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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2009)
r P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 CRWSS Patron Coyote News, est. 1976 January 15, 2009 Voi. 34, No. 2 Postage STD Warm Springs, OR 97761 50 cents Tribes considering telecommunications enterprise B y D ave M cM ech a n Spilyay Tymoo The Confederated Tribes o f Warm Springs is exploring the possibility o f creating a telecommunications enter prise that would serve the reservation. The people working on the project see great potential for economic devel opm ent and local job creation through the telecommunications enterprise. There are currently nine other tribes in the U.S. that have developed tele communications companies, or enter prises on their reservations, said Jeff A nspach, chief executive officer o f Warm Springs Ventures, the tribes’ eco nomic development enterprise. The tribal telecommunication com panies are partly or wholly owned and operated by the tribes. Each o f the tribes— .located mainly in the South west— has reported its project to be successful, said Anspach. These tribes have reported success in areas o f job creation for tribal m em bers, development o f infrastructure for new businesses, and telecommunication service to reservation households and businesses, said Anspach. The num ber o f jobs created through telecom m unication developm ent on the reservations range from 18 to 55. “These are skilled, living wage jobs,” said Anspach. The existence o f the telecommuni cation system on the reservation would also encourage local economic devel opment, said Anspach. . For instance, the K ah-Nee-Ta area, including the resort, would have access to high-speed internet, which has be come an essential service at resorts. T he Warm Springs industrial park, and the resérvation as a whole, could see new business developm ent, as a m o d ern teleco m m u n icatio n in fra structure is key to attracting new busi nesses. As K en Smith, Ventures chairman and telecommunications team member, said, “I f you want to enhance economic development, you have to have the in frastructure, the basic foundation for businesses.” T he telecommunications enterprise, he said, “makes good eco nomic sense for the tribes.” C ouncilw om an A urolyn Stwyer- Pinkham, w ho Serves on the telecom munications team1, said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could run a business to pro vide telephone, internet, and television services? “The tribal council has pursued this technology business to im prove the infrastructural needs with communica tions, plus to create some jobs, and add to the tribes’ revenue,” said Stwyer- Pinkham. Tribal telco T h e trib a l te le c o m m u n ic a tio n project, called the tribal telco, would provide telephone, digital television and high-speed internet service the people living in all areas o f the W arm Springs reservation. Warm Springs Ventures, the telco tfcam, the telecommunications steering committee and Tribal Council have been pursuing the idea for over a year. T he telco plan especially gained m om entum after the opening o f the Teepee Deli internet cafe at the Warm Springs Plaza, which has proven to be very popular. “It showed people here want to be connected to the world wide web,” said Anspach. Positive meetings Telecommunications is highly regu lated, and the tribal telco would require significant funding, so much planning is needed. Recently, tribal officials trav eled to Washington, D.C., to m eet with federal lawmakers and the regulators whose support will be needed for fund ing and developm ent o f the telco. “We came away from each meeting with the feeling that this could be done,” said Anspach. A fe a sib ility study, c o n d u c te d through a USDA grant, also indicates the project could be accomplished. The telco would be a major invest m ent on the reservation. T he project, for instance, would require the installa tion o f a fiber-optic cable that w ould loop around the reservation. See TELCO on page 7 Final casino EIS nearing completion The Confederated Tribes expect that the BIA next m onth will finalize the environmental impact statement on the tribes’ Cascade Locks casino proposal. T he final en vironm ental im pact statem ent (EIS) will be based on the draft EIS and the m ore than 10,000 .comments that people made last year on the draft document. The final EIS will be subm itted to the Secretary o f the Interior’s Office for review and action. Highway interchange Leslie Mitts/Spilyay The 2008-09 varsity squad includes (left to right) JoElla Smith, Kristi Olney, Penny Danzuka, Abby Scott, Karlen Yallup, Cheyenne Wahnetah, Merima Made, Marissa Ahern, and (in front) Kara Katchia. B y L e s lie M itts Spilyay Tymoo O n and o ff the court, several girls from Warm Springs are find ing success through teamwork. The 2009-09 girls’ varsity basket ball squad at Madras H igh School is m ade up entirely o f students from Warm Springs. T hat’s something that the W hite Buffaloes see as an advantage this season, as the group o f girls’ has grown incredibly close as a team. T h e te a m in c lu d e s M erittia Made, a 16-year-old junior; Abby S co tt, a 14-year-old fresh m an ; M a rissa Ahem , a 16-year-old jun ior; Cheyenne Wahnetah, a 16 year- old-sophomore; Karlen Yallup, a 16- ik) V' p year-old junior; K ara Katchia, an 18- year-old senior; Penny Danzuka, a 17- year-old senior; Kristi Olney, a 17-year- old junior; and Jo E lla Smith, 16, a sophomore. Rory O ster servesas head coach for the girls’ varsity team. It’s his first year coaching at Madras, and O ster said this is an excellent group o f girls to w ork with. “It’s a great transition for me,” O ster said. “It kind o f makes my job easy.” This year the girls earned the first IM C w in fo r M adras since 2007— som ething they credit as being one o f their favorite m om ents so far this sea son. According to Danzuka, the league win dem onstrated the changes in the team this year. k “I t kind o f proved that we’re a dif ferent team from last year,” she ex plained. Olney said her favorite m om ent so far this season was “walking back to the bench after our first win.” “W inning is definitely the favorite part so far,” Scott agreed. “Hopefully a lot more-wins to come.” A fter a loss against Summit on Janu ary 9, the team is 5-5 this season. As for die players, O ster said, they all stand out in their own ways, “I t’s usually different players that step up every single night,” O ster said. “We kind o f have that understanding that we don’t care w ho scores.” “The season has been going pretty well,” O ster said. “I think we’ve kind o f already surpassed a lot o f people’s expectations.” As for how the team is different this year, Made said, “We believe.” Support, she added, is key. “It feels good that a lot m ore people are coming to our games to support us, and we have a coach to tell us we can do it,” M ade ex plained. “It feels good just to have our ow n people come and watch us.” Some o f the girls are hoping for even m ore support at the remain ing hom e games. “We w ant m ore community sup port,” Smith and Olney said. “Be cause we w ant the top bleachers pulled out!” See HOOPS SQUAD on page 7 A traffic interchange issue may be addressed in a separate docum ent that could later be added to the final EIS, said E d Manion, interim casino project team coordinator. The traffic issue has to do with an O regon D epartm ent o f Transportation regulation that was recently adopted regarding highway interchanges. The regulation says that new high way interchanges, or exits, can exist no closer than six miles apart in rural ar eas and three miles apart in urban ar eas. T he proposed interchange at the Cascade Locks casino site is about a mile and a half from the existing east Cascade Locks interchange. T he O regon D epartm ent o f Trans portation indicated recently that the east Cascade Locks interchange would have to be closed if a casino interchange were opened. R esidents at C ascade L ocks are against the idea o f closing the existing interchange at east Cascade Locks. Closing the interchange would cre ate too m uch traffic, including truck traffic in town, and would make it dif ficult to leave tow n in case o f em er gency such as evacuation, residents o f the tow n have said. O D O T has said that the tribes can request an exemption to allow both in terchanges, said Manion. The tribes and governm ent agencies involved would help to develop an Interchange Area M anagem ent Plan (IAMP), w hich is required by O D O T and the Federal High Administration, said Manion. T he Federal H igh A dm inistration could then issue a record o f decision based on the plan, he said. W ith the final EIS almost ready for Interior re view, the IAMP would have to be in serted into the EIS at a later time, said Manion. 1$ rA
