Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2001)
E Coosb EEWA: The W3y it is Pqge 4 Spilyqy Tymoo December 27, 2001 Spilyay Intern Speaks j Letters to the editor ,, . t ji ... ,' . c ' ' i;: , J Sid Miller Miller leaves history, foundation A ijuartcr-ccntury's worth of foundation was laid to rest after Spilyay Tymoo Pub ' Usher Sidney Miller ' announced his retire ment. "Vot more than two , decades the Spilyay was a reporters news paper - filled with facts and excellence. It also won awards, namely in photogra phy; a couple in i newspaper layout and rewriting, according to Director of Public i Relations, Rudy Clements. i"" A - ". Late nights and coffee stains were not ,j Uncommon as Miller tVnd his team of three writersphotographers parted the paper in 1976. One of the three staff ,'vpombers, Cynthia D. Stowell, went on to publish a!book, "Faces of a Reservation." Her book contained 52 profiles and portraits of different tribal members. I The staff normally published an eight-page J tabloid in hopes of building a bridge of better communication between tribal members and the tribal council. A hope that has produced mixed results and mixed emotions. Since its creation, the Spilyay, has been accused of being the tribal council's newspaper.. And j since its creation, the Spilyay, has done its best to j produce impartial news stories. Its best has been good enough, so far.. if Overall, it will be 'weird' to not have Sid '; around telling me about how things were differ : ent when he was "a cute little tyke." Selena Boise, Management Succsessor, said she had a lot of memories with him. "He'd call me on the phone and ask, 'Can you Winam?'" said Boise. "I'd go in his office and he'd shut the door and lock it and then he'd say, 'try not to scream so loud.' I got scared the first time he did this. After a few months I'd add on arid joke about it.." ' ,. ,5'He's always had a great sense of humor and at . the same time has always cared about the tribe ;and tried to do the best for the tribe," said Nat Shav, Assistant Director of Public Relations. ),v Humbr is definitely a trait that characterizes Stiller. 'At the communications department . Christmas party he gave a speech and mentioned he enjoyed working with everyone at the Spilyay. He added with a chuckle, "I liked all the men: loved all the women." -- Jerry Brunoe I "7 N I ' 1 1' 0KW ' ) - si y , . r f 4' ' i. i i I A : Calica resigns To my people . This is an open letter of res- ignation from my status as a Tribal employee. I feel that I owe tliis notice to my people, ' friends and co-workers. This ! will always be my home. My ' heart, mind and spirit will carry our shared moments as a comfort and inspiration un- til I return home. My heart, mind and spirit 1 feel torn by feelings of energy , and uncertainty as I write this letter. I have had the trust and honor to serve our people and this reservation for the past thirty years. In that time we have had many great leaders and teachers that gave us valu able gifts to lead our people before they passed on to the next life. The success we see today is a tribute to their vi sion, wisdom and courage. Spiritually, I placed my des tiny in the contiol of a higher power as our elders and ances tors did in their times of un certainty. I will be leaving our homeland to accept a new ad venture as the BIA Superinten dent for the Northern Idaho Agency in Lapwai. This is not an easy decision to leave in these troubled time for all our Tribal nations. The elected and community leaders of the past made wise investments for our welfare because that was our way of life. Our people and our lifestyle were guided to serve and support one another to preserve our agencies kinship ties and traditional teachings. Our unique spiritual and cul- sense of success in these new times, but it has come at a cost. An cider shared an important message that, "The greatest threat to our sovereignty will come from within." One day, we will have leaders that don't know or respect the wisdom and beliefs that sustain our people. They will use our words and beliefs to best fit their own purposes at the ex pense of our people and our traditions. Our Tribal organization has lost much of its vision and abil ity to make decisions with the commented, "liven as a grunt, we had a code of honor to never leave one of our own on the battlefield" A number of other Tribal members simply said, "Welcome to the reality of our world!" To my people and trusted co-workers, thanks for the lessons in survival and humility. Acceptable behavior is not judged based upon what is le gally, morally, ethically or spiritually right. Behavior is judged on what people can get away with and what the com munity will tolerate. Our membership for the benefit of ' Tribal Council has a difficult all our community. We have set of problems to fix. They built monuments to our sue- need our help, support and loy cess but the services fall short alty as a people. They are ex of the promises. The peoples' ; pected to redirect organiza trust and faith in most of lions that arc seemingly more Tribal government and the di- loyal to their own self-prescr-rection of our enterprises is vation and pandering to their steadily eroding. Those of us ' owrt cliques opposed to serv who still live among our own . ing the welfare of the member people, can see and feel the ship. pain, grief and worry facing We are supposed to be the our families every day. healthiest Indian community rural heritage must be renewed , . , ..I U I A.-L V 'o Enterprises are being cre ated; others are being merged or are going to get more subsi dies. Our newest merged enter prise is doing a $5,000,000 re model. The Oregonian in forms us that we are going to deed away lands that were pur chased as part of the deals in the Gorge. What positions or services will be eliminated in the 2002 budget to keep all the consultants? Having quarterly district meetings would be a way to at least understand the logic for these activities. Tribal government is more concerned with counting pa per clips and protecting their rules and their turf or play- through our songs and ceremo nies as a source of strength for our unity as a people. ' ' ; Our ways are carried on with the spiritual lessons and belief that out final judgment would be decided based upon our good deeds. We must keep these sacred visions, values and teachings as cherished keep sakes and pass them on in our time to our children and their children's children. Our young people have a passion for learn ing that should not be sacri ficed on the altars of egos, poli tics and economics. Preserving our natural re sources to sustain our physical and spiritual lives has been a iabor of love in many ways. Vj7e were placed on this laijd among the living and non-living creations to care for one another as a sacred duty. In caring for our natural re sources we better understand the spirituality, the vision, the history and the soul of our people. We have an excellent staff that was touched by the teachings of a timeless wisdom to guide their hearts and knowledge. Our community has made great progress and achieved a This gets to be more impor- by the year 2000. How many Tribal members can under stand and comply with all the employee insurance, the Or egon Plan, Managed Care, II IS referrals, the Joint Venture, Medicaid and Tribal Health or welfare service rules and pro cedures before they get turned in to a collections agency! The present leadership of our organization is drifting away from the values and pri orities of the community to focus on money. An college President once told our man agers, "Having economic suc cess and all these natural re sources is admirable but it loses its meaning if you don't have people to enjoy them." We shouldn't sell our souls, our A thank-you to Warm Springs To the Warm Springs In dian Reservation and Commu nity, This fall, my parents were in an automobile accident while driving through Or egon. The accident occurred on the Warm Springs Reserva tion. The accident was their fault and only involved their vehicle. Luckily, no one was hurt - but they were pretty shaken up. The local policeman was wonderful in understanding their needs and was able to calm them down and help make alternative arrange ments. The tow truck driver (and family!) was also very helpful in contacting their car rental agency and transporting their luggage and them to the airport for a replacement ve hicle. As shaken up as my parents were, when they returned home, they couldn't say enough wonderful things about the people in Warm Springs and the help they re ceived that day from Officer Oswald Tias and the towing service of Bob Werner (and family). The Warm Springs Reserva tion was well represented that dayl Thank you. Randy Faulkner 58 Lynwood drive Chalfont, PA 18914 ! Sony about ! dog incident .... .. I I . . . vt u:r.i :n-vt tant than hiring police others! integrity and our inshro tics 1 Joseph .Howtopat wollld or EMT's to protect our life and safety. Some of the tyrants are our own people. It does not matter to them that we are not safe from assaults, not even in our own homes. A family's experience of a funeral and a burglary at the same time rep resents a new low in our re spect for our culture, traditions and one another. Our prayers are with them and all those suffering losses. How many more review teams are needed to redefine the problems we already know need fixing? How long will we allow mistakes and corrupt practices to be covered up be cause of family or political in fluences? We don't need more sweet heart deals for those on the top end of the food chain. And, we should stop persecuting those at the bottom, or outside of the system, they are our people too. After the last elections, I was offered a "deal" to stay in the inner circle. The rest of the story is apparent. I got the Weakest Link or Survivor treatment. A fellow veteran tor more raise promises ot pros perity. We updated the Compre hensive Plan again, some day it will be used. We are told time after time that our input and advice is wanted. Every year these get labeled as the "Same people with the same worn out gripes and complaints." We need to put the Indian back in the Indian and listen each other's message instead of just hearing and reacting to the words. I will close with my best lifetime lesson. The one great est asset we have is our people, our culture and our spiritual heritage. We were all given parts of the vision of our people from our elders we will find their strength when we can put the pieces together. We were all given skills and talents and to serve a greater purpose, we will succeed if we never lose faith in ourselves, in one another or in our spiritual convictions. Sincerely Charles "Jody" Calica . like to say sorry for the matter of my dog, for being unchained that day. His clip had worn out. Roberta Jim, Eulalia Winishut, my wife and I are sorry for this incident. Sincerely, ; Joseph Howtopat. - The Spilyay Tymoo wel comes letters from its read ers. 1 ; All letters, preferably 350 words or less, must be signed by the author and need to include a phone number for verification or questions. , ; Letters will not be printed unless signed. All letters are the opinion of the author and do not ref fleet in any way the opin ion of the Spilyay Tymoo. The Spilyay reserves the right to edit all copy of de lete publication of material that exceeds length guide lines or contains libelous or malicious statements. ? Christmas holiday can be a crazy time Sid Miller and family at Miller's retirement party. Hello from Pastor Rick Well, we are a few days past Christmas. Leftovers from din ners are gone. Some toys still may be working ( Remember to buy more batteries). What a crazy holiday Christmas has become to America. Without this holi day most stores in America would not survive. Yet the rea son for Christmas is the reli gious belief that the Creator became one of us as a baby born. We fight in Afghanistan because there are people who find that statement so offensive to them and to God that they would kill. September 11 is a response to Christmas. There are others in America who do not agree with the idea of a baby born. They do not celebrate Christmas or they make the holiday stand for other beliefs. Yes, Christmas is crazy holi day. It brings joy and sorrow; Anger and laughter. Greed and compassion. This holiday re ally stirs us up inside. Yet, I believe as a Pastor that this crazy holiday is what gets us through life. When we are at a low time of life to believe that a God would go that far for us. To know that when I am in the deepest hole my God is still there to lift me up will give me hope. With hope and love you can go anywhere in life. Yep, what a crazy holiday, Thank you Jesus. Hug someone you love. Hug someone you dis like. No alcohol or tobacco for children, one day at a time. Buckle up the kids and your selves. Don't hit or beat on yourself. Pay your bills before gambling, then stay home. Read the bible for it's effect on your heart. Pray to God to the point of your hearing him. Honor someone each day. love yourself. Like yourself. See you in church. , Warm Springs Presbyterian On the campus. Pastor Rick R. Ribeiro 553-1237.