Archie Doyle Hoffman, Sr., was born to Fred and Kathryn Hoffman in Clinton, Oklahoma, on February 2, 1937. An honored tribal elder in his latter years, he died July 25, 2012.
As a boy, Archie was raised in Herring, Oklahoma, later attending high school in both Hammon and Cheyenne. He was a good student, adept at solving practical problems.
Archie joined the U.S. Air Force in 1956, serving an overseas tour in Spain before his honorable discharge. He married Jesse Mae Hamilton on October 12, 1957. Over many years, he was a representative for the Native American Church.
To earn a living, he applied practical skills he had learned as a mechanic in the military. He made his way in the broader culture while retaining love for the old ways, including devotion to the rights of the Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes. He worked for the tribes for around 15 years during the 1970s and 1980s, then returned as an elected officer in the 1990s.
Mr. Hoffman was preceded in death by his mother, father, brother, sister, wife, son, daughter and grandson. He was survived by four sisters and two brothers, three of his daughters, 13 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
As the narrator of a news report for NBC television put it in the 1990s, “The Cheyenne & Arapaho tribes lost some of their lands to the federal government back in the late 1800s. And since then they’ve been fighting a 100-year battle to get them back. They tried lobbying, they tried the courts, and then, in 1996, after a meeting with some local Democratic officials, they tried something as old as American politics itself — they wrote a check.”
Thus began a story on behind-the-scenes efforts by Hoffman and a few other Indian leaders to regain land around historic Fort Reno that the U.S. government had long promised would – if the facility ever stopped being a military installation – be returned to the tribes. With the encouragement of a Democratic fundraiser, Hoffman concluded, as he told reporters, "You don’t get something for nothing. Not in this world."
Hoffman said at the time he had noticed the increasing clout of the Cherokee tribe and its leaders – influence garnered in part from significant campaign contributions to both major political parties. He and other leaders of Oklahoma’s smaller Indian Nations were frustrated by the ability of the larger tribes to leverage sovereign rights, leavened with those significant political gifts, to gain local and national market advantages.
Hoffman hoped adding political money to the merits of the Two Tribes’ case would open doors. A promised 1996 contribution of $100,000 to the national Democrats’ drive for Bill Clinton’s reelection was supposed to grease the skids to get a serious look at the issue, a consistent dream of the Cheyenne & Arapaho throughout their post-treaty unified era.
In a meeting with the president as the contribution was put together in June of that year, one of Hoffman’s close allies later said, Clinton affirmed “something to the effect” of “I’ll see what can be done about it." Hoffman’s friend, Charles Surveyor, later recalled that Clinton fundraiser Terry McAuliffe promised “the president says he[‘s] gonna do something, he’s gonna do it.”
Before too long, after they were dunned by some of the national party people, Hoffman and allies in the Tribes were able to send $87,671.74 – all they had in their bank account. Later, the total contribution reached $107,671.74. Vice President Al Gore reportedly backed the cause, but a serious hearing on the issue was never held, and today the lands are still in federal hands.
Return of the land never happened.
McAuliffe denied to reporters he had ever made the promise on President Clinton’s behalf.
Senator Fred Thompson, who later led a lengthy investigation of campaign finance, concluded, with some sympathy for the tribes, “We know what was in the minds of the men from the tribe. And that is they thought that they had done themselves some good."
The C&A contribution, and other 1996 issues, became fodder for Thompson’s investigation, and in Congress steps were taken to put mechanisms in place that have thus far prevented return of the land.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled the Tribes’ claim was time barred, even though the tribes entered evidence that legal status of the property had been deemed classified for fifty years after having been placed on standby military status in the 1950s.
The courts have never ruled on the merits of the Cheyenne & Arapaho claim to the former fort – a claim supported in U.S. Interior Department briefs through several administrations, but opposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which presently controls the land.
Archie Hoffman never stopped advancing the rights of his people. Just a few weeks ago, he appeared before a federal commission, still dreaming, and believing, that one day the Cheyenne & Arapaho will gain justice from the United States.
Jim McElhatton, investigative reporter for The Washington Times, has documented that the embattled General Services Administration is facing investigations into as many as 77 conferences and awards ceremonies over the years. 
Citing the need for technological innovation, strategic planning, and fighting federal encroachment, Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Patrice Douglas began service as Commission Chairman Wednesday. Douglas was elected chairman in a unanimous vote by the Commission last month. Commissioner Dana Murphy served as Chairman previously.
Douglas said another concern is the push for increased federal regulation of areas that have been under state jurisdiction.
Tulsa Today is the oldest independent online local news service in the world (est.1996) and we are now considering expansion or sale of our name and domain.
To better reach Tulsa (which we define as the region of economic interest extending throughout Northeast Oklahoma) on issues of substance, we must engage each generation within their multiple circles of interest – where and how they communicate. To expand as we have come to believe necessary, requires capital. We don’t have the money – thus, the consideration of sale. There may be a fit within a traditional media group for Tulsa Today or someone may have the capital to add staff, expand the product in video and work social media as growing opportunity requires. 
Tulsa Today has advocated for and against various tax packages depending on their nature and seen our judgment confirmed more often than not. Together with our readers, we have encouraged good people to win public office and guided the elected corrupt to prison. Some stories have legs and gain pervasive community readership, but all begin with a blank page as a writer takes the time to organize facts and what is written doesn’t matter if individuals don’t read and pass it along. 
There are Conservative writers, editors, photographers, and broadcast talent available to build this platform. Many of those over the years from Oral Roberts and Tulsa universities contributed here because they love the city and the craft. But everyone tires, at some point, of working for free. Without sufficient advertising or donations from readers, Tulsa Today’s pay scale was low. How long would you labor with little reward? Can you feed your family on fame? 
There was no media coverage of the meeting. In an exclusive interview with Tulsa Today Monday morning, Dawn Warrick, Director of Planning and Economic Development (salary $122,481 yr.) said sixty people attended (bet that counted her staff of twelve) and officials did not survey the group to find if more or less were supportive of the change or not. Today, Wednesday August 1st, at 1pm that change could begin to become law at a regular meeting of the Tulsa Planning Commission. 
For decades I have covered the most boring meetings in the world. Specifically, school board meetings where officials fail to use Roberts Rules of Order to call for the question. I attended a domestic violence taskforce because some members feared others would meet until no one cared. I recorded and reported the proceedings for months and a better city policy is now in force, but it was not income earning effort. 
For Tulsa Today, I have maintained an office in the heart of downtown these past dozen years because I really hate the “blogger in mom’s basement” slam other media often utter in condescending tone. (A video of the office will be posted soon in another story.) We were here before downtown was cool and helped drive crack dealers off the streets. I’ve lived in the core of the city, but now I want just a bit of private green space in my daily life. 
I am writing a book and, with employment and family obligations, that is enough. (Even Paul Revere eventually got off the horse.) If someone on the Committee will accept the responsibility of publisher, I will help them, but the capital question remains and even with capital, I will not be available here full-time. With capital; a publisher and staff can be hired and critics shouldn’t over enthuse because the next generation of leadership for Tulsa Today might be even stronger in battle for Faith, Family and Freedom. 
There is a role for Tulsa Today, but the Committee will decide. Further, while international readers are welcome (if you want to buy locally we can help you), the point has always been local communications – using the Web to connect neighbors. 
There are now some things I no longer wish to publish, but rather to communicate directly with like-minded people. I agree with Beck that we must activate to earn a more effective, principled and honorable government – from the ground up. I have some ideas on that subject that I am looking to launch. 
President Obama’s White House Staff has issued an embarrassing apology to Charles Krauthammer over the Churchill bust gaffe.