Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2001)
OR, COLL . E 75 .S68 v. 26 no. 18 September 6, 2001 ft P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 SI 'RIALS DIPT. KNKillf I IHKAKY 1'illNIVI RMlVOI t)R(;()N M'(;i:ni:. ok V7-KM U.S. Postage Bulk Rate Permit No. 2 Warm Springs, OR 97761 Cbyofe yVetv5, est. 1976 News fi the Warm Springs Indian Reservation September- 6, 2001 Vol. 26, No. 10 35 cents SfPilvsiv yrooo IHbes consider charter school By Dare McMechan Spilyay staff Tribal officials arc exploring the possibility of developing a public charter school in Warm Springs. If the Tribal Council deter mines that a charter school is right for Warm Springs, then the new school could open as soon as the fall of 2003, said Olncy Patt Jr., chairman of the council. In the meantime, developing a charter school proposal would involve extensive planning and cooperation among all interested parties, especially between the Confederated Tribes and School District 509-J, said Willy Fucntcs, the tribes' chief operations of ficer. Patt said that a charter school in Warm Springs could begin by serving local students of middle school grades 5-8. Currently, all Warm Springs middle school stu dents travel to the Jefferson County Middle School in Ma dras. A charter school in Warm Springs would provide students with an option of where to at tend school, said Patt. A charter school is publicly funded, but functions indepen dently of the school district. There are currently 16 charter schools in the state, with another 25 in the development stages. Continued on Page 5 Council approves traditional leave policy The Tribal Council last week adopted a policy providing some tribal workers a leave of absence from their ('cmpT6yment F6Fpur- poses of preparing for traditional events and activities. The Council adopted the tra ditional leave policy only in re gard to employees of the tribal government. In the future, the boards of di rectors of the various tribal en terprises may also consider adopt ing the same or similiar policies, said Benson Heath, personnel director. The vote by the Council last week on the traditional leave policy was three council mem bers in favor, two against, and one abstention. Voting in favor were Council man Zane Jackson, Council woman Bernice Mitchell and Chief Dclvis I Ieath. " " Opposed were Council vice chairman Garland Brunoe, and Councilwoman Carolyn Wewa. Councilman Raymond Calica abstained from the vote. Wewa explained that she and Brunoe were not against the idea of the traditional leave policy. Instead, Wewa said that in her opinion some parts of the pro posed policy needed further clari fication. As the Council has approved the traditional leave policy, a new provision will be added to the personnel manual for tribal gov ernment employees, said Benson Heath. Continued on Page 5 tMmm mmm m. -.mm'timsmmim . I n, -" " " ' . ' f , ,n j, n : ! -" . .j. i . nil II IT " ".'..'.,. " ... mm utTT "-mni rreituri ,C 1 """'"""" t.. ' Mi i In m mrnmt .similar unman,, im mmmpmw j t tl,n() -ffiif tmttmimmmMm-. .jmrnemkl 'iaMIIII,MII'B s-T ' r - 'li'-'Vv'-;:-' ' , v ' ... , .- .15 i - . iJ ' . ; . j a " " JL . - f 1 ' . . i ' "t i ' ' w - . 1 ! J . ' V J mm i J . ' ...' .v, .. .- .i,' K (-,-. . Back in the swing of things Photo by Dave McMechan ptlOtOS Of) Page 3.) The weather was a bit chilly, but in the excitement of the first day of the new school year, the students were feeling hopeful and full and energy. Many of the 305 students of Warm Springs Hlementary arrived at the school early Wednesday morning, allowing themselves some time to make use of the playground, and to visit before class with friends and teachers. The bell for the first class of the new year rang at 8:30 a.m., and the students made their way to the classrooms. For everyone - the students and the 23 teachers - it was an exciting time. l or the second-graders the first day of school was almost like returning to a familiar setting. This was true because first graders at Warm Springs FJementary remain with the same teacher and class through the second grade. Older students from the Warm Springs community -grades 5-12 - returned this week to school in Madras. This year, the Warm Springs fifth-graders are the only fifth-grade class at Jefferson County Middle School, as Madras Elementary now includes fifth grade classes. Tyrone Saludo joins schoolmates on playground before class. (More school Enterprise zone to promote new business New law removes possible double tax The Oregon Legislature this year passed a tax law that encour ages new business development on the reservation. The new law, signed recently by Gov. Kitzhaber, does two main things in the area of taxa tion of potential new private busi nesses on the reservation. Firstly, the law eliminates the possibility of double taxation -by the tribes and by the state -on businesses. Secondly, the law, known as I IB 2332, allows the tribes to pro vide a tax incentive - a three-year deferral of county property tax -for new businesses that locate on the reservation. "HB 2332 is the strongest ex pression of support for reserva tion economic development by any state legislature," said Michael Mason, lobbyist for the tribes. Support from the Confeder ated Tribes was instrumental in gaining the passage of the new law during the 2001 legislative session, Mason said. HB2332 is based on a similar law adopted by the New Mexico Legislature, but the new Oregon law reaches further than the law passed in New Mexico, Mason said. Offsets the state tax Under HB 2332, a business that opens on the reservation, and which is subject to a tribal tax, can deduct from its state tax income statement the entire amount of the tribal tax. The New Mexico law allows a business that operates on a res ervation to deduct up to 50 per cent of the tribal tax on its state return. Continued on Page 10 M ill adjusts to reduced reservation timber harvest WSFPI mill superintendent John Katchia inspects stacks of lumber. Photo by Dave McMechan WSFPI to buy more off-reservation logs By Dave McMechan Spiljaj staff Jody Calica is among the tribal offi cials who believe strongly in the changes that have happened over the past decade in forest management on the reservation. Calica, general manager of tribal Natu ral Resources, says that the high timber harvest levels of the previous years and decades are over. A combination of factors - unsustain . able harvest levels of the past, and events like wind blow-downs of timber have required a significant change in how the reservation forestland is managed, Calica said. Reducing the timber harvest level on the reservation does not mean, though, that the tribes cannot continue to create new jobs, including jobs directly tied to timber, said Calica. In the long run, he said, his hope is that Warm Springs Forest Products Indus tries (WSFPI) will add new jobs, even though the timber harvest on the reser vation is less than in previous years. This can be accomplished, Calica said, through development of a new value- added component at the mill. Rather than selling lumber, the mill in stead could further process die lumber into trusses, or into small pre-fabricated camp ing cabins. The tribes themselves might even use the cabins to develop a recreational site on the reservation, generating more revenue, Calica said. In other words, opportunities do exist for the tribes to reduce the annual timber har vest to a sustainable level, while at the same time creating jobs, he said. WSFPI "needs to make the leap into value-added products," said Calica. Larry Potts, manager of the WSFPI mill, agrees that expanding the value-added part of the mill is a way to create jobs in the future. Currently, the mill has a small value added department that in time should grow, said Potts. The workers at this department, headed by Jack Ianglcy, add value to lumber mainly by upgrading pieces that otherwise would have much lesser value. This involves more sorting and cutting than happens during the regular milling process. The WSFPI value-added department be gan operating in April of last year. Continmd on Page 5 University ot Oregon Library Received on: C9-13-P1 Spilyay tyT'OO.
