SCA
Or Co 11
E
75
. S6B
v. 30
no. 21
October
13,
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
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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 ! - .
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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.