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July 2, 2010

Cherokee Councilor wants lumber salvaged

By Donna Hales Phoenix Staff Writer

— Tribal officials halted a bonfire that would have sent thousands of pieces of the Cherokee Nation’s lumber supply up in flames.

District 1 Councilor Bill John Baker questioned why several truckloads of lumber, and more on the way, was scheduled to be torched.

Baker said some of the lumber had been stored for three years under tarps and was not in good shape, and “some of it is like new.”

But tribal spokesman Mike Miller said tribal building inspectors and carpenters think differently.

“What we had over an accumulation of time are materials not usable — about 4 percent of the total inventory,” Miller said.

He said the lumber culled is about $40,000 worth of what was about $1 million bought for the tribe’s self-help program.

Baker said some employees at the site told him the lumber was purchased with federal funds and couldn’t be given away or sold.

Baker said he then was told the federal dollars that paid for the lumber to be burned had been replaced with tribal dollars.

But he said that had never gone through the council budgetary process, and he didn’t know who gave the authority to use tribal funds.

Regardless, he considered burning the lumber would be a waste and started making calls. He wanted tribal citizens to be able to come get the lumber for their use or it be donated to charity.

“The wood is not up to snuff,” Miller said Friday.

He didn’t agree some of the lumber was like new or even usable for construction.

“I wouldn’t want to give people things already identified as faulty.”

Regardless, Miller said the chief sent word Thursday not to burn the lumber.

“We can do what we want to with it, but we know it’s not quality material,” he said. “It’s rotten lumber.”

Friday afternoon he said tribal officials were trying to find a use for the lumber and had made no decision.

“At the end of the day, any donation of Cherokee Nation property is approved by the tribal council through resolution,” Miller said.

Reach Donna Hales at 684-2923 or dhales@muskogeephoenix.com.

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