Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 1991)
35c OK'. CuLL. 7 t, .C68 v . 16 no. 2b December 27. 191 1 f " f1 ' P.O. Box 870 Warm Springu, OR 97761 Address Correction Requested I'.S. Postatf Bulk Rite Permit No. 2 Warm Springs, OR 97761 - " j h hoc? i vt'd on : IJ-ii v 1 O T1 i'pilyay tymoo. puiyay i yimooi News from the Warm Springs Indian Reservation fsJS " I VOL. 16, NO. 26 Coyote News In Brief Year reviewed The year 1991 was a year of change. Photos show various community events and some disturbing occurences. Page 2 and 3 Student honor rolls announced students achieving grade point averages above a 3.00 are recognized on school honor rolls. Page 5 White Buffalo girls schedule games Into March Schedule for girl's basketball is presented for those interested In attending games. Page 6 Protect yourself from AIDS Education and safety precautions are recommended to prevent the spread of AIDS. Page 7 Warm Springs Clothing Company Now open Monday-Friday 10-5.W Saturday 10-6:00 All clothing Is 20 off for the Holiday Season Additional discounts will be given on all Items marked with blue dots. Everyone welcome Deadline for the next Issue ofSpilyay Tymoo Is January 3, 1991 Merry Christmas from Sptfyay l 1, "M-r-s Ti d V- - if.'.' .. ..c ; r IK 1 - A U J:, vlj . Y. " -N -? " The Health and Welfare Committee remembers senior citizens at Christmas with food baskets.Henry WSFPI plywood plant It finally happened. The plywood plant at Warm Springs Forest Prod ucts Industries ended operations Fri day, December 13. Ninety-one em ployees were notified that they were to be laid off, their last day being December 31. Those employees laid off were told that insurance benefits would continue through March 31, 1992 and that as "positions open at WSFPI, you will be recalled based on your employee profile." The following people were laid off: Logging and road department: Anthony Mitchell and William Yubeta. Central Maintenance: Larry Johnston and Enos Herkshan. Log Yard: David Haynes, Wil Legislative process involves community Community members have the op portunity to become involved in the formulation of tribal policy. Throughout the newlyorganized policy process, direct public input is encour aged. In the last 55 years the Tribe has developed a large body of policy or ganized under the tribal constitution. Much of the policy is still effective today. But as the Tribe expands its exercise of sovereign powers and continues to govern more of its own affairs, many other policies are being developed. The Warm Springs Community is invited to comment on water quality issues before the joint committee January 15, 1992 at Agency Longhouse January 16, 1992 at Simnasho Longhouse Dinner Is served at 6:00 p.m. r t. . nrnwrnkti writ JNiMrasr "- zr-"- - -.Hi V,, r s Jackson helps deliver them. closes December 13 liam Markgraf, Larry Mullins and Ron Thrasher. Large Sawmill: Ronald Adamson, Eugene Danzuka, David Naugher and Donald Watkins. Planer and kilns: Tony Boise, Dennis Casey, Charlie Chee, Ron Heath, Lyle McGrady, Alan Miller, Erwin Stwyer, Frank Trimble, Jr., Derek Winishut and Jesse Yallup. Plywood: Kent Alexander, Louis Aripa, Leslie Bill, Anthony Boise, Memory Brown, Gilbert Brunoe, Donald Chapman, Eduardo Cuevas, Winema Danzuka, Weston Gale, David Gonzales, Robin Greene, Dwayne Heath, Sanders Heath, Jerry Hill, Kenneth Hill, Johnny Howtopat, Sr. Corwin Howtopat, Gordon Kelly, Elliot Lawson, Kenneth Linder, Jr., Continued on page 8 Over the past few years the Tribe has started to organize a formal process to formulate and maintain its policies. Currently, with work from legislative analyst Dale Hile and assistant Rosclla Moscley in the tribal Legislative Of fice, policies in environmental and commercial law are being reviewed, organized and expanded. Eventually this will be accomplished for all areas of tribal policy. The Legislative Office has outlined seven phases in the legislative process beginning with phase one, inventory of policies, ordinances and regulations. DECEMBER 27, 1991 Initial sovereignty statement issued A general council meeting was held December 19 to discuss the Tribes' "Declaration of Sovereignty" state ment, prepared in part by Tribal Council, tribal attorneys and Dick Trudcll and Charles Wilkinson. Fol lowing is a draft of the statement. "We the members of the Confed erated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, comprised of the Wasco, Warm Springs and Northern PaiuteTribes, hereby dec lare our national sovereignty. We declare the existence of this inherent sovereign authority the absolute right to gov ern, to determine our destiny, and to control all persons, land, resources and activities, free of all outside interfer ence throughout our homeland and over all our rights, propcrty.and people, wherever located. "The geographic reach of our sov ereignty includes the whole area within the borders of our tribal reservation, reserved by the Warm Springs and Wasco Tribes in their 1855 Treaty with the United States. This inspiring reservation, located on the east flank of the Cascade Range, is a spiritual place of juniper, sage and thick mountain forests; of the strong and deep Deschutes, of the Metolius River, Sceksccqua Creek, Shitike Creek, the Warm Springs River, Oak Creek, Whitc Water River and all their tribu taries; of our sacred foods, the roots, berries, salmon, deer, elk and other plants, fish and game; and of lava flows, hot springs and uplifting table top mesas and mountains, all watched over by our sacred Mount Jefferson. "Our homeland also encompasses, and our sovereignty extends to, tribal off-reservation rights in our historic ancestral domain, a vast region that includes the Columbia Plateau and far beyond. These off-reservadon rights include rights attaching to our usual and accustomed fishing grounds and stations; to in-lieu fishing sites; to burial sites and other sacred sites; to lands on which tribal members can hunt, gather roots and berries and pasture stock; to acquired lands; and to other areas over which our tribes now possess, or may later establishights of any kind. "Our people have exercised this sovereignty, as nations, on the Colum bia Plateau for thousands upon thou sands of years, since time immemorial. Our sovereignty is permeated by the spiritual and the sacred, which are, and always have been, inseparable parts of our lives, for the Creator leads us all in aspects of our existence. "The Wasco Tribes, a Chinnoktan people, occupied the lower Columbia River. A hereditary tyee stumchk, or Principal Chicftan, acting either per sonally orbydelegauon to villagechiefs, exercised full authority over all aspects of live political, spiritual, family, subsistence and military. The sovereign position of the tyee stumchk carried with it not only the power to regulate Phase two includes a preliminary re port which includes scoping the issues, Tribal Councilcommunity review, and analysis and alternatives developed. In phase three, law is developed and Tribal Council reviews it The community has an opportunity to comment in phase 4. Enactment is part of phase 5, imple mentation in phase 6, and an annual review is included in phase 7. Besides developing the actual pro cedure for implementing law, the Leg islative Office is collecting all tribal policy into volumes which will be available to the public for review. The Tribal Policy Library will include source documents, volumes on tribal code, administrative rules, department manuals and court opinions as well as reports, periodicals and journals relating to tribal policy. The first public meeting scheduled forJanuary 15and 16willreviewpolicy regarding water quality on the reserva tion and on ceded lands. Included in this issue of Spilyay is an overview of the proposed policy. The Legislative office and Tribal Council invites and encourages all tribal members to attend the hearings and participate in devel opment of tribal policy in this area. and punish but also the duty to take acuons to assure that the people would have food, shelter, cultural and social well-being.and protection from outside forces. "The Warm Springs Tribe, a Sahaptin people, lived further up the Columbia, and on the Deschutes and John Day Rivers and their tributaries, during aboriginal umcsThcy possessed the sovereign prerogative of ne-shy-chus, which meant that Nadvc Warm Springs people were rooted in the soil of their ancestral domain and were free of any outside forces, free to follow their own culture and religion. For millcnia, Warm Springs people fol lowed an elaborate structure of sover eign tribal responsibiliucs embodied in the Sahaptin phrase, tee-cha-meengsh-mee sin-wit na-me ad-wa-ta-man-wit, which means "at the time of creation the Creator placed us in this land and He gave us the voice of this land and that is our law." "In 1855, the Warm Springs and Wasco Tribes entered into a treaty with the United States of America. We were not vanquished peoples and this was notatruceagreemenurathcr.both sides entered into the treatymaking process as equals. In the treaty, the two tribes ceded more than 10 million acres of land but retained a reservation of more than 600,000 acres as well as extensive off-reservauon rights. Both tribes also reserved their national sovercignty.The United States assumed trust duties that included a high obligation to protect the reservation from outside forces. "In 1879and 1884, he Untied States moved groups of Northern Paiutes to the southern part of the reservation. Before being located on the reserva tion, the Northern Paiutes had tradi tionally roamed a vast territory, which included parts of the Deschutes and John Day river valleys and high desert lands to the east and south; sovereign Paiute law ways and religious mores were established by custom and ad ministered by a principal chief and headmen. After being located on the reservation, the Paiutes received allot ments of reservation land and became residents of the reservation. "The two treaty tribes, the Warm Springs and the Wasco, eventually in vited the Paiutes to join their govern ment. In 1938, the Warm Springs, Wasco and Northern Paiute Tribes officially formed a confederacy, es Landowners, agencies, Tribe look at Crooked River basin "We can't keep fighting over the pieces.. ..We have made drastic changes (in the environment) and the choices we've made have been expensive." Moderator for the Crooked River Conference and radio commentator Russell Sadler emphasized that agencies, private land owners and tribes must work together to protect and rehabilitate watersheds. He adds, "The prescriptions are not pleasant." Approximately 200 participants at the December 13 symposium held at Carey Foster Hall in Prineville listened to speakers relate their knowledge about the resource, the changes that have occurred over time, the problems and the scenerio for the future if changes are not made. Sponsored by the Oregon Rivers Council, the symposium is one of several held around the state and planned for the future designed to bring watershed users together. The workshop allows the exchanging of ideas and planning the use and protection of the watershed. The Crooked River includes a 4300 square mile drainage basin. It flows into Lake Billy Chinook Throughout its length are two major impoundments creating Ochoco and Prineville Reservoirs. Approxi mately 700 diversions and withdrawals occur on the length of the Crooked River. Both conference participants and speakers were present at the symposium each sees a need to manage the water resource better. All came away from the conference with a more holistic attitude toward the Crooked River. The interlocking parts of the system from the importance of maintaining the integrity of forested areas to protection of soil was shown to be crucial in protecting the quality of the River. The impact of grazing on rangeland and in riparian areas was discussed. Retired wildlife biologist Harold Wincgar saw the possibil ity of reduced runoffs which would decrease sediment in the River, increased diversity of plant and animal life, and increased summer stream flows with the removal of cattle. Dr. Lee Eddlcman placed emphasis on the encroachment of the juniper tree whose root system can the past tire eliminated jumper which Warm Springs tribal representative from the Natural Resources Department Louie Pitt explained the Tribe's position in regard to the Crooked River resource and its watershed. Pitt explained that tribal Continued on page 5 US tablished a common government and. adopted a written constitution. The' constitution created a tribal council for administrative purposes and re served all other sovereign powers to the people. In the years since, the Confederated Tribes have amended the 1938 constitution, enacted a great many tribal laws, es- tablishcd judicial and enforcement au thorities, engaged in extensive and so phisticatcdcconomicdcvclopmcntand entered into many agreements with the UnitcdStatcsofAmcrica,othcrIndian tribes, the state of Oregon, local gov ernments, private business organiza tions and other entities and individu al These and other progressive actions have been taken to preserve, protect and strengthen our national sovereignty that has existed, along with our songs, dances, prayers, and longhouses, on the Columbia Plateau for countless generations. 'Today, the people of the Confed erated Tribes continue to assert and exercise sovereign authority over the tribal reservation, over other territory within tribal jurisdiction, over territory that may come under tribal jurisdiction in the future, and over the protection of our rights and our people and their welfare in all places. This complete sovereign power encompasses legis lative authority, such as the power to define individual conduct, to regulate business enterprises, to zone land, to tax, to regulate the use of natural re sources, to protect the environments, to make provisions for education, health and social welfare, to protect our right to worship according to our own religions and to follow our tradi tional ways, and to make other laws appropriate to the exercise of the full rangeoflawmakingauthoritypossessed by any nation. TheConfcdcratcdTribcs' soverei gn powers also include executive authority to implement tribal legisla tion and judicial authority to enforce valid legislative and executive orders. Our sovereign authority includes the right to choose not to adopt formal, written laws, procedures, or policies governing particular subjects; formal laws can be intrusive and inflexible, and we have learned that some issues are best addressed by informal, tradi tional ways. "Ultimate sovereignty is vested in the people, who received that soveriegn authority in the form of laws given by Continued on page 8 draw 33 gallons of water a day. In nowcompetes with range plants. i