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Spilyqy Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
November 11, 2004-
Election Day Celebration sees big turnout
r
By Brian Mortensen
Spilyny Tymoo
For Muriel Suppah of Warm
Springs, health issues and con
stitutional rights were her
focus when she dropped off her
ballot on Election Day, Nov. 2.
James Arthur and Brian
Renfro were happy to vote, hop
ing to see a new president voted
into office.
A total of 524 of Warm
Springs' 824 voters turned in
their ballots at the Warm Springs
Election Day Celebration.
The celebration was held at
the Family Resource Center.
While many were casting their
ballots, another 13 people reg
istered to vote in future elec
tions. The result was the culmina
tion of a month-long effort by
the Get Out the Native Vote
Committee. The goal was not
only to encourage tribal mem
bers to bring in filled-in ballot
sheets, but to teach the impor
tance of taking part in the
American political process.
Depending on which part of
the day voters came to drop off
their ballots, they were treated
to breakfast, lunch, or dinner,
and received a free T-shirt de
claring their participation on
Election Day.
Warm Springs artist Marty
"Moose" Tanewasha designed
the T-shirts, featuring the word
"Vote" in a bold red-and-black
design. Door prizes were given
out during the day.
Before the six-member voter
registration committee began
their efforts, there were 519
registered voters among tribal
members living on the reserva
tion, committee member Arlita
i :
I 'S.
AT
Bmn Mortensea Spilyay
Willy Quinn pores over his ballot sheet in the quiet room, where
local residents who had not yet marked their ballots could do
so, at the Warm Springs Election Day Party at the Family
Resource Center.
Rhoan said.
Trying to get more people to
vote took a personal touch, in
cluding visiting tribal members
in even the more remote parts
of the reservation, and in some
cases explaining the process of
voter registration and voting in
the Ichiskkiin (Warm Springs
tribal) language.
"There were about six
women who were busy contact
ing people about registering, ei
ther by phone or visiting,"
Rhoan said. "If they got inter
ested in registering, then we went
out and visited them and assisted
them with the ballot.
"It was a lot of talk, a lot of
explanation, a lot of reasoning
with the yes-and-no (questions
of the state and county ballot
measures), explaining to make
sure that they would understand
how they were going to vote."
"We had a community gath
ering at the Social I lall at the
Community Center, and we had
(tribal Governmental Affairs
director) Louie Pitt there to ex
plain some the issues and who
the candidates were," commit
tee member Doris Miller said.
"We had something at Kah-Nee-Tah
(the previous week) for
Kah-Nee-Tah employees."
Miller, said her own lack of
familiarity with national issues in
the past helped her in helping
others to become involved.
"We tried to help people un
derstand what the issues were,
who the candidates were," she
said. "Personally, I voted maybe
only a couple of times in my
lifetime on the national issues,
and I didn't understand what 1
was voting for, so I took that
into consideration. And so I
thought, 'OK, if I didn't know
that, then certainly there's people
out there that don't know.'"
'25 years ago this week
From the Nov. 20, 1979
edition of Spilyaj Tymoo
In the Nov. 15 referendum
election, tribal voters okayed a
$5.6 million housing package
and approved membership sta
tus for 15 of 23 adoption can
didates. The tally on the housing
project was 339 yes and 158 no.
Elsewhere:
The Tribal Council audio-1
rized the payment of $3.5 mil
lion in 1979 bonus dividends to
enrolled tribal members. Each
enrollee is to receive $1,500,
which will be paid in two install
ments of $500 in mid Decem
ber, and $1,000 in January. And
this news:
Engineering and design of
the turbine and powerhouse for
the tribe's hydroelectric project
at the Pelton re-regulating dam
is proceeding on schedule.
"We are paying particular at
tention to the design of the fish-
ways and intake structure so flow
into the turbine will be to speci
fications," said Jerry Dibble,
engineering consultant. In other
news:
Traditional prayer opened a
month of intensive training for
staff of the tribal alcohol and
drug program, temporarily clos
ing the treatment residence to
new clients.
Prosanna Williams prayed for
strength for the 30 staff mem
bers at the first training session
Nov. 1. By the end of the 20
workdays the confidence and
academic foundation of the
mostly Indian staff should be
greatly improved, said program
director Steve Bekofsky. And
this:
A traditional Thanksgiving
dinner was prepared by the
Simnasho students for their
guests from the second grade of
Madras Elementary.
While voters who had com
pleted their mail-in ballots to
turn in Election Day could do
so, ones who had not could vote
in a "quiet room" at the Family
Resource Center. Voters who
felt insecure about any of the
issues received an explanation
from the tribes' lobbyist Michael
Mason, who was on hand for
the day to assist the new voters.
If they had not received
their ballots in time for Election
Day, they were transported to
Madras to pick up ballots,
Miller said.
"The point was just to make
it as easy as possible for people,"
she said.
Renfro said he registered to
vote literally when someone
passed him by on the road.
"There was some lady and a
dude were cruising all over, and
I was walking down the road,
and they stopped me and handed
me a registration form," he said.
I le said he hadn't thought much
about the broad array of state
ballot issues on the Oregon bal
lot, but "the only issue is that I
don't want Bush in there."
Arthur, who was standing
outside the Family Resource
Center with Renfro, said his
hope was that, "Bush doesn't rob
the election again." He said he
registered to vote through his
aunt, Lauraina Hintsala, a mem
ber of the voter registration
drive committee as well as Chief
Operations Officer of the
Warm Springs Tribes, on his
birthday, Oct. 4. Renfro and
Arthur said they had voted for
Kerry, as did Suppah, who had
recently re-registered to vote.
They weren't alone.
See ELECTION on pay 11
Calendar
Jefferson County Basketball Organization will be
conducting tryouts on Nov. 1 3 at Madras High School from
noon to 2 p.m. The basketball organization is also looking
for volunteer coaches for these teams. The teams pratice
2-3 times per week in the evening, and play games for
seven weeks, on Sundays through the winter. For
information contact Evan Brown at 475-7265, ext. 326 (w)
or 475-4515 (h).
Central Oregon Community College will be offering a
comprehensive financial aid workshop at Madras High
School from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 23rd.
These workshops for students and their families will cover
all the information needed to apply for federal financial aid,
including the FAFSA form. For information, contact Michael
Coe at 383-7256.
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