Page 8
November 2, 2011
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Halloween Style
Pumpkin carving at Community Center.
Spilyay staff photos.
Lillian Heath and Margaret Switzler arrive Monday for the Costume Contest.
Great season for White Buffs football
B y W ill Robbins
fo r the Spilyay
The Madras White Buf
falo varsity football team fin
ished the regular season with
a record of 4-4.
The last time that hap
pened was nine years ago
when Dan Hiatt was head
coach. Since then the White
Buffs were shuffled like a
deck of cards into different
leagues and struggled to get
wins against schools with
larger player pools...
And then there was that
one notorious season when
Madras played an indepen
dent league schedule but
couldn’t qualify for any post
season action, leaving fans
wondering if the program
would just fade into obscu
rity.
But m any o f those
w rin k les
are
gettin g
smoothed out, and it seems
that the football program at
MHS is back on track.
More importantly there is
a resurrection of legitimacy
under first-year Head Coach
Rick Wells, who routinely says
one of the goals is that other
Tri Valley T eague teams w ill
come to respect Madras as a
winning program.
W inning is som ething the
boys did well this year. Led by
sen io r q uarterb ack D rew
McConnell and defensive back
Travis Williams, Madras worked
to a 500 season.
There were other key play
ers who made up the story of
the 2011 team as w ell. Jo e
H isatake, R odney M itch ell,
Devin Ceciliani, Jordan Brown,
Merlin Tom, Vernon Jackson-
Smith, Anthony Allbritton and
Eric Quintana.
Probably one of the biggest
contributors was Triston Smith.
As p u n ter Sm ith reg u larly
kicked the ball so deep that op
ponents struggled to advance
the ball down field.
O f course there are more
players that make up the team,
but these are the names that were
called out the most during ex
clusive broadcasts on KWSO.
This Friday the White Buffs
compete for a post season
birth. Their opponent is the
Banks Braves, who play in
the Cowapa League and have
lost only one game.
They are also ranked nine
teenth in 4A. M adras is
ranked twenty-ninth.
Thirty-two teams will com
pete this Friday in the so-
called “play in” game that will
establish the 16 teams that
will compete for the 4A State
title.
T hough M adras is the
stated underdog in this one,
those words uttered by Kevin
Garnett after the Celtics won
the NBA title are now begin
ning to sound louder, “Any
thing is Possible!”
Coach Wells agrees and
hopes his team will do those
small things that make a big
difference.
Friday night’s game kicks
off at 7 p.m. from Banks
High School. KWSO w ill
broadcast the game live with
Will “The Wilman” Robbins
beginning at 6:50 pm.
Battle over proposed Spokane casino continues
AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash.
(AP) - Spokane County com
m issioners were barred from
commenting when business lead
ers opposed to a new Indian ca
sino asked them for help in de
fending F airchild A ir Force
Base.
The Spokesman-Review re
p o rted co m m issio n ers are
bound to remain silent under a
deal in which the county would
receive payments to offset the
effects of the Spokane Tribe’s
casino and hotel development.
Commissioner Mark Rich
ard defended the intergovern
mental agreement that requires
commissioners to remain neu
tral on the casino project, which
is under consideration by the
U.S. Department of Indian Af
fairs.
The Spokane Tribe’s proposal
is a hotly disputed issue in Spo
kane County, in part because the
proposed casino would be close
to the Kalispel Tribe’s Northern
Quest casino resort on the west
ern outskirts of Spokane. The
Spokane Tribe’s proposed ca
sino needs federal permission
because it would be located off
their reservation.
County com m issioners A1
French and Todd Mielke are
looking for ways to regain their
ability to influence the decision
on permitting a 14-story casino
hotel near the flight path of
Fairchild training missions.
The hotel is the sort of “en
croachment” that would weigh
against F airchild in another
round of military base closures
expected in 2014, according to
Greg Bever, past chairman of
Greater Spokane Incorporated,
the region’s economic develop
ment agency.
“We need the county’s voice
on this issue,” Bever told com
missioners this week.
Bever and Greater Spokane
President Rich Hadley opposed
the Spokane’s casino proposal in
a Sept. 12 letter to the Bureau
of Indian Affairs.
As a devil, Sunmiet Maben.
Teleco: some service for $1 per month
(Continued from page 1)
The Warm Springs teleco is
the ninth tribal teleco in the U.S.,
and like the other tribal telecos,
WSTC serves a rural commu
nity. In time about 1,000 local
homes and businesses will have
access to the company’s services.
Some of the homes currently
have no phone service. The
teleco w ill bring broadband
internet and phone service to
these and other homes, the busi
nesses and departments on the
reservation. This will be done
through a wireless system.
For some low-income resi
dents, a program exists to pro
vide phone service for $1 per
month.
Sales and marketing
Gabe Walker brings outstand
ing sales experience and skills to
the Warm Springs teleco.
Before joining the teleco,
“We are concerned that the
4,500 jobs at FAFB will be placed
at risk if a major casino resort
com plex is developed,” they
wrote.
In addition to navigational
interference, they cited concerns
about putting large concentra
tions of people in the path of
hundreds of monthly flights at
less than 2,000 feet from the
ground.
Richard said he felt “kind of
am bushed” by B ever’s com
ments. He said he supported the
Spokane Tribe’s Airway Heights
proposal as a matter of fairness.
While the Kalispel Tribe already
has an Airway Heights casino,
the Spokanes are “the tribe for
w hich this com m unity is
named,” Richard said.
Spokane Tribe C hairm an
Greg Abrahamson said Wednes
day the project poses no navi
gational threat to Fairchild or the
nearby Spokane International
Airport.
Walker was working at T-Mo-
bile in Redmond, where he was
in the top 5 percent in sales out
of 50,000 employees. He led a
team of 15 representatives, fo
cusing on customer retention.
“I’ve been in the corporate
world for eight years,” Walker
said. O f the W arm Springs
teleco, he said, “This is some
thing I’ve wanted to do, to be a
part of a great business that is
just starting out.”
W alker spent his teenage
years in Warm Springs. He then
worked at Verizon Wireless be
fore joining T-Mobile six years
ago. The teleco provided a
chance for him to bring his sales
and marketing experience back
to the reservation.
“A main objective for our
m arketing is making sure the
public knows what we’re trying
to do for the community,” he
said, “and making sure the price
powerful selling
point of the teleco is
that it will help keep
people connected to
family and friends.
is right.”
One purpose of the teleco is
bring telephone service to resi
dents who have had no service
in the past, which is a safety is
sue. “One objective for us is
public safety,” W alker said.
“Some families have no 9-1-1
service, and our objective is the
bring them that service.”
“The most powerful selling
point of the teleco,” he said, “is
that we’re keeping people con
nected to family and friends.
This opens doors for every
body.”
Located at the corner of Warm Springs St. and Hollywood Blvd.
Open Wednesday through Saturday
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Ph. 541-553-1041
V