sen
OrColl
E
73
.568
v. .38
no. 25
December
6, 005
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Acquisition Dept.Serial8
w.o. rosiage
PRSRTSTO
Coyote News, est 1976 December 8, 2005 Vol. 30, No. 25
Warm Springs, OR 97761
50 cents
Spilysy
yrooo
Dancers help
preserve
tribal culture
By Brian Mortenscn
Spilyay Tymoo
A group of nearly 40 kids, from
preschool age to high school, are help
ing keep alive the culture of the Con
federated Tribes of Warm Springs.
The Warm Springs 4-1 1 Social Dance
club meets once a week in the aerobics
room at the Community Center to learn
dances that have been a part of tribal
culture for many generations.
"We incorporated a couple of Paiute
round dances and a hoop dance, and
some from the Sahaptin people as well,"
said Valerie Switzler, language teacher
at the Culture and Heritage Depart
ment. Switzler instructs the dance club
along with Deanie Johnson, also a lan
guage teacher at Culture and Heritage.
The Warm Springs, or Sahaptin
speaking tribes, the Kiksht-speaking, or
Wasco tribes, and the Paiutes each had
different dances.
"We've learned each others' dances,
and have had fun," Switzler said. She
has taught her class the Yupai dance,
which she said was once a Paiute dance
but, according to a story, was given to
the Wasco people.
The club has 41 children registered,
with a regular group of 24 who show
up for the lessons.
See DANCE GROUP on 13
Bighorn
sheep herd
grows to 60
Between transplants in 2002 and last
December, the big horn sheep popula
tion on the Warm Springs reservation
is now up to around 60 sheep and do
ing well.
The herd of 15 transported from
the John Day River canyon near
Condon about a year ago has increased
to 20, Warm Springs Fish and Wildlife
manager Terry Luther said last week.
While two adult sheep have been killed
in the past year, seven lambs have been
born and survived since their birth last
April.
If conditions allow, based on avail
ability of forage and favorable weather
conditions, the herd could increase to
better than 200 animals. "If they keep
doing well, in five years we could have
over 200 sheep," he said.
An original group of 20 sheep were
brought to the reservation in January
2002. By the time the group of 1 5 were
added last December, that group had
expanded to 30.
"Those initial sheep have split into
three different bands," Luther said.
"Two with a ram and ewes and lambs,
and one band of just rams. That's very
typical because one ram will take over
a group, and you'll have a bachelor
group."
Of the group brought over last
December, one was killed, probably by
a mountain lion near Wapanitia Creek
north of the reservation.
Shortly after being transported to the
reservation, three of the rams went on
a reconnaissance trip went to Wapanitia
creek. One of them was killed by a
mountain lion but the other two came
back.
Fish and Wildlife personnel moni
tor die sheep with monthly checks us
ing aircraft, and periodic field investi
gations. The sheep wear radio collars
to make them easier to track.
Set BIGHORNS en 6
Elysebeth Scott is a candidate of the Junior Court of the
Lincoln's Birthday Powwow. She is a third-grader at Madras
Elementary School. She likes to dance at powwows such as Pi-Ume-Sha,
and at powwows in Portland and nearby areas.
She decided to become part of the Lincoln's Birthday Powwow
when she saw other girls wearing the court crowns. "I decided I
want to be a part of it," she said.
Her favorite things about school are mathematics and recess.
She especially likes to play tetherball during recess. Elysebeth
lives with her grandmother Sonya Scott.
As part of the Powwow Court, Elysebeth is selling raffle tickets.
The money raised from the raffle supports the Lincoln's Birthday
Powwow. Tickets are $1 each or six for $5. You can purchase
tickets from Elysebeth by calling 553-1345.
The Lincoln's Birthday Powwow will be at the Simnasho
Longhouse Feb. 10-12. (Other candidates of the Powwow Court
will be featured In upcoming editions of the Spilyay Tymoo.)
Many challenges facing Native radio
By Brian Mortensen
Spilyay Tymoo
Mary Sando-Emhoolah gained a
new perspective on how difficult life
is for indigenous people in some
South American countries.
Sando-Emhoolah, a former man
ager of KWSO, is a member of two
national boards of Native American
and community radio. She was the
main speaker last month at a con
ference on community radio in
Santiago.
Sando-Emhoolah spoke at the
"Culturas en el Aire" at the Centro
Cultural Estacion Mapocho in
Santiago, Oct. 14-15."
The conference included indig
enous broadcasters, researchers and
non-indigenous scholars from Chile,
Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay
and Columbia.
"I was one of the last people con
firmed to go, but I ended up being
the main speaker on the panel,"
Sando-Emhoolah said.
Sando-Emhoolah is on the Board
of Directors of the National Fed
eration of Community Broadcast
ers, as well as a member of the ad
visory council of the Center for
Native American Public Radio.
Harvard University's Latin
American studies group sponsored
i .-CV c
Til '-ri
Dave McMechanSpilyay
.1
, -J,
Ml. .
'i ii ii i in I LJ i
Mary Sando-Emhoolah of Warm Springs, compares traditional jewelry with
a girl from the Mapuche tribe of Chile during Sando-Emhoolah's trip to
Santiago, Chile, for the Culturas en el Aire ("Cultures in the Air") seminar
Oct. 14-15.
the conference. Harvard also flew
Sando-Emhoolah to Santiago for the
event.
"My trip was going to be paid for
by the U.S. Consulate, but Harvard
University actually ended up paying for
mv trip," she said. "They wanted me to
participate."
Sando-Emhoolah's role in the con
ference was mainly to talk about com
$2 million reduction
in 2006 tribal budget
By Dave McMcchan
Spilyay Tymoo
Tribal Council has approved the
2006 budget, which will involve some
significant changes in the tribal organi
zation. The budget for next year is a litde
over $19.25 million. Developing a bal
anced budget required reductions of
just under $2 million.
Eight positions held by tribal mem
bers arc being eliminated; however,
people in these jobs will have the op
portunity to move to other, vacant
positions in the organization.
"We do not anticipate any tribal
members becoming unemployed as a
result of the budget reductions," said
Ray Potter, the tribes' chief financial
officer.
"All individuals impacted are sched
uled to meet with the personnel depart
ment this week to discuss reassignment
to other open positions."
In reaching the balanced budget, die
revenue reserve, or rainy day fund was
not used.
The budget includes additional
money for operation of I Ugh Lookee
Lodge. The lodge will receive an addi
tional $200,000 next year, necessary for
continued operation.
The lodge came under tribal man
agement in 2005, as the tribes' previ
ous contractual arrangement with a
private management company came to
an end.
During the district and other meet
ings on the budget, the continued op
eration of I ligh Lookee was a point
of general agreement.
Cost of living, bonus
In the 2006 budget there is $200,000
set aside for a cost of living increase
for tribal employees.
There will be a year-end bonus for
tribal members that will be less than
the amount received last year. The bo
nus this year will be 70 percent of the
amount received at the end of 2004,
or $700.
-ram
submitted photo
munity radio, as it is used in Native
American communities in the United
States.
While sharing her knowledge, she
also learned that not every place is
equal in its treatment of its indigenous
peoples.
"People asked me what impressions
were. What stayed on my mind, and
still concerns me now; is where thev are
University of Oregon Library
Received onx 12-27-C5
1 Spilyay tyioo.
The tribal general fund budget re
lies mainly on revenue from Warm
Springs Power Enterprises.
Other sources arc Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries, Kah-Nec-Ta,
and Warm Springs Composite
Products.
According to the budget summary
released earlier in die fall, enterprise
revenue to the tribes in 2006 is ex
pected $12.5 million.
The largest tribal enterprise is Power
Enterprises, with a projected dividend
of $10 million.
Timber stumpagc 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
projecting 2006 dividends of
$500,000 each; and Tectonics Inter
national, $50,000.
For the 2006 budget the tribes had
available $4.5 million in the category
of "other revenue," which includes
items such as prior year savings, and
money from the HcI le-McQuinn law
suit setdemcnt.
For the budget year 2007 the "other
revenue" category may include $1.5
million, or $3 million less than the
amount available in developing the
2006 budget. For this reason a poten
tially more difficult budget process can
be expected next year.
The much-needed new source of
revenue is the casino the tribes are
, planning to develop at the Columbia
River.
However, for budgeting purposes,
revenue from a new casino could not
be expected until three years after the
project has necessary federal ap
proval. The Gorge casino project is in the
environmental impact statement (EIS)
phase, expected to last until the middle
of next year.
The 500,000-square-foot riverfront
resort and casino is planned for con
struction on 60 acres of land in the
Cascade Locks industrial park.
as indigenous or Native people. I
think Natives there are where they
were in the United States in the
1950s and 60s," she said.
"A lot of the time there is one
person fighting for indigenous rights.
Indigenous people aren't encour
aged, they aren't recognized by the
government, which is totally differ
ent from the United States, where
we have government-to-govern-mcnt
relationships. In South
America it's not that way. They're
not even recognized."
At the conference many of the
presenters offered their stories in
video form. One whose story
touched Sando-Emhoolah was a
woman from an indigenous tribe
from Chile whose land was being
taken by a large business concern.
While younger people in the area
setded with the company and left
their homes, the woman continued
to resist.
"She doesn't speak English. But
in the video, you can see her getting
right in the construction peoples'
faces, saying, 'I want you to leave, I
don't want you here, This is my land
You're being very disruptive to my
home,'" she said.
See RADIO I)