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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 2008)
Spilygy Tym January 31, 2008 Coyote News, est. 1976 P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1230 SW PARK AVE. PORTLAND, OR 97205 Voi. 33, No. 3 ECRWSS Postal Patron U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 50 cents HI ■ B H M i : Tribes again consider conducting adoption election 2008 Miss Warm Springs B y D ave M cM echan Spilyay Tymoo T he tribal adoption election m ay be conducted after all by the Confedrated Tribes, rather than the Bureau o f In dian Affairs. T he issue is tentatively set to go be fore Tribal Council within the next few m o n th s, p e rh ap s d u rin g a C ouncil m e e tin g in A p ril, sa id M a d e lin e Q ueahpam a-Spino, director o f tribal Vital Statistics. T here are currently about 240 can d id a te s o n th e l i s t o f p o te n tia l adoptees, she said. T he B IA last year was in the p ro cess o f preparing to conduct the adop tion election. H ow ever, issues arose indicating that a tribal, rather than BIA election may be m ore appropriate, said Queahpama-Spino. She m entioned the issue o f the “resi dency requirem ent” for adoption can didates, and the issue o f the m inum um voting age. Regarding residency, the tribal Con stitution says that “any person adopted into m em bership m ust have resided at le a s t th re e years u p o n th e W arm Springs Reservation immediately prior to th e date o f his a pplication for a d o p tion...” A n election conducted by the BIA Leslie MittsZSpilyay Cyrille Mitchell addresses the gathering at the Miss Warm Springs Pageant. Cyrille Mitchell began her year as M iss W arm S prings a fte r b ein g crow ned recendy. “I w anted to ru n for Miss W arm Springs because I believe that I am a positive role model,” M itchell told the audience during the pageant ear lier this m onth. A fter being awarded the position o f Miss W arm Springs, she received a beaded crow n and banner made by Sandra Danzuka. Mitchell graduated from Madras H igh School in 2004. From there she w ent on to Haskell University in K ansas for three years. She played volleyball in college for all three years,, earning a letter each year and serving as the team cap tain for two years. Mitchell earned her associate’s de gree in physical education and sports m edicine in 2007. She is currently employed at Early C hildhood E duca tion. Through her job at Early Childhood Education, Mitchell is learning Sahaptin w ith Arlita Rhoan, and said learning Native languages is something she views as very im portant. F or the talent po rtio n o f the com petition, Mitchell perform ed the b u t terfly dance, w hich she said they are also teaching to the girls at ECE. D uring the Miss W arm Springs Pag eant, Mitchell was judged in the areas o f public speaking, talent, and conge niality, w hich in clu d ed aspects like know ledge, overall presen ce and overall appearance. Mitchell was also judged on her ability during a slow w ar dance. S ev eral fo r m e r M iss W arm Springs as well as various com m u nity m em bers judged the 2008 Miss W arm Springs pageant. T h e Eagle T h u n d er drum m ing group provided drum m ing for the event. Sallie Polk-Adams ended her re ig n as th e 2 007 M iss W arm Springs by passing on the title to Mitchell. M itchell officially began h er duties as Miss W arm Springs last w eek at an event fo r th e affili ated tribes. g— by Leslie Mitts Youth excels at wrestling B y L eslie M itts Spilyay Tymoo Wrestling is helping one local student reach new levels o f success. Byron Patt, 7, has been wrestling with the Culver M at Club for the past two years. H e traveled to Culver tw o times per w eek for wrestling practice and partici pated in m eets nearly every weekend. So far he has w on 4 medals during vari ous meets. P att first started to take interest in w restling after seeing two o f his cous ins wresde. B oth cousins w on several state cham pionships during their high school years, according to Byron’s fa ther, William “H o b o ” Patt. “T h at’s w here he kind o f g o t inter ested,” P att said. “H e just w atched Byron Patt them growing up and then that was the th in g to do, I guess.” H e started wrestling in Madras w hen he was five. A fter that, Bryon began w restling w ith the Culver M at Club after participating in a wrestling camp there during w inter break. “They’ve got a great wrestling p ro gram here,” Patt said. In fact, P att encourages other stu dents from W arm Springs to try w res tling. In his opinion, his children’s in volvem ent in athletics is one way to keep th em from getting involved in activities that w o n ’t help them succeed in life. A ccording to Patt, “It’s a little bit o f a drive, b u t heck, it’s w o rth it.” Byron said his favorite part o f w res tling is ju st spending tim e w ith his friends— like his four-year-old cousin w ho also wrestles. B yron is a first-grade stu d en t at W arm Springs Elem entary School. w ould have required excluding all can didates w ho did n o t m eet the require m ent, said Queahpama-Spino. T he Tribal Council will consider the residency question at the m eeting ten tatively set for April, she said. Also, an election conducted by the B IA m ight have required ballots for all eligible tribal m em bers over the age o f 18, while the tribal standard is age 21 or older, or married. T he discrepency w as an o th er issue requiring fu rth er consideration o f how best to proceed, said Queahpama-Spino. T he residency requirem ent over the years has been applied to adoption elec tions, b u t on som e occassions was n o t applied. For instance, the last successful adop tion election — the last one that did n o t fail for lack o f v o ter participation - occurred in 1996, and did n o t require the showing o f three years residency. M ore recendy, the tribes attem pted to conduct adoption election in 2001 and then in 2002. These elections did require that the candidates dem onstrate compliance with the residency standard. B oth o f these elections failed for lack o f 50-percent voter turnout. O ne reason why the tribes were con sidering h aving th e B IA c o n d u c t th e “next election was to avoid having the vote again fail due to lack o f turnout. 3 compete at International Indian Finals Rodeo T hree local m en com peted in the 2007 International Indian Finals Rodeo last m onth. G len d o n Sm ith, T revor H u rtad o and A nthony Blueback all traveled to the event in Chandler, A rizona, after previously qualifying in other events. T he rodeo featured nine contestants from the Columbia River region, includ ing the three m en from W arm Springs. A ccording to G lendon Sm ith, he com peted in team roping w ith Trevor H urtado as his partner. T h ey originally qualified fo r the event through the Colum bia River Re gional Finals. Sm ith has b een team ro p in g for about nine years after getting involved because o f the involvemfent o f fellow friends and family m em bers in rodeo events. “I just grew up on a ranch,” Smith said. “My dad ow ned cattle, he ow ned horses and we just had a lot o f Angus cows we used to take care of. My best friend g o t m e into rodeo.” As for team roping, Smith said, it involves a lo t o f concen tratio n and practice. “You’ve got to have a good horse to com pete with,” Smith said, in addition to a positive attitude. S m ith has o n ly c o m p e te d w ith H urtado twice before, b u t traveled to the event as his team roping partner at H urtado’s suggestion. S m ith, 27, said th ey did several fundraisers around tow n in order to travel to the rodeo. F or instance, they sold Christm as trees, and had Indian taco sales and spaghetti feeds. I t was Smith’s first tim e traveling to the event. C ontestants traveled from places as far away as Canada, Smith said. “T here were about 400 contestants total,” Smith said. “T here was a com bination o f 8 standard events plus jun ior events.” S e e FINALS RODEO on 6 Simnasho to host 31st Annual Lincoln’s Birthday Powwow T he Thirty-First Annual Lincoln’s Birthday Powwow will be Friday-Sun day, Feb. 8-10 at th e S im n ash o Longhouse. The pow w ow activities will begin w ith a m em orial dinner, and open ing and blessing at the Sim nasho L onghouse this Saturday evening, Feb. 2. T he M em orial is for anyone w ho is rejoining after the loss o f a loved one, and returning to the dancing circle. Also, N ew Joiners will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8. Please notify A nna Clem ents at the Culture and H eritage D ep art m ent, 553-3290, if you are planning to participate in the m em orial on February 2. N o te : Q u e e n C a n d id a te s are T a h m a ra C le m e n ts , M ile e n a E d w a r d s , S o ray a M e n d e z a n d A rlene D avid. Please su p p o rt the ' girls in our pow w ow fundraising ef fort by purchasing raffle tickets. T hank you. 2008 Lincoln’s Birthday Powwow Committee.
