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September- 30, 2004 Vol. 29, No. 20
Coyote News, est. 1976
Great time
at museum
opening
The Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs were well represented at the
opening of the National Museum of
the American Indian. There were 50
or more members of the Confederated
Tribes at the event.
Among those who attended were 44
elders. Each year the elders make one
long outing together, and this year their
outing was to the opening of the mu
seum. Accompanying the elders to the
museum opening were Lucille Schuster,
Lilly Suppah, Wilson Wewa and
Lawrence Squiemphen.
Also, Mary Sando-Emhoolah did a
radio broadcast from the event. The
three chiefs of the Confederated
Tribes, Tribal Council and other repre
sentatives of the tribes were on hand.
They were among the more than
20,000 Indians who were part of the
procession that marked the opening of
the Museum of the American Indian.
"I think our group did well in repre
senting the Confederated Tribes," said
Warren Rudy Clements, director of
Tribal Relations.
The opening-day procession was an
awesome sight, as Indians of many
tribes from across the nation marched
in regalia.
Onlookers cheered as the proces
sion made its way to the new museum
near the U.S. Capitol, and the air was
filled-with the smell of burning sage
and the sounds of drums, bells and
music. Leading the procession was mu
seum director Richard West, wearing a
Cheyenne Indian headdress, along with
Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and
Lawrence Small, the Smithsonian sec
retary. Built at a cost of $214 million, the
sweeping lines represent a communing
with nature as the country's tribal
peoples did. It houses 8,000 objects
from across the Western Hemisphere.
Four million visitors a year are expected
for the museum's movies and music;
paintings, photographs and sculptures;
masks, weapons and animals; jewelry
and medals; even food and plants.
Dave Anderson, who heads the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, said the
museum will allow Indians to open a
new chapter in the United States.
"I look at this whole museum open
ing as an opportunity for healing, for
optimism," he said.
Creston Smith
By D. "Bing" Bingham
Spiljqy Tymoo
Alcoholism is a disease that crosses
every political, economic and racial
boundary. Recovery is difficult but not
impossible. Tribal member Creston Smith
recently shared his thoughts about his
struggles with addiction:
I'm a recovering alcoholic (Smith
said during a recent interview). I par
tied around a lot in high school. In my
teen years I started drinking around.
In eleventh and twelfth grades it got
worse. I graduated in 1988. I've had a
lot of DUI's and drivers license sus
pensions. It was all because I wanted
to have fun. I learned the hard way
that it's a really big deal when you lose
your license. It took me seven years to
pay off something like $9,000 in fines.
Now, I've finally got my license back. I
was lucky to be able to do that
All I wanted to do was go out and
Work starting on
By Dave McMechan
Spilyoy Tymoo
Tribal members are working with
the group Extraordinary Young
People to develop a youth center
and small restaurant in Warm
Springs. The center will be located
in the building on Hollywood Bou
levard that houses the Veterans of
Foreign Wars (VFW) and Ladies
Auxiliary.
The building will be extensively
remodeled, with the plan being to
open the youth center in March
2005, said Matt Burton, chief ex
i
Jason Pichette runs a fire-proof door through a sander at Composite Products.
Steady growth at Composite Products
There are different ways to mea
sure the success of a business. It is
essential for the business to make
money, but there is more to it than
that. "It's important to see the
people working here become
succesful," said Duane Darnell,
chief executive officer of Warm
Springs Composite Products.
Composite Products, a tribal
enterprise, employs 34 people. The
company makes a profit for the
tribes, but Darnell sees Composite
Products as more than just a money
making venture.
He's seen people who work there
Getting sober, staying sober
shares his experiences of
have fun, party with the boys. I didn't
know what was good for me. I should
have known, because I was raised by
my grandparents. But I really didn't pay
attention to my grandparents all that
much. It's why I ended up like that.
My grandma, she used to cry in her
chair when she was trying to get her
whole family to quit drinking. She used
to grab me by the hand all the time. I
wasn't disrespecting her, she raised me
like a mother. I would sit there with
her and pray. We did that over and over
and over for about the 200 or 300 days
out of the year that I was drinking. Fi
nally it hit me. I've been in treatment
twice. I went to treatment in 1992 at
Puyallap Tribal Treatment Center.
My grandmother passed away in
1994 and everything got really hard
after that. I was really attached to that
side of the family, her and my grand
father. They taught me a lot about how
to support yourself and support a fam
ily and support friends. How to pro
ecutive officer of Extraordinary Young
People.
Along with the small restaurant the
youth center will include a study room,
and a game room with DJ booth. The
VFW and Ladies Auxiliary will continue
to use the building for their meetings
and activities.
The remodeling work on the build
ing is beginning this week. Burton and
Jerry Jacoban, district manager of Ex
traordinary Young People, worked with
Tribal Maintenance in assessing the
work that will need to be done on the
building.
The list of improvement projects is
go from not having a checking account,
to buying a home.
One of the reasons why the people
who work at Composite Products like
their jobs is that they are given a lot of
responsibility, said Darnell. They're
given responsibility, and they're trained
at more than one part of the manu
facturing process; so boredom isn't a
problem. Composite Products is the
leading manufacturer of the central
component of fire-proof doors. This
is a highly specialized area of manu
facturing, and Composite Products has
carved out a succesful niche.
The doors are used in hotels, schools
vide and be responsible. I wish I'd have
paid closer attention to that. I didn't
and I'm still learning today. There's a
lot to learn from your elders.
My drinking got so bad (Smith con
tinues) that I'd black out at parties. I'd
drive off from the party and my friends
would try to take my keys away, and I
wouldn't let them. Later on down the
road I'd be off in the ditch across from
the gravel pit on Highway 26 coming
towards Madras, just as you cross the
Deschutes River Bridge. I was off on
the side and the only thing that was
holding me from going in the river was
a two or three foot boulder sticking up
on another rock. Any slight movement
could have rolled me into the river, but
I woke up. I had been passed out and I
woke up and said, "What am I doing
here?" I looked down and the river was
straight below me. I opened the door
slowly and jumped out
Question: Did you ever hurt yourself
or anyone tlsef
new youth center
extensive. Existing walls, windows and
counters need to be repaired, painted
and remodeled; doors and locks need
to be installed; the electrical system
needs updated; equipment for the
kitchen and game room need to be in
stalled. When complete the youth center will
be open every day, during hours when
kids are not in school, and in compli
ance with the tribal curfew.
Initially, the staff of the center will
be from Extraordinary Young People,
who will train local residents to become
the permanent staff, said Burton. Af
ter about six months of operation the
33
' k ' '''
Dave McMechanSpilyay
and other buildings that are used by
the general public. Composite Prod
ucts doors are found in buildings
across the U.S. and Canada, and in
creasingly in Asian countries.
The success of Composite Prod
ucts was recognized recently by the
Portland District Office of the U.S.
Small Business Administration. The
regional director of the SBA wrote
to Robert Macy, chairman of the
Composite Products board, that the
enterprise had been named the SBA
Minority Small Business Firm of the
Year. The awards luncheon is this
weekend.
addiction and
I never got into fights or hurt any
body (Smith says). I used to get carried
away and be irritating with some of the
stuff I used to do. I used to play in
struments. I'd love to be a musician
because I love playing the saxophone,
clarinet, flute and a few other instru
ments. I think I just hurt people who
cared for me when I started drinking
again. It really affected my grand
mother, because I started drinking at a
young age.
What was it that made you realise
you were in trouble?
I heard it from friends every other
day: "You need to slow down on your
drinking. We see you out partying ev
ery day. You're either in jail and detox
or passed out or you locked yourself
in a car with the heater going and the
engine running!" And I got a few
more tickets. In Jefferson County I
think I got about two tickets and then
I was referred to a diversion class. The
counselor I was referred to was pretty
center should be fully staffed by local
residents, as employees of Extraordi
nary Young People and as volunteers,
he said.
For now Extraordinary Young
People is looking for people who want
to help with the remodeling work. For
information call Burton at 553-5333.
Extraordinary Young People began
in 1999. It is a Christian organization,
though religion is not forced on the
youth who participate in its programs,
said Burton. At first the focus of Ex
traordinary Young People was to help
Portland inner-city youth, he said.
See YOUTH CENTER on 1 1
2005 budget
subject of
gatherings
The Tribal Council has posted the
proposed budget for next year. The
process now moves into the tribal
member comment phase.
The first district meeting in regard
to the 2005 budget is set for Wednes
day, Oct. 6. This is a meeting of the
Agency District at the Agency
Longhouse.
The next meeting will be on Mon
day, Oct. 18. This is a meeting of the
Simnasho District. The Seekseequa
District will meet on Wednesday, Oct.
20. For these meetings dinner is at 6
p.m. and the meeting begins at 7.
The budget process this year has been
a somewhat less stressful time so far,
because the tribes are facing an im
proved economic forecast.
For instance, the market conditions
affecting Warm Springs Power Enter
prises and Warm Springs Forest Prod
ucts Industries have been favorable for
the tribes, secretary-treasurer Jody
Calica commented recently.
Also, the tribes and the federal gov
ernment have resolved two lawsuits
regarding lost timber revenue. Resolu
tion of the long-standing HeHe and
McQuinn lawsuits, filed by the tribes
against the federal government, gives
the tribal budget some additional rev
enue. The cases were filed in regard to lost
tribal revenue from sales of reservation
timber.
After discussing the posted budget
with the tribal membership in Octo
ber, the Council by the end of No
vember will finalize a budget for
2005.
recovery
serious about me quitting drinking. He
wanted me exposed to all the victim
impact panels, so my grandma drove
me and she said, "This is what could
be happening to you," and it just went
in one ear and out the other.
One time when it really hit me was
when she came over to a recovery ses
sion with my counselor, she told the
counselor that I had a problem and they
talked before I went in. Soon as I
walked in the door, he sat down and
said, "Your grandmother has something
to say to you." They both grabbed one
of my hands and started praying. We
prayed for about three hours. It took
that long for me to realize I had a prob
lem. I felt real bad. By feeling bad I
ended up going out drinking that night
It made me feel even worse. Even
though I was scheduled to go to the
treatment center at Puyullap the next
day, I went out and partied. I woke up
at a friend's place.
See RECOVERY on page It