P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Spilyay Tymo
OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY
1230 SW PARK AVE.
PORTLAND, OR 97205
RECEIVED
DEC 0 A 2B8S- Postage
Bulk Rate Permit No. 2
Coyote News, est. 1976
November 28, 2002
Vol. TJ, No. 24
Or©!
50 cents
Changes
in store
at lodge
B y D a v e McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
Carol Funk has been hired as the
new director of High Lookee Lodge. ,
Funk has a medical background, and
also was a manager at Kah-N ee-Ta
Resort. Funk, of Culver, will likely start
as the new director o f High Lookee
on Dec. 9.
The current director Amy Carlson
has taken another job with Concepts
in Community Living, the company
the tribes hired to manage High Lookee.
Carlson has been with High Lookee
since its opening in 2000. She has taken
the job o f regional manager for Con
cepts in Community Living.
The change in directorship is one
o f a number o f changes that are hap
pening at High Lookee. Tribal Council,
for instance, is considering a means of
having the Indian Health Service (IHS)
help in the funding o f the lodge.
For the coming budget year, Coun
cil m eanw hile has ap p ro p ria te d
$250,000 for High Lookee. I f IHS
comes through with funding, though,
it may be possible for the tribes to save
some o f the $250,000, said Charles
Jackson, Secretary-Treasurer.
W hen High Lookee opened two
years ago, Tribal Council appropriated
$500,000 for operation o f the lodge.
■This m oney fu n d ed the operation
through most o f this year. The hope
o f the tribes is one day for High Lookee
to be self-funding, said Willy Fuentes,
Chief Operations Officer.
The challenge in meeting that goal,
he said, is to increase the occupancy
rate at High Lookee. There are ap
proximately 20 residents at the lodge,
but an occupancy rate o f about 30
would help make High Lookee finan
cially independent, said Fuentes.
Construction
has new
general manager
Glenn Carpenter has been hired as
the Warm Springs Construction Enter
prise general manager.
Carpenter was hired by Construc
tion in 1999 as superintendent o f
roads, and has been overseeing all road
projects on the reservation. Carpenter
has 30 years o f professional experience
in roads and other construction work.
Warm Springs Ventures, the tribes’
economic developm ent corporation,
announced last week that Carpenter
had been hired as general manager.
. Ventures earlier this fall took over
management o f the Construction E n
terprise, and has implemented a num
ber o f organizational changes.
Ventures announced last week that
the Construction Enterprise would be
relocating from the Utilities D epart
ment building to the Apparel Factory
building, offering more space for Con
struction. T he A pparel Factory has
been mostly vacant for some time.
Have
a Happy
^Thanksgiving^
INSIDE
Holiday events..................... page 2
Committee reports............ page 3
Letters.................................. page 4
Basketball.............. .........page 6
Languages.................. pages 8,9
Basket art.................................10
Council makes fire hall a priority
Project for Seekseequa had been on hold
The Tribal Council has made the
construction and operation o f a fire
hall in the Seekseequa District a pri
ority for 2003.
The tribal government budget for
the coming year includes over half a
million dollars for equipping the new
fire hall, and for its operation and
maintenance.
The Council for the 2001 budget
appropriated $250,000 for construc
tion o f the Seekseequa Fire Hall.
The 2003 budget includes $225,000
for its operation and maintenance, plus
$330,000 for equipment.
T he 2003 budget, ap p ro v ed by
Council last week, also acknowledges
that the Seekseequa Fire Hall has fund
ing priority over a proposed new fire
hall that will serve the Sidwalter area.
The budget includes a provision to
reallocate $200,000 that Council had
earlier designated for construction o f
a Sidwalter Fire Hall.
The $200,000 instead would be used
on the Seekseequa Fire Hall, according
to the budget provision.
T he $200,000 figure makes up a
good part o f the $330,000 that will be
used for equipment o f the Seekseequa
hall.
Last week, during discussion o f the
2003 budget, Joe Moses, Paiute Chief
o f the Council, said the Seekseequa
Fire Hall has been delayed far too long.
The fire hall project was on track
for construction over a year ago, he
said, but then the project stalled.
Please see F IR E H A L L on page 3
School district board
hears tribal concerns
Warm Springs parents
share their ideas on use
o f Impact A id funds
By Shannon Keaveny
Spilyay Tymoo
Wyatt Frank drums during the Native American program at the Jefferson
County Middle School. The event last week was part of Native American
Appreciation Month.
The Jefferson County School Dis
trict 509-J Board o f Directors gath
ered at the Warm Springs Elementary
School on Monday night with tribal
member parents.
The district encouraged parents to
make recommendations concerning the
needs o f their children in the educa
tional programs assisted by Impact Aid
funds.
Julie Q uaid, p a re n t and W arm
Springs Early Childhood Education di
rector, presented a letter to the 509-J
board.
In light o f economic strife on the
reservation and in the state, Quaid re
quested the district maintain and im
prove the strength o f the core curricu
lum at all grade levels, mentioning spe
cifically the importance o f strong lan
guage arts, math and reading for N a
tive American children.
Quaid recom m ended that educa
tional services, programs and activities
Budget forces difficult choices
B y Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
Tribal Council has decided to use
$1.5 million from the Credit Enter
prise as a source o f funds for the
2003 tribal government budget.
The Council also decided to use
approximately $2 million from the
tribes’ revenue reserve, or rainy day
fund, but only if the tribal general
fund working capital reserve drops
below $6 million, which is the mini
mum balance needed to pay current
payroll and other essential expendi
tures.
Thes'e décisions by Council help
to demonstrate the seriousness of
the budget situation facing the Con-
federated Tribes.
To maintain an adequate level o f
government service, and also to lessen
the need for employee layoffs, the
Council decided to withdraw $1.5 mil
lion o f “Interest Earnings from Idle
Cash” accumulated in Credit’s retained
earnings, leaving approximately $6 mil
lion o f such accumulated earnings on
Credit’s books.
In the same spirit the Council de
cided for the first time to use accumu
lated prior years’ earnings of the tribal
rainy day fund.
Over the past two years the tribes
have utilized current year interest from
the $33 million fund, established in
1988.
The coming budget year will be the
first in which part o f the prior year
earnings o f the rainy day fund will be
spent on tribal government operations,
if the working capital drops below $6
million.
In adopting the 2003 budget, the
Council last week appropriated just
over $22 million for the annual opera
tion o f the tribal government.
The revenue for the budget comes
from a variety o f sources, with tribal
enterprise dividends accounting for al
most $12.4 million.
Warm Springs Power Enterprises is
expected to pay a dividend o f $8 mil
lion, and gaming is expected to add
another $2.5 million.
Please see B U D G E T on page 3
rem ain affordable, ensuring Iridian
families full access and participation.
Finally, she hoped progress towards
the com pletion o f the new Warm
Springs Elementary School will con
tinue to move forward.
Several tribal members spoke o f the
new Indian language program, and the
importance o f language for their cul
ture.
Evaline Patt reiterated the impor
tance o f supporting teachers in the lan
guage program at the Jefferson County
Middle School.
She cited studies that have indicated
bilingual students excel.
O ne trib al m em ber said to the
board, “Help us recognize our identity.
The Indian community wants it.”
Impact Aid money is designed to re
im burse public school systems that
have lost a part o f their tax base due
to a federal or other sovereign pres
ence in their district.
Through its sovereignty, the reser
vation is not subject to the school dis
trict taxing authority.
According to school district supt.
Phil Riley, the 509-J district receives
about $2.9 million in Impact Aid fund
ing annually, amounting to about $2,000
per Indian student.
Middle school
now offering
Native language
The Culture and Heritage D e
partm ent, Education Committee
and School District 509-J have de
veloped a schedule for teaching the
Ichishkeen language to fifth-grad
ers at Jefferso n County Middle
School.
The classes begin with the next
trimester, Dec. 2.
This will be the first time that a
Native language course will be of
fered at the middle school. This has
been a long-term goal o f Culture
and Heritage, said Myra Shawaway,
department director.
Teachers will be Arlita Rhoan and
Dallas Winishut Jr.
Board will consider river permit system
By Bill Rhoades
Spilyay Tymoo
Tribal efforts to impose a boater
perm it system on the D eschutes
River drew a standing room only
crowd, but little support during a
m eeting o f the Lower Deschutes
River M anagers held Nov. 14 at
Warm Springs Power Enterprises.
State and federal representatives
opposed a tribal proposal to start lim
iting boater numbers on busy sum
mer weekends, favoring an approach
that would continue to pursue non-
permit measures as a means o f con
trolling boater access.
The impasse will leave a decision
on whether or not to initiate a per
mit system up to a five-member ex
ecutive review board, made up o f
tribal, state and federal representatives.
They are expected to meet on the is
sue sometime after the first o f the year.
At an earlier meeting, Natural Re
sources G eneral M anager R o b ert
B runoe, w ho chairs the m anagers
group, had proposed implementing a
one-year, trial permit system on Seg
m e n t 1 (W arm S prings to the
Deschutes Club Locked Gate) o f the
river beginning in 2004. The eight-mem
ber managers group was supposed to
consider the proposal and offer opin
ions on Nov. 14.
Most federal and state representa
tives spoke against the permit system
during the meeting at Power E nter
prises. They cited a downward trend in
boater use as evidence that non-per
mit measures are working to achieve
target levels established under the
Lower Deschutes River Management
Plan, which was adopted in 1993.
B runoe and BIA representative
Gerald Henrickson said targets have
consistently been exceeded for the past
10 years and the time to implement a
permit system is long overdue.
“From Tribal Council’s perspective
it (permit system) should have been
implemented a long time ago,” said
Brunoe.
“We’ve been very patient. We’ve
been trying the non-permit measures,
but we haven’t reached the target num
bers.”
T he D eschutes plan establishes
boater use targets for Segment 1 adja
cent to»the reservation at 220 people
per day (Warm Springs to Trout Creek)
and 330 people per day (Trout Creek
to the Deschutes Club Locked Gate)
during the primary use season, May 15
through Sept. 15.
One objective is to manage boater
use at approximately 1990 seasonal lev
els while redistributing daily peak week
end use to weekdays or other weekend
periods when daily boating use is less
than targets levels.
In 2002, target levels were exceeded
on all river segments, but targets were
surpassed on Segment IB more than
any other stretch o f the river.
See R IV E R on page 6