PACE 4 May 19, 1989
Editorial
E Coosh EEWA
(The way it is)
Letters to the Editor
"Spilyay
the battlefield, around the world, Memorial Day is also for them.
No matter if it was in World War I, World War II, Korea or
Vietnam, we can proudly say for them that their job is done and
shall remain in our memory and we are thankful to them that our
country is free.
Also for everyone who has had loved ones that passed on,
Memorial day is when we all pay tribute and remember the days of
the past. There were great times and events that we will never
forget.
Let us make this Memorial Day and those to come, a day of
great significance as we pay our respect with pride that our home
in one nation under God.
Whole reservation important
Who's to say what's right or what's wrong? You can only do
whatever makes you feel right. We all talk about our civil rights,
we talk about the traditional ways and what our forefathers have
done... well let's talk about what we should do as the apportionment
issue is coming up for vote. Some people are making a personal
issue of the matter, taking it in a wrong vision. The issue is not to
throw anyone out or is not against anyone. This is one step that is
to strengthen our governing body for stronger representation.
Who knows, the next step might be to eliminate the Simnasho and
Agency Districts where we would have a more powerful governing
body as one reservation.
I have said this before, take a bank for instance, when its
stockholders select a board of directors they don't pick just anyone
to be on the board. They select their very best, ones they have
confidence in and feel comfortable in managing their affairs. So
consider the issue and decide the way you feel regarding what
should be done for or against the issue. It's your right to vote the
way you feel and not being told which way to vote.. .but vote.
Neigh.
Prayers answered for mother
To the family and
Switzler,
friends of E.
We, the children of Elvina would
like to take this opportunity to
Happy 18th Birthday
Craig
With lots of love from Patty,
Cecil, Cheryl, Jr., Brandon
and Adrian.
: , . .. Ki-iyj
f'l 1 1111 i nn i ilii . r .
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.
Spealts"
Time for tribute
The time of the year is upon
us once again when we take
time to pay tribute to those who
have passed on. There is no day
set aside more meaningful than
Memorial Day, a day we pay
tribute to those who have fallen
in battle, giving their lives for
their country. To those who
have been through the wars,
come home and have since
passed on, Memorial Day is
dedicated to them.
We all have known someone
who was full of life, yet willing
to sacrifice his life for our coun
try. To the mothers and fathers
who suffered hardship, seeing
their youngster facing death on
express our thanks for all the
prayers that was brought forth for
the healing of our mother and
"Praise the Lord" our prayers were
answered. It had to be the prayers
what gave back our beloved mother
and brought her out of the
"Strongholds of the devil" who
tried to destroy her mind. Our
special thanks goes to evangelist
Merle and Rose Williams from
LaConner, Wn., who held a special
prayer the night before we left Mt.
Vernon, and for praying our mother
through, over the phone, and to
Easton and Tina for coming over
to the hospital when our mother
asked for them. This was a miracle
that had happened with our mom.
There has to be a reason for her to
be able to stay with us longer.
Something great is going to come
out of this, concerning her children,
for WE ALL witnessed a miracle,
when the doctors had given up
hope for her, The Lord pulled her
through. So, I'm (Susan) just wait
ing for the outcome of this ex
perience and we give all the praise
and honor to our Lord, Jesus Christ.
And a very special thanks to my
husband, Lupe, for staying by my
side and praying our mother
through and seeing that she had
Continued on page 8
Warm Springs, Oregon
Ashamed of actions at meeting
To the People,
I attended the apportionment
meeting hosted by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs on Wednesday, May
3, 1989. 1 would like to tell those of
you who did not attend about the
sad, rude and disheartening con
duct that took place there. And,
maybe after, we will begin to under
stand why our people are falling,
especially our children. Now I can
understand why there are young
adults and children who have hearts
filled with hate, selfishness and
greed.
I never, ever thought I would see
a day when I would be shamed by
my elders. My heart was very heavy
and carried an overwhelming sad
ness when I left the meeting; even
after praying, the shame did not
leave me. I ached inside having
witnessed the way you elders and
adults conducted yourselves. You
not only shamed yourselves, but
you, yourselves, did not see or feel
the shame; so I felt ashamed for
you, all of you.
Everyone spoke about how the
"Poor Paiutes" are discriminated
against and how their rights have
always been violated, and the con
tinued prejudice against them. The
real prejudice came out and was
slapped in the faces of the Wasco
people who were present at this
public meeting. The hate and con
tempt was thick but it was not
against the "Poor Paiutes", it was
against the Wasco people.
I sat and watched you elders and
adults who were of mixed blood of
Paiute, Wasco and Warm Springs
descent make snide remarks
and gestures while the Wasco peo
ple (also of mixed blood) and mem
bers of the Tribal Council got up to
speak their peace. Some of you
made ill-made remarks about a
man's morals and how tribal money
was spent on his personal effort on .
the apportionment petition.
Those of you who attacked this
man's private life should remember
yourselves and your own personal
and public moral conduct before
making snide and hurtful remarks.
Those of you who brought up the
Tribes money, remember the money
you owe the Tribes before you hold
it against another person. Some of
you alone are into the tribe several
hundred thousand dollars.
Your sharp tongues spoke of
unity, God and tradition and used
them to your benefit. That, in
itself, was unforgivable, but you
had to go further and make hypo
critical statements about other
people. How on earth could you
bring yourselves to speak about
spirituality, God, history and tra
dition when it was very obvious
that you held negative feelings in
your heart?
A job well done!
To the Editor,
We, the employees of the Warm
Springs Police Department, would
like to express a thank you to
Raymond F. Calica, Sr. for fulfil-
Happy Birthday
Tommy & BUI
TMD
Happy Birthday
and
Happy Anniversary
to Eva
TMD
A v ...I.a.
If you want "us Wascos" to let
the apportionment issue go forever,
then stop the political games to
benefit yourselves, family and
friends. Until this stops, "us Wasco"
people will continue to work to
receive the fairness and equality for
all the people and our tribe.
I want the Wascos who attended
the meeting to know that I was
proud of you and how you pre
sented yourselves. You listened with
respect and did not lash back; it is
good to know that you remember
what you were taught by our true
Will amendment be unjust?
To the people of the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs:
First of all, I would like to
extend my thanks to all the people
who showed up for the meeting on
voting on the apportionment issue,
which was held in May. A special
heartfelt appreciation also to those
people that voiced their disagree
ment on the issue. It was a time of
sharing and learning, and the words
our elders were used were words of
widom and caution.
In the last letter I wrote to you,
my dear people, I shared with you
that I was doing a lot of studying
on the impact apportionment can
have on us. Since then, I have had
to travel to the Lewis and Clark
Law Library and do more research
on the subject. At the apportion
ment meeting I shared the results
of my research. What follows is
some of what I learned.
Today, many things have changed
6n our reservation as we move '
toward progress and we have had
to make moves to accommodate
those changes around us. But, there
are some things, I feel, that can
never change, like the original
meaning of our tribal constitution.
I read an article on canon law and
what it means when interpreting
documents where two different
cultures are involved. It is to my
understanding that traditions, his
tory and values all have to be inter
preted according to its original
form, in order for it to make any
sense. This then has to be true
when interpreting the orginal lan
guage and intentions of the consti
tution and by-laws of the Confed
erated Tribes of Warm Springs.
Tribal history tells us that all
three tribes were involved in for
mulating our constitution. This
event did not take place overnight.
The Wheeler-Howard (Indian Re
organization) Act was passed in
1934 and our tribal constitution
was not adopted until December
18, 1937. This tells me that the
ling the position as chief of police.
Raymond has gone a long way in
building an administration to what
it is today. It takes a lot of expe
rience, commitment, courage, and
most of all, self-discipline, to build
an organization as you have done.
Our department has been rated as
one of the top law enforcement
agencies in the tribal systems
throughout the United States and
has made us all proud as an inde
pendent, well organized organiza
tion of the Confederated Tribes of
the Warm Springs Indian Reserva
tion of Oregon.
Raymond has opened many
closed doors by bringing more tri
bal members, Indians married into
the tribe, Indians from other nations
and non-Indians who have been
given a chance to make a career in
law enforcement. We were trained
and certified through the state of
Oregon by going through a six
and nine-week judicial training at
the Oregon Police Academy in
Monmouth, Oregon.
As a tribal member, Raymond
Calica has had many years of expe
rience as a law enforcement officer
and supervisor. Most important,
Raymond has dedicated his servi
ces to the community and his
employees, as well as the Tribal
Council.
We will all miss you. Good luck
and best wishes to you and your
family.
A job well done!!
From the staff of the WSPD
elders who are now gone; that you
remember traditional respect that
was embedded in our minds and
our hearts by our mothers, fathers,
grandmothers and grandfathers. No
matter how much we are attacked,
hurt or made fun of, we remember
those feelings are theirs and we go
on.
I hope one day my shame for the
elders and the adults of this com
munity who attended that meeting
will go away and leave my heart
and my mind. But I know it will not
go until I see some change their
people took their time to come to
an agreement and approve of the
document that now governs us as
tribal members. It gave us a politi
cal entity and other guaranteed
rights as sovereigns. One of those
rights is to be immune from racial
discrimination as set forth in the
Sth, 14th and 15th amendments to
the constitution of the United
States. Our tribal preamble reads
"...Not inconsistent with existing
federal and state laws." Isn't the
constitutuion of the United States
a federal document containing laws?
In the early history of our coun
try, a court ruling was made on a
case, Worcester vs. Georgia by
Chief Justice Marshall:
"Indian Tribes or nations had always
been considered as distinct, Independ
ent, political communities retaining
their orginal rights."
This was one of the federal govern
ment's first acknowledgements that
we had powers of self government.
In addition to this ruling was
applied the accepted rule of inter
national law: The settled doctrine
of the Law of Nations is that a
weaker power does not surrender
its independence its right to self
government by associating with
a stronger, and taking its protection.
Right now, I think we need to
ask ourselves, is the proposed ap
portionment amendment to our
tribal constitutuion in conflict with
existing federal laws?
I still firmly believe, today, that
the more we adopt a form of govern
ment that overlooks the diverse
ness of one of its contributing
tribes that we are setting ourselves
up to lose a part or all of our
sovereignty.
In reading Felix Cohen's Hand
book of Federal Indian Law I came
across an article concerning civil
liberties. Civil liberties is defined as .
rights of thinking, speaking and
acting as one likes without inter
ference or restraint except in the
interest of the public welfare. These
civil liberties have been conferred
Mother has been
inspiration
To a Dear Mother,
You have been a great inspira
tion to me and a very good exam
ple. All the hardships you had to
endure in raising me I could only'
pray that I could have at least health
the strength and faith you have.
Thank you Mom for your support.
I love you dearly. Happy Mother's
Day.
From Suh-Wus-Nye
Tribal Council Agenda
Monday, May 22
9 a.m. Tribal Council Workshop
Tuesday, May 23
9 a.m. Committee Workshop
Wednesday, May 24 to Friday, May 26
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Conference in
Portland
Monday, May 29 HolidayMemorial Day
Tuesday, May 30 Tribal Council Meeting
9 a.m. Business
9:30 a.m. Enrollments
1:30 p.m. Conference Call with Mark Phillips
2 p.m. Realty Items
Wednesday, May 31 Tribal Council Meeting
9 a.m. Business
9:30 a.m. Ocean In-River Management Agreement
10 a.m. Tribal Code Issues: Juvenile Code, Family
Abuse Law, Woodcutting Code
Secretarial Election-Apportionment
Spilyay Tvmoo
attitudes and actions. I will' need to
see them treat other people with
courtesy and respect; their use of
tradition, history and God to be
used correctly and honestly and
not to their own benefit.
Apportionment, if it passes, will
be the true beginning towards fair
ness for all our people and our
tribe.
Leona A. Ike
Wasco Tribal Member
upon us by the tribal constitution
and by-laws and its conformation
with the constitution of the United
States. It goes on to say, in the
interaction between two groups with
divergent (different) histories, tra
ditions and ways of life, such dif
ferences of value standards are
common and must be reckoned
with in the field of Indian civil lib
erties. It is in reading these types of
articles that I come to the conclu
sion that we really need to be caus
tious in decisions concerning the
reservation.
When I was still in high school, I
learned about our right to vote. We
learned about the fifteenth amend
ment, section one, which says:
"The right of citizens of the United
States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by
any state on account of race, color or
previous condition of servitude."
It was in classroom discussion
that I realized that we need to find
out all the facts about issues that
we are voting on. If I could not be,
sure beyond a reasonable doubt as
to the soundness of an issue then I
would have to vote against it, in
order not to suffer the unforeseen
consequences, later. We are all
entitled to vote, if, you registered,
upon the apportionment referen
dum on May 31, 1989. I ask that
you truly weigh all the facts on this
very important amendment to our
tribal constitution, before you vote. .
Please ask yourself:
Does this amendment violate any
provision of the tribal constitution?
Does this amendment violate
some federal law?
Will this amendment be unjust
to a minority group within the
Confederated Tribes?
These are the same kinds of
questions that are involved in a ,
secretarial review of tribal ordi
nances which involve judgments of
policy as well as judgments of law
and constitutionality.
Respectfully,
Wilson Wewa, Jr.
The Warm Springs Shaker
Church Youth Group is
now selling colorful felt
tipped pens to raise money
The pens sell for $1.25
each.
Contact the following
people to purchase a pen:
Jaclyn Tulee, Wilona Poi-
tra, Marvin Arquette, Eldred
Heath, Peggy Poitra,
Thomas 0. Kalama or Wil
liam C. Moses.