SCA
OrColl
E
75
.68
v. 29
no. 26
Dpp.pmhpr
23, 20G4
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Tvrooc
Acquisition Dept. Serials
Knight Library
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403 1205
December 23, 2004 Vol. 29, No. 26
U.S. Postage
PRSRTSTD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Coyote News, est. 1976
50 cents
Spilvav
Site chosen
for computer
center
By Brian Mortcnsen
Spilyay Tymoo
Warm Springs' proposed commu
nity telecommunications center,
which will give Warm Springs resi
dents free computer access when it's
completed in 2005, now has a loca
tioa The Tribal Council of the Con
federated Tribes of Warm Springs
passed a resolution to allow Eagle
Tech Systems a location in a lot east
of the Warm Springs Courts build
ing and north of the Warm Springs
Police Department.
A vacant and condemned house
currently sits on the lot, located at
2124 Warm Springs Street.
; Lloyd Phillips, general manager of
Eagle Tech Systems, said that the tele
communications center, which will
have around 20 computers available
for local residents to use free of
charge, may not be available by June,
as had been planned, pending avail
ability of a site. But it will be open in
2005.
"I'd like to break ground within
three months, and it would be nice
if it were open by June," he said. "But
things would have to move incred
ibly fast to open by June.
"It will open next year. It's just a
matter of when next year."
The building is expected to be
around 2,224 square feet, and
Phillips said the site was Eagle Tech
Systems' first, choice.
"I think it's a nice central loca
tion," he said. Phillips received news
of the tribal resolution at the Tribal
Council's meeting Dec. 15. He said
he got the sense that the council was
"enthused" about the center's pro
posed location and its orientation
toward youth.
"They liked the location because
it was central to downtown and away
from U.S. 26," he said.
The telecommunications center,
when finished, will be the first struc
ture in Warm Springs' downtown,
which includes converting houses on
Warm Springs Street west of the
courthouse into a commercial retail
center as the houses become vacant.
Mike Clements, general manager
of Business and Economic Devel
opment at Warm Springs, said the
house at 2124 Warm Springs will be
demolished but not until after the new
year.
See CENTER on page 12
Winners named
in coloring contest
Ada Polk-Lopez, 1 1, and Trent
Heath Ageilo, 10, both of Warm
Springs Elementary School, are
the top prize winners of the
Spilyay Holiday Coloring Contest.
Ada wins a five-foot tall bear from
Black Bear Diner, and Trent wins
a remote control truck from Les
Schwab Tire Center.
Other winners are Kirsten L.
Holliday, 8, of Warm Springs El
ementary; and Damon (last name
not mentioned on the entry form)
of Jefferson County Middle
School. They win Wrangler jeans
from Ag West.
LeVaghn Kirk, 8, of Madras
Elementary, wins a pizza from
Abby's Pizza.
Leslee Henderson, 11, of
Jefferson County Middle School,
wins two ice creams from the Ma
dras Coffee Station. And Patricia
VanPelt, 1 1, wins two hot choco
lates from the Coffee Station.
Winners can come by the
Spilyay to get their prizes. Thank-
you sponsors
Skate park opening in Warm Springs
By Dave McMccImn
Spilyay Tymoo
A skate park is opening just in time
for Christmas at Elmer Quinn Park in
Warm Springs. The skate park will in
clude quarter-pipe wedges, launch
wedges, grind-rail, fun-box and other
skateboarding ramps.
Cost of the park is about $100,000.
Basic rules are as follows:
The park will be open from 8 a.m.
to 8 p.m. All skaters have to wear hel
mets and pads. No alcohol, drugs or
tobacco. Skate at your own risk. Roller
blades and skateboards only: No bikes
allowed because they can mar the sur
face when they fall.
The idea for the Warm Springs skate
park began about three years ago. A
group met and discussed how the park
would give young people something
more to do. The main issue was money.
Then Social Services was able to se
cure funds through the tribes' Diabetes
Grant program. This money would pay
Bridge of the
Tribes and state are close to
By Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
The Confederated Tribes and the
state of Oregon are close to conclud
ing their negotiation toward a new ca
sino for the tribes. Specific terms of
the potential agreement are almost fi
nal. "We're very close to completing the
compact for final review by the Tribal
Council and the governor," said Rudy
Clements, tribal gaming spokesman.
"The negotiating teams are working
diligently."
The hope is to 'have a draft com
pact complete by the end of the month,
and then have the proposed agreement
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right) stand in front of the now-lit Christmas tree at the Warm Springs
Community Center during the community Christmas celebration Dec. 1 4.
The evening included a parade of lights and a hot dog and marshmallow
roast, as well as the lighting of the Christmas tree.
for equipment, such as the ramps, but
not construction, meaning the under
lying concrete slab.
Last March the financing came to
gether for the slab, which cost about
$30,000. Community members, includ
ing youth, then got together and dis
cussed what they would like to see at
the park. The design is based on the
community input, including discussion
with about 250 young people, said Jim
Quaid, manager of Social Services.
The concrete slab went in about six
weeks ago. Then this week a company
from California put in the ramps and
other equipment.
Dedication of the park was sched
uled for Wednesday of this week. In
other youth activity news:
Work is continuing on the remodel
of the VFW-Ladies Auxiliary building
on Hollywood Boulevard.
The group Extraordinary Young
People is remodeling the building into
a youth center and small restaurant.
to the governor in January. "What we're
doing now is responding to each other's
issues and concerns," said Clements.
While specific terms of the pro
posed compact are still being worked
out, some things are known. Kah-Nee-Ta
Resort and Casino, for instance, will
take on a new role for the tribes once
the new casino opens at the Gorge.
The new casino - called Bridge of
the Gods - will open a number of years
from now; so no immediate change is
planned at Kah-Nee-Ta. However, the
Confederated Tribes will not have two
slot-machine type casinos, and Indian
Head will no longer be a casino.
How exactly the tribes will continue
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Workers from skate park developers Spohn Ranch Inc., of Calif., built the
Warm Springs skate park earlier this week.
VFW-Ladies Auxiliary will share the tcr will include a study room, and a
building with the youth club. game room with DJ booth. Jerry
The building will be extensively re- Jacoban, district manager of Extraor
modeled, with the plan being to open dinary Young People, was working on
the youth center in March 2005. Along the building this week,
with the small restaurant the youth cen-
Gods Casino
a decision on the Gorge site
operating Kah-Nee-Ta is now under
consideration. There are many oppor
tunities at Kah-Nee-Ta that in the long
run could benefit the tribes culturally
and through tribal member employ
ment, said Clements.
The name Bridge of the Gods came
from tribal members, during commu
nity discussion over the past year.
Bridge of the Gods has various mean
ings. The term is used in reference to a
catastrophic geological event - the dam
ming of the river by a landslide - cen
turies ago at the Columbia. The event
and the name also have significance in
legends of the Columbia River tribes.
Sheep making selves
at home up north
By Brian Mortensen
Spilyay Tymoo
Most of the 15 California moun
tain sheep are making themselves at
home somewhere in the Mutton Moun
tains on the northeast corner of the
Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
One, though, appears to be out ex
ploring about 10 miles from where it
was dropped off nearly three weeks
ago.
For the first time since the sheep
were transported to Eagle Creek Can
yon on the reservation from the lower
John Day River area Dec. 4, 10 of the
sheep fitted with collars with radio
transmitters had been spotted in a te
lemetry flight over the area Monday.
While 10 of the sheep wear the so
called radio collars, the other five had
eartags placed on them so they may be
visually spotted, even from the air.
Doug Calvin, a wildlife conservation
officer for Warm Springs Natural Re
sources Branch, said most of the sheep
have settled within five miles of where
they were placed, still adjusting to their
new home but partaking of habitat con
ditions that seem like home.
. "They're scattered a little bit and
starting to explore a little bit," Calvin
said. "Some are expanding from Eagle
Creek to the west. One actually moved
to the south to Antoken Creek, basi
cally where the old sheep are."
A group of 20 sheep were transported
University of Oregon Library
Received on: 12-28-C4
Spilyay tymoo.
. ! w.i I ill i '-hi - .
A strong majority of tribal members
were in favor of this name, said
Clements.
The plan is to build the Bridge of
the Gods Casino at Cascade Locks. The
site "is in an industrial park where the
community wants this development to
occur," said Len Bergstein, a negotia
tor for the tribes. Also, said Bergstein,
the law establishing the Columbia Gorge
scenic area anticipates development at
the site, within specified areas within
the city limits.
Ralph Esgard, mayor of Cascade
Locks, said the town is anxious for con
struction to begin.
to Antoken Creek in early 2002.
One sheep, a three-year-old ewe,
had wandered off by herself to Nena
Creek, off the reservation and about
10 miles from Eagle Creek.
"It's not the best of sheep habitat,
but she's probably trying to find where
her home is still," Calvin said. "She's
on what we call a walkabout from a
transfer.
"She may stay. She may keep mov
ing. She may decide to come back. At
least she's seen the good stuff, where
we put them in good habitat, where the
majority of the released animals still
are.
Monday's flight was the third one
tribal fish and wildlife personnel took
with Madras pilot Don Mobley of
Mobley Aviation.
The first one was six days after the
transplant, when six of collared sheep
were located via radio but four were
out of range, possibly because they were
bedded down under rocks or trees.
Calvin said he flew with Mobley Dec.
17 and spotted three before it became
too dark to fly.
"You get a visual on them, and then
sometimes you just won't," Calvin -said.
Tribal Fish and Wildlife personnel
will fly over the northeast corner of
the reservation once a week or biweekly
over course of next several months to
monitor the sheep and their movements.