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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 2012)
“i E Coosh EEWA: The way it is IDA initiative helps save for your dream By Vesta Johnson, U SC Masters in Social Work Program Spilyay Tymoo December 12, 2012 Letters to the editor munity who have embarked on this venture in order to be in a collaborative effort with one goal and objective to ac- compEsh. Yes, you and your dream. It is a fabulous and superb o p p o rtu n ity fo r anyone to participate in. Like any program , there are income requirements, but th e old adage is “I t never hurts to ask.” T h ere are also program limits individuals m ust adhere to and be involved in, ,such as the financial Eteracy classes and your chosen asset specific classes. In the end, you the indi vidual are the one w ho walks away with knowing your hard work, Saving and knowledge wiE lead to accomplishing the goal you set forth, w hether the goal is hom e ownership, hom e rem odel, education, business start-up or expan sion. W hat is your dream? W hat do you aspire to in your fu tu re? M o st im p o rta n tly , know there are resources out th ere to su p p o rt an d em pow er you to m ove closer and closer to obtaining your dream! You can do it with the ID A initiative! Growing up on the reser vation is different from grow ing up anywhere else in the world. A culture, or w hat is n o rm al, is d iffe re n t from other comm unities. N o t to say it is right or wrong, but just to say it is different from other places. There are ceremonies cel ebrating the seasons o f the year and the foods our Cre a to r has b lessed us w ith. There are rights o f passages ceremonies; for instance, the first kill ceremony. There are n a m e -g iv in g c e re m o n ie s where individuals receive an Indian name passed on from g e n e ra tio n to g e n e ra tio n within a family or clan. We are a unique and beautiful race o f hum an beings. W ith th e g e n e ro u s r e sources our Creator has given to us, supply and dem and have finally arrived at the door step o f W arm Springs and we know as a com m u nity we m ust take only what we need. Today, the economy is now clearly affecting those who live on reservations, as com pared to years ago. During the G reat D epression, my own grandm other Atwai Lucinda Elk hunting to m ost N a Smith and her family didn’t know there was a depression, tive A m ericans always was as their existence was based much more than a recreation upon m other earth and not and a collection o f tro p h y racks as- it is for sportsmen. the stock market. In O regon, w hether on or H unting and fishing remains o ff the reservation, we O r to be a part o f W arm Springs e g o n ia n s are fo r tu n a te tribal culture, EveEhood and enough to have state legisla a way o f Efe. Life revolves tors w ho look out for the best around our tribal functions.' interest o f their constituents. The Washat songs teU about In 1999, O regon legislators the culture and heritage such brain storm ed and came up as all cerem onies including with a program where indi roots, first salmon, huckle vidual state citizens could be berries, first kill, etc. A ccording to the United gin to save for their dreams. Specifically, the five areas States C onstitution, treaties individuals can dream about are “the Supreme Law o f the and make happen by saving L and.” D espite all o f that, our treaty hunting seasons are and matching programs are: 1. H om e ownership down getting shorter. N o t very long ago we had no seasons, h unt payment assistance; ing was always open. T hen 2. H om e remodels; there was a season for a few 3. Education; m o n th s, th en two m onths, 4. Business start-up; and, ,now days— the season is less 5. Business expansion. O regon allows individuals than one m onth. We need an extended elk to contribute to the IDA Ini tiative in order to supp o rt season. The elk are scattered and help the state citizens ac- up in the high country this year, and in the m o st p art compEsh their dreams. W hat do the individual didn?t start their migration yet. contributors get out o f it you As elk hunters know, deep may ask? Individual contribu snow makes the elk migrate. tors o f the state IDA initia This elk season we had warm tive get the satisfaction o f CaEfornia rain clouds and the know ing they significantly HawaEan express rain clouds, contributed to the weU-being n o t much snow, which made o f individuals, famiEes, and h u n tin g d ifficult an d tim e childfen, as weU as receiving consuming. We need a-later or perm a a tax credit. H ere is an example: Indi nently extended elk season, viduals can save a minimum because the phenom ena wiU o f $25 a m onth and have a o ccu r again in th e future. m atch o f up to fo u r times H unting and fishing remain that am ount deposited into the primary means o f subsis their savings account. For in tence for many Indian fami stance, if you saved $25 a Ees. FilEng our tags helps o ut a m onth, you could potentiaUy have up to $100 per m onth lot, and with extra high u n contributed to your dream. employment and an economy T hat am ount o f savings adds Eke it is w ith budget cuts on up, as one m onth would total the horizon, m ost o f us can $125 o f cold hard cash di n ot depend on nepotism , our natural resources, or the over rectly into your account! With the IDA initiative you p o p u latio n o f con su ltan ts, can obtain valuable financial high bonus employees, non- Eteracy and support through tribal m em ber employees, or white hard hats. the program. RespectfuEy, T he program is free and Anthony LittleLeaf requires a team effort to ac- compEsh your dreams! There are m any people in our com- Elk season Positive event T h e F irst A nnual R ock Your Moes gathering proved to be successful. This was a gathering o f friends and fam ily, held N ovem ber 15 at the Community Center. V olunteers w ho stepped forward áre sincerely appre ciated. D epartm ents that sup ported our positive event for the children and famiEes in cluded KWSO, Comm unity Health, and the Community Center staff. I apologize to aU w ho may have taken offense and w ant you to know that the children had fun and everyone en joyed their meal and music. Thank you for participating! Be proud, Wear you mocks! F ro m Marge, Rachel, and Joey (we had fun cook ing the meal for everyone). Christmas Wishes... In this together To the tribal membership, I would Eke to encourage our m em bership n o t to feed into the negativity beginning to circulate again due to the Tribal Council election season. We have to be able to shun this behavior as the old people did in the past. As long as we harbor it, or Esten to the nega tivity, is h o w lo n g it w ill breath in our comrnunity. I say over and over, negativity is evil, we cannot feed into it, because w hen we allow evil to dweU in our community or within our membership, then this evil can cause bad things to happen within our commu nity and our membership. I would Eke to thank those people, w ho w ent out and got their education and are giv ing back to this tribe and con tr ib u tin g to o u r trib a l economy, because it was the tribe th at invested in their education. .1 am s° disap p o in ted in those people in w hose education o u r tribe invested, and w ho now feel the tribes owe them a Eving, or they feel entitled to mis treat their people and their leaders. W hen I left to further my •education, my m other and fa th er told m e to rem em ber your tribe is investing in your future so you can give back to the people and contribute your knowledge to the tribal leaders and never to forget my traditional teaching;. My parents also told me n o t to becom e a “professional stu dent” by Eving o ff the edu cational monies. I was to get m y e d u c a tio n , g et g o o d grades and graduate fast as p o ss ib le a n d g et b ack to work. I did that, I received two Associate Degrees in, a year and a half, made the D ean’s Est and worked three jobs dur ing the time I was in coEege. I have been in my current job for nearly 20 years, helping people overcom e the same struggles I experienced in Efe. I feel fortunate to have a job and am so thankful for the support tribal leaders, the tribal organization' and my family have given m e to be successful. Yes, our Tribes are strug gling, but as a People we need to be strong for our feUow m em bership and our tribal leaders. We have to get away from the negativity. We are Warm Springs artist Travis Bobb looks forward to the holidays! aE in this together, hard times and good times. O ur past elders taught us to pull together as famiEes. Maybe in these struggles we can learn to rely o n each other again based on our old teaching. Spreading rum ors, often n o t true, to beEtfle our leadership and dem ean our m em bership is n o t à tribal way o f Efe. Those w ho con tinue to do this, it is up to you to change that behavior. Thank you for taking time to read this. Leona A. Ike Holiday spirit T he Confederated Tribes o f W arm Springs and Indian H ead Casino are dedicated to making a positive and reward ing difference in the Eves o f the Warm Springs community members and people in our neighboring communities. O ur goal is to provide con tributions to tribal m em ber youth and senior citizens in the health, education, com munity developm ent and en vironment. This hoEday season Indian H ead Casino is sponsoring a Christm as P arty-on Friday, D ecem ber 14 for the Warm Springs Foster ChEdren and their foster parents. This is in c o lla b o ra tio n w ith th e ChEdrens Protective Services. Also, a canned food drive wiE be done throughout the m onth o f D ecem ber for the W arm Springs Senior C iti zens. Custom ers can drop o f non-perishable canned foods at the Casino Players Club. Every Monday in December, if you bring in one o r two canned food items, you can receive $5 in Slot Play, See Players Club for m ore infor mation. My apologies HeEo, Warm Springs. It has taken me a long time to gather up my thoughts together for aE o f you. B ut here it is. I Eke to thank my big sister thè would Eke to say, “I am sorry most, for staying by my side. if I have ever w ronged you To my Ettle brothers, my Ettle or your famEy.” siste rs, w h o I k n o w p u t I . know I have done a lot through sonde nerve-wreck o f w rong to a lo t o f people ing, as I can reaEy get under by stealing things in the past. their skin: I would Eke to say It hufts to knpw w hat I was I love you guys with aE my d o in g it fo r w as “ d ru g heart. A nd to my w om an I love you with everything I ’ve money,” etc. A nd it took me m ore than got. I don’t w ant to lose you, five "years to b e tru s te d You are the whole reason why am ongst those such as my I started on this road in the family. I t breaks my h eart first place. I w ant to be able that I was so selfish and didn’t to give you everything, to become à famEy man. To take care. I am now here in treat care o f you and yo u r son m ent, to better myself. WhEe means a lot to me. A nd to the tribe, for those I was down there I told ev erybody for about a year and w ho I have left out, you are a h alf now that I ’ve been try in my heart!- A nd to my best ing to stay sober. I ’E say no bro’s, I love you, I sing the to drinking and smoking, and good songs for you, Mr. MB, those w ho really know me Mr. SB., Mr. SP, you guys know I ’ve been saying no to mean a lot to me. I pray about you a lot. I pray for every drugs. A id I would Eke to thank one in a góod way. I love aE ■the wom an who has opened o f you. To many o f them (a’hoe’s) up my eyes to doing aE this. I love you with aE o f my heart. to everyone. I w ouldn’t be in this state o f Cody Lesina. m ind if it were n o t for you. You m ean the world to me. W hat I was doing in Efe was wrong. You showed me that th ere is a b e tte r life th an drinking and smoking. I t has cleared my mind. D ear Members o f the Warm A nd now that I ’m sober and Springs Reservation, clean I know w hat it’s Eke to It has com e to our atten be a m an about things. A nd I tio n th a t y o u have n ev er still would be doing the same been thanked by our N ative things and n o t caring, like American S tudent U nion for drinking, etc., if it were not your generous donations o f for this one woman w ho has salm on to our annual spring changed my Efe completely. powwow. I f it w ere n o t fo r h e r I O n behalf o f the S outh w ouldn’t be able to be p u t ern O regon U niversity N a ting my Efe together. tiv e A m e ric a n S tu d e n t W hen I get out I ’E have U nion 2012-13, we ap o lo ' my own apartm ent' in P ort gize fo r th e failure in the land, and a job after I get out p a st to show gratitude for o f this 60-day program. yo u r generosity. A n d sec W ith that said I w ould Eke ondly, we express our appre to apologize to aE I have hurt ciation for your donation to o r wronged. A nd to my fam the spring powwow. Ey I thank you so m uch from Sincerely, the b o tto m o f my heart. I The Southern Oregon reaEy w ant you guys to know University Native Ameri that I love aE o f you. I would can Student Union Thank you, W.S. Tribes J I - (¡ V A
