OCTOBER 29, 1*76
WARM SPRINGS, OREGON PAGE 3
Tribe plans juvenile
criminal justice program
The need has existed for a
long time but the reality of a
juvenile Criminal Justice Pro
gram for Warm Springs is just
now taking form. With the
arrival of funding, a program
director and a juvenile court
judge, work has begun on the
development of the program
and the facility to house it.
A total of $200,000, includ
ing a $150,000 grant from the
LEAA (Law Enforcement As
sistance Administration) and
$50,000 from the Tribe, is
available for construction of a
juvenile justice facility. Such a
building would house the Juve
nile Court, a Juvenile Deten
tion Home and the personnel
directly involved in the pro
gram.
A tentative site by the jail
is being considered and negoti
ations have begun with an
Indian architect from
Okla
homa. It is expected that a
construction contract will be
awarded by the summer of
1977 and that the facility may
be completed by late 1977.
Funds for the implementa
tion of the juvenile justice pro
gram itself will be supplied by
the Tribe and the BIA. Dick
Montee has been hired as the
Program Director and he is
already laying the groundwork
for the effective incorporation
of the program into the exist
ing system of services. (See
diagram for the position of the
program in relation to other
tribal and BIA services and
departments)
Addressing a multi-faceted,
problem
Municipal Manager Rudy
Clements started the ball roll
ing about a year and a half
ago by recommending that a
grant application be made'to
LEAA. But he was not alone in
perceiving a widespread com
munity problem that was in
need of attention.
The Tribal Court docket
has been crowded with juvenile
cases ranging from truancy
and runaway to serious alcohol
and drug violations. The pro
posal for the Juvenile Justice
Program (March 1975) refer
red to the burden on the
juvenile officer who, in the
face of an overloaded court,
had to handle a large number
of less serious cases on an
“informal” corrective and re
ferral basis, bypassing arrest
and trial.
Those juveniles requiring
incarceration have been placed
with adults in the jail, or with
less severely troubled kids in
the Tribal
Group
Home,
neither of which are ideal ar
rangements.
Each step of the process
was found to be in need of
improvement. Not only was a
more focused and efficient
method of handling arrested
juveniles called for, but the
need for a detention facility
with effective rehabilitation
and follow-up was recognized.
And most importantly, pre
ventative measures were seen
as a key to the reduction of
juvenile problems.
The Juvenile Criminal Jus
tice Program will address all
these aspects. The program’s
three major components - law
enforcement, the Juvenile
Court and the Detention Home
.- will be coordinated by Di
rector Dick Montee who oper
ates out of the Municipal
Branch. Two Juvenile Officers
working out of the Police De
partment will address the law
enforcement phase of the pro
gram. The Juvenile Court, al
though independent of the Mu
nicipal Branch, will be the
pivotal part of the juvenile
justice system. Referrals will
be handled by two Probation
and Parole Officers and the
Detention Home. And of course
Tribal and BIA human services
will be utilized as needed.
The detention facility will
serve to contain offending
juveniles as protection to the
community, but will also offer
them constructive rehabilita
tion. A home environment will
be created in which counseling,
education and the development
of personal interests and skills
will be encouraged. A resi
dence manager, the parole and
Kah-Nee-Ta enjoys
three month profit
For the first time in the
history of Kah-Nee-Ta Resort,
management is pleased to re
port a net profit for the
months of June, July and Aug
ust 1976, and a gross operating
profit for the month of Septem
ber.
Room occupancies were
higher than forecast at both
the lodge and the village for
those months. According to Ed
Manion, enterprise manager,
room occupancy during August
was the highest on record - the
highest in the history of Kah-
Nee-Ta Resort.
A comparison of June,
July, and August 1976 with
those same months in 1975
shows the following: June ‘75 a
13.6 percent loss and June ‘76
a 5.5 percent gain; July ‘75 an
11.6 percent loss and July ‘76
an 11.8 percent gain; August
‘75 a 10.2 percent loss and
August *76 a 3.1 percent gain.
The percentage of rooms
occupied at both the village
and the Lodge in June, July
and Aug. ‘76 is as follows:
June, 66 percent; July, 79
percent; and August, 89 per
cent. The occupancy rate for
the three months averaged out
to 78 percent, approximately
the same occupancy rate as
1975 with 55 more rooms.
This is the first time Kah-
Nee-Ta has enjoyed a profit
and in addition, records indi
cate that volume is picking up
earlier in the year and lasting
until later in the year. Busi
ness is tapering rather than
dropping.
Ken Smith, General Man
ager, said he is interested in
the trend and direction of Kah-
Nee-Ta business and said he is
glad to see the trend as posi
tive rather than negative for a
change.
Tribal
Members
JUVENILE CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROGRAM
Tribal Council
REFERRAL
SERVICES
LAW ENFORCEMENT
SERVICES
Chief of Police
Juvenile
Court
Tribal Mental Health
Indian Health Service
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Juvenile Law
Enforcement Officers (2)
Tribal Education Department
Local Public Schools
Tribal Employment Program
Tribal Recreation Department
others as appropriate
probation counselors, four at
tendants and a cook will be
professionally trained to pro
vide an effective treatment
atmosphere.
Operating on the premise
that delinquency is a symptom
of community and
family
problems, the Juvenile Crimi
nal Justice Program will seek
to involve the family of the
youth in treatment and to
intergrate the juvenile into
community activities.
In the meantime . . .
Although completion of the
facility is at least a year off,
the program is partially un
derway. Juvenile Court Judge
Hamilton Greeley is working
with Director Montee on set
ting up juvenile court proced
ures. Court referrals will be
handled with existing resources
until the staff and facility are
ready.
Montee hopes to have a
second juvenile officer hired
soon to ease the caseload in
the police department. Montee
is also currently meeting with
the other departments that will
be directly and indirectly in
volved - in particular Law
Enforcement, Mental Health,
and Recreation - in order to
pave the way for a coordinated
effort.
Related activities
As the Juvenile Criminal
Justice Program gets under
way, the existing Law En
forcement Department is mak
ing some other improvements.
The jail, which is currently in
a serious state of disrepair,
might be getting a facelift. A
slide presentation is being pre
pared for the General and Mu
nicipal Managers, the Law and
Order Committee and
the
Health and Welfare Committee,
showing such conditions as
large holes in the wall.
LEAA or Tribal funding is
being sought for the major
repair work needed. Nutrition
at the jail should improve
when the juvenile home’s kit
chen is operable since that
cook will provide meals for
both facilities.
A two-part study of law
enforcement on Indian reser
vations is being launched by
the BIA nationwide. The BIA
investigators, Chief of Police,
Tribal Court and Juvenile Di
rector in Warm Springs will
spend the next several months
identifying all local law en
forcement problems and rank
ing them in importance. The
BIA in D.C. will process the
information and provide advice
on how to attack the identified
problems.
Not only juveniles, but the
whole community will be bene
fiting from the planning and
reorganization that is taking
place in the area of law en
forcement in Warm Springs.
DICK MONTEE IS BACK IN TOWN. And greeting him is
the entire Juvenile Criminal Justice Program. Montee has been
selected as the Director and it is his job to give shape and
substance to the new program.
Montee is familiar to many Warm Springs residents as the
criminal investigator on the reservation from 1967 to 1971. Prior to
that he was the Juvenile Officer.
The FBI accepted Montee into its ranks in 1971 and he
and his family lived in Denver and San Diego for the next 5%
years.
The Montees decided that central Oregon’s climate was a
bit. healthier so they returned in November of last year. While
Dick tried to get a transfer from the FBI (which never came
through), his wife Eva took a job with the Tribe. Eva is now the
Women’s Activities Coordinator at the Community Center.
Rudy Clements approached Dick last spring with the
Juvenile Program Directorship and the old cop couldn’t resist.
Montee considers the job to be quite a challenge and is happy to
be back in Warm Springs among the people for whom he has a
“real affection and commitment.”