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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2008)
Page 8 Spilyay Tymoo, June 19, 2 0 0 8 Springs, Oregon Tribes purchase new fleet for Vehicle Pool B y L e slie M itts Spilyay Tymoo T he Vehicle Pool has been operating at full force for the past year. R ecen tly th e d e p a rtm e n t traded in used tribal vehicles and acquired 21 new 2008 vehicles for the tribal fleet. A ccording to Vehicle Pool Manager Phil Johnston, it has been three years since any m a jor fleet replacement. They try to schedule replacements every 100,000 miles, Jo h n sto n said, but sometimes that is not pos sible. “Economic times being what they are, w e’re having to ru n them longer,” Johnston said. The benefits o f regularly re placing vehicles, Johnston said, are numerous. In ad dition to seeing less downtim e for vehicles due to repairs, he explained, the main tenance cost per mile is better and the availability o f parts is better. Currently employed by Ve hicle Pool are Johnston as man ager, A nthony Boise as journey man mechanic, Easton Aguilar as tire and lube technician, and Leslie Mitts/Spiiyay Vehicle Pool employees Leidy Caldera, Anthony Boise, Redlne Billy, Phil Johnston and Easton Aguilar (left to right) stand with several of the new vehicles recently purchased for the tribal fleet. Redine Billy as office manager. Leidy Caldera is employed with Vehicle Pool as a summer youth worker through Workforce D e velopment. Em ployees are responsible for preventative m aintenance and repairs on tribal vehicles. Vehicle Pool does n o t sell auto supplies, tires or parts, and re pairs only tribal fleet vehicles. “We simply are here to main tain the tribal fleet,” Johnston explained. The task isn’t a small Teacher retiring after 21 years at elementary school B y L eslie M itts Spilyay Tymoo John Nelson retired this year after 21 years as a teacher at W arm S p rin g s E le m e n ta ry School. T he fifth-gradq. teacher said recently that he’s already expe riencing some sadness over leav ing his students. “I ’ll miss the kids,” N elson said. “Its kids in your life that keep you young.” And, N elson added, “I feel very young.” O v erall N e lso n sp e n t 24 years teaching in public schools in the third, fourth and fifth grade levels. W arm Springs E lem entary Principal D aw n Smith took a m om ent to recognize N elson’s retirement during the fifth grade graduation cerem ony recently, and said, “H e will be sorely missed.” T eaching actually becam e N elson’s second career after he studied to become a landscape architect. A fter earning a de gree in the field, N elson’s first job was as a city planner. “I just didn’t like it,” Nelson explained. A round that time he got mar ried and became used to being around children while his wife did childcare. T hat led Nelson to go back to school for his teaching credential. “I was 26 years old and had fun playing around with kids,” Nelson said o f the decision to teach elementary school. “I just loved that age.” A fter his first teaching job in Springfield, N elson w anted to start his own school and orga nized two private schools. Six years later, he sold those businesses in order to return to teaching in the public school system and began applying to jobs th ro u g h o u t the state o f Oregon. N elson then accepted a job at W arm Springs E lem entary and rem ained there fo r over two decades. As for why he came to Warm Springs and never left, N elson said, “It was a challenge.” “I like this school,” Nelson said. “I t’s different.” N o t to m e n tio n , N e lso n added, “I liked th e en v iro n m e n t” ' A fter living in rainy Western O re g o n fo r tw e n ty years, N elson said, he enjoyed the cli m ate o f C entral O reg o n and also enjoyed working w ith his colleagues at Warm Springs E l ementary. N elson has several hobbies he plans to enjoy during his re tirement, among them weaving and gardening, b u t he also is anticipating the chance to take some time off. “W hat I w ant is space and time for myself to not do any thing for awhile,” he said. H e also plans to volunteer w ith the SMART reading pro gram in The Dalles, Nelson said. N e lso n w as h e a d o f th e SMILE (Science and Math In v estigative L earn in g E x p eri ences) Program at Warm Springs Elementary. H e ended his fi nal year o f teaching with a trip to th e O re g o n C o a st w ith SM ILE P rogram participants last weekend. Legal Aid in Warm Springs Legal Aid Services of Oregon, which provides free legal advice and rep resentation to low-income Oregonians, Is in Warm Springs the first Monday of every month, from 1 to 4 L p.m., at the Fam ily Re source Center, 1144 Warm Springs Street. For Information call (800) 678-6944, or (541) 385- 6944. one, with the tribal fleet includ ing cars, vans, busses, am bu lances, fire trucks, police cars, trailers, tractors, forklifts and school busses. Vehicle Pool does offer use o f the Vehicle Pool Wash Rack to tribal members from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. T hose using the wash rack services are asked to clean up after use and report any theft or vandalism to the Warm Springs Police D epartm ent. A Fleet Review Board is re sponsible for reviewing tribal fleet accidents, misuse and high maintenance costs and meets on a quarterly basis. Currently the board consists o f five members appointed by the C hief O pera tions O fficer serving two-year terms. T h o u g h they m aintain the tribal fleet, Johnston said, they are unable to m onitor whether o r n o t tribal vehicle usage is being misused o r abused— but that doesn’t mean it isn’t being monitored. “Vehicle pool, is not a polic ing agency,’’Johnston explained. “Its up to the departm ent m an agers to m onitor the usage.” I f som eone suspects tribal vehicle misuse, Johnston said, it is their right as a tribal m em ber to ask the driver o f a tribal ve hicle if they are using it on per sonal or business matters. To rep o rt abuse o f a tribal vehicle, the date, time, location, type o f incident, license plate num ber, vehicle n u m b er and nam e o f the driver should be subm itted in writing to the ap propriate departm ent managers. W ith o u t a w ritten re p o rt, very little corrective action can be taken. Vehicle Pool is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. W ith questions, call 553- 3224. T he Vehicle Pool Policy Manual is also available for re view at the Vehicle Pool office. Oregon appeals court allows casino challenge (AP) - O p p o n en ts o f a tribal casino in Florence have won court approval to chal lenge Gov. Ted Kulongoski over w hether the governor's office can authorize casinos. The Oregon C ourt o f A p peals has ruled that a citizens group called People Against a Casino Town, or PACT, can challenge the approval for the Three Rivers Casino the Con fed erated T ribes o f Coos, Lower U mpqua and Siuslaw Indians opened in 2004. The unanimous ruling on W ed n esd ay was d ecid e d m o stly o n p ro c e d u ra l grounds, sending it back to Lane C ounty Circuit Judge Karsten Rasmussen for new hearings in a legal battle that Las lasted m ore than a de cade. T hree earlier challenges were rejected. A federal judge dismissed an initial lawsuit in 2003 that challenged U.S. Inte rio r D ep artm en t authority to allow gambling on tribal prop erty. Two other lawsuits, one in federal court and the other in L ane C ounty, also w ere d is missed. A spokeswoman for the O r egon attorney general's office said the latest ruling was under review. T he lawyer for PACT, Kelly Clark, says it gives opponents a chance to confront Kulongoski over w hether his office has the authority to en ter a com pact w ith tribes w hen the O regon Constitution prohibits casinos. “W hat the C ourt o f Appeals said is that the citizens o f O r egon have the right to hold their governor accountable and the tribes d o n 't have the right to stop that challenge,” Clark said. In an opinion by Judge Rick Haselton, the appeals court said that w ithout a challenge, PACT would not have a "plain, speedy and adequate remedy" because the C onfederated Tribes have sovereign immunity from state courts, and they were part o f the original com pact reached w ith fo rm e r Gov. J o h n Kitzhaber to approve the casino. The opinion also said there is a1 conflict that needs to be re solved because the Oregon Con stitution says the “Legislative As sembly has no power to autho rize, and shall prohibit, casinos from operation in the State o f Oregon.” The law has generally been interpreted to mean that casinos should be placed only on tribal lands. S tephanie S oden, sp o k es wom an for O regon Attorney G eneral H ardy Myers, said the federal Indian G am ing R e g u la to ry A c t re q u ire s states to negotiate gam ing compacts with tribes. “And the state has followed th a t law since it p assed ,” Soden said. “This ruling is a procedural decision and n o t a decision regarding the law fulness o f the gaming com pact.” B ut Clark said federal law on Indian gaming does not require states to violate their own laws. H e cited Utah as an example, w hich has no casinos because the state pro hibits them, “N ow the governor has to say why he has the right to authorize casinos, even on tribal land,” Clark said. U.S., Berkshire's PacifiCorp discuss dams issue ■ Leslie Mitts/Spiiyay Jamie Warner receives a flower during the graduation ceremonies at Warm Springs Elementary School. Students later gave the flower to family members who had an Important impact on their lives. Wärm Springs Märkep Indiân Arts âod Sráffe 2132 Wärm Springs St- Wärm Springs, 02 02T61 ($41/ $S3-1$$T GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — PacifiCorp, the federal gov ernm ent and the states o f O r egon and California áre in talks over how to resolve a proposal to rem ove four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River to help struggling salmon runs. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokeswom an Alex Pitts con firm ed T uesday th a t federal agencies and the utility are in co n tin u in g " c o n v e rs a tio n s " about a hydropower agreement, but would not characterize that agreement as a way to remove the dams. PacifiC orp spokesm an A rt Sasse w ould say only that the utility company is in talks with ' 'key stakeholders" surrounding its application to relicense the dams. T h e u tility is o w n ed by MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., based in D es Moines, Iowa, an d c o n tro lled by B erkshire Hathaway o f Omaha, Neb., the investm ent vehicle o f billionaire Warren Buffett. Last January, federal agencies, the states o f O regon and Cali fornia, and Indian tribes, fish erm en, farmers and conserva tion groups agreed on a $1 bil lion plan for restoring salmon in the river and sharing scare w ater betw een fish and farms once the dams are removed. B ut PacifiCorp, which owns the dams, has yet to sign on and terms o f the hydropower agree m ent were left blank. T he utility has consistently maintained its desire to keep the dams as a source o f carbon-free energy, even if it means spend ing $300 m illion on federally m andated fish ladders and other m easures to help salmon, but w ould n o t object to rem oving them if their ratepayers are pro te c te d . T h e dam s p ro d u c e en ough electricity fo r ab o u t 70,000 customers. Craig Tucker, Klamath cam paign director for the K aruk Tribe, said he had no inform a tion about the talks, but it would make sense if PacifiCorp were seeking to transfer ow nership o f the dams to the federal gov ernment. “ O n e o f P acifiC o rp 's d e mands all along has been if the dams get rem oved, they don't w ant to be in the position o f holding all the liability for any p o te n tia l n eg a tiv e c o n s e quences,” he said. “All I can do is speculate they are entertain ing a variety o f options to try to achieve that. I haven't seen any specific plans for that.”
