Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Local
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Dennis Thompson and other war veterans stand in formation, each sharing memories of their military action with the
audience. It was part of a ceremony to present Thompson with medals 35 years after serving in Vietnam.
By Shannon Keaveny
Vietnam veteran
Dennis Thomp
son waited 35
years for his med
als -but he finally
got them.
Delayed paperwork and
other factors led to the long
wait.
Ceremonial
tm 1 . 1
iisning oegins
Sunday
Although half the
count of 2002, this
year's spring chinook
salmon run is the fifth
largest recorded since
1938.
Tribal ceremonial fishermen
will start filling the tribes' spring
chinook quota on Sunday.
The quota this spring is 1,350
salmon, amounting to about
338 fish per fisherman.
The fish will be caught with
gillnets to speed up the process.
Mike Gavin, Warm Springs
fish biologist, estimates ceremo
nial fishermen will meet their
quota in about three weeks.
The amount of spring
chinook expected to cross the
Bonneville Dam on the Colum
bia River, where all ceremonial
fishing takes place, is 145,500.
Gavin says the decrease in
returns is nothing to be
alarmed about.
Last year the returns were
nearly double. '
"The numbers reflect the
normal fluctuations in the
cycles of fish," he said.
Ceremonial fishermen cho
sen by the Warm Springs Fish
and Wildlife Committee arc
Bruce Jim, Virgil Culps, Dou
glas Palmer, and Eric
Queahpama.
Vietaaen war veteran
; j
( . .J
Heroic actions, like pulling a
dead man from a burning tank,
earned Thompson' an Army
Commendation Medal, ranked
sixth highest, for his bravery.
Recently community mem
bers and war veterans gathered
at the Agency Longhouse to
present Thompson with his long
overdue medals. More than 30
veterans stood in formation
throughout the event.
'
Teamwork
Sixty percent of
high school dropouts, says John
By Shannon Keaveny
Spilyoy Tymoo
An Oregon Department of
Education official visited
Warm Springs last week and
spoke about effective relation
ships between school staff and
students to prevent high school
dropouts. The Warm Springs
Community Action Team ar
ranged for his presentation.
John Ritter focused on high
dropout rates for Native Ameri
can students.
Keeping kids in school is cru
cial to where they end up, he
said,
Many people who don't fin
ish high school live in poverty.
People living in poverty have
high rates of incarceration.
"Sixty percent of Native
American high school dropouts
end up in a federal correctional
facility," he said.
Ritter spoke of ways public
schools can help kids from
dropping out.
Attitudes in schools and com
munities need to change too, in
order to get behavioral changes
from Native American students,
he said.
Discrimination based on race,
creed, color and affiliation is
commonplace in the school sys
tem, he said.
"I work to fight it a lot," said
March 20, 2003
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fa'ife(A verf honored to have received the med
als and eagle feather,' saying that I am a warnor. -
Dennis Thompson, Vietnam veteran
Many of Thompson's close
family members attended, in
cluding his mother, Gladys Th
ompson. Chief Nelson Wallulatum
spoke on his behalf and sang a
z
needed to
Native Americans
Ritter.
Native American kids, he
said, often don't want to be in
off-reservation schools and feel
alienated.
Native American kids enter
the school system with a fear of
government institutions due to
the negative history between
tribes and the federal govern
ment, he said.
Often they are more sensi
tive and feel they are going to
be "worked by the system," he
added.
For many reasons, students
react in adverse ways that often
get them kicked out of school.
A public school that does not
recognize these disparities, could
set an Indian student up for fail
ure, he explained.
Behavioral and disciplinary
issues in school are the number
one reasons for student expul
sions and suspensions.
"Grade school is a crucial
time to nab a child's attention,"
said Ritter.
One way public schools can
help is to create student engage
ment and accountability in
schools. Minority groups should
have one contact in school on
an administrator level, he said.
Josh Adams, assistant princi
pal at Jefferson County Middle
School QCMS), called having
student-faculty contacts "cred
its in the bank." Credits are an-
years later
Shannon KeavenySpilyay
warrior song.
Thompson received an addi
tional four medals from the U.S.
military. The tribes presented
him with an eagle feather. Both
honors acknowledged Thomp
; .
keep Jads
in federal correctional facilities are
Ritter, department
"We create relation
ships with students so
when there is trouble
with a student, we
have something to
work from. I call them
credits in the bank."
Josh Adams
Asst. Principal JCMS
other way to help minority kids
feel less alienated. Faculty has a
student's trust before he or she
get in trouble.
"We create relationships with
students so when there is trouble
with a student, we have some
thing to work from," said Adams.
An action team to focus on
how to keep students in school
also helps, he said.
JCMS and Madras I ligh also
have tribal liaisons that Ritter
said could be as effective as an
action team.
JCMS has dramatically re
duced student suspensions in
one year due to concentrated
efforts.
Last year JCMS issued about
450 suspensions. This year,
Adams estimates maximum sus
pensions for the school year will
be 140.
A suspension is defined as a
son as a warrior.
The other medals were a
Combat Medic Badge for being
an active combat medic; a Good
Conduct Medal for meritorious
service; a National Defense
Medal for basic army combat
training; and a Representative of
Vietnam Campaign Medal for
service in Vietnam.
A lieutenant from Bend pre
sented the medals.
'T feel very honored to have
received the medals and eagle
feather, saying that I am a war
rior" said Thompson.
The US. military drafted Th
ompson in February of 1967
when he was 19 years old.
Thompson says he knew very
little about the conflict at the time.
"I was just a kid," he said.
He was immediately sent to
Texas to partake in an intense
medical course for traumatic
wounds.
Thompson spent the first two
months in a helicopter squatter
doing medical evacuations.
The next six months were
spent in a tank, working as both a
medic and machine gunner.
After eight months, without
injuries, he returned to the
States.
Thompson shared his opin
ion on the present crisis in Iraq.
"I believe we ought to do it
with discretion. I have been in
oppressed nations and people
need to be liberated. The US.
can help make a democracy"
said Thompson of the pending
war with Iraq.
War veterans that attended
the event to honor Thompson
received Pendleton blankets and
other gifts.
Other attendees received
gifts for their support of Th
ompson. Thompson has been the log
ging contractor supervisor at the
Warm Springs mill for the last
seven years.
i i 1
in scnooi
01 uaucauun
student's dismissal from school
for 10 days or under. JCMS
found alternative forms of sus
pension. One alternative was keeping
suspension in school. Another,
says Adams, was putting more
focus on working proactively
with parents and kids.
Still, Ritter said, schools need
to be kept in check. Handing out
pamphlets on state law, he in
formed the audience on their
student and parents rights.
"Schools are like our partners
and sometimes our partners
don't listen. Sometimes they need
to be shaken up," Ritter ex
plained. To keep these kids out of jail,
he said, it means more work for
parents and school staff.
Me encouraged parents to go
talk to teachers and visit class
rooms. If they are intimidated,
Ritter suggested they bring
friends and know their rights.
If a parent does not attend a
suspension hearing or other ac
tion against a student, he sug
gested the teacher go to the
house and directly talk to the
parents.
For additional information
contact John Ritter, education
program specialist for the Or
egon Department of Education,
at john.ritterstate.or.us or
(503) 378-3600, ex. 2364.
Page 3
Community
opinion
Are you for or
against the
pending war in
Iraq?
"I don't think we
need it. Look how
many of our tribal
members are over
there."
Joannie Seiam
"For it, yes, but I
think they should have
taken him out the first
time. He's gassed his
own people and killed
his own soldiers."
Tom Kalama
"I want to support
our kids over there
but I don't want a
war.
Cassie Katchia
"Yes, I support it, but I
think they should have
vaporized him the first
time.
Mark Stevens
"I'm against it. I don't
think the US. has any
business over there."
Kenny Sahme
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