NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Kah-Nee-Ta Resort closes on Warm Springs Reservation
“We need to get back
there because that’s what
the tourists want,” he said.
“They want to see Indians
and they want to learn about
Indians.”
Suppah said tribal lead-
ership failed to preserve that
original identity, or act on a
variety of plans to keep the
resort open through outside
investment.
“They can call it blame. I
don’t call it blame, it’s fact,”
he said.
Tribal and hotel officials
declined interview requests.
In a press release last week,
Tribal Councilor Carina
Miller said it would be irre-
sponsible to pour more
money into a venture that
hasn’t been profitable for
years. The decision to close
the resort was contentious
and came after a slew of pro-
posals stalled.
The closing weekend cul-
minated in time-honored
traditions, such as a horse
parade with riders in beaded
regalia, dancing and a
salmon dinner. Roma David
ran the show.
“I’m just going to put on a
parade and just [have a] bit-
ter farewell,” she said.
Bitter, she said, because
so much has changed for
the worse at Kah-Nee-Ta.
She thinks the hotel rates got
too expensive. A golf course
By EMILY CURETON
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Kah-Nee-Ta’s
closing
weekend was brimming with
guests — and memories.
Jerry and Brian Gor-
man thought about how
their granddaughter took
her first steps here. Erik
Firkus remembered him-
self at 8, “running around,
being free.” He was with his
7-year-old son this weekend.
They were among thou-
sands who came to say good-
bye to the spring-fed swim-
ming pool, the campground,
the teepees, the horses, the
hotel surrounded by high
desert trails. And …
“The People. The People
of the Tribe are always such
generous people,” Jerry Gor-
man said.
One well-known ambas-
sador for the people at Kah-
Nee-Ta is Delson Suppah
Sr. He’s an elder in the Con-
federated Tribes of Warm
Springs and, until this
week, he spent most Satur-
day nights telling legends to
tourists. By day, he often sat
in the shade of a juniper tree
by the swimming pool, just
chatting with guests.
Suppah remembered get-
ting his first job at the resort
at 17, back when that meant
wearing moccasins and rib-
bon shirts to work.
Photo by Emily Cureton/OPB
It was a somber goodbye to Kah-Nee-Ta for many. A young woman in traditional rega-
lia marched on horseback to the final Saturday salmon bake with traditional dancing.
was built in the 1980s. More
recently, a casino came and
went. Now, that’s on the
main highway through the
reservation, a few miles
away from the remotely sit-
uated resort.
Roma gave a quick
recounting over the decades,
skimming over the roughest
parts — the fires, the scan-
dals and the floods — while
washing salmon flesh off
a piping hot wooden stick.
It was used to roast the fish
over an open flame. Her
mother, her grandmother and
her aunt also cooked salmon
dinners at the resort. For this
final meal, her son tended
the fire, while nieces, neph-
ews and grandkids helped.
“I’m just praying that
things will turn around and
people will start thinking
after they see this,” she said.
“Because it’s our people who
are suffering by losing this
place.”
Job losses hit the reserva-
tion recently when a lumber
mill closed. The resort brings
another wave of lost jobs.
Of 146 people laid off
from the resort, many are
tribal members. More than
100 people who live in staff
apartments on the property
were given until January to
move out.
For the staff, the clos-
ing weekend was non-stop
slammed. Plenty of employ-
ees moved on after they
were given notice of the
closure two months ago, so
those who stayed until the
end didn’t have much time
BRIEFLY
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
Sunny and
pleasant
Mostly sunny and
pleasant
Mostly sunny
Pleasant with
sunshine
89° 59°
87° 56°
MONDAY
SUNDAY
SATURDAY
FRIDAY
Beautiful with
clouds and sun
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
80° 52°
78° 50°
76° 51°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
84° 56°
83° 54°
91° 60°
92° 59°
OREGON FORECAST
79° 56°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
67/56
86/52
89/56
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
90/66
Lewiston
79/53
90/58
Astoria
69/53
Pullman
Yakima 90/54
81/47
92/60
Portland
Hermiston
85/56
Salem
The Dalles 92/59
91/60
81/48
Pendleton 87/48
La Grande
Yesterday
Normals
Records
88/51
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Bend
83/48
87/48
90/52
Ontario
94/58
Caldwell
Burns
85°
45°
83°
52°
97° (2003) 37° (1956)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
Eugene
0.00"
0.00"
0.05"
5.15"
6.65"
6.17"
WINDS (in mph)
93/55
89/42
0.00"
0.00"
0.07"
6.52"
11.37"
8.45"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
89/59
84/49
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
84/50
Corvallis
84°
48°
82°
53°
99° (1932) 36° (1892)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
82/49
Aberdeen
86/57
86/61
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
80/55
for nostalgia. Ellise David
thought the reality of it all
still hadn’t hit her.
“For me it’s the people
here, not the actual place,”
said the 18-year-old, who
worked at Kah-Nee-Ta’s
front desk. She got a job
there at 14, the legal work-
ing age on the reservation.
Roma David is her grand-
mother. But Ellise isn’t really
interested in cooking salmon
or performing dances.
“I’m into agriculture. So
I like cows, plows and sows
a lot,” she said with a laugh.
She was quick to smile
despite the somber mood.
She wore a bright red T-shirt
that read, “I stand with
Standing Rock,” and she
compared the resort’s strug-
gles with identity to her own.
“I’m half-white and
half-Native-American. So
for me growing up, I had a
really hard time,” she said.
“Because I always felt like
I wasn’t Indian enough for
my grandparents … And
not white enough for a lot of
people.”
Ellise said she believes
closing the resort opened a
rift along generational lines,
between older tribal mem-
bers who don’t want the
place to change and younger
people like her, who think
it has to, even if that means
closing for now.
Today
Medford
92/56
Fri.
SW 3-6
NW 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
SW 6-12
WSW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
85/43
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:22 a.m.
7:24 p.m.
2:22 a.m.
5:46 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Sep 9
Sep 16
Sep 24
Oct 2
OSU scientists examine
Mount St. Helens formation
PORTLAND (AP) — OSU scientists may
have the answer to why Mount St. Helens is out
of line with other major volcanoes on the Cas-
cade Range.
University geophysicist Adam Schultz and
his team think a giant subsurface rock forma-
tion diverted magma, causing Mount St. Helens
to form west of the Cascadia Arc, Oregon Pub-
lic Broadcasting reported Monday.
“It seems like what we call the Spirit Lake
batholith is probably the reason why Mount St.
Helens actually pops up far to the west of where
you would anticipate it to be,” Schultz said.
The team of researchers layered together dif-
ferent imaging studies to gain better insight into
what’s below the volcano’s surface. They paired
older studies — showing the structure, density
and temperature — with newer ones that used
magnetotelluric measurements, which show
subsurface electrical conductivity.
“Either method by itself can lead to a level of
uncertainty, but when you layer them together
as we have done in this project you get a much
clearer picture of what lies below,” Schultz said.
Mount St. Helens formed because the Juan
de Fuca plate off the coast of Washington and
Oregon slipped under the North America plate.
The plate went past crustal blocks with marine
sediments that slammed into the continent,
Schultz said.
“This material is more permeable than sur-
rounding rock and allows the magma to move
through it,” Schultz said. “The big batholith
acts kind of like a plug in the crust and diverted
magma that normally would have erupted in
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 105° in Thermal, Calif. Low 25° in Yellowstone Nat'l Park, Wyo.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
HEY
line with the other major Cascade volcanoes,
resulting in St. Helens forming to the west of
the Cascadia Arc, and Mount Adams slightly to
the east.”
Family says young firefighter
died of pneumonia
SCAPPOOSE (AP) — The family of a
20-year-old Scappoose man who died after
returning from a summer fighting wildfires in
Oregon and Washington says he died of com-
plications from pneumonia.
Local TV stations report that Eric Aarseth
returned from the fire lines last week and was
sick but didn’t seek medical attention.
His family says friends found him uncon-
scious on their couch on Aug. 28.
He was taken by ambulance to the hospital,
where doctors diagnosed sepsis.
Aarseth never regained consciousness and
doctors took him off life support on Monday.
Jackson County officials seek
arsonist in grass fires
SHADY COVE, Ore. (AP) — Authorities in
Jackson County are looking for a suspect who
set a string of grass fires last week in Shady
Cove.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department
says witnesses reported seeing a light-colored
Pontiac Sunfire sedan leaving the scene near
Highway 62 around the time the fires were
reported late on Aug. 30 and early on Aug. 31.
One fire was reported at 9:10 p.m. and two
more were reported just after 1 a.m.
All three were quickly extinguished.
KIDS...
want to earn some
EXTRA
MONEY?
Ask Mom & Dad, then come
sign up to be a part of the
Pendleton Round-Up.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
Help sell the 2018 Round-Up
Special Edition Magazine and the EO.
September 8-15th, 2018
Ages 10 and up or groups.
Call 541-564-4530 for more information.
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211
333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211
Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed major holidays
www.eastoregonian.com
To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255
or go online to www.eastoregonian.com
and click on ‘Subscribe’
East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and
postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to
East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801.
Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group
Subscriber services:
For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops
or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
Local home delivery Savings off cover price
EZPay
$14.50
41 percent
52 weeks
$173.67
41 percent
26 weeks
$91.86
38 percent
13 weeks
$47.77
36 percent
*EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge
Single copy price:
$1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday
Circulation Manager:
541-966-0828
ADVERTISING
Regional Publisher and Revenue Director:
Christopher Rush
541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com
Advertising Services: Grace Bubar
541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com
Multimedia Consultants:
• Kimberly Macias
541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com
• Jeanne Jewett
541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com
• Dayle Stinson
541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com
• Angela Treadwell
541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com
• Audra Workman
541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com
Classified & Legal Advertising
1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678
classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com
NEWS
• To submit news tips and press releases:
call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com
• To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News:
email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at
541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818.
• To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries:
email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian.
com/community/announcements
• To submit sports or outdoors information or tips:
541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com
Business Office Manager: Janna Heimgartner
541-966-0822 • jheimgartner@eastoregonian.com
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com