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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1999)
SpilyayTymoo Warm Springs, Oregon January 14, 1999 5 Tribal members, you are the voice of the referendum, please vote on January 26 to the editor, Dear Tribal Member Voters, Keep in mind that YOU are the boss. You may have or will receive a letter mailed out by the tribal office en couraging you to vote. That letter is Dated 24, 1998. The referendum is set for January 26, 1999 on the Branch of Public Safety budget. Don't get us wrong-this referendum WILL NOT shut down that branch totally for 1 999. You may have heard rumors to (hat effect. These are NOT TRUE. There are departments under the Branch which operate very well. You may have heard other unfounded ru mors, but if the opportunity for meet ings presents itself, please attend, voice your opinion, and ask ques tions. You may have requested to NOT vote by certain leaders. Why do you suppose they are telling you not to vote? These are leaders who DO NOT want the referendum to have the required number of voter turnout so the referendum can be declared invalid. If the referendum does not pass, this will leave YOU THE PEOPLE who have expressed much dissatisfaction with the branch with the same administration and depart ment heads who have lead the branch into chaos. There will be no changes, you have to put up with the same turmoil you nave been putting up with for years. Isn't it time for THE PEOPLE to take charge and let this branch know that the STATUS QUO is not acceptable anymore? Is it pos sible the tribal leadership has family, relatives, or friends working in the branch and do not want to "rock the boat"? Another rumor you may have heard is that if you sign the petition, it could cost your job. THIS IS NOT TRUE. Early in the petition process, there was assurance from the council chairman that people could sign the petition if they wanted to without repercussion. At this point, we still have tribal members signing petition although there was nearly 500 signa tures gathered. This is their way of expressing their support for what THE PEOPLE want from this branch. A safe community through better service. Is this too much to ask of our Public Safety Branch? In recent years, because of inad equate service, you hear of people, just like yourselves, take a vigilante approach to help protect themselves, their families, friends and property in our community. We know that it is not right to take the law into our own hands, but if the situation warrants it, such as inadequate law enforcement, then what other choices do the people have? Who can answer that? The days are gone that you could leave your home for the day and leave the door or gate unlocked. We know that the people are afraid of losing valuables they have worked hard for, or saved money to buy or inherited from your family. Many of you have lost faith in calling local law enforcement; you don't know whether or not your complaint will be answered. If break-in has hap pened, will it (ever) be investigated? If investigated, will it be within the statute of limitation? The days are gone of who you knew to be trust worthy. If you file a complaint, will law enforcement follow through with it? If they don't, where does it go? Into file 13, or into a shredder? If you look around the Public Safety Branch right now, you can see that individuals are being moved into different jobs, some to different de partments. Some employees have recently been demoted. Why? Be cause they spoke the truth? These are employees who have stepped up and said NO MORE. We want to see ' child, parent, grandparent, uncle, complish this common goal by work aunt, what you are feeling is an emo- ing together as ONE PEOPLE. The tion. When you are ill or hurt, you cry because you are not feeling well or the feeling the pain. Leta, you know your loss what is being talked about her. You families who have recently lost someone know all about it. Warm justice done and laws enforced; and , Springs' deepest sympathy is with we all know that each and every person has the right to a fair and speedy trial. Everyone is innocent . until proven guilty. Everyone has ' civil rights. Somehow our system got turned around the opposite way. Many of you may have read an article in the December 30, 1998 edition, page 10, of the Spilyay Tymooregardingsevcral issucs.This tribal membcrstatcs, "if we all wanted to get into some really serious mud slinging, there are a lot of skeletons that could come out of the closets". What sort of individual would write such a statement? The way it is writ ten, it could be considered a threat. The sad part of the "mudslinging" is, unfortunately, truth. How many people in the community can say they have lived a life without sin or wrong doing? Who is willing to cast the first stone? Point out this person to THE PEOPLE, and they will show you one who walks on water, and saunters about the reservation preach ing goodwill and loving kindness. PEOPLE, we are not perfect; we are human beings with feelings and emo tions. We make mistakes for which we are sorry about later and feel remorse for what we have done. This shows we are human and we are in touch with our feelings. When you lose a loved one whether it be your husband, wife, you and your families. Since August, two people in the same family have been lost to tragedy. With regard to the snakebite inci dent, we know that Luther's family has been offered small token amounts of money and goods, which is prac tically nothing. Although the family is suffering such hardship right now, the life of this person is priceless and irreplaceable. There is not amount of money that will buy back what they have lost, meaning a husband, a fa ther, a provider, a brother, close rela tive, friend, co-worker. This is only one fatality of many that have hap pened. What has been done to correct these? Right. Nothing. WILL any thing be done? Who has the answer? When you go to the polls, think about these tragedies and what they have done to our community. Think about the activities that contribute to making our reservation dysfunc-tional-gang-typc activities, alcohol and drugs, all types of abuse, child molestation, injuries of all types, fa talities, near-fatalities and yes, the list is endless. Sure, the list is long, but you also should be thinking con structively about what kind of place you want to see Warm Springs be come, and how we can best go about improving our little community. We, outcome of this referendum will set the condition for the way we will live our lives here, now and in future years. What the people of Warm Springs are seeking is a safe place to live in peace. The people want Public Safety to work on the activities that cause it to be an unsafe community. You al ready know what those things are. Don't think for one minute that your vote won t count. It will count. Your vote WILL make a difference! Once again, thank you and please get to the polls to vote. If you will not be here on the voting date, go to Vital Statis tics and request an absentee ballot. Take care of yourselves and take care of each other. From the spokes men for THE PEOPLE, who are: Floyd Calica, Shirley Sanders, and Ginger Smith. "Time" is God's gift to heal To the editor, Hello from Pastor Rick. Where has the time gone??? Already the middle of January 1999. What did happen during 1998? At times it seems a blur of past memories and of clear events. 1999 will become a year of memorials. With the many deaths of 1998, 1999 will be the time of families coming together and pool ing their resources to have their time of release. For me that is one of the greatest effects of memorials. The problem will be family that cannot or will not allow memories of loved one's gone begin to allow the edges of their thoughts and memories to soften and become rounded. For some, grief will never go into its changes, it will stay hard and pain ful. People will fight the gift given by God to allow us healing. That gift is time. Time is a gift to allow us to see things clearly, understand things deeply, to know the real truth of life. Love and time can and does change the world. Love and time can and Member concerned for department To the editor, People of Warm Springs, under standing the issues brought forth in this petition regarding the Public Safety Department cause me to be lieve that living and working in my community is futile. This freeze on the budget will effectively destroy any trust I had in the Tribal Govern ment to protect the line employees. I also wonder why the community must suffer more cuts in service to satisfy the revenge of a few. I work in the Warm Springs Po lice Department Dispatch Center. I love my job but I have considered going elsewhere to work. I work for wages but I serve the people of WSO and that's why I chose to stay. , Now it looks Ijke our jobs and families are not even a consideration in decisions to be made either by tribal referendum or tribal council. If the budget is in anyway cut in salary, our families will go without more than they do now. If you choose to stop the budget and opt to have the BIA take over, think about the areas they manage in Indian country. Where two officers have to protect thousands of people on thousands of acres. OK, then think about this! If we call in the military, we will go under martial law and lose our sovereignty. We will be a military installation and no longer have our own government. As soon as one military man steps foot on this reservation and gives one order, we give up our rights as a Nation within a Nation. We remain under military command until re leased by the U.S. Government. Wouldn't the Feds just love to have power over our dam, water rights, timber land, land base and do we want to be a major target for a mili tary strike zone because we would be a military installation with a "Dam" power source! Because of budget constraints al ready in place, the division of depts. trying to survive on limited staff cov ering shifts 24 hours 7 days as taken a toll on the dedication and loyalty once an asset in Public Safety. Many of those have gone on to better pay, better work conditions and less po litical harassment in the work place. The people need to know that their concerns are real, but they also need to know that highly trained law en forcement personnel will not apply for work here. tion". Please consider this: 1) Budge doesn't allow hiring enough staff to protect our community 2) Budget doesn't allow competitive wages to encourage people to stay here. 3) Budget doesn't allow hiring at all. 4) Micro-managing has discouraged the supervisory team, to make decisions in bringing existing staff up to par. 5) Double standard in hiring, termina tion, suspensions, disciplinary ac tions (it's a who you are and who you know mind set) 6) We fear for our jobs if we complain or cause waves, we may face pink slip day. 7) we are placed in a set-up-for-failure posi tions, creating the lazy, ignorant Tribal Member labeling system that as ONE PEOPLE VOICE, need to be . heard, and those responsible for LOV SGflt policy-making, as well as branch management, need to listen with open To the editor, minds and heed the advice of THE Dcar Family of mine, To my uncle PEOPLE. brothers and sister, Laura Granted, we are three different Switzler & family, Geraldine tribes, with different cultures and BlodgettA family, Floyd Tewee, Jr., beliefs; the safety of this community Glenda Fisher, Cecelia Ceja, Rodney, is a major area that will help all our Regna. Lorna, Regina, Denise, people. We are separate and divers Meln & family, Wallet, Tom & tribes but we can undoubtedly ac- Lottie LeCIaire, Teresa Suppah, and to also the Robinson family, Martha Heath & family. will change a human being. The catch is will that human being allow time and love have it's way in their lives. Forme, one definition of hell is when time stops in our lives. When we no longer move forward and begin to creep back in time. When we want to stop time or turn back time to what has been called better days. In the gifts of the Lord, better days are in His hands and in our lives today, not yesterday. Let us use the gift of time to our advantage. Let us see the future that the Lord has for us and move into the life Jesus Christ has prepared for us. I ask Warm Springs to take the gift of time and love and to be healed. To put away addiction, anger, greed, mistrust, fear and hopelessness. A reminder Warm Springs-The Command of God. ...Love and be loved. Seat belts for kids, no tobacco or booze for youth. See you in church. Rev. Rick R. Ribeiro (WS Presbyterian Church-on the campus) I want to send you my love and respect to each and every one of you all. I want you to know I am okay and I am in good health. I also want to wish you all a happy safe Christmas and New Years to come. I miss you and love you all! Love your sister, "Witch" Tamara Henry Tribal member expresses concern Every workday we have to priori-1 'enables nbn-Indians to cdmpete fbr tize calls we send officers on. Some days we are unable to get to low priority calls in order to send one of two patrolmen to Simnasho or to Kahneeta or North on a motor ve hicle accident or to Seekseequa on a medical call and then the 911 line lights up again! Even these calls have to be prioritized. The negativity we are bombarded with from the people we serve has been destructive to the morale and motivation of once dedicated people. The confusing message that we must be top of the line on welfare wages doesn't make sense, you get what you pay for, and if you refuse to pay, you get nothing. In a recent Matt Sabo news article (The Bulletin), he reports, "It is not safe to walk the streets of Warm Springs after dark for the criminal element has outnumbered the po lice". He also reports "Tribal resi dents who have helped circulate the petition declined to speak to "the Bulletin" saying they fear retalia- Please vote on January 26 To the editor, My dear people, I would like to encourage all eligible tribal mem bership to vote in the upcoming ref erendum on January 26, 1999 re garding the leadership of the Public Safety Branch. Vote, with your people in mind and from your own experiences. In casting your vote, remember that decisions we make will effect us for the next 20 to 50 years. Remember that as a people and membership, we have a say in the conduct of our leaders. The referendum addresses the re sponsibility of the leadership of the Public Safety Branch. IT DOES NOT, AND I STRONGLY RE PEAT, IT DOES NOT disregard the importance and the need of the ser vices provided by the Public Safety Branch. There is not reflection on the line employees and their value to the community. It has disheartened me as a tribal member, as a woman, as a mother, and especially as a citizen, to see that our present leadership has not taken it upon themselves t correct OUR PROBLEM. Instead, it clearly ap pears that justification and argument has been made to KEEP OUR PROB LEM AREA. That problem area is the failure of our leaders in the Pub lic Safety Branch. Every day from the date of hire, that our "Problem Area" collects compensation from our tribal assets, they agree that they are ultimately responsible to ensure that staff has proper training, proper equipment, proper conduct and most important that staff properly utilize their dis cretion. Conduct by our "Problem Area" has effected the adequate and proper implementation of the services to our community. There has been vio lation of our own tribal laws and violations of the Indian Civil Rights Act. This alone, can effect our sover eignty, therefore, can effect the sov ereignty of all Indian Country. The great leaders of our past-the Chiefs, Spiritual People, Medicine People and Councilmen and Women would not condone, nor would they protect, nor would they leave such leadership uncorrected. Our leaders of the past always believed the wel fare of their people was of the utmost importance. They understand that poor leadership would effect our gen eration to come. Therefore, because they had true believe that their people were of the utmost of importance, they did not entertain the politics and arguments of those who created and made them selves the "Problem Area". They are personally responsible for getting themselves there and must face the shame they brought on to our people, our community, and their families. With all that has been said, I would like to encourage all eligible tribal members to vote in the upcoming referendum initiated by the People, who have been required to step for ward to correct our "Problem Area". Leona A. Ike, Tribal Member Great, Great-granddaughter of Chief Toh-simph Chief of the Ki-Ga-Twal-La Band of Wascos who signed the 1855 Treaty, Daughter to Fred Ike of Kah-Milt-Pa Band of Yakama Nation & Daisy Ike of Wasco & Warm Springs Nations the higher level jobs Did you hear the one about: line' staff is fired for behavior unbecom ing to Warm Spring Confederated Tribe's, management crimes and misbehavior, alleged misappropria tion of funds, theft, graft, alleged sex crimes, a policy of "get married or lose your job". Whoa!! Did you hear that rumor? Did you add to it? These rumors run rampant and every time it is told it gets bigger and more vi cious. Why is it that some of our loyal employees take the same bitter pill as the rest of the community, but never get recognized for the hard work and years of service they have committed to Warm Springs. Our old people taught that to listen to gossip was wrong. To add to it was a sin to be whipped for. Who have you destroyed today? Who have you helped? Sincerely, Billie Jo Bagley For sale 1978 white Datsun; new tires, new ;lutch, new transmission, straight sody & everything works. Asking S500. For more information call immy Scott at 553-1581. To the editor, I wish to express my concern for the safety and well being of my people in our community. I believe this may be called Freedom of Speech. From the last few meetings in the Agency Longhouse, I have consistently heard our people ask for some justice, not only in the way our "fearless lead-' ers" run our little Indian Country, but in the way "you're a nigger" attitude . our Public Safety Branch projects to us. How many more of our people have to die before any sort of justice is made? ! I mean, are they that strung out on attempting to "save face" or are they just strung out on our money ! It's not JUST THEIR MONEY, but all our enterprises have people in these job positions that seem to think they own our place! This is all we have People and if our leaders are that strung out on our money, well, then isn't it time to send them to treatment?! Maybe it's dry drunk behavior?! It's like, hey, I used to be strung out on alcohol & drugs and basically only hurt myself, but when our own people get strung out on our money, they hurt the whole tribe. They hurt our future generations and to top it off, they don't seem to be all that happy, because they keep want ing more and more and more....I mean, like why do we need some reports that tell us how many people travel here and there. Everyone in Central Oregon knows that Central Oregon is the largest growing area in the state and has been for the past 7 years. What is wrong with putting cm Casino on the turn by the Pelton Park turn off. Just a few years ago, the newspaper reported that Highway 26 was the most driven highway in the United States. We would catch Win ter People as well. And naturally, we lived here all our life and know darn well all the great traffic that goes through our Res. I personally intend to think, alot of these people line their pockets with our money and have so many white connections, they produce all this paperwork that cover our revenue from the Casino, $300,000 or what have you. Then there's all the mumbling about our Police force not getting paid enough money for the kind of work they are hired to do. Now, for starters, they know what comes with the job, so why the gripe, they are not doing their job in the first place. To begin with, do you think so much alcohol & drug abuse, gang hangings, killings, assaults, burglaries, sexual abuses would be occurring if they were doing their job?! I mean, our community seems to be turning into just another Harlem....All these nega tive happenings just being let happen because to them we are just niggers! And they wonder why our young people say, "What's up nigga"! And how many years has the Suc cessorprogram been in tact and when are any Tribal Members ever gonna get there.. .Seems like, the ones that do, turn greedy too! Play their tribal political games, head games, don't kiss my butt, you will not advance, but keep your mouth shut and you'll advance REAL QUICK! And the nerve to say that the applicants are to blame for the big lose we took on all that grant money! If they had all the policiesrules laid out in advance and good management, all that money, possibly could have been a great start to our own little community, could have kept the money in our commu nity. Plus, times change and they really need to go back to school. School in business classes, manage ment classes, supervisory, etc. They are running our Organization like they did 30 years ago ! We could have all new updated machines, instead of just updated computers! We could even send someone to Voc Classes on doing Taxes, writing grants, there's alot that could be done, other than letting these guys run our orga nization from the stone ages. I mean, they still are giving thousands out to Prineville, Madras and Consultants. There are a lot of new technology changes our Organization can make to lessen our annual budget! These are just a few suggestions to help plant a seed in their head. What I really want to see is for us, as a whole, caring Tribe to get out and voice together, we are the only ones that can start to make a difference. Do it for some justice for our future generations, they deserve better than what we are being handed out! Sincerely, Emma M. Smith Tribal member voices support of upcoming referendum To the editor, To all Tribal Members, I am voic ing my support for the upcoming Tribal Referendum regarding our Public Safety Branch. Firstly, I want everyone to now what I am about to express is my own personal view(s) as an individual Tribal Member from the Simnasho District. I believe the Referendum is necessary and vital for the well being of the tribes. I was apart of the petition presentation to the Tribal Council on behalf of the Simnasho District voters. Overall on the petition are over 600 Tribal Mem ber voters from all three Districts. The petition is calling for the seizure or freeze of the Public Safety Bud get. The reasons are because certain issues were not addressed accord ingly on behalf of the Tribal Organi zation for the membership. I believe the petition was necessary because our own Chief Operations Officer and SecretaryTreasurer did not seri ously address the problems within the Public Safety Branch. Problems that include unethical conduct, misuse of Tribal budget money, misuse of Tribal cars, equip ment and finally the straw that broke the camels back which is the snake bite incident last August. Year after year the membership has given Pub lic Safety a "Thumbs" down. Why hasn't the COO and ST address this? Is the COO and ST doing their jobs for the membership and the membership's best interest? I do not think so. The general consensus of the membership is the current Public Safety General Manager, "Acting" Chief of Police, Supervisor Criminal Investigator or (BIA), Lt. of Correc tions, Lt. of Investigations, Sergeant of Fish & Game, Fire & Safety Chief and Paramedics are not doing the job that is required of them. I do not think these individuals are doing the tribe any good. These are some of the issues that need and will be addressed because of the petitionreferendum. The snakebite incident will also be ad dressed accordingly, as well as all people involved. I can not recall how many times I heard our COO prom ising that something was going to be done. But, as of today, not a thing has occurred. The only thing that hap pened was the Police officers and EMTs were given a paid vacation then let back to work. This is WRONG. In my mind these indi viduals should never be allowed back on the streets as officers and emts. If anything, these people are a serious liability and pose an unnecessary risk to more people. My next question is, who allowed these people back to work? I believe it was the Public Safety GM, Chief of Police, Fire Chief, COO and ST. I also believe the COO and ST kept this decision in the dark from the council. This deci sion is definitely not in the best inter est of the Tribes. I can look back at the 20th Tribal Council and can recall then COO Mike Clement ST Raymond Calica Sr. did attempt to remedy the Branch. Now, it is the 2 1 st Tribal Council and the problems still exist I believe the Referendum will send a strong mes sage out to the current administra tion in Public Safety. I believe a change is most definitely needed. I also believe there is clearly a "Con flict" of interest of our Secretary Treasure Charles V. Jackson and Tribal Council member Zane Jack son. The conflict is clear because of relationship to the Public Safety Gen eral Manger Anita L. Jackson. It would only be common sense if Charles and Zane would exclude themselves when acting on the peti tionreferendum. I believe with many other Tribal Members I spoke with. This year, enough is enough with Public Safety. Our Tribal Govern ment must not forget the ultimate authority lies with the PEOPLE. The petition and referendum is democ racy is at its best. The people will always have the final say in anything with the tribes. The tribal council is here to dance to the tune of the mem bership, to entertain the member ship. Not a particular family! I was a part of the presentation to the Tribal Council for the petition on behalf of the Simnasho District people. I did feel that a particular Agency Tribal Council member did attempt to place roadblocks and bar riers in front of the petition and pro posed referendum. I believe he was doing this because of his relationship to the Public Safety GM. I also be lieve our COO Charles Calica will need to be addressed as well. It is to my understanding that our COO has misused some $ 1 1 ,000 to $22,000 of tribal money to send his daughter to Portland, OR for a "Student" Trainee job. Why didn't Higher Education cover this? Did she not meet the criteria for Higher Education mon ies? If so, is there some monies avail able to other Tribal Members? I per sonally don't think so. If any Tribal member wants to find out more information you can contact your Tribal Council repre sentative or contact the Tribal Internal-Audit office. I also believe our COO is not adequately overseeing the Tribes daily operations. Why? Is it become of him is not making the decisions rather than his wife? It makes me ashamed my uncle would do this kind of thing to the Calica name of legacy of Tribal Leadership. My other uncle Larry Calica is prob ably rolling over. I also believe the Sergeant of Patrol and Fire & Safety Training Officer should be included in the discussion of Public Safety. I support the upcoming Tribal Referendum. This will have a pro found impact and will greatly en hance the services of our Public Safety Branch. The petition was not a personal endeavor of certain Tribal Members or any other reasons you may or may not of heard. The peti tion is an overall general consensus of over 600 tribal member voters with heavy dissatisfaction with Pub lic Safety. What I have expressed with my letter is my own personal views. If any Tribal Member wishes to know more about the petition and referendum, can contact myself, Shirley Sanders, Ginger Smith, Rita Squiemphen andor Daisy Ike. ' Thank you, Floyd J. Calica Tribal Member Simnasho District