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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 23, 1981)
006171 ,B C ,, , , CS-Portat* Bulk Rate Penult No. 2 Wann Springs, OR « » OREGON H IS T O R IC A L SOCIETY 1230 SW PARK AVE PORTLAND OR 9 7 2 0 5 ----------------------------- - WARM SPRINGS, OREGON 97761 VOL. 6 NO. 4 Drought may be due for Warm Springs area Warm Springs will probably have another long, hot and dry summer this year. According to tribal Water Master Deepak Sehgal, we have “only 30% of the normal snow pack. This is comparable to 1977.” 1977 was a re c o rd d r o u g h t y e a r throughout the Northwest. Flows will be down to a minimum, according to Sehgal. “In streams like Shitike and Mill Creek, water levels may decline to an extent where fish life will be adversely affected.” The tribal natural resources department has been doing snow survey readings since 1973 at four different sites on the reservation. Bald Peter and Racing Creek are surveyed by land and the Lion’s Head and White Water Meadow are surveyed from the air. ’‘Lion’s Signs of Spring Head, on Shitike Creek, has Cattails are bursting out all over spreading seeds for the fail crop as temperatures rise with less water content now than in approaching springtime. 1977,” says Sehgal. Spilyay Tymoo photo by Shewczyk. Natural Resources personnel will make another survey at the end of March, and this reading Citizens looking for change by Marsha Shewczyk “People are asking for change, why can’t you hear it?” was the appeal made to the Law and Order Committee by a concerned citizen. The Law and Order Committee met with- community members until 1:00 a.m. the evening of March 9 at the Agency Longhouse in an attempt to understand citizen’s concerns for their Law and Order department. N u m ero u s to p ic s were covered by the attending community members. Com mittee chairman Daisy Ike encouraged the community input explaining that the meeting was for the people to express their feelings. She stated, “Don’t be afraid to go to any committee member and ask them what’s going on.” The many comments made th r o u g h o u t th e e v e n in g indicated that “something just isn’t going right,” said one citizen. “A change is needed.” It was emphasized that people have a right to change laws and “if we can’t do this we live in a dictatorship.” Verbena Greene commented that “things won’t change overnight but some things can be improved.” The meeting allowed little rebuttal. The committee asked only for citizen input. Police Chief Jeff Sanders, who is very much involved in the Law and Order department, felt that many questions were left unanswered because he and others were not given the opportunity to respond to the Continued on page 6 Doctor dies in accident A two-car accident on the Warm Springs grade resulted in the death of Dr. Mary Lou Howbert, 51, of Bend during the early morning hours of Saturday, March 14. Peggy Poitra, 31, of Warm Springs was the driver of the other car. She escaped serious injury. T he a c c id e n t o ccu rred between mileposts 107 and 108 on Highway 26 at 1:08 a.m. Dr. Howbert’s Fiat was headed south when Ms, P o itra ’s northbound 1979 Ford Bronco crossed the double line and struck the victim’s auto head- on, according to Sgt. Hawkins o f th e J e f f e r s o n C o u n ty March 23,1981 Sheriffs Office. Dr. Howbert was dead at the scene when Warm ^Springs police arrived. Ms. Poitra was taken to Mt. View Hospital where she was checked and released. Since the accident happened just off the reservation, the case was turned over to the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office. District Attorney Mike Sullivan said that no charges have been made and no citations were issued. But an investigation is being carried out and Sullivan expects it to be completed by the end of this week. will determine almost exactly what amount of water Warm Springs will have for the rest of the year. “Since we don’t have large dammed-up reservoirs to store water supplies, the W arm Springs community relies on Shitike Creek for domestic supplies.” The existing water tanks will only supply a half day of water to the Warm Springs community. A plan for immediate and future conservation is obvious, says Sehgal, “We’re going to have to conserve water use as much as possible. Conserva tion will probably include turning off all taps after use, avoid watering lawns and gardens excessively and watch general waste of water.” If the situation gets really bad, he says, the tribal Water Board or Utilities department may have to issue restrictions, possibly leading to “leak detections and an odd -ev en system fo r watering.” Mill doing well despite economy woes by Sandy Rangila Although 1980 was not as good as year as had been hoped for, Warm Springs Forest Products Industries continues to thrive while many mills across the country are closing down, either temporar ily or permanently. “Amid wild market and in te re s t f lu c tu a tio n s ,” W .S .F .P .I. also fin ish ed “debugging” new machinery installed during the mill’s 1979 renovatidn project, people learned at the Feb. 26 WSFPI general council meeting at the Agency Longhouse. A ccording to the 1980 annual report distributed at the meeting, net profits were $1,548,370 which is 36.2 percent better than in the previous year. Sales of nearly $30 million topped 1979’s figure by 9.2 percent. " In line with the Board of D ir e c to r s re c e n t p o lic y objective of paying a yearly div id en d to th e T rib es, $612,907 was turned over for 1980. Ordinarily the dividend is a 25 percent figure which would have am o u n te d to only $387,093 for 1980. But after carefully considering cash needs for 1981, the board decided upon the special, larger amount for 1980. In a letter to the Tribal Council which appears on page 2 of the report, the board noted that 1980 was “a catch up year. From a $727,863 loss by June 30, gains climbed to the $1,548,370 profit, a turn around of $2,276,233 in the last six months.” T h e le tte r c o n tin u e d , “ Im p ro v e m e n ts a ttrib u te d directly to the renovation resulted in gains of $3,893,000 — otherwise 1980 would have been a- loss year. Clearly, the renovation project was timely.” Because of the economy (high interest rates and a poor housing market) the annual timber harvest was reduced in 1980. But it is anticipated that the full annual allowable harvest will be resumed in 1981. W arm S p rin g s F o r e s t P r o d u c t s I n d u s t r i e s is w e a th e rin g th e c u r r e n t eco n o m ic s itu a tio n w ell, however. General M anager Ralph DeMoisy explained that because the Tribes own their own timber, their enterprise is not experiencing the problems other mills are facing. Also, the least hurt in 1980 was the Pine market, he said. In addition, W SFPI initiated “an innovative approach to timber harvest activities” in 1980, according to the annual report booklet written and photographed by C ynthia Stowell. “Logging was limited to 70 percent of normal delivery until August 25, when it was then increased to 130 p e rc e n t. T h is tim e ta b le prevented an early build-up of inventory in the log yards, delaying the need for long-term high interest loans. “The later influx of newly- cut logs also reduced the amount of pine blue stain, a condition that greatly affects the market value of lumber.” Em ploym ent at W SFPI remained steady through 1980 with 33.7 percent of the work Continued on page 10 Watch for Spilyay Tymoo’s upcoming 5th anniversary issue!
