Spilyqy Tymoo, Wqrm Springs, Oregon
April 28, 2005
Spcchtrum:
youth earn
Champ Stamps
(Continual from page 3)
Nike has nix employee net
works, and one of them is the
Native American employee net
work. "So they let me speak to
them, and I shared what we were
doing. They've been a strong
supporter ever since, and they'll
support us on every reserva
tion." The Spechtrum opened April
1 with a concert by Bruiha War
Bebe, a Native American Chris
tian rap artist. That was the start
of something Burton said can
be great in Warm Springs.
"W'c had another 1 50 kids on
the following Saturday night," he
said. "It's just a tide. You just
don't know who's going to show
up. It's not about numbers, but
if wc get somewhere around
100 to 250 kids a day and serve
them, and serve them well, then
that would be great."
What's really encouraging, he
said, is that a lot of the kids com
i ing to the Spechtrum arc the
same kids visiting more than
; once. "They come back and
; spend a lot of time here," said
I Grant Poujade, a counselor at
f the Spechtrum. "We're really just
t getting to know them and
t they're getting to know us."
f
; Fully remodeled building
j Inside the Spechtrum is a big
room, where a stage and a wall
big enough to project movies
j against are located. In the ad
j joining room are pool, air
I hockey and foosball tables, and
! in the back room is a snack bar
' and displays of items one can
1 earn with enough Champ
Stamps. These include evcry
; thing from compacts discs and
I other paraphernalia on up to
Nike basketball shoes valued at
' better than $100.
Outside is an asphalt parking
- area converted into a basketball
court with a pair of moveable
; backboard-and-hoops standards.
! Burton said he has further plans
for the area, such as taking the
storage building out, turning the
; area into a seating place for the
kids, and creating capacity to
! serve hundreds of local youth.
"We're just looking at differ
ent things to do," he said "It's
kind of endless. W'c have plenty
of resources, and we're doing t
lot of futulraising. Resources are
always an issue, but not nearly
as big an issue as having good
people and good programs.
Someone can give you a million
bucks tomorrow, but if you
don't have the people, and you
don't have any of those things
in place, you can't really do any
thing" Burton alternates between
the Portland home base, Warm
Springs, and Crow Agency, while
Poujade, a student with youth
work experience, is on staff until
he heads to New York in July
to work on his master's degree.
"We've hired three local
people fulltimc, and we're hir
ing six total," Burton said. In
addition, the Spechtrum also uses
part-time and volunteer help.
Jonathan Smith, pastor the
Warm Springs Baptist Church,
has lent his aid on a part-time
basis.
But Spechtrum isn't just a
place where Warm Springs
youth can hang out and have a
good time. F.very youth who
visits the Spechtrum earns
points, or Champ Stamps. They
can cam them by attending each
day, sitting through Spechtrum's
one-hour Lifeskills time each
day, or even by having solid
grades when report cards come
out, and by helping clean up af
ter an evening session.
Lifeskills is a short talk by one
of the adult leaders about moral
or societal issues geared to hit
home with the kids. Topics of
discussion include things like
vandalism and obeying one's par
ents. When the youth are gathered
for Lifeskills between 4 and 4:15
p.m., the doors and gates are
locked. Kids who have commit
ted to attend Lifeskills receive a
snack and free run of the
Spechtrum until 5 p.m., when
the doors and gates are reopened.
And the youths that attend
Lifeskills earn the Champ
Stamps.
"It's going to be a huge en
ticement for kids to get here
early, and go through something
that's going to help them. We're
encouraging them to help them
selves," Burton said. "We want
to help the kids who are going
i"1."'"1; '. i ' ' -""J ' " "-"' i., ). I ...,,.,,,.
a.
Bum MofttnMnSpilyay
Matt Burton of Extraordinary Youth People, chats with Rolanda
Williams, 10, center, and Misty Jensen, 10, at the center.
to help themselves. They get their faith, but the best witness
Champ Stamps for, so they can
earn Nike stuff."
As soon as the Spechtrum
becomes more established, Bur
ton said he wants to initiate pro
grams like drug and alcohol pre
vention and recovery, and sexual
abuse prevention and recovery.
I le said he would like to give
youth the means to start their
own starter businesses.
"Once we really get going,
we're going to start a micro busi
ness program and actually teach
the kids how to start running
their own businesses," he said.
Spechtrum, and Extraordi
nary Youth People, are Chris
tian organizations, but Burton
said he wants that to be a steady
underlying theme of the center,
not an overbearing presence that
offends.
"Faith is a part of everything
that we do, for our employees
and our interns," Burton said.
"We don't have scriptures spray
painted on the basketball hoops.
If you go into our building, you
don't see a bunch of stuff all
over the wall because it turns
kids off, only because they don't
understand why."
"We have hip-hop church,
where we're all about rap music
and Christian music. We certainly
are evangelistic, because that's
who we are, but kids can come
here for probably 10 years and
probably not feel really weird
and still hang out with us. We
certainly want kids to get excited
about what we're doing and we
want to do the same thing with
is just being yourself and then
going from there. Let the light
shine. Let your light shine and
let them see what they think."
Burton said he sees the
Spechtrum as an equal part of
the array of choices for youth
in Warm Springs.
"It's a not a competition," he
said. "So many kids are at high
risk for a number of different
reasons, there's plenty of room
for these kids to go anywhere."
Through Burton's initiative
and connections, the Spechtrum
could be one of the better
funded resources for youth at
Warm Springs. The Spechtrum
holds its first fund-raising ban
quet Saturday, and along with a
number of tribal officials and
local businessmen, a number of
businessmen from outside the
area will be on hand.
"The guy who owns
Pendleton Woolen Mills is go
ing to be at our banquet," Bur
ton said. "Along with Alaska Air
lines and all kinds of people
we're connected to who are in
terested in helping. Lots of
people want to help Native
people and have a real heart for
'Native people. They just don't
know how."
Burton said he is looking to
start a youth center on the Fort
Belknap Reservation in central
Montana, but first he wants to
get the Spechtrum in Warm
Springs established first.
"We're long term. We don't
go anywhere we're not planning
on staying, period," he said.
Tour: plan is to
involve younger
tribal members
' (Contniued from page 1)
Those rights are still alive and
' available to tribal members, for
; gathering traditional foods, like
; roots and huckleberries, for the
,' annual feasts and for hunting of
game animals.
' Though tribal members ask
private landowners for permis
sion to gather food on those
; lands, Suppah said the tribes and
J tribal members must assert
; themselves on public land within
the Ceded Lands,
i One of concerns, he said, is
the management of deer hunt
ing within the Ceded Lands.
"In 1982, Tribal Council
implemented the policy of sal
vaging big game on the reser
vation, and we began to recog
nize that deer herds were being
depleted," Suppah said. "And
they started the concept of 'cer
emonial hunting,' to take out a
percentage of animals per hunt
ing unit."
Since 1982, he said, the herds
in those units have diminished
to the point where it would
cause the tribes to "negotiate for
a higher percentage of the take
or exercise our treaty right." On
average, in the past 130 deer
were taken each year for cer
emonies, such as First Kill cer
emonies, naming ceremonies,
and funerals. The average num
ber of deer taken by the tribes
has dropped from 130 to 82 per
year, he said.
The tour began March 24,
leaving Warm Springs and head
ing for a location on Boundary
Skyline Road north of the res
ervation. Along the way mem
bers of the Tribal Culture and
Heritage Committee spoke
about huckleberries, bear grass
and mushrooms.
"Emily Waheneka pointed
out some of the campsite ar
eas," said Jacob Frank, of the
Natural Resources Branch, "We
found out what the Indian
names were. It was really a good
experience, listening to stories
of families that traveled. It
would be a great thing for our
young people to hear."
The group moved to Hood
River to meet the Columbia
River Inter-tribal Fish Commis
sion staff, and representatives
from the Bonneville Power Ad
ministration. They heard infor
mation on ceremonial fishing,
and visited the soon-to-be tribal
casino site at Cascade Locks.
After lunch the caravan, in
three vans, moved to the
Mosier Mounds in east Wasco
County. The group later went
back to the The Dalles area to
see 15-Mile Creek and lamprey
fishing sites.
They traveled to Celilo Vil
lage where the topic of discus
sion was the redevelopment of
the village and Celilo Park.
Last year, Congress passed
the Native American Technical
Corrections Act, which provided
the federal government, thor
ough the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, $11 million to rebuild
homes for the nearly 100 resi
dents of Celilo Village. The
funds are also to help with in
frastructure work at the 31 -acre
village, which was moved in the
1950s following the construc
tion of The Dalles Dam which
inundated Celilo Falls. A new
longhouse will soon be built in
Celilo Village.
Youth involvement
Starting in Pendleton, the
group on Friday, March 25 trav
eled to Willow Creek in Mor
row County and met with mem
bers of the Umatilla tribe. They
discussed tribal history and back
ground of the Ceded Lands of
the area. The group moved to
Ukiah, in Umatilla County, to
visit campsites and talk about
tribal life before the 1855 treaty.
On the final day of the tour,
the caravan visited Heppner,
Prairie City and John Day.
They then left for ceded ar
eas on the Middle Fork of the
John Day River before heading
back to Warm Springs.
"It was a good tour," said
Frank. "We moved around a lot
out there. It's good to get out,
because you're looking at a
place first-hand where your
people can go to gather differ
ent kinds of foods. It would be
very educational for our young
people."
Suppah said his aim, through
inviting young tribal members
on future tours, "is teach them
about the lands and our way."
"If we ever give that up," he
said, "it's hard to get it back. It's
important for the kids to get
involved."
He said most of what young
tribal members learn about the
culture of the tribes comes
from the home. "My goal would
be to teach them how to hunt
and gather roots and berries,"
he said. "And recognize the food
that's out there."
As 40 percent of the land is
open and unclaimed, Suppah
said it is especially important for
the Tribal Council to be involved
with the government land-management
agencies, and keep
them aware of the tribal rights.
"At some point, the tribal
government needs to start ori
entating the people as to what
they have, so we can exercise
our sovereignty," he said.
The tribes have several por
tions of land called domain al
lotments, including ones on the
Hood and John Day rivers and
at Condon and The Dalles.
"There are a lot of tribal-owned
lands," Suppah said.
Suppah said a tour of the
ceded lands for younger tribal
members would be scheduled
next year.
Suppah said the presence of
six members of the Tribal Coun
cil on the tour was a good indi
cator that as a body "we care
and know that we need to visit
our country." He said he hoped,
too, that the Tribal Council
would be able to support such
tours and budget for them, "and
take the burden off the com
mittees." He said he would ask that
school curricula for tribal youth
include information on the
Ceded Lands, including the lan
guages of their tribes, how their
ancestors defended themselves
and their homeland, and who
their ancestors' neighbors were.
Tourism: visitors
to choose from
variety of activities
(Continued from page 2)
The biggest concern commu
nity members who attended the
meetings had, Sahme said, was
striking a balance between invit
ing the vacationers to the reser
vation and preserving the res
ervation, both its land and its
people's privacy.
"That was probably the loud
est outcry, and this goes back
probably 30 years ago or longer.
People want to protect the pris
tine areas of the reservation,"
he said. "The idea of guided
tourism would help protect and
limit access, and really promote
the values of our people, while
providing economic opportuni
ties to the tribal members."
Clements said that what he
and Sahme see is a "menu" avail
able to prospective visitors to
the reservation. Through use of
the Internet, for instance, the
tribes could offer a variety of
activities.
These might include an op
portunity for bird watching or
classes on weaving at the Mu
seum at Warm Springs. Or it
might include a visit with
Lucinda Smith.
"She was one of the ones
who came to the meetings to
share her experience of how she
would serve her activities, be
cause she was working out at
Kah-Nee-Ta," Clements said.
Greene has an expertise in tribal
culture. "She knows the religion
and the ceremonies," Sahme
said. "That was kind of her re
sponsibility at Kah-Nee-Ta."
Greene, Clements said, will
be "one of the stars of the
show" when he and Sahme
present their ideas to the Tribal
Council on their tourism plan.
"We've yet to get it approved
and blessed by the Tribal Coun
cil," Sahme said. "They are
aware of it. We've been updat
ing them on occasion over the
last year or so, and we've heard
from them that there is a need
for this kind of effort.
"It's probably been five years
in the making as far as planning,
so we've now seen the fruition
of that and we'll get the bless
ing of the Council and we can
move on. There is a lot of ex
citement for local business owners."
Sahme attributed Jolene
Atencio, Warm Springs' new
Small Business Center Director,
as "instrumental in our compre
hensive planning."
Clements said the form of
the guided tourism menu would
depend on how many exhibitors
might be available. "If you were
a person who is doing some ac
tivity that could be considered
tourism, and if you wanted to
sell it, you could come to look
at how to get on the menu," he
said. "We could work with the
person or group, and they can
create a Web site."
Pricing, he said, is key.
Clements said a potential exhibi
tor could work with the Small
Business Department to deter
mine a price.
He said the menu would also
provide a standard for the vari
ous participants. This would be
especially important when ap
plied to matters of tribal culture,
such as when regalia is worn and
dances performed,
Clements said he sees having
a welcome center, an initial point
of contact for visitors from
overseas, as well as possibly a
motel, in Warm Springs.
"When those folks show up,
we would make sure that all the
right people are there to meet
them," he said. The activities
would be well planned out, such
as a tour of the high lakes, or
hiking, bird watching. "There
are so many activities that are
going to be available, we didn't
want to try to put together a list.
We just want to make these
things available."
Other attractions like van
tours of historic and scenic sites
on the reservation, or even a
scenic route, could spring forth
and become part of the array
of available activities.
Clements said he believes it
is possible the Warm Springs
Reservation could support an
other hotel property besides
Kah-Nee-Ta, as the reservation's
tourism industry grows.
Some people might be con
cerned that there were another
hotel on the reservation, "it's
going to knock Kah-Nee-Ta in
the head, but I tell them it's not,"
said Clements.
"Kah-Nee-Ta is a destination
property. If we do a good job,
you're going to have families
coming back to Kah-Nee-Ta
year after year. That's been the
story."
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