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