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Bulk Rate Penult No. 2
Wann Springs, OR
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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!