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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 2009)
“1 r Spilyay Tym< , - P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 OREGON historical society 1230 SW PARK AVE. PORTLAND, OR 97205 JnstaPatron J,S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 C oyote News, est. 1976 August 27, 2009 Voi. 34, No. 18 50 cents Celilo Village Restoration Tribes, federal officials gather for dedication B y D a ve M c M e c h a n Spilyaj Tymoo The historic Celilo Village at the Columbia River has new homes, paved roads, a new drinking water system, a playground and basketball court. The new Celilo administration and school building is a great addi tion to the community. The improvements to the village, including a longhouse with kitchen, happened over the past four years. The Celilo Restoration Project was a cooperative effort o f the Colum bia River tribes, the people o f Celilo, and the U.S. Army Corps o f Engi neers. While the actual work on the res toration project began about four years ago, the circumstances leading up to it date back much further. “Everything begins with history, and the history of this particular situ ation started when we signed our treaty with the federal government,” said Ron Suppah, Chairman o f the C onfederated T ribes o f W arm Springs, and Wy-Am board member. In the Treaty of 1855 the tribes retained their right, dating from time immemorial, to fish at all their “usual and accustomed places,” many o f which were located around Celilo Falls. In the late 1930s, Suppah said, the Bonneville dam inundated many o f the fishing sites. Then in the 1940s construction o f The Dalles dam flooded more sites and forced the relocation of Celilo Village. A t the time the governm ent promised to acquire 400 acres o f land for the tribes—including in-lieu fishing sites— to compensate the tribes for their losses. Meanwhile, the Corps of Engineers was given the responsibility o f constructing a new village. However, according to a report from the Oregon Historical Society: “The poor quality o f construc tion materials and inadequate main tenance at the relocated village caused structures to badly deterio rate, leaving residents without water or sewer access and with sanitary conditions that violated federal and state statutes and also endangered public health and safety.” In 1988— forty years after the flooding by The Dalles Dam—Presi dent Reagan signed a law requiring the government to meet its obliga tions to the tribes. The Corps then carried out in-lieu fishing projects, but the living conditions at Celilo Village remained the same. Dave McMechan/Spilyay The architecture of the new Celilo Administration and School Building (above and below) was inspired by the basalt rock formations of the area, and by the tribal fish scaffoldings at the nearby Columbia River. Antone Minthorn (picture above), chairman of the Wy-Am board and the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Tribal Council, signs a momento of the dedication ceremony last week. The federal Stimulus program could fund a variety o f projects benefiting the Confederated Tribes. Some o f the proposed projects have a good chance o f receiving Stimulus funding, while some may not. A few projects have already been funded, said Lonny Macy, tribal plan ner, who reported the information re cently to Tribal Council. From road and housing work on the reservation, to in-Eeu fishing site im provements, the projects have the po tential to create many new jobs. The single biggest federal Stimulus program for the tribes is the bio-mass project at Warm Springs Forest Prod ucts Industries. The tribes received word eariier this summer that the bio-mass would re ceive $5 milEon in Stimulus, or Ameri can Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), funding. The $5 milEon will provide for the construction o f a second bio-mass boiler at the WSFPI mill. This would allow the tribes to seU electricity from the bio-mass faciEty. BIA Roads in Warm Springs is look ing at about $3.5 milEon in on-reserva tion projects that could quahfy for ARRA funding. Road maintenance projects would account for about $2.5 milEon o f the total, with road construction bringing in an o th er $1 m illion, said Tom Shuman, BIA Roads engineer. Potential projects include spreading gravel on roads such as Mutton Moun tain Road and Kishwalks. There could be some pavem ent work done in subdivisions, overlay work on HoUywood and Tenino, pave ment o f Chariie Canyon Road, road side brush removal and culvert main tenance, am ong the projects, said Shuman. The Est o f proposed road projects wiE be finaEzed by Tribal CouncE; and the appEcation is to be turned in by early next year, he said. Shuman estimated that $3 milEon to $3.5 milEon in roads funding would create about 30 on-reservation jobs. Tribal Construction would be the con tractor. The tribal Housing Authority re ceived $627,000 in Stimulus funding for construction o f five new homes in the Sunnyside subdivision, said Hous ing Authority executive director Jeff Sanders. The hope is that work wiE begin on the 3-, 4- and 5-bedroom homes per haps as early as September. These mu tual-help houses wiE be simEar to those buEt a few years ago at Bear Drive, said Sanders. Other Stimulus projects: Two in-Eeu fishing sites at the Co lumbia wiE be improved for use with $28 milEon in Stimulus money, said Louie Pitt, director of tribal Govern ment Affairs. Vocational RehabiEtation is applying for $180,000 to fund two new shuttles and five bus shelters. “We’re reaEy try ing to get shuttle service between Warm Springs and M adras,” said D avid Conroy, acting director of tribal Social Services, and director of Voc Rehab. Indian Health Services set aside $225,000 in Stimulus money for instal lation o f water meters at 140 homes in Simnasho and Sidwalter. Tribal Government Affairs is apply ing for $55,000 for solar panels and other energy conservation measures for the new tribal Media Center. Warm Springs Ventures has appEed for $5 milEon to bring broadband ser vice to the reservation, said J e ff Anspach, Ventures executive director. The tribes would then designate an enterprise to operate the service, said Anspach. This project would be a great ben efit to the reservation and tribal mem bers, and the need for the service also is great, he said. However, the criteria that the grant appEcation is judged by could make funding o f this project not very likely, he said. ----- by Dave McMechan Two flu vaccines this year See CELILO RESTORATION on 9 Marijuana growing operations uncovered Warm Springs law enforcement of ficers on August 14 seized over 1,600 marijuana plants growing on the reser vation. Over the past two years, Warm Springs officers have seized over 30,500 marijuana plants in four sepa rate raids. Pohce Chief Carmen Smith said that illegal growers have made their way onto the reservation by having girl friends who Eve here, scouting remote spots and setting up camps in remote areas where people seldom go. Warm Springs officers focus on po- Edng the town and surrounding neigh borhoods, said Smith. “We’re so busy that we don’t have time to make these Stimulus funding could help variety of projects rural patrols,” he said. Officers first spotted the most re cent marijuana plantation while flying over a southern area o f the reserva tion in an O regon Army N ational Guard heEcopter. For a month afteward, poEce kept watch on a group o f men as they tended the marijuana. At daybreak on August 14, a task force o f investigators began sneaking up on the campsite. The path to the camp was so overgrown with brush that it took nearly three hours to silently make their way 500 yards. Still, they must have been overheard. Just as they came upon the camp, in vestigators heard someone running through the woods, said Warm Springs Detective John Webb. The investigators discovered a so phisticated irrigation system that used gravity to pull water into the gardens. The tarps and other equip ment matched what they found in eariier seizures on the reservation, Webb said. About the same time as this raid, Yakama tribal law enforcem ent seized a large number o f marijuana plants growing' on the Yakama Res ervation. Thousands more plants were found this week growing near PrineviEe. Indian Health Services, tribal health and other officials are preparing for a potentiaEy very serious flu season. A concern is a possible outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus, commonly caEed swine flu. Swine flu has claimed nearly 500 Eves in the U.S. since the start o f the last flu season. Eleven o f these deaths were in Oregon. “IHS and the tribes are working to gether to prepare for this,” said Roberta Queahpama, Warm Springs Commu nity Health director. The planning meetings have in volved top officials o f the tribes, she said. <cWe’re developing a plan for dis trib u tio n o f th e vaccines,” said Queahpama. This year, many people wiE be get ting two flu shots: one regular flu vac cine, and one for the swine flu, she said. The Community Health Department is also putting an even greater empha sis on hygiene to prevent the spread o f the flu, said Queahpama. The flu vaccines are recommended for chEdren 6-months to 24 years, for adults with chronic conditions, and for pregnant women. There wiE be 190 million does of the vaccine distributed in the U.S. With this supply, not everyone wEl be able to get a vaccination against swine flu. The H1N1 strain o f the type A in fluenza virus appeared in the U.S. in late March and quickly spread across the country and the world before it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in June. Health officials say infections from swine flu, Eke the seasonal flu, can range from mEd to severe. Symptoms are a high fever, cough, sore throat, chills., body aches and fatigue. Spilyay has new phone numbers Please note, the SpEyay Tymoo has new phone numbers. To reach the SpEyay, please caU 553-2307, 553-2210 or 553-1928. The previ- ous phone number (553-3274) is for voice maE only. Thank you!
