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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2013)
Spilyay T ym o o , W arm Springs, O regon March 20, 2013 Page 9 Agency District Candidates Randy Smith First o f all I would like to congratulate all potential representatives that were nominated for the Twenty-Sixth Tribal Council, the huge num ber o f nominations send one unified message, we ! are tired o f being ig nored, we are tired o f seeing Tribal C ouncil/ Chiefs’ huge travel bud gets, we are tired o f one way communications (be ing dictated to), we are tired o f hearing we are going broke! W hat the p e o p le n eed to h ear from our leadership and Chiefs is that this is how we are going to fix what is broken, this is how we’re going to work in unison and will listen to and serve the people, this is how w e’re going to embrace our college edu cated members, instead o f ignoring them, this is how we’re going to ad dress our old outdated Infrastructure so that we can a tta in , the elusive animal known as “eco nom ic d ev elo p m en t,” this is how we are going to support business start ups, this is how we are going to restore a posi tive outlook o f life for our people today, our children and their de scendants! I have stated many times in the past decades, we have â w o rk in g model to follow, my-com- ' ments have simply been ignored! This w orking model was so effective simply because previous lead ership had no doubt whatso ever o f the legitimacy o f our Reserved Treaty Rights, al- m pst unchallenged I would add! T hey also understood how im portant maintaining a clear employer/employee re lationship with our legal ad visors was. We are paying you to defend our reserved rights as “The Supreme Law o f the Land.” Some may view my com m ents o r opin io n s as to o negative. W hat others view as negativity, I view as Reality, view in g it any o th e r way would be called “denial” in some circles and one o f these realities is that we experience tribal unem ploym ent rates that exceed national levels by 700 percent, no economic sta bility, let alone growth. Grow-' ing up and even as a young adult I was provided with the opportunity to work, train or fail in any job funded by tribal dollars, sadly that is not the sam e; today; T have recently learned that the tribe expends $70 m illion in operational funds annually, that is shame Kahseuss Jackson ful, T rib al C o u n c il/ Chiefs! It is shameful that you prefer to listen to con sultants and ignore tribal members. H ow do we resolve em ploym ent or service issues? “By w orking in u n iso n ” to realistically d ev elo p L p n g /S h o rt Range Plans for our tribe. O n ce th is iS d o n e we have a tool to measure leadership and implemen ta tio n effectiv en ess. Some o f the answers I believe can be responded to expediently simply by making it top priority for the Twenty-Sixth Tribal Council to be “Realistic” and state in unison let us establish a goal o f retain ing 25 percent o f the $70 m illio n th a t cu rren tly leaves th e' reserv atio n one way. I have p len ty more I can. share, but let me share that with you after I am elected ‘‘To Serve the, People.” 'Again I wish each and every candidate the best o f luck. Stay strong, tnOst o f all don’t quit, the risk o f resigning oneself to accept life as it is, is “un realistic.” O ther Oregon tribes that we once ter m inated have m odeled their operations on that o f Warm Springs, which we utilized to gain n ot only national but interna tional recognition. Thank you and may Our Creator Bless Each and Everyone. Randy Smith. Mary Sando-Emhoolah N iix kw law it, I to o k ti Wigwa, my name is Laxaiya - M ary (S tevens) I S ando- Emhoolah. I am named after m yatw ai Grandmother, Eva Seymore Mitchell Polk. My g ra n d fa th e r w as th e late Pierson Mitchell. My Uncles were atwai’s L ouie M itchell, Ja c o b Mitchell, Archie Mitchell and N oah Mitchell. My A unt was atwai A letha Mitchell. My M other was atwai, B ertha Mitchell Stevens and my fa th e r atw ai, F ra n k D o n Stevens Sr. My Brothers are Atwai Frank D on Stevens Jr., Ted Stevens, M ark Stevens Sr., Tom K alam a and two brothers who passed in child hood. My sister was atwai, Patricia Curly-Smith. I am married to Michael' Emhoolah and our Sons are R am one T hom as - F ath er atw ai Jam es T h o m as and W ilfred Sando J r - F ather atwai Wilfred Sando Sr. I grew up, in the H olly w ood Boulevard neighbor hood. We learned to work as children, we packed w ater and wood for our home and other elders in our neighbor hood. We worked in the berry, P o ta to an d ro o t fields, I sacked and packed eels and salmon and learned to con trib u te to o u r family,, we worked from season to sea son together as a family. My hands were pledged to the longhouse, where I am a food gatherer today and also mar ried Mike in 1992. We grew up w ith a w h ip m an w ho taught us discipline and re spect for our way o f life. All o f my early upbring ing helped to shape my life today. I believe in working for what you get-there is sat isfaction in earning w hat you have. Working for the good o f the family, n o t just for yourself. We were taught to help others, especially the elderly. We learn ed to p ray to gether, daily prayers were said for all our people, it was a constant faith shown by our grand mother, Eva. I have w o rk ed fo r th e Tribes for over twenty years combined and currently work for the Confederated Tribes and co-owner o f Emhoolah Trucking with my husband. We have been in business for 14 years and have worked all over the state, on and o ff various T ribal Lands. O u r company has donated goods, services and money to vari ous community organizations and individuals, mainly Cul tural, educational, sports and v ario u s ' se n io r citizen projects. I also learned to live o ff the reservation while attend ing college in NM and OR. I have worked as a radio producer for over 20 years, 15 years at KWSO. My most rewarding role has been to work with our elders, many many whom have passed now. I have worked locally, region ally, nationally and interna tionally in my field and gained expedience working with other Tribal Nations. I learned we all have similar experiences and dreams for our people. I currently serve on the Ventures Board for thp Con fed erated ' T rib es, we are working to develop economic development projects that will benefit the Tribes in a variety o f ways. To create employ ment, to generate income and to create a sense o f pride and o w n ersh ip fo r o u r T ribal Members. I am h o n o re d to have b een nom in ated by Bruce Brunoe to serve on the Tribal Council for the Confederated Tribes o f Warm Springs. There are many challenges facing us now, but they can also be viewed as opportuni ties for change. O ne thought I have is for us to, have a T E R O office on our reser vation. T his is the Tribal Employment Rights Office- D ear Agency D istrict Tribal Member, My name is Kahseuss Jackson-W illiam s and I am a n ’A gency D istrict c a n d id a te in th e 2013 Tribal Council election. It was an honor to be nomi n ated by o u r o u tg o in g Tribal Council Chairman Buck Smith. As you may know, this is perhaps the m ost criti cal election in the modern h is to ry o f o u r T ribes. O ur financial situation is dire and funding for items su ch as o p e ra tin g th é Tribal Government, pay ing senior pensions, pro viding per capita payments and poSsibly even provid ing' educational scholar ships are in jeopardy. We have know n ab o u t our dwindling revenue base for nearly 15 years b u t have failed to change our course. T hat is why it is imperative that we elect a Tribal Council that has the skill set, experience, edu cation and vision to help move our Tribes in a new economic direction. An econom ic direction that over the next 2 to 3 years stabilizes our financial situ ation, positions our Tribes for future economic suc cess and ushers in a new economy. To begin to accomplish this, I have identified a plan that includes 8 very doable actions that can be initiated now: 1. Seize Low Hanging Fruit (Business O pportu nities th a t are in place now). 2. In itia te S m arter Business Investing. 3. Create A More E f ficient Government That Actually Adds Jobs. 4. Turn enterprise divi dends into a form o f pay m ent that will allow the T ribes to issue bonds. These bond dollars can be utilized to fund infrastruc ture, and other incentives to support business devel opment. 5. A Portion o f every revenue dollar'should be invested in infrastructure, business development and once' a Tribe establishes this type o f office, it prioritizes em ploym ent o pportunities fo r T rib al M em b ers on projects on and around the reservation. O ur company has worked on projects with o th e r T rib es w h o have TERO offices. Mbney from County, S tate and Federal projects would go to fund this office for the benefit o f Tribal Members, Other Tribes that don’t have this type o f office are looking to add this for the benefit o f their Tribe. -There are challenges to this program as with anything else but being able to provide jobs to our community outweigh the chal lenges. O ur Tribe needs to create opportunities for Tribal mem bers to be in business for themselves if they have the desire to do the work it takes to own a business. We have been fortunate to own our own business, I know others have had great ideas for a variety o f businesses. We Manager — W arm Springs Ventures — 2006 to 2008 Salmon Marketing Coordinator— Columbia River Inter-T ribal Fish Com m ission — 2003 to 2006 Emerging Leader — Ford Foundations Lead ership for a C hanging World - 2005 Special Projects Manager - CTWS Con saved. We have continued to spend at previous levels even as we have known about our downward financial spiral. We cannot survive if this contin ues. 6. Enforce Tribal Member Hiring and Succession Pref erence. 7. Run the Tribal Govern ment as a Business with a high level o f accountability from all entities. 8. In v est in the Private S ecto r - O u r econom y is evolving. T he point is near w h ere o u r T ribes can no longer sustain our way o f life as they have in the past. Ev ery healthy econom y has a large and healthy private sec tor and we should be no dif ferent. , As I mentioned above it will be im perative for our next Tribal Council persons to have the skill set, experi ence and education to help the Tribes navigate our economic crisis. My professional back- groundiiicludes: Economic D evelop ment Coordinator — C on s tru c tio n C o m p an y — 1997- 2001 M aster’s in Business A dm inistration (MBA), U niversity o f O regon, June 2009 Capstone Project: Cre ation o f an E conom ic Development Model for Tribes. Bachelor o f Science in Business Administration, U niversity o f O regon, March 2003 F ocus in E n tre p r e n eu rsh ip — M inor in Economics My' lineage includes my g re a t g ra n d fa th e r Charlie Jackson and his w ife G e o rg ia n n a (Switzler) Jackson, his sis ters, A n n ie (Jackson) Smith and Ruth (Jackson) E stabrook, great uncles Zane and Max Jackson and grandparents Vernon and Louise Jackson. My mother is Deborah Jack- son. I am also the proud father of two young so p s,. Nieman and Mateyis. ■ Thank you for consid ering me to represent the Agency District on Tribal Council. Tribal/State Govern It would be an honor ment to Government to serve our people and Group on Economic De to help move our Tribes velopment - Current back to prosperity and Economic D evelop h elp e n su re th a t p e r ment for Central Oregon capitas, senior pensions (EDCO) Advisory Board and educational scholar Member - Current ships ate available into Managing Consultant/ the future. I truly believe Owner — Celilo Business So that we will n o t fail in our lutions — 2008 - 2011 e n d e a v o r chan g e o u r Owner — Blue Sky Na course. I believe in us. tive Market — 2011 to C ur Sincerely, ( rent Kahseuss Jackson-Wil Budget Manager — liam s, P.O. B ox 1079, Warm Springs IHS Clinic — W arm S prings, O R 2009-2010 , 97761. federated Tribes o f W arm Springs — 2011 to Current Business Development need more infrastructure and more areas available for de v e lo p m e n t o f p riv ately owned business. We could have building blocks o f ser vices added to our comm u nity that don’t all have to be done by the Tribe-invest in our people to develop some o f these services. Econom ic D evelopm ent projects need to be prioritized for the overall benefit for the Tribes. E ducation and the pro tectio n o f our children and elders should be a prior ity and m ore jobs for our community. We need to be bold and enforce TM preference and utilize the employment op p o rtu n ities available to us now. To that spirit, our people need to m eet the challenge and be ready to serve our community in these jobs in our community as well. T here is a lot o f w ork to be done and it w on’t hap pen over night as it has n ot g o tte n to this 'point over night. I t will take the work, c o o p e ra tio n a n d fa ith o f ALL to im prove our situa tion and to also appreciate all that we do have and to take care o f it. I am college educated and computer competent, am on face book, am able to listen and talk with all people o f all ages and nationalities, to share ideas and work together. I believe in a team ap proach and all team members contributing. We may not all agree but we need to do what will benefit the Tribes the m ost and keep moving for ward. I w ould be h o n o re d to serve on the Tribal Council and further serve our Tribal Community-I am humbly ask ing for your vote. I wish the other candidates good luck and whomever is elected, lets work together for the b etterm ent o f all. Pai Uqwathani.
