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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2003)
P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 wary Spilyw Tyrocc SERIALS DEPT. KNIGHT LIBRARY 12W UNIVERSITY OF OREGON EUGENE, OR 97403 U.S. Postage Bulk Rate Permit No. 2 Warm Springs, OR 97761 January 9, 2003 Vol. 28, No. 1 Coyote News, est. 1976 50 cents Powwow celebrating 26th year The 2003 Lincoln's Birthday Powwow is set for Feb. 6-9, at the Simnasho Longhouse. This year the powwow will feature a $6,000 Memorial Drumming Contest. This contest is sponsored by the Greene family. There will also be a hand drum contest, sponsored by the Calvin Queahpama family and Bruce Jim. The powwow will also feature a Chicken DanceRound Bustle Special, sponsored by Mackie Begay. The Lincoln's Birthday Pow wow is one of the most popu lar events on the Warm Springs Reservation. Championship dancers and championship drummers travel from far and wide to participate in this celebrated event. This year the Lincoln's Birth day Powwow will mark its 26th Anniversary. The court candidates for the 2003 powwow are as follows: The Senior Court candidates are Marie Olney and Mary Wolfe. The Junior Court candidates are Roshanda Clements-Poitra, Sadie Johnson and Alexa Leonard. ,. Dance categories include Men's and Women's Golden Age, Women's Traditional, Fancy and Jingle. Also: Men's Traditional, Fancy and Grass. There will be teen categories, junior categories and tiny tots. On Feb. 1 the Simnasho Longhouse will be open for memorials and blessings before the Powwow. Pageant rescheduled for Friday The 2003 Miss Warm Springs Pageant is set for next Friday, Jan. 17, at the Agency Longhouse. There are two and possibly three candidates who will take part in the pageant. The community is invited to attend. The pageant begins at 6:30 p.m., and dinner will fol low. Keynote speaker will be Ur bana Ross, chairwoman of the Education Committee. Captain Moody will be the moderator, and Pine Grove Jun iors and Quartz Creek will be the honor drum. There will be the crowning of 2003 Miss Warm Springs, fol lowed by an I lonor Dance, re ception line and congratulations. Dinner will then be served in the dining hall. The Miss Warm Springs tra dition dates back many years, to the 1960s. Cecilia I lerrera is Miss Warm Springs for 2002. The community is invited to attend the upcoming pageant on Friday, Jan. 17. mm i Kah-Nee-Taart page 2 Year In review. pages 4,5 Languages pages 6,7 Letters 8 ftvm f ire mav soeed olan Insurance may pay By Shannon Keaveny Spijay Tymoo Because of the Dec. 20 Warm Springs Elementary School gymnasium fire, con struction of a new elementary school may happen sooner than officials once thought. Plans for the new elemen tary school have been delayed due to budget restrictions. However, the district could receive over $1.2 million from fire insurance. This could go toward building the new school. For one thing, many com munity members feel it would be a waste to build a new gym when plans for construction of a new school are well un der way, said Dawn Smith, elementary school principal. Also, school district super intendent Philip Riley said that speeding up construction plans for the new school is likely. A deconstruction crew this Court adopts historic agreement By Dave McMechan Spilyay Tymoo It was a rare if not unique scene.- Tribal leaders singing, traditional songs in a Deschutes County court room. The ceremony concluded die court hearing, which itself marked a conclusion to more than 20 years of government negotiation. The court pro ceeding this week was in re gard to the Confederated Tribes water rights agreement. In the end the judge signed the order making the terms of the agreement binding on all water rights holders in the Deschutes River basin. It was an historic occasion, because the agreement itself is historic and unique in the nation. During the court hearing, Wasco Chief Nelson Wallulatum spoke of the spirit First baby of 2003 Elizabeth Rose Atuncz was the first Warm Springs baby born in the New Year. Little Elizabeth Rose was born to Taima Smith (in the photo at right with the new born) and father Evaristo Jesus Atuncz. The child was born at 2:06 a.m. on January 1, 2003, at Mountain View I iospital. The baby weighed seven pounds and 3.9 ounces, and was 20 inches in length. The father's parents arc Inez Antunuez and atwai Rhonda Cora Arthur. The mother's parents are Christine and Ix-roy Smith !sr. Mnivcr:uty of . .... over $1 .2 million week was finishing the demoli tion of the burnt carcass of the former elementary school gym. Asbestos, placed in numerous white sacks, was safely removed from the site. Water and smoke damage to other parts of the building were also assessed. "We were lucky because af ter the fire, it rained and the asbestos particles were encapsu lated, preventing them from getting into the air," said Smith. The asbestos could have been a hazard to children on the play ground but concerns were elimi nated with the cleanup. Cleanup employees antici pate finishing flattening the gym site by the end of this week. Meanwhile, school officials shifted classes around to accom modate a loss in space. Room numbers 15 and 19, located near the gym and formerly fourth grade classrooms, were deemed unusable due to water and smoke damage. Room 19 needs a new roof. v Paiute Chief Joe Moses joins other members of the Tribal Council at the water agreement court proceeding in Deschutes County. of cooperation that went into the water rights agreement. Years ago, he said, Chief Joseph made the famous statement, "We shall fight no more forever." The same can now be said of water rights in the Deschutes basin, said Chief Wallulatum. In many cases the setdement Or ' ' '''V'. '' ' y 7 1 ' A ? r Dav McMechanSpilyay tr. : ; ' si A demolition crew removes the The fourth-grade class was moved to the modular near the flagpole. Physical Education will take place in the cafeteria when it is too cold for students to be on the playground. Speech class was moved to the resource room. The Indian language class was asked to move back to the language trailer. Music class has to com mute down the street. ) Dave McMechanSpilyay of tribal water rights happens only after a long and cosdy court battle. But in the case of the Confederated Tribes' agree ment, the various parties - the tribal, U.S. and state govern ments - worked toward a solu tion agreeable to everyone, said Wallulatum. for new r-; .. WfWV Shannon KeavenvSoilvav remains of the gymnasium. "We were lucky we could make it fit," said Smith of the adjustments to compensate for lost classroom space. Last Thursday an assessment of damages to P.E. equipment, such as balls, hoops and jump ropes, was released. "Everything is fine except for smoke damage. We just need to clean it up," said Smith. As a result of the blaze, P.E. Others who spoke during the hearing - Warm Springs Chief Delvis Heath, Paiute - Chief Joe Moses, and coun cil members Zane Jackson, Bernice Mitchell and Brenda Scott - also expressed appre ciation for the cooperation of all parties involved. "I hope this can continue with other issues we work on in the future," said Council woman Wewa. The Confederated Tribes hold the oldest water right in the Deschutes basin, as pro vided in the Treaty of 1855. A problem has been estab lishing a quantity in regard to the right. The water rights agreement provides the tribes with both in-stream and con sumptive water rights. The quantity of water is large, re flecting the fact that tribes of the Warm Springs Reserva tion are fishing tribes. BIA looking to fill job of superintendent The Bureau of Indian Af fairs in the near future may appoint a new permanent su perintendent for the Warm Springs BIA Agency office. The position of perma nent BIA Warm Springs su perintendent has been va cant for over a year and a half. BIA recently advertised the job vacancy. For the past year and a half the position has been filled on a temporary basis by acting superintendents. Gerald Henrikson is cur rently the acting BIA Warm Springs superintendent. The Tribal Council can recommend a candidate for the permanent position. BIA Regional Director Stanley Speaks makes the appoint ment. The job of superin tendent involves responsibil ity in carrying out the fed eral government policy of promoting tribal self-determination. school Specialist Mike Osborne will temporarily share an office with Principal Dawn Smith. His com puter still functioned after be ing removed from his fire-damaged P.E. office. After the Dec. 20 fire, soot covered every remaining room in the building. Rooms will need to be repainted. Custodians and maintenance oversaw the cleanup in preparations for re turning students. The building's insurance com pany granted permission to move forward with the cleanup about three days after the fire. Damage costs are still being es timated. "Everybody agrees the cause of the fire was an accident," said Smith. Officials speculate the fire was caused by oily rags spon taneously combusting. The community, she said, has been very supportive, and has offered to help in any way pos sible. Smith commented on the efficiency of William Bagley and his fire crew: "What they did re ally saved a lot of stuff." 2002 holiday arrests down by 10 percent Although total responses by ment in the 2002 holiday sea son increased by nearly 25 per cent, total arrests were down by 10 percent. Despite the increase in the response rate, the public safety staff still felt the holidays were relatively quiet, said Warm Springs Chief of Police Don Courtney. He attributes the dra matic statistical rise - 102 more incident responses than during the previous year - to a more experienced, capable and confi dent staff. Total incidents for 2002 between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day were 399. "The staff's comments of not feeling busy, or it being a quiet holiday were possibly be cause of a sense of being more at ease in handling calls, a more trained and professional staff, and a more experienced staff over the past year," Courtney said. There were 68 arrests dur ing the 2002 holiday season, ver sus 76 arrests in the previous year. Also, weapons violations saw a dramatic 85 percent decrease in comparison to the year be fore. Only one person was charged with a weapons viola tion lnvfnil- in nnssession and j i ; curfew violations remained steady this past holiday season. Traffic stops increased, due to intensive use of sobriety checkpoints. Drivers were ran domly stopped for five seconds in a testing area to determine their sobriety. Locations for checkpoints were changed periodically. Seventy-six traffic stops took place this holiday season, Drunk driv ing charges doubled to six due to this effort. "Our main emphasis is safety," said Courtney. Part of the effectiveness of sobriety checkpoints is letting the public know they will happen, he said. "That way if they aren't sure about their sobriety they will opt for a designated driver," he said. ivreivcd on: Ui- Spilycjy tymoo