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E Coosh EEWA: The W3y it is
Spilydy T ym oo O cto b er 31, 2012
Letters to the Editor
Thoughts at
election time
by Yvonne Iverson
It is a critical time of year
for Warm Springs, a time to
have our voices heard on is
sues that affect the Tribes.
I got my ballot in the mail
and have been putting o ff
completing it because there
are several things th a t I
w anted
to
knoiy m ore
Spilyay
about.
Speaks
At
‘first
k________ J
read, Measure
81 seems to be
favorable for Tribes. It would
ban the use of gillnets by non-
tribal fishermen. After look
ing into it, and checking the
CRITFC website, I see that
tribes are opposed to Mea
sure 81.
A statement issued by the
W arm Springs,, Um atilla,
Yakama, and N ez Perce
tribes reads, “We oppose
Measure 81 because it is the
wrong approach to salmon
restoration.
All Oregonians should be
w orking to g e th e r to im
prove salmon runs, not try
ing to put each other out of
business.”
Other measures that have
been on the ballot before, and
Tribes have opposed, are
Measure 82 and 83. These
would allow private non-tribal
casinos, and specifically a ca
sino at the old Greyhound
Racetrack location in Wood
Village.
. A local item is a five-year
increase to Jefferson County
property taxes to support the
o p eratio n o f the Madra,s
Aquatics Center.
The tax increase would not
affect those living in Warm
Springs, but during these hard
economic times it would be
hard to ask anyone to pay
more.
My thought is that if we
are going to ask our neigh
bors to support the MAC, we
should be willing support
them as well by purchasing a
membership.
Many measures to decide
on, and don’t forget the Presi
dent and state positions we
are voting for.
Happy voting everyone. I
will be dropping my ballot at
the drop box in front of the
Fire & Safety house this af
ternoon.
If you have questions or
have not received your bal
lot yet, you can call the call
the County Elections Office
at 541-475-4451.
To museum
Many thanks to the Mu
seum at Warm Springs for all
the work before the art event
happened. All the work dis
played is wonderful to view.
Thanks for allowing me to be
a part of this artist display.
Terry Courtney Sr.
Hatchery fish
Everyone enrolled into
this Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs should take
special heed to the article
printed in the Spilyay Tymoo,
Oct. 17, 2012. This article
proves that there is no real
difference between the wild
or hatchery salmon, the only
difference is the hatchery
salmon are missing the adi
pose fin.
Everyone in the Pacific
N orthw est is or has been
brainwashed into believing
hatchery fish are inferior. Our
ancestors lives’ depended on
the salmon forever. We, as
descendants, m ust protect
our m ost sacred food, the
salmon.
I worked on a salmon re
covery plan from 2000-2012. *
The salmon needs all of us
to survive into the future.
Tribal Council, you must act
on this plan. Here is your
proof.
Terry Courtney Sr.
To Veterans
Veterans, the Central Or
egon Commissioned Officers
invites you to join them on
Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the
Warm Springs Health and
Wellness CeAter.
The meeting will be in the
pod A at 10:30 a.m.-l p.m.
T here will be an Italian-
themed lunch in honor of
your service and in celebra
tion of Veterans Day.
We will be serving spa
ghetti and meatballs, lasagna,
salad and o th e r goodies.
Please come join us and al
low us to thank you for your
service.
Missing dog
On October 18 our fam
ily pet dog came up missing
from our home at Sunnyside
Drive in Warm Springs. ,
Description: female; less
than 1 year old, weight around
40 to 50 pounds, pure white
German Sheppard.
She had on a pink dog col
lar, very easy to spot out, if
you’ve seen this dog please
return her to 6331 Sunnyside
Spilyay Tymoo
fC o y o te News, Est. 19 7 6 )
Publisher Emeritus: Sid Miller
Editor: Dave McMechan
Reporter: Duran Bobb
Advertising Director: Yvonne Iverson
Media Advisor: Bill Rhoades
Spilyay Tymoo is published bi-weekly by the Con
federated Tribes of Warm Springs. Our offices are
located at 4174 Highway 3 in Warm Springs.
Any written materials submitted to Spilyay Tymoo
should be addressed to:
Spilyay Tymoo, P.O. Box 870, Warm Springs, OR
97761.
Phone:541-553-2210
Advertising: 541-553-2307 or 541-325-1089
E-Mail: dave.mcmechan@wstribes.org.
Annual Subscription rates: Within U.S.: $15.00.
!’
( ~................
I
Drive, Warm Springs.
I am offering a $50 reward
for her return (no questions
asked). Thank you.
Tony and
SeeG rey
LIttleleaf, 541-325-2062.
Trick-or- Treat!
An apology
As I write this letter to
you, I have been sober for
74 days. I continue my pro
gram to learn and live my life
away from alcohol.
I want to now apologize to
the com m unity o f Warm
Springs and especially the
passengers of the car I was
driving while under die influ
ence. I know now o f the
great danger that could have
happened to us all. Again I
am sorry.
Mario Smith
B&G Club
We would like to thank
some individuals who do
nated items over the past few
months to the Warm Springs
Boys and Girls Club.
,
We really appreciate the
generosity and your thought
fulness for the kids. Thank
you Fire Management, and
Gorkey Mitchell and crew
for the d o n atio n and
delivery o f b o ttled w ater,
Gatorade, fruit and snacks
for the kids.
Also, thank you Shawneeta
Yahtin for donating botded
water and fruit. Your dona
tions were very helpful and
we truly appreciate it! June
A. Smith, club director.
Artist Travis Bobb everyone is looking forward to another scary Halloween in
Warm Springs.
Warm Springs Telecom story of success
It is my honor to nominate m ulated a strategic plan,
Warm Springs Telecom for which identified the urgent
Excellence in the Telecom need for advanced telecom
munications services and the
munications Partnerships.
Warm Springs Telecom is capabilities needed to u p
th e w holly ow ned tribal grade services on tribal land.
Working with Portland-
telecom of the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs, the based consultants Converge
largest Native reservation (by Communications, the enter
land area) in the State o f prise began by successfully
Oregon, and home to the obtaining funding from Ru
Warm Springs, Paiute arid ral Utility Service and Eco
nomic Development Admin
Wasco Tribes.
Warm Springs Telecom istration, to fund planning and
was created to provide trib- early implementation strate
ally-owned “improved access, gies.
Initially W arm Springs
reliability and affordability”
Ventures, under the direction
for these tribal nations.
. The tribes wefe previously o f chief operations officer
neglected and underserved by Jeffrey Anspach, persevered
incumbent telecommunica in this process, and were re
tions providers for many warded two summers ago,
years, leaving more than one- When they received an ARRA
third o f the population with Broadband Stimulus Award
out basic telephone service of $5.6 million.
The funding has been used
and very limited broadband
or even basic dial-up Internet as catalytic funding to enable
the start-up toward build-out
access.
Warm Springs Telecom is of critical facilities under the
a separate business enterprise auspices of this new tribal en
of the tribes. With its own terprise.
Since receiving the award,
board and staff, it is truly a
partnership among the tribes Warm Springs Telecom has
and this new enterprise that hired 10 staff, more than half
was created to serve this com from the reservation, built a
new central office facility and
munity.
Warm Springs Telecom is switching point, installed es
only the ninth tribal telco in sential state o f the art
the U.S., out of more than telecom equipment.
The equipment includes a
500 U.S.-recognized tribes. I
believe that Warm Springs sophisticated metaswitch,
Telecom will become a model built out their broadband fi-
fo r tribal g overnm ents b e r/w ireless n etw ork to
about 60 percent o f the res
throughout the U.S.
Roughly ten years ago, the ervation as o f August 2012
leadership of the Confeder and presently have 250 cus
ated Tribes o f Warm Springs tomers.
Under the prior incumbent
realized that their community
severely lacked telecommu telephone operator, only 12
custom ers had previously
nication services.
Tribal leaders com m is been identified to receive fed
sioned an assessment of the eral Lifeline telephone support
community’s needs and for on the Warm Springs reser-
liTzm? Springs
'Telecom is already a
phenomenal and very
little known Oregon
telecommunications
' success story.
vatibn. (Lifeline enables
households below the poverty
line to obtain telephone ser
vice at low rates through fed
eral U niversal Service
funds). Now nearly 80 per
cent of Warm Springs cus
tomers are lifeline customers,
receiving essential basic tele
phone services for only $1/
m onth, .many for the first
time.
T h e launch o f W arm
Springs Telecom (the ribbon
cutting took place at central
office on January 27, 2012)
is an under-reported telecom
story of grassroots empow
erment and Oregon innova
tion, where an underserved
community has stepped up
with help from federal re
sources, dedicated consult
ants, and the ingenuity of
Native peoples to bégin bring
ing state of the art services
by, for and to Oregon’s larg
est and m ost under-served
Native reservation.
Phone service is a lifeline
and as such, Warm Springs
Telecom n o t only hooks
people up to essential ser
vices, but supplies each cus
tomer with a wireline tele
phone, so two-way emergency
communications for individu
als and households can be
effectively delivered through
out the Warm Springs area by
the tribes. It is also hoped that
the 21st century communica
tions and broadband will
<
;
t
i
jum p-start businesses and
long overdue economic op
portunities for the Warm
Springs nations.
I recently visited Warm
Springs and saw for myself
what Warm Springs Telecom
has done, is doing, and has
planned for the future.
Warm Springs Telecom is
actively committed to build
ing out the network to every
person on the reservation—
bringing advanced telecom
m unications services to
households many of which
previously did not even have
a telephone.
This is an amazing and
p henom enal accom plish
ment. ‘
Finally, though current
funding doesn’t yet allow
Warm Springs Telecom to
build out an entire redundant
fiber network, the intent in
the future- is to do exactly
that-—and continue to seek
funding to eventually build
out the entire network.
Warm Springs Telecom is
already a phenom enal and
very little known Oregon tele
communications (and Oregon
Connections) success story—
a story which would not have
been possible w ithout the
tribes, government, and cre
ative Oregon consultants all
working together for a period
of years to make it happen.
For all these reasons, I be
lieve Warm Springs Telecom
is very deserving of an Or
egon Connections Award for
Excellence in Telecommuni
cations Partnerships.
Sincerely,
Mary Beth Henry, Man
ager, Office o f Community
Technology and Staff Direc
tor, Mt. Hood Cable Regula
tory Commission, Portland.
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