Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 2016)
REGION Saturday, September 10, 2016 East Oregonian Page 3A Most of $20M tribal settlement going to dividends for members By WIL PHINNEY Confederated Umatilla Journal Nearly three-quarters of a $20 million settlement will be divided and distributed among approximately 3,047 tribal members following a decision Aug. 30 by the Board of Trustees for the Confeder- ated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. That pencils out to about $4,400 for all tribal members, including children. However, still to be worked out, among other things, is how money will be distributed to children whose parents may be divorced but have joint custody. A family of four could expect to received approxi- mately $17,600. The money will not be taxed. Of the $20 million, $2 million will be paid to the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and another $100,000 will be paid to Rocky Hills Advisors, the two agencies retained by all 10 tribes in the case. That leaves $17.9 million. The board decided to allo- cate 75 percent — about $13,425,000 — to split between tribal members. The Board has not yet decided what to do with the remaining $4.47 million but it is assumed the money will be spent on priorities set out by the BOT in January of this year. There apparently was not a lot of discussion about how the lion’s share of the money would be spent, although the resolution approving the allo- cation was not unanimous. General Council Chairman Alan Crawford and BOT member Armand Minthorn voted against the measure. In an email statement provided to the CUJ, Board Treasurer Rosenda Shippen- tower said, “Although the BOT will continue to assist in preserving resources and building new facilities for the community and our future generations, it is understood that there are current needs that many tribal members have gone without because of the cost of living. Tribal members have helped one another out during these times and the BOT is hopeful that the forthcoming distribution will beneit the membership.” Minthorn said the money would have been better spent on needs that would beneit the community as a whole. “There should have been more thorough discussion of priorities and needs, long term and short term,” Minthorn said. He listed off several things that should have been consid- ered. “Water rights, daycare, preschool, well number 6, internal debt, housing, Tamastslikt to name a few,” he said. “So much could have been done and there still would have been unmet needs. We could have less- ened unmet needs the Board agreed to in our priority lists.” The $20 million settlement with the CTUIR — one of 10 tribes alleging misman- agement of tribal trust resources and trust accounts managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs — was the third largest among the tribes seeking settlement for the claim. The other tribes in the lawsuit were the Comanche Nation, Kickapoo Tribes of Oklahoma, Penobscot Indian Nation, Pueblo of Colorado, Quinalt Indian Nationn, Semi- nole Tribe of Florida, Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Southern Ute Indian Tribe and White Earth Nation. The CTUIR retained NARF to represent it in the assertion of its claims against the U.S. for “histor- ical accountings and other equitable relief regarding the Tribes’ accounts, funds and non-monetary assets or resources that are held in trust by the United States.” In the case of the CTUIR, the federal government settled on the Tribes’ allega- tions of mismanagement that resulted in losses for forestry resources, pipeline rights of way and trust accounts managed by the BIA. The settlement was based on land owned by the CTUIR as a nation, not on land owned by individuals. Known as the Sisseton Wahpeton Tribes vs. Jewell (Interior Secretary), the case was “similar to the Cobell lawsuit,” said Dan Hester, a CTUIR attorney who was instrumental in forging the settlement. A part of the settlement, the CTUIR agreed to waive and release the United States for claims regarding misman- agement of trust resources and account, “but that waiver does not include any tribal claims for treaty-reserved water rights, and treaty resources such as ishing, hunting, gath- ering and grazing rights, and other tribal claims including natural resources damage at the Hanford Nuclear Reserva- tion and the Portland Harbor cleanup,” Hester said. Staff photo by E.J. Harris Hobby horse barrel racing Isabella Michael, 4, of Echo rides her horse, Izzie, while participating in barrel racing Friday at the First Presbyterian Church’s preschool parking lot rodeo in Pendleton. BRIEFLY HERMISTON Dispatch deal will cost city $50K annually By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian Two years after consoli- dating emergency dispatch services with Umatilla County, the Hermiston City Council will be asked to approve a contract with the county Monday. The contract relects a new agreement on who pays for what — a point of conten- tion that has brought law enforcement, ire districts, city administrators and county oficials together for months of meetings. “We were an active partic- ipant in those discussions,” assistant city manager Mark Morgan said. Smaller cities argued that they simply didn’t have the money to pay the cost of dividing the dispatch bill on the basis of population, while Hermiston and Pendleton said it wasn’t fair for them to continue shouldering the cost of other cities not paying their share. The contract before the city council divides the dispatch bill by cities’ assessed prop- erty value. It means a $50,000 increase for Hermiston, but Morgan said he did feel that a least it was a “solid formula moving forward” that the county could use for years to come without having to revisit old arguments. In a memo to the council signed by City Manager Byron Smith, staff recommended that the council accept the contract. “Despite a few items we are always working on with the county, consolidating dispatch has worked well for us,” the memo said. “The alternative to approving this new contract would be a multi-million dollar invest- ment in the equipment to run our own dispatch.” On Monday the council also will consider a franchise agreement with Fatbeam, LLC allowing the company to use the city’s utility poles to run iber optic cable to the Hermiston School District. The city will receive a fran- chise fee of 5 percent of gross revenue in return. The council will also consider installation of stop signs northbound and southbound on Northwest Fifth Street where it crosses Madrona Avenue. The four-way intersection does not currently have any signs or lights controlling trafic, and neighbors have told the city that increased trafic is making the intersection more dangerous. The city council meeting is Monday at 7 p.m. at city hall, 180 N.E. Second St. in Hermiston. PENDLETON Crow’s Shadow pop-up gallery to open for Round-Up By TIM TRAINOR East Oregonian Every year, the Round-Up creates a pop-up economy in Pendleton. In parks and parking lots and empty storefronts, vendors hawk Western goods and tourist trinkets to the crowds that descend on the town during the rodeo. This year, a new pop-up will take up a long-vacant spot on Main Street to sell and exhibit some of the inest art produced in the Pendleton area, as well as offering tast- ings from local wineries. The 9,500-square-foot former bank building at 256 S. Main was purchased at auction in May by Oregon real estate magnate Jordan Schnitzer’s company Harsch Investment Properties. It has since undergone the upgrades required to host the Crow’s Shadow Pop-Up Gallery during Round-Up Week. Karl Davis, executive director of Crow’s Shadow Institute for the Arts, said the store will operate from 2-8 p.m. from Sept. 14-17. The pop-up will include works from Crow’s Shadow’s permanent collections, and will have prints for sale. Contemporary and nationally known American Indian artists such as James Lava- dour and Wendy Red Star, and local artists including Whitney Minthorn, Susan Sheoships and Jeremy Red Star Wolf will be on display. Davis said sales aside, he thought having a Main Street storefront on the busiest week of the year would beneit the nonproit. “I think the idea is to open up the audience to the world- class print facility that’s just outside of Pendleton,” Davis said. In addition, Don Carlo Vineyard from the Milton-Freewater area and Echo Ridge Cellars will have a presence as well. Long-term plans for the building have not been decided, according to Harsch Properties. EOTEC to hold special meeting Monday HERMISTON — The Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center board will meet Monday to discuss the contract for construction of the rodeo arena. The meeting will be 1 p.m. at the EOTEC building, 1705 E Airport Road. On the agenda is discussion and approval of a general contractor for the rodeo grounds portion of the project. Hendon Construction of Umatilla was the sole bidder for the contract, but during a Sept. 2 meeting board chair Byron Smith said there were a few issues with the bid that were “correctable” but needed to be addressed before the board could oficially award the contract. The bid package is the second one put out by the board, which previously rejected two bids from Bothum Construction and Kirby Nagelhout Construction on the rodeo arena after they both came in well over the $3.8 million budget. The second package, bid on by Hendon Construction, separated the project into various “add-alternates” such as restrooms and lighting to give the board more options on cost. The current rodeo grounds in the middle of Hermiston are slated for demolition before the next Farm-City Pro Rodeo in August 2017. Stanield hosts community meeting on codes STANFIELD — Stanield residents are invited to a community meeting on Sept. 20. The meeting will include a joint work session with the city council and city planning commission to discuss updates to the city’s downtown code. The city council hopes to adopt new guidelines for downtown businesses by the end of the year. The project’s four goals are to remove barriers to downtown development, encourage a “pleasant and walkable” downtown, promote a consistent visual design and make the development code easier to read. Citizens can give their input at the Sept. 20 meeting at 7 p.m. at Stanield Secondary School, 1120 North Main St. in Stanield. Teacher wins $2,000 grant for innovative teaching ideas HERMISTON — Armand Larive Middle School teacher Robert Doherty was the only Oregon recipient of a 2016 Unsung Heroes award to educators offering innovative teaching ideas in their classrooms. The award from Voya Financial came with a $2,000 grant for his classroom and an opportunity to compete against other inalists from around the country for grants of up to $25,000. The award recognizes Doherty’s work in teaching Armand Larive’s video production class, where middle school students learn to shoot and edit video, write scripts, record voice-overs, perform interviews on-air and other professional video production skills. Past classes have provided live online coverage for a number of Hermiston events, including football games and Relay for Life. The Voya Unsung Heroes program is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Since 1996 it has awarded nearly $5 million in grants to more than 2,000 K-12 educators. ——— Briefs are compiled from staff and wire reports, and press releases. Email press releases to news@eastoregonian.com GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! Real Estate AUCTION No Reserve 11 NW 9th St Pendleton Preview Sunday Noon–2:30pm HERITAGE LUNCHEON 2016 A Walk Through Oregon K ERRY T YMCHUK • Executive Director Oregon Historical Society Saturday • October 1st •12-2 pm Pendleton Convention Center www.MaconBros Auction.com $40 UCHS M EMBERS $50 G ENERAL P UBLIC Tickets available at Heritage Station Museum & Pendleton Book Company THE BANNER BANK–PENDLETON PBR CLASSIC Monday, Sept. 12 and Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 8 p.m. in the action- packed Happy Canyon Arena Call 1-800-45-RODEO or order online at pendletonroundup.ticketforce.com
