Neal McCaleb Details Indian Nation Water Rights Agreement

Rotarian of the Day Kathy Reeser hit a home run with our guest speaker last week. 

Long time Republican political leader, Oklahoma Statesman and Native American spokesman Neal McCaleb was our guest speaker at the May 28th meeting. Neal spoke about the recent landmark case of Southeastern Oklahoma water rights sovereignty. He gave the history of the migration of the tribes and the rights duly  granted by Federal deed and fee simple title to the Five Civilized Tribes prior to statehood.  By this case decided in Oklahoma in 2016, the rights of the tribes to approve or deny water rights was finally recognized as binding.  As Mr. McCaleb put it, "the tribes gained much respect and not much else" by this ruling...at the time.  However with the law and courts behind them, the Five Tribes now have the ability to self determine the use of the surface minerals on land still owned by the tribes.  Governments and municipalities must now negotiate with them for usage rights instead of going through government agencies that did not do a good job of protecting the rights of Native Americans in the past. While appearing to be a minor victory, it signaled a major turning point in legal proceedings for the foreseeable future.

Neal graciously stayed for some time after the meeting to answer questions and discuss other topics and reminisce about over 40 years of public service. We were honored to have him as a speaker and look forward to having him again should he have another topic he wishes to discuss.