Spilyay tymoo., April 26, 2007, Image 1

Spilyay Tynx
’' T l ü i l
Coyofe News, est. 1976
April 26, 2007
J.
Eugene
Vol. 32, No. 9
B y M aren Cohn
Warm Springs Ventures
The group involved in putting to­
gether a plan for improving tribal ad­
ministration delivered its completed
report to Tribal Council earlier this
month.
A second team awaits Council’s go-
ahead to present the corresponding
report on economic strategy.
Both groups got started last fall when
a nearly full and unanimous Council
issued several directives asking for re­
ports on reservation issues.
From the administrative team, Coun­
cil requested advice on management
structure, policy development, service
to members, and obtaining better per­
formance and results.
The economic strategy group was
to evaluate a number of projects and
policies and report back with specific
recommendations.
Council embarked on the restruc­
turing efforts as part of its response to
the membership survey and its desire
to improve administrative effective­
ness, promote growth of tribal revenues
and employment, and strengthen po­
litical leadership through improvements
in governance.
Honor Seniors
Day on May 11
(AP) — Private property, farm and
development groups asked a federal
judge last week to lift Endangered Spe­
cies Act protections from all threatened
and endangered salmon across the West,
arguing that the government failed to
count fish spawned in hatcheries.
The federal government and con­
servation groups countered that the
Endangered Species Act requires con­
sideration of the best available science,
which clearly indicates that depending
on fish raised in hatcheries to boost
salmon numbers will, over the long mn,
harm fish that spawn naturally in riv­
ers.
U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan
gave no indication when he might mle
on the case, or how he might rule.
The lawsuit builds on Hogan's 2001
ruling that NOAA Fisheries, the fed­
eral agency in charge of restoring dwin­
dling salmon populations, violated the
Endangered Species Act when it put
wild and hatchery fish in the same
group, known as an evolutionarily sig­
nificant unit, or ESU, but then pro­
tected only the wild fish. The ruling led
to lifting threatened species status for
the Oregon coastal coho.
The plaintiffs want the court to lift
threatened and endangered species list­
ings for all 16 protected populations
of salmon in Washington, Idaho, Or­
egon and California.
If they win, some restrictions on
logging, irrigation and urban develop­
ment could eventually be lifted around
the West.
Several salmon populations are pro­
tected in the Seattle and Portland met­
ropolitan areas. Irrigation water was
shut off to farms in the Klamath Ba­
sin of Oregon and California in 2001
to provide enough water for threatened
coho salmon in the Klamath River dur­
ing a drought. Many timber sales on
national forests have been blocked to
protect salmon.
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Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRTSTD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Council hears plan
for positive change
The Seekseequa District voters will
elect two Tribal Council members on
Monday, April 30. District members
can cast their ballots at the Commu­
nity Center between the hours of 8 a.m.
and 8 p.m.
T here are 230 vo ters o f the
Seekseequa District.
The results of the election will be
will be posted on Tuesday, May 1.
Groups challenge
salmon protection
Kn\gW Ubr^ L of Oregon
50 cents
Seekseequa
election is
M onday
Honor Seniors Day in Warm Springs
is set for Friday, May 11 at the Agency
Longhouse. The popular event draws
hundreds of visitors to the reservation
for a day of activities, good food, and
visiting with friends.
The theme of Honor Seniors Day
this year is, “A Dream Come True.”
The event is hosted by the Warm
Springs Seniors Department, which is
currently looking for contributions for
Honor Seniors Day.
The department is also seeking vol­
unteers to help with the many tasks
involved in the event. For information
call the Seniors Department at 553-
3313, or stop by the office at 2331 High
Lookee St.
BOX 870
*97761
Katelyn Tanewasha (above) was among the youth of the Early
Childhood Education Center (others pictured below) who gathered at
the Agency Longhouse April 20 for a mini powwow. The event was
hosted by Child Protective Services. According to Rebekah Main,,
director of CPS, they chose to host the powwow in order to “get
families togehter and have fun.”
In addition, Main said, they hoped to provide education and
awareness to the community for National Child Abuse Prevention
Month.
This Friday, April 27 at 10 a.m. the Early Childhood Education Center
will host its annual parade from the ECE building to the Agency
Longhouse and back.
Leslie Mitts photos
Visions o f the West opens Friday
Celena Gilbert is opening a new
shop at the Warm Springs Plaza
across from the Museum at Warm
Springs.
Her shop is called Visions of the
West. The grand opening is this Fri­
day, April 27.
Visions of the West is a Western
style retail store, with clothes, art­
work, magazines and other items of
the Western theme.
Gilbert said her dream for the
past few years has been to open her
own shop, but with limited business
space available, she put the idea on
hold until now.
“I can’t wait to do business with
all those who celebrate the Western
lifestyle of the cowboy and cowgirl
way,” she said.
Gilbert said she soon will have
horse and rodeo item s such as
saddles, ropes, spurs and tack in the
store.
She is also inviting local artists
of the reservation to bring their
work to the store for display.
“Native A m ericans,” G ilbert
said, “truly hold the spirit o f the
W est and the w ay it was back
when.”
The hours of business of Visions
of the West are Monday through
Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and
Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The tribal economy
The Council meeting regarding the
improvement plan opened with recog­
nition of the many tribal members and
organizations, along with outside uni­
versities and professional firms, who
have participated in the process.
Over 25 individual tribal members
and ten tribal organizations have had a
hand in the evaluation and review of
the reservation’s administration and
economy.
Clyde Hamstreet, who helped coor­
dinate the projects, introduced the over­
all report by emphasizing how the ad­
ministration and the economy, along
with the third element of trusted and
effective leadership, work together in
moving the Tribe towards its vision of
the future.
Hamstreet set up a surveyor’s tri­
pod to illustrate his point. Each leg of
the tripod stood for one of three es­
sential structures that support a com­
munity: economy, government, and
leadership.
“No one or even two of these insti­
tutions, standing alone,” he said, “can
fully achieve the community’s vision.
Like the three legs of a tripod, if one
is weak the whole thing loses stability.”
See C O U N CIL on 9
Tribes examine meth
prevention strategies
B y L e s lie M itts
Spilyay Tymoo
Tribal members and organizations
from across the northwest gathered at
Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Resort for
the 2007 Methamphetamine Preven­
tion and Awareness Northwest Tribes
United Conference recently.
Approximately 60 people attended
the two-day conference.
Wayne Miller, coordinator for the
meth prevention program, said the idea
behind the conference was to begin
networking with other reservations in
order to develop positive programs.
According to Miller, those that at­
tended the conference had positive
opinions.
“I had very good feedback,” Miller
said. “They were saying how heart­
warming and touching it was to hear
and see a community come together.”
A group o f women approached
Miller regarding a woman who had
been sober less than a month— and
whom the community had embraced.
“They were saying that was really
touching and how the traditions played
a big value,” Miller said. “That was
really cool to hear that kind of feed­
back.”
During the conference community
members with periods of sobriety rang­
ing from 23 months to ten years spoke
to the crowd about their personal ex­
periences and reasons for getting off
drugs.
In addition, representatives from
housing, Indian Health Services, the
Deschutes County Meth Coalition and
various other tribes spoke to those in
attendance.
Representatives from the Native
American Rehabilitation Association for
the Northwest (N.A.R.A.) also spoke.
Those in the community often work
with N.A.R.A., Miller said.
“T hey take on a lo t o f N ative
Americans from not only Oregon but
Washington, Idaho and all over, really,”
Miller added. “We got them involved
because the tribes deal with them on a
regular basis.”
The main focus of the conference
involved meeting with tribal members
from throughout the northwest in or­
der to work together to solve a com­
mon problem s— “R eally just start
im plem enting programs that work:
what works and what doesn’t and what
do they try,” Miller explained.
Nicholas Katchia, a senior at Ma­
dras High School, gave a presentation
that he began creating at the age of
15. The presentation dealt with the
physical effects of methamphetamines
and the fatal accidents that can occur
as a result of drug use.
“It was a really powerful presenta­
tion,” Miller said. “That’s what really
opened up some of the eyes of some
people that attended. They have to
take into consideration that that came
from a 15-year-old when he first put
that together.”
In the future, Miller said he hopes
they can host additional conferences.
“This is just the start of things to
really get involved in this methamphet­
amine epidemic,” he said. “What this
conference started out to do was just
to be with all the tribes of Oregon, and
actually it expanded up to Washington
and Idaho too.”
Next up for the local methamphet­
amine task force will be a project to
clean up the community.
In particular, they are working to
clean up the local park.
“That’s becoming a really unhealthy
environment for teenagers,” Miller said.
Because of an increase in drug and
alcohol use, Miller said, the park is be­
ing destroyed by vandalism. Recently
task force members found alcohol
bottles and drug paraphernalia while
cleaning up the park.
See METH P R VEN TIO N on 8