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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.
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