Spilyay tymoo., July 13, 1979, Image 1

U S . POSTAGE
BULK RATE
PERMIT NO. 2
C C 6 1 Î1
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OREGON H IS T O R IC A L S O C IETY
1 2 3 0 SW PARK AVE
\ 0R 9 7 2 0 5
PORTLAND
In this issue-
Theft prevention
WSFPI construction
Fourth of July
Health Plan
Wilderness Program
Fried Bread Open
p.3
P-5
pp.6-7
p.8
p.9
p.14
Voi. 4
.1UL 1 8 1979
Warm Springs, Oregon 97761
No. 14
With 13 votes to spare
Water system passes
on second try
The Tribal Council was
happy on Wednesday. On
Tuesday, July 10, tribal
members voted to approve the
Deschutes Domestic W ater
System which had gone to a
referendum election for the
second time. It passed by a vote
of 381 “yes” to 60 “no”, with a
little over 84 percent voting
affirmatively.
But it was a close call. A total
of 381 cast their ballots, just 13
more than the number required
for a legal election. The tribal
constitution specifies that one-
third of the eligible voters must
turn out for an election to be
valid.
Shortly before noon only
about 75 people had voted,
prompting Margie Tuckta and
Marcia Soliz to start phoning
people to remind them to vote.
But by 7:10 there were still 28
votes lacking, causing a frantic
last-minute roundup of voters.
The new water system to
serve Warm Springs and Kah-
Nee-Ta was proposed to the
membership because of prob­
lems with the existing systems.
The water source is the
Deschutes River with intake,
pumping and treatment facili­
ties located at the by-pass chan­
nel next to the Dry Creek
campground. The Deschutes
River has been identified as the
only dependable source of
quality water available to
Warm Springs and Kah-Nee-
Ta.
According to the plan, water
will be carried up to the Tewee’s
Butte reservoir from a nearby
pump station. The reservoir
will be high enough in elevation
to allow gravity flow transmis­
sion lines to carry the water to
new resevoirs in Warm Springs
and Kah-Nee-Ta.
The cost of the project is esti­
mated at $8 million. But preli­
minary discussions with the
E c o n o m ic D e v e lo p m e n t
Administration and Farmers
Home Administration indicate
a good chance for funding
assistance, thus minimizing the
use of tribal funds.
Ocean fishery must
heed treaty rights
Indian fishermen on the
Columbia River won a major
victory Wednesday July 11
when a federal judge ruled that
com m ercial ocean fishery
regulations are in violation of
federally protected treaty
rights. U.S. District Judge
William Schwarzer ordered the
Department of Commerce to
b r in g r e g u l a t i o n s in to
compliance with the law by
July 23 or risk closure of the
commercial season.
Referring to the inland
fishery as facing a “severe
Phantom of the Fourth
crisis,” Judge Schwarzer noted
Ralph Minnick became one with his creation when he set flare to fuse for the annual Fourth o f July that Indians had not been
fireworks display. Although some o f the fuses were short, the action never got quite this close. The getting their court-approved
special effect was achieved with two negatives.
Spilyay Tymoo Photo by Stowell share of salmon in the river
because of overfishing in the
o c e a n . T h e C o m m e rc e
Departm ent must regulate
Weather
JUNE
29
30
JULY
1
3
4
6
7
8
9
16
11
12
HIGH
«fc
74
LOW
63
57
69
78
88
85
87
85
87
90
94
80
78
56
44
49
57
60
54
58
58
56
54
Supreme Court ruling
commercial trolling with first
consideration to compliance
with treaty obligations, said the
judge.
The Columbia River treaty
trib e s file^ su it ag a in st
C o m m e rc e D e p a r tm e n t
Secretary Juanita Kreps in
April, seeking closure of the
ocean fishery which began May
1 for a month and reopened
July 1 through September 8.
Hearings were delayed in May
and June, and on June 28 U.S.
D i s t r i c t J u d g e B e llo n i
disqualified himself from the
case because of alleged bias in
favor of Indians.
Schwarzer, a California
judge, was assigned to the case
and, according to W arm
Springs tribal attorney Dennis
Continued on page 2
Boldt Decision upheld, tribes cautious
L ast w eek’s fa v o ra b le
Supreme Court ruling on the
1974 Boldt decision sent a cheer
up from Indian fishermen in
Washington state and evoked
c a u tio u s o p tim ism from
Columbia River treaty tribes.
The long-awaited ruling
upheld U.S. District Judge
George Boldt’s interpretation
of tre a ty fish in g rig h ts,
specifically the language “in
common with.” His landmark
decision in the U .S. v.
Washington litigation was that
Indians had a right to 50% of
the catch at “ usual and
accustomed” stations.
Boldt’s ruling did not put an
end to the controversy, but in
some ways heightened it. Last
September Interior Depart­
ment solicitor Leo Krulitz
recommended Supreme Court
review of the decision because
of “ ra m p a n t v io la tio n .”
Arguments were heard in the
highest court on February 28.
The vote on July 2 was 6-3.
Justice John Paul Stevens
wrote for the majority, “The
language of the treaties
securing a ‘right of taking common right to take fish
fish...in common with all should initially divide the
citizens of the Territory’ was harvestable portion of each run
n o t in te n d e d m erely to that passes through a ‘usual
guarantee the Indians access to and accustomed’ place into
usual and accustomed fishing approximately equal treaty and
sites and an ‘equal opportunity’ nontreaty shares...”
for individual Indians, along
The decision also allows that
with non-Indians, to try to the state of Washington may be
catch fish, but instead secures ordered to prepare regulations
to the Indian tribes a right to to implement the ruling and
harvest a share of each run of that the District Court may
anadromous fish that passes assume jurisdiction of the,
through tribal fishing areas.”
fisheries if the state persists in
He went on to write, “An their violations.
equitable measure of the
Continued on page 12