Eastern Cherokee casino board member protests reduction in term

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The footage is grainy but a member of Angela Kephart's entourage can be seen engaging in close physical contact with a male employee of the Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort in North Carolina. Still image from Cherokee Rants & Raves

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A casino board member for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina is protesting the tribe's decision to cut her term short.

Angela Kephart was supposed to serve on the gaming enterprise board until September 2017. But the council passed a resolution last month that puts her out of office this year, The Smoky Mountain News reported.

Kephart is now asking the council to reverse the decision. She has submitted a resolution that will be considered at a meeting on Thursday.

"It is not in the best interest of all tribal members of the EBCI that may be eligible for appointments, in the future, or of any board, commission that their appointment may be jeopardized by unsubstantiated change in the intent of a resolution which could have serious adverse effects on their service," Kephart wrote in her proposed resolution.

Kephart previously succeeded in having the council kill a resolution that would have removed her from the board altogether. The dispute stems from video that was posted on a Facebook group called Cherokee Rants & Raves. It showed her entourage engaging in some questionable activity during a concert at the Harrah's Cherokee Casino Resort earlier this year.

In light of the controversy, Chief Patrick Lambert called on Kephart to step down from her post but she refused. He submitted the resolution that led to the reduction in her term, The Smoky Mountain News reported.

Kephart was appointed to the gaming board by the tribe's prior chief, Michell Hicks. After taking office last October, Lambert fired Hicks as executive director of the gaming commission.

Hicks had accepted the position while he was still in office. Lambert also fired the gaming commissioners who interviewed and hired Hicks.

Read More on the Story:
Council shortens term of casino board member (The Smoky Mountain News 8/3)