Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 2001)
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm SpHnjs, Oregon March 22, 2001 Ron Suppah and Roy Heath (right photo) operate Simnasho store. Three Warriors Store wins award Ten years ago, the Simnasho Plan ning Council had high expectations for the community grocery they hoped to establish; but no one ex pected an award. However, Simnasho's Three Warriors store re ceived one last week - the Madras Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce's "Business Develop ment Recognition" award which ac knowledges excellence in either the improvement or creation of a busi ness. Sitting in the the office of their sparkling, year-old facility, Manager Ron Suppah and Assistant Manager Roy Heath described the store's be ginnings. Charley's Market, Simnasho's only store, had been abandoned for years and the 350 residents, many of whom were el ders, wanted a local grocery to both reduce travel and keep money in the community. The ensuing ten years of planning included many frustrations. Origi nal desires to rehab the old Charley's building proved unworkable. Tribal government, whose participation was a necessity, feared investment in Simnasho would not prove profit able. The planners eventually won Native journalists offered chance The Freedom Forum will fully fund and run an academic journal ism program for American Indian college students June 3-29 at the University of South Dakota. Six se mester hours of credit will be awarded t graduates of the month long course. The American Indian ournalism Institute will offer 25 college-level Native American stu dents the opportunity to train as newspaper reporters, editors and jhotographers. The Freedom Forum Meuharth Center will pay all costs, ncluding tuition, fees, room and joard and it will give students who Composites Continued from Page 1 In 1999, the net income rose by jver 26 percent from the previous fear. Last year gross sales were over $3.5 million and the projections are for continued steady growth. Even ith the stable development of sales, he Tom Beck Group has been hired :o prepare a 3-5 year business plan for the WSCP board of directors. The plan will assist in charting a course for an increased share of the market. Earnest attributes WSCP's suc cess, in large part, to being customer oriented. "We are very well known in the industry. We bend over back wards to help people." WSCP has the alternative product to the giant (Georgia Pacific) in the industry ac cording to Earnest. He explains that the key ingredient to growth is cer tification. Without getting new products certified, there can be no growth because certification is the controlling factor. "X'e can only sell what we're certified for." WSCP budgets between $50,000 and $80,000 a year for certification burn tests. WSCP has an excellent reputa tion and record of achieving certifi cation by passing burn tests con ducted by Warnock-Hersey in Antioch, California. Many clients send doors to W SCP to have them tested in their small furnace that can 1. over the doubters and the store was built. First year revenues have been four times greater than predicted by hired consultants. Suppah is proud of the success. "Sometimes in the ten year process we wanted to give up. But residents, especially the ciders said, 'We're counting on you guys to do this.' Some of those have passed on. I wish they had been able to see their vision become reality." The venture's preliminary success rein forces his belief that each commu nity must work hard for its own eco nomic growth. "Part of health on the reservation is trusting each other's decisions for his own community." Three Warriors serves people within a 15 mile radius and derives its greatest income from Kah Nee Ta tourists. Sixty percent of revenues represent fuel sales, the remaining, groceries. Suppah's commitment to keep prices low for the elders who feared the store would "make money off us" is a challenge. His markup is eight to thirteen percent lower than industry standards - a situation that may have to change as the period required by tribal government for the operation to become self-sus- successfully complete the program an $800 scholarshipstipend. The six-hour coliege-level course is sanc tioned through the University's Department of Contemporary Me dia and Journalism, a nationally credited journalism department. Stu dents may apply to transfer the cred its to other schools where they en rolled. ,i "American Indians are by far the most underrepresented people of color in the news media-and stereo typical and erroneous newspaper coverage of Indian issues and Indian people show it," said McAuliffe. Es reach 1,770 degrees. This enables the client to collect data and get advice from WSCP before making the trip to Antioch for the certification burn. In some cases, WSCP goes to California and helps with the certi fication burn test. WSCP willingly does this because the companies shipping doors to WSCP are all us ing Tectonite TM and if they pass the burn test, their product is certi fied with Tectonite TM, which means they must buy the product from WSCP. Earnest commented that Warm Springs Composite Prod ucts will be one of the major play ers in door components in the fu- . ture because doors are being certi fied with Tectonite TM by many door companies. "We are a critical supplier for many door companies." Warm Springs Composite Products will be taking a major step on April 10th when it unveils its nine-foot, 8-0-9-0 door pairs for a certification burn at Warnock Hersey. The doors have already passed a 60-minute burn and will now be tested at 90 minutes. If the test is passed, it will give WSCP an other product that is certified, and another product they can market. WSCP will also be facilitating tests for two other companies while in California. Earnest says, "We are doing it at their request because of our good name." WSCP does re- i r 1 taining has been reduced from five to three years. Along with customer support, Suppah attributes the store's fiscal success to managerial flexibility and cooperation among the four-person staff. "There's a lot of trial and er ror. We have good staff input and we attack problems as a team." Ties to tribal finances can occa sionally prove constraining. For ex ample, a supplier might offer a bulk discount for payment within 10 days. Suppah cannot react because tribal payments cannot be processed that quickly. On the other hand, Suppah is quick to point out that tribal involvement provides him with a wealth of fiscal experience not available to most fledgling busi nesses. ' timates of the number of Native Americans working at daily news papers range up to about 300-out of more than 35,000 journalists nation wide. Participants may be nominated by educators, mentors or other in terested parties. Nominating letters should be re ceived by May 1, 2001 and addressed to: Jack Marsh, Director, Freedom Forum Neuharth Center, Univer sity of South Dakota, Vermilion, SD 57069. Nomination letters should include brief explanations of why nominees should be accepted into search and development for a num ber of other companies. Since its beginning, WSCP has been viewed as having unlimited potential to generate revenue and family wage jobs for the Tribe. Tribal Councilman Raymond Tsumpti has been a major supporter and has always maintained that the opportunities for success are vast. Over the years, the company has ex perienced success and failure, but the staff has maintained its enthusiasm and continued to work hard to achieve success. Speaking of the WSCP staff, gen eral manager Alan Earnest said the current staff is the best staff WSCP has ever had. "We have not replaced LV -. ' ' "". ; '' 1 'aw!"1 - .-- --- .:-ipe--' ' - s' v. - .-: : - V Oil 4V-.ll ifWf"! ' i Three Warrior's future looks bright. Suppah sees a trend of people moving back to Simnasho, especially young families. Not con tent to rest on its award-winning lau rels, the staff plans to add a deli op eration soon and hopes to include a laundromat and possibly a Post Of fice in the future. Suppah is excited about a new basketball court to be constructed adjacent to the store with monies from the IMS Diabetes Grant Committee, j Suppah adds that video custom ers frequently request Three War riors, the film set in Simnosho from which the store got its name. The producer requires a minimum pur chase of 150 tapes, but Suppah will place an order if enough clients sign for study the institute and how they can be contacted. Nominees then will be invited to provide further informa tion about, themselves and an ex ample of their writing, such as an essay about why they want to at tend. Self-nominations also are wel come, as are nominations by e-mail (jmarshfredomforum.org). For further information, call Jack Marsh, Director, Freedom Forum Neuharth Center, at (605) 677-6315, or McAuliffe at (406) 243 2191 or by e-mail (dmcauliffefreedomforum.org). any production person since July 2000. Our employees are hard work ers, enjoy their families, and have a lot of pride in their work and in Warm Springs Composite Prod ucts." In 1996, WSCP reported a net in come of $62,696. The following year the net income dipped to $1,121. Since that time the income has risen each year as the company has pro vided a larger inventory of products. In 2000, WSCP exploded to almost $700,000 in profits. As the Tribal Council and senior management search for ways to diversify the Tribal economy, Warm Springs Composite Products could be a shin ing star on the horizon. Warm Springs youth pays visit to D.C. Wilfred Sando, a junior at Madras High School, has been selected to attend The National Young I-eaders Conference (NY1.Q from March 20 to March 25 in Washington, DC. Nominated for the conference by his teacher Mr. Hillis, Sando is one of 350 students selected nation-wide on the basis of leadership potential and scholarship. The conference is spon sored by the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, a non-profit, non-partisan, educational organiza tion. Wilfred was nominated for NYI.C by his teacher, Mr. 1 lillis. In Washington, the NYI.C par ticipants will interact with legisla- tors, diplomats and the press corps. They will also role play as legisla- tors, supreme court justices, and presidential cabinet members in r- j.. Li' - "Z H r " vf . Is, Food, construction businesses relocate Tom and Jan's Food Service and Tom Kalama construction will be relocating- to 2107 Wasco Street. That's just a few, hose lengths aifeorn the .Fire Halt The much sought after, mclsc -farmras-fried bread in Warm Springs will be sold there. Indian Tacos,' Pepsi products, , pop corn and snow cones are almost always on the menu. We always wash our hands. We have food handler's cards up dated every year. We plan to add more to the daily menu. ' Tom is also opening up a repair and remodeling office. Con tract proposals for repair, remodeling and new construction will gladly be given to you. Carpet and vinyl samples will be available for customers to pick out. , : r - Space has been needed for a long time, We have worked put of the brown trailer, selling at pow-wows and inter-tribal sports. We thank our past customers for buying the products we sell. In the new location, we plan to serve good quality food and soft drinks and we will tell you all the details of your repair and remodeling needs. , Jeanine - Food Service and Tommy, Timothy, Chips, and .Greg - Carpenters I If ' ' j - ... . . .i . . a I j :H t . I ! 1 r i K j ri f'y si-. - "- ; - Sft' . " . ..'- g- " '- '' ' r"" leadership building activities, Sando is the son of Mary Samlo- Hmhoolah, Michael Hmhoolah and the late Wildred J. Sando, Sr. of Jemez Pueblo, NM. V I V" VT - - , 1
