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
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Warm Springs, OR 97761
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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 ;
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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