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Spilyay T y moo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Jgnugry
26, 2011
Page 5
2011 Rezalution
Hoop Contest winners
This Saturday, Jan. 29
the 2011 boxing
The Warm
season.
Springs Box
The bouts
ing Club will
start at 6 p.m.
host USA Box
Admission is
ing at Kah-
$12 for adults
Nee-Ta this
and $5 for stu
Saturday, Jan.
29. Rezalution will be dents. Seniors, $3.
the kick-off event for Kids under 7 free.
Sponsored by the Warm Springs Boxing Club.
Elks Hoop Shoot Contest winners are Jiana Smith-Francis, Kaliyah Iverson, Lynden Harry, Marisel Sanchez, Simon
White, Kanim Smith III, Perry Isidore, Brent Graybael (from left).
*
V alentines D ay w ishes.
Telecom Corner
Project has been in the works for quite a while
B y M arsha Spellm an
Warm Springs Telecommunica
tions Co.
Why is it taking so long? Now
that we are on the brink of hav
ing our own tribal telephone
company, it seems like it is tak
ing forever to get service.
However, improving tribal
telecommunications has been in
the works for a long time, and
this article will give you a little
bit of information to help you
b etter understand w hat has
been happening with telecom
m unicatio ns here at W arm
Springs.
For the last 10 years, the
Warm Springs tribal leadership
has been working to understand
and improve the telecommuni
cations needs of the Reserva
tion.
W hat telecom m unications
services were being provided to
the tribes from outside compa
nies? W hat services did the
Tribes lack and desp erately
need? Should Warm Springs try
to get companies to offer bet
ter service or should the Tribes
do it themselves?
First, the tribes com m is
sioned studies to see what ex
isted and what was needed. It
became clear that the number
one priority was to improve the
emergency two-way radio sys
tem used by the police and fire
departm ents. There was not
enough coverage and the equip
ment that did exist was too old.
Since the terrorist attacks on
9/11, the federal government
has also recognized the impor
tance o f h avin g b etter
“interoperable” com m unica
tions, and has funded Homeland
Security grants to help commu
nities build better networks.
Warm Springs has benefited
from these grants and slowly has
been improving this network,
including installing the new
tower that is visible on Miller’s
Flat, a new police dispatch con
sole and additional equipment
such as hand held mobile radios.
With the addition of future
grants, this network will con
tinue to be expanded.
Second, the early studies in
dicated that there was a lack of
basic telephone service. Like
most tribal lands, Warm Springs
had only about 63 percent of
all residents able to receive “Plain
Old Telephone Service.”
This compares to about 95
percent throughout non-tribal
lands in America. In addition,
the lack of telephone service
limits the ability to get access to
Internet service.
Over the years, Internet has
become more and more impor
tant to all areas of life, not only
for fun, like downloading mov
ies or playing games and email,
but for work, education and
even health care.
W ithout high speed (often
called broadband) internet, the
tribes could not build new busi
nesses which, now-a-days, rely
on the telecommunications.
Since no provider was will
ing to come to Warm Springs
to build out telephone service
to everyone on the reservation,
tribal leaders decided to do it
themselves.
Since then, the Warm Springs
Telephone Company was cre
ated. This company will pro
vide telephone service, high
speed Internet, and hopefully in
the future, cable TV like services
to all tribal members living on
the reservation. Beginning this
spring, you will see people build
ing out network throughout the
Reservation.
You will also be able to read
more information in the paper
that will keep you updated and
informed on the changes and
progress as this network be
comes a reality.
As they say, stay tuned. I will
explain what is going on every
issue, from the technology de
ployed, services, and even all
the regulation that affects the
new company. *
The Warm Springs Telecom
munications Company (WSTC)
is a tribally chartered enterprise
whose mission is to bring ad
vanced broadband services to
the Warm Springs tribes, includ
ing voice, data and video. The
start-up company expects to
begin delivering services by next
fall.
The Spilyay Tymoo (print
edition and Facebook) wants
to publish y o u r Valentine’s
Day greetings. They will be
in our Feb. 9 edition. Dead
line is Feb. 4 fo r the newspa
per.
We ’l l consider later submis
sions fo r use on Facebook.
Send all messages by email
or drop them off. You can even
type them in as a comment on
Facebook, but note in the com
ment posting that this is fo r
Valentine’s Day use.
Have any pictures? We’l lput
those in as well. F m ail address:
terri. harber@wstribes. org.
Diabetes education topics for 2011
Diabetes prevention special
ists have scheduled dinner meet
ings for 2011.
The meetings will be at the
Warm Springs Senior Center
from 5-6:30 p.m. on the third
Tuesdays of each month.
No meetings scheduled in
F eb ru ary and D ecem ber,
though the Heart Smart Dinner
will be on Feb. 15.
Dinner is served along with
good information and the op
portunity to talk with others
who are managing their diabe
tes or caring for diabetic family
members.
H ere is the sched ule o f
speakers and topics for this
year’s diabetes awareness and
support group dinner and edu
cation meetings:
February 15: Heart Smart
dinner.
M arch 15: E rin R essler,
“Supplements, vitamins, etc.”
April 19: Edmund Francis
and Ron Berry, “Fitness at all
levels and how exercise affects
diabetes.”
May 17: Jeri Kollen: “Kid
ney, heart and liver affected by
diabetes.”
Ju ne 21: M ontell E llio tt,
“Preventing diabetes.”
July 19: Diane Fuller, “Ac
cess to care at Warm Springs
clinic.”
August 16: Linda Porter,
“Food safety.”
2011 REZALUTION
SATURDAY JANUARY 29™.
USA
BOXING
POUND FOR POUND , EQUAL , OPPORTUNITY.
AT THE KAH-NEE-TAH HIGH
DESERT RESORT AND CASINO
DOORS OPEN AT 5 P.M.
BOUTS START AT
Adults:
Beads, Native American Gifts,
Museum, Deli, Grocery, Ice, Fishing
Permits, Western Union, Check-Free
Bill Pay, ATM and Much More!
2132 W arm Springs St., W arm Springs - ph. 541-553-1597
6 P.M.
$12.00 Students: S 5.00 Seniors Citizens: $ 3.00 Cnilderen Under 7yrs FREE,
Warm Springs Nation Boxing Club Thanks You For Supporting our
USA Boxing Program here at home.
God Bless our Troops .
SANCTIONED BY USA BOXING OREGON LBC #37.
Over 500 companies can be paid
through our check-free service
including: Pacific Power, Direct TV,
Verison, and Qwest.
J
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