Jackie Bob Martin - District 2

Tribal Council District 2

Jackie Bob Martin

RT 6 Box 436
Stilwell, OK 74960
Home: (918) 696-6846
Email: Jackie-Martin@cherokee.org

Residence and family information: “I live in Stilwell, Oklahoma, with wife Delores of 43 years. Have three children and five grandchildren.”

Education: “Grades 1-8 Wauhillau School and 9-12 Stilwell High School. Graduated Haskell Indian School of Lawrence, Kansas. Lived in Adair County all my life.”

“I am fluent in Cherokee and that helps to establish a good relationship with my people. I Owned and operated a successful business in Stilwell for 26 years, treated the people with respect, was honest and fair to my customers, which is a main reason I established confidence and trust among my people. I am an active member of First Baptist Church for over 30 years. I served on the Board of Education for nine years at Stilwell Public Schools. I have been a member of the Board of Directors for the Adair County Indian Credit Association for 21 years, an organization that helped the economy in our area by helping the Indian people establish businesses, buy farms, new homes and other needs. I am a proven leader and serve on all eight council committees: chairman of the Resources Committee, co-chair of Culture Committee, member of Community Development and Tribal Services, Education, Employment, Executive and Finance, Rules and Health committees. I also chair the Roads Sub-Committee. My attendance at committee and council meetings since being on the Tribal Council for District 2 is near 100 percent. I participated on council committees to learn as much as possible about the tribe’s operations and programs.”

“First of all, the role of this office is to be sure to obey the Constitution of this great Cherokee Nation. Secondly, this legislative body is entrusted with the power to establish laws and policies, which it shall deem necessary and proper for the good of the Cherokee Nation. Thirdly, the council has the oversight responsibilities to make sure that all the funds and monies that the Nation has are timely budgeted and accounted for.”

“We need to set long-range goals and make great efforts to make them. One is to make sure that every Cherokee student who wants to pursue higher education has an opportunity with the help from our nation. If we can help our youth obtain this kind of education they become self-dependent. It will take more money from the tribe to achieve this. I will do what I can to make this happen. The next issue is economic development. We need to attract as many industries to this area as we can, so that we can have jobs waiting for graduates and to keep them in this area. Put people to work and let them pay taxes. Lack of funding for health care is a very big issue. We must continue to lobby Washington and use other means to increase funding for our ever-growing health needs. Housing for our needy people is a big issue for me. Our housing program is doing much better now than a few years ago, but I believe we can do more. I will work hard for my people in this area.”

“Attack on our sovereignty by small groups or bands of so-called Cherokee. As much as I dislike the word “fight,” we need to stand and defend our nation from the onslaught of these groups. Lack of interest toward the tribe at the federal level and always lack of funding for the service programs. We need to convince our elected officials (state and federal) that we are strong and essential to this country – the U.S.A. Education: We need to be able to provide for early childhood education; it’s very beneficial to those children later in life. One of the main benefits is that there are fewer dropouts among those taking advantage of programs such as Head Start. The future of our nation depends on how well we treat our youth.”