WARM SPRINGS, OREGON
May 18, 2000 5
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5PILYAY TYMOO
Bam, Picard to Wed May 26, 2000
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Woodrow Picard, Sadie Sam
The engagement of Sadie M.Sam
7,and Woodrow R. Picard of Warm
i Springs is being announced and their
v wedding is being planned forMay 26
I at the Warm Springs Agency
Longhouse.
The future bride is the daughter of
Robert & Marclla Sam, Sr. of
Wolfepoint. She is the granddaugh
ter of Eliza Brown and the Late
. Chester VanPelt, Sr., the late Bill
t and Evelyn W. Sam.
Thank you to
, To the editor,
To the people of Warm Springs.
,.S-Ho'. This is a letter to thank all the
special people in my life who have
always been there for me no matter
what, my mother Alma, my sister
Lori, who has her hands more than
My Guardian Angel poem offered
I; To the editor,
.'. Please print the following poem
v for me.
.. , My Guardian Angel
v,'. Last night I had a dream that left a
,, tale to tell
I dreamt I saw an angel
Sji . Poor thing wasn't looking well.
u'y, tis body was bruised & battered,
, his wings npped & torn
,, : I walked up to him an said "Angel
3, how can this be"
He turned around an paused a bit,
then tese words he spoke to me,
"I am your Guardian Angel, a
, great task as you can see, .
, You've worn a mask all your life,
j look what it done to me.
You said my wings are ripped and
torn ; , .
But yes a noble body I've worn.
How often have I flown you from
evil unaware?
, All these bruises are from shield
ing you in times of dispaire.
, All the dangerous drugs you've
. used, I've often paid the bill
Tribal member offers insight on issues surrounding upcoming referendum
To the editor,
"In the business world, the rear
view mirror is always clearer than the
windshield." Warren Buffett.
: With that being said, perhaps it would
explain the apparent lack of understand
ing of just what the people desire to see
done with their capital industry. 'The
Indian Head Casino" to where our leaders
would take us with this most powerful
economic business of the tribes. The
tribes being the people voice,
heard-actually heard through the voices
of our tribal representatives.
Madras Pioneer (5300 issue) ran an
. article stating the city council rejected
! having Hwy. 97 & 26 made as an ex
i pressway through their city; these high
. way designations could go around their
fine city. Inquiry of this article context,
Angie of the Madras City Council
; Planning Dept. refers to Ed Moore.
; ODOT Regional Planning Mgr. for more
" information. Mr. Moore stated that the
expressway designations of these major
hiehwavs are alreadv in affect. That the
expressway terms gives these different
counties more access to the public
funding for highway maintenanceim
provements. Furthermore, Hwy. 26 will
see a facelift. The repaving of this major
highway will start in 2001. Highway 26
will be widen, first they will increase the
passing lanes (i.e. 3 lane highway), in
crease access control (i.e. making Cen
tral Oregon a desired destination point),
realignment of the major traffic flow,
currently 1-5, to redistribute the wear
and tear traffic, giving travelers more
travel options, shorter travel times. Mr.
Moore also stated that the location of the
people's new casino would definitely
play a deciding factor role in any of
ODOT's plans for these major roads.
ODOT has a comprehensive planning
book, available to the public, which
outlines plans for all major highways,
through the year 2010. Just call Mr. Ed
Moore at (541) 388-6388 to have your
copy mailed to you. Mr. Moore was
clear in the future growth of this high
way. He stated highway 26 would be a
5-lane roadway by the year 2007. And
again, he states growth could happen
sooner, with the decisions made around
the casino location. Why, "because ob
viously the casino will definitely have
impactedincreased the usage of this
She is employed at Kah-Nee-Ta
Wanapine Gift Shop.
The groom-to-be is the son of
George and Wilma Picard, Sr. and
the Grandson of Iris Smith and the
late Woodrow Smith, Sr., the late
Ray and Lcminnie Picard.
He is employed at the Utilities
department.
They plan to make home here on
the Warm Springs Reservation.
those who were
full watching after not only her own
son but my son and her nephews son
while helping my mom as well. And
also I'd like to thank LaRae for tak
ing such good care of my beautiful
daughter Shayla and waitjng all these
years for me to find Grandfather and
I just can't understand why you'd
do them on your own free will.
Each mask has a story of a time
you'd have been destroyed
On more than on ocassion I've
wished I was unemployed
If only you could stand on your
own
, , Don't worry though you'll never
be left alone , ......
I'm here toatch over you till my
powers start to fail
So please try to remember
I'm getting old and frail.
I couldn't believe what I've just
heard
Let alone how much he seemed to
care
The next morning when I woke I
say
"I'm really going to try"
Then in the distance
I thought I heard a frail old Angel
start to cry.
By Robert Glen Boise
64210-065
FDC PO Box 6000
Sheriden, OR 97378
already major highway." With this
growth in mind, the potential for job
opportunities grows for our local people,
within the road construction industry.
Does it really make sense to build our
facility off the reservation? Why not
capitalize on this very fact. Build our
moneymaking facility here on the reser
vation. Avoid any taxation on our own
tribal dollars. Take a portion of the casi
nos revenues to educate our own people
to run this, our own facility. Can the
select few Tribal Council representatives,
who voted for this Madras site honestly
claim they are looking out for the good of
all the people.
For years, Tribal Council has been
told of the poor treatment of our people
(as employees & as guests) at
Kah-Nee-Ta. This same resort has been
operating in the red for how many de
cades. This same resort is run by the
select few (non-Indian, of course) who
are waiting out their years, in cushy pay
ing jobs, for their time to be up. The time
it takes to create a pension claim against
our tribal dollars. These same few are
already leaving the community with their
retirement monies to live out their years
elsewhere. Thus, the economy of this
community suffers. Fine, water under
the bridge, which cannot be brought back,
but.. ..we can turn that around. Iniate the
affirmative action already in affect within
the tribal organization. We can insure
desirable future employment forourtribal
organization. We can insure desirable
future employment for our tribal youth,
by offering competitive employment op
portunities. Affirmative actions needs to be
implemented in all our tribal enterprises,
to insure fair hiring & promotions prac
tices within our own facilities. This is not
a privilege; this is a right we as owner of
these operations have. We have, because
it is our money invest in these business,
monies invested in the generations to
come. To insure an equitable future with
our investments. Neither the tribal coun
cil nor the board of directors, or any of
these enterprises, have a right to take our
monies to do as "they see fit". The pro
posed S250 annual dividend is a slap in
the face of every tribal member. How
dare casino management, casino board
of directors, and most of all, the select
few Tribal Council members feci the
people should take this insult Where is
Fellowship
deadline is Sept
1, 2000
The Oregon Arts Commission
serves to honor und support profes
sional Oregon artists. All Warm
Springs artists involved in any form
ol art including literature and the
performing arts are eligible to apply
for fellowships of $3,000 from the
Commission. Applications must be
postmarked by September 1. You
may pick up details on how to obtain
an application at The Museum At
Warm Springs office from Mary at
553-3331 or check out the Oregon
Arts Commission web site at http:
art.econ.state.or.us.
Thank you
sponsors
To the editor,
We would like to acknowledge
the following people for their spon
sorship: 1. Lester & Mclinda Poitra
2. Warm Springs Market
3. Country Peddler (Madras)
4. R.V. Store
5. Satanus Family
6. Joe Tornbom
7. Danny Martinez
8. Melinda Polk
9. Deschutes Crossing
We greatly appreciate your
sponsors for Melvin Tewee's 1 1 &
Under Basketball team. Thank you.
Kurtis L. Satanus &
Jessie M. Polk
there for me
open my eyes.
My Father for being such a great
man in giving me not only his name .
but for having the patience to wait to
see me grow into it. Also my brother
Jason who is also a great man. To all
my friends and relatives in Warm
Springs. I'm proud to know so many
great people from Warm Springs who
are respectable and good. And I'm
?roud to be a member of the Wasco
ribe.
When I get out I hope to become
a productive member of the com
munity who can be counted on to be
there for my people. Also I'd like to
say hi to Darrell and Antonette
Pamperien and to my cousin Vernon
at Snake River." "V ' ' 1
Sincerely,
Stanley Butch Smith
Happy Belated Birthday
i L'Raye i .
To a very earring, loving
special & wonderful, person
we all know that you had a
goot one, sorry this is late
but you now good things
come to those who wait.
From one of your bestest
friend Nutley and my manyou
Brother George
We both love you lots
the tribal memberships annual report on
this casino of ours? They dare to insult
us by not reporting to the people the
TRUE economic status of this most lu
crative business. By not reporting the
true status to the people is insulting in at
that they indicate we cannot make an
informed decision, based on all the facts,
concerning our own livelihood.
There should be a guaranteed annual
dividend of $2000 to $2500 per tribal
member, with the possibility of more, ,
depending upon net profits. The excess
could be determined after the external
audit is completed for that year. Is there
really something wrong with expecting
a windfall of this nature? Other corpora
tions pay out such dividends.
How can they justify their findings
for a new casino in Madras? Whose
expenditures will exceed revenues by
the year 2007? Could it be upper man
agement salaries, commission bonuses
(contract agreement), and annual year
end bonuses, which are dipping into tribal
coffers.
Casino employee bonuses: is it true
that the casino bonuses are calculated by
the individuals hourly rate times the
length of employment divided by a set
amount, for that particular year? These
bonuses should come after the owners
cut. They should also be distributed more
evenly. A flat rate for all casino employ
ees, no matter what position, would serve
to recognize the line employee's impor
tance to the success of this already
thriving business. The managers should
be calculating by tribal member employ
mentpromotions, if they are employing
x number of tribal members and pro
moting them, put these manager on pro
bation, if at the end of the probation
period, the desired results are not met,
get rid of them. Let's pay off these lifers,
like the government does. Offer them
early retirement options. All they want
is money any way. Let's quit supporting
other communities. Tribal Council con
tinually forgets the tribe's main resource, '
the people. Lets start looking out for
them.
Establishing an ExternalInternal
Audit office for the Tribal Enterprises is
a step forward. This office would be the
watchdog of our enterprises manage
ment teams. A review board for the per
sonnel of this business could also help.
New information
To the editor,
A revisit to the casino: I came
across some NEW information about
the casino proposed to be built at
Madras. Also, the voting date is May
23, so write that on your calendar!
When the tribal council met in April
to decide the question to be put on (he
ballot, there was o TIE VOTE of 4 to
4, which was broken by the chairman
in favor of building in Madras. It
WAS NOT a unanimous vole by any
means on what the question on the
ballot should be. Again, this IS NOT
what the people were told by council
and the gaming commission. The
purpose of this referendum was to
ask us WHERE we wanted to build.
My opinion and preference for a
question is 'do we want to build on
the reservation,' then give us achoice
of location. I've seen a document
that was presented at the Simnasho
meeting on May 1 1 . About 20 people
turned out for the meeting. By the
information in that document, many
more questions have risen as a result
of the handout material. The small
number of people who attended is an
indicator of poor communication
between the council, negotiations
team and the people. The first inquiry
I have is where the loading dock
would be relocated to and at what
cost to us. Why isn't there any dollar
amount talked about? Is it too ex
pensive (lease or purchase) to print
in (he document?
It goes to say "it will be necessary
to acquire additional land." The
3uestions is, at what price? The ad
itional 1 7 adjacent acres are owned
by the city of Madras and Jefferson
County. You will recall that the tribe
already pays the county $2 million
per year from the dams and impact
aid (school) funds. I've heard
throughout the Indian grapevine that
a lease has already been drawn up
between Warm Springs and Madras.
Isn't that counting your eggs before
they hatch?
The document says a board of
trustees is comprised of ABOUThalf
and half (WS and Madras) people to
decide how the 6 "community
fund" (profits) gets distributed. Who
chairs this board and how will that
person vote in case of a tie? Read
between the lines on that one. If the
casino were built on the reservation,
we wouldn't have to worry about
who votes how because the tribe
would without doubt be the recipient
of the fund. It would go the WS
programs.
Who knows better than us that the
. needs are in the areas of education,
-health, public safety, employment,
economic development, cultural ac
tivities and other needed services.
The document sounds pretty sure of
itself with such statements as, " with
the opening of a new casino facility
at Madras." If it were build here at
Thank you Keith
To the editor.
We would like to say thank you to
Keith Moody of CHR for the trans
portation to Portland. Again, the
surgery went well.
We greatly appreciate your time
and kindness.
Keep up the good work and God
bless!.
From
Kurtis & Jessie Polk
The Human Resource Dept. is the
most important of any organization. Yet,
our profit-making casino & floundering
resort lack qualified personnel to estab
lish & initiate the affirmative action
policy, so badly needed. Both establish
ments have a track record of keeping the
tribal employee in lower level jobs. Re
quest an internal audit of their employee
appraisal performance reviews of to
compare the records. See how the tribal
member will get a twenty-five cent an
hour (if their lucky) to the non-member
and the non-Indians increases. These
non-members and non-Indians get at least
one dollar an hour raise compared to the
tribal member. These very same manag
ers will promote a native who is either
married into or just a native of another
. tribe. Why? Because, the need to keep
the tribal member from running a busi
ness, in which, they have every right to
run. A non-member native has no politi
cal attachment with their employment,
so they are easy to deal with. Let us stop
letting these people exploit our people,
, using our enterprises for their own per
sonal gain. For over twenty-five years
Kah-Nee-Tah has been operated as if it
were not a tribal enterprise and ignoring
tribal employment policies. The casino
is worse. They flat out did not even offer
chances of employment for the owners
of this new proposed site of our current
enterprise. No, we are suppose to be
happy with a 250-dollar annual pay
ment. Tribal Council, gets up, look
around, take care our your resources-the
people. Quit stalling; let the people know
why you feel even with the highway
being up for widening that you don't
want the casino in the reservation.
Did you know, the even though both
establishmebts had some very qualified
tribal member employees within the fi
nance departments, none are left? What
happened? Did these very same employ
ees start to learn too much, so were
driven from their positions? You ask
who these employees are. Do the audit,
review the records, talk to the individu
als yourself and there is your proof. Are
you afraid to have the people learn of
these practices? To learn the truth?
Our biggest profit-maker enterprise
the casino, is i very big offender of tribal
member rights. Does the controller of
this enterprise take the word controller
literally? Ask this manager how many
regarding upcoming referendum
home, there would be no question
about sovereignty. Tribal members
are concerned about taxable income.
If it were built in Madras, it goes on
to say, "The Tribe's legal counsel
DOES NOT BELIEVE (emphasis
added) tribal members would have
to pay State income tax..." It looks
like there is an element of uncertainty
on whether or not our members would
have to pay state tax. There would be
no question if the casino, which would
pay Indian employees of their being
tax exempt. There are still a number
of unknowns about the Madras site.
Where is the tribe going to find an
architect, a designer, and lundscapcr
who will do their professional work
for us free? In our general and district
meetings we have talked about the
type of customers who would pa
tronize the facility and (he location.
The tribal member response has been
overwhelmingly to build on the res
ervation. The document talks about
the ADT(average daily traffic) which
basically means how many vehicles
travel through a given road or high
way. It says, "just north of the casino
site on Hwy 26, ADT is 7500. Just
south of Madras city limits, where
Hwy 26 merges into Hwy 97, ADT is
17,400." Let's take a closer look at
these figures and what (hey mean.
North of (he casino site means be
tween WS and Madras. South of
Madras city limits means where
Highway 97 (from Biggs Junction to
Madras) goes through Madras. How
many tribal members are aware (hat
Highway 26 from Deschutes River
to the north boundary will be ex
panded into a 4-lane highway within
the next 5 to 10 years? This means to
us WS residents that the traffic
through the reservation will probably
at least DOUBLE since it will be a
wider , nicer highway. It is also the
only direct route from Portland to
Central Oregon, instead of traveling
around 1-5 or Highway 97. I've also
been told that the $ 1 8 million revenue
figure given at the meetings for a
casino on Highway 96 through WS
was conservative. If we can make
SIX times the amount as Indian Head
Casino makes, whats wrong with
that?
The $ 1 8 million does not take into
account the expansion of Highway
26. I'm a grass roots person. If I had
a choice of driving a nice scenic
route with a stopover between Gov
ernment Camp and Warm Springs, I
would choose Highway 26 to travel
on. THE ADT COUNT IN THE
DOCUMENT INCLUDES TRAF
FIC FROM BOTH HIGHWAY 26
AND HIGHWAY 97 is my conclu
sion since the count takes place on
the SOUTH end of Madras. Common
sense tells you that this would natu
rally inflate the count, doesn't it? I
don't believe that Mt. Hood and the
Cascade Mountains are a detriment
nor does it discourage central Or-
Happy Birthday
my sweet
Sonny Boy Rolando
Love Grandma
15 de Mayo
IJeliz Cumple anosl
, Roman Silva
no
Rem
tribal members were employed there in
finance when this person first got there.
How many tribal member employees
have this person gone through since then
and lastly how many are employed there
now. Does this manager try to employ
these qualified tribal member employ
ees with good promotions within the
practices?
Did you know tribal money pays for
this controllers continued education to
keep this position and establish points
for their annual job increases? Shouldn't
we be paying tribal members within the
organization for furthering their educa
tion within line for their jobcareer
choices, so they may get those promo
tions andor good reviews?
Did you know the casino general
manage lives in Bend, shouldn't he be
closer to the job on hand? Hiring a table
game supervisor (non-Indian) to be the
night manager is not a solution. This is
another ployperson who makes sure
tribal members are at the lower rung of
the ladder. Card dealer classes are of
fered to tribal members, but this night
manager never utilizes graduates of these
classes.
Did you know, the casino controller
brags about the casino not being tribal?
Where does this person think the money
comes from? Did you now that this is
this individual firs! time as a controller?
Should such an important position be
left with such a person who shows little
or no regard to the owners of this enter
prise? Is that why this person is taking
these accounting exams to become
qualified? This particular controller
brags about her plan to move to Mexico
when retirement comes up. Bye-bye
tribal money. Have them train a tribal
member for this important position now.
Let the tribal casino pay a tribal mem
bers education for the better of the busi
ness and that person.
Take a look at the last Kah-Nee-Ta
controller. This person retired and is
planning on leaving the area. This per
son should have been made account about
from day one. Instead Kah-Nee-Ta was
bled, then bye-bye.
Where does the general manager for
Kah-Nee-Ti stay? Why was he brought
back? We see no improvement from
when he left the last time. Oh, there is
one, his secretary (non-Indian) from his
egon travelers or skiers at any lime
during the year. In the summer and
winter, people travel to Central Or
egon since it is a good recreational
area.
When I voted for (lie dams (in
favor ol). I was convinced to vote
that way because of the fact the tribe
would become part OWNER instead
of leasing its land to PGE "Somewhat
secured" terminology just doesn't cut
it. It attempts to downplay the im-
;ortance of becoming part owner,
his is a major step forward for us.
It's crucial to start owning parts of it,
especially for future generations. The
document states, 'The Tribe has been
contacted by several financial insti
tutions that have come forward in
terested in participating in the bid
process." OK, why don't we utilize
these financial institutions to build a
casino ON THE RESERVATION.
There is a lot open space on the
reservation. There's room forexpan
sion, whereas, we would be limited
for space in Madras and have to buy
or lease more land, plus pay for the
"unknown" expenses. Our members
would stand more of a chance to start
businesses to compliment the casino
if built here. The economy of WS
would improve. I think a good starting
point is right here at home. If the
members so choose at a later date,
when the time is right, they could
consider another place, maybe even
the Columbia River, which is our
ancestral home. I understand Indian
Head staff has been holding meetings
with employees at various places
around WS. Seems like a last ditch
effort to get people to vote in favor of
Madras.
One of the tactics has been to fund
a tribal department's trip which that
department has been fund-raising for
themselves. Our tribal members are
wiser than that and can't be bought
off. The casino staff has gone so far
as to talk to mill employees and at
tempt to tell them how to vote. Again,
our people have minds of their own.
In our hearts, we know Warm Springs
is the best place to build. It has been
home to us since 1 835. Our ancestors
have been born here, lived their lives
here, raised their families here and
gone to thicr final resting place here.
If you vote "No", this means tribal
members will be given a CHOICE of
where THEY want to build a casino.
If you vote "Yes", this means you
agree to build in Madras, which will
more than likely cost us more money
than we can afford to spend. It will
take a vote of at least 670 tribal
members to make this a valid election.
Don't think your vote doesn't count.
IT DOES count, and could be the
deciding vote on whether to build at
WS or Madras. Please take a few
minutes out of your day and go vote.
Let's make the right choice for the
future. Thank you.
Ginger Smith
Tribal Member
Hapy Birthday
Grandma-Mom
love you lots
Lil Woody Jr.
last stint here was made his Administra
tive Manager, huh-is this a glorified title
for a secretary or what.
Maybe tribal members should start
voting on all our tribal enterprises' bud
gets on an annual basis. Monitor these
title changes, make sure there is a real
budget for such a position and fill it with
a tribal member employee.
A budget analysis report to compare
against present casino profitlosses is a
must for the tribal members. All of this
data should be made available, so that an
informed decision can be made on the
upcoming referendum. We have a right
to know what our establishment is really
making. What percentage of the tribal
establishment monies are LLppI
Management's salaries and bonuses. Did
you know, we pay both these General
Managers annual commission (per con
tract agreement) derived from our net
profits. These commissions are calcu
lated at a certain percentage for the capi
tal gains the that year. These are paid out
before the outside auditors have com
pleted their findings. Is this really good
business practice? These contract agree
ments revolve around the manager's
commitment to employ tribal members.
Is this happening? Should not payment
be withheld for non-completion &
non-compliance? Don't you thing these
very same managers would change their
practices to achieve tribal member em
ployment, and a good return on our eq
uity if we held them accountable to their
contract agreements? What has our board
of directors done to insure these thing?
Lastly, how can you ask us to build
our new facility in a town which has
little regard to the people of this nation?
We have little control of this very prof
itable organization on our own land,
what hope do we have once it is off the
reservation, catering to the very commu
nity that does little for the tribes.
People, honestly, can you really say,
that of the 3000 plus enrollment num
bers, we don't have any one who quali
fies or can become qualified for these
most vital position within our casino
facility. Let's move forward with the
vision our ancestors had for us. Let's
take back our resources, use them for the
better of the tribes, turn our economy
around-look at the real solution-an in
vestment in our people.
Sandra Bninoe
Tribal Member