OR. COU. i
E i
75 .
.568 ;
v. 27 I
no. 13 y"
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
SERIALS DEPT.
KNIGHT LIBRARY
1299 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
EUGENE, OR 97403
U.S. Postage
Bulk Rate Permit No. 2
Warm Springs, OR 97761
June 27, 2002 Vol. 27, No. 13
Coyote News,-est. 1976
50 cents
Spslyiy lymoc
Tribes
celebrate
Treaty Days
The Confederated Tribes' celebra
tion of sovereignty - Pi-Ume-Sha
Treaty Days - is this weekend, Fri
day through Sunday, June 28-30.
The event includes dance contests
and Grand Entries, the parade on Sat
urday, softball tournament, stick
games, the Fry Bread Golf Tourna
ment, the Road Warriors Pi-Ume-Sha
Run, and a boxing tournament,
among many activities.
The food and gift booths at the
powwow grounds are also popular
among the people who attend this
occasion.
For the dancers, the Pi-Ume-Sha
celebration pays between $16,000 and
$17,000 in dance-contest prize money,
in adult and children categories.
Pi-Ume-Sha this year will have a
new contest, an Owl Dance contest,
sponsored by Yvonne and Charles
Nathan of Warm Springs. The prize
is $1,000.
Thomas Morningowl, of Umatilla,
will return this year as the Pi-Ume-Sha
Master of Ceremonies.
See PI-UME-SHA on page 10
July 4 parade,
fireworks set
The Warm Springs community
will be celebrating the Fourth of July
with a parade, barbecue and fire
works. The line-up for the parade begins
at 9 a.m. at the campus area by the
schools.
The parade is set to begin at 10 a.m.
A map of the route - generally from
the campus over to the community
center - will be posted around the
town next week.
After the parade will be a barbe
cue and family games at the Commu
nity Center grounds. The fireworks
start at dusk.
The theme of this year's Fourth of
July events in Warm Springs is
"United We Stand."
Please set JULY 4 on page 10
$13.8 million award in timber case
The Confederated Tribes re
ceived very good news regarding a
long-standing tribal lawsuit against
the federal government.
The trial judge in the McQuinn
Strip blow-down timber lawsuit
last week awarded the tribes $13.8
million.
The money is to compensate the
Confederated Tribes for BIA misman
agement of the sale of timber har
vested from the McQuinn Strip in
1990. The $13.8 million award is a
great deal larger than the judge's ini
tial award in 1999 of less than a quar
ter million dollars. '' '
In the 1999 decision the judge in
the case, Judge Robert Hodges, agreed
with the tribes that the BIA had
breached its trust responsibility in the
handling of the 1990 McQuinn Strip
Pi-Ume-Sha Court
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Pi-Ume-Sha Court .
Candidates have
been hard at work
: selling raffle tickets
over the past
several weeks,
raising thousands
of dollars for the
powwow.
Pictured counter
clockwise from left
front are court
candidates Ada
Polk, Elyse
Bagley, Katrina
Blackwolf, Ashlyn
Danzuka and Lyia
Davis.
Davis, along with
Deidra Johnson
(seepage 10) are
the Senior Court
candidates.
Polk, Bagley,
Blackwolf and
Danzuka are the
Junior Court
- candidates. . :.
Dave McMechanSpilyay
Summit focuses on languages
Tribal members gathered this
week to discuss the challenges the
Confederated Tribes face in pre
serving the native languages. As the
fluent speakers of the languages are
growing older, the tribes face the
real possibility of some day losing
the languages.
"In 20 years our languages could
be gone," said Myra Shawaway, di
rector of the Culture and Heritage
Department, which sponsored this
week's Tribal Language Summit.
Discussion during the summit in
cluded suggestions from community
members and Language staff regard
ing how to preserve the languages of
the Confederated Tribes.
Two suggestions that were men
tioned often were that of language
immersion, and summer language
camp. Immersion is when native
speakers, and students of the lan
guage, talk only in the native language
during a certain period of time. The
Culture and Heritage Department,
for instance, practices immersion on
Fridays.
The language camps could also
involve immersion. The language
camp idea is still in the early stage,
said Shawaway.
The camps might last for three
days, and be held at areas such as
Peter's Pasture, or HeHe, for instance.
See LANGUAGES on pagt 10
blown-down sale.
However, Hodges also concluded
that the tribes' request for compen
sation - $18 million - was specula
tive, and he awarded the tribes about
$225,000. This ruling came nearly
two years after the 1997 trial of the
case. The tribes last year appealed
Hodges' decision to the Court of
Appeals of the Federal Circuit in
Washington, D.C.
The appeals court agreed with the
tribes that the request for higher dam
ages from the federal government was
justified, and not overly speculative.
The case was sent back to Judge
Hodges for a determination of dam
ages. Last week he handed down a
ruling in favor of the tribes totaling
$13,805,607.
"This is a very strong decision in
our favor," said Charles Jackson, Secretary-Treasurer
of the Confederated
Tribes.
"The ruling," he said, "validates the
claim we initially made back in the
mid 1990s."
Tribal Councilman Raymond
Tsumpti said the $13.8 million award
"is more in line with the amount we
were led to believe was reasonable
from the beginning."
In his'recent decision, Judge
Hodges also used strong language in
regard to the BIA breach of trust re
sponsibility in the McQuinn case.
"The government failed to use
proper procedures in practically ev
ery phase of this sale," Hodges wrote.
The BIA, he wrote, "has not co
operated with the court or with the
Confederated Tribes in resolving this
case, despite many opportunities to
do so."
As a result of mismanagement by
the BIA in 1990, the Confederated
Tribes lost the opportunity to sell
14.8 million board feet of standing
green timber in a favorable export
market, the judge wrote.
Tribal Secretary-Treasurer Jackson
said that, while the ruling is very
strong in favor of the tribes, there is
the possibility that the BIA could
appeal the decision. The case poten
tially could end up in the U.S. Su
preme Court.
k Positive place for kids
Warm Springs Boys and Girls Club making a difference for youths
By Dave McMechm
Spilyay Tymoo staff
It was a little over two years ago
when the Warm Springs Branch of the
Central Oregon Boys and Girls Club
first began serving the youth of this
f Op
v
community.
Since that time, hundreds of young
tribal members have benefited from
this program.
One way to demonstrate the
changes that have happened over the
past two years is to look at an impor
tant statistic.
Since the time the Boys and
Girls Club began in Warm
Springs, the juvenile delinquency
rate among local youth - the rate
of juvenile crime, truancy, curfew
violation, etc. - has dropped by 66
to 69 percent.
"The important things about
the Boys and Girls Club is that it
works," said Frank Smith, direc
tor of the Warm Springs branch of
the regional club.
In explaining why this program
works in reducing juvenile delin
quency, Smith referred to another
statistic.
Most juveniles who get into
trouble - whether it be trouble
with the law, with substance abuse,
teen pregnancy, etc. - do so be
tween the hours of 3 and 8 p.m.
During those hours, Smith said,
many young people are out of school
for the day, and yet they can remain
without adult supervision for some
length of time, for instance if the par
ents are still at work.
A solution to the problem of lack
of supervision is the Boys and Girls
Club, said Smith.
"This is the best thing that has
happened for the youth of this com
munity," he said of the Warm Springs
Boys and Girls Club branch.
The mission statement of the Boys
and Girls Club summarizes the basic
goals of the program:
"To inspire and enable all young
people, especially those from disad
vantaged circumstances, to realize
their full potential as productive, re
sponsible and caring citizens."
The Warm Springs Boys and Girls
Club began in May of 2000.
The local club saw 200 young
people sign up during the first month.
The Warm Springs club now has 300
members, and will probably have 350
by the end of summer. The cost is
$10 per member.
Stt BOYS and GIRLS CLUB on 10
J
A
1 1 Spilyay tyioo.
. In the photo
at far left,
club
member
Pattl Smith
makes a
move at
chess.
And In the
photo at left,
Shantell
Gilbert and
her brothers
John (right)
and Donny
Gilbert play
pool.
on Library
Dava McMechan
Spilyay