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Coyote News, est. 1976 December 25, 2003 Vol. 28, No. 26
1 VI
Culture Enrichment Club starts young
By D. "Bing" Bingham
Spilyay Tymoo
Perhaps more than any other school
in the state, Madras High School is
known for the diversity of it's cultures.
That's why the high school Culture
Enrichment Club is so important.
"To me culture is a really big thing
in school," says Paul Scott, tribal mem
ber and president of the club. "We're
the only school, I think anywhere, that
has it. Not even colleges have this va
riety of culture."
He continues, "You're walking down
Tribes
to review
youth
programs
(AP) - Tribal officials are propos
ing a sweeping review of child safety
programs, in response to the series in
The Oregonian that detailed the deaths
of children and teenagers from the res
ervation. "We're confident we can deal appro
priately with these problems and solve
many of them, if not most of them,"
said Charles Jackson, Secretary-Treasurer
of Warm Springs. "We're com
mitted to doing that for the sake of
our community. ... I can't imagine there
is anyone in our community who does
not want to see the very best for our
kids."
The Oregonian reported that high
rates of traffic deaths, lapses by the
reservation's child welfare system and
alcohol and drug abuse contributed to
a Warm Springs child death rate that is
nearly twice that of Native American
youths nationwide.
Jackson and Willy Fuentes, the
tribes' Chief Operations Officer, said
the tribes have been addressing many
of the problems for decades.
"We are in fact doing something
here," Jackson said. "We are not just
sitting around neglecting the needs of
our kids."
Jackson and Fuentes said the pro
posals include increased enforcement
of seat belt and child safety seat laws.
Fuentes said tribal police have been
ordered this week to include seat belt
checks as part of recendy revived so
briety checkpoints.
They will also recommend the re
view of all Warm Springs deaths, in
cluding those dating to the late 1980s,
to seek ways to reduce mortality rates,
as well as more support for commu
nity members and spiritual leaders who
work to help children and families.
Jackson and Fuentes will also pro
pose an examination of existing child
welfare policies.
The tribes' child welfare officials
struggle to help families fractured by
poverty and substance abuse.
See CHILD WELFARE oh 14
the hall and you see groups of people
and they don't talk to anyone else be
sides their group. I don't like that. It
makes me uncomfortable when I come
to school."
A few years ago there was a cultural
diversity program that started in the
Jefferson County Middle School.
"We saw a separation of the Na
tive, Hispanic and Whites. They were
in their own little groups," says Foster
J. Kalama, staff advisor to the Cultural
Enrichment Club. "They were coming
against each other in gang activity."
Kalama rounded up some native
kids who were interested in the flute.
Martha Rios gathered some hispanic
dancers, and Jackie Koga applied her
music skills. The first year together was
rocky, but everyone persisted.
"All of a sudden the kids started
becoming interested in the dances they
were doing," Kalama says.
Before long young dancers were
pulling others out of the audience to
dance. Soon young dancers were ask
ing to dance with different groups. The
kids were mixing themselves.
"They were laughing and holding
hands and enjoying each other's dance
and company. It actually took us to a
different level for our kids," Kalama
says.
The dancers got so good at it they
performed in Portland at a confer
ence for school administrators from
around Oregon. The kids enjoyed
themselves when they weren't per
forming by going to the movies, and
to Oregon Museum of Science and
Industry.
See CULTURE on page 9
Sisters pursuing their dreams
b iM -r j
- I 1
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Bing BinghanvSpilyay
The Jackson sisters of Redmond High School: Kalliah, Aiyana and Halona (from left).
By D. "Bing" Bingham
Spilyay Tymoo
Sitting across the table from the
Jackson sisters is like being next to
a whirlwind. One moment they're
so busy chatting in their own sisterly
language they barely notice anyone
else in the room. The next, they
speak clearly and precisely about
what's important to them and where
they want to go. When they're fin
ished, they're happily back to their
sisterly chat and bustling about their
day.
It would be easy to see these
young stand-outs as group. They
play soccer on the same team at
Redmond High School. They sing.
They're active in church.
Yet each is distincdy different.
Kalliah is the middle sister and
she's a dreamer.
"I want to go all the way with my
art," she says. "It's the thing I most
enjoy."
She wants to sing, dance and play
electric guitar. When she talks about
what she wants to do more than any
thing, her eyes shine: "I just want to
go up on stage and bust it out!"
She describes herself as a musical
eclectic.
"I'm looking at R&B, rock, blues
and pop... I like all kinds of music,"
she says. "That's what I want to do for
my first demo CD."
Kalliah is quick to credit her hero,
Jesus Christ, for her gift.
"His music is the strongest I can sing,
and that's when I mostly get into it,"
she goes on. "I'll hit notes I could never
hit before."
Aiyana, the eldest sister, is the in
tense one.
She enjoys singing too, but her tastes
run to classical music, opera and for
eign languages.
"I enjoy pop," she says, "but I like
singing classical better."
As much as she enjoys singing, she
admits it's probably not a career op
tion. "Honesdy, I like performing with my
little sisters better than I like perform
ing by myself," she admits.
What excites her is sports, particu
larly soccer. She is also interested in
medicine, Combining them would be
the best of all worlds.
"As an athlete myself, I know how
important it is - having gotten hurt
before - to be injured and not able
to play," she says.
"I know how important it is to
recover as quickly as possible and,
maybe, go back into play, but con
tinuing your recovery process and
keeping the physical therapy going
and stretching to make sure you
don't get re-injured."
She has an application in for
Whitman College in Spokane, one of
the top sports medicine schools in
the country. And she has her eye on
Europe as well.
"American soccer stinks," she ad
mits. European soccer, she says, is
really happening.
"It blows me out of the water.
Some of the best players in the
world on the field trying to out-smart
and out physically perform each
other."
She doesn't doubt that eventually
American soccer will be operating at
the European level - but for now
it's not.
Her intensity shows on the local
soccer fields:
See SISTERS on page 14
Boys and Girls Club to re-open in February
The Boys and Girls Club Warm
Springs Branch is set to open in early
February. The club will be housed, at
the music room of the Warm Springs
Elementary School.
"We're very happy to be able to part
ner with the elementary school," said
Gayle Rodgers, director of Warm
Springs Social Services.
Earlier this month the Warm
Springs Housing Authority contributed
$60,000 to the Warm Springs branch
of the Boys and Girls Club. This gen
erous contribution, to last one year, will
help the club resume activities in Feb
ruary, said Rodgers.
The Housing Authority, said
Rodgers, "really stepped up to the plate
and did the best thing for the commu
nity." The club also receives $30,000 from
the national office of the Boys and
Girls Club.
There are currently two part-time
positions, and one full-time director
position open at the Warm Springs Boys
and Girls Club. Applications are avail
able through the Personnel Office.
The Boys and Girls operated for its
first couple of years in Warm Springs
at the Community Center. The club
closed this fall, but is now back on track
for re-opening, said Rodgers.
When the club resumes in Febru
ary, the focus will be on kids in kinder
garten through fourth grade. This is why
the elementary school is the ideal loca
tion for the club, he said.
The school has an enrollment of
about 350 students, and that will be the
target number the Boys and Girls Club
hopes to serve, said Rodgers.
"We don't know how many kids we'll
get," he said. "If we have fun and ex
citing programs, then we'll have a lot
of kids."
Having the club housed at the el
ementary school is common for Boys
and Girls clubs. The one in Madras,
for instance, is at an elementary school.
"It's a good fit," said Rodgers.
See CLUB on page 14
$601,000
budget cut
next year
The Confederated Tribes are plan
ning to implement a budget reduction
totaling $601,000 for 2004. The cuts
are expected to be made by mid Janu
ary. A majority of the reduction - 62
percent, or roughly $400,000 - is to
come from tribal operations, under the
Chief Operations Officer. Another 23
percent is to come from the Secretary
Treasurer and Administrative Support
Services.
Nine percent is to come from Tribal
Council, committees and the courts; and
7 percent from general and adminis
tration. The Tribal Council resolution says
these reductions are to be in effect by
Jan. 19, 2004. .
If all necessary reductions are not
made by that time, then the Secretary
Treasurer is directed to implement the
reductions.
See BUDGET on page 11
Chemawa
staff placed
on leave
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Staff mem
bers at the Chemawa Indian federal
boarding school have been placed on
administrative leave .pending a crimi
nal investigation into the recent death
of a teenager at the Salem campus,
school officials said.
The Oregonian newspaper reported
over the weekend that officials at the
school "will hold people accountable"
for the death. School board chair Willie
Templeton told the newspaper that he
has not seen investigative reports, and
could not discuss the specific circum
stances surrounding the Dec. 6 death
of Cindy Gilbert Sohappy.
The 16-year-old had been placed in
one of the school's holding cells. The
cells reportedly are for unruly or in
toxicated students.
"This is a serious matter," said
Templeton, who is director of Native
Student Service at the University of
Alaska in Anchorage. "Something needs
to be done. But we need an objective,
outside person to come in and look at
it, and I think that is what is happening
now."
Friends said Sohappy had been put
in the holding cell because she was in
toxicated. In the two weeks since her
death, neither the Chemawa adminis
trators who were responsible for
Sohappy's safekeeping nor the federal
investigators looking into her death
have offered any explanation of what
killed her.
As early as 1990, public safety offi
cials expressed concern about the
Chemawa cells.
In May of that year, Salem Fire
Department officials ordered Chemawa
to stop locking up students in the four
cell facility, which had opened the pre
vious year. Salem officials wanted the
locks removed from the cells, so the
students could leave freely in case of
emergencies.
Chemawa officials at the time dis
puted the city's jurisdiction because the
school is on federal properly but said
they would make improvements to
bring the facility up to code, and prom
ised to install fire alarms ami sprinklers.
Jan Bayless, the Salem fire marshal,
said Friday that she had reviewed the
records, and that the school had modi
fied the cells to address the issues,
See CHEMAWA on page 14