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)
Pa ge 12 Spilyqy Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon June 25, 2005 Letter: seen as unwise (Continued from page 1) The charge that we would "trash" the very place that we arc from and where we have for a millennium gathered the tra ditional roods that form the basis of our Indian way of life is deeply offensive. We are sure that the non-Indian residents of Cascade Iocks and I lood River County feel the same. We do not challenge your right to object on legitimate grounds to our Cascade I-ocks casino project, although our policy on such inter-tribal dis putes is different from your!1. We did not object when the Grand Rondo Tribe made several pro posals in recent years for ca sino in Portland, once in ex change for a baseball stadium, once in exchange for a conven tion center hotel and most re cently in connection with the Portland Meadows Race Track. Our view is that it is inappro priate for one tribe to criticize another tribe's efforts at achiev ing economic self-sufficiency and addressing the pressing so cial needs of its people. We be lieve that all tribes are inevita bly hurt by such pubic criticisms that we find most disturbing. Moreover, we think it is un- Work crew: experience and motivation (Continued from page 1) Soliz had managed crews like the Community Work Crew as part of the Workforce Education Devel opment Department (WF.DD) program, and con tinued until she was promoted to her current position as manager of the Community Employment office. There arc 10 members of the crew at any one time, with new members joining as oth ers graduate. The crew has a foreman who stays on for two years and learns valuable manage rial skills, like supervision, maintaining a budget, and stay ing on top of reports. People in die crew with a driver's li cense can earn an additional $1 an hour because of the added responsibility of driv ing the crew van to each of its locations. Anyone interested in join ing the crew can visit Soliz in her office at the Administra tion Building between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., or call her at 553 3298. Soliz said she sees her mis sion as being able to provide jobs, and help people to get their own jobs in today's mar ket, rather than waiting for the next big tribally created con struction project. She said she also sees a need to make employment "simple" again. "Over decades and de cades, we've become more policy and process driven than we have become effective at quality service," she said. "No matter where we turn, we've got to get X number of sig natures, fill out X number of papers, go through this humongous chain of com mand to accomplished what needs to be done. 7T 1 f- v. r - I r i i v 1 Brian MortenMTVbpilyay Missy Wolfe, left, and Tia Wheeler gather grass clippings during the Community Work Force's project at the Warm Springs Rodeo Grounds last week. "So we need to make it simple again," she said, "for the person on the street who doesn't have a car, who doesn't have a license, doesn't have a job or a home." She said it takes a long time to set up the big projects that employ a lot of tribal members. And once these projects are set up, the people are employed for a limited time. "We need a buffer for our people, one that responds to our immediate need for jobs," she said. "We can't afford to keep waiting and wait ing. We need jobs right now." Soliz has presented her con cept of a day labor program, an interim work force, to the Warm Springs Tribal Council in April. The day labor program would include 20 male workers and 20 female workers, overseen by one administrator. Soliz said she already has a list of 58 projects lined out. Each prospec tive worker would undergo an interview to determine his or her aptitude, skills and training. "This is going to be a job bank where we can match people and jobs," she said. "And it will be a situation where an employer can call me up and say, 'Marcia, send me 10 work- ers today.'" Those workers would stay in the program for a maximum of 346 hours, or 43.25 eight-hour days. A project like the day la bor program, or an active group like the Community Work Crew is about motiva tion. "You can take anybody, and all they really need is mo tivation - motivation in life to get sober, to want to come to work, to get training," said Soliz. Angela Martinez is part of the Community Work Crew. Last week, the group was cut ting and raking tall grass by the Warm Springs Rodeo Grounds in preparation for Pi-Ume-Sha. While she raked the cut grass, Martinez joked with foreman Michelle Th ompson in the warm morn ing sun. She said being part of a group that works every day has been a motivating experience, because it pro vides her a pay check, and because it helps her focus on a more personal need: taking care of her young family. "I have kids and I have to get them to the baby sitter early," she said, putting em phasis on the "early." Six or seven o'clock in the morning "is an early start for me, but it's a challenge, too. It's some thing I want to be able to do every day - take my kids to the babysitter, make it to work on time, and be there every day," said Martinez. wise for the Grand Rondo Trilw to align itself with organizations that may not support tribal rights and sovereignty in an ef fort to block the Cascade 1icks casinu While such organizations may oppose the Cascade I.ocks casino today, in the future they may oppose all tribal gaming in Oregon. We also note with some sad ness that your action in associ ating the Grand Rondo Tribe with these inaccurate and offen sive ads is likely to have a last ing effect on what has been a special relationship between our two tribes. Warm Springs worked hard to help your tribe regain its federally recognized status in 1983, an effort the (rand Rondo Tribal Council acknowledged by presenting us with a plaque thanking us for our efforts on your behalf. Per haps the best way to help restore our relationship is to disassoci ate the Grand Rondo Tribe from such ads in the future. Finally, as you know, there is an established and thorough fed eral review process for taking the Cascade Locks Industrial Park property into trust, which will include an Environmental Impact Statement prepared un der the National Environmen tal Policy Act that will examine all of he environmental issues presented by the project. The Grand Rondo Tribe will have every opportunity to make its views and concerns known in the course of the Federal review process. Accordingly, Grand Rondo should disassociate itself from, and cease support for, the "coalition's" misleading media campaign. Its ads are a disser vice to all of Oregon's tribal community. Sincerely, Ron Suppah, Chairman, Warm Springs Tribal Council.. r r i if 1 j 1 - . IV, Ik '6 mm Diesel 419 Exhaust System Installed $499.99 (TORE P0UER l N-ivJj Diesel Chips & Exhaust System Package Installed $999.99 Save Fuel with the pulling power you need 'fifelitefr ir !' mm II