Update From Chief Flanagan 4/18/2026

Update:

Good afternoon,

Last week was a great week! We started off with a potluck meet and greet with You Are The Power hosted by Spike Cohen! We were able to share ideas and further encourage each other in our fight to raise awareness about the Franklin County prison project.

Next we made a trip to Little Rock where we watched the documentary movie screening at Robinson Center Theater, all organized by You Are The Power. Several members of the state legislature showed up to view the showing. I was warmly received by those I spoke with and they let me know they appreciate our Tribe and our position on the project at Millcreek Mountain. After the screening we had a good dinner meeting with Rebecca Berry from the group Decarcerate.

It was an informative meeting for all involved.

The following day we had a lunch meeting with Tom and Charlene Fite. We then joined Dr. David Jurney to show them some of our findings on Millcreek Mountain, including the ceremonial spiral geoglyph on a property that borders the project site. Tom and Charlene are great people that always put their principles first and we appreciate that they heard our tribe’s concerns.

Thursday night we had our annual vendors meeting for Growing A Healthy Charleston Farmers Market hosted by one of our tribal Headmen, Wade Posey. We were happy to meet new vendors and look forward to this year’s market!

Today our tribal Clan Mother Lacy Flanagan joined the other members of the Belle Museum board for a Meet the Author/Book Signing. Author Peggy Konert spoke about her book “The Holy Ghost and a Shine of Coal”. An historical fiction based around the Paris Arkansas Coal mines. https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Ghost-Shine-Coal/dp/0997261420

Beyond that we had several other productive meetings both in person and on the phone. Another productive and promising week in the books!

Thank you.

Justin Flanagan
Western Region Medal Chief
The Chickamauga Nation