Page 14-
Spilyay T y m o o , W a rm Springs, O re g o n
M a rc h 29, 2 0 0 7
Seekseequa District Candidates
Myra Johnson
Orange
It is an honor to be nomi­
nated for one of two posi­
tions in the Tribal Council
for the Seekseequa district.
My voice could be small, but
meaningful to the people of
our district and for the tribes
as a whole. Meaningful, in
that I believe we would need
to work developing commu­
nication skills within Tribal
Council and then have the
ability to transfer that skill to
working with the people of
Warm Springs.
Communication is impor­
tant to having our people
have a voice in decisions that
will strengthen our people and
community. We need to encour­
age our young people to vote
and then to follow up with lis­
tening to their ideas and input.
There are many issues that
Julie Quaid
:
;
;
;
;
Background
I am the third born of
eigh t ch ild ren o f Fred
“Buddy” Kalama and Jean
H alfm oon D anzuka. My
step fath er w as Sam m y
Danzuka. All my parents and
grandparents are now de­
ceased, but have left many
relatives to carry on the fam­
ily name. My sisters are Judy
Kalama, Margie Kalama and
Celeste Whitewolf, and my
brothers are Gilbert, Frances,
Carl and Simon Kalama. I
have a h a lf b ro th er in
Pendleton and his name is
M ichael Jo h n so n . I have
many cousins, aunts, uncles,
nieces and nephews, step-re­
lations and in-laws from the
K alam a, M oses, D anzuka,
and Mitchell families. I have
close and distant relatives in
P en d leto n , L apw ai and
Nisqualiy.
I grew up in the E lliot
Heights neighborhood and at­
tended M adras and Warm
Springs elementary schools. I
was moved to the Mt. Hood
area when I was 12 years old
when my parents were di­
vorced. During my childhood
I spent time with my father
learning how to ride horses
and bale hay and I helped my
mom do laundry the old fash­
ioned w ay w ith a w ringer
washer and clothesline. Both
my
p aren ts
atten ded
Chemawa Board School and
always emphasized the impor­
tance of not just learning ev­
ery life skills, but using edu­
cation as an opportunity to
support yourself and your
family. My stepfather was a
master tree faller and ran his
own business. Because of his
remarkable knowledge and
experience in the reservation
woods, all us children learned
how to fish, hunt, camp and
appreciate and respect the
outdoors—maybe not all of us:
my older sisters found jobs to
get out of camping.
I had my first job when I
was 13 years old. I cut and
bundled kindling for 7 5 cents
an hour. I worked at the old
Snow B ird d riv e-in in
Rhodedendron (now it’s a
Dairy Queen) and worked at
the Ski Bowl in Government
Camp. My little brothers and
sister knew I alw ays had
money stashed somewhere.
I graduated from Sandy
High School and moved back
to the reservation to live with
my father. I attended Mt.
Hood Community College
for one year then returned to
Warm Springs and married.
After growing up some more
and working at Macy’s store
with Dan and Priscilla, Waldren
and Ernie, and Shirley and Pat,
I decided to pursue my dream
o f becom ing a high school
teacher. I returned to MHCC
and earned and associate’s of
science degree. I transferred to
Lewis & Clark College and af­
ter three years of liberal stud­
ies, earned a bachelor and mas­
ter degree and teaching certifi­
cate and again returned to the
reservation.
After graduation, I held only
part-time jobs as an Alternative
Education Teacher, substitute
teacher, Spilyay Tymoo reporter,
and Cub Scout leader.
Then Coty Soules, 24 years
ago, recruited me to work as a
Parent/Health/Disabilities Co­
ordinator in the Head Start pro­
gram. She asked that I improve
my knowledge of early child­
hood education so sent me to
The Bank Street College of
Education in New York City
where I completed a master of
education administration degree.
Since then, my career is devoted
to designing and prom oting
quality education, employment,
and com m unity services for
children and families on the res­
ervation.
Issues I Care About
T h ro ughout my life and
work, I was taught to respect
people no matter their educa­
tion, job or lifestyle. I was ex­
pected to always do my best no
matter the conditions, hardships,
or drawbacks and that patience
is necessary to reach long term
goals. My parents demonstrated
that we treat people, especially
the helpless, with compassion
and dignity. I played a lot of
team sports and learned early
that rules are to be followed so
the gam e is played fair and
square and that more games are
won by a team effort than by
an individual performance. I
learned that I am the only per­
son responsible for my actions
and take full responsibility for
what I do and say.
Today, I believe that our hu­
man resource is the greatest
untapped and neglected re­
our tribes face; health care,
meth addictions, gang activi­
ties, economic growth, jobs,
elder/youth initiatives, loss
of language/culture, building
strong family units, public
safety1, new school, education,
housing, federal relationships,
and others I m ay have
missed.
I know that if elected that
I would be one of 11 to work
on these community concerns
and that as one individual I
could only do the best job
possible given the situation of
the moment.
Thank you and I wish the
best to all the other nominees.
Myra Johnson Orange.
source on the reservation. I
am concerned about the loss
of and lack of full-time jobs
with benefits for our families
and the hopelessness created
when fam ilies struggle to
make ends meet. Fam ilies
without a steady income or
health insurance run the risk
of no health care or limited
care from the Indian Health
Service.
Today, I would like to see
improvements in the way our
tribal government serves the
tribal membership. We need to
focus our best efforts on
meeting the basic needs of
every enrolled man, woman
and child. This includes not
just quality, affordable and
accessible health care, but also
quality, affordable child care
for working families; and full­
time employment with ben­
efits.
Today, the Tribal Council,
m anagers, enterprises and
membership need to work
together honestly and ear­
nestly to determine what ser­
vices are essential and deserv­
ing of tribal dollars. Efforts
must be made to use tribal
funds to leverage non-tribal
dollars to fill service gaps,
without taking a big cut off
the top for indirect costs.
Today, the tribal govern­
ment needs updated policies,
ordinances and resolutions.
We need administrative and
contracting rules that pro­
mote local tribal businesses.
We need to determine if the
tribal organizational structure
exists to serve the member­
ship or serve itself. We need
to fully understand how po­
litical decisions negatively im­
pact our financial security and
instead make sound business
decisions.
Tomorrow, our children’s
future, needs to be stable and
predictable. Everyone has a
right to feel safe and secure
at home, at work, in our com­
munity. The responsibility to
ensure the happiness and
health o f everyone in our
community is one I take very
seriously. I hope that you will
consider all the Tribal Coun­
cil nom inees, from all the
districtis and imagine creating
a positive, courageous, pro­
gressive, compassionate, hon­
est and dignified group of
people who always put your
interests before their own.
Thank you very much for
listening to my story and I
respectfully request your sup­
port for service on the Tribal
Council for the Seekseequa
Dsitrict.
Julie Quaid.
Brenda Scott
To my people or to my
Seekseequa voters:
I have an understanding
of how our Tribal Govern­
m ent functio ns, having
served on Tribal Council and
our executive committees
before.
We have organic docu­
ments we use as a tool. Some
of these are the Treaty of
1855, The Constitutions and
B y-law s, and m any more
documents that help us.
We need to further our
Tribal Council goals. Every
year the Tribal Council holds
a priorities workshop and
puts our goals in order as to
what is the most important
to our people. Examples in­
clude:
1. Financial stability/eco­
nomic development
2. Public safety
3. Youth development
4. Sovereign status
5. Culture and traditions
6. Tribal Council govern­
ment operations
7. Resource management
8. Community develop-
ment/housing
9. Essential government
services
We can’t do all the above
if we are not healthy people
who are fortunate enough to
have a full-time job that pro­
vides health insurance. A
growing concern to many
people is access to adequate
and affordable health care.
This has been an ongoing is­
sue for a long time now and
seems to be getting worse.
Part-time workers and the
ones who don’t have jobs just
can’t afford to buy insurance.
So many people receive inad­
equate or no health care unless
they are seriously ill. But in the
meantime our people suffer in
silence.
This brings us to the discus­
sion of no jobs. How are we
going to deal with this concern?
These past two years Julie Quaid
put together a program to part­
ner up with outside businesses
like Mt. Hood Meadows Ski
Resort. This business provided
jobs for our people. Julie helped
provide the transportation to the
work site 55 miles off the res­
ervation.
So this project worked out
well for those willing to work a
very long day. Another project
was providing transportation to
Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Re­
sort and Casino for our summer
youth workers. Julie and Janell
Smith teamed up again to make
possible more summer jobs for
our youth. We have to make
Wendell Jim
I ask for your vote to elect
me as your new Tribal Coun­
cil representative. All eligible
tribal members should vote
to make a choice for quali­
fied leaders to represent “you
and all the people.”
Family: parents Wilfred,
Sr. and Geraldine W. Jim; sis­
ter M ona Jim ; brothers
W ilfred Jr. “M anny” ,
M aynard and C yril Jim ,
“B ird ”
and
“D affy”
Windyboy; son Douglas M.
Jackson; grandchildren Tika
and Mato.
Employment experience
has provided me the skills
and knowledge to become a
successful leader: learning
our Tribal Code, comprehen­
sive planning, recording oral
histories, documenting off-
reservation lands and learn­
ing from our tribal elders
strengthened my leadership
skills.
General Manager, Educa­
tion branch—current position
12 years; Director, Culture
and Heritage Department;
Planner, Tribal Planning De­
partment; Assistant Prosecu­
tor, Tribal Prosecutor’s Of­
fice. Boards— Oregon Indian
E ducation A sso ciatio n ,
former president; Northwest
Indian Head Start; Washington
State University; University of
Oregon; Oregon State Univer­
sity— Cascades campus; Ameri­
can Distance Education Consor­
tium; Tribal/State government
to government; Affiliated Tribes
Northwest Indian.
Education: Graduated, Ma­
dras Union High School; Bach­
elor of Arts Degree in Educa­
tion, Washington State Univer­
sity.
In my tribal leadership role,
I encourage the tribal members
to realize the im portance of
blending both Indian/Formal
Education and what it can mean
to their future. I emphasize the
importance of not straying from
positive things happen and
not just talk!
There has been a great
concern as to which direction
our Tribes are moving. So
many of our people are very
worried about the financial
situation we are experiencing
at this point in time. We have
been told there is going to be
a m illion plus dollars cut'
from the 2008 budget, with
no additional revenue in sight.
This is going to negatively
impact our people. So We
have to find alternatives and
solutions to make the tribal
budget work to meet the ba­
sic needs of everyone.
The morale of our people
is very low at this time. We
really need to uplift the spir­
its o f our people, and try
harder to help in any way we
can, so that we can all have a
better quality of life now and
for future generations.
I believe we all have hopes
and dreams for our future. '
As a Tribal Council candi­
date, I am sure we will all
work towards that goal. But
most importantly we all have
to work closely together, as a
governing body, to address
our membership’s concerns.
Our future is based upon the
decisions we make today and
I would like to request your
support in being involved in
m aking decisions on your
behalf as a Tribal Council
representatives.
Seekseequa district mem­
ber,
Brenda Scott
the wisdom, knowledge and
the teachings o f the “old
ways” — traditional Indian
laws.
Other interests: I played
on five Jefferso n County
baseball all-star teams, win­
ning a state championship
and state runner-up. In high
school, I earned football and
baseball all-conference and all
state honors. I played 20
years semi-pro baseball and
managed the “Warriors” fast
pitch team for 8 years. To­
day, I have become an avid
golfer competing and winning ,
on the N orthw est Indian
Golf Tour. My son, Douglas,
has recently perked my inter­
est in state-of-the-art technol­
ogy, digitizing my powwow
recordings and production of
a DVD/CD for the Native
A m erican Ind ian M usic
Awards.
My vision is to provide
quality leadership through
honesty, respect, trust and
equity; to create a powerful
governm ent recognized in
Indian Country; to be ac­
countable to the people, com­
pliant with our Constitution
and by-laws, Corporate Char­
ter and Tribal Policies.
W endell Jim .
Remember to
Vote on Monday,
April 2 at the
Community
Center.
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