10 February 13, 1997
Warm Springs, Oregon
SpilyayTymoo
l :
. ' "V :
i . .'
V.V" f - .- 7
-.W. rV :.
Happy birthday, Baby!
fir' -
A
f .. -
f
it i W
Roberta Kirk recently accepted a position with the Smithsonian.
Year as Miss Warm Springs a
To my Warm Springs Community,
My reign as Miss Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs is officially
over. The only thing I can tell every
one is thank you. You gave me such
an opportunity that will stay with me
for the rest of my life. Nothing could
have made me more honored than the
fact that I could represent all of you
for the past year. Because of this I
was able to travel and have oppor
tunities that I may never have been
able to come across.
I had the opportunity to travel to
Alaska for the National Timber
Symposium and experiencing a new
culture and finding relatives I never
knew existed. Attending conferences,
where I met many new friends and
was able to gain more knowledge on
topics such as leadership and educa
tion has been a real growing and
learning experience for me. I discov
ered I had a lot more knowledge
about my tribes and Indian politics
than I had given myself credit for! In
realizing this and seeing people do
listen to what I have to say, has
aroused an interest in becoming more
involved in what goes on in Indian
Country. These are things I can do
that are important for all of us.
The people I have met made me
see, for the first time in my life, that
I really do have a special gift to give.
It is the gift that you, the people I am
closest to, have always tried to tell
me I had, but I never listened until
now. My self-confidence has grown,
I have a stronger sense of who I am,
where I am going and the messages I
want to share with people. For the
first time I could actually speak to an
audience and not be deathly afraid.
I can't begin to express all the
gratitude I feel for all of you that
have been so supportive and en
couraging. So many people took part
in making my year special. I espe
cially thank Tedi Tanewasha, if it
weren't for her I would never have
run for Miss Warm Springs last year.
My special thanks also goes out to
Irene Towe and Orthelia Patt. They
were .Tiy teachers. Combined, I
learned some Wasco words, sign
language, customs that went along
with different events, dressing and
INDIAN TRAIL RBSTAIJRANT
Restaurant ' .. Eiza Atm'Sprin q JvK Or Drive-thru
hours: -3 " uj oj A7 A.M. FOfWREGUAH?li Pen
7 a.m. -VX: BREAKFAST 7j 1.1 AM. DAY .h' 7a-m-
to CAUi0UR (fMERS AT 553lS06 T- ' t0
9 p.m. daily 'y; ALSO THE tATEST IN VIDEO RENTALS x 9 P.m. daily
5
Happy Birthday to ihc woman
in my life on February 12, Kim
Medina. This wish is from your
husband who loves you and
cares very much for you. Also
Happy Valentine's Day, on
February 14, you will always be
my sweetheart. And let's not
forget our Anniversary on
February 21. Happy Anniversary
to us, on our many years
together and many more to
come. The month of February
only has 28 days but wc have
alot to celebrate. I hope you
enjoy your birthday and
anniversary trip. I can't wait, it's
going to be a blast and I'm
looking forward to spending
time alone with you.
"...
wearing the proper attire for the tra
ditional Warm Springs and Wasco
ways. I would also like to thank our
Warm Springs Chief Delvis Heath,
he was always willing to be my es
cort at various parades and the Miss
NCAI pageant. I made a life long
friend.
My thanks and appreciation also
goes to Anita Davis who was always
available to sing the Lord's Prayer
for me, she is blessed with a beauti
ful voice, Adeline Miller and Eileen
Spino who taught me the Indian
Charleston, Ellen Thompson who
explained how some of the dances
' came to be, to Brenda Scott, Rita
Squiemphen, Aunties Margie &
Wimpy, Kathleen Heath, Joanne
Smith and my faithful dance fans
Mickey and Frances Brunoe and all
those who always took the time to
inquire as to how I was doing.
To my Grandmas, Grandma
Phare, Coty Soules, Gladys Thomp
son, and Bernice Mitchell, I thank
them for their wisdom they shared
and their everlasting faith in me. To
my grandpas, Grandpa Minnick, Sid
Miller and Garret Soules, thanks for
letting me know how much you care.
I am especially thankful for my
Grandpa Phare, he was my lifelong
encouragement, he not only gave me
much of my regalia, he also taught
me the importance of taking care of
what I have, pride in myself and
from who and where I come from.
He shared my joy with me when I
received this title, his encourage
ment gave me the strength to con
tinue on. I dedicate this past year to
He and my Grandma.
To all the children and young
girls who came up to say hi, ask
questions or just be near, I hope I
made you all feel welcome and left
you with a dream that you might one
day want to pursue this title. I thank
the Tribal Council for seeing an im
portance of a Miss Warm Springs
and providing the scholarship and
budget for this title, the secretaries
that did all the work, I appreciate all
you did. To Susan Gucrin my com
mittee person, we learned together
and you had some excellent sugges
tions, your kind personality made it
QUICK MONEY
It's your money!!
If you qualify you can get your tax returns back
within 48 hours.
-Tax Preparation -Electronic Filing -Rapid Refund
(RAL) -(PERC)
For an appointment call (541)553-57225721
Nathan's Business Service
PO Box 460
Warm Springs, OR 97761
iiqh
Kirk tarp? nnsitinn with MM A I
A A latUO fJUOlllUl I Willi IMIVIrM
lrtoai mcmocr Kobcrta Kirk is
nowcallingNcw York Cityhcr home. .
Roberta recently accepted a job with
the National Museum of the Ameri
can Indian with the Smithsonian In
stitution in the collections research
branch as collections manager assis
tant. She will serve as liaison be
tween tribes in the United States and
Canada in their repatriation visits to
NMAI
In her new position, Roberta will
also assist in organizing the move of
the Smithsonian's sizable collection
from the collections office in the
Bronx to the permanent facility in
Washington, D.C. The permanent
facility is expected to be completed
in about three years.
The Smithsonian has amassed over
one million artifacts from North and
South America, including Canada. It
will be her responsibility to maintain
the spirituality of the artifacts, as
well. To help her with that endeavor,
Wasco Chief Nelson Wallulatum
presented her with an eagle feather
during a small ceremony before she
left.
great honor for Sunmiet
enjoyable to work with you. Good
luck, you are a valuable person.
I thank the former Miss Warm
Springs' for sharing their experiences
with me. Lana Shike-Leonard, for
always saying hello and telling me
what a good job I was doing, Starla
Green, for offering any advice or
help if I needed it, Lyda Scott and
Merle Kirk for being so willing to
Miss Warm Springs 1996 Sunmiet
WMWHI IMIflll ' Ill III)- II I I ' T"
v ' "' ' I
x.tMh v :..VV-y-;y
t T J-' ' , 1
I vizi?
Roberta worked with the Mid
Oregon Indian Historical Society for
over three years before The Museum
At Warm Springs was completed. "It
was a critical time" for the Society,
says Roberta. She helped plan ex
hibit displays, videos, plus helped
move the Tribe's collection to the
permanent facility. Her work at The
Museum helped her land her new job
and also put her in touch with
Smithsonian representatives, who
requested that she serve as a facilita
tor at various workshops and confer
ences. Roberta also worked with the
Tribe's language program while it
was in its infancy stage. She most
recently was working as the Mutual
Help Counselor with the Housing
department.
Roberta assures her friends and
family that the job in New York is
justatwo-year appointment. "Itcould
work into something else. The two
year stint is livable for me. I won' t be
there forever. I'll be back. Eventu
ally, I'll go to work at our Museum."
offer a smile and a kind word.' I
would like to thank my family for
their support and allowing me to in
terrupt a year of their lives wit!, the
traveling and commitments that be
came a family affair.
Most of all I thank the commu
nity. It meant so much to me every
time someone came up to say hello or
Continued on page 11
Minnick
Across the Wire,
Rooney's comments show he is misinformed
NI;W YORK (AH) "60 Minute"
curmudgeon Andy Rooncy offended Indian
groups when he suggested that Indians making
money from casinos don't do enough to help
their own people.
Rooncy, drawn to the topic hy the New
York Legislature's recent rejection of
legalized gamhling, said on Sunday's
broadcast thai most casinos on Indian land
are under management that is "about as Indian
as I am."
"Why don't the Indian casinos making
hundreds of millions of lax-free dollars help
their own people?" said Rooncy, noting
reports about Indians at the snowbound
Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota.
Rooncy also said that casinos don't
produce anything except "piles of cash for
slcaeball owners."
Keller George, a member of Ihc Oneida
Nation in upstate New York and president of
the 23-itibe United South and Eastern Tribes,
said Rooney's comments were "highly
insulting and offensive" to Indians
everywhere.
Many tribes run their own casinos or
oversee non-Indian managers, he said.
Marge Anderson, head of the Millc Lacs
Band of Chippewa Indians in Minnesota, said
revenue from its two casinos have helped
Clinton ProPoses 6 increase in Indian allocation
WASHINGTON (AP) Following leaders recently that he would "be out 01
through on a promise to tribes, President
Clinton proposed a 6 percent increase in
spending on federal Indian programs next
year.
Clinton's 1998 budget includes $1.7
billion for the Hureau of Indian Affairs, an 8
percent increase over this year, and $2.4
billion for the Indian Health Service, a 3
percent rise.
Other Indian programs, including housing
subsidies, would rise 8 percent to $2.3 billion.
Congress cut Ihc B I A 's budget from $ 1 .65
billion in 1996 to $1.6 billion this year.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt told tribal
Indians allowed to sue over $$ mismanagement
WASHINGTON (AP) A federal judge
ruled thai a lawsuit over the Interior
Department's mishandling of $450 million
in Indian trust funds can he tried as a class
action on behalf of 300,000 Indians.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lambcrth
said all 300,000 account holders had a
common stake in the legal battle. The original
plaintiffs arc five Indians who sued the
governmenl last year seeking an accounting
of the funds and repayment of any missing
money.
The Interior Department had opposed their
motion lo make it a class-action lawsuit,
arguing that it wasn't feasible to list all the
accounts, many of which would contain only
small sums.
Lainbeilh's order, signed Tuesday, was
released Thursday.
John Echohawk, executive director of the
Native American Rights Fund, called the
order a "historic accomplishment for Indian
country."' i
"Century-old excuses and stonewalling
have been rejected by the judge and will
simply no longer work," Echohawk said.
An Interior Department spokeswoman
said the judge's ruling was just "one step in a
long series of steps" in the litigation.
Audits have found no one knows exactly
Indian commercial fishery
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP)-
A draft federal report suggests the Indian
fishing plan, which allows natives to sell
salmon commercially, be integrated wilh the
regular commercial fishery.
Paris of the report were leaked by the
B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition, a lobby
group opposed lo a separate Indian
commercial fishery.
Lawyer Jim Malkin, who wrote the draft
that was given to an industry "stakeholder"
on Monday, said the final report is expected
by the end of February.
Natives always have been allowed a food
fishery, but the federal Fisheries Department
decided four years ago to launch a pilot
salmon sales program to allow some Indians
to legally sell some of Iheir catch.
But many commercial fishermen, non
native and native, have criticized the pilot
program, saying it effectively creates two
separate commercial fisheries.
The draft report makes at least two crucial
recommendations that the Indian pilot
program be integrated into the current system
and treated like a "fourth gear type."
Theotherthrcegeartypesareseine.gillnet
Proposed nuclear dumpsite desecrates Indian land
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) A
coalition of Native Americans and their
backers recently denounced slate attempts to
place a nuclear waste dump in the Southern
California desert, saying the plan violated
the sanctity of tribal lands.
The dump "desecrates it (the land). It
completely abolishes everything the land has
been to the Indian people," said Claudette
White, a spokeswoman for the Quechan
Indians, one of five tribes opposing the
proposal.
Several dozen people, including cancer
patients, protested the proposed facility
during a news conference on the Capitol's
West Steps.
The state seeks to place the dump in
Ward Valley, a slark, 35-mile long area just
west of ihc Colorado River in San Bernardino
County. The dump, a series of unlined
trenches on a 1,000-acrc site, would handle
low-level nuclear waste, including
radioactive refuse from power plants.
build clinics, schools and homes.
"Hut Andy Rooncy believes we ire not
doing enough. We should be taking care of
every American Indian in the country," laid
Anderson, who complained in letter to
Rooney's boss, CBS News President Andrew
lleywurd.
"I'msure I don't follow this twisted logic,
because if it were sensible, then I would have
to assume that Mr. Rooney 11 taking care of
every wayward Irishman in the countrywide
said.
Rooney laid hit "sleazcball owners"
reference was aimed at Las Vegas casino
owners, not Indians. Ai for the rest of the
commentary, he laid, "I do not feel I have
anything to apologize for."
"I do not think that that's the way
American Indians are going to get themselves
out of the trouble they have apparently found
themselves in," he laid. "I am perfectly
sympathetic to the terrible things that have
happened to them in the past, but I don't think
casinos arc a viable solution."
The commentator has been working for
"60 Minutes" since 1978. He was suspended
in 1990 over racist comment! about blacks
that he denied making. He has also angered
gay groups for statements about AIDS,
leaders recently that he would "be out on the
point righting tor more icderal aid Tor them
and that they should be exempted from
spending cuts that are being made to balance
the federal budget.
The extra money that Clinton has
requested for BIA next year would allow
tribes to maintain 1,230 more miles of
reservation roads, hire 400 additional people
for law enforcement and to repair an additional
75 homes for needy families, laid Ada Deer,
assistant Interior secretary for Indian affairs.
Overall spending at the Interior
Department would drop $300 million, lo $7. 1
billion next year.
what is in the 300,000 accounts because of
decades of lax management by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs. The accounts belong to
individual Indians who receive royalties and
other income from their land.
No attempt has been made to reconcile
the accounts because the cost of doing the
work has been estimated at up to $280 million.
Besides that "enormous and grotesque"
expense, there are too many records missing
to come up with accurate statements, the
Interior Department said in papers Hied with
the court.
Straightening out those accounts has taken
a lower priority in the department to deciding
what to do about 2,000 tribal accounts worth
$2 billion.
BIA cannot document $2.4 billion in
transactions involving those funds over the
past 20 years.
The department is considering several
options for settling tribal claims, including
establishment of an economic development
fund that tribes could use to start new
businesses.
The largest single account, valued at $400
million, comprises a court's award to the
Sioux nation for its loss of South Dakota's
Black Hills to the United States.
should be integrated
and (roller.
It also proposes an arms-length tribunal
to replace the Fisheries Department as the
body taking responsibility for allocating the
fish quotas between seiners, gillnetters,
trailers and natives involved in the pilot
program.
Phil Eidsvik, spokesman for the B.C.
Fisheries Coalition, said he hopes the review's
final report will recommend scrapping the
pilot sales program altogether.
Meantime, B.C. commercial fishermen
have won the right to apply for permission to
launch a class-action against the federal
fisheries minister and fisheries officials.
1 The decision involves a lawsuit originally
launched by three fishermen.
They claimed discrimination after the
Fisheries Department closed the Fraser River
sockeye salmon fishery last summer to all but
Indian anglers.
The lawsuit said the commercial
fishermen suffered financial losses because
of the closure.
Their lawyer, Christopher Harvey, said
the B.C. Supreme Court upheld the men's
right to sue.
hospitals and research centers.
Environmentalists, Indian groups and
others oppose the proposal. They contend il
is dangerous, would damage the desert
ecosystem and represents "environmental
racism" against the tribes who have
traditionally lived in the area.
The administration of Gov. Pete Wilson
says the facility would be safe, and has already
licensed an Idaho-based company, U.S.
Ecology to build the dump 1 8 miles from the
Colorado River near Needles.
"California has done everything il can to
comply with federal law and develop a waste
disposal facility necessary to safely dispose
of low-level radioactive waste," said Kim
Belshe, director of the state Department of
Health Services.
The federal government has ordered
additional soil and water testing at the she,
delaying the project. Wilson last week sued
the federal government to get Ward Valley
approved.