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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 1983)
Pag« 2 February 8 ,1 9 8 3 Spilyay Tym oo Burial site discovered by hunter INDIAN BURIAL SITE—A cave on the side of a cliff off the reservation, near Sisters, was discovered to be an Indian burial site. Tribal representatives Rudy Clements and Matilda MitcheU examine the cave and its contents. Spilyay Tymoo photos by Shewzcyk by Marsha Shewczyk A rabbit hunter inadvertent ly overturning rocks on the edge of a cliff near Sisters, O regon d iscovered w hat appeared to him to be an I n d ia n b u r ia l site . H is supposition proved to be correct. After finding segments of basketery along with bone fragments hunter Joel Brown realized he had come across the remains of a person. He took a sample with him turning it over finally, to Deschutes National Forest archeologist Carl Davis. Generally “anytime anyone finds skeletal material they m ake c o n ta c t w ith law enforcement people who make contact with the State police and national forest personnel,” which isw h a t happened, says Davis. Davis explains, according to a recent bill passed in the Oregon legislature initiated by the Commission on Indian Services,'any skeletal material or artifacts, discovered on either private or federal land, is to be turned over to the nearest Native American community. Davis relates that, “Archeo logists are tiying to work with Native Americans. We are trying to establish some support for working with them so we both can get something out of it.” “ W h atev er the N ative American agency wants, we will honor that request,” Davis a d d s . I d e a lly , th o u g h , archeologists would like time to a n a ly z e an y o f th e discoveries and then turn them over to the Native American agency. Upon being notified of the burial site discovery Davis contacted the Warm Springs Tribe with the information. T rib a l C o u n c il in tu r n d eleg ated O rin Jo h n so n , M a tild a M itch ell, G ra n t Waheneka and Rudy Clements to go o u t to th e site. A ccom panying them were other representatives from Warm Springs, members of the Oregon State Police and the Deschutes and Willamette National Forests. Leading the group was the discoverer of the burial site. The artifacts and remains located on private property were examined. Prayers were said for the deceased. Finally the remains were removed a lo n g w ith s u rro u n d in g material for further informa- material for further examina tion by archeologist Davis and physical an th ro p o list Bill Zubosky. The contents of the cave are now in the hands of Davis who awaits direction from the Warm Springs tribe, deciding what is to be done next. Although analysis is not complete Davis is able to tell that the boné fragments are those of an immature female. The bag found in the cave is a root bag with weavine similar to th a t found in W arm Springs according to elder Matilda Mitchell. Tribal elder Grant Wahene ka explained that the cave was not a normal burial site. The girl could have been in hiding after being w ounded, he h y p o th esizes. The trib a l affiliation is not clear. If permission is procured to further analyze the findings Davis expects to be through by April. “We would like to go ah ead and look a t the basketry,” he adds. This might produce further information about the burial site. The remains will eventually be interred after ceremony in Warm Springs. A deteriorated basket and a few pieces o f bone were found in the cave. Threat, but no bomb On February 7 at about 3 p.m. an employee at the Community Center received a telep h o n e call from an unknown person who stated there was a bomb in the building. The caller stated the bomb would explode at 4 p.m. The Warm Springs Police were called. The police cleared the building and at 3:45 the police closed traffic on Hollywood Boulevard. A search was made of the building and no bomb was found. At 4:15 p.m. the traffic on Hollywood was allowed to resume. A second search was made of the building with the final result being that there was no bomb. According to Lt. Ray Calica it caused a good deal of inconvenience for the people of Warm Springs with the traffic being stopped and the people lost the use of the Center for the rest of the day. A good deal of time and monies were spent on the entire episode, according to Calica. The Jefferson County S heriff’s departm ent sent deputies over to assist the WSPD in the search. The m a t t e r is s t i l l u n d e r investigation by the BI A. S p ily a y T y m o o Coyote News 1 ' * Spilyay Tymoo S ta ff* ★★★ ♦ ★ * ★ M ANAG ING EDITOR ................................................Sid Miller ASSISTANT EDITOR .............. , ................... Donna Behrend Darkroom/Writer Reporter Typesetter Marsha Shewczyk Pat Leno Priscilla Squiemphen F O U N D E D IN M A R C H OF 1976 Published bi-weekly by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation 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, 285 and The Darkroom ext. 286 Subscription Rato: $6.00 par year “Tempest in a teapot” Continued from page 1 assimilation and integration with respect to the Indian, the policy is one of distinction and separation. Do you think that’s right? Answer: We have tremen dous problems on the Indian reservations. I frequently talk about it by telling people if you want an example fo the failures of socialism don’t go to Russia. Come to America and go to the Indian reservations. We have 50 million acres of Indian reservations 1.4 million American Indians. And every social problem is exaggerated b ecau se of s o c ia lis tic government policies on Indian reservations highest divorce rate, highest drug rate, highest alco h o lism ra te , highest unemployment rate, highest social diseases, because the people have been trained through a hundred years of government oppression to look to the government as the creator, as the provider, as the supplier and they have not been trained to use the initiative to integrate into the American system. We have terrible schools on the Indian reservation and we have tried to change that and Congress won’t. The liberal Eastern idea is that I will support the Indian people and they drive out to my home state of Wyoming in August for a two-week vacation and buy an Indian bead necklace and think they have done their thing for Indian America. Terrible socialism. We ought to give them freedom. We ought to give them liberty. We ought to give them their rights. But we treat them as incompetent wards. I am their trustee. They can’t make a decision on the reservation about their water, their land. They can’t own land oh the reservation. Question: Is that the basis of much of the legitimate anger of many of the Indian- leaders, forgetting the radicals for a moment who are using the issue. The fact that they literally live on a plantation? Answer: That’s correct, with the big Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of In terio r controlling their rights. There’s some benefits to that. Question: Isn’t it true that some of the established Indian leaders have a strong personal stake in the present policy and o p p o se w h at th e y c a ll termination? Answer: In the great society, we came in with all these legal aids and all these programs and made funds available to fund Indian governments, so if you are the chief or the chairman you are interested in keeping th e se g ro u p o f p eo p le a s se m b le d on a d e s e r t environment where there are no jo b s, no a g ric u ltu re potential, no water because if the Indians were allowed to be liberated, they would go and get a job and that guy wouldn’t have his government handout as a government-paid Indian official. Q: They’ve become ward bosses. I have heard Sen. Goldwater in Arizona talk about the impact of federal legal services programs in taking an Indian community that was once very conservative in its values, radicalizing it politically and then turning it out on a reliable basis for liberal candidates. A: There have been too many instances of that. Fortunately there are some great American Indian people that want to bring freedom to their people. They want their people to have jobs and take their social place. We have been working with them. It is very discouraging w ith the lim itations th at Congress gives us with the laws. It is very encouraging when you work with a few of the Indian people because they are electing some good people. There is hope if we will let our people go. If we had treated the black people in America like we are now treating Indians, or the Chinese or any of these other minority groups, there would be a social revolution that would tear the country up. But Congress tolerates the abusive government actions on Indians and I try to liberate them and get squashed by the liberal Democrats in the House of Representatives.
