r
n
Spily^y Tymoo, Wgrm Springs, Oregon
P^ge 7
September 21, 2011
cocc
Teleco beta testing
branch
opens
Central Oregon Community
College opened its Madras
branch this month.
Taking part in the opening
ceremonies were Marjorie
Smith, Jefferson Greene,
Kobe Baez-Figueroa, Joseph
Smith and Jose Alvarez (from
left), who are of the N’chi
Wanapum and the Palouse
Canoe families.
Yvonne Iverson/Spilyay
Chieftainship: members hold different views
(Continued from page 1)
“I feel we just need three
Council people to be nominated
into Tribal Council instead o f a
chief,” said Geraldine Jim. “Our
Council people need to sit there
and do their job. I hope we pick
a chief that will get out there
and help all the people, no mat
ter what tribe they are. I hope
to hear men that are running for
the chief to speak tonight and
have their say. I feel the need
to pick the chief now. A chief
that we feel is going to do the
best job for all o f us, not just
his own family.”
“W hy d o n ’t we have the
people come up and give their
reason for their nomination?”
Mary Tohet said. “Prove to me
that you’re worthy o f this posi
“We never had a ch ie f,”
Demus Martinez said. “We had
leaders. I ’m wondering why
we’re having this debate if we
never had a chief anyway. The
first chief was Queahpama. He
was selected. I’ve talked with a
lot o f younger people over the
In te rn e t, people my age or
younger. They’re not happy.
They’re not being included.”
At the meeting Daisy Ike and
Cassie Katchia presented their
family history. Derek Tasympt
told o f his qualifications.
L a st w eek’s m eeting was
sponsored by the Katchia fam
ily. George Clements was nomi
nated by Terry Courtney.
and O.B. Kalam a, who were
never recognized by the big
shots at D.C.
Isaak alone had to conduct
business in D.C. on the dams.
He came back and said that
anyone who owned a home at
Celilo would get a home built
for them on the reservation,
which never came to be. The
Rock Creek people came and
claimed all the houses that are
built at Celilo now.
I remember there were In-
dian/French people from Idaho
that had houses built. But those
o f us that were born in Celilo
and owned homes there didn’t
have houses built.
This is a bit o f history that I
remember, from back when I
was around 13 years old. The
elders at that time told the
people that no longer would
the chieftainship be heredi
tary, but it would be decided
on by the people by a vote.
After my uncle was elected
chief, they had a big giveaway
at HeHe. They didn’t have
the kind that you see today—
these were items o f real tra
ditional value to the people,
items that the family worked
hard to gather. There were
Pendleton blankets, horse
saddles. The family didn’t de
pend on the tribes for sup
port at this time, the way it
seems to be done today. This
was all a family effort.
Maxine McKinley.
tion. I am Wasco, I ’m all three
tribes. What are you going to
do for our people?”
Letter regarding Chieftainship
I rem em ber back when
C h ief Queahpam a passed
away. A year afterwards, the
longhouse elders got together
at H eH e and talked fo r
about ten days, deciding what
to do about the chieftainship.
At
th at
tim e,
the
longhouse elders had the say,
because they were the ones
who helped the head chief
decide the right thing to do
for the people.
T h e longhou se people
were five in numbers. The
chief alone did not, by him
self, make decisions without
his advisors.
At the meeting they chose
some men until they nar
rowed the candidates down,
by election, to my uncle and fos
ter-father, Charley M cKinley’s
brother.
Charley was an eagle-whistle
blower at all the gatherings. The
elders chose Isaac McKinley by
vote to become the chief. He
did not choose this on his own.
The longhouse elders then
chose and named those who
would become successors.
Delvis Heath did not become
chief by any chosen people, but
by the ch o ice o f the old
longhouse elders. Yet, he says
my uncle, Isaak McKinley, was
not a recognized chief. My
uncle, Isaac, was one o f the first
Council members. He traveled
to W ashington D.C. several
times with George Meacham
(Continued from page 1)
“These towers would be tall
enough to su pplem ent the
Sidwalter tower. Once we get
those in place, we’ll get the fi
ber running in.”
Bandwidth on the reserva
tion is expected to more than
quadruple in capacity, which
many broadband custom ers
should notice right away.
Some o f the fiber optic lines
have been buried on the reser
vation. However, there’s more
work to do, more fiber to lay.
“When we applied for funds, we
didn’t think the casino would be
right down the road. So we have
to change some thing around.
This project is constantly mov
ing.”
But so far, the project is en
tirely on budget and within the
expected timeline.
When the telco begins pro
viding residential customers with
serv ice in N ov em ber, the 4
broadband connection will be on
a fixed loop.
C u stom ers will receiv e a
wireless router which will con
nect to a canopy antenna on the
ro o f o f their home. This an
tenna will be aimed at one o f
the towers.
“This is going to deliver the
telephone line dial tone and also
the broadband through the same
little antenna. That’s the quick
and easy way to deploy broad
band.”
The Warm Springs Telecom
munications Co. plans to get the
service into place this year and
then cover the reservation en
tirely next year.
Wild-fish groups to sue
over Elwha River hatchery
SE A T T L E (AP) - Wild-fish
advocates say they plan to sue
federal and Washington state
agencies over a fish hatchery
built as part o f the Elwha River
restoration project.
Wild Fish Conservancy and
others say the hatchery threat
ens the recovery o f salmon and
other threatened fish. They say
the process did not go through
proper review.
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