P.0. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
May 1, 2013
Coyote News, est. 1976
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OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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Voi. 38, [ tiô»
May - Xawit’an - Spring - Wawaxam
Motorsports referendum in May
The membership will be asked
on May 21 w hether the tribes
should continue to pursue the idea
of developing a motorsports park
on the reservation.
A motorsports team, including
members of Tribal Council and
Warm Springs Ventures, has been
studying the potential of this project
for about two years.
The two main benefits o f a
motorsports park would be jobs and
income to the tribes, The project
would be under construction for
about five years, creating about 425
construction-related jobs. Two-hun
dred jobs would be related to op
eration of the park, which would
also generate 225 indirect jobs.
Ventures has published an infor
mation brochure on the motorsports
proposal. The brochure was mailed
recently to the membership.
“The motorsports project would
provide an ongoing source of cash
flow to the tribe,” the brochure
states, “The project is projected to
generate almost $150 million in an
nual gross revenue.”
The projected income is a rough
estimate, but the potential is enough
to warrant pursuing the project, the
motorsports advocates say.
Money to develop the project
would at first come from the exist
ing Capacity Fund. Then the tribes
would look to its development part
ner, Lionshead Development LLC,
to move ahead with construction.
project an advantage over other
racing facilities; First, it is close
to many major metropolitan ar
eas within a 400-mile radius,
Portland, Seattle, Boise and
Northern California, with a very
amenable climate for racing.
Second, there are few, if any,
options in the Pacific Northwest
for hosting large-scale racingand
,vety few, if any, potential loca
tions to develop facing facilities
in the Northwest. Because the
tribe is in control of zoning, it
can develop a facility that is
world class and tailored to the
desires of the specific market
that it would serve.
May 21 election
M as te r piar
'Courtesy of Warm Springs Ventures
Schematic drawing of the proposed motorsports park at Miller Flat.
“The ultimate financing package
would emerge after discussions
among the tribal development team,
financial advisors, bond'counsel and
potential investors arid developers...
“The financial risk to the tribes
is limited because the tribes already
own the 1,000-acre proposed devel
opment site, the brochure says,” , S
The site is on Miller Flat, on an
area that has passed a preliminary
Natural Resources review. Current
uSe of the land is for grazing, hunt
ing and root gathering in some ar
eas. Before construction, the project
would go through the tribal Inte
grated Resource Management Plan
analysis.
- The following information is pro
vided by Warm Springs Ventures:
Several factors give the proposed
Warm Springs Motorsports Park
O n Tuesday, May 21, tribal
m em bers will v o te on the
motorsports referendum. This
tribal election is being conducted
by a firm hired by the tribes for
the specific purpose* of manag
ing tribal elections.
Tribal Council decided to try
the firm, , following the recent
Tribal Council election.
Tribal members .who are reg
istered to vote in Jefferso n
County will also receive a ballot
for the May 21 county vote.
This includes the Madras
Aquatic Center operating levy,
along with school, hospital and
other board positions.
— D ave M cM echan
Focus on language with visit from U of O
T h e Culture and Heritage De
partment last week hosted a visit
from the University of Oregon
Ichishkiin class.
The U of O group spent a
day and half in Warm Springs,
focusing mainly on the Culture
and Heritage Language P ro
gram.
They observed the language
immersion program at Culture
and Heritage. The immersion
class.is called Autni Ichishkiin
Sapsikwat (Our Sacred Lan
guage School) and meets from
8 a.m. till noon on weekdays.
One of the classés is for 3-
year-olds, another is for 4-year-’
olds. There are 11 students in
Autni Ichishkiin Sapsikwat. The
language students and teachers
recently attended the Native
Language Bowl, held at Umatilla
(more on this in the next Spilyay).
The University o f Oregon
Ichishkiin teacher is Virginia
Beavert, who recendy earned her
Ph.D. in Linguistics.
- ,
With Virginia were the uni
versity Ichishkiin students Cassie
George, Shayleen Macy and
Jade Martinez. Cassie is of the
Suquariiish tribe, where the Na
tive language is Lushootseed.
Shayleen and Jade are of Warm
Dave McMechari/Spilyay
Teacher Merle Kirk with 3-year-old students.
Springs heritage, and both have
family on the reservation. Jade
stayed with her grandmother Ur
bana Ross during their recent visit.
The three U o f O Ichiskiin stu
dents have different majors:; Cassie
is studying Linguistics, Shayleen is
an Art major, and Jade is an Envi-
ronmental Smdies major. By gradu
ation time they each will have taken
six terms of Ichiskiin at the univer
sity.
The class is taught through the
University o f Oregon Northwest
Iridian Language Institute,
Besides teaching, Virginia is on
ECRWSS
Postal Patron
the advisory board of the insti
tute. And she is working on a
grammar book o f Ichishkiin.
For this project she is working
with JoAna Jansen, project co
ordinator, who also was on the
visit to Warm Springs,
.
U.S. Postage
PRSRTSTD
.»ami oprings, OR 97761
50 cents
CPS
planning
move
Children’s Protective Services is
planning to move to a new building
that will be located by the clinic.
CPS has been putting money
aside for several years with the goal
o f developing a new facility.
“We’ve come to the point where
we need to look at moving to a new
building,” said Ron Hager, CPS di
rector.
T he d ep artm en t, u n d er the
H ealth and H um an Services
Branch, now has about $500,000
available for the building project.
The plan is to hire a firm to do
both the design and construction of
a new facility, to be located on about
four acres by the clinic- The acre
age, allocated by IHS, would allow
for building expansion some day in
the future.
The new building would be be
tween 4,000 and 6,000 square feet,
Hager said.The current CPS build
ing, located on the campus by the
Education building, is about 6,500
square feet.
.
The size of the building is not
an issue; nor is the age of the cur
rent CPS building, dating back to
the 1970s. There are, however,
other issues, that would be addressed
by relocating,
For instance, the clinic site would
be close the Early Childhood Edu
cation center, which would be help
ful. The new building would also
have access to a new infrastructure
system.
The current building is served by
the campus infrastructure, which is
old and in need o f replacement. The
sewer line by the CPS building, in
particular, is a serious concern.
Among its services, CPS provides
emergency shelter for up to 30 days
for children from the’ age of birth
up to 18, The tribal court refers the
children to CPS. There is room for
up to 15 children at the group home.
The average number of children at
the home is six.
There are about 130 children
under CPS supervision. Some are
in foster care; others are with the
parents who are subject to court-
ordered supervision.
The department employs about
18 people, including the case work
ers, data coordinator, and care pro
viders,
“This is a 24-hour operation with
at least one employee on duty at
night, and at least two during the
day,” said Hagen.
He said the plans for the new
building could be presented to Tribal
Council for approval this summer.
Construction time would Cake be
tween six and eight months.
The idea of developing a new
CPS building has been around for a
while. Years ago there was talk of
spending up to $5 million on a new
facility.
See LANGUAGE on 8
See CPS on 8
It’s
in Kay/
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