March 9, 2011
Spi [yay T ym oo, W arm Springs, O regon
Page 8
Family escapes White Swan fire
Sentencing in
murder case delayed
B y D u ra n B o b b
Spilyay Tymoo
O n the Saturday befo re St.
Valentine’s Day, the wind began
to blow and that’s where it all
started.
“It was mad,” tribal member
Gladys Heath said. “There were
things flying all over the place.
But it got worse when the word
o f m outh started that there was
a bad fire going on somewhere
and that things might get worse.”
A chimney fire ignited late
that m orning and spread to a
nearby wood chip operation.
Emergency calls began flood
ing switchboards as early as 1:30
that afternoon.
The wind that day blew as
hard as' 70 mph. And the word
o f mouth was about a house fire
on H itchcock Lane in W hite
Swan.
“There was no warning at all.
It seemed like one minute, we
heard about the fire and that it
might be heading our way... and
then the next, we barely had
enough tim e to get outside.
Barely had time to dash down
the main street.”
W ith flam es all aro u n d ,
Gladys and her family m ade
their escape. Houses were burn
ing on both sides o f the post
office. A nd the family had a
m om ent to look back to see
their 4-bedroom house engulfed
in fire.
“There was no time at all. We
had to move. I didn’t stop to
grab anything, that’s how fast it
all happened. I think now, we’re
lucky to get out o f the house at
all.”
As firefighters tried to douse
the flames, the strong wind re
directed the stream o f water
from hoses. “The wind was so
strong you couldn’t walk in it,”
Yakama N ation Fire Manage
ment D on Jones said.
By Duran Bobb
Spilyay Tymoo
Courtesy photo.
The family, Katie, Gladys Heath-Sam holding Cameron, her husband Thomas Sam,
Samantha, and Mya (from left), lost their home In the White Swan fire.
“Ju st im agine running for
your life through that wind, plus
the fire,” Kirby Heath, Gladys’
father, said.
As the family escaped on
foot, the roadblocks went up.
“By then it was a voluntary
ev acu atio n ,” G ladys said.
“Once you got out, you couldn’t
go back in. W a just had the
shirts on our backs then.”
Fam ilies w ere taken to
ch u rch es,
sch o o l
gym s,
longhouses. “Thank God people
were able to stay there. They
said to wait until they got the
fire under control, then they’d
let us start going home again.”
Sunday, th e day after the
exodus, the families were al
lowed to return. There were
still about 100 firefighters in
W hite Swan.
“They were still putting out
the fire on the o ther loops,”
Gladys said. “N one o f it felt
real. There were downed power
lines. Some areas w ere still
blocked off, but they let some
people in to see the damages.
“It was all gone. There was
n o th in g b u t a pile o f ashes
where just a few days before I
was serving dinner. We lost
everything...clothes, toys, fam
ily pictures. O ur home was all
gone.”
“ Fam ily is w h at m akes a
hom e,” Kirby said. “I could
never replace my daughter or
one o f my grandkids, so I ’m
thankful that they made it out.
The other things will come back
to them, eventually.”
Board by board, it will cost
an estimated $4 million to re
build the 18 hom es in White
Swan. Even more homes were
perm anently damaged by the
fire. 120 people are homeless.
But after a time o f tragedy
comes the reminder o f the hu
man heart.
T h e Ramsey Family, w ho
owns the popular Cougar Den,
made the single largest donation
to the victims in the form o f
$25,000.
Locally, Sandra
Danzuka and Danny Martinez
g ath ered item s d o n ated by
Warm Springs tribal members,
an d tra n sp o rte d th e m uch-
needed items to Yakama. Tribal
council also approved a substan
tial donation to the Yakama
people on behalf o f the C on
federated Tribes.
“T hank you,” Gladys said.
“There’s still so much work. I
can’t believe it. What the people
are doing means more than just
a shirt o r a pair o f pants, it
means being one step closer to
being where we were before the
fire. That means a lot.”
For now, Gladys and her fam
ily are living in a motel room.
Huge jump in Calif, salmon predicted
(AP) — California could see
a return to a full-length coastal
salmon fishing season this year
with biologists forecasting a tri
pling o f the fish's ocean popu
lation, state fish and wildlife
officials said last week.
T he agency is p ro jectin g
729,000 salmon in coastal wa
ters in 2011, up from a 2010
projection o f 245,000 fish, D e
partm ent o f Fish and G ame
spokesman Harry Morse said.
I f actual salmon num bers
come anywhere close to the lat
est forecast, West Coast salmon
fisherman could see their first
good catch in years after can
celled seasons in 2008 and
2009 and a shortened season in
2010 led to hundreds o f mil
lions o f dollars in losses, ac
cording to dep artm en t esti
mates.
“G ood news for a change,”
said Fish and G am e D eputy
D ire c to r Sonke M astru p .
“Salmon numbers are projected
to provide some real opportu
nity for sport and commercial
2009. The departm ent o f fish
anglers.”
The department announced and game calls the Sacramento
the preliminary figure Tuesday River fall run the “main driver”
at a meeting in Santa Rosa. Fed o f coastal commercial and sport
♦
eral regulators next week will salmon fishing.
The Pacific Fishery Manage
evaluate the data and come up
with a final num ber to make ment Council is set next week
recommendations on the length to consider its recom m enda
o f this year's season, M orse tions for the length o f this year's
salmon season, with a final de
said.
The department cautions the cision set to còme later in the
actu al n u m b er o f salm o n spring.
California fish and game of
counted by the 2010 season’s
end was fewer than half what ficials are making preparations
was predicted. Estim ates are based on expectations that the
based on information about the season could start as early as
number o f salmon that returned m id-A pril o ff the H u m boldt
to spawn in California rivers, the County coast in N orthern Cali-
number o f fish spawning in state •fornia, Morse said.
Some fishermen worried that
salmon hatcheries and a sam
pling o f the current ocean popu despite the higher num ber o f
salmon heading upriver, the fish
lation.
The prediction for this year’s m ust still traverse the Sacra
ocean population is based mainly mento-San Joaquin River Delta
on the num ber o f adult Chi before returning to the ocean.
nook salmon in the Sacramento Environm entalists and fisher
River fall run, which despite men blame pumps in the delta
being smaller than expected saw that channel water to many o f
a return to more normal levels th e sta te 's farm ers fo r th e
after major drops in 2008 and salmon's sharp decline.
The sentencing hearing
for Jolena Jean Warner and
Antonio Brito has been de
layed until April 11.
Just two days prior to the
court date, prosecutors in
formed the victim’s family
about the delay.
“I w ant the people to
know,” N eda Wesley said,
“the sentencing will be a very
large part o f closure not just
for our family,.but for all
p eo p le w ho have been
touched.”
Late on the morning of
September 24, 2008, Jolena
Warner, 27, caught a ride to
1306 Eagle Way. There, she
told a tribal member that she
had m u rd ered L ucinda
Stwyer, 24, mother o f three
children. W arner had the
victim’s cell phone, purse,
and rings.
L atèr that day, at 2:27
p.m., authorities responded
to a call from K en Lydy,
th e n th é S u p e rv iso r o f
Fire Management, regard
in g a p o ssib le fire n ear
T rout Lake. Fire manage
m ent personnel responded
and discovered the crime
scene.
A t 9:20 th a t evening,
W arm S prings detective
Aaron W hittenburg inter
viewed the tribal members
w ho spoke w ith Jo le n a
Warner. They outlined a ter
rible scene, described by
Warner.
Six days later, W arner
surrendered to federal au
thorities in Portland. She
was accompanied by her at
torney.
O n Oct. 1, 2008, Warner
made her initial appearance
on a crim inal com plaint,
charging her with murder in
the first degree for the pre
meditated killing o f Lucinda
Stwyer. O n the same day,
family and friends gathered
in memorial of Stwyer.
“She wasn’t a bad person,”
Kelli Langnese, a friend o f
Stwyer’s said. “She did what
she had to do to take care
o f her family.”
“They could have robbed
her and beaten her up,” Eric
Langnese said. “They didn’t
have to murder her.”
Prosecutors are recom
m ending a m inim um sen
tence o f 25 years to life for
Warner.
Her accomplice Antonio
Brito is also charged in the
murder.
“W arn er’s accom plice
wept in court,” N eda said.
‘“Please don’t send me out
o f state, he said. I have fam
ily and they wouldn’t be able
to visit me if I went out o f
state. I have children who
need to see me,’ he said.
“W ell... L ucinda had
three children too, I thought.
You took her away. They
have to visit her now from
the graveside,” '
Sentencing is scheduled
for A pril 11, 2011, at the
Mark O. Hatfield Courts in
Portland.
The case is being pros
ecuted by Assistant US At
torneys S co tt K erin and
Pamala Holsinger.
Casinos revenue falls for first time
(AP) — An economist says
that for the first time, rev
enue has fallen at American
Indian gambling casinos na-
tionwide. ■
Alan Meister says in the
Indian Gaming Industry Re
port released last week that
casinos g e n erated a b o u t
$26.4 billion in 2009, down
1 percent from 2008. He says
the decline was triggered by a
recession that forced consum
ers to cut spending.
The report noted that more
than 200 Indian tribes operated
nearly 450 casinos in 28 states.
Revenue from food and bever
ages, lodging, entertainment and
shopping declined 4 percent to
$3.2 billion in 2009.
Meister says public policies
that restrict Indian gambling
helped slow the rate o f rev
enue growth before the re-'
cession.
Meister says the highest
revenue growth in 2009 was
in A labam a, A laska, N e
braska and Wyoming. Rev
enue declined at Indian casi
nos in Arizona, Connecticut,
Iowa and Mississippi.
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