Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2004)
Council election results See the election flyer in this newspaper for results of the Tribal Council election. P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 ECRWSS Postal Patron Warm Springs, OR 97761 U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 Coyote News, est. 1976 April 1, 2004 Vol. 29, No. 7 50 cents Spilygy fyrooQ Tribes begin casino talks (AP) - Leaders of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs have written to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, asking him to start negotiations on the building of a Columbia River casino. In the letter, Garland Brunoe, chair man of the Tribal Council, explains that the confederation has the right to build on casino-eligible trust land just east of Hood River, which residents oppose. The other option, he writes, is to build on nonreservation land in nearby Cascade Locks, which would require the governor's approval. The Confederated Tribes have been planning to develop a new casino since before Gov. John Kitzhaber let office in January 2003. Brunoe noted that un employment on the reservation is at 60 percent. The Warm Springs' exist ing Kah-Nee-Ta I ligh Desert Resort & Casino was always considered a "tem porary facility" and its revenue is in sufficient to support the tribe, he writes. Cascade Locks residents generally support a venture that would bring jobs snd tourism to the economically de- -pressed area. Mary Ellen Glynn, spokeswoman for the governor, said the Confeder ated Tribes own land in Hood River "where they do have a right to build a casino, and we'll be looking at that." She said federal law requires the gov ernor to discuss the issue with the tribes. Of the recent developments, Hood River County Commissioner Carol York said, "To me, it's great news. It means we will get an answer one way or another." York and most Hood River residents are against the site east of town. The location is near the Mark Hatfield trailhead and in the national scenic area. She promoted the Cascade Locks site and next month plans to take that mes sage to Kulongoski. Cascade Locks City Manager Bob Willoughby said city officials will con tinue to push for the casino. Students land on their By D. "Bing" Bingham Spiljaj Tymoo The most difficult thing about Antone Moody's day as a sixth grader in Maupin is the 20-minute ride from Simnasho to the bus stop. "It's a long ride and I get tired of sitting. If it's snowing," he says, "it gets really icy." Once he gets to school, he's fine. "It's cool here, school is fun," he says. Well, maybe not all fun, but mostly fun. Some classes are harder than oth ers. Mixed numbers and fractions in math aren't that great, but spelling is fine. For a good time, though, he rec ommends tackle football or basketball. A few years back the 509-J School District decided to close the Simnasho School because of dwindling student numbers. Increasingly, parents who worked in Warm Springs were taking dieir children into town when diey went to work. Continued operation of the school was no longer viable, because of the cost. "When the school board decided to close the school, the two older bovs. -wmmm f " sstyrr iyny in w ii .I, i I -iitn ; " (l ''" . " V ' ' ' : i4 ... ' , .'. . ::' I JZ?Miiiafaaafcitoi.i..;,, - . rf, ,..JtlM a. li I KimMiiifcumin Mary Danzuka prepares roots for the feast at the Agency Longhouse. The March 28, at the Agency and Simnasho longhouses. Tribal fish commission against BPA plan for dams The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission lias denounced the Bonneville Power Administration's proposal to cut salmon-protective measures at The Dalles, Bonneville, John Day and Ice Harbor dams. The commission says the BPA plan to cut summer spill over the dams could kill 140,000 fish. "The bottom line is that BPA's m mi During a break from classes at Maupin, Antone and I luston, for their own rea sons, decided they didn't want to go to Warm Springs," says Captain Moody. Captain and Winnona Moodv de cided they would support their children and honor their wishes. They pulled Huston and Antone out of class and i I rr "5 plan sets the stage to sell out North west fisheries and salmon restoration efforts," said Harold Blackwolf Sr., chairman of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC). "The region is only beginning to re alize benefits from decades of hard work and sacrifice for robust returns," said Blackwolf. He said the BPA proposal was a "get feet in different school district i - - 4. j. Bing BmghamSpriyay Kelly Moody plays a game of chess. home schooled them for a year. Then the Moody family began to consider: Maupin is 23 miles from Simnasho, and Warm Springs is 25. "I f my boys would have had to have gone to Madras for school, it would have been 40 miles, one wav," savs Dave McMechanSpilyay root feast was held on Sunday, rich quick" plan that "might return us to the dark ages." BPA's dam operation plan includes reducing or eliminating summer water spill programs that help juvenile salmon navigate through federal dams en route to the sea. CRITFC scientists estimate that 140,000 fish could perish as a result of the spill reduction. Captain. Convienence was part of the equa tion. Class size was another part. "We looked at the smallness of the school and the classroom sizes: 19 kids, 18, 17. You know, that appealed to us in what we're looking for." The final piece of the puzzle was the state ratings for the southern Wasco County school district. A few years back the entire district was dragging along the bottom with many other underfunded schools. These days they are consistantly rated among the top in the state. Captain and Winnona Moody approached Tom Rinearson, superin tendent of schools in southern Wasco County, about their children getting into the system. I le said, essentially, it was fine with him if they could get permis sion from 509-J. No small thing. Because of the way schools are funded in Oregon, a school district gains, or loses, state funding based on the number of children in the district. Each district has about $5,000 (more if there's special educa tion involved worth of state funding per year riding on the head of each Return of a tradition (Indian naming ceremonies happen of ten among members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The same is not true of other tribes. Grand Ronde, for instance, earlier this jear held its first naming ceremony in recent memory. The event had connections to Warm Springs, as the following article de scribes.) By Ron Karten It was the first naming ceremony that anybody could remember happen ing in Grand Ronde. Tribal member James I lolmes, long known around the family as 'Rabbit,' was at last given an Indian name - We-la-Iik in the Wasco tongue and Wa-la-lik in the Sahaptin tongue - each a variation on the In dian word for "rabbit." Wasco and Sahaptin are languages of the Confed erated Tribes of Warm Springs. The former Larry Dick, member of the Wasco Tribe, now exclusively using his Indian given name, Taaw-lec-winch, meaning 'life,' led the ceremony. He learned his craft from Wasco Chief Nelson Wallulatum. Wallulatum, also in attendance, led some of the sotigs. The ceremony could have taken place at the Warm Springs Reservation, where traditions such as the naming ceremony have been honored unbro ken for centuries, but We-la-lik said that his father, Tribal Elder Merle Holmes, had insisted that the ceremony take place here in Grand Ronde. t, When he was deciding whether to have the naming ceremony, Taaw-lee-winch told him, "Make his name offi cial." When he was deciding whether to hold the ceremony in Grand Ronde, delegations from other tribes told I lolmes, "Let us know and we'll come." Please see NAMING on page 1 1 "This plan reneges on tribal treaty rights and BPA's obligation to treat fish and electric power as equals," said Olney Patt Jr., executive director of CRITFC. "It chops away at salmon res toration progress so critical to our tribes' cultures and economies, and to the entire Pacific Northwest." CRITFC represents the four treaty tribal confederations of the Columbia. child. In the case of Maupin, if 20 stu dents wanted to cross the boundary into the 509-J School District, that would mean a loss of about $100,000 - more than their entire athletic budget, or funding for a teacher and an aide. "I listorically, way back before I got here, there was an unwritten agreement between the two school districts, that we would accept about the same num ber of kids here that they accepted from our district," said Rinearson. So the argument was on between the Moody family of Simnasho and the board of directors for 509-J. There were countless appearances and expla nations before the board. Ixtters flew back and forth. Some even landed on the desk of Susan Castillo, State Su perintendent of Public Instruction. Finally, the 509-J board relented. Permission was given - partially. "We have to get permission every year, but we've kind of grandfathered our way into where we won't be de nied unless we choose to go back to 509-J," says Captain. See STUDENTS on page 11