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NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
TRIBES: Corps of Engineers recommended roughly $3M be spent on planning the new villages
Continued from 1A
in the 1970s, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers agreed to
relocate, replace or otherwise
mitigate for losses of home
and villages that became
buried by water, said Charles
Hudson, who works with an
agency of the four Columbia
River Treaty tribes.
The Indians and their
ancestors had pulled salmon
and other fish from the
river for thousands of years,
Hudson said. Not only did the
dams submerge their homes
and villages, they eliminated
the waterfalls and rapids that
were trusted fishing spots
where the salmon congregated
before leaping upstream.
Even after the dams
appeared, backing up the
river and creating large pools,
many families stayed along
the banks because fishing was
their traditional custom and
livelihood. They moved into
trailers and other makeshift
housing on plots of federal
land, where they were told
to wait for the promised new
housing, Hudson said.
“No shovels have turned
yet,” Hudson said. “Here we
are 50, almost 60 years later,
and they are still waiting.”
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, which operates
and maintains 700 dams in
America, had recommended
roughly $3 million be spent
on planning for the new
villages, like conducting
archaeological assessments
and site evaluations, and had
received about half the funds
in the 2017 budget cycle,
Hudson said.
But an Oct. 24 letter from
the Corps cited by the five
politicians said most of an esti-
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, file
This 2011, file photo shows The Dalles Dam behind The Dalles Bridge on the Columbia River.
“No shovels
have turned yet.
Here we are 50,
almost 60 years
later, and they
are still waiting.”
— Charles Hudson,
works with an agency of
the four Columbia River
Treaty tribes
AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka, File
This 2014 file photo shows the home of Ranetta Spino and her family at the rivers
edge at Lone Pine, a Native American fishing site on the Columbia River.
mated $1.5 million has been
spent, and that future work
“will cease until the remaining
funds are received.”
The members of Congress
said they understood that
Mulvaney had denied a
request by the Corps to
shift funding to provide that
remaining $1.5 million.
“We have seen first-hand
the cramped, outdated, make-
shift housing with limited
access to reliable utilities and
restrooms that tribal members
are living in today. This is a
matter of public health and
safety, upholding treaty rights,
and requires immediate
attention,” the members of
Congress said in their letter to
Mulvaney.
The Office of Manage-
ment and Budget and the
White House did not imme-
diately respond to requests for
comment.
Hudson said non-Indian
communities
that
were
submerged were rebuilt by the
government and have libraries
and post offices.
“In comparison, the tribal
communities were glaringly
neglected,” said Hudson, who
is with the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.
One such community,
called Lone Pine, sits near the
base of a dam at The Dalles.
It has just six bathrooms and
four showers, one power
outlet and two water spigots,
The Dalles Chronicle news-
paper reported this month.
Dishes are washed in the
bathroom sinks. There is no
laundry facility.
Up to 40 people live there
year-round in worn trailers
with tarps flapping from
missing windows or skylights.
Junked vehicles and boats are
scattered about.
Some of the Lone Pine
residents would be among the
estimated 400 to 500 tribal
members who would move
into a new village, if it is ever
built, Hudson said.
It’s necessary “to educate
this administration on history,
and the need,” he said.
BRIEFLY
Potentially contaminated
liquid dumped at Hanford
RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — The
Washington State Department of
Ecology is investigating a report
of potentially contaminated liquid
dumped into the ground at the
Hanford Nuclear Reservation in
August.
The Tri-City Herald reported
Friday Department of Ecology
spokesman Randy Bradbury says
that initial analyses of soil samples
collected where the liquid was
dumped found no contamination
above background levels.
Washington River Protection
Solutions, the Hanford nuclear
reservation’s tank farm contractor,
notified the state of the incident, but
not until a couple of weeks after it
happened. Bradbury says it is required
to report incidents immediately.
Tank farm contractor spokesman
peter Bengtson says the tank farm
contractor believes it did not violate
state regulations.
Gov. Brown wants to cancel
water swap plans for Nestle
PORTLAND (AP) — Gov. Kate
Brown has asked a state agency to
cancel plans for a water swap that
would have allowed Nestle to access
the valuable spring water it wants.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports
the water transfer is a key part of
Nestle’s plans to build a $50 million
water bottling plant in Cascade Locks.
Hood River County voted in
May 2016 to ban commercial water
bottling. Most voters in the city of
Cascade Locks, however, favored
letting Nestle in and city leaders have
been pursuing a water rights transfer
with the state Department of Fish and
Wildlife that would allow it to sell
water from Oxbow Springs to Nestle.
Brown on Friday asked the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife to
withdraw its application for the water
exchange.
The governor wrote the agency’s
director, Curt Melcher, saying the
ballot measure makes the goal of the
water exchange uncertain. Brown
says she is also worried about
spending additional state money for an
uncertain outcome.
Klamath Falls cemetery
to inter 150 unclaimed
remains
KLAMATH FALLS (AP) — The
unclaimed ashes of about 150 people
will be laid to rest in a ceremony next
month in Klamath Falls.
The Herald and News reports that
Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery is
providing a final resting place for
unclaimed cremated remains.
Cemetery officials set out last
year to collect unclaimed ashes from
local funeral homes. They expected
to find about 30 but now have about
150 remains they plan to inter at the
cemetery.
Ashes can go unclaimed for a
number of reasons, including if a
family can’t pay for cremation costs or
relatives can’t be located.
Ben Quen, president of the Mt.
Calvary Cemetery Association, says
the board unanimously agreed to set
aside about 3,000 square feet of land
behind the cemetery chapel to bury the
unclaimed remains.
Ministers of different faiths will
be invited to the Nov. 18 ceremony.
Military honors will be included for
veterans.
Jury selection to begin
for Bundy, two sons in
standoff case
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jury
selection is set to begin in Las Vegas
for the long-awaited trial of Nevada
rancher and states’ rights figure
Cliven Bundy, two sons and one other
co-defendant on charges stemming
from an armed standoff with federal
agents in April 2014.
The trial starting Monday for the
71-year-old Bundy, sons Ryan and
Ammon Bundy, and Ryan Payne
of Montana alleges that they led a
self-styled militia to prevent the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management from
enforcing court orders to stop Bundy
cattle from grazing in what is now
Gold Butte National Monument.
It comes after prosecutors twice
fell short in earlier trials to gain full
convictions of six other men who were
armed with assault-style weapons
during the confrontation.
Three co-defendants pleaded guilty
in recent weeks to lesser charges.
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Staff Sergeant
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Love Evelyn,
Joe and
Cheryl
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