Spilyqy Tyrooo, Wjirn
I Si vy . . '
Language
By Dave McMechan
Spiljaj Staff
Members of the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs this year
succeeded in lobbying the state Leg
islature to pass a bill allowing fluent
speakers of traditional languages to
teach in public schools.
Before, a tribal member fluent in
a native language would teach in the
classroom as a teacher's aide. Under
the new law, signed last month by
Gov. John Kitzhaber, the traditional
language speaker can obtain a spe
cial certificate to teach the language
to public school students.
In this way the traditional speak
ers "can conduct the classroom in
their own way, rather than serving
as teacher's aides," said Myra
Shawaway, director of the Warm
Springs Culture and Heritage De
partment. During this legislative session,
Shawaway and other trial members
traveled to Salem to testify before
House and Senate committees that
Were considering the special teach
Warm
Springs
valedictorian
Joseph Aguilar was cho
sen Valedictorian for the
Riverside Indian School
2001 graduating class.
Aguilar is the son of Ralph
Aguilar Sr. and Etta Arthur
and the grandson of Ella
and George Aguilar Sr. of
Warm Springs.
While attending River
side Joe was a member of
the National Honor Soci
ety, Color Guard and the
Indian club., He enjoys
Khido Karate and earned an
orange belt. He is the first
wresder at RIS to make All-
State and the first in twenty
years from the Riverside
Indian School to receive the
honor of All-State in sports.
He had attended many lead
ership camps and served as
a peer counselor on HIV
and AIDS. He was recendy
accepted into the Indians in
Psychology Doctoral Edu
cation Program to be held
at the summer institute at
the University of North
Dakota in Grand Forks,
N.D. ;
Aguilar will be partici
pating in a two-week en
richment program for Na
tive American Junior and
Senior High School stu
dents who are interested in
pursuing a degree in psychology-related
disciplines.
His future plans are to at
tend Oregon State Univer
sity and major in psychol
ogy. He plans on becoming
a school counselor.
Springs, Oregon
July
certification passes Legislature
ing certificate bill, Senate Bill 690.
Wasco elders Gladys Thompson
and Madeline Mclnturff testified
during each step of the legislative
process, Shawaway said. Members of
the Culture and Heritage Commit
tee, and program staff were also of
great help, she said.
More than 30 tribal members,
most from the Confederated Tribes
of Warm Springs, attended the ses
sion during which the bill was first
introduced in the Senate. Comments
in favor of SB 690 were persuasive,
and the bill eventually passed the
Oregon House and the Senate by
unanimous votes.
The new law allows the tribes to
establish standards language fluency.
'The tribes will be in full control of
determining who is fluent,"
Shawaway said. A tribal member
meeting the language fluency crite
ria can receive a special state teach
ing license. ; ., ; lb ,..,,,,,;,
For the past few years, through
the teacher's aide program, tradi
tional language speakers have been
Opinion: Salmon placed in peril
From the Columbia River
Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
Columbia River salmon face a
long, hot, and deadly summer if
the Bonneville Power Administra
tion acts on the Northwest Power
Planning Council's (NWPPC's)
recommendation to severely cur
tail or eliminate summer spill
measures mandated by the federal
Biological Opinion. Coming hard
on the heels of a disastrous spring
migration, the BPA has continued
to operate the Columbia River as
a power-only system under the
auspices of its self-declared emer
gency, despite the agency's ample
cash reserves and refill of storage
reservoirs ahead of schedule.
No spill has occurred at federal
hydro projects since June 15. Mil
lions of juvenile fish are currendy
in-river attempting to find passage
to the estuary, with peak of the
summer migration only weeks
away.
Last month, the Columbia
River Inter-Tribal Fish Commis
sion (CRITFQ and a coalition of
conservation groups sent a letter
to BPA Administrator Steve
Wright calling into question the
legality of its emergency criteria
and his agency's resolve to correct
its problems.
"BPA shouted 'emergency,'
drew the curtain closed, then
prompdy replenished its bank ac
count on the back of the spring
Quilt show
deadline
coming up
12, 2001
teaching Warm Springs Elementary
School classes.
The new certificate program will
help improve and expand this pro-,
gram, and could in time lead to tra
ditional language classes at the
middle school and high school,
Shawaway said.
The 2003 school year may be the
first to see implementation of the
new program, she said.
In the near future, Shawaway will
be meeting with representatives of
the Oregon Education Association,
and the Teachers Standards and Prad
tices Commission, to discuss how
best to implement the special teach
ing certificate program. 1
One of the first projects will be
determining which members will
best serve as language teachers, said
Shawaway. : -,
Only five tribal members, each
over the age of 70, are fluent speak
ers of the WascoJangugeSo.me
other membets are semi-rfluent, and
the hope is to bring these members
migration," said CRITFC Execu
tive Director Donald Sampson,
tribal signatory on the joint let
ter. "If the summer migration goes
the way of the spring, it begs the
question, 'How much financial se
curity is enough?' Bonneville's
'can't' is really Bonneville's
'won't' ".
The NWPPC based its recom
mendation on a biological analy
sis since challenged by the greater
scientific community.
The analysis omits critical mor
tality factors associated with a ho
spillmaximum transportation
scenario, Such as predation. de-'
layed mortality and thermal re-'
lated mortalities. .'
' Spill - literally spilling water'
through dam spillways - has
proven to be the superior method
of passing juvenile fish through
hydroelectric projects while reduc
ing direct and delayed mortality.'
Earlier this spring, the" Indepen
dent. Scientific Advisory Board,
along with other prominent fish
eries biologists, urged that spill
begin as soon as possible and con
tinue through the spring and sum
mer migratory periods.'
Failure to spill at federal dams
leaves migrants vulnerable to the
uncertainties of barging, physical
damage in screened bypass sys-
tems, predators and delays in doesn't run a clean shop it be
reaching the ocean. The NWPPC . tomes salmon's . liability,"
recommendation also paves the Sampson said.
Deadline is Aug. 31 to submit
quilts for the Warm Springs
Community Quilt Show, to be
held at The Museum at Warm
Springs.
The museum invites tribal
members, and those who live and
work in the Warm Springs com
munity to submit their finest,
7
-
up to the fluency level, said
Shawaway.
Among the Confederated Tribes
of Warm Springs, only five mem
bers, each over the age of 55, are flu
ent in Paiute.
This language, though, is spoken
by a good number of Paiute people
in Nevada, Shawaway said.
rr .l - .i i. . r .u.
wi iiic mice lauKUBKca ui 111c
g
Springs, Sehaptin has the most :
speakers: Perhaps 50 people on the
reservation are fluent in the lan
guage, Shawaway said. A number of
others are semi-fluent
The idea for the new language
teaching certificate program came to
Shawaway in January of this year,
when she became aware of a similar t
law that the Nebraska Legislature
adopted in 2000.
v She contacted Michael Mason,"
the tribes' lobbyist in Salem, who
helped; in getting a proposal before
the Oregon lawmakers. Kitzhaber
signed the bill on June 27. '
way for more out-of-region power
sales - transactions that have not
yielded the promised benefits for
salmon protection.
The Northwest is owed some
$85 million from power exchanges
made over the past several
months, yet the BPA has already
sjgned an agreement with the
California ISO to send power
south during Stage 3 emergencies
acknowledging that some of the
power may come at a direct cost
r . .,
BPA continues to mortgage the
lives, of fish under the guise of
power swaps.
.; Sacrificing salmon to maintain
artificially, low rates, among the
lowest in the nation, many please
BPA's customers, but it threatens
to backfire as'the-region seeks
funding from Congress for salmon
recovery.'-'' '
-.The BPA is certain to face con
tinued criticism that its rates don't '
reflect the true costs of protecting
salmon.
"It's naive for this region to
think that it can have its cake and
eat it too Bonneville must live up "
to federal laws protection the
salmon, including Indian treaty
fishing rights. Failure to do so is .
not good for the region or for
salmon. When the Northwest
funniest, most unusual and trea-"
sured quilt works. Items that can
be submitted include quillows,
pillows, throws, dolls, wall hang
ings and, of course, quilts.
The "Quilting Traditions" ex
hibit will be on display at The
Museum at Warm Springs from
Sept 9 through Nov. 11.
Fun in
i Between parades, water slides and sack races, there was plenty to
keep the kids busy on the Fourth of July - but that was just a
beginning, what with the balloon toss and the fireworks and other
activities that filled the holiday with warmth and brightness.
Lett photo by
U-i . jtJo
" .... .Vi.T.-i;-.,'-'-..')
Merged Kah-Nee-Ta
has lofty ambitions
Formerly managed as two sepa
rate entities, Kah-Nee-Ta Resort and
Warm Springs Gaming Enterprise
are now being run as a merged op
eration. Rather than two boards of direc-
, . j
: tors, the resort and casino now op-
crate under one management struc
ture, and under one name: Kah-Nee-Ta
High Desert Resort & Casino.
The merger was made by mutual
agreement of the two boards, and
approved by the Tribal Council.
"After considerable evaluation
and market research on the poten
tial benefits of the proposed merger,
both boards of directors and the
Tribal Council agreed that this move
makes a lot of sense," said Olney
Patt, Jr., chairman of the Tribal
Council. . ,
"The integrated corporation will , "These renovations and additions
enable us to derive maximum value will strengthen Kah-Nce-Ta's posi
for our shareholders - Tribal mem- tion as one of the finest, most unique
bers and investors. This provides
new opportunities to re-purpose and
. re-energize the Kah-Nee-Ta brand,
assume a more competitive market
posture, enhance operational effi
ciencies and augment sustained rev
enue growth." .
Patt added, "This merger is a posi
tive step for the Confederated Tribes
and for the entire Warm Springs
. community. With diminishing tim-
ber revenues and other issues chal
lenging our long-term economic
sustainability and self-sufficiency, we
need to embrace this opportunity to
better use all our resources to ben
efit the entire community."
The combined board of directors
, . , ... , . ,
has defined ambitious goals for the
resort and casino operations, with a
target of 20-plus percent net annual
return within three years.
Management's broad objectives
include increased room occupancy
and greater casino spending per
room night, as well as a new focus
on customer service. s r
To re-energize consumer aware
ness, Kah-Nee-Ta will also invest in
the most substantial round of capi
tal improvements since Indian Head
Casino was constructed in 1996. ,
Beginning this summer and con
tinuing in phases over the next two
years, the planned $5 million im
provements include:
The complete remodeling of 107
Childbirth classes to be held
Beginning next week, Mountain View Hospital District is spon
soring a childbirth education series in Warm Springs.
The six-week series will provide an understanding of the labor and
delivery process, information on breathing and relaxation techniques,
and support skills for the mother and her partner.
Discussion will also cover newborn behavior, care and feeding.
Other topics include infant rescue breathing, airway obstruction and
cardio-pulmonary resuscitation training.
Teacher for the series is Registered Nurse Janet BissclL, who is a
trained instructor with the International Childbirth Educator Asso
ciation. Bissell is also a certified lactation educator.
The course begins at 1 p.m., Wednesday, July 1 8, at the Warm
Springs Health and Wellness Center. The fee is $25, which includes a
workbook. To register, call the Health and Wellness Center at 553
1657. If you are interested in attending, but will require assistive aids,
please contact the District Wellness office in Madras at 475-3882, ext.
2307. Please call in advance so appropriate arrangements can be made.
the sun
t 1 ,'
Ssltnt Boise, canter and right photo by Jerry Brunoe
Vvc r ; :
r.;:"V. ,, , f-
guest rooms, scheduled to start in
the fall, with completion scheduled
for March 2002.
Also beginning this fall, the Ju
niper Room will be expanded and
recast as casual family dining, featur
ing an exhibition-cooking buffet.
Completion is scheduled for the first
quarter of next year. The Pinto Deli
will be simultaneously converted to
fine dining.
This winter, convention and ban
quet facilities will double in space
to nearly 10,000 square feet and be
completely renovated.
During this fall, the upper and
lower lobbies will be renovated.
Also beginning in October 2002,
the gaming casino will be expanded,
adding more slots and a larger vari
ety of table games.
service resorts in the West," said
Rudy Clements, chairman of the
Kah-Nee-Ta Board of Directors.
"For generations, guests have
come here to enjoy the extraordinary
climate, golf, recreation and the
natural spring-fed mineral water
pools. Then, the addition of fun and
excitement of casino gaming and a
world-class spa made Kah-Nee-Ta
the Northwest's only resort, spa and
casino."
Clements added, "Now, by up
grading guest rooms, improving food
and beverage options and quality,
and substantially expanding group,
convention and meeting facilities,
Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Resort &
Casino will continue its proud
legacy."
The developments at Kah-Nce-Ta
include the development of a new
logo symbolizing the Earth, Sun and
the three Tribes. Over the next sev
eral months the focus will be on
reaching out to the target markets,
.Clements said.
Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Resort
is wholly owned and operated by the
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs. The resort offers a complete
gaming casino with slots and table
games, an 18-hole golf course, natu
ral hot springs-fed pools, a full ser
vice spa, and a wide range of lodg
ing options including camping and
RV sites.