Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2000)
I Member shares To the editor, My dear people, I have had some concerns regarding several issues and business activities by our tribe. First, I, and many of our people, did not agree with the suspensions of the 3 tribal member general manag ers that occurred several months ago. Not only was this unfair to these men, but I felt it was done in a hu miliating manner. How could any supervisor take this type of action. The public safety referendum was never formally and legally resolved. The actions were devastating to this tribe and alienated our people from their tribal leaders. I also understand, that these 3 general managers tried to go to meet with council and the council mem bers that were present, walked out on them. Now if it were a woman, you would all race to the Kleenex to see who could draw the first tear. These men had their employee rights vio lated and no one wants to listen. When you need their votes, all you councilman will remember that these men and their families are good people and are good employees. Plus, I have only seen 2 of these general managers have been put back to work, what happened to the third? Second, why hasn't our tribe done right by giving the victims of those who lost their lives due to employee errors, a fair and speedy monetary Tribal member To the editor, In Utmost Good Faith. How about unul the rivers run dry? Do these words sound familar? Reserved for the Indians' exclusive use? For the protection of the Indians, so the whites cannot intrude upon the Indians' land and the Indians can live in peace. How about the "full citizenship" in 1924 in their own country? Women were given the right to vote in 1 920, before the Indians were allowed citizenship in their own native land America. The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Land of Opportunity. Free enterprise. Sweet Land of Liberty. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. One na tion under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Crown thy good with brotherhoodfovm sea to shining sea. Very admirable and eloquent words. Where did the U.S. Constitution get its roots? It began in the Iroquois Indian Nation in the east and was based on the principles that Indians lived by before Columbus bumped into "India" in 1492. It may have been primitive, but all its guid ing principles were included in the docu ment. If you put the documents side-by-side, the similarities are astound ing. I want to make this "crystal clear", as Nixon would say, that I am speaking as an individual native American, not as a repre sentative of my tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. I am involved in history and have studied federal Indian policy extensively. It seems the federal government makes things look good on paper for the Indians, but what they write and what they do are two different things. Usually when you put something into writing and sign it, that means you will keep your words. Speak ing of "original promises", where is the farming equipment, provisions and supplies promised in the treaty? Where are the houses promised to be built for our chiefs? Why didn't our chiefs receive the money they were promised in the treaty? Sounds Please return camera Lost camera on New Year' s eve at the Community Center. It contains pictures of my family that is very sentimental to me. Please return, no questions asked. Call Monica Wahnetah at 553- 3243. Tribal member Over flowed with thoughts of how the year 2000 can be for our people, can be overwhelming with scenarios of happiness and laughter or it can be a magical twist of fate; In all reality, we need to make good happen for ourselves. And in order for us to do that, we need to stand together and strive for the same rights & fights. Get involved, voice yourself! I know that many hearts have been let down in the past good 20 years because of the never changing of how we do business! It is about time that our tribal organization took that leap of updating our style of doing serious business! We need Change and Change is Always Good! How in the heck do you think Microsoft got so rich! Their Team did not argue, they debated, they worked as a Team, not for personal prosperity! In order for us to take care of the next upcoming 7 generation, we need to get our upcoming leaders in the door and let our old management team take a se rious look at how reality and busi ness is taken care of out there! Cer tainly it is very evident that we are not getting any richer; and if they say we are, then where is the much needed youth center, new library, new school, new and better living quarters, where exactly is our bigger bonuses or per capitas?! , Questions such as, why does our 'construction alwayr happen in the fallwinter time?! Business wise, it concerns regarding several settlement? We need to do right by these people and their families. We need to make this monetary settle ment for our leaders failure to correct our Public Safety problem prior to these deaths. Do we have to make these families suffer more, because until this matter is closed in good faith, their mourning will go on. Third, who is going to be held accountable for the poor investment on the last casino venture? Who au thorized who to throw away $500,000 of the Tribes money into the wind? Boy, I bet our tribal attorney's re ceived a good bonus this year-much more than $500, like we received. Not to mention the $194,000 spent on land that will be used for a tribal owned casino. Fourth, why in God's name were the husband and wife team put in charge of these critical Branches. The wife was responsible for pro tecting those employees who abused our children. Now, our tribe is facing a pending law suit and our leaders put her in charge. Then the husband, who can't even get a few of his employee's to work a full week and be there when clients need them dur ing a crisis, is in charge of another critical branch. Now, the Chief of Police is n issue that needs discussion. I was hoping this supervision and work behavior speaks out on kinda' like bribery, doesn't it. Our treaty was negotiated in 1855, but was not rati fied by Congress until 1859. Why? Evi dently, the objective of the treaty was to s get us removed from the Columbia River ASAP, and worry about the legalities of "formalities" later. Let's see, with the treaty signed in 1855 and the State if Or egon gaining its statehood in 1 859, there's definitely something wrong with that pic ture. I can't put my thumb on it, but maybe it has to do with emigrants living for four years on land not legally theirs. There is one history book that states, "The tribes fought desperately to keep their land and way of life. After their defeat, they were forced to live on reservations throughout the West." Please be informed that the Warm Springs Confederated Tribes was not defeated. We negotiated a treaty, with clear understandings and commit ments. We expect the people within the influence and legal impact of the 1855 Treaty with the Tribes of Middle Oregon to live up to their forefathers agreement. The principles of discovery, plenary power, and the idea of "an Indian's place is on the reservation," are all in dire need of discus sion and resolution. I suggest a serious brushup on history. Also ha ve Mr. Webster handy. There is much to be learned and uncovered. There is not much out there in resources on the way it really was from an Indian's perspective. You've all seen Cowboy and Indian movies on TV, read history books written, some accurate but most are not. Native American historians, let's get busy and help set the records straight. This is concerning our tribe's attempt to build a casino along the Columbia River, our original homeland before we were placed on the Warm Springs reservation. Many people in general are ignorant about how we came to be located where we are. We gave up through cessation, 10 millions acres of land of our original reservation, a good portion of Oregon. Nation-wide, the To: Marilyn Janice "Melon" Meanus Happy Birthday sister! 1-22-2000, my memories make me smile. The closeness of sisters is a joyful thing. To share lives, to enjoy each other's children, to know we are there for each other. Whenever you need me....I'm here! I love you sister! Love & Prayers, your sister-Annie shares many makes no sense at all; Shorter hours of work but more days to complete the project, higher prices for the needed material, maybe even the cold, rainy, snowy weather can have some sort of faulty effect on the qual ity of worth in the woodmaterial! And another question, Housing-Why cannot a single person share a two bedroom with another single per son?! They keep saying having that kid is a must to qualify! Even if single homesites with option to buy would be great and of course, sweat equity is always helpful ! How else do you expect a person to get ahead and strive for other goals?! Treating your own tribal members with re spect will have a domino effect on their goal setting, striving to made a better life, how they live, how they teach the younger ones and how they carry themselves!! Our leaders need to take a look at all angles, before just signing documents-Just because some non-Indians tells them- it's a good deal-doesn't make it 'OK' to spend tribal money. It seems like some sort of research or bettering shopping for bidders would be imple mented. Take a look at the old boys & girls dorms, they have held up after all these years (foundation wise). ' Even the old sidewalks built then are still holding up, not like the cheap material used for our parking lots, sidewalks, roads and home's. Why-4- not go back to cheap heat, radiator Warm Springs, Oregon would have changed since he was been removed at least 2 times from this position, but I guess I was only dreaming. I do compliment the po lice department for their hard work on all the recent drug busts and I hope they learned from the flub ups. What is sad though, all these drug dealers are back on the streets faster than they are arrested. That brings me to the Tribal Court. I think we need to take a look at the judges. The chief judge is the only judge that adheres to accountability. We have to stop the revolving door in order to reduce the crime rate. Sure we can blame only public safety, however, tribal court accountability plays a major role in repeat offend ers. There would be fewer crime vic tims if the court would do thcirjob on keeping the offenders off the street. I am not saying jail is the only answer, but we have to consider that some times it is. If jail means keeping one less house getting broke into; one less man, woman or child being abused; one less drunk driver; one less elder being abused; one less child or adult being sold drugs, therefore, being one less crime being commit-ted-forgive me if I seem heartless, but I believe all people need to be held to a certain standard of personal accountability-employees and crimi nals. If the job isn't getting done, gaming- total ceded land given back by Indians to the government was 10 times that amount. That's a lot of land for tribes and especially for one single tribe to fork over. We did retain what we thought to be important to us, which was fishing and hunting rights, root digging and berry picking, in order to support our tribe. In our treaty with the federal government these are called "usual and accustomed places." By being placed on this reservation, we gave up partially one of the natural foods that had sustained our tribe along the Columbia River for 10,000 years salmon. I have read over and over how the white man wanted to "civilize" us. In the process, they tried to christianize us "heathens." They tried to convert us into their way of life which included farming and other "acceptable" occupations. To help get us away from our "savage" way of life, they tried to extinguish the very core of our lives-family. They did this by putting us into Indian boarding schools, would not allow us to speak our native tongue, the consequence being brutal physical punish ment, cut off our braids and basically forced us to live in a military type of en viornment, dress alike, march to school, march to the dining hall, march to church. Abusive teachers and matrons, very little contact with our families, forced to leave home three-fourths of the year. Talk about cul ture shock. But, did this kill our "uncultivated" way of life? No, it did not. We as a people, still exist and because of the loss of some of our culture and lan guages, have to work hard to revive this valuable knowledge to pass on to our younger generations. What I am wondering is whose definition of "civilized" word is correct and acceptable to whom. For 10,000 years we lived in peace along the great river in an enviornment we knew, and under standards we set for ourselves at that time. After Lewis & Clark came along in 1805 under President Jefferson's orders, the west was opened up and emigrants To Janis "Tash" Wainanwit Gunshows, Happy Birthday sister! January 15, 2000. Many times shared, many miles traveled. The support given when needed, prayers said when asked, are so greatly appreciated. Thank you for knowing my heart and ' all that it contains, to know how to pray for me and mine. Your sister, Annie concerns and and brick walls? And with all the grant monies out there, what hap pened to the people they sent to the Learning How to Write Grants class?! Did it do any good or was that just another way of trying to follow up on some complaints heard at our coun cil meetings? If you send our people to collegetrainings, let them have that Hands-on skill you paid for, oth erwise it's more wasted money down the drain. And what' s up with Kah-Nee-Ta? ! I always hear the assistant to the manager, voice, "We are here to make money", What happened on New Years Eve?! I heard that KNT didn't make money but went in the hole! A business person would have offered a package to Tribal Members at a , discount, I mean, we do own that place don't well! And besides all that, just showing your WS tribal ID should give a tribal member a 20 discount in any of our enterprises! If you will not give us bonuses orraises, at lease give us some sort of privilege for being a corporate owner. Even the jobs at Kah-Nee-Ta still have numerous non-Indians out there. And just for our people's information, I go there at least monthly artd some of the workers cannot even speak En glish. You know that we have tribal members that speak English and would gladly work out there if the "KNT personnel' person would just quit being so damned prejudice. And issues make the appropriate changes. Next, Tribal Council ordered that all public safety department budgets were to be reinstated and reimbursed the amounts that were cut. Well, there were several departments who did not get their money back, now it is the line employee's who have to be subjected to someone's personal agenda and vindictiveness. Tribal Council, will you honor your words and give those departments their op erating money back? I think you need to take a look at all training and travel for the public safety and the legal services, to get an idea of who the pets are and insure that all employees are given equal opportunity to train ing. I read somewhere there is a recall petition. I have not seen any of these recall petitions and I think they should be made accessible to the public. Have the persons in charge of circu lating this petition considered print ing this petition in the paper? Who is being recalled? I say-all or none. If all this nonsense is going on, then they are all responsible. I might get sick if I hear "I am only one vote", which I think is even a bigger cop out as the tribal councilmen allowing all this with open-eyes. Leona A. Ike, Tribal Member (defined as a man without i country) came to the west in torrents from both Pacific and Atlantic Ocean ports after the federal government had taken away mass amounts of land from eastern tribes for the benefit and use of these emigrants. When land became scarce in the east for settlers, there was only the mid-west and west to open up for them. Indian land was sold for as little as two cents per acre. What would that same land be worth today? At least an arm and a leg. Folks, I'm just being truthful about this. Indians didn't write books, they passed information from generation to generation by word of mouth. An agreement used to be by a handshake be tween people. Whatever happened to that kind of trust and integrity? But wait, there's more. My question then is, who in actuality wasis civilized? To our way of , living, we considered ourselves civilized. We lived by standards and customs we developed ourselves throughout the centu ries. Non-Indians and missionaries came along and attempted to force their stan dards, values, and Christianity onto us. iWe badhave a culture of our own since i time immemorial. Of course this would cause conflict. When something is pro posed to be changed, there will be resis tance. We are all afraid of change because it threatens and interrupts the way we have always done things. We tend to think of reasons or excuses to avoid change, and to validate that thinking. Old federal government documents throughtout the centuries have pointed in one direction, and that was to assimilate the Indians into the mainstream society through many different ways. Thousands of documents also say the Indians need to become self-sustaining and less dependent on the federal government. These doctrines give the same message over and over. There have been and still are attempts to exterminate the race through wars, disease, Continued on page 12 To Angela Phyllis Bellanger, Happy Birthday niece! January 25, 2000. Each time we meet, you ae happy to see me, this brings such joy to my heart! Wishes for lots more happy times in your life. May you have pleanty presents also! To show how much we love you! Love & Prayers, Auntie Annie, Faron, Scott, Tatum & Levi Kalama thoughts on further more, this person is not even married into the tribe anymore and is there any order in that office! Plus how many years is it gonna take before you put an honest Indian per son in those job positions? ! The whole community knows that a large per centage of the tribal organizations did not take their employees out there because of the customer service we receive out there. Damn and we own that enterprise! Hey, when I worked at their gift shop, the KNT board and their wives were privileged to re ceive as much at 50 off some mer chandise and I knew that wasn't a scam to make money!, . t What exactly does it take to get tribal members some decent jobs?! I remember when CTWS has a bus for employees and a lot of the. tribal members like to work there and all that fizzled out whenthe greedy ones , started getting the supervisory jobs out there. One doesn't have to won- der why the majority of our people " do not want our casino off the Rez. How long have the same non-Indians been in their great paying jobs and haven't been training a tribal mem ber for that job so well deserved?! You as leaders, need to look at , some stats concerning stuff like this; better yet, do some of your own stats ! It's like, how about all the non-Indians renting our KNT hamlets and tribal member couples that have to rent in the community, get their rent HeHe fire timber sale assessments The Resource Management Inter disciplinary Team has released two draft project assessments, covering the Hehe Fire Timber Salvage and Northside 2000 Timber Sale, for pub lic review. The documents were pre pared by the Project Interdiscipli nary Team to provide options for timber harvest in the Badger Creek, Beaver Creek and Coyote Creek drainages. Three alternatives were formu lated and numerous logging methods were considered for both projects, taking into account present resource conditions, forest health and public input. The Hehe Fire salvage sale is expected to yield approximately 3 million board feet and the Northside 2000 sale is expected to yield ap proximately 49-55 million board feet. The documents are divided into sections explaining the purpose and need for action, resource-based indi cators used to help the technical staff analyze and mitigate environmental impacts, and details of the three al ternatives. There are maps showing the harvest blocks, quick reference tables to compare the alternatives, a ist of measures needed to mitigate mvironmental consequences, and the roject Interdisciplinary Teamfs rec mmended alternative. The goal of. Alternative A under ioth sales is to continue current man- Appreciation To the community of Warm Springs, I would like to take this opportu nity to thank all of you who attended the Miss Warm Springs 2000 Pag eant at Simnasho Longhouse. A big thank-you to Bridgette Scott Whipple for all the work that she put into planning and preparing for the pageant and for the encouragement she gave to all the contestants. You energy brought many positive as pects to this annual event and I look forward to working with you during the upcoming year. I'd also like to recognize and thank all those of you who helped decorate, set-up, and clean-up; without you, none of it would have been possible. To the judges, Captain Moody, and drum group; thank you for being a part of this event. To all of my friends and extended family who have stepped forward and gave me encouraging words, laughter, and friendship, I Happy belated Birthday Aunt Effie & Aunt Gladys From your two lovely nieces, Myra & Shirley ft : 'c : J. several subjects raised because both of them work? Take a look at how you let these non Indians treat our own people! It's BS. I mean, what happened to the tribal member preference, then In dian and then non-Indian, some people have this backwards!! I say our people was really spoiled by the past bonuses and not having to be accountable for doings in the com munity and on the job, but does that mean, to still let these non-Indians think they own OUR enterprises. An example I would like to use is: The Print Shop, KWSO and Spilyay Tymoo could have very updated equipment, instead they just giving themselves raises; instead of putting priorities in place. I seriously have nothing against my co-workers, it's just that our tribal organization has gotten lazy and sloppy and does not stick to what the Comp Plan says. And actually and personally, the idea of buying the Juniper Motel (across from Safeway), is a very bad busi ness deal. How old is that place, the pipes must be rotten as hell by now, the cheap walling inside the rooms speak for themselves, as well as the problem they had with cockroaches and if you have money to even think about buying that motel (and the candy shop that goes with it), then you must have money stashed away for our children's youth center, li brary and school! If you want to invest in Madras, January 13, 2000 5 released agement. Activities such as hunting, recreation and cultural food gather ing would continue as in the past. The only harvest proposed under Alternative A woul J be through con ventional salvage operations. The emphasis of Alternative B for the Hehe sale is to salvage fire-killed timber on 1,374 acres within the fire boundary in accordance with IRMP standards and best management prac tices. The emphasis of Alternative C is to salvage fire-killed timber on 74 acres within three allotments. The emphasis of Alternative B for the Northside 2000 sale is to treat stands with high and moderate forest health problems in the northern por tion of the reservation west of High way 26. The emphasis of Alternative C is to treat stands with high and moderate forest health problems in the northern portion of the reserva tion on both sides of Highway 26. The alternatives would have vary ing impacts on water, fish, wildlife, cultural, timber, range, soil and eco nomic resources. There would also be some changes to the transporta tion system, which would include eradication of unnecessary roads. For more information or copies of the documents contact Rich Lohman in the Forestry Branch, or call 553 2416. Tribal members have 30 days to comment on the proposed sales. given truly appreciate the time that you have taken. Your words will remain in my heart as I travel during the year. . The opportunity to represent the community of Warm Springs and the three tribes that reside here as Miss Warm Springs 2000 is indeed is a great honor to be bestowed upon any individual. I have a lot of energy and ideas and am excited about the many opportunities that lie ahead. As a chosen representative, I believe that it is important that the community be aware of when and where I represent each of you. During the upcoming year, I will be writing a monthly column in the Spilyay Tymoo which will inform the community of my travels as Miss Warm Springs. If at any time you need to get a hold of me, please contact my chaperone, Bridgette Scott-Whipple at 553-3233 ext. 224. Alyssia Macy Thanks to all ; ' Thank you to our Families and to everyone who helped to celebrate and honor our marriage on Decem ber 11th, 1999. Thank you espe cially to our Elders, to Uncle Charles, and to Chief Judge Sohappy for blessing our Union. There is no greater time than now to our lives as great as they can be. We look for ward to healing and a positive future for our Community and for our Na tion. , Zach and Jessie del Nero Hand-Game Tourna ment hosted by the Yakama Nation Medicine Singers January 28, 29, & 30, 2000 White Swan Pavilion on the Yakama Nation Encampment grounds. $150 Team entry fee 3-5 players per team No fake pointing; no scarves; no rehiding betting allowed on the kick stick. Contact Michael J. Bill (509) 877-6675 why not buy a house for the college students traveling to Bend or rent an area for Indian Small Business own ers?! Enough said for now, but from my heart, I strongly feel that our new Tribal Council is heading down the right road for their people and that's a good feeling to finally have people in there that actually care about their own people and not just playing dirty politics for their own gain! Although one thought is, at times in order for our leaders to actually heart what the people want, they need to realize the hard work and pain some people had to go through just to get where they are today. A lot of employees did not kiss moon to get where they are. Maybe better put is I know how hard it is to strive for an apartment, for a used car, I was not given money on a platter. I had to work hard for what little I have today. Some people have always been given nice clothes, the best schooling, money for pleasure, those people do not know what hard work is. They haven't been there and I feel that in order for our leaders to really hear and feel what our tribal members are saying they need to go into some of those homes, see how some people struggle. We are the owners of this beautiful nature of land, we need to protect it, it's all we have and the outsiders want it. Tribal members deserve better! Respectfully submitted, Emma Smith
