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News from Indian Country
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Page 9 Spilyay Tymoo January 19, 2006
M M B H V ii
Report: Yakama court dysfunctional
TOPPENISH (AP) - A 52-
page report by the National In
dian Justice Center describes the
Yakama N ation’s tribal court
system as dysfunction al and
lacking leadership, the Yakima
Herald-Republic reported.
The Justice Center, based in
Santa Rosa, Calif., is an Indian-
owned, nonprofit agency that
assists tribes with im proving
their justice systems. The tribe
commissioned the probe, which
was completed last fall, but the
newspaper didn’t obtain a copy
until last week.
The report revealed conflicts
o f interest, daily breaches of
confidentiality and security, a
mounting backlog of cases and
a lack of any appeals process.
Tribal prosecutors and pub
lic defenders refused to be in
terviewed and public defenders
were not representing clients in
court during the inspection con
ducted by the Justice Center, the
report said.
T ribal C ouncil C hairm an
Louis Cloud told the newspaper
for a story Saturday that the
tribe would address the issues
but that he could not comment
on “the findings before consult
ing with the tribe’s Law and
Order Committee.
Officials at the Justice Cen
ter also would not comment,
citing contractual obligations
with the tribe.
The Yakama tribal court has
four judges, four clerks, and
I
hears up to 300 cases a month
involving driving infractions to
civil disputes, according to the
report.
T rib al m em ber L ouis
Gunnier, embroiled in a child
custody case in tribal court, said
the Tribal Council sought the
probe after he complained how
his case was handled.
All major decisions about the
tribe are made at the General
Council meeting, where tribal
members elect the 14-member
T rib al C o uncil. T he T rib al
Council oversees daily opera
tions for the tribe.
Gunnier said he was awarded
custody of his children in 2001
but discovered last May that the
court had reversed its decision
Geothermal energy
project under consideration
and awarded custody to his ex-
wife.
Court documents show that
a judge in April 2004 authorized
the custody change, but it wasn’t
en fo rced u n til a year later.
Gunnier said he was told that
the order was found sitting in a
file a year after the decision.
Gunnier thinks the order was
dishonestly backdated, and is
calling for the ouster o f both
the trib e ’s c h ie f ju d ge and
children’s court judge.
With the tribe’s appeals court
not functioning, Gunnier says he
has no recourse.
“Appeals aren’t being pro
cessed,” Gunnier said. “My ar
gum ent to my people is this
shouldn’t be happening.”
KLAMATH FALLS (AP) — Controversy is brewing over
a plan to develop a $200 million geothermal energy project
at the Medicine Lake Highlands, a collapsed large shield
volcano.
Since the 1980s, a series of developers have proposed
drilling geothermal wells at Medicine Lake and transmitting
energy over power transmission lines.
Proponents tout geothermal energy as a clean alternative
to other sources of electricity, such as fossil fuels, coal and
nuclear energy. The work includes pumping naturally heated
water from underground sources, using the water to gener
ate power and then pumping the water back into the ground
to be reheated and reused.
Some studies show that the Medicine Lake Highlands
has the largest identified geothermal resource in the lower
48 states.
But Indian tribes are opposed to the idea. They say the
caldera has been used for spiritual, ceremonial and healing
purposes for more than 10,000 years by the Pit River, Modoc
and Shasta tribes.
Some Puyallups question monthly payments to tribal members
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) - The
Puyallup Tribe of Indians takes
the direct approach with profits
from its Emerald Queen Casino.
Every one of the tribe’s 3,450
members gets a monthly check
for $2,000.
Since the program began in
2002, the Puyallups have paid
out $280 million.
But as the tribal population
increases, the payments have
become a topic of heated de
bate.
Puyallup leaders say there’s
no problem, citing the casino’s
healthy profits.
But a group o f concerned
m em bers says the paym ents
have put the Puyallups on an
economic treadmill they can’t
keep up with and can’t get off.
Members of the group, who
declined to be identified by name,
told The News Tribune newspa
per that the tribe recently restruc
tured more than $130 million in
loans so that only interest pay
ments will be made over the next
five years. The tribe then will face
a balloon payment.
“The tribe is essentially op
erating on a paycheck-to-pay-
check basis,” said a member of
the group, which calls itself Full
Circle of the Puyallup Nation.
“There is no consideration given
to long-term debt. They have no
idea how they’re going to come
up with the money to pay that
balloon in five years.”
David Peterson, hired by the
tribe as its head accountant,
would not discuss the details, but
said restructuring is a normal
part o f business. The payments
to tribal members are part of a
large and complex business plan
- well-thought-out and entirely
above board, he said. “Some
people start scurrilous rumors
and blow up situations beyond
recognition,” said John Bell, the
tribe’s top attorney.
Air quality:
“Once in a while, they get a
temperature inversion, like in
Los Angeles, where warm air is
above the cold air and it holds
on like a lid. You get all these
wood stoves going and it’ll crank
it up.
“It was definitely in the mod
erate range and unsafe for cer
tain sensitive groups for a while,
but that was unusual. Typically,
it’s usually in the good range,
with an index of 50 or below.”
E ven so, air q u ality is n ’t
so m eth in g to be- taken for
granted. Factors like traffic, both
coming through Warm Springs
on U.S. 26 and in certain places
in the Warm Springs commu
nity, and wood stove smoke can
compromise air quality.
Along with the monitor at
Fire management, which is away
from major vehicular traffic, In
the next few weeks, Shipp will
place another monitor near the
Hollywood Street-Tenino Road
intersection, near several major
traffic spots, including the Com
munity Center, the tribal Admin
istratio n building, the E arly
Childhood Education Center
and the Warm Springs Indian
Health Services Clinic.
“In south Warm Springs, you
have more cars, so this new
monitor we’re going to put over
by the health clinic. That will
give us readings on the south
side,” he said. “I have a small
portable monitor, and I’ve been
getting very high readings al
most every" day in the moderate
range, much higher than what
they have at Fire Management.
How long it’s going to stay in
the good range I’m not going to
know until I get my continuous
monitor.”
It is interesting, he said, that
the air by the clinic really isn’t
the same as the air at Fire Man
agement. “The air here (at the
clinic) tends to stagnate more.
Over there, you get the air car
ried away toward the east. It
carries away to the east here,
and when it gets over here it stag
nates.”
The new monitor will be es
pecially helpful, he said, because
it will help him determine trends
in air quality, help find where the
particulate matter comes from
— whether it’s from vehicular
traffic in the mornings and af
ternoons or woodstove smoke
at night.
“It’ll be interesting to see what
happens. This new monitor will
show day and night, what the
peaks are at night and at certain
times of the day,”
Shipp has been an air quality
specialist for the Confederated
Tribes since 2002. He was pre
viously the Warm Springs envi
ronmental sanitarian. He said
the moderate particulate level,
at over 50, is not necessarily
harmful by itself, but there may
be other factors to consider,
such as acute exposure one may-
have at home, where there may
be a wood stove or material like
radon.
“We haven’t done any radon
studies, which is unfortunate,” he
said. “We have a person who
works at Natural Resources. His
mother has lung cancer and she
hasn’t been a smoker, and we
don’t know what the problem is.
A lot of times the air near the
tribal garage is much higher (in
particulates) than at the clinic. For
some reason, it just kind of stays
around there, and people living
near there are at higher risk than
people who live out by Tenino.”
He said he would, in fact,
favor an epidemiological study
in Warm Springs.
“We need to work with In
dian Health Service to look at
all the statistics, such as the num
ber of people who are visiting
the clinic for respiratory distress.
We want to see the areas where
most of these people are living
— is it north Warm Springs, or is
it south W arm Springs, and
within those areas, where are
you getting most of the reports
o f respiratory problem s?” he
said. “Then we can narrow it
down — are they living close to
the tribal garage or closer to
Tenino? A lot needs to be done,
as far as investigation of health
statistics. We’re looking to do
that in the next year.”
O f course, Shipp said, “there
are people who smoke, and they
are at high risk anyway. And
there are many other factors, a
number o f risk factors people
need to know about.”
The m ill at Warm Springs
Forest Products Industries con
tributed to bettering the air qual-
ity when it began operating its
new boiler unit.
The new boiler has a smoke
scrubber to draw out impurities
before the sm oke leaves the
smokestack. Also, smoke from
the m ill tends to blow away
from the Warm Springs commu-
nity, he said.
A lot of work has been done
to help monitor the air quality, he
said, and having the new monitor
in South Warm Springs will help
as will the daily bulletins posted in
various spots, including the Ad
ministration Building, the Warm
Springs Market, the Community
Center and at the Natural Re-
sources complex.
varies widely
on the rez
(Continued from page 1)
“I take the lowest reading in
Oregon, the highest reading in
the N o rthw est and also the
whole western region,” Shipp
said. “I get pretty good compari-
son o f the air q u ality here,
around the region and the whole
west coast.”
The town of Burns, for in
stance, was the highest in par
ticulates in Oregon for a week
or so. “They have a lot of wood
stoves, and they have stagnant
air over there too,” said Shipp.
Warm Springs, he said, has^
generally good air quality, with
indices under 50, which is con
sidered good. “I t’s probably
among the best regions. It’s com
parable to Bend, and Bend is
hardly ever in the m oderate
range,” he said.
Stwyer:
encouraged
since childhood
(Continued from page 1)
“That was given to me by
my ‘N ana’ Aurolyn Stwyer.
She gave it to me during her
son’s name-giving. And then
my stepfather re-did every
thing, hair-ties, the bag, ev
erything that goes with it. It
was all re-done and it was a
shock to everybody. T hey
thought it was the original
outfit but it was all re-done.”
W h ile she d o e sn ’t do
much beadwork, she can sew,
and is learning to sew with a
sew ing m achine. She also
made her own jingle dress,
“which took me a very long
time,” she said.
“It took me nine months.
It was a project in school in
N ativ e A rts and C rafts
Class,” she said. “My teacher
helped me out. It was one my
goals before the end of the
school year that I would make
a jingle dress with moccasins
and leggings.”
Stwyer said she was en
couraged to try out for the
Miss Warm Springs title when
she was a child by her grand
father and her uncle. “It was
an in sp ira tio n from my
grandpa Herbert Stwyer Sr.,
V
and my uncle Jimmy, who are
both deceased. I was really
young, and they said they
would like to see me be Miss
Warm Springs.”
Her aunt Pearl Stwyer and
cousin Aurolyn Stwyer were
Miss Warm Springs before
her.
Stwyer said she is excited
at the opportunities that are
before her, as she anticipates
her year of representing the
tribes all over the Northwest,
at pow w ow s and o th er
events.
“I ’m excited,” she said,
“because it’s a different kind
o f experience from the first
time I was a queen. The first
time I was a queen it was kind
of local. This one spreads out
all over, and you travel a lot
m ore.” Stw yer was senior
queen of the Veterans Day
Powwow at Yakama Reser
vation.
She plans to attend college
to become a paralegal, and
eventually attend law school
and be an attorney. Stwyer is
the daughter o f V eronica
Wallulatum and step-father
Custer Wallulatum, and fa
ther Herbert Stwyer Jr. She
graduated from Yakama Na
tions Tribal Schcfol on the
Y akam a R eserv atio n last
June.
—
Brian Mortensen
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