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OrCall
: 75
.568
; V. 31
no. 14
July €,
2006
Spilyay Tymo
C oyote News, est. 1976
Traditional
weavingjoins
tribes, Maori
B y L eslie M itts
Spilyay Tymoo
Ranui N garim u has a soft voice,
quick hands and a knack for weaving.
Her fingers fly as she speaks, barely
pausing as she explains the process of
traditional Maori weaving.
The feathers are the tricky part.
They have to be woven in from
bottom to top, to avoid having the pre
viously-placed feathers get in the way
o f the process.
Ngarimu shows no sign of a struggle
as she nimbly demonstrates.
She is part a group o f Toi Maori
people who visited Warm Springs for
a showcase o f traditional Maori weav
ing at the Museum at Warm Springs.
But she can’t remember when she
first started weaving.
“I’ve learned from the knees o f
many iconic Maori weavers,” she said.
N garim u and other m em bers o f
the M aori tribe o f N ew Zealand trav
eled to Warm Springs as part o f the
new exhib it entitled “The E ternal
T hread.”
Though the live demonstrations took
place from June 18 to June 23, the
exhibit will be featured in the museum
until September 9.
This is the fourth and final venue
for the Maori, featuring a selection of
cloaks (called kakahu), woven baskets
(kete) and contemporary pieces.
Besides w eaving, the group also
dem onstrated traditional song and
dance and met with local weavers, art
ists and tribal elders.
They chose the Museum at Warm
Springs as one o f the venues for a spe
cific reason, Ngarimu mentioned.
“It’s really important that we make
that connection with the indigenous
people o f Oregon,” Ngarimu said.
A c c o r d in g to th e ir w e b s ite
(w w w .m ao riart.o rg.n z), “T he M u
seum A t W arm Springs was chosen
to be the destination for this inspir
ing, highly desired exhibition because
M aori artists feel a special kinship with
Native American artists o f the North
w est.”
The group stayed at the Kah-Nee-
Ta Resort High Desert Resort and be
came quick fans o f the surrounding
area, Ngarimu said, adding, “The land
scape is stunning.”
For the most part, the exhibit sur
prised people— especially because a lot
o f them didn’t know that such woven
g a rm e n ts w ere s till b ein g m ade,
Ngarimu said.
“They sort o f gasp when they see
it,” she said. “They were just taken
aback.”
Six w eav ers trav eled to W arm
Springs for the exh ib it, alo ng w ith
the ch airp erso n o f th eir o rg an iza
tion.
The weavers are members of a na
tional M aori weaving group in New
Z ealand called Te Roopu R aranga
W hatu O Aotaroa.
The title of the exhibit is especially
im portant, Ngarimu said, because it
represents the thread of knowledge and
tradition passed on from generation to
generation.
“It’s not only about weaving, it’s
about connecting with other people,”
she said.
Toi M aori is a charitable trust that
represents 10 national Maori art com
mittees.
The organization features everything
from carvers to tattooists and musi
cians.
T h ey strive to develop the artist
and art form w h ile still p reserv in g
a cu ltu ral id e n tity and unique h eri
tage. (See photos on p age 12.)
July 6, 2006
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Gaming chairman discusses casino controversy
B y D avid M cM echan
Spilyay Tymoo
In the past the tribes worked to
gether, which is why the current con
troversy is such a disappointment.
“I guess they don’t look at history,”
said Ken Smith, chairman o f the
Kah-Nee-Ta board of directors.
In an interview for the KWSO
Warm Springs show, Smith shared
his views on the casino controversy
that exists between the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs and the Con
federated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
The first thing that comes to mind,
Smith said, is how in the past the tribes
worked together. This was true espe
cially during the 1980s, when the Grand
Ronde tribes, which had been termi
nated in the 1950s, were restored as a
federally recognized tribe.
In the 1980s Smith, a former gen
eral m anager o f the W arm Springs
tribes, served as assistant Secretary of
the Interior in the Reagan administra
tion. Pres. Reagan signed the Grand
Ronde Restoration Act.
Later, when Smith returned to Or
egon from Washington D.C., he worked
as a consultant to tribes in the region.
He was a consultant, for instance,
with the Grand Ronde, who were work
ing at getting their tim ber property
back. At the time, “There were great
people in their leadership,” he said.
Smith made good friends in Grand
Ronde, though in recent years he has
not had contact with the Grand Ronde
leadership.
“It’s hard for me to see where they’re
coming from in opposing us,” he said.
“I am personally very disappointed in
their leadership,” he added. W arm
Springs supported the Grand Ronde in
their struggle to regain federal recogni
tion and their tribal land, and in devel
oping their government, he said.
See CASINO on 12
Tribes confer
on ways to
battle meth
B y L eslie M itts
Spilyay Tymoo
Wes and Meg Tucker are greeted by Chesley Yahtin
and other veterans following the Saturday Pi-Ume-
Sha Parade.
Wes and Meg Tucker are the parents of U.S. Army
Pfc. Tom Tucker, who was killed in June in Iraq.
The Tuckers were the guests of honor this year at
Pi-Ume-Sha. Tribal drummers and singers performed
an honor song in memory of Tom Tucker, and the
fences around the powwow grounds and Warm
Springs were tied with hundreds of yellow ribbons.
Graduates enjoy celebration dinner
B y L eslie M itts
Spilyay Tymoo
Direlle Calica remembers one in
fluential m om ent from her high
school graduation.
Thirteen years ago she received
a poster as a gift — a poster that said
“Success is not a destination, but it
is a journey.”
Those were words that Calica
passed on to the class of 2006 on
June 22, when she delivered the key
note address at the celebration spon
sored by the Tribal Education Commit
tee and the Tribal Court.
Whatever the graduates choose to
do next, Calica said, “Getting there is
going to be part of the fun.”
Calica left Warm Springs to go to
college, and she graduated law school
a year ago. kJ,ow she works for the
Northwest Division of the Army Corps
o f Engineering.
“You are all the stewards o f the
future,” she told the graduating class.
Families and community mem
bers g a th e re d in the A g e n c y
Longhouse to enjoy a dinner pre
pared by the Simnasho Vols. High
school graduates were presented
with a book, while higher education
graduates were presented with bags.
See GRADUATES on 13
Tribal m em bers from across the
state came together for a regional meth-
amphetamine conference last week at
Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Resort and
Casino.
The conference, held from June 26
through Ju ne 28, featured speakers
from reservations across the country
as well as medical experts and govern
ment figures with one topic of concern
in common: methamphetamine use on
reservations.
Methamphetamine prevention is an
issue of highest priority for the tribes.
Recent reports say that methamphet
amine use is increasing on reservations,
causing an increase in crime and mor
tality rates and the destruction of hous
ing and natural resources.
Statistics on Native American meth
am phetam ine use are scarce, but a
Drug Enforcement Administration sur
vey has found that close to 2 percent
o f the American Indian population is
using meth.
An Indian Health Service report to
Congress earlier this month states that
the rate o f methamphetamine use by
Native Americans appears to have dra
m atically increased in the past five
years.
With that in mind, community mem
bers and tribal leaders attended vari
ous sessions, many of them targeted
at brainstorming ways to combat the
methamphetamine problem. Other ses
sions focused on drug education and
working with youth.
Sissy Falcon, a substance abuse pre
vention coordinator with the Confed
erated Tribes o f Umatilla, shared her
own story, as part o f a session dedi
cated to developing the “Rez Watch”
program.
Falcon gave up methamphetamines
23 years ago after an overdose. Now a
grandmother, she draws on her per
sonal experiences to educate the public
about the drug.
“I’ve never seen anything so power
ful or evil,” Falcon said of metham
phetamines.
See CONFERENCE on 12
The 4-H Social Dancers ride in
the Pi-Ume-Sha Traditional
Parade on Saturday afternoon
(far left photo).
Joann Scott was named Miss
Pi-Ume-Sha 2006 (photo at
left).
More Pi-Ume-Sha pictures on
pages 8 and 9.