Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 2005)
SCA OrColl E 75 .S6B v. 30 no. 13 Jun 23, P.O. Box 870 Univ.r.ity of Oregon Library "" Springs, OR 97761 I 06-28-03 oo. j ECRWSS Postal Patron U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 50 cents Coyote News, est 1976 June 23, 2005 Vol. 30, No. 13 Spflyiy Work crew shows dedication By Brian Mortensen Spilyay Tymoo You see them everywhere. Up on' the hill overlooking the Warm Springs campus. On a residential street picking up refuse. On a roadside bcrm clear ing weeds to quell a possible fire haz ard. They're the same people, and you see them all over because Marcia Soliz wants you to see them out there work ing. The group is the Community Work Crew from the Warm Springs Commu nity Employment office, an office Soliz operates by herself. The office is geared toward simply putting people to work, wherever and whenever there's work to be done. The greater goal, she said, is to put the crewmcmbers to work now and pre pare them for finding a job in the fu ture. "To get a job is very difficult," Soliz said. "A lot of people who apply for jobs aren't interviewed, some have been turned down after an interview, and this has gone on in their life. I Ier program, she said, "Is like a little stepping-stone program." The workers gain experience while also showing po tential employers that they can work hard. "I put them on display," said Soliz, who has been in tribal employment for 1 8 years. The idea is to have them doing work ; out in places where everyone sees them, ' where the on-lookers can see the re sults. And some of these onlookers could be potential employers. After a while, each crewmember is more ready for the job market, because in addition to being out in the field working seven hours a day, they're also learning things like how to create their resumes and how to effectively prepare for a job interview. One of the group's recent projects is one everyone around Warm Springs has seen: the painted rocks that form the words "Warm Springs" on the hill overlooking the campus area. In March and April, a group of five workers used white paint to give the rocks that make up the letters a new coat, the first new coat the letters have had in years. The group took three days to finish the letters, but it wasn't done yet. Weeks later, during a break in the rainy spring weather, the group came back to paint a turquoise and orange version of the three tipis logo of the Confederated Tribes just above the letters. On a Wednesday morning a few weeks later, members of the Commu nity Work Crew were out on Looksh Road, on the foothill above the Agency campus, picking up trash along the side of the road. Two weeks before Pi-Ume-Shaw, the group had the plastic bags out again, cutting weeds on a berm on the side of Hollywood Street. It sounds like hard work and when the warm sum mer weather begins, hot work. But crewmembers don't mind. "There are different projects all the time," said Craig Smith, a crewmember for 10 months. "It helps you stay physi cally fit. You're moving almost every day." "It's different every day," said Joseph Arthur. "It's never really the same." "It helps financially," Tia Wheeler said of the $9-an-hour wage. "And it really helps physically. This is the first rime I've worked outdoor labor, be cause I usually do secretary work, of fice jobs, but I enjoy this." "Everybody sees them out there," Soliz said. "They're on time. They're working hard." See WORK CPEW e page 12 Treaty signed 150 years ago Saturday By Dave McMcchan Spilyay Tymoo It was a defining day of the Con federated Tribes of Warm Springs, June 25, 1855. Five hun dred Indians of the Wasco and Walla Walla (Sahaptin) triljcs had gathered at The Dalles. Among die gathering were chiefs, family leaders and other tribal mem bers. The Council lasted three days, as the tribes were there to consider the treaty proposed by the U.S. According to the terms of the treaty, the trilx-s would give up own ership claim to 10 million acres of land. The tribes would receive res ervation land between Mt. Jefferson and the Deschutes River. This land would be exclusively for the Indians and could never be occupied by white set tlers. The government promised to build a flour and sawmill, a school, hospital and other buildings on the reservation. It was a momentous and difficult decision: the tribes were being asked to leave the Columbia for land that many of the people were not familiar with. At first the various chiefs suggested different places for the reservation, places that were closer to their tradi tional homelands. Chief Sim-tus-tus said the Indians needed to keep access to their usual fishing, hunting and gath ering places, even if the tribes were to cede the 10 million acres. "The falls where we catch the fish, we would like to reserve," he said. Chief Mark objected to the pro posed reservation because there was not enough timber there, he said. And there were a number of other concerns. At the same time, though, the Indi ans knew the white settlers were arriv ing in increasing numbers. For the fed eral govcrnmcnt.Joel Palmer, superin tendent of Indian Affairs of the Or egon Territory, made persuasive argu ments. "The white man has come among you, and others are coming," he said. "I want you to make a bargain so that we may always live in peace." The tribes, he said, would have ac cess off the reservation to their usual fishing, hunting and gathering places. I le said that if the tribes moved to the reservation and didn't like it, then the government would find them a dif ferent one. "If the reservation is not large and good enough, we will extend it," he said. By the end of the third day of the Council the tribal leaders were ready to sign. One-hundred fifty-one Indians endorsed the document (see page 16). It was a defining day for the Con federated Tribes, June 25, 1855. Miranda Blueback, 15, (below right) was named Queen of he 2005 Pi-Ume-Sha Rodeo. Delvina Heath, 8, (below left) is the Pi-Ume-Sha princess. Outgoing queen is Erica Wewa (right). The new queen and pricess were named following a ceremony last week at the rodeo grounds. The contestants were judged on their individual sale of raffle tickets, a riding routine in the arena, the "completeness of outfit of horse and rider," a written statement, and by their responses to a series of questions. The riding routine included performing a big circle, a small circle, a figure-eight, and a queen run. ( !il 7 A"' rt Daw McMacltanSpilyay ! f 1V - r V , A' Vv-4r x1 J" if KT - 1 V 1 7 U' .r "X Brian MortensenSpilyay Tribes, PGE share hydro license The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week made the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and Pordand General Elec tric die joint license holders for the Pelton-Round Butte project. This is the first hydroelectric li cense held joindy by a tribe and a utility. Pelton-Round is the largest hydroelectric project within the boundaries of Oregon. The action last week by the Fed eral Energy Regulatory Commis sion (FERQ came after years of negotiating and planning by the tribes, PGE, and many interested third parties and agencies. The action, taken by FERC in Washington, D.C, grants the Con federated Tribes and PGE a new multiyear federal permit to run Pelton-Round Butte, It was the final regulatory step in a process that began in 1996, when the tribes and PGE first began conversations about joint ownership of the dam facilities. The two parties gave the proposal preliminary approval in the Spring of 2000, then received Oregon Public Utility Commission approval in August of that year, and signed the ownership agreement in December of 2001 . They began shared ownership under an an nual FERC license in 2002. Last July, the two owners approved a licensing agreement with 20 other collaborating organizations, and submit ted the application to FERC. The centerpiece of the agreement is a commitment to restore passage of salmon and steelhead through the three dam project for the first time since 1968, at a cost to the owners of more than $100 million. The three dams are Pclton, Round Butte and the Re-regulating dam. Under the 2001 ownership contract, the tribes purchased a one-third in terest in the project from PGE, ef fective January 1 of 2002. In 2022, the tribes will have the option to increase its share to 49.99 percent. The tribes may increase their ownership to 50.01 percent by 2037. PGE is responsible for day-to-day operations at the project, which is managed by a joint operating com mittee of tribal and PGE represen tatives. Pelton-Round Butte was com pleted by PGE in 1964, and occu pies a 20-mile stretch of the Deschutes. One-third of the project land is located on the Warm Springs Reser vation. The hydro project generates approximately 1.5 billion kilowatt hours a year, enough power for a city the size of Salem. Council critical of casino ads Tribal Council is responding to tele vision and radio advertisements that are critical of the tribes' plan to develop a casino at Cascade Locks on the Colum bia. The letter from Council Chairman Ron Suppah is addressed to the chair woman of the Confederated Grand Ronde. Grand Ronde is part of a "coa lition" that is sponsoring the advertise ments, and Grand Ronde is partly fund ing the ads, according to the letter from "Councillnan-Suppah.'The-'teirrof the ; letter is as follows: The Warm Springs Tribal Council is writing to express our deep concern and anger regarding recent television and newspaper advertisements placed in the Pordand media market attacking our Cascade Locks casino proposal.' These ads are sponsored by a "coali tion" organized by the Grand Ronde Tribe and, we believe, were at least partly paid for by the Grand Ronde Tribe through your political consult ants... The ads are misleading in claiming that the Cascade Locks casino would be the first casino established on land not part of an existing Indian Reserva tion of Oregon. In fact, your own Spirit Mountain Casino property was added to the Grand Ronde Reservation by an Act of Congress in 1994 to make it eligible for gaming, after the Bureau of Indian Affairs declined to do so administratively. Worse, the ads are in sulting in their suggestion that the Warm Springs Tribe and the people of Cascade Locks and Hood River County would "trash" the Columbia River Gorge by developing a casino at the mostly vacant Cascade Locks Industrial Park. Our people are from the Columbia River and through the rights reserved in our 1855 Treaty we have continu ously used the Gorge to carry on our traditional and spiritual way of life. Many of the Indian fishing scaffolds you see along the shoreline as you cross the Bridge of the Gods, and the Cas cade Locks "treaty fishing in lieu site" established 5) years ago by die U.S. Army Corpse of Engineers below the bridge, are used by Warm Springs tribal members exercising their 1855 Treaty Rights. See LETTER on page 12 General Council meeting Tuesday There will be a General Council meeting on Tuesday, June 28 at the Agency Longhouse. Dinner is at 6 p.m. and the meeting begins at 7. There is an open agenda for this meeting.