PAGE 2 JANUARY 19, 1979
Submits Resignation
Weeks Pleads Guilty to
Rustling Charges
Montee Accepts Prineville
Police Chief O ffer
holding the juvenile program in
abeyance pending justification.
by Cynthia Stowell
Dick Montee’s January 16th
letter of resignation brings to a
quiet conclusion several months
of uncertain and increasingly
uncomfortable employment with
the Confederated Tribes. But it
also leaves the police depart
ment with one more unanswered
question.
Whatever happened to the
juvenile justice program?
Montee, who was transfer
red back to the juvenile program
directorship after a five-month
stint as the assistant chief of
police, accepted an offer made
by the city of Prineville on
January 15. As of February 1,
Montee will be that city’s Chief of
Police.
That will leave the two-year
old juvenile justice program with
a secretary and two vacant
positions. Juvenile officer Neil
Wagner resigned effective Jan
uary 1. Juvenile-director Small
Fire Hawk was transferred to
drug investigation to make room
for Montee. Hawk does not wish
to be moved again.
It all started when the posi
tion of assistant chief of police
was created last July and Mon
tee was moved from the juvenile
program to second-in-command
August 1. When budget time
rolled around, the new position
was scrutinized and Tribal Coun
cil deleted it for lack of justifica
tion.
Police chief Jeffery Sanders
provided Council with a 30-page
justification in October. The
position has not been reconsider-/
ed.
Effective January 1, Montee
was moved out of the ill-fated job
and back to the juvenile pro- *
gram. The catch: Council is
Montee began looking for
employment elsewhere and just
short of an anticipated confront
ation with Council January 24, he
took the Prineville position. He
feels it was a matter of quitting
before he got fired. “As far as
Council is concerned his resigna
tion was effective December 31,”
said Council m em ber Rita
Squiemphen.
For a long time Montee Jias'
believed that the color of his skin
disqualified him from the assist
ant chief’s job and put the
- position itself in peril. Council
told the Law and Order Commit
tee recently, however, that the
real reason for their non-support
of the position is that it was never
cleared by Council nor justified
satisfactorily.
Montee showed Spilyay two
letters addressed to Municipal
(Continued on Page 12)
Stoney Vernon Weeks, 36,
entered a plea of guilty to
charges of “theft on a reserva
tion — larceny” before U.S.
District Judge Otto Skopil Jan
uary 3.
Weeks is a Klamath Indian
and at one time was married to
Helene Arthur Weeks, who is a
Warm Springs Tribal member.
Weeks was apprehended last
March by tribal natural re
sources and FBI officials while
attempting to steal twelve head
of cattle belonging to Herb
Stwyer Sr. at the Madras auction
yards. It is a federal offense and
is punishable by not more than
$5,000, not more than five years,
or both. According to U.S. Attor
ney Bill Youngman, it is highly
unlikely that Weeks will receive
both penalties.
Weeks has been employed by
the Confederated Tribes since
September 1975 working as a
forestry laborer, garage lube-
man and most recently, as a
Trackmac operator for the for
estry department. Weeks’ ter
mination this week according to
supervisor Bill Apgar was based
on “his personal situation and
the uncertainty of the entire
Trackmac operation.”
Sentencing is scheduled for
February 12, 1979. Federal Pub
lic Defender Mark Griffin, who is
Weeks’ attorney, preferred not to
comment on what fine or sent
ence he expected for Weeks.
— ------ — Locals on TV Soon— -------------
We’re sure you’ve all been
waiting to see those familiar
faces on your TV screen on the
series “How The West Was
Won.” It may be a few weeks
before the segment with the 32
locals appears on ABC, because
at this time, MGM is unsure
when it will be shown. So, keep
your eye open for ads in the TV
Guide announcing the
“pre
miere
Community Coped Well With Power Outage But Dreaded Repeat Performance
by Donna Behrend
When Warm Springs resi
dents saw the flickering lights
this Sunday evening, the thought
rushing through our minds was
no doubt, “Oh no, not again.”
Hurrying for candles, flashlights
and other sources of light, we
couldn’t help wondering if we
were going to have a repeat
performance of the eighteen-
hour power outage of the week
before. Luckily, the outage this
week was due to a cross-arm
failure near Crooked River
Ranch and lasted only an hour
and a half.
The outage in the wee early
morning hours of January 8 that
affected 1,800 residents is' a
different story. Shortly after
midnight January 7 the lights
went out, making the already
cold night seem frigid. Lucky
Madras residents. were without
power for only five minutes.
The failure was due to a
faulty or damaged insulator, not
an overload of circuits. Not sure
what the problem was until late
Monday morning, it was decided
to transport a mobile substation
from Medford and a replacement
transformer from Albany. The
freezing rain caused hazardous
road conditions in the valley,
making it a very difficult task to
get the parts here. An outage like
this happens infrequently, ac
cording to Jim Welch, PP&L
local manager in Madras. “In
my 19 years with the company,
this has happened only twice.”
Once the parts arrived, work
went quickly.
There was no work for
bureau, tribal or mill employees
that day, so many had an
unexpected three-day weekend.
Families crowded into Madras
restaurants for breakfast, in an
attempt to get their fill of hot
food and warm surroundings
once again.
Those who didn’t drive to
Madras for hot food on that chilly
day stayed home to cook on their
camp stoves or Wood heaters.
The Group Home staff proved to
be resourceful, too, by traveling
to the mill to get wood for their
fireplace, so they could cook.
The police department was
on the job, as usual, with the
patrolmen checking on people in
isolated areas. Fortunately they
could stay close to their warm
cars. Back at the jail, inmates
stayed warm with extra blankets
and coats. The dispatcher had to
pick up the phone every five
minutes to check for incoming
calls, since the bell and lights
didn’t work.
The electric front doors of
Macy’s store couldn’t open, so
they stayed closed all day until
late afternoon. Waldron Lessert
and Dan Macy were “at work,
just like always,” according to
Lessert. The mail was delivered,
but customers couldn’t get in to
pick it up.
Of course, some people did
have prior commitments in other
cities, so they smugly drove
away from the cold community
to spend the day in comfort.
WSFPI officials say that
about 150 employees were told
not to report for work that day as
all production shifts were down.
The mill generates its own
power, but requires outside
electricity to start up its opera,-
tions. To eliminate that depend
ency, the mill has asked PP&L to
install isolation switches in the
lines.
As of Wednesday, January
17, the tribal utilities department
had 65 homes on their list that
required pipe thawing. Utilities
M anager
Herb
Gray
bael anticipates that 80 percent
of the pipes that are frozen now,
will be broken when, if ever, the
weather warms.
The Warm Springs volunteer
fire department engines were
ready to go and kept warm by a
space heater, operating on a gas
generator. Luckily, there have
been no house fires reported
since Hazel Suppah’s house was
destroyed November 26.
PP&L office personnel say
that the outage was called in by a
motorist who was on the Kah-
Nee-Ta road. He saw what
looked like three bolts of light
ning striking all in the same
place. If you see something like
that, it should be called in as it
saves hours in locating the
problem. The numbers you can
call a r e 475-3529 a fter 5, 475-2503
before 5, or Call collect to
382-1011.
Spilyay Tymoo
CAMP COFFEE - Extension Agent Pennie Albrandt was one of the resourceful ones when the
electricity went off January 8. She had to have her coffee so she lit up her Coleman Stove, then stuck
pretty close to her fireplace.
Spilyay Tymoo Photo by CDS
SPILYAY TYM O O STAFF
Managing Editor
Sid Miller
Assistant Editor
Sandy Rangila
Photographic S p e c ia lis t/W rite r
Cynthia Stowell
Reporter/Photographers
Roger Stwyer
Donna Behrend
Priscilla Squiemphen, Secretary
FOUNDED IN MARCH OF 1976
Published bi-weekly by the Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs R eservation of Oregon. Warm Springs,
Oregon 97761. Located in the Old Administration Building.
Any written material to Spilyay Tymoo should be addressed
to:
Spilyay Tymoo
P. O. Box 735
Warm Springs, Oregon 97761
Phone 553-1644 or 553-1161, Ext. 274
Subscription Rate,$6.00 per year
P e o p le ’s O pinion
QUESTION: “What did you do
during the power failure here on
January 7th?”
“The night the lights went
out in Warm Springs.”
Paul A. I was working over
at Kah-Nee-Ta when the power
went out. A short time later the
power came back on over there.
After learning the power was out
in Warm Springs I stayed in the
dorm at Kah-Nee-Ta.
Marie S. I got up in the
morning and put on my long
Johns, went to the office to see if
there was anyone at work. I had
the funny feeling and was won
dering why people were looking
at me as they were and I finally
realized that I had a sheer blouse
on and you could see my flowered
long johns so clear .
Orthelia M. I had to do my
cooking in our camper. It was
warm in there also, then after
that we went to Bend to escape
the cold spell. It worked out
pretty well.
Mitch B. We were all gather
ed around the fireplace trying to
keep warm and also doing some
cooking, heating water and mak
ing coffee.
■ >
Louise J. We arrived here
early in the morning from Port-
land to find no power. I even
checked at the office to find no
one around. So we drove to
Madras then to Redmond and
ended up in Bend. We spent the
day in that area to avoid the
power outage and keeping warm.
When we returned the power was
back in order.
Roger S. We were out driving
around and thought at first the
fog was real heavy because we
couldn’t see any lights in Warm
Springs. We finally arrived home
and found out the power was off.
We have a wood stove in our
house so all wé did was light
some candles and started a fire
in thè stove.