April 18, 2012
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
Page 8
Asking for help with poaching cases
Natural Resources code
enforcement is asking for
help in preventing the inci
dence o f poaching on the
reservation.
Recently, Oliver Kirk and
Stanley Simtustus of Natu
ral Resources came across
remains from a deer that
had been poached.
The remains included
those from the adult female,
and two unborn deer. This
incident demonstrates why
the tribes and other jurisdic
tions have hunting seasons,
and why poaching is so
harmful, said Kirk.
During this time of year,
he said, the deer have no
antlers and you cannot dis
tinguish the males from the
females. When a poacher
kills a female deer out of
Natural Resources photo.
Corral where remains from deer poaching were recently found.
season, the result often is the
loss of multiple animals: the
mother and the unborn deer.
“If you wonder why there are
fewer deer on the reservation,”
Kirk said, “this is one of the
reasons. In poaching one deer,
you take out three.”
The remains that Kirk and
Simtustus found recently
were at the Red Lake Cor
ral, milepost 26 on High way
3. The incident probably
happened on the morning of
April 2.
If anyone has informa
tion about this or any other
possible poaching case on
the reservation, call Natural
Resources at 541-553-2001;
or the Warm Springs Police
at 541-553-3272.
A person convicted of
poaching can have his hunt
ing privileges removed and
be required to pay a fine.
Young hunters are en
couraged to take the hunter
safety course, taught by Kirk
in August.
— by Dave McMechan
Longhouse Clean-Up
2 cases at court recently
Two defendants appeared
earlier this month in U.S. Dis
trict Court for separate vehicu
lar assaults that occurred on the
reservation.
D oriann L. Miller, 24, of
Warm Springs, was sentenced to
six months in prison for driving
under the influence of intoxi
cants, speeding and eluding the
police, crashing her vehicle, and
causing the paralysis of one of
her passengers.
The judge also ordered Miller
to spend up to six months in a
residential alcohol treatment
program upon her release from
the Bureau of Prisons.
O n N ovem ber 10, 2011,
Miller pled guilty to assault re
sulting in serious bodily injury.
According to the prosecutor’s
statements in court, on July 6,
2010, Miller was driving her car
in Warm Springs when a Warm
Springs police officer saw her
commit a traffic violation.
The officer activated the
overhead lights on his police
vehicle to pull over Miller’s car.
Instead of stopping, Miller at
tempted to elude the police at a
high rate of speed, and passed
at least two other vehicles on a
blind corner in the roadway.
Miller eventually lost control
of her vehicle and drove off
the road, where the car rolled
three times and violendy crashed
into a tree. As a result of the
crash, one of the passengers in
Miller’s car was paralyzed and
can no longer use her legs. An
analysis of a blood draw from
Miller after the crash revealed
that her blood alcohol content
was 0.187 percent, far in excess
of the legal limit.
S eparate case
In a separate case this month,
Naomi Joann Brisbois, 27, of
Warm Springs* pled guilty to one
count of assault resulting in sub
stantial bodily injury to an indi
vidual under 16 years of age.
Sentencing is scheduled for July
20.
A ccording to the p ro
secutor’s statements in court, on
July 29, 2011, Brisbois was driv
ing a minivan in a residential
neighborhood in Warm Springs.
Brisbois was seen speeding
through the neighborhood, with
the sliding doors on the van
open, and with her 4-year-old
daughter in the back seat.
Brisbois’ daughter was not re
strained in a seat belt or a car
seat. Witnesses who saw Brisbois
driving were concerned for her
daughter, so they followed her,
but they lost sight of Brisbois’
van as it went around a corner.
The witnesses then heard a loud
crash, and when they came
around the comer, they saw that
Brisbois had lost control of her
van and crashed it into a house
and some parked cars.
When the witnesses came on
the scene, they found Brisbois’
daughter lying awkwardly be
tween the back seats. The child
was transported to the hospital.
Prison term for assault
L a st Friday was a no-school
day for the 509-J School Dis
trict, and a group of youth used
their day off to clean up and
do some yard work around the
Agency Longhouse.
“We are here today to clean
up our church” said Jefferson
Greene.
ReVonne Johnson shared,
‘We have found a lot of ciga
rette butts today”
Clean-up efforts continued
through the weekend when the
community gathered to clean up
the ballfields in preparation of
the upcoming games in the Litde
League season.
— Yvonne Iverson
Invitation
—
The Confederated Warm Springs, OR
T ribes of W arm 97761. You can also
Springs is extend* call the office at 541 -
ing an invitation to 553 -3 313, or 553-
attend the Twenty- 3520, or 553-3390.
Lodging available
Second Honor Se
niors Day on May 11 at K ah-N ee-Ta, 1-
at
the
A gency 800-554-4786. S e
Longhouse. For in nior staff email:
form ation, contact paiutew ewa@
the Senior Citizens yahoo.com
D ep t., PO Box C,
Located at the corner of
Warm Springs St. & Hollywood Blvd.
Open Wednesday thru Saturday
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ph.541-553-1041
J
Monty Tewee, 21, of Warm
Springs, was sentenced to 18
months in prison recently for as
saulting his infant son. Earlier,
in November 2011, the defen
dant pled guilty to assault result
ing in serious bodily injury.
The judge in the case also
ordered the defendant to spend
three years on supervised re
lease, after he is released from
the Bureau of Prisons. As con
ditions o f supervised release,
the defendant must participate
in anger management counsel
ing and parenting classes. Judge
Haggerty ordered the defendant
to surrender to the Bureau of
Prisons on May 24, 2012.
A ccording
- to
the
prosecutor’s statements in court,
late at night on March 6, 2010,
Tewee assaulted his five-week
old infant by squeezing the
baby’s rib cage with traumatic
force. Tewee’s assault broke 8
of the baby’s ribs in 10 places
and lacerated the baby’s liver.
The extent of the baby’s inju
ries required him to be air lifted
from St. Charles Medical Cen
ter in Bend, and to Oregon
Health and Science University
in P ortland for specialized
traum a care. The child has
physically recovered from his
injuries and is now under the ju
risdiction of CPS.
Council resolution regarding Tribal Court
(Note: The following is Tribal
Council Resolution number 11,376.
Tribal Council adopted this resolu
tion last year.)
Whereas the Tribal Council
established the Warm Springs
Court of Appeals pursuant to
Article V, Section l(i) and (s),
which empowers the Tribal
Council to establish courts to
enforce the ordinances estab
lished by the Tribal Council, and
to appoint subordinate boards
and tribal officials, reserving the
right to review any action taken
by virtue o f such delegated
power; and
Whereas Article IV, Section
7 of the Tribes’ Constitution and
By-Laws provides th at ap
pointed boards and officers
“shall report from time to time,
as required, and their activities
and decisions shall be subject to
review by the Council upon pe
tition of any person aggrieved”;
and
Whereas pursuant to its
power to set up courts and ap
point tribal officials, the Tribal
Council established the* Warm
Springs Reservation Tribal
Court, which includes the Tribal
Court and the Court of Appeals,
the judges o f which are ap
pointed by and may be removed
by the Tribal Council pursuant
to the processes set forth in the
Warm Springs Tribal Code
Chapters 200 and 203; and
Whereas it has become ap
parent to the Tribal Council that
there is a general perception
among the members o f the
Tribe’s justice system as well as
other members of the tribal or
ganization and membership that
the Court of Appeals is not ad
hering to the procedural and
substantive statutes set forth in
the Warm Springs Tribal Code
and the Indian Civil Rights Act,
which erodes the credibility and
integrity of the Tribe’s court
system and thus the Tribe’s sov
ereign authority and right to ef
fectively enforce its laws; and
Whereas a number o f re
ports issued over the last decade
assessing the Warm Springs
Tribal Court system have iden
tified deficiencies regarding the
practices of the Court of Ap
peals when conducting its review
of the cases before it; and
Whereas the Court of Ap
peals has recently misdirected
and failed to carry out the writ
ten decision and opinion of a
pro tem panel of Appeals Court
judges appointed by Tribal
Council Resolution No. 11,155
to hear an appeal brought by a
sitting judge o f the Court of
Appeals, which therefore dis
qualified the other judges of the
Court of Appeals from hearing
the matter as a conflict of in
terest; and
Whereas the action of the
Court of Appeals in refusing to
disclose and implement the de
cision of the pro tem panel is a
direct affront to the constitu
tional authority of the Tribal
Council, as set out above, and
undermines the Tribal Council’s
constitutional power to govern
the Tribe and its subordinate
entities, including the Tribal ju
dicial system; and
Whereas an effective court
system, especially an effective
appellate court, is essential for
the operation of the Tribal gov
ernment, the maintenance of
law and order on the reserva
tion, economic development on
the reservation, and the integ
rity of the Tribe’s sovereignty;
and
Whereas the Tribal Law and
Order Act of 2010 requires the
Tribe to employ judges that (1)
are licensed to practice law, and
(2) have sufficient legal training
to preside over criminal pro
ceedings if the Tribe decides to
implement the enhanced sen
tencing provisions contained in
the Act; now, therefore
Be it resolved by the
Twenty-Fifth Tribal Council of
the Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of
Oregon, pursuant to Article V,
Section l(i), (s) and (u), of the
Tribal Constitution and Article
IV, Section 7 of the Tribal Con
stitution and By-Laws, that the
Tribal Council directs the fol
lowing actions:
1. The Tribal Council directs
the tribal attorneys Karnopp
Petersen to engage a qualified
consultant to conduct an inquiry
into the systemic problem s
within the Court of Appeals as
identified by prior studies of the
Tribal Justice System, including
the current structure and com
position of the Court as set forth
in Warm Springs Tribal Code
Chapter 203;
2. The Tribal Council directs
the tribal attorneys to instruct
the consultant to provide a writ
ten report to the Tribal Coun
cil. .. to recommend proposed
changes to the Court of Appeals
aimed at alleviating these sys
temic problems. Such recom
mendations may include, but are
not limited to, a change in the
structure and composition of
the Court and the required quali
fications for Appeals Court
judges, or, if the consultant
deems the current structure and
composition of the Court un
der Warm Springs Tribal Code
Chapter 203 adequate, recom
mendations for removal and/or
recruitment of some or all of
the Court o f Appeals judges
after conducting an examination
of the qualifications, suitability
and performance of the current
Court of Appeals judges.