Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1989)
PAGE 4 March 24. E Coosh-EEWA: (The way it is) Letters to the Editor "?M& enrolled tribal members. We've got to be on our toes and not lose any of our valuable rights we have. Out there in this cruel world there is always someone trying to find a loop hole where they can break our treaties we have with the U.S. Government. When the treaties were signed there were things that were clearly spelled out of what was to be an agreement on both parties to that effect of our rights. Today there are people who can't understand those rights and are trying to say that the treaties are out dated. ' The reason I mention our rights is because it's time once again to select tribal council members from each district to up-hold our business affairs and not get us into any problem areas. Again, I say, we need our best people in there, not because it's so and so's turn to serve because he lives in a certain district. We need our best people In there to protect and preserve what little we have left today. ; . Let's not take selecting our Councilmen as a joke, because it will be on their shoulders to see that we retain everything that is rightfully ours. So folks, when it comes to the time to cast your ballots, remember your future, your kid's future depends on the outcome and decision making on councilmen. Make your selec tion carefully and be sure and vote. Election day, April 3rd. Jewell Van Pelt Memorial Dinner April 15, 1989 Agency Longhouse Agency District representatives support apportionment (Editor's note: The apportionment peti tion has been validated. The petition has been thoroughly and comprehen sively examined by the Solicitor's Office for propriety. Based on the informa tion received by spokesperson Wasco Chief Nelson Wallulatum from the Portland Area Office and Warm Springs Superintendent, this statement is being released to the people.) To the membership of the Confed erated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, We, the Agency District repre sentatives on the current Tribal Council, initiated and supported the latest successfully circulated petition on the apportionment arti cle (the section dealing with how we select our Tribal Council repre sentatives) in our Tribal Constitu tion and By-Laws. We want to announce through this statement our planned activities leading up to the upcoming Secretarial Election on the matter. We gathered over 600 signatures in support of the proposition stat ed in the petition which required the Secretary of the Interior of the United States of America to see that an election is carried out on behalf of the petitioners. Several attempts were made to place this matter on the Tribal Council table. A slight margin kept it off. There fore, to get this matter before the people, a petition had to be circu lated. The petition proposition is to consolidate from three voting dis EDITOR'S NOTE Spilyay Tymoo welcomes articles and letters from its readers. All letters, preferably 300 words or less, must include the author's signature and address. Thank you letters and poetry will be published at the editor's discretion. All letters are the opinion of the author and do not reflect in any way the opinion of Spilyay Tymoo. Spilyay Tymoo reserves the right to edit all copy OR refuse publication of any material that may contain libelous statements. 1989 Editorial " When a board ot directors is selected for any organization, they look for the best people who can handle the job well. A bank for instance, all its share holders want the person in there who is responsible, dependable and can manage financial aff airs with out any difficulty A group of business people for the protection and promotion of business interests for its share holders. We here in Warm Springs have valuable assets that we should be protective of. After all its our future and ourdesiny to protect our natural resources for the best interest for all tricts to two and to establish one at-large representative. The Agency and Simnasho districts will remain the same except that one elected member will be added to each. The at-large representative, it is proposed, will be determined by the collective vote of each district. As per the Tribal Election Ordi nance, tribal members may register to vote in the district of their preference. We want to take this opportun ity to thank those of you who assisted us by gathering signatures and to those of you who signed the petition. We know many of you expressed special appreciation for being contacted. Your participation with us will allow our community to discuss and, through its eligible voters, decide on this important issue. Another reason we have prepared this statement is to let you know that we will be conducting a voter registration campaign and that your vote is important. We want as many people as possible to express their mind by voting. We will need volunteers to assist in this effort. Contact any of us as soon as possi ble if you want to help. Please remember this is not a tribal election but a federal secre tarial election and rules specific to this type of election apply and are contained in the Federal Code of Regulations. In this case, a Secre tarial Election applies because we are asking for a modification to our Tribal Constitution and By- Warm Springs, Oregon Parent asks for son's release To the Editor, My childrcns health and well being are extremely important to me and I believe my son is in harm's way by being in the Warm Springs Group Home. My son had difficulties in Mad ras Junior High School. Also, a so-called "reliable witness"told the juvenile coordinator that my boy was subject to neglect and living in a "violent environment." This per son has never been identified to me or brought to court to prove their allegations. Since my son's place ment in the group home, he and our family have been told half truths, broken promises and lied to, to say nothing of time lost with each other and tremendous hurt in our hearts caused by this situation. We were told by the juvenile coordinator that if we turned our selves over to them, that my son would not be put in the Group Home. We came in and my son was immediately put in the Group Home for a three-week period for "eva luation." He should have been released January 26 of this year. It didn't happen. I was then told to find a job and housing to have my son back. I found a job within a week and housing within three weeks, a minor miracle in itself. Luckily, I have found very understanding employ ers who have helped me with hous ing, given the facts of my situation. The Group Home still didn't give me back my son. Now they say 111 have to wait until April 26. Since my son entered the Group Home, numerous actions there have maae u evident tnat there is a serious breakdown in this facility's Knowledge ot taking care of child ren. Consider these actions: In our coldest weather, my son was placed in a room with no heat, see-through curtains and inadequate blankets. I provided more blankets for him. Our juvenile cordinator and my boy's counselor have both called in sick in the past month, but when my son was sick in the Group Home, he was made to go to school Laws. In a Secretarial Election, you must register each time one is held, be 18 years of age, and be enrolled in the Tribe to be eligible to vote. Soon, you will be receiving in the mail from an appointed election board, information and instructions about forms to be completed and returned, when the election will be held and where to vote. It is impor tant that you complete this activity because it is the filing of this infor mation that places your name on to the voter list and makes you eligi ble to vote. We believe as much eye-to-eye contact in conjuction with this elec tion as possible is important. With that in mind, we will be asking clan heads and heads of households to host meetings so that we can respond to any questions. During these meetings we will have graphic information and registration mate rial available. We urge you, as well, to contact us requesting our pres ence, individually or otherwise. Our form of Government, in our case a representative one, allows each of us the freedom of expres sion and the right without any form of intimidation to freely cast a vote in support of our beliefs. Various forms of intimidation, scare tactics and smear campaigning to keep you from voting or to vote a certain way may be attempted by some who do not want this matter presented or discussed. Threaten ing your job, threatening black balling you from employment, and his medication was given spo radically or not at all. When the Group Home was informed of my boy's toothache, no action was taken for five days, infection had set in by then. My niece started taking drugs while in the Group Home, my son has freer access to drugs there. I want him out. My boy has been subjected to put-downs concerning himself and our family and ridiculed by staff members. I don't want him learn ing from these types of pepole. I was told first and foremost that I should get a job and housing. My job schedule conflicted with many community events and meetings I would have liked to attend. There isnt a job' I know of that a new employee tells his employers what days off he demands or dictates what hours he wants, though Lord knows, my employers has done what can be reasonably expected to comply with my needs. My son's counselor thinks I can dictate hours to suit her. Then, she nervily asks me, "What's more important, your son or your job?" I thought her concern was supposed to be with her clients and not just a paycheck. If they're so overloaded, shouldn't they find a way to hire more help? The court has cited me for con tempt for missing family counsel ing sessions; yet I have witnesses that have known when I did show up for appointments, they had been cancelled because the counselor had not shown up or the session had been rescheduled for a differ ent day. I once came in for a "regu lar appointment" only to discover that it had been chanced to the previous day, without notice to me. Group Home visiting days are Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, which I attend regularly (6:30 to 7:30). Yet, if I have a meeting with the Group Home, it is almost always scheduled on a day other that those days. Every trip I make involves 33 miles of car time and gas usage. I once had to drive this distance three times in one day, only to have each meeting cancelled. I don't have a car right now, but I do pay . threatening withholding of assist ance or services, threatening or causing physical harm, verbal abuse or any other type of coercion or intimidation is against the law. The equal protection clause of the Indian Civil Rights Act and implied rights contained in the Bill of Rights Article of our Tribal Constitution and By-Laws protects us from these types of acts. Please be assured that we will do everything legally within our power to discourage this. Finally, the creation of the Treaty of 1855 was between the Warm Springs and Wasco people and the United States of America. Every thing reserved in that treaty was for their exclusive use and benefit. These are called reserved rights. Paramount in the negotiation by our ancestral forefathers was the retaining of certain lands for our exclusive use and benefit forever and the right to govern how we are to use and live on these lands. It is our belief that the ancestors of the 1855 Treaty signers must be directly and primarily involved in all mat ters relative to it. Therein lies the essence of our concern in our cur rent apportionment system. We have a situation where a tiny portion of people have a great deal of power to control the destiny of our reservation and its people. But the great majority of the people who make up our reservation are treaty people. This great majority of people have no voice to decide which of this tiny population should be placed on the Tribal Council as leaders. The area that district repre sents is a large portion of our valu able reservation. We feel the number of voters who live and are regis tered to vote in that district is too small to hold guaranteed seats on the Tribal Council. We feel it is in the best interest and benefit of all concerned that it become a part of the two larger districts, Simnasho and Agency. Any tribal member may serve on the Tribal Council as long as they are eligible, qualified and registered in that district. We feel this is a political issue and what we are recommending is good common sense and m ill benefit for the gas friends use to come after me. By the counselor's own admis sion, many of the children placed in the Group Home are without visitors or family seeing them for weeks or months at a time, and the runaway rate is very high. I have seen my son almost everyday since he's been in the Group Home. He hasn't been a runaway and com plies as much as he can. Yet, the children placed there after my son was put in and those determined as "regular" runaways, have been let out. Do you have to have a certain last name or "know somebody" to have a child released from the Group Home? The Group Home seems to bob off its nose to spite its face, at times. The children there don't have a voice because their comments and complaints are easily squelched by the adults there. In fact, the staff uses its power of education and double-talk to smooth things over. When my son speaks out for him self, he is labeled "aggressive" and when he is quiet, again he is labeled as "unable to express his feelings." Now that some adults are listening Thanks for sharing the evening To the Editor, This is a letter to thank the Wasco community members for their participation in the "welcome back" dinner, held March 1, for Ken Smith as he accepted the Chief Executive Officer and Secretary Treasurer position with the Tribe. The dinner'was an open invita tion for all people of the whole community of Warm Springs and was sponsored by the Wasco peo ple. The only item requested from the Tribe was the use of the Agency Longhouse for three or for hours. All the food, which completely filled up 15 tables, was donated by the Wasco people. The tables over flowed with traditional roots, fish and meat, dumplings, homemade pies, breds and cakes, canned fruit, various salads and just about everything else it was great to see us all in the long run. Some reasons for the way we feel in support of this proposition are: 1. It will allow every qualified individual an opportunity to serve on the Tribal Council. 2. Two districts will reflect a good and equitable balance of power. 3. Will allow treaty ancestors the opportunity to be totally involved in determining who represents them on the Tribal Council. 4. Will allow the Tribal Council leadership to represent the confi dence of a majority vote of the people. 5. Two large districts will be a good check and balance system. 6. We have been placed in a rold of leadership and what we are sug gesting is totally objective on our part, reasonable, honorable, be cause we are doing our level best for our community. If f ," j t : i f : I " - -r . :" , " " Halloween raffles being held Halloween is mst around the corner and the Warm Springs Tri bal Employment Services depart ment is already getting anxious BOOUt it. The department is sponsoring a raffle to raise money for Hallo- fen costume prizes. The item to Spilyay Tymoo and trying to correct this situation, the Group Home must respond. In fact, it might be an alternative to replace the Group Home with shel ter and foster homes. My son is neither overly quiet or extremely popular, just an average teen. I believe my son is coping well, given the fact that he hasn't been away from family life before and thrown into a strange envi ronment. Let me add here that he had been thrown into our Warm Springs jail for eight hours because he was angry and fed up with the treat ment he and his family have endured for almost three months. Why should my boy be subjected to people such as the ones he's met through this experience when life is hard enough just being a teen? We're straightening out our lives and could do it even better without the Group Home's and Court's interference. ' Please release my child. Sincerely, Clarice F. Crane Warm Springs, Oregon all the people bring in what they could. The tables were fit for a feast which is exactly what we had. It was a very heart felt evening, knowing our people could have a get together, not because we had to, but because we wanted to. Lis tening to Ken give us the words he ' did about the goals for our Tribes and just sharing information with us, was very nice. Everyone enjoyed themselves, sharing the cooking, preparing food,' even the cleaning, everything was donated from the heart, even the gift for Kenny. Again, thank you for helping and coming to share the evening. These are the kinds of times we all need to share more often. God bless you all. A tribal member, Daisy M. Ike Should you have further ques tions on this proposition, please feel free to contact any of us. We want to do everything possible to help you make an informed deci sion. We are looking forward to your participation and vote in the up coming election which will be an nounced by the election board and Superintendent, Bernard Topash, who will act as the board's chair man. Nelson Wallulatum Wasco Chief Zane Jackson Agency District Representative Bruce "Mickey" Brunoe Agency District Representative Rita Squiemphen Agency District Representative be raffled this month is a Pen dleton Blanket. Other items will b: offered each month with the draw ing to take at the end of the month. Raffle tickets are avaialble for S 1 .00 each at the Employment Ser vice's office. I i