E Coosb EEWA: The W3y it is
Pqge 4 Spilyqy Tymoo December 27, 2001
Spilyay Intern Speaks j Letters to the editor
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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
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newspaper layout and
rewriting, according to
Director of Public
i Relations, Rudy
Clements.
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". 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
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: 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. -
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comes letters from its read
ers. 1 ;
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need to include a phone
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The Spilyay reserves the
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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.