P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Spilyay Tymc
Coyote News, est. 1976
June 5, 2 0 0 8
97205
Voi. 33, No. 12
CRWSS
tai Patron
>. Postage
RSRTSTD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
50 cents
Grant
awarded
for media
center
Madras High School Class of 2008
B y L e s l ie M i tt s
Spilyay Tymoo
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Over 50 seniors from Warm Springs (many pictured above at school) will graduate from Madras High School on Saturday, June 7. The graduation
ceremony begins at 3 p.m., and will be held at the high school football field. The tribes’ and the Education Department will host the Graduation
Banquet at the Agency Longhouse on the evening of Wednesday, June 18. The banquet is for all tribal members who are graduating from high
school, boarding school, technical school, college and graduate school, or receiving their GED. (See pages 8 and 9 fo r MHS graduate pictures.)
Inspiring message at youth conference
B y L e s l ie M i tt s
Spilyay Tymoo
Shouts o f “Native pride!” rang out
in the community center gymnasium
last week, as Clayton Small spoke to
the crow d at the N o rth w est Indian
Y outh Conference.
“You have to— in your h eart o f
hearts— always be proud to be an In
dian,” Small told the youth attending
the conference. H e encouraged them
to voice their pride by standing in the
bleachers and yelling it out.
Small was one o f various speakers
at the N orthw est Indian Youth Con
ference, held in Warm Springs last week.
As the keynote speaker during the
final day o f the conference, Small gave
a presentation to the youth called “Step
Up— We N eed Your Voices.”
“T hat’s the responsibility o f every
young leader in this house— you have
to step up; you have to find your voice,”
Small said.
H e spoke o f the challenges Native
youth are faced with throughout their
lives, and o f his ow n challenges grow
ing up surrounded by violence and al
coholism.
A representative from the N orthern
Cheyenne reservation, Small told the
youth, “Y oung people, you have to
make that decision, if you haven’t al
ready, that ‘my life is going to be dif
ferent.’”
As the first child in his family to
graduate college, Small said, he learned
the im portance o f education.
“Education is a m ajor goal that you
should have in your future— the high
est degree possible,” Small said.
Small also hosted a workshop on N a
tive Hope along with Char Herkshan—
one o f the many workshops available to
groups o f youth who traveled to the re
gional conference this year.
From learning Native crafts to learn
ing about health and social issues, youth
attended w orkshops throughout the
L
four-day concert aimed to enlighten
them and give them a chance to inter
act with youth from other tribes.
T he conference also featured a hip-
hop dance, basketball tournam ent, 5K
ru n o r walk, round dance, art show,
fashion show and ended w ith a pow
wow on Friday night.
Local youth, coordinated by Jaylyn
Suppah, organized the event and held
weekly planning meetings for several
m onths prior to the concert.
The event featured the them e “the
ancestors will be our strength for the
future.”
This conference marks a return to
W arm Springs after the event began
here 33 years ago.
According to the official youth con
ference website, the them e will serve
to help youth carry forward the values
and traditions o f their elders.
T h e m ission statem en t says, “As
youth it is our responsibility to carry
forward the torch and uphold those
cultural values and walk in that strength
that our ancestors portrayed in their
walk o f life.”
Various local youth attended the
conference and said the experience was
educational for them.
Robinique Hatlestad, 14, said she
learned about bridging the gap between
youth and elders in order to learn from
each other.
In addition, she said, she was able
to m eet new people from Washington,
N evada and as far away as Florida.
“I ’ve learned that its good to m eet
new people,” Hatlestad said, and added,
“You need to talk to your elders.”
Victoria Spino, 14, agreed and said,
“I m ade a lo t o f new friends and I
learned a lo t o f different things.”
N orene Sam pson, 15, decided to
attend th e conference for the same
reasons as m any o f th e y o u th — to
make new friends and learn about new
things.
In Sampson’s opinion, “T he three-
on-three basketball tournam ent was the
The conference kicked off with a
parade through the community.
Elyse Bagley, Junior Miss Warm
Springs (below), joined youth who
carried signs or decorated vehicles
to represent theirtribes.
Solo Greene (left) spoke to youth
as one of several keynote speakers
during the event. (More photos of the
2008 Northwest Indian Youth
Conference on page 5.)
Tonya Thompson/Spilyay
Leslie M itts/Spilyay
best.”
T hough she’s attended conferences
before, Sampson said, they were dif
ferent from the NWIYC.
H er only regret, Sampson said, is that
“I was expecting m ore people.”
I t’s an opinion shared by Hadestad,
w ho said, “M ore people should have
come from different places.”
Amanda Yazzie, 15, is a local stu
dent w ho was drawn to the conference
by her friends though she didn’t attend
until the second day.
“Everyone was telling me how
fun it was and stuff,” she explained.
Lawrence Shike, 16, also started
attending the conference after the
first few days, and said, “I just came
to see other tribes and see how it
is.”
“I did learn a lot,” Shike added.
W hen the first conference was
hosted in W arm Springs 33 years
ago, tribes traveled from Portland
and Lapwai, Idaho.
Plans for the new tribal media cen
ter are moving forward. M ost recendy,
the tribes received a grant from the
Meyer Memorial T rust for $150,000.
T he funding is designated for the use
o f building the media center.
In addition to the latest grant, the
new building is being funded in part by
the Confederated Tribes, and through
a grant to KW SO from the C orpora
tion for Public Broadcasting.
The money from the tribes was ar
ranged to come from the general fund
as advocated by atwai W arren “Rudy”
Clements, w hose dream for a media
center will be realized w hen the build
ing is completed, perhaps this year.
Mr. Clements served as director o f
tribal relations until his passing, and had
a longtime goal o f consolidating the
tribal media into one building.
A ccording to m edia advisor Bill
Rhoades, Clements envisioned a m e
dia center capable o f housing KWSO,
Spilyay Tymoo and even potentially a
television station i f one is created in
the future.
Staff m em bers have sought ways to
complete the project for several years,
and are now able to complete the build
ing with the help o f the additional grant
money.
“Rudy had a vision,” Rhoades ex
plained. “Every time we would stumble
and fall, he w ould always encourage us
to get back up and try and find a new
angle, try and find som e new way to
make this happen.”
The building will be located on High
way 3 just above the intersection with
Highway 26, before the industrial park.
T he 3,000-square-foot building will
be nam ed the “W arren R. Clem ents
Media Center.”
G ran t applications are still being
considered that would make it possible
to pow er the building with solar panels
in order to save money for the tribes
on utility bills; and the building will fea
ture environmentally-friendly bam boo
floors.
T he media center was designed by
Pordand architect D on Livingstone, and
will include m odern studios and office
space for KW SO and Spilyay Tymoo
staff.
In addition to benefiting media staff
by allowing them to collaborate, the
new media center will benefit KW SO
by bringing the radio station closer to
the W arm Springs community.
KW SO has been housed in its cur
ren t locations since the 1970s. T he
Spilyay has been in the house on Wasco
Street, on the campus, for about eight
years.
T he Meyer Memorial T rust was cre
ated by the late Fred G. Meyer, w ho
built the chain o f retail stores bearing
his name throughout the Pacific N orth
west.
W hen Meyer died in 1978 at the age
o f 92, his will established the trust,
which began operating in 1982.
T he Meyer M em orial T rust is a pri
vate, independent foundation rep re
senting Mr. M eyer’s personal philan
thropy.
The new media center could be com
pleted by the end o f 2008, according
to the current plan.
J