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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2005)
SCA Or Co 11 E 75 . S6B v. 30 no. 21 October 13, P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 rUnivtnity of Oregon Library Received oni 10-18-05 Spilyay tyioo. ECRWSS Postal Patron I U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 50 cents Coyote News, est 1976 October 13, 2005 Vol. 5U, No. 21 Spilyay Tyro Commercial code taking shape By Brian Morlcnaen Spilyay Tjmoo A committee of local business leaders, lending officers and attor neys are ironing out what would be a commercial code that would help businesses on the reservation be compatible with commerce off the reservation. The code would mostly refer to secured, or collateral, transactions, and banking. The draft code is based mainly on the Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act, which was drafted by the Committee on Liaison with American Indian Tribes of the Na tional Conference of Commission ers of Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL). The NCCUSL is the body that created the Uniform Commercial Code (UCQ, the document by which all states have based their commer cial codes. The Model Tribal Secured Transactions Act was finished in August. The act is based on Article IX of the UCC, which deals only with secured transactions, but it also includes Articles I and II, which are the scope and definitions of the act, and sales, respectively, and Article VIII, on investment securities. NCCUSL was trying to create a code, Bruce Engle of Warm Springs Credit said, "to make a good stand-, . alone article, to serve most tribes for ' a good many years, so it could be easily expanded and amended to in clude other sections as needed." "So we added three more sections just for banking," he said. The sec . tions deal with negotiable instru ments, bank deposits, collections and funds transfers, handling money within the banking world, and se cured transactions. The local additions have come from a committee from Warm Springs, including Mike Clements, general manager of Warm Springs Business and Economic Develop ment; Jolene Atencio, Small Business Development Center director; Tribal Court Chief Judge Anita Jackson; and Engle, among others. Clements, Atencio, Jackson and Engle are part of a sub-committee charged with drafting the new Warm Springs code, along with Lonnie James and Cindy Starke, an attor ney with the Karnopp Petersen law firm. After the document is written, an other committee will be charged with community outreach. Meetings for the Warms Springs community to review the drafted commercial code will then be scheduled. "What we want to do is make sure that we get as many in the commu nity interested and involved, so they know what we're doing and how it will benefit each family and how this fits economic development reservation-wide," Engle said. "There are many benefits that will come out of this." Engle said a draft code could be complete, and the community meet ings scheduled by late spring of 2006. Following input from the com munity, recommendations would be considered, leading to a draft code to be renewed by Tribal Council. Engle said that "most of the tech nical stuff" in the wording of the code harmonizes with Oregon's com mercial code off the reservation, but there will be specific language to protect the tribes' sovereignty and its cultural resources. Set CODE m page 10 Tribes face difficult budget decisions By Dave McMechan Spilyay Tjmoo Tribal Council is asking for mem bership comments on the proposed general fund tribal budget for 2(X)6. Total expenditures in the proposed budget amount to $31.1 million. The proposal includes increases in program operations of $4.6 million, said Jody Calica, secretary-treasurer. The pro posal, however, results in a deficit bud get of $4.7 million, said Calica. The budget will need to be balanced before it is approved in November. As stated in the 2006 budget mes sage by Tribal Council Chairman Ron Suppah, "In order to afford any of the program additions, we know that some Kodiak (left) and Lance Stormbringer J - y. ,v':i ; ' Trt?T Is' I ! - . sv 1P ( V Brothers enjoy great opportunity By Dave McMechan Spilyay Tjmoo Lance and Kodiak Stormbringer are a success story. They faced serious chal lenges growing up but they have over come the obstacles. The Stormbringer brothers have good jobs. The store where they are employed, they say, feels like their own, and this gives them sense of pride in their work. Lance and Kodiak are both 21 years old, Kodiak being older by nine months. They both graduated from Madras High School, and now work full-time at the Opportunities Galore thrift shop in Madras. The shop is a work center of the Opportunity Foundation, which has High Lookee Lodge under tribal High Lookee Lodge is now fully a tribal operation. In past years the tribes have con tracted with a private company to pro vide management services for the lodge. The plan from the beginning has been to one day bring the lodge under tribal management, and that happened at the beginning of this month. The change from private to tribal management is not noticeable in the day-to-day operation and elder care pro vided at High Lookee. The change is noticeable mainly to the employees of the lodge, as they are now tribal employees, rather than em ployees of Concepts in Community Living, the company that has provided programs will have to be eliminated or drastically reduced in order to stay within cliis overall budget.." The goal of the budget process, he said, is "to make even' effort to mini mize impacts on services, tribal mem ber employment, and to fairly distrib ute any budget cuts." The 2006 budget includes no carry over budget. "This practice has created confusion in the past," said Ray Potter, the tribes' chief financial officer. "It allowed funds to be spent while appear ing to bypass the membership approval process. It was not the best budgeting practice and was not transparent to the membership. From now on, any un spent operational funds left over at year outside the Opportunity Foundation store been serving people with disabilities in Central Oregon for many years. The foundation has three thrift shops in the region, the newest one being Opportu nities Galore. The shop this week is celebrating its grand opening. At the store, Lance and Kodiak sort through items that people have donated, they price the items and put them out on display. They help keep the shop clean, and do most any other task that needs to be done in order to keep the store in good condition. They came to their jobs through a program at Madras High School. The school's transition program helps gradu ating students who might otherwise find it hard to join the workforce. Alica Sims of the Opportunity Foun management services at the lodge. Lawrence Macy is now the director of High Lookee. His immediate super visor is the tribes' chief operations of ficer Lauraina 1 lintsala, who then re ports to Tribal Council. The arrangement provides a more direct link between tribal officials and the lodge, said Macy. There is more control by the tribes of revenue and expenditures at the lodge, he said. Council has met several times to dis cuss the transition of the kxlge from private to tribal management, and a fi nal plan was approved this year, said Macy. . Tribal enterprise accountant Mike Collins helped with the financial part end will only be used for the Challenge Fund (to match grant money), or they will go back into the Revenue Reserve (Rainy Day Fund)." The Agency District meeting on the 2006 budget is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 24 at the Agency Ixnghousc, with dinner at 6 p.m., and the meeting at 7. The Simnasho District meeting on the budget is scheduled for Thursday , Oct. 27 at the Simnasho Longhousc. Dinner is at 6 p.m., meeting at 7. The Scckseequa District, which has met once on the 2006 budget, is ex pected to meet again. The date of this meeting had not yet been set as of ear lier this week. According to the budget summary, Dava McMactwVSptlyay in Madras. dation is the program manager at Op portunities Galore. She has known Kodiak and Lance for several years. Sims worked as the youth transition specialist at the high school when the brothers were in the school-to-work transition program. The transition was not hard for Kodiak and Lance, she said, because the brothers had been working part time for the Opportunity Foundation during their time in school. For Kodiak and Lance the rewards of working are the same as for every one else. "You go to work, and you're a pro ductive citizen. You earn money and become independent," said Sims. Set BROTHERS on page 14 management of the change, said Macy. High Lookee Lodge has a staff of 20 people. During the day there are two caregivers on the floor at all times. At night there is one caregiver on duty. The lodge also employs cooks, a secre tary and other positions. The position of assistant director is currently being advertised. There are 20 residents at the lodge. Sixty percent of the residents are from the reservation. Others are Indians from other reservations, and some are non-Indians from the Central Oregon rcgioa Macy has been working at High Lookee Lodge since March of last rear. revenue to the tribes in 2006 is ex pected to be $26.4 million. Most of this - $12.5 million - is from enterprise dividends. The largest tribal enterprise is Power Enterprises, with a projected dividend of $10 million. Timber stumpage from Warm Springs Forest Products Industries is projected at $4 million. Gaming is ex pecting a $1.5 million dividend. Credit and Composite Products are project ing 2006 dividends of $500,000 each; and Tectonics International, $50,000. A main challenge in developing the 2006 final balanced budget will be de ciding on where the necessary cuts will come from. Elder, fish advocate passes away Claude Smith Sr. passed away Sunday, Oct. 9. 1 Ie was 83. Mr. Smith was well known for his dedication to traditional fish eries, their restoration and pro tection. He fished at Celilo Falls, Klickitat Falls, Eagle Creek and many other usual and accustomed I fishing places of gJ tne wasco PeoPle- Smith Sr. For more than 20 years he rep resented his people on the tribal Fish and Wildlife Committee. During his life, he traveled across the U.S. educating policymakers about fisheries and their protection. In recent years he was honored by the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commis sion with the Lifetime Achieve ment Award. Mr. Smith was a veteran of World War II. He worked for the BIA roads department for 38 years, and served as the chief appellate judge of the Tribal Court. Mr. Smith was popular in the local community as a great sports enthusiast. He was a boxing and basketball coach, and in his youth was a professional boxer. He was also a great bowler. (A full obituary will appear in the next Spilyay Tjmoo.) Graffiti, rumor prompt school safety drill Madras High School students went through a safety drill last week, follow ing a report of threatening graffiti left on the wall of a school bathroom. Students and their lockers were searched, and extra officers were on campus for the drill, which happened last Thursday, Oct. 6. No weapons were found, and the conclusion is that the threatening state ment on the bathroom wall was a hoax, .said school district superintendent Guy Fisher. It is best to err on the side of safety, though, which is why die school con ducted the safety drill, said Fisher. The graffiti on the bathroom wall was seen by students on Wednesday evening, Oct 5. The situation became exaggerated by rumor, prompting many students to stay home from school on Thursday, said Fisher. A day or two later a similar incident happened at a school in Amity near Salem.