E Coosh EEWA: The vvy it is
Page 4 Spilyay Tymoo February 5, 2004 '
Powwowshave
changed over the years Great home
Letters to the Editor
Voplc
By Si J Miller
Spilyay Publisher limtrilus
will be on the road again for another powwow
season. There are a lot of bucks that can be made follow
ing the powwow trail. One has to be consistent in winning
dance contests. Some people almost make there way from
I want to publicly thank the
Warm Springs Credit Depart
ment and Palm Harbor Homes
of Redmond for helping to
make my dream of owning a
home become a reality.
From the moment that I
( .
Spilyay
Speaks
powwow to powwow by winning a contest wherever they stepped onto the lot at Palm
I larbor Village, I was treated as
a member of their
family. Sunny Allen, Teashya
Padbury, Steve Bray, Beverly
Abbot and the entire gang were
great fun to work with. They
understood that I was making
an important decision in my life,
and they did everything they
could to make me feel comfort
able with my decisions.
I first stopped at Palm Har
bor just to dream, honestly. I
wanted to look at homes to give
me something to shoot for in
the future. Sunny pulled me
aside and she explained to me
that it wasn't impossible to own
my own home right now. She
helped me from beginning to
end, filing for my credit report,
applying for a home loan with
the tribes, etc.
It wasn't easy to get into my
new home, but Palm Harbor was
there for me through it all -even
if all I needed was a little
reassurance.
Now I feel truly
blessed. Sometimes I need to
pinch myself to make sure that
I'm awake and sitting in my own
living room. I have trouble
sleeping at night because I feel
like I'm sleeping in somebody
else's home - and that's a good
thing.
I know that this is the miracle
of being a Native American;
these are the blessings that come
when we listen to our elders and
work hard; this dream never
would have come true for me
if had never given up my old
ways.
Thanks to the Warm Springs
Credit Department; you've been
wonderful, Joann; thank you to
Chilkat; thanks to Kevin and the
gang; and to General Electric
for the superior security system.
Thanks to my family - Myrna,
Travis, Amy, Michael, Kendall
- for the security cameras.
And again it can be a pretty tough way and
costly if one doesn't win at all. People even
become stranded in different places and have
to make loans to get home. It is up to the
individual if he wants to make the powwows
or not. Chances are they will go to the powwow anyway
even if they know they don't stand a chance of winning.
The contests range from all age groups right down to the
tiny tots on up the senior citizen group.
The various categories for the ladies go from fancy danc
ing, the jingle dress dance, the round dance, shawl dance
and the traditional groups, team dancing. The men's con
tests range for all age groups for fancy dancing, the grass
dance, the traditional, team dancing, owl dance and the
rabbit dance. Can't forget the big crowd pleaser, "The
Wanna Be" dance contest at Pi-Umc-Sha. There is the fluffy
dance contest and just a few enter the event and most of
them shouldn't be in the fluffy category. There should be a
weight limit to enter. During the fluffy contest you see all
the fluffy guys sitting in the bleachers. Maybe they are so
fluffy they think thev can't last one dance. Just too much
"man."
Well anyway it's just an added event for entertainment
for the powwow fans. I can remember back to when I was
just a cute little tyke, all the powwows were completely
different. There were no cash contests of any kind. The
powwows were mainly social affairs, where all the tribes
men got together and had a grand oF time. This is where a
lot of people did some "Chash-Wi-Cha," and it was a great
honor to be able to sing and drum for the dances.
All partner dances were set for ladies choice, to choose
a man for a partner to dance with. These dances were the
owl dance and the rabbit dance. They even had a skip
dance where two ladies would go skipping around the arena
and a man would get between them and skip along. Of
course, these were all for fun and for everyone to enjoy
themselves.
Today "money talks." Before anyone docs anything they
want pay. Another thing that kills the interest in the pow-'
wow is everyone has to stand to honor, this .or, that and
that's all a "bunch of bunk." We go to the powwows to
watch and enjoy the dancing and that's the way it should
be. The only time people should stand is during the sev
enth inning stretch.
And that's all I got to say about that.
Ahh-na-chi-toon!
Toe Ness
There was this guy limping down the road, and one guy said
to the other, "hey! Look at that guy, "not even," yikes!
If you're looking to buy your
own home, I would highly rec
ommend Palm Harbor. If you
want to stop by and see what
my home looks like, give me a
call.
Sincerely, Frederick Duran
Bobb Skw'Iapt
Thrift Shop
The Warm Springs Thrift
ing letters of encouragement
and letters to just say hi, here is
his address; Nathan Berry
T.57502,E1-128, P.O. Box
3300, Wasco, CA.93280.
Thanks to all who have shown
your support for my son. God
bless you all. Bobbi Jo Berry
Fix lights
We have burnt out
Shop is asking for donations of streetlights within the Simnasho
winter clothes; coats, snowsuits, Community. Something should
gloves, scarves, hankies,
legwarmers, thermals, hooded
sweaters, boots, etc. Bring the
items to 2107 Wasco St., Monday-Friday,
8 a.m. -5 p.m. It
would also be helpful if they
were washed.
In February we will be hav
ing a raffle drawing for a Valen
tines basket. When you come
into the store you will win a free
ticket for each $10 you spend
in the Thrift Shop. The drawing
will be held Feb. 14. Need to be
present to win.
Thank you, Warm Springs,
Simnasho, High Lookee Lodge,
Simnasho Community Church,
for all your donations. It is
greatly appreciated. For more
information on the donadons,
please call Rena at 553-2287.
Sincerely,
Rena Suppah-Gomez.
Truancy board
We need more interested
community members for the
Community Truancy Board
Meetings. It is very important
to make sure our children get
their education and this is one
way to help them out. We meet
every third Wednesday at 6-8
p.m. at the Family Resource
Center. We have had one fam
ily come through the Truancy
Board with positive results for
the student. Butch David in
forms me that we have one fam
ily maybe two families to go
through the community truancy
board. So Please get involved.
Flossie Wolfe
Doing well
Hello to all, I would like to
let friends and family know that
Nate is doing well and says hi to
all. If you are interested in writ-
be done to correct this, and the
problem has been brought to
the attention of local law en
forcement. What are all of you
waiting for, someone to get hit
by a moving vehicle and possi
bly killed before the lights are
repaired? Don't wait for a loss
of life before we get our
streetlights fixed. Thank you,
Phillip G. David
Appreciated
.Thank you Lyle Katchia for
plowing my driveway along with
everyone else at Sunnyside. It
was greatly appreciated.
Marcella Hall
Thank you
Soon it will be four months
since my daughter passed away,
and I still find it hard to sit down
and write a letter about her. I
want to thank everyone that
came to be support to my fam
ily and me during the funeral of
my youngest daughter. Heart
felt thanks to Wilson Wewa and
Wilford Jim for officiating, the
drummers, Rosie Johnson for
assisting me with the dressing.
Geri Jim for making the dresses,
the cooks, Candace Smith, Bar
bara Jim, Susie Moody, Minnie
Johnson, all the kitchen helpers.
Cy Jim for his fish, Geri for the
people that called and wanted
to be here but couldn't make it.
Thanks to everyone that
came to pay their respects, they
were like medicine to me.
Thanks to my big brothers
Samual and Larry being near by
to help me out. Thanks to my
daughter Kim for giving her
furniture to Alvin since he gave
his up. Thanks to Solo and
Martha for the beautiful couch
and Kim for giving me her din
ing room set.
I don't have the names of
everyone who brought me things
like dish sets, pots and pans, lin
ens, coffee makers. A table and
chairs from Morningstar. Every
thing that was given to me was
like gifts from the heart. If I
failed to mention your name
please excuse me. I also extend
my deepest sympathy to all the
families who lost their loved
ones recently, each person was
a big loss to our people.
Sincerely, Ramona Starr
Schuster. PS. Who gave the
newspaper the right to come in
and put us in the newspaper? I
thought it was insensitive to
those who lost their loved
one.No one approached me and
asked if they could put that pic
ture on the front page as we
were on our way to the burial
grounds with my daughter. That
was part of a tradidonal funeral
and that wasn't right.
More LETTERS on page 11
Apologies,
I am sorry for my poor judg
ment. I was wrong thinking I
was not that intoxicated that
night. I thought I was able to
drive but I was wrong. I could
haye, .hurt, myself fpr,som.epne,,
, , c , . ci j This won't happen again. EAD
dried fash, Auntie Evelyn and . :uj:' 1,1 - b .: . .. .
Rose for the roots, berries, eels.
Joann Smith for the apples,
Everett and Phyllis Griffith for
Kool-aid, flour, potatoes and
things. Thanks to the Moses
Family for bringing my
daughter's boyfriend Adrian
over for the funeral. Thanks to
the friends who traveled from
Wellpinit and Yakama to pay
their respects. Thanks to all the
I, Stephanie Belgard, apolo
gize to the Housing Department
for my actions that happened on
the night of Oct. 8. S. Belgard.
My behavior on the night of
Dec. 14 at 11:30 p.m. was not
respectable to my family, friends
and the Confederated Tribes.
My apologies to everybody
Floyd C. Frank Sr.
Community Action Team looks forward to new year
By Shawneil Surplus
Community Advocate
As part of our New Years
resolution, the Warm Springs
Community Action Team
(WSCAT) is working to keep the
community updated on our
work as w ell as the povertv in
our region.
The WSCAT has existed since
March 2002. WSCAT is a mem
ber of the Central Oregon Part
nership, and is a local, grass
roots organization that exists to
help reduce poverty and its ef
fects in Warm Springs and in the
greater Central Oregon region.
The year 2003 was an excit
ing one for the CAT. We started
out in January by holding a com
munity meeting to focus our 4
year Action Plan that took ef
fect August 1. Our Action Plan
is available via e-mail (e-mail
marenacopartnership.org),
regular mail (give us a call at
553-3148) or you can stop by
our office in the Plaza and pick
one up.
In February, as a follow up
to our Housing Summit, the
CAT invited Gregg Bourland,
former chairman of the Chev
enne River Sioux, for three days
of presentations to various au
diences on a Uniform Commer
cial Code, and how adopting one
impacted his tribe. The CAT
continues to work with various
tribal departments, the tribal at
torneys and community mem
bers at larce to determine how-
best we could use commercial
law to benefit economic devel
opment, home ownership, and
asset-building in Warm Springs.
This group is currently prepar
ing to present a workshop to
Tribal Council on what we're
learning from other tribes and
our own work.
Over the spring the CAT
brought in John Ritter from the
Department of Education to
speak to the community about
keeping children engaged in
school. I le gave practical advice
on how to keep kids in school -even
those that are struggling.
We have copies of his handouts
at the CAT office, including
pamphlets on the rights of spe
cial needs children and how to
handle expulsion hearings.
This summer the CAT took
off with a number of projects.
We have joined with the Madras
area Community Action Team,
Central Oregon Intergovern
mental Council, the Oregon
Department of Transportation,
and the Governor's office to
work on a Rural Transit project.
This project hopes to coordinate
current transportation efforts
from individual entities so that
all transportation providers and
those in need of transportation
can benefit from reduced costs
and streamlined services.
Another exciting project for
the CAT has been a joint effort
with The Ford Family Founda
tion fn I F) and Rural Devel
opment Initiatives (RDI). TFFF
has commissioned RDI to
present leadership training in
rural areas, and Warm Springs
has been selected to receive this
training. However, upon further
discussion, both organizations
realized that this is a wonderful
opportunity to revamp their cur
riculum and make it more rel
evant to Indian and Hispanic
communities. To that end, com
munity members from Warm
Springs and Madras will not only
be participating in the actual
leadership training later this year
or in the early part of 2005, but
we will be instrumental in help
ing to revise the curriculum. If
you are interested in participat
ing, please contact our office.
The Warm Springs Library
was one of the first projects of
the CAT, but w:e struggled from
the beginning to keep the library
staffed and opened. Fortunately,
that has begun to change and
we have had some exciting de
velopments. Presently the li
brary is open from 3:30 to 6:30
Monday through Thursday. We
are delighted to have some af
ter school hours, but are very
much looking forward to ex
panding those hours and incor
porating some programs. This
year, the Library joined with the
Corvallis campus Oregon State
University library and the
Jefferson County IJbrary Dis
trict to form the Central Oregon
Rural Library Consortium. The
consortium received a grant
from the state in late 2003 and
will be using that grant to auto
mate the Warm Springs Library
and link the three libraries to
gether so that patrons of any
of the libraries can access the
material from the others. Addi
tionally, the CAT is looking to
find funding for a volunteer
coordinator who will help relieve
the staffing (and budget) prob
lem at the library by utilizing vol
unteers from our own commu
nity to staff the library and con
duct programs. If you would
like to volunteer, please contact
Siobhan at our office.
The CAT also continues to
support the Individual Develop
ment Accounts (IDA) Program.
This program is part of the
Housing and Credit Depart
ments of the tribes and is
housed in out office at the Plaza.
If you are interested in starting
a business or purchasing your
first home, call Jack Quinn to
find out about getting the infor
mation you need, and matching
funds for your start up dollars,
at 553-2542.
Finally, to end the year on a
grand note, the CAT assisted the
Boys & Girls Club in finding a
new location and to secure fund
ing from the Housing Depart
ment, but we were also fortu
nate enough to invest another
$5,000 in the endeavor. We are
very excited about the reopen
ing of the Warm Springs Bovs
& Girls Club.
Those are some of the
projects the CAT has been
working on in the past year, and
many will continue to be projects
in the coming year. But based
on what we have heard from
the community, we have even
more projects in the works -thanks
in part to increasing our
staff. In late November,
Marena Florez joined us to as
sist in managing the office and
helping to ensure the smooth
running of things at the CAT.
And we were fortunate to add
Siobhan Cooper who will be tak
ing over some projects, and start
ing new ones.
Among the projects we're
working on for the coming year
is a Work and Life Skills series
of classes to begin in March.
These classes are open to any
one (but class size is limited) and
will focus on a variety of skills
to enhance personal and work
lives. If you are interested in
partnering with the CAT to
brainstorm the list of topics
(and, perhaps, share your exper
tise in one or more of the
classes), contact us at the office.
The list of classes will be avail
able at the beginning of Febru
ary, Finally, the CAT is commit
ted to providing more informa
tion to the community about
poverty in our region and what
we can all do about it. To that
end, we will be providing up
dates on our work, and other
opportunities to get involved, in
the Spilyay Tymoo and on
KWSO. '
Spilyay Tymoo
CCoyote News, Est. 1976)
Publisher Emeritus: Sid Miller
Editor: Dave McMechan
Management Successor: Selena T. Boise
Advertising Manager: Sam Howard
Receptionist: Angie Blackwolf
Media Advisor: Bill Rhoades
Spilyay Tymoo is published bi-weekly by the Confederated Tribes
of Warm Springs. Our offices are located in the white house at 1100
Wasco Street. Any written materials submitted to Spilyay Tymoo
should be addressed to:
Spilyay Tymoo, P.O. Box 870, Warm Springs, OR 97761. Phone:
(541) 553-1644 or 553-3274. FAX No. (541) 553-3539. E-Mail:
spityaytymooOwstribes.org. Annual Subscription rates: Within U.S.:
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