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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 2001)
?E Coosb EEWA: The W3y it is Pge 4- Spilyay Tymoo August 23, 2001 Spilyay Speaks Letters to the editor Fire keep season s it hot The fire season is here and it is in a very critical period with fires all across the western sector of the nation. Fires in Oregon, Washing ton, Idaho, and California. Here in Warm Springs we've had two major forest fires and both burned valuable timber. The first one was the Bald Peter burn, and the next was the Olallic Fire, which made the TV news. These two fires are just part of the threatening fires across the western states today. There is nothing we can do about the weather and we ust have to face the conditions and the serious of the whole situation. The main thing is to remain Cool and go easy and not get too excited about everything. In the past here on the Rez when there was a fire there would be a truck that would come around and pickup all the men who were able to fight fires and take them to the fire. The fires were fought and put out in the usaual manner. Today aperson has to have a certificate to fight fires. In the past men were on the fire line until it was declared out They ate K-Rations, slept along the fire line. Sometimes a base camp was set up so the men would have a place to take a break and have a good meal. This created jobs for the women folks to prepare the hot meals for the tired firefighters. ' Fighting fires is no picnic and is dangerous if a person has no experi ence 6P fighrirtg fifes. It's ahvays' J J good to have the wind at your back while on the fire line. Sometimes people try to attack a fire from the wrong direction and the results are not good. Fires can start at any time and any place and could be nonstopable. Forest fires are most likely started from thunderstorms. Or any wild fire that is can be started from lightning. There are times when a fire can be controlled when it is first started if the firefighters would get right in and start digging. I have seen fires that could have prevented if the men would ahve only got a shovel and started to make a fire trail around the fire, but they waited too long to do anything about it and this fire got out of control where a lot of acres burned needlessly. Sometimes just good common sense can be the best way to fight a fire from the beginning. There have been times when I've seen people rush tot he scene and jump out of the vehicle and start ordering people around, while he could have gotten a shovel himself and start making a fire trail. Seem's like everyone wants to be "boss." Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians to do the work. Good common sense is one fo the best methods to fight a fire. Some times good decisions to be made could have prevented fires from burning acres and acres of land for nothing. It was said that a back fire would have prevented a large fire but the decision was it would have burned too much land for nothing, but that decision was no naught, as the fire got away and burned many more acres that people wanted. Schrubs and weeds should be cleaned from around structures to be same from fires. A little work never hurt anyone and the results were in favor of the property owner. Fires can be prevented if one prepares for them. ... -Sid Miller Lack of respect I would like to voice my opinion as a Tribal Member, regarding the respect be ing taught to people on the rez, or rather the "lack of respect" being taught to people. There is something wrong with people who don't teach their children, friends, or anyone else that respectable people work for the material things they posses, and that if things don't belong to them they should, keep their hands off. People should think about how they would feel if someone vandalized their property, say, slash their tires or some thing. Messed up people who resort to such stupidity and ignorance need to be found and made accountable for their ac tions, W.S.P.D. do your job. Or better yet, you people who do this kind of junk, stand up and accept the responsibility of your actions. A real man or self respecting women would. It takes a real snake to slither around in the middle of the night and vandalize what does not belong to him or her. You must feel real proud of your self, knowing you're so educated you can be this creative in thinking. Merc's a thought, why don't you pick up a book instead of a knife and you really might just learn something. And does it make your teachers feel proud? After all your educa tion came from somewhere or, I should say, from someone. Grow up people, and while you're at it, open your eyes, this kind of activity is criminal, not to men don childish. If my letter gets printed, I hope somebody gets something out of it. Hopefully the ones who resort to this kind of activity, you know who you are. Thanks, Carol Spino Thanks for all the help To the editor, My name is Wendell E. Greene, and it took me a long time to come around to this letter. First of all I would like to thank Alvis and his construction crew for put tine up with me almost on a daily basis, their secretaries, the Realty. "General" took awhile, had to learn patience when I couldn't afford it. Oh yea, still need to talk, building inspector Tom and his secretary, whatever you did I am thankful; Frank Emberry and the outfit he works for, the credit department. At the time of this pro cess it was hard, stressful, anxiety, incar ceration, but I never gave up. Some did; I didn't. There is a few other people I'd like to be grateful towards, the WEDD outfit, RangeAg, my brothers ... I'd like to thank the Longhouse, the Full Gospel, Pastor Rick, my counselor Guy, Billy Joe, all the fellow people wherever or whomever, or whatever you all are. There is a lot more, some printable, some not, thanks to Indian Trail Company and workers; I'll learn. If any questions or comments, I live at 4302 Toinmie St., no phone. Sorry if I offended or left out any. Wendell E. Greene Appointment questioned There comes a time when the actions of our Tribal Council cannot be ignored. The action in question is the appointment of Joe Moses as the Chief of the Paiutc. Joe has been a good Tribal Councilman the past decade, and I'm sure he would be a good lifetime representative of the Paiutc people, but I have to question the manner in which he was appointed. To have Warm Springs (Simnasho) and Wasco (Agency) council members choose who will be Paiutc Chief is morally and ethically wrong. The fact that there was no official Tribal Council action does not detract from the fact that this was an underhanded politi cal ploy. To hide behind the fact that the late Chief appointed Joe as sub-chief is ir relevant. One man cannot be allowed to be a kingmaker. The Paiute people have an obligation to future generations to choose who will serve them for the rest of hisher life. Those of us that have no say in the choos ing of a lifetime leader (Paiute Chief) must step aside and pray that the Paiute people make a wise choice. Thank you for your time, John Katchia Sr. Encouragement to backsliders I am writing to encourage the backslid ers to the Lord. You are not necessarily a backslider just because you don't go to church anymore. However, it doesn't take a degree to agree that you don't have God in your conversations at the casino, or at ; the bowling alley, or the bars, and some times not even in you own homes. To talk about God and be uplifted in the Lord, and to feel the presence of the Lord you need to be in company with those that believe. I turned away from the Lord too many times, and I am sorry I wasted my time and am very, very thankful God didn't take my life, before I made my heart right with him. In other words, please don't think I am acting "holier than thou". But God said "Return thou backslider and I will not use mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful." We all have a chance to come back and I am glad I did, for the time is getting close for his second return. What I would like you to remember is that you did not choose God ... God chost jau!! Remember that God gave you repen tance (in your heart) to the acknowledg ing of the truth, that you may recover yourself out of the snare of the dcvill (2 Tim. 2:25, 26). God lifted the blinders of your heart's eyes. You arc a privileged char acter, to be one of God's elect. Many in the world will never accept the Lord Jesus Christ, because they are not given the gift of the Holy Spirit, which opened your eyes! We Indians were taught to not deny a gift, or you would insult that person. Don't insult God by refusing his gift to you. God says in Heb. 10:29 "How much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, and unholy thing, and has done so, to dcspitefully unto the Spirit of Grace." The bottom line is that you were hon ored to have your spiritual eyes and ears opened to hear God, so that you would not suffer forever in the everlasting lake of fire where there is going to be "wiping and gnashing of teeth". If you don't rejoin a church; then teach the ones that you love, and pray that God might have compas sion on them and save them too, by gift ing them with the Holy Spirit. It is not fair to your loved ones to not make them aware, just because you chose to be pas sive about it I feel bad every time I think about loved ones I've lost so far and didn't bother to clue them I about the good news from the Lord, and they might be suffer ing in hell as I speak. R.T. and Marvena Thompson Thanks for Tule class I would like to express my gratitude to our tribe for investing in preserving our culture. The Tule Mat class is greatly ap preciated. Every time we lose one of our elders a part of our culturetradition goes with them. Like many others I have moved away from our people and with that I have not learned or practiced many of our ways. My elders are not around me to share their wisdom and knowledge with me. I hope our tribe will look into other types of classes to be offered to our people. My children are learning what I know and , it is drilled into them that they need to , learn it as well as pass it on so our ways are not lost. Special thanks to Rosalyn for putting the class together and to Adeline Miller for taking the time to teach us. It was a privilege and an honor to be able to take this class. Maria Godinei Yakima, Wash. Criticism over Hood River To the editor, At our 71001 meeting, we were told by our negotiators that "we" have Hood Rivet right where "we" want them. They said, their biggest employer, their alumi num plant is closing, their politicians need money for their people, their economy is in trouble, Hood River needs Indian gam ing to make it back economically. Didn't our negotiators notice that just described the Warm Springs Indian Res ervation? But, our negotiators told us "it is a done deal, and it is going to happen." This was "before" they said there was go ing to be a referendum, for all the tribal members to vote on. They're still making behind closed-door deals. Now they are trying to control the way we vote, by giv ing us only one choice. If the majority votes against their wishes, are they going to do it anyway like they stated? That would really be denying the Indians the right to vote. Sounds like over a hundred years ago, when the Indians didn't count for anything. It looks like the only time they need us is as numbers to get grants and loans, to attain "their own personnel enterprise." They still won't explain, to Members, why gaming, management and council are the only ones to see any of this revenue. Dis guised as that mysterious General Fund. They refuse to answer when asked to ex plain their "enterprise system." They are always saying it is for the tribe. I, and oth ers, have never heard them say it's for the "Tribal Members." After tribal money upgrades their city, utilities, electric, emergency personnel and whatever else they are being promised, this union town will get greedy and start want ing a bigger cut. Next, are we going to find out, our ne gotiators had a secret referendum passed, giving the casino away. Being "ours" in name only for a while. Like Kah-Nee-Ta, with their anti-Indian attitude, will they eventually own the place, and start deny ing Tribal Members access to their casino. Even coerce Indians to not talking about them? Seems to me that when the majority of voters, voted to have the casino put on the Reservation instead of Madras. It should have sunk in to them by now, that the ma jority of members do not have a foot fe tish for the rich male of the Caucasian species like they do. Victor Moses Forest planning needed for the new century I would like to state my opinion of the ad justments that should be considered by Warm Springs Forest Products, The Board of Direc tors as well as the Tribal Council in order to meet the challenges of the twenty first century and international timber suppliers. My state ments are a compilation of fifteen years as a Forestry technician, attending numerous work shops, working along side Forest Inventory Contract crews, common sense and fifty-three years of life. The first major change can only be brought about the Board and Tribal Council action; I'm referring here to the absence of a realistic Long Range Plan to guide us into the twenty first century, currendy there is none. Development of such a plan in conjunction with a Five Year Plan of Operations is how most enterprises at taining short or long-term goals. Common sense and Economics dictates that any long range planning must be tied to the Forest Inventory to be applicable. At least that's how our competition operates their business, knowing before hand any and all potential rev enue sources, are we any different? Warm Springs Forest Products management only plans around the Annual Allowable Cut quota, which isn't the way to optimize potential mar keting of our old growth and old growth qual ity timber. First hand knowledge indicates that no one employed at WSFPI actually goes out to verify the accuracy of the Forest Officers Report pertaining to cruise volume, species composition, nor do they understand the Standards of Error or Standard of Deviation associated with the cruise data. All of these factors determine the annual net profit or if there is even going to be one. This less than ideal operating procedure more or less leaves our enterprises at the whim of current market con ditions, no place to be when faced with dwindling old growth timbers. Another important change pertains to the lack of formally educated employees possessing Forestry and Forest Economics degrees or backgrounds. We'd be sadly mistaken if continued to rely solely upon common sense I this day and age of computer pro gramming and global economics. The one million dollar question is what can be done until this edu cational deficiency is remedied? We have in our midst a Federal Agency that is obligated by Federal Treaty Law to provide WSFPI with accurate Forest Inventory Data from which can be determined with much more accuracy the overall worth of our tim ber resources I nits entirely. Which would also as sist in defining a viable long-range plan. Something we could take to the bank so to speak for the peri odic loans that WSFPI has to enter. We could also wisely use this federal agencies computer modeling capabilities to pre-determine profitability of each and every logging sale that is handed over to WSFPI, all of this can be done without having to cut one tree, move one piece of equipment, or having to deal with one major expense associated with tim ber harvesting. All the Tribe has to do is to capi talize on our treaty language and trust responsi bility. Until we address this educational short coming we'll continue to be at the mercy of cur rent market prices never truly realizing the profit potential of our Annual Allowable Cut and any harvested old growth timber and old growth quality trees. I'll be submitting other articles pertaining to WSFPI in the area of recovery analysis, which is , another area that will generate feedback on the overall efficiency of WSFPI priorities. Our goals should be to run arid operate our enterprise with the same objectives as the competition. With the hope of generating the best revenue that market allow and maintain the balance of IRMP priorities. I share this bit of information with the tribal members as a previous board member. I've read one document that stated we may be losing as much as half a million dollars annually just in the way the log yard is COST OF EDUCA TION IS EXPENSIVE, LOOK AT THE COST OF IGNORANCE AND WHAT IT HAS COST US AND OUR CHILDREN MONETARILY. If no changes occur than we have no grounds to blame anyone but ourselves for this continued ignorance. Thank you, Randy Smith