{"id":26303,"date":"2016-03-24T11:51:57","date_gmt":"2016-03-24T16:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=26303"},"modified":"2018-05-01T09:32:44","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T14:32:44","slug":"the-people-stuck-in-the-middle-of-the-fight-over-southeast-oklahomas-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2016\/03\/24\/the-people-stuck-in-the-middle-of-the-fight-over-southeast-oklahomas-water\/","title":{"rendered":"The People Stuck In the Middle Of the Fight Over Southeast Oklahoma&#8217;s Water"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_26309\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26309\" alt=\"Pat Starbuck outside the Choctaw Nation Community Center in Talihina.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Starbuck1.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Starbuck1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Starbuck1-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Starbuck1-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Starbuck1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Allison Herrera \/ Invisible Nations<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pat Starbuck outside the Choctaw Nation Community Center in Talihina.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Sardis Lake, in southeastern Oklahoma, is at the heart of a <a title=\"StateImpactLink\" href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/tag\/tribal-water-lawsuit\/\">battle between state and tribal governments over control of water<\/a>. Debate has raged over whether to pipe to north Texas, Oklahoma City, or western Oklahoma ever since it was built in the early 1980s. Stuck in the middle are the people who call the Sardis area home.<\/p><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/254830792&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=false\" height=\"150\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p><p>Several miles down the rugged, potholed Savage Road, just past the western edge of Lake Sardis is a neighborhood in the middle of nowhere.<\/p><p>When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flooded the area to create Sardis Lake 35 years ago, it left the tributary of the Kiamichi River that runs by her house wider than it used to be, cutting the homes off from the main road. To get there now there are two choices: forge the river by car \u2014 not the smartest option \u2014 or brave a wobbly, rusty, swinging bridge that\u2019s been there for more than 80 years.<\/p><p>Despite the obstacles, Ruby Burns loves it here even though any kind of rainstorm can leave her trapped for weeks.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_26310\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26310\" alt=\"The swinging bridge over a tributary of the Kiamichi River that leads to Ruby Burns' house. \" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Bridge.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Bridge.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Bridge-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Bridge-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Bridge-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Allison Herrera \/ Invisible Nations<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The swinging bridge over a tributary of the Kiamichi River that leads to Ruby Burns&#39; house.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>\u201cI\u2019ve lived in California, Oregon, New Mexico. But when I got to that mailbox over there, I started crying because I was home,\u201d Burns says, tearing up.<\/p><p>Ambulances can\u2019t get out here, and Burns isn\u2019t in great health. But this is where her dearest memories were made.<\/p><p>\u201cI pull up there, and there come my daddy out. My daddy would be out there waiting for me. He was a full-blood Choctaw,\u201d Burns says.<\/p><p>These are people who have truly sacrificed for Sardis Lake to be here, and they aren\u2019t the only ones.\u00a0About twenty miles northeast, in the town of Talihina, Choctaw elders and other community members gather for lunch and a chance to socialize. Like many of the people in this little town, Pat Starbuck\u2019s ancestors came here on the Trail of Tears.<\/p><p>\u201cMy dad was a big Choctaw Indian. And so I went through these mountains with him when I was a little kid,\u201d Starbuck says. \u201cAnd he had friends that lived back at Sardis, and it was the middle of nowhere at that time. It was a place that was settled by the Indians. They had a community back in there.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_26319\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26319\" alt=\"Ruby Burns outside her house past the west end of Sardis Lake on a tributary of the Kiamichi River.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Ruby.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Ruby.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Ruby-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Ruby-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Ruby-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Allison Herrera \/ Invisible Nations<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ruby Burns outside her house past the west end of Sardis Lake on a tributary of the Kiamichi River.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Starbuck has lived in Talihina her whole life and can remember\u00a0<a title=\"WikipediaLink\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sardis,_Oklahoma\" target=\"_blank\">Sardis<\/a>\u00a0the town,\u00a0which is now at the bottom of the lake. She talks about Boozy Brown\u2019s store, Thelma\u2019s Grocery, and how the community came together just before the Corps of Engineers flooded the place.<\/p><p>\u201cWe decided, in the old school building, to have some dances,\u201d Starbuck says. \u201cIt was a cold winter night. We were wearing coats and big, heavy overshoes and it was so icy in there. But danced anyway. It was fun.\u201d<\/p><p>These are the local tribe members caught in the middle of the <a title=\"StateImpactLink\" href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/09\/19\/the-fight-for-southeast-oklahoma-water-has-19th-century-roots\/\" target=\"_blank\">fight over who controls the water<\/a> in Sardis Lake \u2014 the state of Oklahoma or the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations. Negotiations continue in the ongoing lawsuit, but the Choctaws here have some thoughts on whether their tribe owns southeast Oklahoma\u2019s water.<\/p><p>\u201cIf in the treaties it has said \u2018this is your water for \u2014 from now on,\u2019 then they should. And that\u2019s what it says.\u201d<\/p><p>Louise O\u2019banion lives on Lake Sardis and works at the hospital in Talihina. She says locals didn\u2019t want the lake in the first place.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_26311\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26311\" alt=\"Louise O'banion at the Choctaw Nation Community Center in Talihina.\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Obanion.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Obanion.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Obanion-500x333.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Obanion-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2016\/03\/PHOTO-3-24-Obanion-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Allison Herrera \/ Invisible Nations<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Louise O&#39;banion at the Choctaw Nation Community Center in Talihina.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>\u201cThe old timers, they don\u2019t like changes. They wanted to leave it like it was,\u201d O\u2019banion says. \u201cOf course it took in the cemetery. My mother\u2019s dad was buried there.\u201d<\/p><p>O\u2019banion\u2019s opinion on the water fight is clear. To her, the water belongs to the tribes.<\/p><p>\u201cThey took everything else from us,\u201d she says. \u201cThey took the land. They moved us here from Mississippi. Then they came back and tried to move us out of here. They wanted the white settlers to come in and take the land.\u201d<\/p><p>Whether their land was taken under eminent domain, or they have loved ones buried in a submerged cemetery, the people around Sardis gave up a lot for the lake. But they haven\u2019t seen much benefit from it. And until the dispute over who controls the water ends, private development of this beautiful part of the state \u2014 and the local economic benefits that come with it \u2014 will have to wait.<\/p><p><em>Invisible Nations&#8217; Allison Herrera contributed to this report as part of a collaboration with StateImpact Oklahoma exploring the Sardis Lake issue and the dispute between the state and Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations over who controls southeast Oklahoma&#8217;s water.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sardis Lake, in southeastern Oklahoma, is at the heart of a battle between state and tribal governments over control of water. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":26309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[163,538,427],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26303"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26331,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26303\/revisions\/26331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}