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A4 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 14 February 2023
Cherokee Nation announces plans for $18M treatment center

By SEAN MURPHY tion officials are excited
Associated Press Writer about is incorporating as-
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — As pects of the tribe’s culture
a child welfare specialist into the recovery program.
for the Cherokee Nation of In addition to having peer
Oklahoma more than a de- recovery specialists who
cade ago, Juli Skinner saw are Cherokees, the recov-
firsthand the impact of the ery curriculum includes tra-
opioid crisis on Cherokee ditional activities like bead
families. making, talking circles and
Parents who began using stickball.
the powerful painkillers af- “A person in recovery needs
ter a surgery or injury be- to know they’re not alone,”
came hooked and were Hoskin said. “If you’re Cher-
losing custody of their chil- okee, there’s a real cultur-
dren, babies were being al reason why you’re not
born addicted and young alone. We share traditions,
people who ended up in even if those traditions
foster care were aging out in some families haven’t
of the system and becom- been practiced in genera-
ing addicted themselves, tions.” For Jennifer Lasiter, a
resulting in a generational 38-year-old Cherokee Na-
impact. tion citizen who struggled
“We didn’t know what hit Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., speaks during a House Rules Committee hearing at the for years with opioid addic-
us. We were just flounder- Capitol in Washington, Nov. 16, 2022. tion after she began taking
ing,” recalled Skinner, now Associated Press hydrocodone for a back
the director of behavioral nounced on Monday, will and grad school to be- everything. There’s a real injury, having a connection
health for the Cherokee be completely operated come therapists and medi- sense of justice just mak- with other Cherokee citi-
Nation, which is headquar- by the tribe and provide cal professionals needed ing that statement.” Native zens at her workplace has
tered in Tahlequah in north- no-cost treatment for Cher- to staff the facilities. American tribes across the been an important part of
east Oklahoma. okee Nation citizens strug- “These will truly be drug country settled with drug- her recovery. “Just from
Now, the nation’s larg- gling with substance abuse. treatment centers devel- maker Johnson & Johnson working here at the Chero-
est Native American tribe, The $18 million treatment oped by Cherokees, for and the nation’s largest kee Nation, I believe that
with more than 440,000 en- center is part of $73 million Cherokees,” said Chero- drug distribution compa- Cherokees band together
rolled citizens, plans to use the tribe plans to spend kee Nation Principal Chief nies for $590 million that will and lift each other up,”
a portion of its $98 million building facilities across Chuck Hoskin. “It’s not a be divvied up among hun- said Lasiter, a single mother
in opioid settlement funds its reservation to address federal government-im- dreds of tribal nations, but of three children who works
to construct a 50-bed, behavioral health needs, posed facility. the Cherokee Nation ne- for the tribe’s food distribu-
17,000-square-foot treat- including drug treatment “The symbolism is also im- gotiated its own separate tion center and has been
ment facility in Tahlequah, and prevention. Another portant, which is we are settlement with drug manu- sober for five years. “As a
Oklahoma, where the tribe $5 million will go into a tribal paying for this over the facturers and distributors. tribe, we all feel connected
is headquartered. The facil- endowment to help pay for next five years and making One of the things Hoskin in some way.”q
ity, which tribal officials an- Cherokees to go to college the opioid industry pay for and other Cherokee Na-

U-Haul hits, injures 8 pedestrians in NYC;

2 critical

after the truck drove tan. with the start of the death
through. At least eight Sewell said a suspect was penalty phase in the trial of
people were hurt, includ- in custody and that police Sayfullo Saipov, an Islamic
ing two people who were were investigating seven extremist who killed eight
in critical condition, Police scenes. She released few people in 2017 by mowing
Commissioner Keechant other details. them down with a rented
Sewell said. A pastry shop owner, Pat truck.
Sewell described the driv- Giura, said he didn’t see It was not clear whether the
er’s actions as a “violent the truck but saw the af- two events were related.q
rampage through Brook- termath: a woman on the
lyn” but said there was no ground with her scooter or
evidence of “terrorism in- e-bike destroyed and an-
Police vehicles surround a truck that was stopped and the driver volvement.” other person hurt blocks
arrested, Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, in New York. The truck sped through the away.
Associated Press
Bay Ridge neighborhood Aerial video from news he-
By MICHAEL R. SISAK able to pin the careening of Brooklyn, hitting people licopters showed the truck
Associated Press vehicle against a building on a sidewalk at one point, on a sidewalk, its path
NEW YORK (AP) — A man following a mileslong pur- before police stopped it blocked by a police cruis-
driving a U-Haul truck struck suit through Brooklyn. more than 3 miles (5 kilo- er. Authorities were exam-
and injured several people Eyewitnesses said they saw meters) away near the en- ining the truck to make sure
in New York City on Mon- pedestrians and e-bike rid- trance to a tunnel leading it didn’t contain explosives.
day before police were ers sprawled on the ground from Brooklyn to Manhat- The incident coincided facebook.com/arubatoday/