FSCA
OrColl
E
75
L S68
v. 32
no. 16
A ugust c
2007
Spilygy Tyroq
Coyote News, est.
August 2, 2007
P.O.Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
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Knight Library
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Eugene OR 97403-1205
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Homeless
W hat you need to know about the adoption election camp by river
vacated
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is
preparing this week to mail out the
voter registration forms for the O ct
11 tribal adoption election.
The process o f mailing out the
registration forms was delayed for a
few days, as the local BIAvstaff was
committed to working on adminis
trative aspects o f the agency re
sponse to the wild fires that have
been burning on the reservation.
./Lori Anderson, BIA administra
tive officer, said she would be meet
ing with Madeline Queahpama-
Spino, director of tribal Vital Statis-
tics, this week to arrange for the mail
ing o f the registration forms.
A bqut 4,000 envelopes will be
mailed out, said Anderson. The enve
lopes will contain the régistration form
and a stamped return envelope. Tribal
members who are interested in voting
in the election will have about a month
to. return the completed registration
form, said Anderson.
Changes in election
It is important for tribal members
to be aware of the changes to the adop
tion election process, said Louie Pitt,
director o f tribal government affairs.
The registration process is one im
portant change, Pitt said. Other tribal
elections have required members to be
qualified to vote, but have not required
registration.
The second change is that all o f the
adoption candidates on the ballot will
be either voted into the tribe or not.
Previous adoption elections have
considered each candidate individually.
The candidates on the ballot oil.
October 11 also Were not required to
live on the reservation for the previ
ous three years, as has been a qualifi-
cation in the previous two, unsuc
cessful adoption votes.
The standards to qualify for the
ballot are that the person have one-
eighth Indian blood and be a descen
dant o f a tribal member.
There are over 230 candidates
whq, will be on the Oct. 11 ballot.
A main reason why there is a rela
tively large number of adoption cam
didates — 230-plus compared to 76
duririg the 2001-02 elections - is the
lack of the residency requirement,
said Madeline Queahpama.
3 fires burn
across 4,900
acres on rez
/ Fire crews are doing mop-up this
week on three fires that haye burned
since July 12 on the reservation.
/' The largest of the three fires was
the Biddle Pass fife, which burned
across more than 3,000 acres.
The Warm Springs H ot Shot crew
has been working on the Biddle Pass
fire, constructing a line along the
fire’s edge.
. This week a crew from the John
Day JRapell B&se.jy.ete, scheduled to.
a m rn a t the, Biddle Pass, fire tp asr>
sist the H ot Shots'. 1
Tne Biddle Pass blaze is located
in the area, of the most difficult ter
rain in the fire complex, requiring
support from the rapell crew, a heli
copter and engine resources.
Close tcr'TuO personnel have been
on the reservation fighting the fires,
which were caused by lightning.
This week many o f the person
nel were returning to their home
units, as their 14-day assignment
periods were concluding.
The two smaller fires were the
Trail 3, which burned over 1,400
The homeless camp at the Rainbow
boat launch area on the Deschutes River
had become an increasing problem in
recent months and needed to be dealt
with, community members decided re
cently.
The boat launch area is partly trib-
ally-owned, and partly state Parks prop
erty. The area is subject to tribal .and
Jefferson County law enforcement ju-
risdiction.
About 20 people attended a recent
meeting on the issue. In attendance
were community counselors? tribal land-
use, housing and law enforcement of
ficials, and officials from non-tribal
agencies such as the county, state Parks,
and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
A main concern has been the un
pleasant encounters at the Rainbow
area among the homeless population,
and members of the general public. The
encounters included aggressive panhan
dling, public in to x icatio n and
harrassment.
Other problems include thefts and
vandalism to vehicles, littering and
damage to the public property, said
Urbana Ross, tribal lands services ad
ministrator.
See HOMELESS CAMP on 11
rnotooytticn McConnell
Fire fighter Vernon Suppah on lookout for the Warm Springs Inter-Agency Hotshot Crew.
acres, and the lio n ’s Head fire, which
burned across fewer than 300 acres.
Most of the personnel still on the
scene are working on mop-up o f the
Biddle Pass fire.
Helicopter crews were using an in
fra-red device to detect hot spots,
which are then extinguished by the
crews pn the ground^
: As o f Tuesday, there were no
fire-related closures this week on the
reservation.
By Maren Cohn
Better Communication
W arm Springs Ventures
The second day moved from look
ing at the past to addressing present
challenges and goals. As a prelude to
asking Council to set the priorities for
its term, facilitator Roy Sampsel, Ex
ecutive Director o f Portland State’s'
In stitu te for Tribal G overnm ent,
pointed first to Council’s way o f doing
business. '/
“Everyone in this room is interested
in making this Council cohesive and re
sponsive to the people,” he said. “Flow
to accomplish this? Establish basic
ground rules, rules Council impdSes on
itself, as to how it does business. What
does this Council need to do to meet
its goals?”
Discussion of that question |6ok up
the rest of the morning. The need for
better communications within Council
and between Council and the tribal or
ganization and membership dominated
the session. Some early tensions were
dispelled when Paiute Chief Joseph
Moses took the bull by the horns.
‘I t always happens that we start these
things out by poking each other in the
eye,” he said. “That should be one of
our ground rules—to stop doing that.”
Another participant emphasized the
same point, urging Council to put aside
divisive topics and focus instead on
Council members were very
sensitive o f the need to hear
from the people before com
mitting significant funds to
Bear Springs.
what it can do together.
, “If there are certain issues that}get
in your way, agree not to talk about
them for a while. Learn to work to
gether and trust each other by accom
plishing goals jn other areas that;you
all care about and can agree on.”
Another important theme was the
need for Council to lead by example,
to police itself, and to comply with rules
that already exist. “People are looking
to. us,” said Wasco C hief N elson
Wallulatum. “We have to show by ex
ample.”
“We have a chance to be a good link
in the chain,” said Warm Springs Chief
Delvis Heath, “if we do what we say.
I hope people will have more respect
for this Council.”
T he round-table discussion on
Council’s own practices led to tbe cre
ation o f a chart of Council priorities
for conducting its own business. At the
Council
appoints
committee
members
T he S ecretary-T reasurer then
pointed to the priorities set by previ
ous Councils arid stressed the need for
the Twenty-Fourth Council to spell out
goals toward which the tribal organiza
tion should strive. Council members
agreed that giving clear directions to
subordinates, ensuring they have the
resources needed to carry out those
directions, and then letting them do their
jobs would be essential to becoming an
effective governing body.
As the first step in establishing the
Twenty-Fourth Tribal Council’s official
priorities, the group reviewed and dis
cussed the 20Q6 membership survey,
paying particuSi attention to how mem
bers said they would like to see tribal
resources allocated.
The Tribal Council has filled
the positions on the tribal com
mittees. '
The committees serve the nec
essary function o f helping the
Council conduct the business of
the tribal government.
There are eight c ommittees:
Culture and Heritage, Education,
Fish and Wildlife On-Reserva
tion/Fish and Wildlife Off-Res
ervation, Health and Welfare,
Land Use Planning, Range, Irri
gation and Agriculture, and Tim
ber.
The committee appointments
last for about three years, until
the next Tribal Council takes of- ■
fice. A sw earing-iu .date o f
Wednesday, Aug. 8. The appoint
ments are as follows:
Culture and Heritage Com
mittee: Paiute, Lonnie Rose Tom
and Eileen Spino; Warm Springs,
E dna Gonzales and Margaret
Suppah; Wasco, Emily Waheneka
and Radine Johnson.;
Education Comriiittee:' Mavis
Shaw, Louise* Katchia, Laurie
Danzuka and Margie Tuckta.
The Fish andWildlife On-Res
ervation C om m ittee: A nson
Begay, T erry C outnrey Jr.,
Jonathan Smith and Emerson
Squiemphen.
Fish and | W ildlife O ff-
Rerservation Committee: Leslie
Bill, B ruce Jim Sr., H aro ld
Blackwolf Sr. and Ryan Smith Sir.
Health and Welfare Commit
tee: Janice Clements, Urbana
M anion, Moses Kalatiia and
Earlyniie Squiemphen.
jSee TRIBAL COUNCIL on 11
See COMMITTEES on 11
Tribal Council defines, commits to priorities
\; Tribal Council members attended a
three-day orientation and ptiority-set-
’ting retreat last month at the Oregon
Coast. All 11 Council members partici
pated in the session.
> O n tbe final day, they unanimously
passed a resolution and proclamation
g etting fo rth th e T w enty-Fourth
Council’s priorities for the next three
years.
“The proclamation, is an important
early step for this Council,” said secre
tary-treasurer Jody Calica, who orga
nized the retreat.
“It represents their consensus on
where to commit tribal resources and
■gives direction to the tribal organiza
tion so we can carry out Council
policy.” ,/,.
The retreat opened with tribal attor
ney Howie Arnett presenting an histori
cal overview of the tribes%asic docu
ments and federal Indian policy and law
from Colonial times to the present.
As p art o f the overview, Tribal
Council members discussed the 1855
Treaty, die tribal Declaration o f Sov
ereignty, the C onstitution and By-
Laws, Charter, and the Management
Plati.
By Dave McMechan
Spilyaj Tjmoo
top came treating each other with re
spect and honoring differences of back
ground and opinion. Council also
agreed to develop internal rules o f pro
cedure covering speakers, motions,
minutes, follow-up on decisions, and
agenda management.
Finally, several members o f the
group called for more accountability in
the area o f travel.
Proclamation of Priorities