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.”