S 68
'XI
HO. 1 0
May 10 ,
2007
Spilygy Tymo
Coyote News, est. 1976
May 10, 2007
P.0. Box 870
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W ÊÊÊÊ
New Tribal Council takes office
Seekseequa elects
Wewa, Jim
The Council, at the suggestion of
Councilman Jim , then agreed by a
unanimous v-qte to advertise the po
sitions 6 F secretary-tréasurer and
chief operations officer. The new
Council members also indicated they
would like to review recent recom
mendations, from the consulting
firm Hamstreet & Associates, on
how to improve the efficiency of
tribal government.
B y Dave M cM echan
Spilyay Tymoo
The Twenty-Fourth Tribal Coun
cil o f the Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs took office on Mon
day o f this week, M ay 7$> |
Five of die eight elected mem
bers are n,ew to the Council rids
term, while three members were re
elected by .their districts.
The two Seekseequa .D istrict
members were elected last week.
Seekseequa elected W endelljim and
Wilson Wewa Jr., as its. two Tribal
Council representatives.
_ Wewa, who work at the Senior
Center, received 42 votes. .
Jim , general manager of the tribal
E ducation B ran ch , received 41
votes.
A total of 15© votes 'frere cast in
the Seekseequa District election, in
cluding
absentee ballots*-There
are 210 eligible voters in the district
Wewa and Jim join three others
who are new. to the Tribal Council.
The dime Other newly elected mem
bers are Eugene Austin G reenejr.,
A u ro lyn Stw yer. and R afael
Seekseequa votes
Being the smallest reservation dis
trict, in terms of population, the
Seekseequa election was close, the
outcome being determined by just
a votes. Besides Wewa and Jim , the
mother candidates fared as follows:
Reuben Henry, formerly on.the
Çoupçjl,: arid a Kah-Nee-lkal em
ployee, received 39 votes.
Julie Quaid, director o f Adult
E d u catio n , receiv ed 36 votes.
Former councilwoman Brenda Scott
received 36 vptes.
-r-i -r*
— .1 -r •! i
<i # n
vavoiviuviouMIvopuyay
Tribal Chief Operations Officer
The Twenty-Fourth Tnbal Council of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs took the oath of office on Mondav
Lauraina
Hintsala received 32 votes.
morning, May 7.
y
Myra Johnson-Orange, director
o f Culture and Heritage, received
Queabpama. In therecent ekctio^R on the Council chairman. He was eleçted Stwyer. A second vote, after comments 26:.vOtes. Alvis Smith III, project
Suppah, Stanley “Buck” Smith and chairman by;.a 6-4 vote. The vote on from Stwyer and S u p p ah ^ su ite d in m an ager o f the W arm Springs
Bernice Mitchell wefe re-elected..
thé chairmanship was at first tied 5-5 the 6-4 vote. Stwyer was then d ected Housing. A uthority, received 16
Councilman Suppah will coririqjie as between Suppah and Councilwoman vicei-chair.
votes.
Different approach to adoption election
B y Dave M cM echan
Spilyay Tymoo
The tribal Vital Statistics department
has been working with the BIA on the
upcoming adoption election. The list of
adoption candidates is almost final, and
will soon be presented to the Tribal
Council and the BIA.
There will be a 90-day period from
the time when the list is turned over to
the BIA until the election. So tribal
members can expect the election to be
sometime around August.
For this adoption election, tribal vot
ing members will see significant changes
from the previous adoption election,
which failed because o f a lack o f voter
turnout.
Part o f the change in the upcoming
election is to address the problem of
the election failing for lack o f turnout.
Through a tribal.election, half o f
all eligible voting members o f the tribes
roust vote in order for the election to
be valid.
This is a very difficult standard to
reach, saidP aul Young, BIA superin
tendent at Warm Springs. Eveti some
Presidential ¿lections don’t see^furn-
O utof 50 percent o f all eligibl^^bters;
So it is understandable why the tribes
may not want to apply that standard to
the adoption election, said Youtig.
Instead through a,BIA supervised
election; *br 'through a BIA secretarial
election, a turnout of half or more o f
registered voters, not all eligible vot
ers, is required for the election to be
valid.
So, for the upcothing election; tribal
members who are interested in partici-
pating wdl need to register in order to
votç.
If half o f those who register turn
in a ballot, then the election is valid.
There are other changes. For in
stance, in previous adoption elections,.,
the voters¿were asked to decide upon
each individual candidate who is seek
ing adoption into the* Confederated
Tribes.
■ , For t^e upcoming election, the#ot-
ers will’ vote either ye? .or no op the
eptite li^:,»rather than tin the indgpdual
can d id es.
This; is being done becausdi o f the
great dfificulty the BIA wouldhave in
counting the votes if each individual
w erè co n sid ered sep arately, said
Madeline Queahpama-Spii^p, director
o f trib ^ Vit^Ftatistics. Vq|er registra
tion wiRbë available to tribal members
who are 21 years or older* or married.
That isThe tribal standa^.
ThetJJIA decided to.iase the tribes”
oWri standard' rather than the 18-yrear
age minimum of the federal standard.
To qualify,for inclusion on the bal-
lot, a person tnust be at least 1/8 In
dian, and a ¡descendant o f a Confeder
ated Tribes member or former mem
ber. There is no residency requirement
for the upcoming election. AJsp, a per
son cannot already be a member of
another tribe; and receive the majority
vote o f 50 percent of the eligible reg
istered vqteTs.
The current list o f adoption candi
dates is at 140, said Queahpama-Spino.
The list had been at 144, but four
names were removed for lack o f suf
ficient blood quantum. She was expect
ing maybe 10 more names to be added
to the list before it is turned over the
B IA
The last adoption elections were
held in the fall o f 2001 and then in
early 2002. Both o f these failed for-
lack o f 'turnout. The last successful
adoption election was conducted in
October 1996*
Honor Seniors
Day is Friday
V Seniors will unite tomorrow,
Friday, May 11, -for a day of
activities at the Agency
Longhouse.
i Registration will begin at 7:30
a.m. and ECE will host a
children’? powwow that begins
%t 1-0 a.mi
The theme for this year’s
event is “A dream come true.”
This is the 17th annual
Honor Seniors Day. The event
is hosted by the Warm Springs
Senior Program.
Each year the popular
event draws hundreds o f
visitors tc|the reservation for
a day o f activities and entqr-
tainment.
Early Childhood Education
will be providing decorations in
addition to hosting a children’s
powwow.'
Calica faces challenges, rewards as tribal liaison
It is Calica’s job to work with the
tribes, the Corps"and pther federal
agencies toward finding a solution that
is mutually beneficial.. This can be very
The job can be a difficult one be difficult because tribes and the agen
cause the territory is large and the is cies'are sometimes at direct odds over
sues are complex and often very divi vital issues such as water and fisheries.
sive. But there ate great rewards a$ well.. , The U. S. Army Corps of. Engineers,
eiT h e part o f the job I ehjpy the for instance,‘owns and operates the
most is getting out and meeting with hydroelectric dam system on the Co
thedifferent tribes;” saidTTitelle Calica, lumbia.
For this reason the Corps interacts
Northwestern Division Tribal Liaison
for the U.S. Army Corps o f Engineers. often with the Columbia River Inter-
“The interaction *with the tribes is Tribal Fish Commission, which réptef
sents the tribes With treaty fishing rights
what I love,” she said.
And there are many Indian tribes in at ih e Columbia, including the Warm
Springs tribes. Calica serves as liaison
the‘Northwestern Division, which
ers 14 states o f the Columbia and Mis-’ between, the Corps and CRITFC.
She estimates that about 60 percent
souri river basins.
The region includes over 100 fed o f her work time is dedicated to issues
erally recognized tfibes, and aboriginal facing th£ Qplumbia River. Recently,
she traveled with Corps commanders
territory o f over 300 tribes.
B y Dave M cM echan
Spilyay; lyn too |
in dealing with tribes o f the Columbia,
while the Missouri. River basin tribes
face a different issue involving a lohg-
term drought, said Calica. 7
“The tribes there want water,” she
said. “The drought can leave some res
ervations with no municipal water.”
Just, before Thanksgiving last year;
she said, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe
lost its water supply. The Corps is in
volved in the development of more wa
ter in-take systems..
Calica has been the tribal liaison with
the Corps of Engineers since 2Q05„t
shortly after she graduated from Lewis
and Clark Law School, where she fo
cused on environmental and Indian law.
Direlle Calica
She went to undergraduate school
to Celilo; where the village and the.tribes at Portland State University and stud
were marking the~ anniversary o f the ied political and social sciences. She was
a Hatfield Fellow in 1999-2000, work
loss of Celilo Falls.
ing
with Sen. Smith and the legislative
Fish are often at the center o f work
f-
assistant for Indian Affairs.
Calica grew up in Warm Springs.
H er parents are tribal Jud ge M arie
Calica and secretary-treasurer Jo d y
(gotica.
The Army Corps of Engineers, she
said, is making progress in its responsi
bility toward Indian tribes. There ¡has
bfeen a need for a change in the cor
porate m itid-set am ong federal agen
cies, and “for the Corps I think w e’re
moving forward in responsibility,” she
said.
Finding solutions that are beneficial
to all parties, she said, is a very reward^
ing part of her work.,
Another rewarding experience hap-?
pened to Calica earlier this week, when
she learned that she had passed the
Oregon State Bar exam. She becomes
the Confederated Tribes’ most recent
licensed attorney.
U n iv e r s ity o f Oreqoh Tfi.£>ra.ry
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