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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 2009)
Spi lygy Tyme P.O. Box 870 Warm Snrinn«:, OR 97761 OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY ECR W SS 5tal Patron Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 Coyote News, est. 1976 November 19, 2009 Voi. 34, No. 24 50 cents General councils address 2010 budget B y D uran B o b b Spilyay Tymoo The tribes held general council meet ings this m onth in W arm Springs and Simnasho to gather input from tribal m em bers before the 2010 budget is fi nalized. The general fund tribal budget for 2010 was posted in September. T hat budget is based on the 2009 approved tribal budget. The proposed budget has a projected increase for operations o f $195,000, and a corresponding reduction in capi tal projects and transfer to the senior pension fond to maintain a no-change total expenditure level. The proposed budget includes a pro jected use o f the “rainy day” fund o f $3,612,297, resulting in a balanced posted budget. Tribal governm ent will continue to try to balance the essential community needs with the current and forecasted revenue base. The proposed 2010 bud get will n ot be finalized until meetings with the tribal m em bership are com pleted, according to officials. Issues of concern Tribal members in attendance spoke about the local economy, adoptions, suicide prevention, and possible ways to remedy the homeless situation on the reservation. “We used to have a treatm ent facil ity in Warm Springs,” N eda Wesley said. “T h at was in atwai Prunie’s days. We fought for our people... carried that to the fullest. It was very respectful.” The issue o f trust funds was also raised. In some cases, D orthea Smith said, people received half o f w hat they were expecting. Smith asked about the m inutes to previous general council meetings. She also asked about affir mative action, training for non-tribal members, employment for the summer youth workers, and the attendance o f various departm ents at budget m eet ings. “E veryone keeps asking for th at every year,” Sm ith said. “I t is our money, w e’re here concerned about i t . .. [some departments] are n o t here.” “Rather than have resolution [to af firmative action],” Council vice-chair- w om an Aurolyn Stwyer-Pinkham said, “we w ant to upgrade to ordinance— the law.” O th er tribal m em bers w ere co n cerned ab o u t th e co n d u ct o f tribal police officers. Gerald Smith, chief operations of ficer, said that anybody concerned over the conduct o f tribal police offic ers should meet with him. The tribes meanwhile are in the process o f hiring a general m anager o f the Pubhc Safety branch, Smith said. There have been tribal members recently hired in P ublic Safety, Smtih said, with an addition o f two people in the Fish and G ame D e partment. Casino, settlem ent E m m a Smith asked about the status o f the proposed G orge ca sino, and the wording o f the com pact. “Since you’re prom ising aU o f these non-Indians 20 cents out o f every doUar, shouldn’t you be able to prom ise us, the tribal m em bers, 20 percent?” See GENERAL COUNCIL on 9 Tribes, BPA meet for signing B y D uran B o b b Spilyay Tymoo "J h e ,C o n fe d e ra te d T rib e s o f W a rm Springs and the Bonneville Power A d ministration signed an historic $17 mil- Eon right o f way agreement on M on day. T he agreem ent extends the BPA right o f way o f a transmission corri dor within the reservation. T he term s o f the agreem ent are beneficial to the BPA and to the tribes, said Jody CaEca, secretary-treasurer o f the Confederated Tribes. A benefit to the tribes, for example, is an ownership interest in a section o f the transmission line. This provides the possibiEty o f patching into the power grid if and w hen the tribes develop new energy producing ventures. Through the agreement, the tribes wiU also secure $100,000 in funding for the First Foods project, which explores restoration and preservation o f tradi tional foods. T he tribal-BPA agreem ent o f 1978 gave certain rights to the BPA, aUow- ing for transmission lines in two differ- Duran Bobb/Spilyay BPA administrator Steve Wright, Tribal Council Chairman Ron Suppah, and BiA Northwest Regional Office Director Stanley Speaks (from left) sign the new corridor agreement. ent corridors on the reservation, one in the n orth and one in the south. I t also gave the tribes the potential to ask BonneviUe to move one o f the transmission Enes from the south cor ridor to the no rth corridor. “Since that time the tribes reaEzed the im portance o f having certain types o f infrastructure available,’’ said Ken Johnston, BPA transmission ser vices account executive. See AGREEMENT on 10 Parade Honors Veterans Terri Harber photos Prosanna Katchia rode in the Veterans Day Parade. The parade march was from ihe Veterans Stone by the courthouse to the Agency Longhouse. See page 7 for more photos. Kennel sought for loose dogs B y T e rr i H a r b e r Spilyay Tymoo Dr. Ben Brown was walking around the reservation, betw een the dental clinic where he works and the market, w hen he saw som eone walking w ith a pitbuU about 18 months ago. The owner and dog were about 40 feet apart and the dog wasn’t on a leash. “I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to look at dogs,” said Brown, a com missioned officer with the pubEc health service. H e has w o rk ed at W arm Springs for about three years. “ T he dog took offense.” H e discovered a Etde too late that dogs could interpret direct eye contact w ith a hum an as a chaUenge, n o t just curiosity. “I kept looking to see w hat he would do; he took a bite out o f my wrist,” he said. “It was just a scrape, he bit mosdy into the metal o f my watch.” T hough Brown’s injury wasn’t seri ous, it was “ frightening nonetheless.” Kennel project Nancy ColEns, Warm Springs’ sani tarian, wants to see a place estabEshed to house the numerous loose dogs run ning around the reservation. “I t’s a big problem ,” Collins said. “We see a lot o f bites for the size o f our population.” D ogs wildly running into the street and in front o f vehicles, rummaging through trash, attacking other animals, and biting people are just some o f the problem s that come with large num bers o f free-roaming canines that some times travel in packs, tribal officials say. ColEns said she and the tribe intend to obtain grant m oney by garnering non-profit status for a kennel opera tion, or partnering with an area agency already considered a non-profit. E ither would allow access to grant money from a w ider variety o f sources. A larger n u m b e r o f available g ran ts w ould make financing m ore likely. In the past, ColEns has housed dogs picked up by poEce and other tribal authorities at her hom e, up to 19 o f them at one point, but the problem has becom e too big and the cost too p ro hibitive for her to continue, she said. Tribal poEce and E nvironm ental H ealth have picked up several dogs recendy. Officials are routinely hard- pressed to find enough time for the task. O ther animal service providers either won’t come to the reservation o r often don’t have time to pick up dogs here. Sometimes the other agen cies don’t have space to hold them. 15 bites this year People on the reservation had been suffering few er dog bites in recent years, but the problem has been again worsening. D ogs have bitten 15 people so far this year, some o f them children. Officials estimate the num ber m ight reach 20 by year’s end. Spaying and neutering o f dogs has been encouraged on the reservation since the 1980s, b u t the chaUenge is “getting people to do it,” ColEns said. Sometimes puppies are taken home, b u t then aUowed to run loose around the community. A nd once they are fuUy grown, the animals are ignored. O ther people see these dogs, feel pity, and feed them b u t take no other responsi- biEty for the animals. “I f you feed a dog, it’s yours,” Collins emphasized. See DOG Bites on 9 L )
