Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1977)
JANUARY 7, 1977 WARM W RINGS» Grant sought for improved Simnasho water system The p revailin g opinion at the Planning D ep artm en t’s public hearings on expanding the water system for the Sim- nasho-Schoolie Flat area was “It’s about tim e.” Although a number of concerns were rais ed at the two hearings held December 28 at Simnasho and January 3 in Warm Springs, the proposal to apply for fed eral funds w as given am ple support. Underlying the proposed water system is anticipation of the residential and commercial growth of Sim nasho and Schoolie F lat in the next twenty-five years. It is expect ed that at least 150 medium and low density home sites will be developed in the area, as well as such commercial and public facilities as a general store and a community center. Individual wells are suffering because o f insufficient ground water. Such growth n ecessita tes the construction of a larger, more efficient water system, say the planners. The present system, which includes a 15,000 gallon reser- An Essay The creative math of Council representation: By Olney Patt, Jr. Democracy is a great in stitution for p olitician s and people alike, and it probably existed at some time or an other in Warm Springs’ distant past. But no more. At least not for the last 40 or so years. All of the trappings of democracy are present: regular elections, polling places, ballot boxes and ballots - everything you need. Not quite. In order for a democracy to function properly each person, or groups of people, m ust be represented equally. That is, one man - one vote. The present breakdown of the voter-to-representative ratio d oesn ’t quite shape up that w ay. In fact, it ’s downright cockeyed: and to prove that this is not ju st id le teeth- gnashing, consider the follow ing: By districts, council dele gation (not including ch iefs) comes out to 37.5 per cent for the A gency d istrict, 37.5 per cent for the Simnasho, district, and 25 per cent for the Seek- seequa District. This might not seem ter ribly askew until you examine this fact: The A gen cy’s 37.5 per cent of the representation is for 60.6 per cen t of the eligible voters, Simnasho’s 37.5 per cen t is for 32.2 of the voters, and - here’s the one th at’s a little out of line - Seekseequa’s 25 per cent is for 7.2 per cent of the reserv a tion’s eligible voters. This discrepancy runs com pletely counter to the princi p les of the system that a l legedly governs us all, and it can’t be allowed to continue (it may someday be passed off as “ the traditional w a y ’’. Then it’ll be too late to change it). But how can it be righted?' (Better yet, WILL it be right ed?). There are many ways, none of which should cause anyone undue m en tal anquish or ef fort. One w ay would be to change the number of repre sentatives from each district to m ake them proportionate to the number of total voters they represent. Including chiefs, that would be 5 for the Agency dis- trict, 3 for the Simnasho dis trict, and 1 for the Seekseequa district. That would provide a m ore even 55-33-11 per cent ratio. Before proposing the next solution, this question should be asked of the reader: Why Is There A Seekseequa District? How is it justifiable that such a sm all group of people hold: council p ositions when there are more eligible voters in the West Hills subdivision of Warm Springs? With that in mind, wouldn’t it be feasible to simply com bine the Seekseequa district with the Agency district? If the present trend persists then the third and final solution would be to allow West Hills a couple of rep resen ta tiv es, M iller Heights a couple, Elliot Heights a couple, Greensville a couple', Kah-Nee-Ta Hamlet a couple, the mobile home park a couple, etc. In this way, a lot of hard feelin g s could be spared for the co st of a larger council room. But for practical reasons, one of the first two should be considered. It would make a nice “New Year’s Resolution” for the Council to consider. That is, of course, unless the resolution is voted down by one oversized faction. Okay. L et’s assum e that the Seekseequa District has hit on the right formula: 1 rep resentative for each 24 voters. L et’s see . . . . . that would mean 13 representatives from Sim nasho and 25 for the Agency. Ridiculous, you say? Well, who said democracy can’t be a little ridiculous som e times? It is, after all, the sys tem that brought you Tricky Dicky and the Republican Par ty. But that’s another story. voir at Simnasho and a sep arate 12,000 gallon reservoir at Schoolie, is barely adequate for the ex istin g resid en ts. Indi vidual wells are suffering be cau se of in su fficien t ground water. As proposed, the new sys tem would involve at least one and probably two reservoirs with a total capacity of 300,000 gallons, utilizing gravity flow aided by one or two pumping station s. The source of the water would be Beaver creek, west of Simnasho. "W e've been meeting on this for 20-30 years and I've never heard any obiections." Because the Public Health Service cannot expand a water system until actual residential developm ent b egin s, other funds are being sought. A Community Development block Grant from HUD for $500,000 is felt by the Planning Depart ment to be a fair request for what may become a two-phase project. As a result, of the public hearings, pre-applications for the grant can now be made. The idea of Simnasho- Schoolie flat development ap peared to be popular at the h earin gs. Neda G reene, who acted as spokesperson for Sim- , nasho, pointed to evidence that people wanted to move back to the area. “ Land applications have had to be denied due to the lack of water,” she said. Verbena Greene, speaking as an in terested person, e x pressed concern that unless the Simnasho school receives more students, it may have to close. She felt that more water would encourage people to repopulate the area. D elbert Frank pointed to the fact that people have hung onto their land at Schoolie and are waiting for the opportunity to become residents. He sum med up the feelings on devel opment by saying, “We’ve been meeting on this for 20-30 years and I’ve never heard any ob jections.” In addition to encouraging the controlled development of the area, the proposed water system would serve two other purposes, according to Tribal Planner Ray R angila. They are: 1) to provide better fire protection, 2) to minimize the chance of water shortage and the need for rationing water. S everal concerns w ere voiced at the sparsely attended but productive h earin gs. One issue raised at the first hear ing and responded to at the second was the’ impact of the new w ater system on fish, particularly on salmon spawn ing, in Beaver Creek. The re sponse from the F ish and W ildlife S ervice w as that “withdrawal (of water) would have little if any impact” on the fish population. Another concern was main tenance. Tribal Engineer Satish Puri reminded those at the 2nd meeting that maintenance was a hidden and continual expense for the Tribe, not included in a federal construction grant. He said that in order to make this expense worthwhile, a substan tial number of homes should be serviced. Other concerns were sew age, construction materials and location, and zoning for future development. Rangila described the costs involved in the proposed water system which includes the con struction of an intake stru c ture, the water line, a filtration treatm en t sy stem , pumping stations and reservoirs, as well as administrative and contin gent costs. If the Grants Department is asked to submit a formal application as a result of its pre-application, and then re ceives the grant, Rangila pre dicts that it would take 60 days for engineering input to be made. Construction could then start in the sum m er with a ten tative com pletion date of fall or winter. Have Funds, Will Travel Part of the Johnson O’Mal ley funds for the Enrichment Program for the Warm Springs Indian students is planned for a tw o-day v isita tio n to P ort land to visit Roosevelt or Jef ferson High School, Urban In dian Center P rogram s and Bassitt Institute. This trip is planned for the M.J.H.S. stu dents February 3 through Feb ruary 5, 1977. Students will have the op portunity to sign up at the Jr. High C ounselor’s o ffice and then be selected according to attendance, participation, atti tude in classes, and some in grade. This would be an enrich ment for our Indian students to v isit another school and to compare Madras-Warm Springs Schools to urban schools. It is hoped that our students w ill have a chance to m eet with ■ other Indian students from the Portland area. V isiting the B a ssitt In sti tute would allow the students added aw aren ess o f personal grooming and learning to feel good about ones self. On this trip the students will be asked to give up their favorite hamburgers and to be exposed to different cultures, environm ents, foods, and, o f course, to practice their man ners. Hopefully, this trip would offer encouragement^ and be a good learning ex p erien ce for ojeH s-il'isriO siI Warm Springs students both educationally and socially. If any parents or guardians have any questions they may contact Mr. D oyle Whipple, Title 4 Counselor (475-3131) or Marie Calica, Johnson O’Mal ley Community L iaison. Her office number is 475-3405 and heir home phone is 553-1488. Indian funds cut in 1977 EDA Budget The 1977 budget of the E conom ic D evelopm ent Ad m inistration (ED A) show s a $4.27 million cut in Indian pro gram s, including m onies for planning. Although the overall EDA budget will increase from just over $354 million to $360 mil lion, each category of Indian programming will decrease. In 1976, $3,898,000 w as spent for Indian planning, tech nical assistance and research. That amount is cut to $3,740,000 in the EDA budget for fiscal year 1977. $1,591,000 was spent in 1976 for Indian b u sin ess develop ment. No monies were allocat ed for that purpose in the 1977 budget. Grants for public works for Native Americans are cut from the $25 million spent in 1976 to $22.5 million in the new budget. R ay Tanner of the EDA Indian Desk told UIPA he re quested that the monies allo cated for Indian projects re main at the 1976 level. B lit he said, “Those on the hill are asking why 14 per cent of the budget is going to less than 1 per 'gent of the popu lation.” “I don’t like what is hap pening. I think Ipdian people need that money,” Tanner as serted. But he is of the opinion that the Indian organizations will have to act, if fundsrare to continue to go to Indian people. “I know it is my duty to rep resen t the Indian people^ but Indian organizations also have to speak for themselves. In the Spring when EDA held budget hearings. there were no Indians testify in g that they needed that m oney. And the funds will be allotted to people who ask for them ,” he said. However, Tanner is hopeful that the local public works funds, which will likely be al located in January, will help fill the gap for any whose pro grams would be hindered by the cutbacks. He said an excess of $2 billion will be distributed and he is hopeful that close to $100 m illion could go to special Indian programs. ."Irigin boos ,T9SgiG edi oi
