if she will post it.
Galen Crum, Osage Minerals Council; Curtis Bear, Osage Minerals Council; Joseph Abbott, Jr., Osage Minerals Council; Andrew Yates, Osage Minerals Council; Melvin Core, Osage Minerals Council; Darryl LaCounte, Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Deputy Regional Director - Trust Services, Rocky Mountain Regional Office; Stephen Manydeeds, Department of Interior, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Chief, Division of Energy and Mineral Development; Paul Tyler, Office of Natural Resources Revenue, Program Manager, State and Indian Coordination; James Stockbridge, Bureau of Land Management, Trust Liaison and ONRR Liaison I see ONE BIA EMPLOYEE, how many do you see???? And he was a good friend of Mike Black, Director of the BIA too. You have only gained the right of "consulting" with the Minerals Council, doesn't say that they have to agree with the Minerals Council suggestions and can do whatever they want to do afterwards. Did you RESEARCH the Notice to Lessees (NTL)? As far as I can see on the Internet it only applies to OFFSHORE Development, where are the Osage Offshore Assets? Do you realize that there was an NTL issued recently that stated that everywhere in the agreement where "should" was listed was changed to "must" and there is NO APPEAL process for NTL? That is the equivalent to saying "This contract that you have signed has just unilaterally been changed by stating that everywhere you see MAY we have changed to SHALL!" You don't like it? TOUGH! (You cannot unilaterally change a contract without the approval of BOTH PARTIES yet the NTL's do that.) There was NEVER any NTL in the CFR 226 before yet now we have NTL, Two Onshore Orders that Osage cannot control the changes, and Regulations that the BIA couldn't enforce in the past added to by even more that can't be enforced due to lack of staff and lack of knowledge of the BIA. As for the Field Trip, why has the BIA NEVER implemented the TAMS system that was available in the past? What does it matter if you don't utilize the systems that are already in place that you go look at yet another system that you are not going to implement? You think that the rest of the Indian Mineral World is happy with the BIA go look at http://www.hcn.org/articles/lawsuits-feds-enabled-oil-drillers-others-to-cheat-fort-berthold-tribes-out-of-1-billion/article_view?b_start:int=1 Does Fort Berthold appear happy with the BIA or the Management Assistance from not only the BIA but the BLM? They had a Fiduciary Duty to them just as they did to the OSAGE, how did that work out for them? They may have had an increase in production but their Royalty didn't reflect it proportionately because they were ROBBED! But they were only robbed by a BILLION DOLLARS... nothing like our Settlement is it? Bring on the charts, but if the production increased 297% but the ROYALTY and the BONUSES were intentionally deflated, what did they gain? What do we gain? You can change the CFR as much as you want but if they are not enforced as written, you have done NOTHING to bring about a change to the BIA management and operational issues, have you? How many tank batteries were gauged this month? 15 month before last, 29 this past month, less than 1% per month? The Settlement Agreement Bi-Annual FIRST meeting was to address this in 2011...and what changed in over TWO YEARS? NOTHING!
I would also like to see the fiduciary trust relationship spelled out in writing as well. We've had enough of the free float sort of relationship where the BIA has defined it by what they have wanted to do or not do, in the moment over the last one hundred years, rather than on paper.
Who are the turncoats and apples...another layer of bureaucracy unbelievable.. just posted a huge blog for it go to hyperspace...try to make this short....we start at home and build our home with a IT system to industry standard and pick up where the BIA fails...we've been fighting this fight for over 200 years and the incompetence is no mistake....all the way up to the M/C...The M/C needs to do the diligence that is required and expected of them by the Shareholders in the first or we will dismantle and reconstruct the M/C, and if need be, will take this up with our Congressman and Congress...this is just plain stupidity....we shouldn't have to go there....but if needed we can...now to address the accounting this can be done as well with the M/C....to see the output is at nearly a 300% since 2008 is it reflective in our Royalty Checks look again it's not. There is no reason why we are still at square one and this is no joke and this is a poke to the M/C...In this day and age of technology there are many references to programs that will facilitate what needs to be done going and looking at someone elses technology may not apply to our necessary means but is a start, now put foot to action...This is why I'm running to and fro the M/C....they are so far behind it's not a laughing matter anymore...and never has been except to the onlookers who read this site...
In addition to the post Dec.13, 2013. What needs to happen is we need to trend to compare reports where there could be potential conflicts. You do this to verify how we are trending for financial data....once you do this everything will sort of speak come together. We need to get these reports out also to advertise as well....to the Shareholders....when you do a comparison then you can asses which direction to go...not that hard. This way we can be sure the reports are being reported and posted in a timely fassion as well....time to work as a team for team M/E.
To Anonymous December 12 @ 10:11pm : Steve Manydeeds is the Division Chief of the Division of Energy & Minerals Development, Bureau of Indian Affairs. So the make-up of the federal side of the Neg/Reg committee was 2 BIA employees, 1 BLM Employee and 1 ONNR employee just as I stated. I worked with these people many long hours for nearly a year. Do you really think I don’t know who they work for? For some reason you seem driven to hostile challenges of everything I say even when it serves no purpose in supporting your wild accusation about a dark plot to load the deck in favor of the BLM. Even under your inaccurate count of the agencies represented there is still only one each from BLM and ONNR. And no one, BIA or Osage wants the BLM to have any authority in the Osage. NTL’s or Notices To Lessees are merely written notices to producers about policy directives. A simple example of a NTL might be if a regulation requires signage at each well location telling who the operator is and an identification name for the site. A NTL could be issued telling the producer how big the sign must be or where it should be placed or similar guidelines on how to properly comply with the regulation. In the BLM world they are subject to specific adoption processes and must be vetted and approved up the chain of command. Under current regulations in the Osage the BIA Superintendant can pretty much issue these types of directives at will. As to your claim that issuing these types of directives is somehow improperly changing the lease agreement, all our leases plainly state that operations are to be conducted in accordance with BIA/DOI regulations and policies and the CFR’s are very plain on what things can and cannot be changed. Onshore orders or NTL’s could never be used to change those areas. Again your statement about the TAMS computer system not being implemented in the Osage is false. There are parts of the TAMS system being used right now and more is likely to come. The problem with going totally with TAMS is that it was developed for the rest of the BIA world, so it will work with ONNR and BLM systems, but has no capability to perform the functions the systems those other agencies now perform. For instance there is no oil and gas accounting or auditing capability in TAMS because the ONNR system takes care of these areas for all other Tribal lands. So in order to bring all these services to the Osage the TAMS system must be supplemented in some fashion. I find it humorous that you condemn the BIA for not properly protecting the Three Affiliated Tribes from being exploited by the oil companies in the Fort Berthold area, since these oil companies used the exact same scare tactics there that they are using here in the Osage to try and defeat the Neg/Reg changes. Claiming that if they have to pay more royalty or give bigger lease bonuses they will not drill on tribal lands. They will just pack up and go else where. In the beginning, before the full potential of the play was realized they were successful and convinced a lot of alottees to settle for $100 lease bonuses and 1/6 royalty. Now they are paying 1/4th royalty and $50,000 dollar per acre bonuses to those folk’s neighbors. Those that signed early are now mad at the BIA for not using its crystal ball to stop them from falling for the oil company claims.
In response to Galen Crum and his chart which does not reveal the source of the data for verification, we all know that you can make numbers say anything that you want them to: 1. Increases in Tribal and allotted Indian Leases are not due to any superior management by BIA. It is due to Tribes luck in having huge mineral rights located in fairways of Bakken Oil boom in Montana, N. Dakota and in Shale-Oil Horizontal Drilling plays in other Northern USA States. 2. Verify sources of data used in your Charts! Was it some BIA employee trying to save Mike Black's rear-end. Verify, verify -- all statements fed to you by BIA top management; who to quote Bob Jackman”Manage Indian Mineral Estates like a 1930s One pump gas service station. " 3. Have you taken the trouble to read Montana's Ft. Berthold Tribal Members Class Action Suit against BIA? It's more of the same stupid management as at Osage Agency. 4. Increase of oil prices the last 8 years have covered up BIA's semi-criminal management. Why don't you brag on Office of Inspector General's reports on hostile management by BIA -Eastern Oklahoma which includes BIA Osage Agency? Why have you become the mouth-piece for BIA?
So glad I didn't have to post this one! Yes. Harvard started with that self-reporting of statistics in Indian Country that has subsequently spiraled out of control with anything hitting the fan that looks like numbers and stats without any legitimate verification. I guess this works with stupid uneducated people. Thank God we have had money in the Osage for 100 years and our children have been educated throughout that period. This won't fly Galen. Find something more legitimate that is properly sourced and verified.
Camment on compacting: "I have always believed that the BIA is a necessary evil. We need them and the power that comes behind them. However you better watch Congress and Maria Whitehorn. She has already talked to us about a Bill she is working on, the bottom line is that you will have to ask Congress before you compact. do contracts etc. I asked her if she was going to remove or exempt the Mineral Council and she said no." See Congresswoman Whitehorn's response at http://edigital.iserver.net/osages/Explanation_ONCA_13-62.pdf ONCA 13-62 can be reviewed at http://osagenation.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ONCA13-62.REVISED.pdf
I looked at the stuff and its just that a resolution has to be put out by the Congress before a compact can be signed by the Chief. He can still veto it and even if they override the thing it won't matter. Resolutions don't count for anything really. It's just supposed to indicate the will of Congress but in reality, it can't stop the Chief from compacting if he wants to. You need ONCA legislation to stop the Chief but he'd claim violation of separation of powers and go back to court. Crazy the way this constitution doesn't ever work. Its more like a bear trap than a governing document no matter how much Liz Homer preens about how great it is. Think the trap laid by Dustin Hoffman in Straw Dogs.
Still, at least it will delay any compact until all of the members of the ON Congress can become informed about it and weigh in by a vote on the floor of the Congressional chamber.
ON Congress attorney responds to the Chief's Supreme Court lawsuit against the SCOI, Alice Buffalohead and Raymond Redcorn; see the Respondent Brief in Support of Answer at http://edigital.iserver.net/osages/RBSA.pdf and the precedent for Implied Powers of Investigation of the U.S. Senate, "The authority of Congress to investigate is an implied constitutional power." at http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Investigations.htm
REMEMBER the Osage Surge and consider sending them an e-mail shown below too:
E-mail sent to the Election Board today to electionboard@osagetribe.org and Shannon Locket at electionoffice@osagetribe.org :
Subject: Out of Town Candidate Registrations Dear Osage Nation Election Board:
In order to promote a more universally fair and equitable election environment for all registered Osage members, please consider, at your next regular meeting in December of 2013, an approval process for those who live away from Pawhuska to register to become candidates in the upcoming election.
The Election Board meeting is listed for December 18, 2013 at 1 p.m. Be sure to call and confirm this date and time at the Osage Nation Election Office at (918) 287-5286 or (877) 560-5286.
Well good for you. It's about time someone stood up and took action to get people in office that won't shame us over and over again year after year time after time. Think back on what most of those in office over the past years have done or havent when they should have and how awful and disappointing its been.
I agree. It's was Ok for us to put in our opinions and ideas when it all got started with the strategic planning process but the discriminatory election candidate qualification practices of the Osage Nation still date back to the Tribal Council system. Not fair and not right to the majority who need to be allowed to have an influence on what goes on with our government. You're right. Take a look at what's been going on since the beginning and tell me that we couldn't have done better if allowed to participate in the Congress and Executive Branch. What good has the religion and culture done them in their capacity as elected officials and more importantly Us if they are allowed to continue to make such a mess of everything? Watching movies on the floor eating pizza in the lobby of a public office of the Osage Nation? Enough!!!!!!!
For more information see http://osagenation.co/department-directory/election-board/filing-for-candidacy/ I encourage everyone who wants to run for office to call Election Supervisor, Alexis Rencountre, with your questions and requests for information at (918) 287-5289. She is interested in what you have to say, engaging, intelligent and very professional. Other ON Election Office contact information is located at http://www.osagetribe.com/electionboard/contact.aspx
E-mail sent today to the Osage Nation Election Board:
Subject: Please Revisit the Out of Town Candidate Registrations
Dear Osage Nation Election Board:
For future reference, please revisit the out of town Candidate registrations so that those of us who live elsewhere can participate in the election process as Candidates in future elections without having to come into Pawhuska to register. Please consider these reasons:
1) The current policy is discriminatory to the majority of Osage Nation Members who live outside of Pawhuska and Osage County.
2) The current policy is a hold over from the Osage Tribal government and should be updated appropriately to reflect a Constitutional democracy. Election policies that are clearly seen to be costly, inconvenient and therefore prohibitive for the majority of members to become candidates should be changed to reflect a democratic government that promotes participation and inclusion.
3) The majority of the members should be represented by those who live outside of Pawhuska and Osage County and know the concerns of those among whom they live around in their local community. This promotes interest and active participation in the Osage Nation government. If they didn't want those of us who live away included, why did they go to the trouble and expense to obtain our thoughts and opinions during the strategic planning meetings that were held all over the U.S.?
4) In view of the roiling scandals that have plagued the new government in the last seven years, we need to introduce new ideas and the people who will represent them in government processes and day to day workings. An outside and more worldly view is clearly needed to promote a healthy new Osage government and help free it from the corruption it is plagued by currently. A fresh pair of eyes is never harmful when things are continuing to go this wrong.
Please consider an emergency meeting to discuss changes to the current policy if at all possible.
Thank you for your immediate attention to this important matter.
Great write and read Tina Allen...My suggestion is that a lot of us own property and etc...throughout Osage County outside of the M/E and some do not...other than get a check from the M/E and are headright owners as well....Most of these families came and were the first Osages to arrive with a lot of family's still existing in Osage County, now that being said...I've brought this up before...and I don't know how this will work but it must or we must find another way for inclusion or this Gov. will be shut down...it becomes something else other than a Democratic approach and at this point our Gov. is not Democracy for the Majority but for the few...who live in the area....and in the past out of towners who lived in other States still were able to sit on Boards and etc....before we became a Gov? Getting to the point...why not create a way that others can run for election and district them to the Locations of those districts their families come from...? It would be easier. Just a thought...anyone else with a food for thought?
MC meetings for January 2014 will likely be at the Cultural Center because of the Chief's removal trial. Apparently from the discussion at the meeting today, they will be reconstructing the Congressional Chamber starting on Jan. 9, 2014 to add a witness box, a tribunal court environment and so on and so forth for the trial proceedings. What is the cost on this when it could be moved over to the ON Court that is more suited to such an environment especially since the ON Constitution requires a Court Judge be appointed to head these removal proceedings? It would be seemly to reconsider this Congressional decision in the event that the Chief resigns prior to or during the trial and the money is wasted. All it would take is a request for cooperation from the Judicial Branch and I can't imagine that they would refuse such a request unless their court calendar is that full in the month of January. Also, $12,000+ going in for a web site for the MC? Isn't that price through the roof? WHY does everything the ON does cost 3 to 5 times what it should?
Lets look a the profile of the Chairman first before we just dole out more of the same waste that has been going on for over 200 years what has the Chairman done to cube these actions for the Shareholders? No not at this time. Until we see that 300% on our Royalty checks.....What Chairman? Names please?
Rick Torix. See article, "Osage Oil & Gas Summit Official in Okla. Resigns: Whitewing Cites Lack of Interest from Companies" at http://www.questia.com/library/1P2-34628911/osage-oil-gas-summit-official-in-okla-resigns
Believe me, when the checks start dropping, the shareholders will take an interest in what the 'CFR Three' have been doing. By the way, why haven't we seen the shareholders picketing the Ladd and Ree Drummond owned building next to the Triangle building for putting up gates and locking one of the oil producers out? Someone should call that cooking channel Ree appears on and have them respond to the reason the Osages are picketing.
The change to the CFR'S are not the problem....There's a lot issues of non compliance written all over the estate...the Producers will be installing all kinds of equipment to get caught up to industry standard and many have more than just one well etc....It's not cheap but in the long run and soon to be a difference in you check you will see.....exactly what we should be getting paid for......right now our economy and with the falling prices of oil will potentially slow things down....as well...a lot factors plays in the role of the Oil Industry...with loomng more taxes coming down from the administration....all the factors at the BIA at the adminitrative level has also plalyed a role as well....it's a combination of sorts...we will alwalys have political issues, reg. issues and etc....in order to grow we must allow the producers who exist already they must grow and as painful as it might be this should have been done years ago.....and yes the Drummonds are way out of line and there is no reason as to why we just don't go in there and unbolt the locks. We have the right away....
Finally, someone has made a correct assessment of the problem. Thank you. Anyone fighting the changes to these CFRs is attempting to do great harm the beneficiaries of the Osage Mineral Estate. Some of them are shareholders, and apparently just don’t understand. Sadly, 2 or 3 of them are members of this Mineral Council 2. I’M SURE THEY DO UNDERSTAND. We saw them in action last month at the MC meeting when they tried to award a concession to one of their buddies for $4 million dollars less than the going rate. THEY got to go. Boy, do they GOT TO GO!
If they are scheduling a lease sale all the way into the Fall of '14 due to lack of interest, why won't you acknowledge the damage that is being done with these new CFRs? Are you blind or are you on board with running the ME into the ground so that those who do get a check today won't care due to the small size when the Osage Nation and the ONOs who have backed it for 60 years make their move to take over the ME and all you will you will have left is just like what you've got today, which is an arrangement where what income there is will go out to Osage Nation employees in salaries and benefits who never answer the phone and never return a call from a phone message that you leave on an answering device? Think long term and the overall problems you will have then with little or no income in your check.
Two Things should come avail. One we will find out how out of compliance and two how much we have really lost in revenue in the past.. and who does not want you to know? These changes could have not come any sooner...why the delay with the BIA it is a known fact in Indian Country if you study the facts as they are laid out, Corruption has played a major dysfunction for many Tribes not just ours alone and the turncoats, you are beginning to see. Yes, we are seeing who they are and we have them. If you think favoritism isn't a form of corruption it is and causes division and a sour conflict of interest..I have a problem with Concessions for that reason and it is just a archaic way of doing business and in my opinion may need to change to alleviate the consequence of falling prey to favoritism and corruption such as kickbacks. If any and all people would understand what has transpired over the last 200 years would recognize...The Truth....and we will not forget. So in retrospect. information is so elemental to trend. Will keep you honest..so When I say it is so important that we align ourselves so in the future we will know where we stand and you will have answers. Just from seeing from the outside to the inside and what makes sense. Alot is said what or where the BIA fails but it also reflects on the M/C as well. We shouldn't be where we are at. Hear our voices M/C get that IT system developed and start doing the diligence.that is required by the Shareholders.and I've got the people who can install and are waiting. I've been in the corp. world for a while and know quite a few vendors who I specialized within the IT world ..This in turn will alleviate any but not all conflicts of interest that just might exist....and not just this it could save millions in fees going to lawyers because we will be able to monitor and trend and account, post and keep an eye on any eventualities that are unforeseen, some not all..but what is really important is we should stay in tow with the BIA to point out any and all discrepancies...There's nothing saying that we should not be doing or stopping the M/E from growing....The M/C. All it is processing information and mapping etc....So you gotta ask yourselves why are we not there yet caught up to industry standard in the field and out of the field? I read a story called Inside the BIA. Go to www.dickshovel.com/browse.html...Mind you this was written if I remember back to 1986 and this person in the first hand experience working for the BIA....Still learning still researching and I'm not always right and I'll be the first to say oops or sorry but we can't even get that kind of accountablity from our M/C members. We need transparency and accountability and we need to believe that we can trust that the M/C are doing everything in their capacity to represent the M/E in the most positive way..now there are a few that I do respect on the council..we need to assert and be pro-active. Our future depends on what they do..they are our eyes and ears....so, communication is vital to the Shareholders now we know what has transpired, we go forward and move forward and we hold them accountable...This is by far an Estate that is valued somewhere between 4 billion to 10 billion and untapped why? I know. It's to logical of a answer....we need to grow...and we need new thinking and we need someone who does not know and who is not apart of the quagmire sort of speak with forward thinking...someone who is not a part of the old but wants to bring ideas to the table and bring into the old a new and fresh perspective. The foundation of a good business is everyone needs to be on the same page and we want team players only....Oh thanks for the compliment you're welcome...poster DEC.13th at 10:24 pm
The only thing I can say is that you are entitled to your belief...and if there are a lot of people who believe in exactly what I am saying and there is a world of info out there to be had you would understand where I come from...and I was at your place where you are at, at one time....it has taken 5 years to get where I am at and still not knowing all the facts but I got enough and I have a lot smarts in my pinky....numbers do not lie....and being an accountant logic is not hard for me....compassion is...because there are no accidents in life, life is what you make of it....oh I have compassion but logic serves me best....I can tell you I have more than one headright and I can tell you I wouldn't throw that future away down the toilet or otherwise, this is my childrens future...and boy are they comprised and educated about what our Family is all about. Thats all of you my Brother and Sister Osages...I may live away and not my doing but I've never wavered in my cultural background ever....my fervor for the truth is exactly that for the Shareholders...somewhere greed got in the way with corruption...and lost in communication or translation the Shareholders opinion because we matter because we own the Estate. We didn't purchase this estate we inherited it...so your opinion matters just different from mine but in the end we all want the same. Just going about it differently needs to happen to industry standard long over due less the inconsistencies and redundancies and the cronyism and nepotism needs to go the sour factors...to shed light on the estate forever communication to the Shareholders a priority. Long live the Osage Tribe and the 1906 Act.
One thing that is always consistent with the Osages. They can never take a warning seriously. Once they make up their minds, that's it. This is seriously dangerous to any sort of business venture no matter what it is.
P.S. to psoter dec.14 at 12:01 When you understand economics 101 and world economies and the world markets and how everthing cycles and the corp world. then you would understand the stance I believe in....oh there's more.
I agree poster....dec 14 at 12:41. Risks can be alleviated to a degree and mistakes happen but accountability is a factor we don't have because we are not at the place yet....and we need to get there as asap.....stop playing house and develope our Office...2 years and still at square one and you know everyone has excuses...there would be no warnings in the first if they had set up shop as soon as the HPP was settled. and I can see your point there were no warnings going out to the shareholders that's for sure.....before the settlement and we should have been kept in the knowing but propaganda got in the way I would suspect. One sided. And this is why we need equality restored with respect and the list can go on...
I think the lease sale for the Fall of ’14 is being scheduled to coincide with the next oil and gas summit. I am not blind, nor am I deaf and dumb. The only damage being done is the delay in getting these CFRs in place. The shareholders lose money every day that hasn’t happened. Then, of course there is the damage to our ears from listening to you whine. I suggest you not worry too much about the long term, since YOU have failed to notice that a lease sale is also scheduled in early March. Get the short term stuff under your hat first. This half-truth junk is a Cynthia Boone tactic that she has used on us for years. You have a long way to go to get as good as she is at it. Producers are lining up at the door to nominate leases and to get permits. I’m told that some were standing out in the cold rain last Friday at the council meeting, discussing what proposals they were going to present to the council. The BIA is hiring and training personnel. Production is going up. Oil prices have stabilized and are coming back up a little. The new accounting systems planned by the BIA that will give us much better assurance that we will finally be paid all the royalty due us are being put in place. Give me a break. You have no idea of what needs done or how to do it.
Cant tell if this is supposed to be a compliment or an insult. This must be the first guy out of the gate to run for Chief...all things to all people and maybe an ONO too?
Lease sale in March you say? Well good luck with that. Youre like the guy on the Titanic that hasn't quite figured out whats happened yet. Out in the cold rain planning what concessions they want from the M/C is much more like it.
Share please so many quotes from this great movie before my time....so many were said. I liked what was it Calahan that said, how did this degernerate get into power of authority? I think , Lol comes to mind, sure that's not the quote you are looking for but share this classic quote...
Heres a perfect example of why were so negative. You don't get it most of the time and when you do shift yourself to even try it's FUBAR!!!!!! Oddball is a character in the movie Kelly's Heroes, NOT MASH. I believe the quote you are referring to is, Oddball: Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?--end of quote-- OK I will: Get it together for once in your life and when I see this freak wave of nature, I will !!!!!!!
Councilman Core made a motion to give a 1 ½% Cost of Living Allowance raise to the Council. No action was taken at the Dec. 13th meeting. I will be making a score card before the elections.
Why not double it? That's what they want to do with the salary of the Chairman of the Oil Summit. Throw money around. Why not? $30K for two or three day's work and per diem per month plus paid or reimbursed trips to Washington D.C. and it isn't enough? Every single one of them got paid all or part of the full Headright share or more of the HPP lawsuit settlement ($155,000). What would they do if they had to do the work for free like back in the 1990's and before? Resign? Ugggh!!!!!! I wish they would if they think that they're so entitled. Disgusting!!!!!!!
It's shocking that they get $30,000 as it is for such a few days work. They must be the highest paid people on the Osage government payroll as it is already. It's scandalous these greedy people. When are we going to get elected officials who serve the people and not their own self interests? One of the members of Congress believes that you need to do something to deserve benefits from the Osage Nation. What do they do to get all that Federal money ($15 million) that is used locally besides be an Osage who lives or works in and around Pawhuska and the County? Because they dress up three times a year and dance around under an Arbor? Because they belong to the Native American religion? What good have those supposedly spiritual experiences done for them or our new government? It's been proven time and time again to be more corrupt than nearly all of the Native American governments that you can name. Ask Norma Merriman about how ethical the people are that she was working with before she got canned by Diedre Bigheart for not being the right fit. A nest of corruption? I can believe that any ethical person would be the wrong fit for what this government has become in the last seven years. And the instigator of all this thinks we're the Taliban?
To: Anonymous December 19, 2013 at 11:56 AM & Thrifty Shareholder December 19, 2013 at 12:23 PM
How about let’s only vote for those who promise to work for free, zero, zilch, absolutely NO salary, in their campaign platform. We have one doing that now. Never drew a nickel in 3 ½ years, and has paid many of his own expenses, including a trip to Washington where he paid his own plus one other’s full expenses, simply to support one of our speakers at a very important meeting. Wonder what he would tell a producer who offered to pay him something for a trip to Washington? You really have a great idea here. Why don’t you find us 7 more like him to run for MC, and then YOU go down and pay their filing fee. That would be your contribution. Be sure to post it here when you get this done, and give us your name and address so we can properly thank you. There will quickly be 2 guys in little white uniforms come for you with a very long sleeved jacket just your size, so you won’t get cold. How about when you get just ONE more, let us know so we’ll know you’re working on it. Meanwhile, until you get that done, maybe we could just put the entire MC and all the employees on the Producers payroll right up front. That would save some of them from needing to sneak out of town, and needing to look in the back seat of their car every day for that package of cash. It would also save us shareholders a lot of money in wages and donuts. ----WAIT A MINUTE----WHAT WOULD THAT DO TO OUR HEADRIGHT CHECKS? Maybe that’s not such a good idea after all.
I guess so. That's what she said. We also need to open things up to find candidates who will give representation as members of Congress who don't harbor a discriminatory attitude towards those of us who live outside of Pawhuska that will open the election process up to all of us around the country who want to run for office by changing the rules and/or the election law to permit members of the Osage Nation to file to run for elected office from where they live.
"How about let’s only vote for those who promise to work for free, zero, zilch, absolutely NO salary, in their campaign platform." Actually, until the 30th Council, that's exactly the way it used to be for 90 years. GOOD IDEA! Service to us rather than servitude to the almighty Osage Nation government and their self-serving elected officials. Are you one of them?
Right!!!! Sounds like the one who needs the white coats is the paranoid poster. How would this crazy know who's on the producers payroll unless whoever it is was right there for the payoff. How much did they get too? lol
Minimum wage for Oklahoma is $7.25 and $15,080 is the salary for a 40 hour work week x 52 weeks. The M/C is getting nearly double that amount for much less than a part time job and thats far more than they should. The rule of thumb is 20 hours or more for part time up to 40 hours which is full time.
Maybe this is why the Mineral Council thinks they deserve the 1% increase. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/20/western-states-hit-hard-by-budget-deal-tweak-to-oil-gas-royalties/?intcmp=latestnews
The Council sees fit to give themselves a increase to their salary and looking at the most events in the Industry it is coincidental that they would be asking as much of an increase...and it was a heads up what we can expect in the future and the domino effect Obama Care has on the economy and we knew energy is and was going to be tapped...This at a state level.
IF... and I'll repeat IF...the MC were to work a full 8 hours a day, three days a week for the entire 52 weeks of the year...they would be working 1248 hours a year. At $30,000 a year that would be $24 and hour. OF course they don't work a full 8 hour day and don't work 52 weeks in the year. In addition it's not like they have college degrees in business or anything. I'll bet we can find qualified people that would be glad to have their job for $24 an hour.
Councilman Core motioned for a resolution to establish an automatic Cost Of Living Adjustment for the Council salaries each year. The amount will be determined using the U S Consumer Price Index (Urban), as of September 30 of each year, and published by the US Government. Usually published in November, this salary adjustment will be paid retroactive to October 1 of each year. The vote to approve was 7 yes, 0 no, with 1 abstention. Councilman Abbott explained that since he did not draw a Council salary, he would abstain from voting on this issue.
Isn't this a stab in the eye to the Native community? https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/12/09/2013-29088/eagle-permits-changes-in-the-regulations-governing-eagle-permitting You can't have a Cross or a Bible anywhere in sight publicly but you can kill the SACRED Birds of the Native American community? WTH?
There's a lot already being done to fight the effort of the Wind Farms...we file another law suit....against the Fed. Gov....costly yes but do they want to write millions of dollars again to us? They will lose this fight as well and unfortunately for the Wind Farms we will fight this until there are no subsidies to be had by the Gov. then they will have to use their own money for this boone doggle of another tax of which they will sram...we hope.
By 2018 we should be a major exporter of Natural Gas and by 2016 Oil will have plateaued. And we are seeing some of the reflection of becoming a major exporter in the U.S. Prices depending on supply and demand plays a huge role in the Numbers of Course. The U.S. is now exporting more oil than they have seen in two decades....
There are people who may become candidates in the upcoming election that I am sure, for one reason or another, we all would trash but this isn't the mission or goal of the Osage Blog. If you have an issue that's one thing. A laundry list leading to an out and out dissertation is another. Please be advised of this in future when you post.
The race is on... Candidate update: Geoffrey Standing Bear and Margo Gray have thrown their hats into the ring for Principal Chief and Raymond Red Corn is running for Assistant Principal Chief.
Chief Red Eagle for reelection Photo Op at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624259614301536&set=a.153834188010750.33094.134873493240153&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
I find the current "Duck Dynasty" controversy over free speech interesting and how it parallels what goes on in the "Osage". Case in point....Patrica was drummed out of the OSA board for speaking out on various decisions that were being made, that she as an elected board member didn't agree with. Also the same Cynthia Boone supporters have stood up in MC meetings and yelled at people they didn't like saying " Sit down we don't want to hear anything you have to say" Don't know about anyone else but, to me, this type of behavior shows the lack of respect and tolerance that they have for anyone that has an opinion that differs from theirs and how far they will go to control free speech! Personally, come election time, we need to elect those that are willing to listen to and show respect to everyone and rid our selves of those in office that support and encourage this kind of behavior.. Condoning such behavior has no place in Osage matters and does not reflect well on any Osage elected official that supports this.
There is freedom of speech and then there's taking advantage of a web site by trying to destroy a person with the intent of doing so who may be running for office in future. Patricia has been warned and continues to disregard the warning. The blog moderator has the right to set parameters and they have been established. If you want all bets off, talk to Kent Radcliff about reinstating his web site that was pretty much a free for all.
Stating an opinion based on the facts does not hardly constitute a "All bets off, Free for all" Also when anyone runs for office, they stand accountable for their past action, based on facts. What better place than this forum to make them public so voters will know who they are voting for.
I am going to have to jump into the discussion. And running a 4 or 5 part, paragraph after paragraph, diatribe about nothing other than what can be seen to be one person's take on the "facts" relative to an elected official that reflects their particular bias against that official? No. I don't see that this is of value to anyone. If there is an issue of particular importance, yes. Just running on and on and on is bore and no one cares to have such self-indulgent unsophisticated nonsense like this spewed all over them because the writer appears to be holding a grudge and trying to get even. Perhaps it's time to revisit the post in part at http://osageblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/welcome-to-osage-blog.html#comment-form : osageblogger June 19, 2013 at 1:43 PM - ...The Osage Blog is offered and managed by the same people at OPEN (Osage Pre-Election News) at osage_election_news@comcast.net who have been sending out e-mail updates to the subscribers about the Osage elections, candidates and other events of interest that are going on in the Osage and with other Osage groups throughout the U.S. and we have done so since 2006 during the time of the advent of the new Osage Nation government. We make every attempt to provide accurate information and we are people who you can trust. Civility largely depends on the individual who comes in to post but be assured that the rules here are more STRINGENT because it is Google who sets the mark and it is a high one. Welcome to you, thank you for coming in to post and let the discussion continue..." This was clarified from the outset and it sets the tone and the parameters for those who want to comment here. Clearly, the limits were defined here at the Osage Blog from day one. Our Blog, our rules. If this is too narrow in scope, take it over to Facebook and see how far you get there. Cyberspace is a big "off" world. If this is not right for you then find what is or start your own Blog and spew whatever vitriol you harbor at will. We're not saying you're wrong to have issues with elected officials, it's just the way some who have been posting here are taking advantage of the situation in attempting to use this Blog to their own self-interested purposes and that's not right or fair to the majority of the other readers here.
What is of more concern right now is how the Congress and the sponsors and voters for the Osage Nation Election law have set themselves up to have only a few run for Chief and Assistant Chief with this skunk Primary Election they have cooked up to control the playing field for those who live back home. If no one else runs for Asst. Chief, Raymond Red Corn will get in by default and the time to file run for both positions will be over by January 6, 2014. So far, the three running for Chief are Margo Gray, Chief Red Eagle and Geoffrey Standing Bear. We need more choices than just these four. You can smell this one all over the U.S. Dating back the last two years or so, the gift tag on it is from Raymond Red Corn and recently in 2013 from Kuggee.
I have a problem as well a narrow window to sign up and it's during the most busiest time of year and it's a bunch of crock....end of stroy..not everyone is available to just pick up at the end of the year especially when it's year end....and any one who owns a buisness understands what this means.....just a lot of work for short....and your right about the set up...just takes one good canidate and where are they I don't see it in anyone of these carreer politicians who are not for the constiuency. Where was the Christmas turkey gift card to all of the Constiuency? Where's that per-cap?
New Article on motion for a removal trial>> http://osagenews.org/article/congressman-mason-issues-motion-removal-trial-chief-red-eagle-0
ReplyDeleteToday's 9th Special Session audio is available on demand for listening online at http://on-web1.osagetribe.org/media/congress/audio/FY2014/2013-1114_3Con_9SS-Day1-pt1.mp3
DeleteREPRINT: Remember I will be asking you the same questions whoever you are. If you are going to run, why are you hiding behind anonymous?
ReplyDeleteI have always believed that the BIA is a necessary evil. We need them and the power that comes behind them. However you better watch Congress and Maria Whitehorn. She has already talked to us about a Bill she is working on, the bottom line is that you will have to ask Congress before you compact. do contracts etc. I asked her if she was going to remove or exempt the Mineral Council and she said no.
I believe that the 1906 Act has been amended only 12 times. At least that is the number I have and read.
My rants have gotten your attention. I hope I am getting my message across to our people - we need to clean up our act! We are wasting too much money and we have very little to show for it on one side, and on the Mineral side we have Producers who, over the years have taken advantage of us. We Osages need to get back into the drivers seat! One can not just look at the Mineral Estate, we have to look at the whole Nation and what everyone is doing.
Why do you keep calling Shareholders - Stakeholders? I personally prefer to be called a Headright owner!
I hate to burst your bubble, but a majority of the Shareholders only care about their check. One of the reasons why so few of them vote.
Paticia had problems with my computar and I would love to answer you questions and thank you Osageblogger for moving her question to the new thread have a virus keep trying to install updates my Adobe is possibly not compatible with the net so to make a long story short I have replied 3 times and each time it didn't show...lol...not! I'll respond in a few....
DeleteHere I go again...4th attempt...Patricia useing my name at this point is not an option not trying to hide but more or less I have huge reasons not to use my name....I come from a Great Line of family as every one probably feels the same of theirs. The M/E is our Baby not the Federal Gov..Not the BIA'S or the Nations....The M/E was not bought by us but was willed and we are thr heirs to this Estate in the first....that means we are unique in so many ways and that goes without saying, as you understand a lot more than meets the eye...keep posting.../// Stakeholder in the first is as good as headright owner....This gives us a number and account and a percentage...we are entitled in so many ways to have our voice heard...We didn't purchase the M/E this gives us more of right to have our voice heard...being the Stakeholder in the first allows us that freedom compared to just another shareholder. And this is why we matter.
Delete2nd part Paticia..... We can no longer sit Idle and let failure happen again..we all know how we feel about the HPP case and this is an example why Osage Shareholders are upset....Had the STAKEHOLDER IN THE FIRST THATS YOU AND ME were adivised and kept comprised the turnout would have turned out differently I don't know but just the mere fact that we were kept in the dark is a huge understatement and this should have not happend period...I suspect that the big fat cats had something to do with this. Since I came on board in about 2008 or it could have been just a little sooner..My mouth must have dropped....didn't know what to think....had a lot of catch up time...and now I find that we need people with skills, ethics and so forth with the drive to see success and I'm that driver sort of speak it will take team players and thats you and me...the M/C and I hope that I can bring integrity and faith restored to the M/E...The M/C has had ample time to set up office with IT state of the art softwhere so we can track and map and facilitate and pick up where the BIA does not....There is no reason why we should be at square one still....and having this same arguement over and over again...We will always have the Nation trying to compact so they can get their hands on the M/E and we are watching how the Osage LLC is operating just handing cash over cash. Would like to take a look at the passive/agressive investments but that's anotother issue Congress and the Boards need to really get controll of....We need clearly need team players. Ah the oil fields and Business...do I understand yes...had several years to understand and research...not so different in running a buisness. And it is my belief that those who just receive a check are not clued in to what it is exactly what is at stake and I suspect the voter turnout could be higher in the future once we establish better communication lines...I hope that when and if I do get elected you will be the first of many reports to got out to the Shareholders. Stakeholders in the first/// In my time I have attended alot of symposiums or field trips out side of a business and never did a sponcer pay my way the company did this was to leave out any conflict of interest//// and the Producers knew exactly what they were doing...No longer can we or should we accept this behavior...we must inlist and subcribe to new Ideas with some of the old and get caught up to the 21st century....I know the intended consequence of losing another dollar another day but not at the expense of the MAJOR STAKEHOLDER that's you and me....To futher delay change is going to bite us in the long run//// Time to get this show rolling/// I hope I was able to answer the best as I could at this point I want to have a word with my computar...sooooo slow////
DeleteThirdly Patricia. we know and have seen the negative connotations and how Neptosism and Croynism has affected the M/E and in everthing I posted above in this will solidiify this won't happen again....we need policies of which everyone can understand with enforcement of due process...of which we can work with....we need a working body for the As you would like to say and sounds right Headright owners the major stakeholders in the first should the Headright Owner deserve the Respect that they deserve as accordingly per the 1906 ACT long live our befloved Osage Tribe...Where or where had the 50 dollar gift certificate to each Osage family on ThanksGivivng gone. oh Where oh where has art though gone, opps I guess the Nation was so concerned about their Bonuses they forgot to feed the People that feed them....
DeleteBIA may be a necessary evil but how long are we going to wait for them to clean up their management and operational issues? At yesterday's meeting Sonny Abbott questioned the latest Acting Supt.(she is the third supt. acting or otherwise this year so far) why the OMC budget had not been approved by the BIA? He also pointed out to her that the past THREE BUDGETS he had to go to BIA Director Mike Black and force the Supt. to get it out of the Solicitors hands and get approved! He was informed that the Budget was NEVER required to be approved by either the BIA Supt. or the Solicitor! One year the Osage Nation had to advance money to run the OMC until the "approval"! They were also informed that as long as the Supt. has a Resolution approving the Budget (which they had) and a copy of the Budget then all they need is a signed request for a Drawdown! In the past Currey REQUIRED the OMC to submit a REVISED BUDGET on Line Item Changes to await her Approval too! How can this dysfunctional Agency continue to mismanage (according to the Court Ordered Settlement Agreement, read it!) the Osage Minerals Estate without any oversight by anyone? Another issue that was discussed was that Coffeyville Resources who are the Purchaser for most of our Osage Oil was late on their payment in April of this year. They normally paid on the 20th of the month, it is mandated to be paid by the 25th of the month yet their payment was NOT received until the 4th of the following MONTH! Everyone is late you say? Nobody was supposed to notice in FOURTEEN DAYS, THAT IS TWO WEEKS? Nominal Amount? You bet, it was ONLY FOUR POINT 2 MILLION DOLLARS ($4,200,000.00 Dollars) and NO ONE NOTICED??? Who is minding the store and the money?
DeleteAbout Wednesday meeting. I am very impressed with the new acting Superintendent. She comes to use well qualified and if she doesn’t have an answer, she will have one at the next meeting. You can tell just by her demeanor she is getting the BIA (Pawhuska) back on course.
DeleteAs far as the Mineral Council’s Office, you have people who are not qualified in charge. Until the Council is willing to hire an Operational Manager who reports to the council as a whole, nothing is going to change as far as getting things posted on line and a decent newsletter that will actually give you some useable information.
Another thing that happened at Wednesday meeting, which I would like to report, because listening to the Meeting you are not aware of who was in the Executive Meeting. I just saw Cynthia Boone and Dudley Whitehorn try to give a producer a FOUR million dollar discount on a concession he was trying to renew. Two proposals for this were both voted down 7 to 1 and 6 to 2, thank the Lord. Ray McClain tells a little about it in his report on http://www.Osages-You-Need-To-Know.com . But, you would have just had to have been there to really believe it. I was there, and I had trouble believing what I was hearing. An old saying comes to mind “Nothing is free”. Coincidently, this producer was also on the Washington trip.”
Are you serious? Another one on the dole for $70,000 - $135,000 a year, this time paid out of the MC budget? They can't even get staff in there that can do the job of the trusts without having to hire two or three people to do even that. Are you dreaming or just delusional? I don't think Sonny Abbot will take advice from anyone and because of his influence over Crum, neither will Galen, and don't forget the influence of the Congress boys they hang around with, so we'll be paying money for nothing.
DeleteHere's what the Osage Nation Minerals Agency will look like in size in seven short years if they start hiring people: http://osagenews.org/article/employees-receive-merit-market-survey-increases Remember that many of the members of the Gray family believe that Headright checks are nothing more than a per-capita payment.
DeleteBREAKING NEWS--9th Special Session update: the Third ON Congress has just voted on the motion to go to trial to remove Principal Chief Red Eagle and the vote was unanimous to do so. All twelve members voted yes. There were no amendments to this motion put forward by any member of the ON Congress.
ReplyDeleteOh dear lord, this is a sad day....though it needed to be done.....
DeleteYes it is. Yes indeed, it is...
DeleteIt's also sad for the Osage people that we have a brand new government with top leaders who think they are so above having to enforce the law or abide by it that it's had to come to this. I feel a lot sorrier for us having to shoulder the shame and disappointment than I do the Chief. All our hopes for the Osage Nation dashed and trashed by these selfish money grubbing corrupt people. More money wasted to get this thing back on the track it should have been on from the beginning. There are a lot of worthy, caring Osages who participate all over the country who could use the money they're spending and going to spend on this litigation and that says nothing of the trial he will be going through with the AG's office and the Osage News. Jim Gray set a pixx poor example and John Red Eagle continued in his path. If the Chief cared about any of us and was truly a religious leader, he would resign right away and save us the time it will take and the money it will cost to have to go through it.
DeleteThe good part is that for the first time ever we have a "proof of life" that this new government is working from an enforcement standpoint. No government on the planet can work properly without enforcing the laws on its books and I am immensely encouraged that we are finally, after seven long years, moving in the right direction.
DeleteHear the vote on the Motion to go to Removal Trial at http://on-web1.osagetribe.org/media/congress/audio/FY2014/2013-1115_3Con_9SS-Day2-pt1.mp3
DeleteVote unanimous>> http://osagenews.org/article/osage-congress-unanimous-vote-removal-trial-chief-red-eagle
DeleteThe Removal Trial of the Chief is scheduled for January 13, 2014 according to the Legislative Proclamation for the 11th Special Session of the Third Osage Nation Congress.
DeleteSee https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=611129655614532&set=a.153834188010750.33094.134873493240153&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
DeleteThe Osage News vs. Chief Red Eagle case was settled out of Court on Oct. 29, 2013.
DeleteSpecial session for Chief’s removal trial>> http://osagenews.org/article/congress-announces-special-session-chief’s-removal-trial
DeleteWhat I'd like to know is why the Osage AG is MIA on his ethics lawsuit with the Chief. Hasn't he dragged his feet on his end of things long enough? What does he do with his time to justify such a large salary? Does he even show up at the office every day? I don't even think he was there at his desk when that investigator in his office took that phone call from the Chief that lead to all hell braking loose was he?
DeleteTo Anonymous Poster--You might be from a long line but you can't seem to manage to keep your remarks in line with the lead comment. In this case all three of the last comments were directed to Patricia and should come under her comment. There is a reply button there. Please use it. Your name isn't Tidy and neither is mine. Please pay attention and don't continue to make me have to clean up after you here on this Blog. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHaving problems with the computar...
DeleteOK. Thank you.
DeleteThanks for the help having serious problems but hopfully it's fixed thanks....Hate viruses...
DeleteAgreed!
DeleteHelpful>> https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/08/28/2013-20764/leasing-of-osage-reservation-lands-for-oil-and-gas-mining
ReplyDeleteAdds a general provision to require that gas used by the tribe must be odorized and treated to ensure human and public safety. ???? Lalique for men or Aerin Lauder Tuberose Gardenia for women ????? Bring it on
Deletefunny ha ha.
DeleteEnCana and Chaparral both requested to convert to vertical wells and keep their Concessions going. Both were refused. Why was the compromise not this:
DeleteWe will allow you to continue drilling vertical wells on your Concessions, IF there comes a time when there is another interested Party that wants to take up the Concession and drill horizontal wells or try a new process and wants to give a Huge Upfront Bonus as in the past for Concessions then we will Terminate Your Concession Agreement since you didn't complete your horizontal drilling program and then agree to a New Concession with the new players? Wouldn't it make more sense to drill SOME WELLS as opposed to NO WELLS??? The door would still be open to new players, the old ones would still be drilling and WE would all WIN with more production until a New Play wanted a piece of the Mineral Estate? Business is FULL of Compromises but that doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense to do so. This acreage is now available yet there was not a Lease Sale at the Summit and no discussions for any upcoming one either? Where are all those Operators beating a path to our door located again???
funny ha ha. The idea is, what's this CFR supposed to mean? Was the Tribe ever using gas that wasn't?
Delete
ReplyDeleteIf anyone is interested in Friday’s MC meeting, I found Ray McClain’s report on it at
http://www.Osages-You-Need-To-Know.com
Everyone knows alternative energy is a BOONEDOGGLE wind farms and SOLAR...and AL GORE KNOWS THIS..taxation without representation...so, this being said, and all the information we have to date thus far in regards to the Wind Farm you would think any and all action that the Wind Farm is doing, you would still have to vote no/yes and..... in favor of the M/E and producer affected, why would Cynthia not vote? We know she didn't get the memo but common sense would dictate you would vote for the M/E./Shareholders in their favor...This is a given and another question, if the Wind Farm is building without any Court approval or BIA signing off on our land and we are still waiting on the decision of the Court how can the Wind Farm take entitlement? We have a right to go in there and bulldoze their property until otherwise granted, or get a security officer on that land full time till this is resolved period? To not allow further developement?1 of 2.
Delete2 of 2. Ah, Drawdowns, How Long did you have to wait on the Drawdowns from the C395 account and in some instances the M/C had to wait 6 months for approval? Ah I think we need to look at the records and look at the drawdowns in history's past financials on this ACCOUNT by the way it looks ,needs a Serious Audit going back at least 10 years...if not more and this is just my Opinion but should not be looked over,.. either....We need to get to the bottom of the barrel sort of speak///....This situation does not make sense...who told the M/C this account had to wait for approval....? And instead use the Nations Money? Did this come from Melissa Curry?....Easy to put the blame on someone who is no longer here. We're a separate agency....did the Nation deliberately hold back money from the M/C deliberately? How ever which way this goes, these questions beg to be asked? During the period we were denied on two separate occasions for a drawdown request on the C395 account hinder the M/C in anyway? So when we read something of this Nature you got to wonder if someone has had sticky fingers regarding this account...We are a separate agency of which this New Gov.came from. We are not apart of the Gov. and never will be....though we have laws to abide by....We don't work for them or vise/versa...after all it's the Shareholders Money....What happens if there are funds in the C395 account at the end of the year? Does it not get paid out to the Shareholders at the end of the Year? As far as what the four producers having a meeting with the M/C , It would be beneficial would it not at least to make aware to the Shareholders, Lets get this on the Table now we should be kept at all musts comprised, any action of course could be taken at the next meeting on the 20th of Nov....It's our money..so how it is used, is all of our decisions....as far as the penalty assessed against Mr. Tim Burchett for paying on his lease till 2 wks later be firing someone because this just does not happen this blunder his company made, let it stand...in no way should we honor this request. give it back .let this not set the precedent in the future...........I know 65,000 thousand reasons to say let it stand as signed on the dotted line.....in the real world this just doesn't happen and this request would be counter productive with repercussions against the M/C/ I suggest we just move forward with Business as usual....this could be construed as favoritism...and would be a conflict of interest as well...I wouldn't even bat an eye with said request......./// So it's already paid I think it would be funny to ask the Fed. Gov. and ask for the money back...ah they are going to say no...duh... Next I think It is good to know that we have lookers that would like to see what is available for more leases and would like copies of seismic activity...It is known next year will be an eye popper for the Oil Industry....and we know our reserves are not tapped yet, ready for the ripen....now that the CFR'S have or are going to be changed to current industry standards will allow for the industry to come....seismic and leasing information and production history should be made public...how do you expect a major player to come if we don't get that information out there in the first? Of course this information should be made available to the credit of the M/C they approve the leases so where is the harm in giving this information that should be public any way? I would think the lease information is all about the process and who already exists is no secret. So give Nation Wide Oil and Gas information...I'm interested to know what the interest is, we know it's about oil? Advertising is so important...and if they want to put us on a map...for free heck yes.....next, why not donate to the Christmas Celebration...250.00 sounds about right....Rays letter was beneficial and always is thank you Ray McClain
DeleteMinerals Agency is under the ONG and so is the MC per the ON Constitution. Feds/BIA acknowledge this now as of the Tax/Res lawsuit. Jim Gray should have stayed out of court on this one. Pull up the BIA letter on Ray McClain's web site.
DeleteDrawdowns happen when the MC budget is submitted yearly to the BIA and they approve it. If there are questions about it then the ONG has to respond to them. If this doesn't happen right away, the drawdown it held up until a response is received and the BIA approves it.
DeleteQuestion did the Mineral Council do the diligence required when this Gov. was to form a Gov. notify the Osage Headright Owners what was going to happen and the intent?
DeleteWas The M/E used as collateral to build the first Casino? and or by who's authority? The M/C?
DeleteThey sent out information about the OGRC in the Osage News at first. Then, for the Referendum Election, I believe that they started sending out mailings. I could be wrong but I believe that they were sending out mailings by the time that the vote on the Constitution was conducted. They also called people on the phone and the word was that the calls were made in order to get people to vote for the Constitution. I thought this was unethical. There were also a number of Town Meetings conducted by the OGRC and Hepsi Barnett all during the time that they were trying to prepare Osages for a Constitutional form of government. None of the Shareholders received an FAQ about the process or the Constitutional government and how it would change things. The only document that arrived was the Constitution itself and no full disclosure or explanatory material as to how it would all work or be different from what it had been, was included at the time or at any time whatsoever.
DeleteThank you OsageBlogger yes they did send the mailing in the Newspaper of which I did not subscribe to but at the time I was not aware we had a Newspaper...That was the word when I telephoned the Osage Nation that everything was sent by the NewsPaper of which I thought was odd...that's the reply I had received then, they signed me up...There was no mailers that went out as I see the continued practice is still going through the News and is not a practical method. No phone calls either hum....and I being a headright owner and not of just of one that we have and living in the same home for 20 yrs and not without a phone....my point is they didn't call all 4000 to 5000 headright owners and my thought is not all of the headright owners knew this was developing under and in front of our eyes let alone got a vote or phone call or ballot from a Newspaper either? See where I'm going...Now I've sat on the back burner for how many years to watch our Gov. shovel money down their gullet like it is theirs for the Gobble. Now I've had a Lawyer by my side pro-bono who says that it would just take one phone call to bring everything to a halt....I believe the process was weak and by no accident was this. Ah something wrong in Denmark and maybe I should just roll the Dice as they did, starting this DE FACTO GOV....My Point is if my rights were violated how many others were Violated? I know a few here are saying the same thing as well...So this leads me to believe that in the worst way another class action suit is on the way...The M/C..had the onus and obligation as well as the Nation to make every effort afforded them to notify and vote with the Shareholders before the DE FACTO GOV. existed. So under the guise of SOVEREIGNTY the Osage Nation becomes...My that word Sovereignty allowed a Gov. to form...even when they formed in Osage County..and not on Reservation..and the Casinos were to bring and build economic relief to those near and a far...instead a Gov. formed....hum, get that Per-Cap going..Get an Outside Auditor in here have our financials posted on the WEB. Post all earnings and who we are investing in, in the Newspaper...and what the boards are earning and titles..and so forth or the Nation can be held liable for not honoring the Open Records Act itself...and get that turkey bonus out to all Osage family's..Thank you OsageBlogger you have been really instrumental in answering questions on your site....and I thank you....again for having this site up....The diligence that was required by THE M/C in the best interest of the Shareholders of the M/E and Owners in the first, known in the Corporate world to be the first in stakeholder, rights have been abrogated in the worst way...and worst the BIA did not hold their end of the Process as well....and the Nation took advantage knowing that a lot things fall through the cracks...and was betting this would happen and knew this would happen by experience..// Can you say the M/E was used as Collateral to develope the Casino's? and does anyone have an update on the Tilman Case?
DeleteThen the MEMBERSHIP CARD, found that interesting to as well.
DeleteYes, how to rid yourself of your political enemies and competitors in one broad stroke of a pen.
DeleteJim Gray set a pixx poor example and John Red Eagle continued in his path. If the Chief Red Eagle cared about the Osage Tribe, he would resign right away and save us the time it will take and the money it will cost to have to go through it.
ReplyDeleteI think John Red Eagle just didn't lie well enough to continure in Jim Gray's shoe's.
DeleteRemember that if and when both of them try to run for Chief in the next election
DeleteThis goes out to the Shareholders.....Right now the economy is in what is coined as a economy that is in a "Secular Cycle". Where the cause and effect will impact drilling to slow down. As evidence in the price per barrel has dropped significantly and surely to impact your head right check in March...I am right about this and I write this so you can make up your minds what to do when your Cobell check arrives in the mail and my suggestion is to save. 2014 is not going to be a rocky year considering the impact and the trickle down affect Obama care has exascerbated the ailing fragile economy. The Debt rising on bets the fossil fuels of cheap energy is collasping as the population cathes up..to the new resource under the guise for job growth to spur the economy as much as it isn't a tax. A tax without representation it amounts to....So debt grows, wages lost and Gov. grows. Let the Osage Nation not follow in the same foot steps.......the Osage Nation should take a deep look and prepare...as should the shareholders as well. We are in for a ride next year, crime is increasing in my neighborhood up 150% coming in from other areas, camps for the living who cannot afford to live are going up everywhere...amazing what some of the Communities are doing to try to help the homeless and the everfasting middle income living turning for help from food centers...I know I volunteer....anybody just has to be willing to see the truth...can see..numbers do not lie.// People do..
ReplyDeleteMeant to say 2014 is going to be a rocky year...my bad.
DeleteSad truth you speak
DeleteEasier to deal with a truth than a lie.....and cover up with another lie to someday this is where we are at that some day....the future is up to us...we need to be proactive....The Osage can no longer turn a blind eye....
DeleteContrast this situation and look at how the money is flowing like a raging river in the Osage Nation. Look at the number of offices and departments that have been added in seven short years; http://osagenews.org/article/employees-receive-merit-market-survey-increases This market survey is in-house and has nothing to do with the real world in the local area where the minimum wage is $7.25 as opposed to $11.50 an hour for ON employees. For the last seven years there have been 3% yearly pay rises, or bonuses after the Merit system came in. There have been two market surveys so far that have also increased salaries across the board and an education (Bachelor's-Master's-Doctorate) pay bump from 5%-20% of the total salary as well. Guesstimating, I would say that the salary rises are between 21% to 45% higher than what they were in May of 2006. I would believe it if someone told me that $20 million of Tribal funds are spent on government salaries alone, not including benefits that are additional. The Chief is responsible for the Executive Branch budget and the Congress is responsible for appropriating the money for it. It wouldn't be happening if those elected to office refused to go along with this kind of spending but they don't and they are the ones who are the most publicly liable for it to the Osage People.
DeleteOsageblogger what is the justification and criteria for this merit increase. It used to be based on competency, value, education, performance and so forth and this is just wasteful spending, not that some employees did not deserve , then you have the fact that when you put everyone in the same boat who gets the recognition for a job well done? You take that incentive at the end of the year away from someone who out performed, when we know the area and proxy dictates in the area this merit raise is above the Cost of living, way above. Where was the moral compass when the employees who picketed? Would have been fired in any corporation.....their attitude reflects entitlement as opposed to being proud that you have a job and let your profile reflect the work that was demonstrated and go through the proper chanel of evaluation .....Congress should not be involved in these decisions across the board as in the Office Manager to regulate this type of scenario, how would Congress know who did what throughout the year without a comprehensive profile to make this type of decison..Takes away from those who may have deserved better than what they got and at this point legislation needs to be created for the Emp. Packets and say all raises and bonuses will be contingent with overall performance. Any and all greivence you can take it up with the Dept head or HR... All merit and bonuses are contingent on the over all performance of your Dept....or desk. Did Congress look at each all, employees packets. I don't think so...so how did Congress come to conclusion that each and everyone should get a bonus merit raise? Where are the polices to gard against this type of poor behavior and to be honest embarassing to the Nation.
DeleteSorry didn't proof read going to the HOSPITAL...My first Grand baby is due to arrive....
DeleteCongratulations! I think if you're alive that meant you qualified for the full 3% bonus unless you really did a poor job, were away from work a lot or had some other negative with the boss or the Director would be my guess and it's just a guess.
DeletePublic liability. That's a legal matter isn't it? That means they are legally liable for public funds and for how they appropriate them, right? If they're irresponsible with how they lie and represent to us that this is what is being paid in the local area, then they are responsible for those lies because they are the gate keepers and control the purse strings. Accepting such lies from the Executive Branch budget justifications from HR and passing them on to us as legitimate reasoning for such pay rises and bonuses still makes them legally liable to the the Osage people, doesn't it? High fallalutin' lawyers in the Congress who should know this and should know better who sponsor and push these employee pay rises and bonuses are even more responsible than the other members of Congress, not that the others aren't just as responsible in the end for their votes to pass these salary budget bills that are so inflated and infested with lies, yes? Raising a phony stink in the press and with the Osage people and then going ahead in the end and voting for these bills is even worse because they are manipulating the situation which compounds the legal public liability too, doesn't it?
DeleteThis is one of the best questions I've seen. I'd say yes, they are legally liable for the shell game they play with the Osage people and our money that they stuff in the pockets of the employees after raising questions just to make it look like they disapprove probably because the election is nearing. You show your disapproval by the way you vote on legislation not by end running some story by the Osage News and thinking this is good enough to get by with for this budgetary cycle. Not even close.
DeleteALERT THIST JUST IN! http://www.osagenews.org/article/oklahoma-ag-bia-state-should-take-over-oil-and-gas-monitoring-osage
ReplyDeleteThe M/C better get a great Attorney whose are experienced with these types of cases. Looks to me the state of Oklahoma is telling the M/C to get their act together and stop playing house and clean house and get organized...I wouldn't be surprised if the State of OK comes in and seizes all Gov. ops to a stop and says this is a De Facto Gov.....Watch Out...keep taking and spending and not giving is not what this Gov. was intended to do...was to represent the Osage not create a Gov. within a Gov..and steal....and the lack of Due Process all eyes on the Osage Thanks Osage Nation/M/C...if the diligence would have been in the favor of the Osage we would not be here with the State overstepping the Boundaries ah lets push the envelope.....Lets just hand money fist over fist for non-performance...keep on doing what your doing....one thing is for sure the M/E is protected for now.....but the Nation not so fast or one of the owners of land that 96% of Osage Land well I'm one of many of the 2229 heirs who has property as well their so how did we not get a vote in how this Gov. came about?
DeleteThank YOU Jim Gray!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteYou can say that again.
DeleteWhat I'd like to know is why the U.S. Congress -- that has the plenary power under the U.S. Constitution to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes -- hasn't scheduled an emergency Congressional hearing of the pertinent Indian Committee in the House or the Senate calling the Attorney General of Oklahoma, Scott Pruitt to account for himself and to tell him that he is playing around in Federal matters that have nothing whatsoever to do with the State of Oklahoma and to back off, stand down and go away permanently. Commerce with the Indians does not include a restriction where Reservations are concerned no matter how large or small in size. It's a blanket, all encompassing power and commerce means business and for us that means the oil business. The Feds have told more that a few over the last 100 years to bug off and it seems like we have another candidate who needs to hear it too and sooner rather than later.
DeleteP.S. "States are powerless to regulate commerce with Indian tribes."
DeleteThen why is Mr. Pruitt causing such a ruckess? What's in this for him? What more can the State of Oklahoma do that we can't do for ourselves? Doesn't the State have enough money from Gaming and other Business to attend to and now they want to play in our back yard? Of course the Federal Government is going to tell them to go pound sand.......and the excuses is like everyone has one if you know what I mean....we are not the only one's with problems in the Field.....I do agree on one thing and one thing is enforcement...how do you enforce rules of which the BIA has failed severley to enforce the rules and the Imcompetence that should have not existed in the first falls back on the BIA for not complying....and by who's authority Melissa Currey...and 30 yrs finally catching up to the 21 st century was way over due...and it took the HPP case to clarify this in pudding. impacted the M/E and the Shareholders and we cannot continue the road we are on....so when I say it is up to the M/C to follow through from History's past to the future which is today are complicit to failure because they did not do the diligence that is required and expected from the Stakholders in the first the Headright Owners. Their lies a problem as well...The M/C is charged and responcible at all costs to the Headright Owners to do the dilligence..and make sure those rules are being enforced by the BIA....and if failure to Act by The BIA in a timely matter, who is going to hold them responcible for any and all fines...levied to the benefit of the M/E? but let us not become a Lawyer Nation...either. Bottom line everyone no matter how they voted for this Gov...thinking a little different? Cause and efffect and the trickle down affect. Just amazing the mess that has masticised into a Gov. of Bloat and this was not the intent.....clearly.
DeleteWell, perhaps he's looking for a way in so as to have Mary Fallin's job at some point in the future. State AGs have done this all over the country. Why not in Oklahoma?
DeleteReminder: the filing period to run for Chief and Assistant Chief is 24 days away on December 16, 2013 and goes to January 6, 2014. Remember the Osage Surge!
ReplyDeleteRED ALERT--IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT--TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE: In view of the plethora of inexplicable choices that the elected officials of the Osage Nation have made during their tenure for the last seven years, the most recent of which was reported by Congressman Raymond Redcorn in his Update #170: "For employees, the full $1.4 ($1.5) million salary adjustment increase also made the cut, along with the full 3% Merit funding attached to salaries.", the Osage Blog is announcing its NEW Election Initiative that we are calling the Osage Surge for Candidates to come forward from outside of Osage County and the State of Oklahoma to run in the upcoming Osage Nation elections; "The Osage Surge" for short. We need boots on the ground, Osage members, to turn around the policies and spending practices of the Osage Nation government to one that is sensible and reasonable that includes ALL Osages no matter were they reside which was promised to us if we were to support a new Osage Constitutional government. We need to reestablish a proper balance from the top down and the bottom up! Please join this initiative and if you can, run for office in the upcoming Osage Nation elections in 2014. Since they won't, each one of us need to stand up and take responsibility and BE RESPONSIBLE for what our new government does in the future. Now IS the time for all good Osages to come to the aid of their new Constitutional government.
DeleteFor the RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION AND OBJECTION TO PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR EXPEDITED TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST CONVENING OF THE NINTH SPECIAL SESSION OF THE THIRD CONGRESS AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION ENJOINING OTHER LEGISLATIVE REMOVAL ACTIONS, see http://edigital.iserver.net/osages/Response.pdf
ReplyDeleteCouldn't find that PDF...though it took me right back to comments on your thread here about Cynthia of which she could have written that letter of support on this blog...lol. Thought the action was helpful.
DeleteCome again? URL strings go only one place in cyberspace and one place only. Cynthia has nothing to do with it.
DeleteNot getting the point...the action I performed took me back to this thread got it...and pined comments of relation to her which I thought was interesting but was this the Action meant to happen? because I did not think that was correct and came across that thread it took me to of which the support for her could have been written by her...or anybody for that matter.
DeleteWind Farm fined for killing Eagles http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/11/22/wind-energy-company-pleads-guilty-to-killing-eagles/
ReplyDeleteWoah! A million buck fine? That should get some attention.
DeleteExactly....and they want a license to kill up to a dozen of Eagles per year ah lets see at that rate everyone would get a permit and then you have extinction....
DeleteTo Osageblogger thank you for the congrats we now are Proud first time Grandparents of a 7pd 21 in baby Girl...now back to reality.
ReplyDeleteGood for you and your family! About giving birth, the Italians say, “Dare alla Luce” which means, “to give to the light”. A nice way to put it.
DeleteI posted this above, but the more I read it, I think everyone should see what happen at Wednesday's meeting.
ReplyDeleteAt the wednesday's meeting. I am very impressed with the new acting Superintendent. She comes to us well qualified and if she doesn’t have an answer, she will have one at the next meeting. You can tell just by her demeanor she is getting the BIA (Pawhuska) back on course.
Another thing that happened at Wednesday meeting, which I would like to report, because listening to the Meeting you are not aware of who was in the Executive Meeting. I just saw Cynthia Boone and Dudley Whitehorn try to give a producer a FOUR million dollar discount on a concession he was trying to renew. Two proposals for this were both voted down 7 to 1 and 6 to 2, thank the Lord. Ray McClain tells a little about it in his report on http://www.Osages-You-Need-To-Know.com . But, you would have just had to have been there to really believe it. I was there, and I had trouble believing what I was hearing. An old saying comes to mind “Nothing is free”. Coincidently, this producer was also on the Washington trip.”
If this conversation was held in Executive Session, how is it that you were a witness to it?
DeleteOnce it was brought out in the regular meeting, and a motion was made, that allowed Councilman Crum to tell us what his motion was all about and why he was making the motion. He said he was going vote no, and explained the reasons. For your information, once a Motion has been made, it can and should be discussed in an open meeting. The Shareholder's have every right to know the reasons for any actions taken, as a result of the discussions that the Council does in Executive Session. Remember that the Council can not vote in Executive Session. Councilman Crum was doing his job properly. Call the council's office and ask for a disk of the meeting if you are interested.
DeleteOh Patricia this kind of negotiations on the side for these concessions is getting out of hand and you are right Every Shareholder in the first or stakeholders in the first as a Headright owner you are right we have and expect to know what is exactly going on with the Estate...No more discounts. Ah maybe we should get the feds in here and see what they say to a discount hell no.
DeleteBe careful of following her line through to the end. She probably voted for Jim Gray and John Red Eagle. The next thing she'll be advocating for is compacting the Mineral Estate right along with her buddies in Congress.
DeleteThank you I heed to my own advice but, you and I are on the same boat. Compacting with the Nation oh heck no...just another hand wanting to get their hand in the cookie jar.... At this point and juncture, I see huge flaws with how Concessions can allow for corruption in a Morbid way, not the first I have mentioned this, and after reading some of the updates after the last M/C meeting, ah, there is a darker side and we need to be extremely careful how we do business with the Producers with further concessions and paying attention to the activity and so forth......these good ole boys have robbed the cradle long enough... with respect to Whitehorn and Boone voting for Sullivan and Co. we would lose up 4,000000 dollars if the M/C did not vote down this negotiation, why would Whithorn and Boone vote opposite Contrary to the M/E, Headright Owners and expect us to eat the cost in these negotiations? Ah please explain Boone and Whitehorn..../////? Getting back to the M/E....in my opinion the way concession are dealt with or handled maybe these terms should be renegotiated to the current standard and criteria, should change for the benefit of the Headright Owner...We need to look at short term and long term revenue...and who is going to meet these expectations and live up to those performance standards should we evaluate and get rid of the reduncies to foster a better future for the M/E....We could be doing so much better....and we should not expect anything less. You need to set the Bar , M/C to create an atmosphere that will create competition...no more concession allowances...start opening up the spigot maybe? Good sound business ethics please....
DeleteReopen those Mineral Council Meetings and stop all those secret Executive Sessions.
DeleteIt's my understanding that some of those in the Congress want to get rid of the BIA altogether. Compacting isn't really the issue. It's outing the BIA.
DeleteWhat I can't figure out is why this new Osage government has to try and tear everything apart that it touches. Payment has never been higher and still it isn't good enough. It's like they want to tear the whole thing down just to be able to get their hands on it and put on their stamp of ownership no matter how badly it's damaged or destroyed while getting their agenda accomplished. I don't think they really care about the mineral estate at all from the way they carry on.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you see any parallels to the US. GOV if you do then you'll see the same with the Osage. After all the ON CONSTITUTION was made with one phone call. fashioned after THE U.S CONSTITUTION with the intent all money goes to the ON and we all become Slaves to our Own Gov....and truly this was the intent and if they keep on doing what they are doing, time to bring the wall down , sort of speak. I can only imagine if the Chief thought he could get away with the same tactics and take and run like a thief in the night and abuse his power....and what we know about thus far may be the corruption in that office, The Executive and with the five man board in Pawhuska is bigger than you or I can imagine.....not just with this Chief with priors as well.....This is not the Gov. for our People that we wanted. Take and take and take and is evident they can not even give out Turkey gift certs to the rest of the Nation.....but they get their merit raise...Happy Thanks Giving to the Nation that keeps on taking;;;;get that per-cap out to the Osages....Oh lets picket people...and then Congress will have no choice....that's how they got their Merit Raise...
DeleteHard to argue with you.
DeleteWhat's the latest word on Cobell? Last I heard it was distribution in late November. Nothing has arrived yet so far. Has anyone else received a check?
ReplyDeleteI heard from one of the Mineral Council members that they are now going to mail checks out after the first of the year. Is that what they said in 2012?
DeleteThe first quarter of the year per the site so the check now can come in March....A bunch of Hog Wash....they have the calculations...already tallied. I would call GCG to find out if your amount has increased.
DeleteThat sounds about right.
DeleteAnd in addition to my post at 7:58 PM we know the cases that were appealed would hold up the Distribution and then the Judge would distribute the funds in Jan after 30 days....then the DOI has to verify the amounts and id, for security purposes...ah all our information is in the system at the DOI for those who are registered and already have received their notice they are apart of the class and a touch away from technology and just hitting send on there computer. And we don't even have the information yet on the 12000000 do we yet on the post settlement fees it would cost each class member about another 24 dollars more or less. So does this mean if this goes into the next year the interest will be calculated into our figures? Wow what an impact this would have for the holiday sales if this were to have been distributed as promised at the end of the year, sound familiar?
DeleteI'm afraid that all the hold up are a way to suck the account down to nothing,I personally check on my payment and it's already drop 1000$. and that's not enough their talking about pro rates now on top for more or less and my bets on less.so in the end we get little to nothing.just like always Indians need what or want what. Tough they should be so lucky to get scrap's!!!
DeleteThe company distributing the money got big bucks to do so. Look at all the interest they have gotten on top of that fee. Was it 2.5 million handed over to them to mail to IIM account holders. Having all that money collecting interest in their bank account for over a year! Again screw the Indian. We aren't going to get that money either. We may never be paid! Too bad we can't sue that company for damages!
DeleteRight The last time I called back in March of this year or so, mine had dropped a thousand as well....
DeleteCobell payments are expected to be mailed in early 2014. See segment on this at https://www.facebook.com/OsageNews
DeleteSee also http://www.indiantrust.com/
DeleteDoes Hepsi Barnett consider the Shareholders to be members of the "Osage Taliban"? See http://nnidatabase.org/db/video/hepsi-barnett-how-did-we-go-about-remaking-our-constitution
ReplyDeleteThat's the impression I got. How else would you take it....still her story is sooooooooooo flawed...
DeleteAgain Galen, I don't see anything in this summary that could stop the BIA from going past BLM Orders 5 & 6 right through them all. That's a lot of rules and regs to saddle the oil producers with on balance. Though it's good that the BIA is in control, the end result remains the same. It's BLM orders and notices that will prevail in these CFRs. If there is a flight out of the Osage oil patch, you will be the first one to be blamed for it. What lender are you referring to and in reference to what loan? To the Minerals Council? For the purpose of purchasing what?
ReplyDeleteWhat loan are we talking about? Galen?
DeleteGalen???????
DeleteTina, I’m not quite sure what “loan” you are talking about but I can assure you it had nothing to do with the Minerals Council borrowing any money, because we have never borrowed any money and have no need or interest in doing so. I’m not even sure how they could go about it if some future Council felt the need.
DeleteThe only loan I can remember referencing was about a month ago. I was plainly quoting a producer that was venting his displeasure to me with the way the Producers Association leadership and some other Minerals Council members had been actively spreading false information about what was in the Neg/Reg proposals. He stated that his lender had even asked him questions about the rumors he (his lender) had heard and seemed alarmed until the producer had set the record straight for him with some actual facts.
As to the way the BLM onshore orders are referenced in the proposed CFR changes, their mention gives the Superintendent no more power to borrow from the BLM technical guidelines (which is what onshore orders and notice to lease holders are) than what he/she now has under the current Regs. The Superintendent could have set any method he/she wished of metering the quantity and measuring the quality of our natural gas any time they wished without even consulting the Minerals or Tribal Councils. The same is true of establishing rules for the proper safe handling of H2S gas. Borrowing from the example of another DOI department would have been the logical place to check for guidance, yet they failed to do so, even though in the case of natural gas their inaction has cost the Osages dearly over the years. However the new regulations do set a method of using any additional BLM guidelines that require the Superintendent to consult first with the Minerals Council and DOI regulations require a public process similar to what you see the proposed CFR changes going through prior to using any other BLM onshore orders. The producers or anyone else would have a say within the public comment and approval process. So what you perceive as an open door is actually a method of making sure the Osages have a better say in what is now the complete power of the Superintendent to act unilaterally and also gives future Councils more leverage in making sure he/she acts on issues that they think are important.
Thank you for this clarification.
DeleteSo, established through a guideline for open communication....with the power of authority of ruling parties in favor of the M/E? In short. Thanks Galen for the clarification and quick response.
DeleteNice story... however there are flaws in it. You voted to incorporate the Onshore Orders of the BLM into the new CFR instead of doing a Cut and Paste of what needed to be added to the New CFR. In doing this you three allowed the BLM to change the Osage Minerals Estate and the Regulations governing the operations. Any time that the BLM changes any of those Onshore Orders, they will be changed in the Osage... without any vote of the Minerals Council, approval of the Supt. and most especially without any input from the Operators. The BIA is already giving the BLM $500,000 of the $2 Million that was appropriated to the Osage, did you vote on that? Onshore Orders and Notices to Lessee's can be given at will without the OMC consent or approval if the New CFR's are approved as written. If the Osage Caucus was just wanting to have some teeth in the CFR for H2S and gas measurement then any high school student could have properly cut and pasted the necessary references. A feat that our highly paid attorney didn't seem to be able to accomplish judging from his poorly drafted original documents with incorrect references included! It seems that the door has not only been opened but that the BLM has a Welcome Mat laid out for them too. FYI, it is already being discussed how the BLM is going to handle the accounting for the Osage in the future just as they do every other Federal Land in the US. Is that what is going to be disclosed at the SUPER SECRET BI - ANNUAL Meeting (which is the FIRST AND ONLY ONE held this year although it is COURT ORDERED BI - ANNUALLY BY THE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT beginning with 2011 (2), and 2012 (2) YET NONE WERE HELD)? Are there going to be any Osage Shareholders allowed at that meeting? If not, why not? You can't fall back on how you want it to be structured because you have not adhered to the requirements of the Order to this point and the Minerals Council has not requested the Bi - Annual Meetings as required.
DeleteTo Anonymous, December 6, 2013 at 9:01 PM--Horse Hockey! Your understanding of plain, simple English is what is flawed. Apparently SOMEONE called the meeting, if a request is even required, because it is going to happen on Dec.10th. But I think only an agenda is required from the MC. As for the rest of your perceived problems, the excerpts from the proposed CFR’s listed below should make things a little more clear for you. I hope!
DeleteDEFINITIONS:
(m) Onshore oil and gas order means A FORMAL ORDER issued or adopted by the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs THAT IMPLEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THE REGULATIONS IN THIS PART.
(n) Notice to lessees (NTLs) mean a written notice issued or adopted by the Superintendent. NTLs implement the regulations in this part and operating orders, and serve as instructions on specific item(s) of importance.
§ 226.36 Control devices of wells.
(f) IF APPLICABLE GIVEN THE CIRCUMSTANCES, lessees shall conduct activities in accordance with the standards and procedures set forth in Bureau of Land Management Onshore Order 6, Hydrogen Sulfide Operations, and any amendments thereto.
226.39 Measurement of gas.
(a) All gas, required to be measured, shall be measured in accordance with the standards, procedures, and practices set forth in Bureau of Land Management Onshore Oil and Gas Order 5, Measurement of Gas, and any amendments thereto. TO THE EXTENT THAT ONSHORE OIL AND GAS ORDER 5 CONFLICTS WITH ANY PROVISION OF THESE REGULATIONS, THESE REGULATIONS SHALL CONTROL.
§ 226.44 Appeals.
ANY PERSON, FIRM OR CORPORATION aggrieved by any decision or order issued by or under the authority of the Superintendent, by virtue of the regulations in this part, MAY APPEAL PURSUANT TO 25 CFR PART 2.
§ 226.45 Notices.
Notices and orders issued by the Superintendent to the representative and/or operator shall be binding on the lessee. The Superintendent MAY in his/her discretion INCREASE THE TIME ALLOWED IN HIS/HER ORDERS AND NOTICES.
Missing a few (a's) and (b's) here and there aren't you, hot shot? And the BLM getting $500,000? No...nothing?
DeleteTaken Verbatim from the Osage Settlement Agreement regarding the Bi - Annual Consultations. If you will note, there is NOTHING in this ORDER that says that Osage Shareholders are not allowed to be present, or anyone else for that matter yet at the last Minerals Council Meeting a Shareholder was told that it was a closed meeting only OMC members were allowed. SOMEONE CAN'T READ PLAIN, SIMPLE ENGLISH, but it doesn't appear to be me:
DeleteConsultation . The United States shall meet with the Osage Minerals Council at
17 least twice each year to review issues identified in writing by the Osage Minerals
18 Council relating to the management and administration of the Osage Mineral
19 Estate. The Parties shall establish the annual schedule for such meetings in
20 January of each year. The first such meeting shall take place in January 2012 on a
21 date that is mutually agreed. The Osage Minerals Council shall submit its agenda
22 of issues to be discussed in the upcoming consultation meeting in writing at least
23 thirty (30) days in advance of the meeting. The United States and the Osage
24 Minerals Council agree that the agenda for the first consultation will address a
25 plan to undertake a review of gauging activities on the Osage Mineral Estate and
26 make recommendations to the Parties as to how to improve the procedure and
27 frequency of gauging, including the means, techniques and tools for measurement
Execution Version
1 used for gauging sufficient to meet industry standards. The Osage Minerals
2 Council's agenda of issues to be discussed may include reasonable requests for
3 information from the Osage Agency relating to topics that are to be discussed
4 during the upcoming meeting. The Osage Agency shall make best efforts to
5 provide the information requested by the Osage Minerals Council in advance of
6 the meeting in which the information is to be discussed. The purpose of these
7 meetings shall be to identify and recommend in writing to the United States and
8 the Osage Tribe improvements that could be made in the overall management and
9 administration of the Osage Mineral Estate. At least one (1) representative from
10 the United States in these meetings shall be a representative from the Office of the
11 Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The United States and the Osage Tribe
12 agree to consider and pursue in good faith any recommendations made as a result
13 of these consultations . The United States and the Osage Minerals Council shall
14 prepare a joint written annual report setting forth the topics of issues discussed
15 during the preceding year, the recommendations and actions agreed upon, and the
16 outcomes identified, if any. The report shall also include a list of additional topics
17 and issues that the Parries have identified for further review and consideration in
18 future meetings. If the Parties are unable to agree upon the language of any part
19 of such annual report, each Party may include its own written views on the topic
20 in question. The Parties shall submit the annual report to the Secretary of the
21 Interior and the Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe no later than February 15 of
22 each year, beginning in 2012.
Anonymous 6-12, the purpose of placing complicated technical requirements of something like a gas metering system in documents such as onshore orders is so when technology advances, the technical requirements can be adjusted to meet the demands and opportunities of the new technology by changing only the onshore order and not the CFR’s. If we had done a cut and paste of the complete onshore orders #4 & #5 technical data into the CFR’s like you suggest, we would have locked ourselves into today’s technology with no way to adjust to future advances without changing the CFR’s.
DeleteAs to your claim that the changes the BLM makes to onshore orders 4 & 5 in the future will also automatically change Osage rules, I direct your attention to 226.3 in the proposed regulation changes. It clearly states that any adoption of onshore orders or NTL’s borrowed from the BLM must be after consultation with the Osage Minerals Council. And it goes on to state that they cannot be modified by any future action of the BLM. Only the Director of the BIA can direct that they be changed, and that must be done in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act. The requirements of adopting or modifying these documents under the administrative procedures act are what I referred to as being very similar to what is now happening with the CFR changes. These include public notice and comment periods, and of course the process can’t even be started without first consulting with the Minerals Council.
Your claim that the BLM is being looked at to handle the accounting for the Osage agency shows your complete lack of knowledge about even the most fundamental workings of the Federal government. The BLM performs no accounting functions for Federal or Tribal lands in the rest of the USA so it would make no sense at all to ask them to start doing ours. However, in many open meetings during the NEG/REG process it was discussed the ONNR might be used as an outside contractor to the Osage Agency so as to more quickly get Osage accounting and auditing functions up to the standards provided to the rest of the Indian world.
You are also completely inaccurate with your statement that the Council has not been holding its biannual consultation meetings as directed in the settlement. We have actually had far more meetings than are called for. BIA Director Black as been in attendance for all of the meetings, even the ones that were not the two per year “official” ones for which the Osage Minerals Council sets the agenda. Our first meeting this year was in April and the second is later this month.
Concerned Osage, the $500,000 dollars you refer to is not being “given” to the BLM. It is the estimated costs that will be incurred by the Osage BIA agency for doing a county wide environmental assessment study that will be done in conjunction with a state wide environmental assessment project be conducted by the BLM on other federal and tribal lands. The costs to the Osage agency would have been several times higher if had not been allowed to join in on this larger project.
DeleteWhen it is completed this county wide EA will make it much easier and less costly for the Osage producers to complete their required EPA environmental assessment obligations. As long as they have no special environmental issues they can merely list this block study as meeting their E A requirements.
The funding of this study also comes with an additional $500,000 for improvements in Osage agency functions. Prior to getting this funding the BIA had announced $1,000,000 in extra funding that was ear marked to create about 13 new positions to perform agency compliance and accounting functions. This additional $500,000 will bring that total to a million and a half dollars for these improvements.
So they automatically change and they don't change without adherence to the APA. Sounds frightening. Give us an example.
Deletendntoo:
DeleteNo, the two onshore orders referred to above represent industry standard guidelines and are referenced as documents only as they currently read. And if the BLM changes them in the future those changes will not affect the Osage rules unless those changes are adopted by the BIA for Osage use. For instance if in the future a new way of metering gas is found that requires changes in industry standard guidelines to make it compatible with current rules. And if the BLM adopts these changes into its onshore order #5 that deals with gas measurement. This change will not be automatically incorporated in the Osage. First, the Osage Agency Superintendent and the Osage Minerals Council would consult. And if it is decided the changes are beneficial, the Director of the BIA would start the adoption process in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. The same process must also be used if any other onshore orders or NTL’s are to be adopted for use in the Osage. This is all spelled out quite plainly in 226.3 of the proposed CFR’s.
I am only going to address your statement above that states:
DeleteYou are also completely inaccurate with your statement that the Council has not been holding its biannual consultation meetings as directed in the settlement. We have actually had far more meetings than are called for. BIA Director Black as been in attendance for all of the meetings, even the ones that were not the two per year “official” ones for which the Osage Minerals Council sets the agenda. Our first meeting this year was in April and the second is later this month.
1. Where is the Agenda for these Meetings that were held even more frequently than required? REQUIRED to be submitted 30 days prior to the Meetings.
2. More importantly, where are the February 2012 and February 2013 Court Mandated Reports that are required to be submitted to the “Principal Chief of the Osage Tribe no later than February 15 of each year, beginning in 2012”? Are you telling us that the Chief is sitting on OUR Reports and no one has bothered to retrieve them?
3. “The United States and the Osage Minerals Council agree that the agenda for the first consultation will address a plan to undertake a review of gauging activities on the Osage Mineral Estate and make recommendations to the Parties as to how to improve the procedure and frequency of gauging, including the means, techniques and tools for measurement used for gauging sufficient to meet industry standards.” Exactly when was this meeting conducted, where is the Agenda, and where is the report on what recommendations were made, by whom, and how have they been implemented to correct the deficiencies that were discovered? I know that the Osage Minerals Council has been questioned as to where the reports were and I feel certain that if they had been made available that it would have been at the very least posted by Ray on his page. What was the level of gauging before the meeting and how much have they improved in frequency, means, techniques and tools for measurement to meet industry standards? Last report at MC meeting was 29, up from 15/month total previously. How much has that improved? Since there are at least 6 gaugers, down from the 9 previously and there are over 2,500 tank batteries, where has this been an improvement by any Industry Standard, unless it was another BIA standard? Out of approximately 2,625 transport loads out of the Osage every month that is 0.57% of the tanks being gauged. Do you find this acceptable? Does the BIA? Do we? This has been ongoing since 2011 when the Settlement Agreement was signed. It has been TWO YEARS so what has changed and improved at the BIA from this important FIRST Meeting? Where is the assessment of deficiencies that needed improvements? What was the base number that we began with and what is it consistently now? Who were the experts that went into the field to determine the deficiencies and where is their report? Where are the transparencies that we have every right to expect that we are not being informed? Why are we not allowed to be present at these meetings? Does the Osage Minerals Council truly believe that they have all the questions but most importantly, all the answers, and that this Consultation Committee wouldn’t benefit by other people who have more knowledge of what is actually happening in the field?
4. Why has none of this been presented at the Monthly MC Meetings and reported to the Shareholders who elected you?
Well said, this Osage Indian would like some answers as well? Galen?
Delete226.3 says the BIA AFTER CONSULTATION (but NOT Approval) of the Osage Minerals Council is authorized to Issue and Make NTLs, Adopt onshore oil and gas orders, NTLs or related oil and gas regulations issued by the BLM. The Director of the BIA issues further orders to that effect in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act. It appears that a publication in the Federal Register, which I am sure that no one reads like the morning paper, can change the Orders to match the BLM at will. Exactly how do you determine that this is a safeguard precluding the BLM changes to become effective in the Osage? The Director of the BIA has full autonomy over the Onshore Orders and the NTL, not the Osage Minerals Council where the authority should be final. You only have the right to be “consulted” it does not say that you must have a consensus or even an approval just that you must be consulted. It would not take any more time than to Google what happens to Indian Land that the BLM is controlling to see what will happen to the Osage Mineral Estate once the BLM has the authority that the new CFR will give them by incorporating THEIR ORDERS into OUR CFR. We are UNIQUE in the Osage thus why we have our own CFR 226 which ONLY APPLIES to the Osage!
DeleteI stand corrected on the BLM Accounting; it is ONNR that actually performs the accounting function. Unfortunately, they have recently “upgraded” their system and it is still sending out error messages and is inoperable much of the time according to my sources. There has been a system in place for the BIA for several years, TAMS, that has yet to be fully implemented in the Osage BIA office even with the Settlement Agreement pointing out the inadequacies of the current system repeatedly since 2011 at least. It was a foregone conclusion that BLM would be involved in the accounting since the only true member of the Caucus that was BIA was your Co-Chair, the rest were all BLM/ONNR. The other Federal and Tribal Lands have already been almost completely shut down where the BLM operates, is that the goal for the Osage too? Why else would the BIA load their Government Caucus with a majority of BLM staff? Why was the Osage Minerals Council taken to a “model area” to see how well it is being operated which turned out to have ONE DRILLING RIG operating and it was pulling out after drilling that well and then there would be NONE on that Reservation? They also were largely gas areas when we have the majority of our Estate being Oil. Does any of this make you wonder why you were being led down that rosy little path? When our CFR can be changed at the whim of the Director of the BIA with the full consent of the Supt. who after all is appointed ultimately by the Director with only a "Consultation" with the Osage Minerals Council, how do you think that these new CFR's are going to better protect our Mineral Estate? Do you all peruse the Federal Register every day to see what is going to be changed in the Osage?
Wow what a great read to all who has posted even Galens comments were interesting as well...We have a lot on our Plate....a lot of issues and a lot of unforeseen issues as well....We can only surmise what's going to happen in the future and I personally would like to see the Estate run efficiently and operate smoothly as possible. We don't need another layer of bureaucracy to the M/E and we would not be in this position and well, at this point the blame game needs to stop and we need to be looking at other issues that led us down this path as you call it not as rosy after all....and really what's the best interest for the Shareholders/ M/E.. One, these meetings need to be held open at least to the interested parties involved mainly the Shareholders....That's a huge issue here since communication is so elemental with the Shareholders. We are not just Headright Owners/Shareholders we are in the first....And this all boils down to lack of communication....when there is a break down,creates the division and then the blame begins.....and we are stuck at square one again....The tides need to change starting with the M/C. This election can't come any faster...
DeleteI entirely agree. A very good read and the more the Shareholders come to know about these new proposed CFRs, the better. Some are more gullible than others and this is a fact of life. We need to be exceedingly shrewd about these changes and the ultimate cause and effect that they will have on the Mineral Estate income produced now and years into the future. See https://www.federalregister.gov/ and enter Osage in the search box on the top left of the web page. Example: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/search?conditions%5Bterm%5D=Osage&commit=Go
DeleteTo Anonymous Dec. 8 20013 @ 8:08 again your litany of “facts” are anything but.
DeleteFor starters, the four man federal team of the Neg/Reg committee was made up of one BLM employee, one ONNR employee and two BIA employees, so one member out of four is hardly stacking the team with BLM influence. The BLM and ONNR members were a necessary component if we were to have experts in the services provided to the rest of the Indian world in the areas of accounting/auditing and oil and gas field management, since the BIA doesn’t provide these services anywhere other than Osage.
Also, the BIA borrowing technical guideline wording from the BLM gives the BLM absolutely no regulatory power in the Osage. Any more than the fact that our producers are currently using borrowed Texas Railroad Commission H2S guidelines gives the Railroad Commission regulatory power in the Osage.
And as I stated earlier, under the current regulations the Osage Agency Superintendant can unilaterally adopt any wording he/she wishes with no requirement for Mineral Council involvement. The added requirement for a Mineral Council role in this section of the new proposed regulations is just one of about a dozen places that adds a mandated Mineral Council role in what is currently solely Superintendent prerogatives. It wasn’t intended to stop the BIA from adopting and implementing needed technical requirements for protecting Osage interests, but rather as a regulatory tool to assure that the Minerals Council has a role in deciding what the needs are and seeing that they are met.
As to the field trip taken by the computer system improvement subcommittee of the Osage delegation, they went to that tribal agency to look at their computer program for accounting and auditing, as those tribes had taken on part of those responsibilities themselves under a 202 agreement. The purpose wasn’t to look at their field operations because they have nearly nothing in common with the Osage. It was to look at how their on site accounting systems were being conducted.
Your supposed statements of “fact” about how poorly the rest of the Indian mineral world is doing is pure baloney. Between the years 2008 and 2012 all tribal lands other than Osage saw an increase of 297% in oil and gas production. I only wish we had done so poorly! I can provide Tina with a chart that shows this nearly 300% increase if she will post it.
That she will. Send the chart direct to osage_election_news@comcast.net
Delete
DeleteCommittee Members:
Galen Crum, Osage Minerals Council; Curtis Bear, Osage Minerals Council; Joseph Abbott, Jr., Osage Minerals Council; Andrew Yates, Osage Minerals Council; Melvin Core, Osage Minerals Council; Darryl LaCounte, Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Deputy Regional Director - Trust Services, Rocky Mountain Regional Office; Stephen Manydeeds, Department of Interior, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Chief, Division of Energy and Mineral Development; Paul Tyler, Office of Natural Resources Revenue, Program Manager, State and Indian Coordination; James Stockbridge, Bureau of Land Management, Trust Liaison and ONRR Liaison
I see ONE BIA EMPLOYEE, how many do you see???? And he was a good friend of Mike Black, Director of the BIA too. You have only gained the right of "consulting" with the Minerals Council, doesn't say that they have to agree with the Minerals Council suggestions and can do whatever they want to do afterwards. Did you RESEARCH the Notice to Lessees (NTL)? As far as I can see on the Internet it only applies to OFFSHORE Development, where are the Osage Offshore Assets? Do you realize that there was an NTL issued recently that stated that everywhere in the agreement where "should" was listed was changed to "must" and there is NO APPEAL process for NTL? That is the equivalent to saying "This contract that you have signed has just unilaterally been changed by stating that everywhere you see MAY we have changed to SHALL!" You don't like it? TOUGH! (You cannot unilaterally change a contract without the approval of BOTH PARTIES yet the NTL's do that.) There was NEVER any NTL in the CFR 226 before yet now we have NTL, Two Onshore Orders that Osage cannot control the changes, and Regulations that the BIA couldn't enforce in the past added to by even more that can't be enforced due to lack of staff and lack of knowledge of the BIA. As for the Field Trip, why has the BIA NEVER implemented the TAMS system that was available in the past? What does it matter if you don't utilize the systems that are already in place that you go look at yet another system that you are not going to implement? You think that the rest of the Indian Mineral World is happy with the BIA go look at http://www.hcn.org/articles/lawsuits-feds-enabled-oil-drillers-others-to-cheat-fort-berthold-tribes-out-of-1-billion/article_view?b_start:int=1 Does Fort Berthold appear happy with the BIA or the Management Assistance from not only the BIA but the BLM? They had a Fiduciary Duty to them just as they did to the OSAGE, how did that work out for them? They may have had an increase in production but their Royalty didn't reflect it proportionately because they were ROBBED! But they were only robbed by a BILLION DOLLARS... nothing like our Settlement is it? Bring on the charts, but if the production increased 297% but the ROYALTY and the BONUSES were intentionally deflated, what did they gain? What do we gain? You can change the CFR as much as you want but if they are not enforced as written, you have done NOTHING to bring about a change to the BIA management and operational issues, have you? How many tank batteries were gauged this month? 15 month before last, 29 this past month, less than 1% per month? The Settlement Agreement Bi-Annual FIRST meeting was to address this in 2011...and what changed in over TWO YEARS? NOTHING!
I would also like to see the fiduciary trust relationship spelled out in writing as well. We've had enough of the free float sort of relationship where the BIA has defined it by what they have wanted to do or not do, in the moment over the last one hundred years, rather than on paper.
DeleteWho are the turncoats and apples...another layer of bureaucracy unbelievable.. just posted a huge blog for it go to hyperspace...try to make this short....we start at home and build our home with a IT system to industry standard and pick up where the BIA fails...we've been fighting this fight for over 200 years and the incompetence is no mistake....all the way up to the M/C...The M/C needs to do the diligence that is required and expected of them by the Shareholders in the first or we will dismantle and reconstruct the M/C, and if need be, will take this up with our Congressman and Congress...this is just plain stupidity....we shouldn't have to go there....but if needed we can...now to address the accounting this can be done as well with the M/C....to see the output is at nearly a 300% since 2008 is it reflective in our Royalty Checks look again it's not. There is no reason why we are still at square one and this is no joke and this is a poke to the M/C...In this day and age of technology there are many references to programs that will facilitate what needs to be done going and looking at someone elses technology may not apply to our necessary means but is a start, now put foot to action...This is why I'm running to and fro the M/C....they are so far behind it's not a laughing matter anymore...and never has been except to the onlookers who read this site...
DeleteIn addition to the post Dec.13, 2013. What needs to happen is we need to trend to compare reports where there could be potential conflicts. You do this to verify how we are trending for financial data....once you do this everything will sort of speak come together. We need to get these reports out also to advertise as well....to the Shareholders....when you do a comparison then you can asses which direction to go...not that hard. This way we can be sure the reports are being reported and posted in a timely fassion as well....time to work as a team for team M/E.
DeleteWorking on posting the chart that shows this nearly 300% increase.
DeleteThank you Osageblogger. Much kudo's.
DeleteThe chart referred to by Galen Crum is now located at http://edigital.iserver.net/osages/OTIL.pdf
DeleteTo Anonymous December 12 @ 10:11pm : Steve Manydeeds is the Division Chief of the Division of Energy & Minerals Development, Bureau of Indian Affairs. So the make-up of the federal side of the Neg/Reg committee was 2 BIA employees, 1 BLM Employee and 1 ONNR employee just as I stated. I worked with these people many long hours for nearly a year. Do you really think I don’t know who they work for? For some reason you seem driven to hostile challenges of everything I say even when it serves no purpose in supporting your wild accusation about a dark plot to load the deck in favor of the BLM. Even under your inaccurate count of the agencies represented there is still only one each from BLM and ONNR. And no one, BIA or Osage wants the BLM to have any authority in the Osage.
DeleteNTL’s or Notices To Lessees are merely written notices to producers about policy directives. A simple example of a NTL might be if a regulation requires signage at each well location telling who the operator is and an identification name for the site. A NTL could be issued telling the producer how big the sign must be or where it should be placed or similar guidelines on how to properly comply with the regulation. In the BLM world they are subject to specific adoption processes and must be vetted and approved up the chain of command. Under current regulations in the Osage the BIA Superintendant can pretty much issue these types of directives at will.
As to your claim that issuing these types of directives is somehow improperly changing the lease agreement, all our leases plainly state that operations are to be conducted in accordance with BIA/DOI regulations and policies and the CFR’s are very plain on what things can and cannot be changed. Onshore orders or NTL’s could never be used to change those areas.
Again your statement about the TAMS computer system not being implemented in the Osage is false. There are parts of the TAMS system being used right now and more is likely to come. The problem with going totally with TAMS is that it was developed for the rest of the BIA world, so it will work with ONNR and BLM systems, but has no capability to perform the functions the systems those other agencies now perform. For instance there is no oil and gas accounting or auditing capability in TAMS because the ONNR system takes care of these areas for all other Tribal lands. So in order to bring all these services to the Osage the TAMS system must be supplemented in some fashion.
I find it humorous that you condemn the BIA for not properly protecting the Three Affiliated Tribes from being exploited by the oil companies in the Fort Berthold area, since these oil companies used the exact same scare tactics there that they are using here in the Osage to try and defeat the Neg/Reg changes. Claiming that if they have to pay more royalty or give bigger lease bonuses they will not drill on tribal lands. They will just pack up and go else where. In the beginning, before the full potential of the play was realized they were successful and convinced a lot of alottees to settle for $100 lease bonuses and 1/6 royalty. Now they are paying 1/4th royalty and $50,000 dollar per acre bonuses to those folk’s neighbors. Those that signed early are now mad at the BIA for not using its crystal ball to stop them from falling for the oil company claims.
In response to Galen Crum and his chart which does not reveal the source of the data for verification, we all know that you can make numbers say anything that you want them to:
Delete1. Increases in Tribal and allotted Indian Leases are not due to any superior management by BIA. It is due to Tribes luck in having huge mineral rights located in fairways of Bakken Oil boom in Montana, N. Dakota and in Shale-Oil Horizontal Drilling plays in other Northern USA States.
2. Verify sources of data used in your Charts! Was it some BIA employee trying to save Mike Black's rear-end. Verify, verify -- all statements fed to you by BIA top management; who to quote Bob Jackman”Manage Indian Mineral Estates like a 1930s One pump gas service station. "
3. Have you taken the trouble to read Montana's Ft. Berthold Tribal Members Class Action Suit against BIA? It's more of the same stupid management as at Osage Agency.
4. Increase of oil prices the last 8 years have covered up BIA's semi-criminal management. Why don't you brag on Office of Inspector General's reports on hostile management by BIA -Eastern Oklahoma which includes BIA Osage Agency? Why have you become the mouth-piece for BIA?
So glad I didn't have to post this one! Yes. Harvard started with that self-reporting of statistics in Indian Country that has subsequently spiraled out of control with anything hitting the fan that looks like numbers and stats without any legitimate verification. I guess this works with stupid uneducated people. Thank God we have had money in the Osage for 100 years and our children have been educated throughout that period. This won't fly Galen. Find something more legitimate that is properly sourced and verified.
DeleteCamment on compacting: "I have always believed that the BIA is a necessary evil. We need them and the power that comes behind them. However you better watch Congress and Maria Whitehorn. She has already talked to us about a Bill she is working on, the bottom line is that you will have to ask Congress before you compact. do contracts etc. I asked her if she was going to remove or exempt the Mineral Council and she said no." See Congresswoman Whitehorn's response at http://edigital.iserver.net/osages/Explanation_ONCA_13-62.pdf ONCA 13-62 can be reviewed at http://osagenation.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/ONCA13-62.REVISED.pdf
ReplyDeleteMaria Whitehorn better not...
DeleteI looked at the stuff and its just that a resolution has to be put out by the Congress before a compact can be signed by the Chief. He can still veto it and even if they override the thing it won't matter. Resolutions don't count for anything really. It's just supposed to indicate the will of Congress but in reality, it can't stop the Chief from compacting if he wants to. You need ONCA legislation to stop the Chief but he'd claim violation of separation of powers and go back to court. Crazy the way this constitution doesn't ever work. Its more like a bear trap than a governing document no matter how much Liz Homer preens about how great it is. Think the trap laid by Dustin Hoffman in Straw Dogs.
DeleteComment on compacting...Sorry!
DeleteAnd the Osage People -- in this case the Shareholders -- are always the ones to get hurt when the trap snaps shut?
DeleteStill, at least it will delay any compact until all of the members of the ON Congress can become informed about it and weigh in by a vote on the floor of the Congressional chamber.
DeleteON Congress attorney responds to the Chief's Supreme Court lawsuit against the SCOI, Alice Buffalohead and Raymond Redcorn; see the Respondent Brief in Support of Answer at http://edigital.iserver.net/osages/RBSA.pdf and the precedent for Implied Powers of Investigation of the U.S. Senate, "The authority of Congress to investigate is an implied constitutional power." at http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Investigations.htm
ReplyDeleteSee http://osageblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/new-topic-osage-health-care.html for new 2014 Health Limited Benefit Osage Health Card information.
ReplyDeleteREMEMBER the Osage Surge and consider sending them an e-mail shown below too:
ReplyDeleteE-mail sent to the Election Board today to electionboard@osagetribe.org and Shannon Locket at electionoffice@osagetribe.org :
Subject: Out of Town Candidate Registrations
Dear Osage Nation Election Board:
In order to promote a more universally fair and equitable election environment for all registered Osage members, please consider, at your next regular meeting in December of 2013, an approval process for those who live away from Pawhuska to register to become candidates in the upcoming election.
Thank you,
(Name)
Osage Member and Constituent
The Election Board meeting is listed for December 18, 2013 at 1 p.m. Be sure to call and confirm this date and time at the Osage Nation Election Office at (918) 287-5286 or (877) 560-5286.
DeleteWell good for you. It's about time someone stood up and took action to get people in office that won't shame us over and over again year after year time after time. Think back on what most of those in office over the past years have done or havent when they should have and how awful and disappointing its been.
DeleteI agree. It's was Ok for us to put in our opinions and ideas when it all got started with the strategic planning process but the discriminatory election candidate qualification practices of the Osage Nation still date back to the Tribal Council system. Not fair and not right to the majority who need to be allowed to have an influence on what goes on with our government. You're right. Take a look at what's been going on since the beginning and tell me that we couldn't have done better if allowed to participate in the Congress and Executive Branch. What good has the religion and culture done them in their capacity as elected officials and more importantly Us if they are allowed to continue to make such a mess of everything? Watching movies on the floor eating pizza in the lobby of a public office of the Osage Nation? Enough!!!!!!!
DeleteFor more information see http://osagenation.co/department-directory/election-board/filing-for-candidacy/ I encourage everyone who wants to run for office to call Election Supervisor, Alexis Rencountre, with your questions and requests for information at (918) 287-5289. She is interested in what you have to say, engaging, intelligent and very professional. Other ON Election Office contact information is located at http://www.osagetribe.com/electionboard/contact.aspx
DeleteE-mail sent today to the Osage Nation Election Board:
DeleteSubject: Please Revisit the Out of Town Candidate Registrations
Dear Osage Nation Election Board:
For future reference, please revisit the out of town Candidate registrations so that those of us who live elsewhere can participate in the election process as Candidates in future elections without having to come into Pawhuska to register.
Please consider these reasons:
1) The current policy is discriminatory to the majority of Osage Nation Members who live outside of Pawhuska and Osage County.
2) The current policy is a hold over from the Osage Tribal government and should be updated appropriately to reflect a Constitutional democracy. Election policies that are clearly seen to be costly, inconvenient and therefore prohibitive for the majority of members to become candidates should be changed to reflect a democratic government that promotes participation and inclusion.
3) The majority of the members should be represented by those who live outside of Pawhuska and Osage County and know the concerns of those among whom they live around in their local community. This promotes interest and active participation in the Osage Nation government. If they didn't want those of us who live away included, why did they go to the trouble and expense to obtain our thoughts and opinions during the strategic planning meetings that were held all over the U.S.?
4) In view of the roiling scandals that have plagued the new government in the last seven years, we need to introduce new ideas and the people who will represent them in government processes and day to day workings. An outside and more worldly view is clearly needed to promote a healthy new Osage government and help free it from the corruption it is plagued by currently. A fresh pair of eyes is never harmful when things are continuing to go this wrong.
Please consider an emergency meeting to discuss changes to the current policy if at all possible.
Thank you for your immediate attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Tina R. Allen
Osage Member and Constituent
Great write and read Tina Allen...My suggestion is that a lot of us own property and etc...throughout Osage County outside of the M/E and some do not...other than get a check from the M/E and are headright owners as well....Most of these families came and were the first Osages to arrive with a lot of family's still existing in Osage County, now that being said...I've brought this up before...and I don't know how this will work but it must or we must find another way for inclusion or this Gov. will be shut down...it becomes something else other than a Democratic approach and at this point our Gov. is not Democracy for the Majority but for the few...who live in the area....and in the past out of towners who lived in other States still were able to sit on Boards and etc....before we became a Gov? Getting to the point...why not create a way that others can run for election and district them to the Locations of those districts their families come from...? It would be easier. Just a thought...anyone else with a food for thought?
DeleteMC meetings for January 2014 will likely be at the Cultural Center because of the Chief's removal trial. Apparently from the discussion at the meeting today, they will be reconstructing the Congressional Chamber starting on Jan. 9, 2014 to add a witness box, a tribunal court environment and so on and so forth for the trial proceedings. What is the cost on this when it could be moved over to the ON Court that is more suited to such an environment especially since the ON Constitution requires a Court Judge be appointed to head these removal proceedings? It would be seemly to reconsider this Congressional decision in the event that the Chief resigns prior to or during the trial and the money is wasted. All it would take is a request for cooperation from the Judicial Branch and I can't imagine that they would refuse such a request unless their court calendar is that full in the month of January. Also, $12,000+ going in for a web site for the MC? Isn't that price through the roof? WHY does everything the ON does cost 3 to 5 times what it should?
ReplyDeleteDid you hear where they are going to double the salary Chairman of the Oil Summit 2014 from $10,000 to $20,000? That seems just as foolish.
DeleteLets look a the profile of the Chairman first before we just dole out more of the same waste that has been going on for over 200 years what has the Chairman done to cube these actions for the Shareholders? No not at this time. Until we see that 300% on our Royalty checks.....What Chairman? Names please?
Deleteoops curb corruption in other words?
DeleteRick Torix. See article, "Osage Oil & Gas Summit Official in Okla. Resigns: Whitewing Cites Lack of Interest from Companies" at http://www.questia.com/library/1P2-34628911/osage-oil-gas-summit-official-in-okla-resigns
DeleteGALEN??????????
DeleteBelieve me, when the checks start dropping, the shareholders will take an interest in what the 'CFR Three' have been doing. By the way, why haven't we seen the shareholders picketing the Ladd and Ree Drummond owned building next to the Triangle building for putting up gates and locking one of the oil producers out? Someone should call that cooking channel Ree appears on and have them respond to the reason the Osages are picketing.
DeleteThe change to the CFR'S are not the problem....There's a lot issues of non compliance written all over the estate...the Producers will be installing all kinds of equipment to get caught up to industry standard and many have more than just one well etc....It's not cheap but in the long run and soon to be a difference in you check you will see.....exactly what we should be getting paid for......right now our economy and with the falling prices of oil will potentially slow things down....as well...a lot factors plays in the role of the Oil Industry...with loomng more taxes coming down from the administration....all the factors at the BIA at the adminitrative level has also plalyed a role as well....it's a combination of sorts...we will alwalys have political issues, reg. issues and etc....in order to grow we must allow the producers who exist already they must grow and as painful as it might be this should have been done years ago.....and yes the Drummonds are way out of line and there is no reason as to why we just don't go in there and unbolt the locks. We have the right away....
DeleteTO ANONYMOUS DEC.13, 6:47 PM
DeleteFinally, someone has made a correct assessment of the problem. Thank you. Anyone fighting the changes to these CFRs is attempting to do great harm the beneficiaries of the Osage Mineral Estate. Some of them are shareholders, and apparently just don’t understand. Sadly, 2 or 3 of them are members of this Mineral Council 2. I’M SURE THEY DO UNDERSTAND. We saw them in action last month at the MC meeting when they tried to award a concession to one of their buddies for $4 million dollars less than the going rate. THEY got to go. Boy, do they GOT TO GO!
If they are scheduling a lease sale all the way into the Fall of '14 due to lack of interest, why won't you acknowledge the damage that is being done with these new CFRs? Are you blind or are you on board with running the ME into the ground so that those who do get a check today won't care due to the small size when the Osage Nation and the ONOs who have backed it for 60 years make their move to take over the ME and all you will you will have left is just like what you've got today, which is an arrangement where what income there is will go out to Osage Nation employees in salaries and benefits who never answer the phone and never return a call from a phone message that you leave on an answering device? Think long term and the overall problems you will have then with little or no income in your check.
DeleteTwo Things should come avail. One we will find out how out of compliance and two how much we have really lost in revenue in the past.. and who does not want you to know? These changes could have not come any sooner...why the delay with the BIA it is a known fact in Indian Country if you study the facts as they are laid out, Corruption has played a major dysfunction for many Tribes not just ours alone and the turncoats, you are beginning to see. Yes, we are seeing who they are and we have them. If you think favoritism isn't a form of corruption it is and causes division and a sour conflict of interest..I have a problem with Concessions for that reason and it is just a archaic way of doing business and in my opinion may need to change to alleviate the consequence of falling prey to favoritism and corruption such as kickbacks. If any and all people would understand what has transpired over the last 200 years would recognize...The Truth....and we will not forget. So in retrospect. information is so elemental to trend. Will keep you honest..so When I say it is so important that we align ourselves so in the future we will know where we stand and you will have answers. Just from seeing from the outside to the inside and what makes sense. Alot is said what or where the BIA fails but it also reflects on the M/C as well. We shouldn't be where we are at. Hear our voices M/C get that IT system developed and start doing the diligence.that is required by the Shareholders.and I've got the people who can install and are waiting. I've been in the corp. world for a while and know quite a few vendors who I specialized within the IT world ..This in turn will alleviate any but not all conflicts of interest that just might exist....and not just this it could save millions in fees going to lawyers because we will be able to monitor and trend and account, post and keep an eye on any eventualities that are unforeseen, some not all..but what is really important is we should stay in tow with the BIA to point out any and all discrepancies...There's nothing saying that we should not be doing or stopping the M/E from growing....The M/C. All it is processing information and mapping etc....So you gotta ask yourselves why are we not there yet caught up to industry standard in the field and out of the field? I read a story called Inside the BIA. Go to www.dickshovel.com/browse.html...Mind you this was written if I remember back to 1986 and this person in the first hand experience working for the BIA....Still learning still researching and I'm not always right and I'll be the first to say oops or sorry but we can't even get that kind of accountablity from our M/C members. We need transparency and accountability and we need to believe that we can trust that the M/C are doing everything in their capacity to represent the M/E in the most positive way..now there are a few that I do respect on the council..we need to assert and be pro-active. Our future depends on what they do..they are our eyes and ears....so, communication is vital to the Shareholders now we know what has transpired, we go forward and move forward and we hold them accountable...This is by far an Estate that is valued somewhere between 4 billion to 10 billion and untapped why? I know. It's to logical of a answer....we need to grow...and we need new thinking and we need someone who does not know and who is not apart of the quagmire sort of speak with forward thinking...someone who is not a part of the old but wants to bring ideas to the table and bring into the old a new and fresh perspective. The foundation of a good business is everyone needs to be on the same page and we want team players only....Oh thanks for the compliment you're welcome...poster DEC.13th at 10:24 pm
DeleteTo Poster Dec. 14 at 12:01 pm.
DeleteThe only thing I can say is that you are entitled to your belief...and if there are a lot of people who believe in exactly what I am saying and there is a world of info out there to be had you would understand where I come from...and I was at your place where you are at, at one time....it has taken 5 years to get where I am at and still not knowing all the facts but I got enough and I have a lot smarts in my pinky....numbers do not lie....and being an accountant logic is not hard for me....compassion is...because there are no accidents in life, life is what you make of it....oh I have compassion but logic serves me best....I can tell you I have more than one headright and I can tell you I wouldn't throw that future away down the toilet or otherwise, this is my childrens future...and boy are they comprised and educated about what our Family is all about. Thats all of you my Brother and Sister Osages...I may live away and not my doing but I've never wavered in my cultural background ever....my fervor for the truth is exactly that for the Shareholders...somewhere greed got in the way with corruption...and lost in communication or translation the Shareholders opinion because we matter because we own the Estate. We didn't purchase this estate we inherited it...so your opinion matters just different from mine but in the end we all want the same. Just going about it differently needs to happen to industry standard long over due less the inconsistencies and redundancies and the cronyism and nepotism needs to go the sour factors...to shed light on the estate forever communication to the Shareholders a priority. Long live the Osage Tribe and the 1906 Act.
One thing that is always consistent with the Osages. They can never take a warning seriously. Once they make up their minds, that's it. This is seriously dangerous to any sort of business venture no matter what it is.
DeleteP.S. to psoter dec.14 at 12:01 When you understand economics 101 and world economies and the world markets and how everthing cycles and the corp world. then you would understand the stance I believe in....oh there's more.
DeleteI agree poster....dec 14 at 12:41. Risks can be alleviated to a degree and mistakes happen but accountability is a factor we don't have because we are not at the place yet....and we need to get there as asap.....stop playing house and develope our Office...2 years and still at square one and you know everyone has excuses...there would be no warnings in the first if they had set up shop as soon as the HPP was settled. and I can see your point there were no warnings going out to the shareholders that's for sure.....before the settlement and we should have been kept in the knowing but propaganda got in the way I would suspect. One sided. And this is why we need equality restored with respect and the list can go on...
DeleteTo Anonymous December 14, 2013 at 12:01 PM
DeleteI think the lease sale for the Fall of ’14 is being scheduled to coincide with the next oil and gas summit. I am not blind, nor am I deaf and dumb. The only damage being done is the delay in getting these CFRs in place. The shareholders lose money every day that hasn’t happened. Then, of course there is the damage to our ears from listening to you whine. I suggest you not worry too much about the long term, since YOU have failed to notice that a lease sale is also scheduled in early March. Get the short term stuff under your hat first. This half-truth junk is a Cynthia Boone tactic that she has used on us for years. You have a long way to go to get as good as she is at it. Producers are lining up at the door to nominate leases and to get permits. I’m told that some were standing out in the cold rain last Friday at the council meeting, discussing what proposals they were going to present to the council. The BIA is hiring and training personnel. Production is going up. Oil prices have stabilized and are coming back up a little. The new accounting systems planned by the BIA that will give us much better assurance that we will finally be paid all the royalty due us are being put in place. Give me a break. You have no idea of what needs done or how to do it.
Cant tell if this is supposed to be a compliment or an insult. This must be the first guy out of the gate to run for Chief...all things to all people and maybe an ONO too?
DeleteLease sale in March you say? Well good luck with that. Youre like the guy on the Titanic that hasn't quite figured out whats happened yet. Out in the cold rain planning what concessions they want from the M/C is much more like it.
DeleteTry to remember what Donald Sutherland’s character “ODDBALL” had to say about ‘negative attitudes’ in the movie MASH. It was good advise!
DeleteShare please so many quotes from this great movie before my time....so many were said. I liked what was it Calahan that said, how did this degernerate get into power of authority? I think , Lol comes to mind, sure that's not the quote you are looking for but share this classic quote...
DeleteHeres a perfect example of why were so negative. You don't get it most of the time and when you do shift yourself to even try it's FUBAR!!!!!! Oddball is a character in the movie Kelly's Heroes, NOT MASH. I believe the quote you are referring to is, Oddball: Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?--end of quote-- OK I will: Get it together for once in your life and when I see this freak wave of nature, I will !!!!!!!
DeleteCouncilman Core made a motion to give a 1 ½% Cost of Living Allowance raise to the Council. No action was taken at the Dec. 13th meeting. I will be making a score card before the elections.
DeleteWhy not double it? That's what they want to do with the salary of the Chairman of the Oil Summit. Throw money around. Why not? $30K for two or three day's work and per diem per month plus paid or reimbursed trips to Washington D.C. and it isn't enough? Every single one of them got paid all or part of the full Headright share or more of the HPP lawsuit settlement ($155,000). What would they do if they had to do the work for free like back in the 1990's and before? Resign? Ugggh!!!!!! I wish they would if they think that they're so entitled. Disgusting!!!!!!!
DeleteIt's shocking that they get $30,000 as it is for such a few days work. They must be the highest paid people on the Osage government payroll as it is already. It's scandalous these greedy people. When are we going to get elected officials who serve the people and not their own self interests? One of the members of Congress believes that you need to do something to deserve benefits from the Osage Nation. What do they do to get all that Federal money ($15 million) that is used locally besides be an Osage who lives or works in and around Pawhuska and the County? Because they dress up three times a year and dance around under an Arbor? Because they belong to the Native American religion? What good have those supposedly spiritual experiences done for them or our new government? It's been proven time and time again to be more corrupt than nearly all of the Native American governments that you can name. Ask Norma Merriman about how ethical the people are that she was working with before she got canned by Diedre Bigheart for not being the right fit. A nest of corruption? I can believe that any ethical person would be the wrong fit for what this government has become in the last seven years. And the instigator of all this thinks we're the Taliban?
Delete
DeleteTo: Anonymous December 19, 2013 at 11:56 AM & Thrifty Shareholder December 19, 2013 at 12:23 PM
How about let’s only vote for those who promise to work for free, zero, zilch, absolutely NO salary, in their campaign platform. We have one doing that now. Never drew a nickel in 3 ½ years, and has paid many of his own expenses, including a trip to Washington where he paid his own plus one other’s full expenses, simply to support one of our speakers at a very important meeting. Wonder what he would tell a producer who offered to pay him something for a trip to Washington? You really have a great idea here. Why don’t you find us 7 more like him to run for MC, and then YOU go down and pay their filing fee. That would be your contribution. Be sure to post it here when you get this done, and give us your name and address so we can properly thank you. There will quickly be 2 guys in little white uniforms come for you with a very long sleeved jacket just your size, so you won’t get cold. How about when you get just ONE more, let us know so we’ll know you’re working on it. Meanwhile, until you get that done, maybe we could just put the entire MC and all the employees on the Producers payroll right up front. That would save some of them from needing to sneak out of town, and needing to look in the back seat of their car every day for that package of cash. It would also save us shareholders a lot of money in wages and donuts. ----WAIT A MINUTE----WHAT WOULD THAT DO TO OUR HEADRIGHT CHECKS? Maybe that’s not such a good idea after all.
I guess so. That's what she said. We also need to open things up to find candidates who will give representation as members of Congress who don't harbor a discriminatory attitude towards those of us who live outside of Pawhuska that will open the election process up to all of us around the country who want to run for office by changing the rules and/or the election law to permit members of the Osage Nation to file to run for elected office from where they live.
Delete"How about let’s only vote for those who promise to work for free, zero, zilch, absolutely NO salary, in their campaign platform." Actually, until the 30th Council, that's exactly the way it used to be for 90 years. GOOD IDEA! Service to us rather than servitude to the almighty Osage Nation government and their self-serving elected officials. Are you one of them?
DeleteRight!!!! Sounds like the one who needs the white coats is the paranoid poster. How would this crazy know who's on the producers payroll unless whoever it is was right there for the payoff. How much did they get too? lol
DeleteMinimum wage for Oklahoma is $7.25 and $15,080 is the salary for a 40 hour work week x 52 weeks. The M/C is getting nearly double that amount for much less than a part time job and thats far more than they should. The rule of thumb is 20 hours or more for part time up to 40 hours which is full time.
DeleteMaybe this is why the Mineral Council thinks they deserve the 1% increase. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/20/western-states-hit-hard-by-budget-deal-tweak-to-oil-gas-royalties/?intcmp=latestnews
DeleteSorry but I'm confused. What did they have to do with this?
DeleteThe Council sees fit to give themselves a increase to their salary and looking at the most events in the Industry it is coincidental that they would be asking as much of an increase...and it was a heads up what we can expect in the future and the domino effect Obama Care has on the economy and we knew energy is and was going to be tapped...This at a state level.
DeleteIF... and I'll repeat IF...the MC were to work a full 8 hours a day, three days a week for the entire 52 weeks of the year...they would be working 1248 hours a year. At $30,000 a year that would be $24 and hour. OF course they don't work a full 8 hour day and don't work 52 weeks in the year. In addition it's not like they have college degrees in business or anything. I'll bet we can find qualified people that would be glad to have their job for $24 an hour.
DeleteCouncilman Core motioned for a resolution to establish an automatic Cost Of
DeleteLiving Adjustment for the Council salaries each year. The amount will be
determined using the U S Consumer Price Index (Urban), as of September 30 of
each year, and published by the US Government. Usually published in November,
this salary adjustment will be paid retroactive to October 1 of each year. The vote
to approve was 7 yes, 0 no, with 1 abstention. Councilman Abbott explained that
since he did not draw a Council salary, he would abstain from voting on this issue.
As was said on the OSA Blog before, "Seven up, seven down...."
DeleteIsn't this a stab in the eye to the Native community? https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/12/09/2013-29088/eagle-permits-changes-in-the-regulations-governing-eagle-permitting You can't have a Cross or a Bible anywhere in sight publicly but you can kill the SACRED Birds of the Native American community? WTH?
ReplyDeleteWhat if anything can the Osage Congress do in conjunction with the U.S. Congress about this situation?
DeleteThere's a lot already being done to fight the effort of the Wind Farms...we file another law suit....against the Fed. Gov....costly yes but do they want to write millions of dollars again to us? They will lose this fight as well and unfortunately for the Wind Farms we will fight this until there are no subsidies to be had by the Gov. then they will have to use their own money for this boone doggle of another tax of which they will sram...we hope.
DeleteNew article>> http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/state/osage-nation-criticizes-eagle-death-rule-change/article_594ba792-6270-11e3-8068-001a4bcf6878.html
DeleteThank you ORBI-OSAGE....tans my hide opps it's already tan.. lol. Thanks Orbi-Osage...wow, have a Merry Christmas...
DeleteBy 2018 we should be a major exporter of Natural Gas and by 2016 Oil will have plateaued. And we are seeing some of the reflection of becoming a major exporter in the U.S. Prices depending on supply and demand plays a huge role in the Numbers of Course. The U.S. is now exporting more oil than they have seen in two decades....
ReplyDeleteThere are people who may become candidates in the upcoming election that I am sure, for one reason or another, we all would trash but this isn't the mission or goal of the Osage Blog. If you have an issue that's one thing. A laundry list leading to an out and out dissertation is another. Please be advised of this in future when you post.
ReplyDeleteThe race is on... Candidate update: Geoffrey Standing Bear and Margo Gray have thrown their hats into the ring for Principal Chief and Raymond Red Corn is running for Assistant Principal Chief.
ReplyDeleteSee also http://osageblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/osage-election-information-for-general.html
DeleteChief Red Eagle for reelection Photo Op at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=624259614301536&set=a.153834188010750.33094.134873493240153&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
DeleteSEE THE COBELL ALERT AT http://www.indiantrust.com/
ReplyDeleteMore on this at https://www.facebook.com/OsageNews/posts/625221380872026
DeleteI find the current "Duck Dynasty" controversy over free speech interesting and how it parallels what goes on in the "Osage". Case in point....Patrica was drummed out of the OSA board for speaking out on various decisions that were being made, that she as an elected board member didn't agree with. Also the same Cynthia Boone supporters have stood up in MC meetings and yelled at people they didn't like saying " Sit down we don't want to hear anything you have to say" Don't know about anyone else but, to me, this type of behavior shows the lack of respect and tolerance that they have for anyone that has an opinion that differs from theirs and how far they will go to control free speech! Personally, come election time, we need to elect those that are willing to listen to and show respect to everyone and rid our selves of those in office that support and encourage this kind of behavior.. Condoning such behavior has no place in Osage matters and does not reflect well on any Osage elected official that supports this.
ReplyDeleteThere is freedom of speech and then there's taking advantage of a web site by trying to destroy a person with the intent of doing so who may be running for office in future. Patricia has been warned and continues to disregard the warning. The blog moderator has the right to set parameters and they have been established. If you want all bets off, talk to Kent Radcliff about reinstating his web site that was pretty much a free for all.
DeleteStating an opinion based on the facts does not hardly constitute a "All bets off, Free for all" Also when anyone runs for office, they stand accountable for their past action, based on facts. What better place than this forum to make them public so voters will know who they are voting for.
DeleteI am going to have to jump into the discussion. And running a 4 or 5 part, paragraph after paragraph, diatribe about nothing other than what can be seen to be one person's take on the "facts" relative to an elected official that reflects their particular bias against that official? No. I don't see that this is of value to anyone. If there is an issue of particular importance, yes. Just running on and on and on is bore and no one cares to have such self-indulgent unsophisticated nonsense like this spewed all over them because the writer appears to be holding a grudge and trying to get even. Perhaps it's time to revisit the post in part at http://osageblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/welcome-to-osage-blog.html#comment-form : osageblogger June 19, 2013 at 1:43 PM - ...The Osage Blog is offered and managed by the same people at OPEN (Osage Pre-Election News) at osage_election_news@comcast.net who have been sending out e-mail updates to the subscribers about the Osage elections, candidates and other events of interest that are going on in the Osage and with other Osage groups throughout the U.S. and we have done so since 2006 during the time of the advent of the new Osage Nation government. We make every attempt to provide accurate information and we are people who you can trust. Civility largely depends on the individual who comes in to post but be assured that the rules here are more STRINGENT because it is Google who sets the mark and it is a high one. Welcome to you, thank you for coming in to post and let the discussion continue..." This was clarified from the outset and it sets the tone and the parameters for those who want to comment here. Clearly, the limits were defined here at the Osage Blog from day one. Our Blog, our rules. If this is too narrow in scope, take it over to Facebook and see how far you get there. Cyberspace is a big "off" world. If this is not right for you then find what is or start your own Blog and spew whatever vitriol you harbor at will. We're not saying you're wrong to have issues with elected officials, it's just the way some who have been posting here are taking advantage of the situation in attempting to use this Blog to their own self-interested purposes and that's not right or fair to the majority of the other readers here.
DeleteWhat is of more concern right now is how the Congress and the sponsors and voters for the Osage Nation Election law have set themselves up to have only a few run for Chief and Assistant Chief with this skunk Primary Election they have cooked up to control the playing field for those who live back home. If no one else runs for Asst. Chief, Raymond Red Corn will get in by default and the time to file run for both positions will be over by January 6, 2014. So far, the three running for Chief are Margo Gray, Chief Red Eagle and Geoffrey Standing Bear. We need more choices than just these four. You can smell this one all over the U.S. Dating back the last two years or so, the gift tag on it is from Raymond Red Corn and recently in 2013 from Kuggee.
ReplyDeleteI have a problem as well a narrow window to sign up and it's during the most busiest time of year and it's a bunch of crock....end of stroy..not everyone is available to just pick up at the end of the year especially when it's year end....and any one who owns a buisness understands what this means.....just a lot of work for short....and your right about the set up...just takes one good canidate and where are they I don't see it in anyone of these carreer politicians who are not for the constiuency. Where was the Christmas turkey gift card to all of the Constiuency? Where's that per-cap?
DeleteThis thread is now closed. To to: http://osageblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/osage-shareholder-matters-december-2013.html
ReplyDelete