March 20, 2013
Spilygy Tyrnoo, Wgrm Springs, Oregon
Page 8
Agency District Candidates
Gabriel Walker
Dear Tribal members
o f W arm Springs. I ’m
Gabriel Walker from the
Agency District running
fo r th e 2 6 th T rib al
C ouncil election. I ’m
blessed and honored to
be nom inated for such
an im portant role in the
T rib e’s D em ocracy. I
would like to thank Fos
ter Kalama for the nomi
nation and other tribal
members plus my fam
ily for their support.
As previous,, this is an
im portant election for
our people and the res
ervation. I ’m ready for
new direction and change
internally with real ob
tainable goals fo r ou r
Tribe. I ’m passionate
with the plan I have in
place fo r o u r T rib e ’s
Council. I t holds the
C ouncil, M anagem ent,
and our tribe account
able to our decision and
actions.
We need to focus on
the realistic issues our
tribe’s facing, the finan
cial budget and economy.
I,’ve talked w ith tribal
m em bers concern and
this is their consistent
topic. I know this has been
talked about and looked into
previously. N othing has been
reported to our people and
we still sit in a financial defi
cit. I believe it’s time to voice
the people concerns and stand
up as a future leader for the
tribe.
My focus for this Tribal
Council term is primarily on
the financial budget and eco
nomic developm ent for the
tribe. It’s time to focus, plan,
and execute o u r business
model. Exercise our Sover
eignty and do what’s right for
our people, our reservation
an d fu tu re g e n e ra tio n to
come. M y plan if elected;
Audit, understand and inves
tigate our Financial Bud
get, business development
— N ew enterprises and
small businesses, Job cre
ations — cu rren t en ter
prises and tribal depart
ments, Saving Senior ben
efits (p en sio n s etc.),
wom an rights, and final
Tribal mem ber job devel
opm ent — Tribal member
preference. I am taking
a stand with pur people.
We all n eed stan d to
gether. With focusing on
our financial leakage and
budget, we can come up
w ith realistic ideas for,
development.
T hese are im p o rtan t
decision our tribe is fac
ing. It’s time your voice
is heard and respected.
Let all your family and
friends know V oting is
crucial and their votes are
needed.
I am interested to hear
from you and I hope the
o th er candidates do as
well. I hope to gain your
su p p o rt and vote. T o
gether we will fight fur
ther more into the future.
G od bless our tribe and
the people.
Ryan Smith
1 I am p resen tly em
ployed as tribal hydrolo
gist. As a.i college gradu
ate, a fish, wildlife, and
environmental advocate,
I feel q u a lified to
progress this tribe and its
members in the coming
years. T he experience I
gain ed
an d sh ared
through the years on the
Fish and Wildlife Com
m ittee, Colum bia River
Inter-tribal Fish Commis
sion, Resource Manage
m en t Inter-disciplinary
Team, and Project Inter
disciplinary Team , has
helped foster this move.
Many o f times larger de
cisions determ ined the
larger picture, yet, signifi
cant opportunities were
available fo r th e finer
details o f assignments.
We as tribe will have to
come up with better finer
details soon!
With a shrinking and
uncertain tribal budget,
possible future tribal phi
lanthropy will be a very
im p o rta n t en deavo r.
T h ere has to be som e
flexibility to use dollars to
benefit our tribal people!
Setting our budget the
next two to three years
has to allow for growth
and expansion. H istori
cally this tribe has always
valued and utilized out
side recom m endation s
and insights, Oregon State
study, consultants, legal
council, and the like have
all had their opportunities
to contribute. Yet, we are
still waiting for the very
low hanging fruit to be
fu n d e d an d im p le
mented. Limited funding
is the largest issue and
any p latfo rm s fo r this
C o u n cil w ill have to
maititain w hat money we
are receiving. T he next
year, four years, and defi
nitely by year 10 we will
be adjusting to very outside
influences once again. O ther
tribal nations have truly raised
the bar on what CTWS will
need to do in the future in
regards to educating congress!
I fully grasp the realization
that the lack o f dollars and
the unrealized priorities are
n o t excuses for the job at
hand! As candidates for Tribal
Council are considered I truly
feel I have the experience to
carry out any and all CTWS
business asked o f me!
The CTWS people come
fro m (th e riv er). We are
sm art, c o m m o n
sense
minded, people, before gam
ing (nationw ide resp ected
leaders), post gaming (not as
prominent). There is nothing
w rong w ith making adjust
ments with what we got. Ad
ditional, revenue or resource
extraction is n ot the total an
swer! I believe our system is
set up where nobody really
has to p u t any reputation,
smarts, or jobs, on the line. I
believe there is n ot enough
professional opinion devel
oped th at supports our in
formed decisions.
E ducating congress will
require travel just to maintain
what we have. This needs to
be better organized for sure!
I believe, we as a tribe need
n ot worry about past letter o f
law, resolution, or ordinance,
but instead concentrate on the
original in ten t o f th at lan
guage. Some o f my initial leg-
islative ideas: 50 percent
o f th e tim e (m o n th )
Council has to be on res
ervation with a quorum.
N ew em ploym ent first
o ffered w ith in ho u se,
th a n ad v e rtise if n o t
filled. Sub-contracts In
dian preference required
or tribal department de
v e lo p e d to do w ork.
O ther studied endeavors:
Ski re s o rt (Jefferson),
Bear Springs (condos),
NASCAR, n ot be revis
ited or implemented. Re
view o f salary at federal
governm ent level revis
ited (everybody o r n o
body). Revisit the neces
sity to include non-tribal
members on our boards.
We have to becom e
a c c u sto m e d to o th e r
p e o p le s’ o p in io n s for
our lively hoods and the
present-future potential
is: year around hunting
(not likely to happen),
b o n u s p ay m en ts (n o t
likely substantial), trust
funds- (in jeopardy), per
cap (in jeopardy), lack
o f jo b s (h a p p e n in g ),
housing shortage (hap
pening), sum m er w ork
experience (not happen
ing), and a tribal high
school (not likely to hap
pen).
Like to thank you for
your time and please vote
fo r y o u r can d id a te. I
bring to the table, com
m on sense, strategic abili
ties, and a fair and con
cise re c o m m e n d a tio n
w h en n eed ed o r re
quired. I believe there
are many statements the
tribal public is anxious to
hear. B eing polite, ag
gressive when need be,
o pen to new in fo rm a
tion, and due diligence at
all times, are strategies
needed to develop and
su p p o rt well inform ed
decisions.
Claude H. Smith III
from log appraiser, and tim
ber marking, to a C rossfit
Gym owner, just to name a
few!
The past four years in our
U.S. economy have been ex
ceedingly challenging, espe
cially 2008 to 2012, and has
affected my industry and de
partm ent greatly. However,
regardless o f how tough it
got, and the hard and diffi
cult changes we had to make,
we have still made a few mil
lion dollars for the tribe when
the rest o f the world wasn’t
making any money. We did
have one unfortunate lay off,
but we did not have any con
tractors go o u t o f business
under my watch, if anything
we grew m ore tribal contrac
tors into the community o f
Warm Springs.
When one seeks G od our
C reato r first, th en all our
needs will fall into place. With
this, comes sobriety — leading
to less alcohol, drugs, and
gangs. Also we will have stron
ger ancf healthier families,
h a rd w o rk in g m en and
w om en will see and utilize
their full potential and the
community will be a desired
terprises that are already
viable and operating, such
as, Ventures, Power and
Water Enterprises, Kah-
Nee-Tah, Warm Springs
C o m p o site P ro d u c ts,
W arm S prings F o re st
Products Industries, and
especially the Credit E n
terprise. Keeping these
E nterprises also m eans
changing how they are
structured to get them op
erating at breakeven sta
tus o r b e tte r .and see
where exactly the money
goes with in these Enter
prises,
This also means p u t
ting trust into our C E O ’s
and the team s they p u t
together. In addition, we
need to get more qualified
Tribal Members into these
high ranking positions and
have a plan o f action to
p ro m o te a b etter w ork
ethic in our tribe. We also
have the opportunity to
em ployee m o re trib al
members in our Natural
Resources D epartm ents
with proper training and
hands on experience. We
need to encourage tribal
o w ned sm all b u sin ess
growth through our cur
rent enterprises and de
partments, but we all need
to support them.
Health and wellness is
yet another big need for
our tribe. The unhealthy,
inactive lifestyles, obesity,
drug and alcohol continu
ing to rise, and our people
are left with tittle hope. We
fisherm an; Indians first,
place to live an d w o rk in,
m ust give them real solu
to honor all veterans, and
m ost o f all to work hard
and always look for op
portunities to better my
self, and prosper.
After graduating high
school, I started my. edu
c a tio n at C h em ek eta
Community College, and
made my way to Oregon
S tate U niversity. By
G od’s Grace, I graduated
at OSU in 2002 receiv
ing a Bachelor o f Science
D egree in Forest E ngi
neering frqm the top For
est Engineering D epart
ment in the world! D ur
ing and after college, I
worked for two Fortune
500 Tim ber companies, a
great sawmill, and did a
lo t o f C ad astral L and
Surveying.
My career carried my
family and me from the
W illam ette Valley, to
N o rth Idaho, and as o f
2007, b ack to W arm
Springs where I am cur
rently the T im ber/ Log
ging Manager for Warm
Springs Forest Products
Industries. With-in all o f
this, G od has blessed me
w ith several successful
business opportunities;
w hich leads to m o re joy,
safety, and fun in our com
munity!
We the people need to see
what we can do for the tribe,
and not what the not what the
tribe can do for us.
We as a tribe need to pay
special attention to our local
econom y and how it is af
fected w ith our Integrated
Resource Management Plan
(IRMP). I personally tike and
agree with a lot o f the pur
poses behind the IRMP, but
th e re needs to be som e
changes in order for the tribe
to make more money. We all
need to be concerned about
our Natural Resources such
as, our forest, water, fisher
ies, huckleberries, wildlife,
and fire to name a few. We
need to b e 'a w a re o f how
m u ch o f o u r n atu ral, re
sources are literally burned
every year and hot fully uti
lized due to forest fires. By
changing how our natural re
sources are managed, via Fire
and Forest Management, we
can m inim ize the loss that
o ccu rs to o u r n atu ral re-
' sources.
In addition, we as a tribe
need to protect and keep the
jobs we do have with the en
tions to maintain and live
healthy lifestyles. This isn’t
done th ro u g h G o v ern
ment O perated Programs
where success rates and
completion rates ate ex
tremely low. We need to
be open to well estab
lished programs such as
Teen Challenge, and Cel
ebrate Recovery, that aid
those struggling with drug
and alcohol addictions. As
we begin to change lives,
we begin to change our
tribe.
E ven w ith all o f the
other issues and concerns
are tribe is facing, I fully
believe that a strong, edu
cated team o f business
m inded leaders working
together on tribal counsel,
can help to m ake the
changes necessary to turn
our com m unity around.
With G od our Creator as
our center, we can do all
things. N ow that you have
a better understanding of
who I am, it is up to you
the voter to decide if you
would tike me to be one
o f your Councilman!
Best Regards,
Seeking G od’s will, se
cure econom y, and
healthy natural resources
is what I strive for every
day, and will be my goal
and vision as a Council
man. I love seeing and
helping people succeed. I
will support what I know
is beneficial; will bring
growth, and better oppor-
tu n itie s
fo r
W arm
Springs. My n am e is
Claude H. Smith HI, and
I am ru n n in g fo r th e
T w en ty -S ix th
T rib al
Counsel Agency District.
Just so you can get to
know me a tittle better, I
grew up in Warm Springs
and was raised by my par
ents Claude H. Smith Jr.
(Snuff), a m an I call a
decorated Vietnam War
H e ro an d V ersa J.
(Fuentes) Smith another
decorated w ar hero for
Jesus! M y Grandparents
on my father’s side are the
late Claude H. Smith, Sr.
(Popeye) and Victoria J.
(C harley) S m ith , and
G re a t g ra n d p a re n ts,
Wesley and Annie (Jack-
son) Sm ith, and F rank
Charley. My grandparents
on my M om’s side are the
late Ernestine David and
T ony F u en tes, Sr. and
Great Grandparents, A n
drew D avid & W inona
(Katchia) David! I thank
G od every day for all o f
them and their prayers.
I was raised to be a
logger, a businessman, a
sp iritu al m an , h u n te r,
Claude H. Smith III
Resolution of Tribal Council
(Note: The following is a recent
resolution of Tribal Council.)
Be it resolved by the 25th
Tribal Council of the Con
federated Tribes o f the
Warm Springs Reservation
o f Oregon, pursuant to Ar
ticle V, Section (1) of the
Constitution and By-Laws
and 203.001 o f the Warm
Springs Tribal Code that:
Marielle Florendo, Thor
H oyte, Cynthia Starkey,
E lm er W ard, M athew
Johnson, Douglas Nash,
Chief Judge,
The Tribal Council hereby
appoints the Appeals Court
Judges for the Warm Springs
Court o f Appeals, and are ap
pointed for a three year term
by Tribal Council and that per
203.100(5) during the first year
from their initial appointment
appeals court judges shall be
on a probationary status, dur
ing the probationary period,
appeals court judges may be re
moved from the bench at any
time without cause by Tribal
Council, Further, failure to
pass the Tribal bar exami
nation during the first six(6)
months on the bench will
result in im m ediate dis
qualification from hearing
cases and, if not corrected
within 90 days, automatic
removal from the bench;
and,
Be it further resolved
that each o f the Judges shall
be compensated at the rate of
$150.00 per hour for the time
they spend serving as Judge.
(Resolution No. 11,715.)
•J