Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 2004)
SCO OrColl E 75 SG6 v. 9 no. 21 October 14, 0194 Spilyay diversity of Oregon Library Received on 18-1B Spilyay tyioo. vmoo October H, 2004 Vol. 29, No. 21 U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 50 cents Coyote News, est. 1976 Large grant for diabetes prevention Diabetes prevention on the reser vation received a large boost, through a grant in the amount of $404,000 per year for the next five years. "This is an awesome opportunity for the commu nity," said Lauraina Hintsala, the tribes' chief operations officer. The rate of diabetes among tribal members is higher than that of the general population; so diabetes preven tion is an important health-care goal, said Nurse Jennie Smith, coordinator of the Warm Springs diabetes program. The recent grant to the tribes is a new grant, awarded after a competi tive application process, said Smith. The Warm Springs diabetes program was one of 36 across the U.S. to re ceive the funding for diabetes preven tion work, she said. With the $404,000 per year, the dia betes program will be able to hire people to fill new positions, said Smith. New positions would be that of a diabetes nurse educator; and someone from the community to help with fo cus groups, registration and data entry. A third position would be that of a behaviorist. The existing staff of the diabetes program includes the coordinator, who is a nurse practitioner; another family nurse practitioner; a registered nurse, who is the diabetes nurse educator; and the administrative secretary. The Warm Springs Community Wellness Coordi nator Carolyn Harvey is also part of the diabetes program. The Nutrition and Exercise programs are a part of the diabetes program on the reserva tion. Chief operations officer Hintsala, wellness coordinator Harvey, and nurses Smith and Diana Howell went to the Federal Building in Portland re cently to receive the first annual $404,000 diabetes-prevention check. "This is the realization of a dream," said Smith. Tribal elders will consider a plan to change creek's name (AP) - Elders of the Confederated Tribes are being asked to consider a plan to change the name of Squaw Creek, which runs within the tribe's ceded lands. In 2001 the Oregon Leg islature passed a law banning the of fensive word "squaw" from place names on public lands. The Confederated Tribes are now considering new names, said tribal eco nomic development director Mike Clements. Potential replacements in clude "why-chus," a Sahaptin word meaning "a place to cross the water," and "sesequa," a Paiute word for "tall rye grass." If a recommendation is approved, it will be forwarded to the Oregon Geographic Names Board, which regu lates place names. Because the creek runs wholly within the ceded lands, the tribes will have preference when the board de cides on a replacement, said Champ Vaughan, president of the names board. But since the creek doesn't run through the reservation itself, the board will also ask for input from other groups, in cluding the City of Sisters and the Deschutes National Forest Once the Oregon board makes a recommendation, it takes six to 12 months for the U.S. Geographic Names Board to give final approval Vaughan said That means the first time possible replacements appear on a map prob ably won't be until early 2006. Mill is a Improvements funded almost entirely by state energy program By Dave McMechan Spifyay lymoo Warm Springs Forest Products Industries has greatly improved the efficiency of electricity use at the mill. Through the recent improve ment, Forest Products Industries will save about $80,000 per year in electricity costs. What is more, the improvement work - costing about $294,000 - is paid for almost entirely through state 'Ft-: ft . - - - V. u Elders of the Confederated Tribes and staff of the Senior Department traveled last month to Washington, D.C., for the opening of the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of the American Indian. Elders and staff hold their banner before the tribal march to the museum. More photos on page 10. New course explores By D. "Bing" Bingham Spilyay Tjmoo The Warm Springs Reservation is a sovereign nation. However, dif ferent people will give different an swers on exactly what sovereignty means. One person will say it guaran tees fishing rights on the Columbia River. Another will say it means tribal members have the right to choose and rule themselves. Both are correct. But what happens when those same two tribal members travel around the state and ask people who did not grow up on the reser vation what sovereignty means? They're probably not going to get the same answers. The answers may well be correct, but they will likely be different. Tribal member Anita Jackson and Oregon State University have teamed up to clarify the issue through a class entitled Federal In dian Law and American Tribal Gov ernments. This is the first time an upper division class taught by Jackson has been offered to people on the res ervation over the Internet in real time. "OSU Extension at Warm Springs has always had an initiative to bring higher education to the res ervation, not just to advertise what would be available in Corvallis or Bend," said Clint Jacks of OSU Extension In the past Central Oregon Community College has delivered lower division courses to Warm model at energy efficiency incentives and a tax credit. Forest Products Industries will end up paying only about 2 percent of the total cost of the improvements. "Be cause of the success, we could be a case study for these kinds of projects," said Darrel Kelly, energy manager at the mill. Vince Crawford of Pacific Power said, "Of all the projects I've seen, this is the most successful. It's a model for the state." The mill last week received a check for $214,000 from the Energy Trust of Oregon, which funds the incentive v H . Springs. They had to cut back due to budget cuts. When Oregon State University took over the Cascades Campus in Bend, the conversation about education on the reservation resumed. Place-bound students who, for job or family reasons, are unable to take the time to finish a degree or develop new set of skills were the target of the talks. "We're using a polycom camera on Jackson's end in Bend and a polycom camera on our end in Warm Springs," said Jacks. "It's a two way video, two way audio. She sees us and we see her, we hear her and she hears us." He continues, "It's very simple tech nology today, but it wasn't available three to four years ago." So Anita Jackson travels to the Cas cades Campus in Bend every Tuesday and Thursday evening. There she gives a class on Indian law to interested indi viduals, while the rest of the class fol lows along with computer screens in Warm Springs. If the students in Warm Springs have a question, they ask the teacher and she gives them the answer. The journey started out as a dream years ago. "I've been wanting to teach a class on Indian Law from the Native per spective at the college level for a long time," says Jackson. "I approached COCC and they didn't have the money at the time." Then the Oregon State Chancellor of Higher Education took an interest in the citizens of Central Oregon. Jack son was part of the committee who explained the geographic difficulties for conserving energy program. Forest Products Industries will also receive about $75,000 as a busi ness energy tax credit. Together, the incentive and the tax credit - totaling nearly $290,000 - will pay for nearly all of the energy effi ciency improvement work. As a result of. this project, in the future the mill will use about 1.7 mil lion fewer kilowatt- hours per year. This is equal to about one month's worth of energy use at the mill; so future sav ing is significant, said Kelly. New compressor system The energy efficiency improvement 7 1 i v , . ... .... 'nil - llllnM III llir I 1 1 nature of sovereignty trThey're still learning American history the way I learned it, that Columbus discovered America..." Anita Jackson Indian law teacher people on the reservation. After the report was submitted, the committee disbanded and Jackson's dream was put on hold-until last winter. By this time OSU had taken over the Cascades Campus and they were taking proposals. Jackson made her pitch. She thought a class beginning in 2005 would give her plenty of time to prepare. The powers-that-be liked the idea of the Indian law class from a Native perspective, and they decided to start this Fall. "Holy moly," Jackson thought. "I can do this." She's been on the run all summer long. "It's an upper division class, a 399," she says. "I thought there would be a lot of interest in people from Warm Springs." While there weren't many who had the necessary credit hours, she didn't feel like that would be a problem with people who had grown up on the res ervation and had dealt with the tribes on a day-to-day basis. Jackson feels it's important for all people, rather than just Indians, to un derstand tribal sovereignty. "There already is a lot of, and going to be a lot more interaction between the citizens of Oregon and the tribal governments," she says. was to the air-compressor system of the mill. Before, there were a number of compressors operating separately in various parts of the mill. A study by the consulting firm Cas cade Energy Engineering of Portland showed that the energy used to run the compressors could be reduced by cen tralizing the system. The newly installed centralized air compression system at the mill is now "working better than forecasted," said Josh Bachman, of Cascade Energy Engineering. See MILL on page 7 Lilly Suppah photocourtesy ot the Senior Department Jackson continues: "I've worked on different committees with state govern ment people and tribal people, and you always have to start at the beginning and tell them: We are a sovereign na tion. This is what it means." She says, "We're not like every other minority citizen in the state. Yes, we have a special status and special rela tionship with the federal government. No, we don't get subsidized by the fed eral government. We don't get a lot of money for welfare programs. We need to do away with all the stereotypes." She doesn't see this kind of infor mation being taught in schools off the reservation. "They're still learning American his tory the way I learned it, that Colum bus discovered America, and 'Wasn't it wonderful when the pilgrims came over and landed at Plymouth Rock. Here was a wonderful new world and it was there for our taking.' That isn't the way it really happened." She starts her class off with pre contact types of tribal governments. Then she shows a video about the Pueblo Indians and how they survived the Spanish conquistadors. After that she goes through Indian law from a historical perspective. "You have to know the history of Indian law to understand where we are with Indian policy today," she says. "We go through the kinds of trea ties that were written and how the U.S. tried to keep the states out of Indian Country and say that only the federal government can deal with Indian tribes on a government to government ba sis. S,t INDIAN LAW on 9