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Harrison Shackelford, the Osage Nation maintenance director, grabs a case of water out of a truck as he and other tribal employees and volunteers unload relief supplies in Pawhuska, Okla.Dawn Haney/Osage News

Osages to the Rescue

By Shannon Shaw

PAWHUSKA, Okla.—The Osage Nation came to the aid of hundreds of families without power Dec. 9, after an ice storm hit Oklahoma, making national headlines.

The ice storm started the night of Dec. 8 and continued for two days, hitting the southern part of Osage County with an estimated inch to an inch and a half of ice and the northern part of the county with a half-inch of ice, said Craig Sullivan, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Osage tribal officials held an emergency relief meeting the next day as calls from friends and relatives of those who lost power poured in to the tribe's offices, said Paula Stabler, Osage Nation communications officer.

Hardest hit were the Osage County communities of Skiatook, Avant, Osage and Prue.

"This was the worst power outage in Oklahoma's history, but we consider ourselves lucky with this storm," said Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray. "The power lines and trees were down over most of the reservation, but the roads were clear and Pawhuska city limits kept its power.

"Our people are tired, but they responded immediately and were glad to help."

The Palace of the Osage Grocery Store, Women, Infants and Children program, Osage Nation Food Distribution and Osage Nation Home Health donated food for the relief effort, Stabler said. Tribal members also contributed money for the effort.

"The numbers are still being finalized, but at this point we feel that we have reached more than 500 people face to face at their homes or in our facilities," Stabler said. "There was an advance team that just started knocking on doors, focusing on our client base of home-bounds, seeing what they had and handing out what little we had the first day."

Stabler said Marie Rumsey, diabetes and community health resource director, took the lead in coordinating deliveries using her staff and the staff from the Tribal Assistance office, Osage Nation Police, Maintenance Department, Executive Staff and Social Services Departments.

More than 150 cases of food, water, milk, paper goods, flashlights, batteries, lime salt, cleaner, carbon monoxide detectors, oxygen tanks, disinfectant spray and juice were delivered to the Osage Nation Boys & Girls Club in Pawhuska to be distributed to volunteer teams to take to the affected areas.

In Avant, the volunteer team helped more than 50 families in need.

"One lady had five grandchildren staying with her and she about cried when I came to help her," said Wayne Wilson, a tribal employee. "She just couldn't believe someone came to help her . . . It was bad to say the least."

In Skiatook, Evelyn Wilbur and her son Gary Daws had been without electricity since Dec. 9. The power still hadn't come on Dec. 14.

They were heating their home with candles before delivery of a generator by another son living in Collinsville. The generator only provides enough power to run a small heater and their television.

Since the power went out, no one has come around to check on them and they have been unable to get information about when the power will be back on, Wilbur said. She said she bought her groceries for the month on Dec. 1 but had to throw out the perishables that spoiled.

"People don't want to leave their homes because of robberies," Wilbur said. When asked about Christmas, Wilbur replied, "I'm not sure about Christmas, I'm about to run out of money."

This story originally was published by the Osage News and is used with permission. Dawn Haney contributed to this report.

Shannon Shaw, Osage, is a reznet assignment editor and the communications coordinator for the Osage Nation in Pawhuska, Okla. A former reporter at the Santa Fe New Mexican, Shaw is a graduate of the American Indian Journalism Institute and the University of Oklahoma.

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