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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2012)
Spilyay Ty root April 18, 2012 Coyote News, est. 1976 Voi. 37, No. 8 P.O. Box 870 Branch Matthew 1200 SW Park Ave. Portland OR 97205 U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 April - Hawit'an - Spring - Wawaxam 50 cents Council considers changes to court system Voter B y D ave M cM echan Spilyay Tymoo O ne o f the powers o f Tribal Coun cil, under the Tribal Constitution, is to establish and maintain the operation o f courts o f law on the reservation. The current Council is considering some significant changes to the tribal court system. O ne consideration is the creation o f an alternative dispute reso lution process. Adding an alternative dispute reso lution element to the tribal court sys tem is the top recom mendation to the tribes by Oregon Judge Walt Edmonds. Edm onds, a retired O regon Court o f Appeals judge, last year studied the Warm Springs court system, and made a series o f recom mendations to Tribal Council. Alternative dispute resolution would provide a way to apply tribal customs and traditions in the administration o f ju stice o n th e re s e rv a tio n , Ju d g e Edm onds recommended. T ribal S ecretary -T reasu rer Jo d y Calica is in agreement with the recom mendation. Many civil, domestic and juvenile cases, and some m inor infrac tions o r less-serious criminal cases, could be better handled through alter native dispute resolution, Calica said. Alternative dispute resolution is a process, outside o f court, where the parties w ork with a mediator toward a mutually acceptable agreement. Many cases, especially those involving family members on both sides, could be taken care o f this way. “Rather than winners and losers,” Calica said, “we would have more o f a family court atmosphere.” O ther tribes, such as the Navajo, and m ost non-tribal court jurisdictions of fer an alternative dispute resolution process, Judge Edm onds said. “ leather than winners and losers, we would have more o f a family court atmosphere. ” S-T Jody Calica on alternative dispute resolution proposal Edmonds also recommends that the tribes revise the Tribal Code in order to m ore clearly identify the standards o f review that define the authority o f the tribal C ourt o f Appeals. E d m o n d s recom m ends th a t the tribes clarify that the Court o f Appeals cannot create new tribal policy, which is an exclusive pow er o f the elected Tribal Council. . T he tribal C ourt o f Appeals, like other courts o f appeal, should review for the correct application o f the law by the Tribal Court, in cases that are properly appealed, Edm onds recom- mends. T he Tribal Court, including the jury, is charged with determining the facts o f the case. T he C ourt of» Appeals reviews how the law— the Tribal Code, for instance-— was ap plied at the trial court, but should n ot re-hear or re-determine the facts o f the Case. Edm onds also recommends that the C ourt o f Appeals judges have law degrees. “Asking any person not trained in the law to perform the kind o f review o f trial court deci sions that an intermediate appellate court is traditionally understood to perform is a difficult task,” he says. Calica agrees with the recommen dation: There are several tribal mem bers and mem bers o f neighboring tribes, in the community and off the reservation, who have law degrees and could serve on the Appeals Court. Please see COURT on page 7 . Salmon Feast C elilo Village hosted the Salmon ____... Carlos Calica was the master o f ceremonies, and the opening invo cation was delivered by tribal elder Aurelia Stacona. The Salmon Feast, this year held on April 15, is an event older than recorded history. It is a celebration o f the salmon run, giv ing thanks to the Creator. K jli JI Duran Bobb/Spilyay Inspired cooking at Cottonwood kitchen B y D u ra n B o b b Spilyay Tymoo A t the C ottonw ood R estaurant you’ll find the daily lunch buffet, the build-your-own Indian taco bar, the Cedar Plate Salmon, and a talented young line cook with an inspirational story. Jake “Buffalo H orse” Eastman, 35, looks forward to going to work as a line cook. For m ost o f his life, Buffalo has worked in the food in dustry. In fact, w hen he’s n o t at work he enjoys watching the Food Network and cooking shows on TV ‘I ’ve always liked to cook,” Buf falo said. “My favorite things to cook are desserts. Steaks are fun. I also like making our signature dish called the Indian Kiss.' Sometimes, they joke around and make me bring the dish out and give the customer a kiss.” But the life Buffalo enjoys today has been hard-earned. A t one point in his fife, he was involved w ith gangs, crime, drugs, and alcohol. “My lowest p oint was w hen I woke up in jail without knowing why I was there,” Buffalo said recently. “I thought that I would be getting right out, but the officer read o ff six charges that were pending against me. I was in there for another two months.” Buffalo is the father o f two girls, 3 and 11. Both o f them, along with The deadline to register to vote in the May election is next Tuesday, April 24. The May 15 ballot will determine, among other issues, a school district 509-J bond proposal. The $26.7 million bond would fund district im provem ents including a k-8 school in W arm Springs. Up to $10 million o f the bond revenue would go toward the Warm Springs school, which is estim ated at $18-20 million. The tribes would fund the other half. Mem bers will see a tribal referendum in May regarding the school. New water system work starting soon B y D u ra n B o b b Spilyay Tymoo Feast and Powwow last weekend. T h is is th e fo u rth y ear th a t Raymond Estrada has served as the powwow coordinator. The powwow itself is a tradition m ore than 50 years o ld. registration deadline Eastman at work at the Cottonwood Restaurant. his m other Roberta Kirk have been the in sp iratio n B uffalo has n eed ed to change his life. “My girls know w hat jail is now,” he says. “I don’t want them to see me like that, especially my oldest. O ne time, they saw me arrested and they cried. I figured, my kids need me. It’s time for me to step up and learn responsibil ity. I would hate to be 40 and still on probation.” Finding a new way o f life was hard. A t first, old friends would stop by without knowing that Buffalo was determined to change his ways. “B ut I think everybody pretty much knows by now that I ’m turn ing things around,” he sayS. “I go to meetings, counseling, and I ’m find ing out that I ’m n o t alone in this. There are other people like me, and that gives m e Strength.” Last fall, Buffalo lost his father, Daniel Rocky Eastman. B ut in his sobriety, Buffalo has found hope. “O nce I ’m here, everything is good,” he says. “It’s fun, this is my social life. I can’t hang out with people that I used to hang out with — so I come to work and have fun with coworkers.” Buffalo also keeps himself busy as a tap artist under his own record label, Big Chiefin Records. H is music is available online and CDs are for sale at Skyn Style. “My m om has been a big help during this tim e,” he says. “She watches over my girls while I ’m at work and even helped me with trans portation when I first started. It’s nice knowing that she doesn’t have to worry about me anymore. She let me know that I would always have support” Please see EASTMAN on page 7 T he Confederated Tribes have se cured the funding necessary to com plete w ork that will establish a safe, a rsen ic-free w ater so u rce fo r the Simnasho community. Nancy Collins, resident Sanitarian for Indian H ealth Services, said fund ing has becom e available from two sources, and the team has set this N o vem ber as the target for work to be complete. “We have a grant from H U D for $450,000,” she said. “T he tribes were going to kick in $700,000, but that is now being picked up by the EPA. So as o f now, all the funding has been es tablished.” Requests for quotes on the geo-tech work, necessary to construct a storage tank, were due last week. Requests for quotes on the well construction opens April 19. Arsenic is odorless and has no taste. It can appear in drinking water through natural deposits in the earth and cause cancer, stomach pains, nausea, vom it ing, diarrhea and num bness o f the hands, am ong other problems. In 2006, the EPA required water sys tems in the nation to have no-more than 10 ppb (parts per billion) o f arsenic in drinking water. A t that time, Simnasho’s water supply failed to m eet standards. An analysis in February 2010 showed arsenic levels at 27 ppb. “This was brought to our attention in 2 0 0 7 ,” said A u ro ly n S tw yer- Pinkham, who was Tribal Council’s vice chairwoman at that time. “We took im m ediate action to im plem ent the b ottled w ater system to ensure the health o f our people.” O ver 80 Simnasho residents have received bottled water delivery service since M ay o f 2007 at th e c o st o f $4,400 per month. “I know this has been a long pro cess,” Collins said. “It has taken longer than any o f us would like. It is hard to come up w ith $2.5 million, but we did it. All the funding is secured, and once the w ork is done the bottled water de livery will not be needed.” Simnasho’s new w ater Source will come from a different aquifer across Highway 26 to the west, five miles from the current Beaver Creek wells. A r senic levels have been checked twice at the new well during a 72 hour pump test. N o arsenic was detected. Please see WATER on page 7
