Omaha Tribe elects first woman leader

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BY KEVIN ABOUREZK / Lincoln Journal Star

The Omaha Tribal Council elected its first woman leader Tuesday, a day after tribal members went to the polls to fill two tribal council seats. Eleanor Baxter, the tribe’s former vice chairperson, succeeds Orville Cayou as the council chairperson, the tribe said in a news release Thursday.

“I am honored to serve the Omaha Tribe of which I am an enrolled member,” Baxter said. “I will work hard to make decisions that will bring more economic development and employment for tribal people.”

She said she also hoped to use her new position to build positive working relationships with the state of Nebraska and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In Tuesday’s council elections, tribal members re-elected incumbent Barry Webster and elected former councilman Mitchell Parker to three-year terms.

The elections marked the first since the tribe amended its constitution in 2003 to create staggered terms for council members. Elections for seats on the seven-member council will now take place every year. Two seats will be up in 2006 and three seats in 2007.

“It’s my focus to create jobs, provide affordable housing, support our elders and youth, create a safer community and financial support for our college students,” Webster said.

Baxter, who spent much of her youth in Lincoln, moved back to the Omaha Indian Reservation in Northeast Nebraska in 1993.

She applauded the newly implemented staggered council terms.

“The staggered terms are really going to help us move up the ladder, carrying out projects, bringing continuity,” she said.

At least one tribal member expressed optimism at the election of the tribe’s first woman chairperson.

Kay Stabler, an administrative assistant for Umo-n Ho-n Nation Public Schools in Macy, said she expected Baxter would prove a strong leader for her people, especially the youth.

“I am hoping she will focus on the youth and their education.”

Reach Kevin Abourezk at 473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com.