SCA
OrColl
P.0. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
75
. S68
v. 31
no. 12
June 8,
2006
Spilyay Ty m e
Coyote News, est. 1976
Use of
body nets
essential
By Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
During the recent tragic drowning
o f a W arm S p rin g s m an in the
Deschutes River, the tribal rescue team
placed nets downstream in order to
recover the body.
The tribes have used such nets for
many years in cases requiring the re
covery o f a body from the river. The
goal is to retrieve the body as soon as
possible, out o f respect for the deceased
person and the person’s loved ones.
The tribes will continue using the
body nets in cases requiring the recov
ery o f a body from the river, said Tribal
Council Chairman Ron Suppah.
“ Historically we’ve always used the
nets when we’ve lost a person to the
river,” said Suppah. “ O ur standard has
been to find the body as quickly as
p o ssib le to help put the fam ily at
peace.”
Following the recent loss o f Wallace
LeClaire in the Deschutes River, the
tribes used nets in order to recover the
body. Flags were used to clearly indi
cate the presence o f the nets, and at
the Rainbow boat launch there was a
reader-board sign alerting rafters to the
presence o f the nets and the reason
for their presence.
The tribes also alerted law enforce
ment agencies o ff the reservation that
the nets were in the river, said Danny
Martinez, Chief o f Warm Springs Fire
and Safety.
While the nets were in the water, a
river guide from Seattle complained
publicly that his raft flipped over in the
Deschutes when he came upon one o f
the nets.
The com plaint show ed a lack o f
understanding and a lack o f respect on
the part o f the rafter, said Suppah.
Recovering the body as quickly as p o s
sible from the river, he said, is done
out o f respect for the deceased person
and the family.
“ We are respectful o f our tribal
members, especially for the surviving
family, and we will continue to be re
spectful in the future,” said Suppah.
Rafters who are experienced should
have no problem going over the nets,
said Tribal Council Raymond Tsumpti,
director o f the tribal Public Safety
Branch.
i
H e said if the rafter approaches the
net with the boat facing forward, then
there should be no problem. I f the raft
is sideways then there may be a prob
lem, he said.
Tsum pti said that in the future the
tribes would use the body nets when a
person has drowned in the river, as an
expedient way o f recovering the body.
“A s Indian people we respect the
dead,” he said.
T he Confederated Tribes have dis
agreed with river guides in the past re
garding use o f the Deschutes River.
In recent years the river guides o p
posed the implementation o f a permit
system on the river, which the tribes
and state governm ent agencies sup
ported.
T he perm it system went into effect
last year, and the results seem to be
positive so far.
“ I think the reduction in boaters is
helping the resource,” said Suppah.
Tsum pti said there have been fewer
re p o rte d c o m p la in ts o f p ro b le m s
am ong the rafters them selves, p ro b
ably because the river is less crow ded
on the peak days.
So the permit system, he said, would
seem to be working from that perspec
tive.
Acquisition Dept./Serials
Knight Library
1299 University of Oregon
Eugene OR 97403-1205
June 8, 2006 Voi. 31, No. 12
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRTSTD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
50 cents
New casino is topic of June gatherings
Kah-N ee-Ta High D esert Resort
and Casino will be hosting several
G o rg e casin o op en h o u se s this
month. The open houses will pro
vide updated inform ation regarding
the Confederated Tribes’ proposal to
build a casino at Cascade Locks, and
will feature architectural designs o f
the casino.
The open houses will also include
updated inform ation on the tribes’
gaming com pact with the state, and
two D V D presentations. The D V D
presentations include testimonials
from Warm Springs and Cascade
Locks leaders, as well video design lay
out o f the facility. The schedule for
the open houses is as follows:
Thursday, June 8 at the tribal ad
ministration building, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Thursday, Ju n e 15 at the Indian
Health Services atrium from 8 a.m. to
5 p.m.
Thursday, Ju n e 22 at the W arm
Springs Market from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tuesday, June 27 at the Three War
riors Market from noon to closing.
There will also be open houses at
the Forestry/Fire Management Train
ing Room , and the M useum at Warm,
I
time and dates to be announced.
In addition to the Gorge casino open
houses, the gaming expansion team has
been conducting family hom e-base
meetings throughout the reservation
with various families. The home-base
meetings provide a relaxed open atm o
sphere for tribal members to talk to
and ask questions o f the expansion
team regarding the Cascade Locks ca
sino proposal.
For more information on the open
houses, or if you are interested in host
ing a G orge casino family home-base
meeting, contact one o f the following
University of Oregon Library
Received on: 06-19-06
Spilyay tymoo
Tribal Council Vice-Chairman last week signed a
government-to-government agreement with the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
as presented by the tribes’ Secretary-Treasurer
Jody Calica (left). Councilwoman Rita Squiemphen
(at right) was among the Council members who
discussed the agreement with representatives from
FEMA.
The agency will provide funding to the tribes to
repair damage caused by winter flooding. The idea
is to have tribal workers make the needed repairs
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
through the FEMA program, said Dan Martinez,
chief of Fire and Safety. Chief Operations Lauraina
Hintsala and Martinez, along with the FEMA team,
made the presentation to Council.
FEMA is proposing to provide the tribes with close
to $40,000 to make the repairs. The money
became available when Pres. Bush declared a
disaster in Oregon as a result of the flooding. The
government-to-government agreement was needed,
as the funding would otherwise be allocated to the
state or to counties.
casino expansion team members: direc
tor Margie Tuckta, 553-4883; coordi
n ator Floyd Calica, 553-1112, ext.
3420; or adm inistrative coordinator
Lena Ike, 553-1112, ext. 3492.
The expansion team also wants to
remind tribal members to be watching
the mail for the next edition o f the
“ H ead o f H ouseh old” mailing. The
next edition will feature an update o f
progress from the new gam ing board
o f directors chairman K en Smith.
Please stay tuned to K W SO and the
Spilyay for inform ation regarding the
tribes’ casino proposal.
Old houses
demolished
on campus
Six old houses that were beyond re
pair have been torn down in the cam
pus area.
Eventually, all the houses on the
north side o f Wasco Street are to be
dem olished, m aking way for a large
park area.
The park area will be the site o f a
community outdoor market. Eventu
ally, there will be drinking fountains and
a public re stro o m available to the
people at the market, and the people
using the nearby ball fields, said Je f f
Sanders, director o f the H ousing D e
partment.
T he idea for rem oval o f the old
buildings and development o f the mar
ket is included in the recent downtown
development plan for Warm Springs.
Sanders said the buildings that were
removed were over 70 years old. To
bring the structures up to safety code,
and to modernize the plumbing and
electrical wiring would be cost prohibi
tive, he said. There was also some struc
tural damage, and basement m old in
the old buildings, he said.
The solution was to demolish the
buildings, which is in accordance with
the downtown developm ent plan, said
Sanders.
T he first h ou ses to com e dow n
were used as practice burns by Fire
and Safety. A fter people com plained
ab o u t the sm o k e, the d em o lish ed
bu ildin gs were hauled away rather
than burned.
Grand Ronde to run more casino ads
(AP) — In the just-ended primary
election season, the tribe that runs
O r e g o n ’s la r g e s t c a sin o sp e n t
$850,000 to blanket the airwaves
with T V ads b lastin g G ov. T ed
K ulongoski and Republican Kevin
Mannix.
D espite the ad blitz, Kulongoski
won the Dem ocratic gubernatorial
nomination in his contest with two
challengers. But Mannix went down
to defeat in the May 16 G O P pri
mary, a loss he blames in large part
on T V ads the Confederated Tribes
o f the G ran d R onde ran against
him.
N ow the G rand Ronde is pre
pared to bankroll a new round o f
T V ads targeting K ulongoski in the
general election, if he persists in
backing the Cascade Locks casino
plan o f the Confederated Tribes o f
Warm Springs.
The
d isp u te
ce n te rs
on
K u lon gosk i’s decision in 2005 to
approve the Confederated Tribes o f
Warm Springs proposal to build an
off-reservation casino in Cascade
Locks, located within the Columbia
G orge N ation al Scenic A rea and
about 40 miles east o f the lucrative
Pordand market.
The region that includes Cascade
Locks is part o f the Ceded Lands o f
the C on fed erated T ribes o f Warm
Springs.
D espite the G rand Ronde’s T V ads
that ran almost constandy in the weeks
leading up to the May 16 primary elec
tion, Kulongoski won the Dem ocratic
primary by a sizable margin over his
two challengers.
“Voters are smart; they proved dur
ing the Dem ocratic primary that they
are going to reject those kinds o f spe
cial interest ads,” said Kulongoski’s cam
paign spokesm an, Cameron Johnson.
“ Oregonians don’t want their elections
to be hijacked by special interests.”
Kulongoski, as the incumbent, was
considered the favorite to defeat chal
lengers Jim Hill and Peter Sorenson in
the Dem ocratic primary.
The G O P primary was considered
a close race up until the end, when
Pordand lawyer Ron Saxton vanquished
Mannix to become the Republican stan
dard-bearer for the fall election.
In that contest, the G rand Ronde’s
T V ads praised Saxton for opposing the
gorge casino and criticized Mannix for
refusing to say he would block it.
T h e a d s a ls o s u g g e s t e d th a t
M annix had back ed num erous tax
hikes during his years as a state
legislator.
M annix, in a recent interview,
said he thinks the G rand Ronde ads
were a decisive factor in his defeat.
“The m ost significant event was the
body blow we su ffered early on
from the m assive T V advertising
campaign by the G rand Ronde ca
sino interests,” the Salem Republi
can said.
“They defined me for voters be
fore I had a chance to define my
self.”
Johnson, Kulongoski’s re-election
cam p aig n sp o k e sm a n , says the
Dem ocratic governor intends to al
low the Warm Springs tribe to put a
casino in Cascade Lock s because
otherwise the tribe m ight build a
casino on a far less desirable site on
tribal land upstream in H ood River.
T here’s no chance K ulon goski
will change his mind - even if that
means the G rand Ronde will run
another T V ad blitz against him in
the fall, John son said.
“ He based his decision on what’s
in the best interests o f the entire
state, not just on what one special
interest wants,” Kulongoski’s spokes
m an said.
M an dies
in fall
(AP) — A man fleeing a traffic stop
in M adras last Wednesday, M ay 31,
plunged to his death from a 30-foot
cliff, authorities said.
Charles Yallup, 27, o f White Swan,
Wash., was driving a pickup on U.S.
Highway 97 west o f M adras when a
sh eriff’s deputy tried to stop him be
cause the truck had one functioning
headlight, according to the Jefferson
County Sh eriff’s Office.
Yallup avoided the stop by driving
through two fences and onto roads
where the patrol car could not follow,
the sh eriff’s office said.
The deputy soon spotted the pickup
and found two people inside. Under
sheriff Jim Adkins said they told depu
ties that Yallup got out o f the pickup
and fled on foot.
Relatives living in Warm Springs
organized a search for Yallup and found
him deceased, roughly two hours after
the attempted traffic stop. H e appar
ently fell over a cliff in the dark.
An autopsy has been scheduled,
Adkins said.