From: Galen
Date: 28 Mar 2010
Time: 20:51:37 -0500
Remote Name: 75.104.102.143
Homer, you don’t seem to want to answer directly, but one can assume from your comments and complaints, that you are not Osage but are receiving headright payments. The whole premise behind the Fletcher case is that non-Osages should never have been given a permanent right to receive Osage Trust annuity payments. The BIA/DOI admitted they made mistakes in that regard when they closed the loop holes that allowed your family to take possession of some unfortunate Osage families’ headright, it couldn’t happen now. >>>> The history you give about your ancestor being a prominent Pawhuska attorney probably indicates the mechanism that was used to lay hands on the headright in the first place. I understand that white attorney’s got many Osage families to sign away their headrights after being appointed their supposed “guardians”, or as payment for representing them is some minor law case. >>>> I can see why you are upset that you now find yourself the target of the Fletcher suit that is trying to get these lost headright back in Osage hands, you’ve been receiving the payments so long you probably feel you have a right to them. But the fact of the matter is if you are not Osage, you and your family have been receiving this money under very dubious circumstances for a very long time. >>>>The Fletcher case is far from over and you will likely continue to receive these payments for some time to come, so don’t expect much sympathy from us about the prospect that some fine day your headright might be returned to the Osages for whom it was rightfully intended. >>>> Having said that, if you are a valid member of some other recognized tribe, you should contact the Fletcher attorney’s with proof of that fact. I understand that members of other tribes that receive Osage headright payments are being treated differently than non-Indians.