CANDY MINK SPRINGS MEDIA LLC Kituwah Press · Kituwah Punk TERMS OF SERVICE Effective Date: April 25, 2025

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service (”Terms”) govern access to and use of kituwahpress.com and any affiliated sites, newsletters, social media accounts, and digital properties operated under the Kituwah Press and Kituwah Punk mastheads (collectively, the “Site”) by Candy Mink Springs Media LLC, an Oklahoma limited liability company based in Stilwell, Adair County, Oklahoma (”CMSM,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). By accessing or using the Site, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the Site.

2. Description of Service

CMSM publishes news, investigative reporting, commentary, and related editorial content through two mastheads: Kituwah Press, which provides accountability journalism, and Kituwah Punk, which provides sharper commentary and opinion writing. Content may be distributed via the Site, email newsletters, and social media. CMSM may add, modify, or discontinue any feature or content category at its discretion.

3. Eligibility

The Site is intended for users at least the minimum age required by the platform hosting the Site (currently 16 years of age under Substack’s Terms of Use, where the Site is hosted on Substack), and in no case under 13. CMSM does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6506. If you are under the age of majority in your jurisdiction, you may use the Site only with the involvement of a parent or guardian. By using the Site, you represent that you meet this requirement.

4. Editorial Independence and Nature of Content

News content published under the Kituwah Press masthead reflects independent reporting and is subject to CMSM’s editorial standards regarding sourcing, attribution, and verification. Commentary and opinion content, including material published under the Kituwah Punk masthead, reflects the views of the individual author and is clearly distinguished from news reporting. CMSM does not guarantee that any prediction, forecast, opinion, or forward-looking statement will prove accurate.

CMSM correctly distinguishes between the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation, and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in its reporting and does not treat these as interchangeable governments.

5. Intellectual Property

Unless otherwise noted, all articles, photographs, graphics, logos, and other original content published on the Site are the property of CMSM or its contributors and are protected by U.S. copyright law. You may share links to Site content and make limited quotations with clear attribution and a link back to the original, as permitted by applicable law. You may not republish, reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from CMSM content in whole or substantial part without prior written permission. Where the Site is hosted on Substack or a comparable platform, CMSM’s ownership of its original content is subject to the separate content license CMSM has granted that platform under its publisher agreement to operate, host, and distribute the publication.

Requests for reprint permission, licensing, or syndication should be directed using the contact information in Section 16.

6. User-Submitted Content

If the Site permits comments, story tips, letters to the editor, photograph submissions, or other user-submitted material (”User Content”), you retain ownership of your User Content but grant CMSM a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, edit, publish, and distribute that content in connection with CMSM’s editorial operations.

You represent that you have the right to submit the material and that it does not infringe any third party’s rights. CMSM may decline to publish, may edit for length or clarity, and may remove any User Content at its discretion. Story tips and source communications are handled under CMSM’s separate source-protection and confidentiality practices where applicable; submitting a tip through a public comment form does not by itself establish a confidential source relationship.

CMSM reserves the right, but assumes no obligation, to monitor User Content and may remove material that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, or otherwise in violation of these Terms.

7. Corrections and Complaints

CMSM seeks to correct verified factual errors promptly. To request a correction or raise a concern about published content, contact CMSM using the information in Section 16 and identify the specific article, the claimed error, and any supporting documentation. Submission of a correction request does not obligate CMSM to alter published content; CMSM will evaluate the request against its editorial and verification standards.

8. Acceptable Use

You agree not to: (a) use the Site for any unlawful purpose; (b) attempt to gain unauthorized access to CMSM’s systems or data; (c) interfere with or disrupt the Site’s operation; (d) scrape, harvest, or bulk-download content without written permission; (e) impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with CMSM; or (f) submit User Content that is defamatory, harassing, threatening, or that discloses another person’s private information without consent.

9. Third-Party Links

The Site may link to third-party websites, source documents, or government records for reference and verification purposes. CMSM does not control and is not responsible for the content, accuracy, or practices of third-party sites. Inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement.

10. Newsletters and Communications

If you subscribe to a CMSM newsletter or mailing list, you consent to receive periodic emails from CMSM. To the extent any such email is a commercial electronic message under the CAN-SPAM Act, 15 U.S.C. § 7701 et seq., it will identify CMSM as the sender, use an accurate, non-deceptive subject line, and include a functioning unsubscribe mechanism. You may unsubscribe at any time using the link provided in each email. CMSM does not sell subscriber email addresses to third parties.

11. Donations and Paid Subscriptions

CMSM may offer free and paid subscription tiers, and may accept reader donations, in support of independent journalism. Where the Site uses Substack or another third-party publishing and payments platform, the following applies:

(a) Paid subscriptions are processed through the platform and its payment processor (currently Stripe, where the Site is on Substack). CMSM, not the platform, is the merchant of record for these transactions and is responsible for its relationship with subscribers, including refund and chargeback matters. Payment-card information is collected and stored by the payment processor rather than directly by CMSM.

(b) Subscriptions may be offered on a monthly, annual, founding-member, or other basis made available through the platform, and automatically renew until canceled. You may cancel at any time through your account on the platform. Cancellation stops future billing but does not by itself entitle you to a refund of amounts already charged.

(c) Refund requests should be sent to CMSM at the contact address in Section 21. As of the Effective Date, Substack’s own policy generally honors qualifying refund requests submitted within seven (7) days of payment, with additional exceptions for dormant publications and documented service outages; CMSM may grant refunds outside that window at its discretion. Because this policy is set by the platform and may change, the platform’s then-current refund policy controls the mechanics of any specific refund.

(d) Because CMSM is the merchant of record, CMSM may be responsible for responding to a bank or card-issuer dispute (a “chargeback”) and for any processing fees the payment processor assesses in connection with that dispute. Initiating a chargeback instead of first requesting a refund under subsection (c) may result in those fees being passed on to you and may lead to cancellation of your subscription.

(e) One-time donations are generally non-refundable except where required by law or where CMSM determines a payment was made in error.

(f) Subscriptions purchased through Apple’s in-app purchase system in a mobile app, where available, are billed, refunded, and managed by Apple according to Apple’s own policies rather than the terms in this Section.

(g) CMSM does not guarantee uninterrupted delivery of paid content and is not responsible for delivery failures caused by the platform, the payment processor, Apple, your email provider, or your spam filtering. Subscribers are also subject to the hosting platform’s own applicable terms of use, publisher agreement, and payment policies, which control as to matters of the platform’s own operation.

12. Privacy

Use of the Site is also governed by CMSM’s Privacy Policy, which describes how information is collected and used. [Insert link to Privacy Policy once published.] If no separate Privacy Policy currently exists, this section should be completed before the Site collects personal information from users.

13. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SITE AND ITS CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. CMSM DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE.

14. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, CMSM AND ITS MEMBERS, EMPLOYEES, AND CONTRIBUTORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE OR RELIANCE ON ITS CONTENT. CMSM’S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM THESE TERMS OR USE OF THE SITE SHALL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100).

15. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless CMSM, its members, employees, and contributors from any claim, liability, damages, or expense (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising from your use of the Site, your User Content, or your violation of these Terms.

16. Copyright Complaints (DMCA)

If you believe content on the Site infringes your copyright, send a written notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512, identifying: (i) the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed; (ii) the material you claim is infringing and its location on the Site; (iii) your contact information; (iv) a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized; and (v) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. Send notices to:

Candy Mink Springs Media LLC Attn: Troy Littledeer, Publisher (Designated Agent) Stilwell, Adair County, Oklahoma troylittledeer@gmail.com

CMSM will respond to good-faith copyright complaints in accordance with the DMCA and other applicable law, and will honor valid counter-notices as provided by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). [Before this section is relied on for DMCA safe-harbor purposes, CMSM’s designated agent should be separately registered with the U.S. Copyright Office’s Designated Agent Directory; naming an agent in these Terms alone does not complete that registration.]

17. Governing Law, Federal Law, and Applicable Tribal Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Oklahoma, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, except where federal law controls (including copyright, the CAN-SPAM Act, and COPPA as referenced above). Any dispute between CMSM and a general user of the Site arising from these Terms shall be brought exclusively in the state courts of Adair County, Oklahoma, or the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts. This forum selection governs the contractual relationship between CMSM and Site users under these Terms only; it does not purport to resolve, limit, or waive any separate jurisdiction that a tribal court may independently hold over a matter under applicable tribal law.

CMSM is based in Stilwell, Adair County, Oklahoma, within the jurisdictional area of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma (UKB) and the Cherokee Nation. Nothing in these Terms is intended to waive, diminish, expand, or otherwise characterize the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the UKB, the Cherokee Nation, or any other tribal nation. Where CMSM’s business operations, real property, or conduct occurring within tribal jurisdiction are independently subject to applicable tribal law, this Terms of Service does not supersede that law; it governs only the relationship between CMSM and users of the Site as a matter of general public contract.

18. Changes to These Terms

CMSM may revise these Terms at any time by posting an updated version on the Site with a new effective date. Continued use of the Site after a revision takes effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

19. Termination

CMSM may suspend or terminate your access to the Site at any time, with or without notice, for conduct that violates these Terms or is otherwise harmful to CMSM, other users, or third parties.

20. Severability and Entire Agreement

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and CMSM regarding use of the Site.

21. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be directed to:

Candy Mink Springs Media LLC Stilwell, Adair County, Oklahoma troylittledeer@gmail.com