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75
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v. 29
no. 11
May 27.
004
Jniversity of Oreqon Library
Received oni 06-02-04
-Spilyay tyioo.
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
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Coyote News, est. 1976
May 27, 2004 Vol. 29, No. 11
Spilyw
yrooo
Large
gathering
on issue of
chieftainship
There was a large turnout of people
at the Agency Longhouse last Saturday.
There were memorials in the morning,
and then a lunch.
A meeting regarding the future of
the Wasco Chieftainship had been
scheduled for the afternoon, but the
meeting was cancelled. Chief Nelson
Wallulatum had to attend a service for
a friend at Grand Rondc. Whether the
chieftainship meeting will be re-scheduled
is not yet determined.
At the gathering on Saturday, Chief
Wallulatum made available to the
people information on the history -both
ancient and more recent history
- pertaining to the issue of the chief
tainship. One of the documents available was
in regard to the ethnology of the Wasco
people, from the time when the tribe
lived at the Columbia.
Chief Wallulatum also had copies of
the part of the Confederated Tribes'
Constitution that has to do with the
succession of a new chief, and the ap
portionment of the three districts of
the reservation. The Constitution says,
"the chiefs shall serve for life, and their
successors shall be selected in accor
dance with tribal custom."
Chief Wallulatum also had available
copies of the minutes of a meeting held
in 1988 regarding the succession of the
- . Wasco Chieftainship. At the meeting
" tribal members stated the qualities that
they wished to see in the person who
succeeds to the chieftainship.
Campaign
to increase
reservation
phone service
(AP) - Qwest Communications has
launched a campaign to raise aware
ness of its low-cost telephone service
for the Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs after the Federal Communica
tions Commission found many tribal
. areas were underserved.
The program provides access to
basic local telephone service at rates
as low as f 1 per month.
Yvonne Iverson, community health
manager for the Warm Springs Tribal
' Community Health Program, said she
expects the public service campaign will
help about 2,500 residents who do not
have phones.
"A lot of them live in remote areas
that are not close to the clinic or don't
have a neighbor where they can go next
door and grt help," Iverson said.
"I really worry about the people who
live in Simnasho and Seeksequa, the
rural areas about 15 or 20 miles or
more from the clinic, if they have no
phone or transportation," she said.
Iverson said she did not know how
many Warm Springs residents have
taken advantage of the program. She
started helping them get access in Janu
ary 2002 but it took her about four
months to work through problems get
ting people enrolled. Now she gets
fewer complaints about Qwest service
from residents trying to enroll in the
program.
"A lot of people were denied at first,"
Iverson said. "They were told they
didn't live on a reservation because the
computer was not set up to recognize
us. It took a lot of work on Qwest's
part"
If you are interested in learning
more about this program, contact
Qwest 1-800-244-1 1 1 1. Also, program
applications are available at IHS.
V- & A- - , m be X
p f J t k ' i
Dave McMechanSpllyay
This year Mallory Aurel Smith (at back), Anessia Marie Sam and Revonne
Johnson (right) are candidates of the Pi-Ume-Sha Court. (For their
statements see page 7). Other candidates this year are Keshena
Stevens and Roshanda Clements-Poitra (Junior Court), and Winona
Tohet, Ada Polk and Kaylynn Wolfe (Senior Court).
I Clinic 'director retires
By Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tjmoo
Russ Alger is retiring this week
as director of the Warm Springs
Indian Health Services clinic. Alger
has been with II IS in Warm Springs
for the past 21 years. During that
time, health care on the reservation
has seen great improvement.
Construction of the Health and
Wellness Center ten years ago, for
example, was a big step forward.
And the wellness center continues
to improve in many ways, from hir
ing the best-qualified staff, to the
use of the latest health care tech
nology. Alger has helped in bringing about
many of these changes. And he has
made many friends along the way.
His last day on the job is May 28.
Alger grew up in Fall Creek, and
graduated high school from Oak
Ridge, These are rural towns in the
central Willamette Valley near
Springfield and Eugene. After high
school he joined the Navy, and was
on active duty for two years. He
then went to college at Oregon State,
Quaid joins 509-J school district
Julie Quaid has joined the
Jefferson County 509-J School Dis
trict Board of Directors. Quaid
works for the Warm Springs Edu
cation Branch.
She was appointed to the school
district board earlier this month, af
ter former board member Wayne
Marshall resigned.
Quaid ran for the school board
earlier this year, but missed it by just
six votes. As the next runner-up, she
was appointed by the board to fill
the vacancy when it came open.
There are now two tribal mem
bers on the school board: Quaid and
Jeff Sanders, giving the tribes good
representation on the five-member
board.
Quaid said that while both she and
Sanders are tribal members, they will
not necessarily agree on all issues that
come before the school board.
"I became interested in serving
where he got his pharmacy degree.
His first job with an Indian tribe
was in the state of Washington, with
the Quinalt Nation. There he worked
as chief pharmacist and director of
lab and x-ray. Alger worked at
Quinalt from 1975 until 1983, when
he took the job of chief pharma
cist at the Warm Springs IHS clinic.
Alger was the Warm Springs clinic
chief pharmacist for eight years, and
then in 1991 he became the Warm
Springs II IS clinic director, or chief
executive officer, as the job is called
today.
He became clinic director at the
time when the tribes and IHS were
planning to build the new clinic. At
the time the clinic was housed in the
building that is now the Family Re
source Center. The tribes' health care
needs had clearly outgrown this fa
cility, which was built in 1935.
The new clinic was constructed
in 1993. This was the biggest change
that Alger has seen in the health care
program on the reservation over the
past two decades.
See ALGER on page 11
i
Julie Quaid
on the board because 1 see that the dis
trict and the tribes need to work to
gether at reallv providing a good qual
School liaisons
help students adjust
By D. "Bing" Bingham
Spilyay Tymoo
The situation is improving for Na
tive kids going to school in Madras.
Thc509-J School District tribal liaisons
agree that it's not perfect, but it's get
ting better.
Butch David works at the middle
school. He feels one of the toughest
times young tribal members face is
when they transfer from Warm Springs
r.lcmentary to the middle school. For
many children it's the first time they've
been off the reservation outside of
family trips.
"A lot of kids come in here after
the 5th grade and they're nervous. They
really don't know what to expect from
school. It has to be scary," he says. "It's
up to us to make them feel welcome
so they want to be here. Just because
it's in Madras doesn't mean it's not
their school."
On the first day children are met
on the busses and told what needs to
be done. After that, regular trips to
classrooms and responding to questions
helps the child adjust.
Part of the middle school's scary
reputation comes from the past.
"When I first started here the
middle school looked like a prison, the
steel walls, hardly any windows. That
was my personal experience," says
David. "So how many parents think the
same thing?" " ":
David recommends to Warm
Springs parents: "Come in and see for
yourself. We're always trying to get the
best teachers that we possibly can. We're
trying to make teachers more cultur
ally oriented. There are a lot of new
teachers interested in Warm Springs."
Geographic and cultural isolation
create problems for reservation youth.
During their young lives they are not
exposed to large numbers of white and
Latino peers. This puts them slightly
behind in understanding how the world
works off the reservation. The native
kids cultural integration skills are not
the same as the Madras kids who've
been dealing with other cultures all their
young lives.
According to David, the young tribal
members tend to hang out with each
other Until they figure out the other kids
aren't so bad.
"I don't see it as a problem," he says.
"It takes some kids longer to adapt
than others, but it's one thing we have
to overcome."
For David, the big problem is the
lack of updated parental contact infor
mation. Some parents move or change
their phone numbers and don't change
ity education for our kids in Warm
Springs, and all the kids in the district,"
said Quaid.
"I have a good understanding of
what it takes to deliver a good educa
tion in a rural community."
Quaid has served on the school dis
trict budget committee and the school
Diversity Council. She's worked on the
teen parenting program advisory board,
and the school district and Warm
Springs Elementary School site coun
cils. She also served on the shool facili
ties planning committee at the time
when the construction work at the high
school was in the planning stages.
She also has kids of her own who
have gone through the 509-J district
schools.
Search for new superintendent
The school district board meets the
second and fourth Mondays of the
month at 7:30 p.m. The meeting room
their contact information at the school.
"In case of an emergency, we need
to contact somebody," he says. "We
might know where they live, but if it
was a critical emergency wc wouldn't
be able to get there for 20 minutes. VX'e
need to be able to find updated infor
mation." I le goes on, "We call home and they
don't live there anymore and the phone
number has been changed to an un
listed number. I understand - we're
attendance people and nobody wants
to hear from us because we're like the
bill collector."
It's understandable, but it doesn't
help the child much in an emergency.
This year Native American attendance
at the middle school is hovering near
the 90 percent mark - up from previ
ous years. The school district is stretch
ing to accommodate young Indians.
"We've put up our tribal flag in the
commons which is the first time since
the building has been up," David says.
"We've painted murals on the wall and
more Native American things are
going up elsewhere."
No matter what culture a child is
from, the middle school years are a
tough time. Boys are finding out about
girls and girls are finding out about
boys.
I lormones are in full flow one day
and practically, shut off the next. In
between the kids arc trying to figure
out where their boundaries are going
to be.
"Do the kids want to walk the bad
side of the fence or the good side?"
asked David. "In middle school
they're on both sides of the fence.
One day you're on the good side, the
next the bad. That's just life."
To the parents on the reservation,
he says, "Just support us and we'll sup
port you."
So the native kids are learning in the
middle school, the test scores are go
ing up, attendance is up and the ad
ministration is looking for ways to be
more inclusive.
Lana Leonard is the junior tribal li
aison. She divides her time between the
middle school and the high school. She
admits the job is tougher than she
thought it would be.
Parental involvement is the big is
sue she sees facing young tribal mem
bers, She feels they need more encour
agement. "It doesn't matter if it's their par
ents, bigger brother or sister, grandma,
grandpa, any kind of involvement," she
says.
See SCHOOL on page 1 1
board
is at the district support services build
ing. One issue coming before the board
early in the summer will be the school
district budget for 2004-05.
The budget committee has devel
oped a recommendation that the board
will consider in June.
Another important upcoming item
on the district agenda is the hiring of a
new superintendent, as Phil Riley has
announced his retirement. The assis
tant superintendent Keith Johnson has
a one-year agreement to serve as the
interim superintendent.
The board has advertised the super
intendent job once before. A screening
committee looked at 14 applications,
and recommended five to the board.
Two applicants dropped out and the
board was not comfortable hiring from
the pool of the remaining three.
So the plan is to re-advertise the job,
and then look again in the fall.
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