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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2013)
r P.O. Box 870 Warm Springs, OR 97761 ECRWSS Postal Patron Coyote News, est. 1976 May 15, 2013 Voi. 38, No. 10 H a rriso n Davis is a veteran o f Dave McMechan/Spilyay Ruby Reed and Harrison Davis enjoyed Honor Seniors Day last Friday at the Agency Longhouse. Yvonne Iverson/Spilyay Drummers perform at Honor Seniors Day. The day was well-attended as the event marked its Twenty-Third Anniversary. Indian language, Harrison points out; and now teachers in the same building are teaching the Native language to young stu dents, trying to preserve the lan guage for future generations. As a te e n a g e r, H a rriso n joined the military after high schooUAfter World War II and K orea he came back to the res ervation, where he was uniquely skilled in the operation o f heavy machinery, H e w o rk e d f o r se v e ra l years w ith the BIA at various jobs, often involving operation o f a Cat o r o th er heavy m a chinery. H arrison has thirteen chil dren, seven boys and six girls. H e has 19 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren, and seven ' great-great grandchildren. Eliza Jim heads the group who choose the Warm Springs H onor Seniors Day Senior o f the Year. Another highlight H onor Seniors Day this year featured for the first time the Jefferson County Middle School Marching Band. “T hat was a highlight o f the day for me,” said H onor Seniors Day MC Wilson Wewa, o f the Senior Program . “They were awesome.” — Dave McMechan New Council in office T h e T w enty-S ixth T rib al Council met for the first time last week, and made some sig nificant changes in tribal m an agement. T he Council nam ed a new Secretary-Treasurer and a new Chief Operations Officer. The new Council named Councilman E ugene A ustin G reen Jr. as Chairm an. H e takes over the chairmanship from Buck Smith, who did not run for Council re- election this year. T h e v ic e -c h a ir o f th e Twenty-Sixth Tribal Council is C ouncilw om an E vâline P att, whose previous employment was as office manager at the M u seum at Warm Springs. The new Council made these appointments shortly after the swearing-in on Monday m orn ing, May 6. They then moved on to the positions o f tribal Sec retary-Treasurer and C hief O p erations Officer. T h e C o u n cil ch o se Ja k e Suppah as the new Secretary- Dave McMechan/Spilyay Swearing-In of the Twenty-Sixth Tribal Council, May 6. Treasurer. Suppah, originally from Warm Springs, has been working in the F inance D ep artm en t at the Radisson Fort McDowell Casino in Arizona. H e was. nom inated for the posi tion o f S-T by Councilman Orvie Danzuka, and seconded by Warm S p rin g s C h ie f D e lv is H e a th . Suppah is taking over the position from Jody Calica, who was S-T for the past nine years, serving under three Tribal Councils. 50 cents May - Xawit’an - Spring - Wawaxam W W II veteran honored on Seniors Day World War II. H e served in G er many during the war. H e stayed in the military, and th e n se rv e d in K o re a in th e 1950s. Mr. Davis now lives w ith his friend and care-giver Ruby Reed. They were at H onor Seniors Day last w eek, w hen H arriso n was named the Senior o f the Year. T his w as in rec o g n itio n o f H arrison as one o f the eldest vet erans among the; tribes. The honor also recognizes the good example he sets for living a good life. H arrison is 86 years old. H e exercises at least one hou r a day every day. “I k n o w so m an y p eo p le w ho retire d , an d th e n didn’t do anything,” he says, “and they didn’t live long.” H arrison lifts weights at the community center, walks, and vis its the Senior Program, where he exercises with the group every day. Mr. Davis was raised on the reservation by his grandparents, w ho spoke only their N ative lan guage. H e w ent to boarding school at age 6. The practice at that time was to forbid the speaking o f the In dian language. This was a difficult adjustm ent for a child w ho had grown up speaking only his Native language. The boarding schools used to punish students for speaking the U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 The new Chief Operations O f ficer will be J.P. O lney Patt Jr., form er Councilman and form er director o f thé Columbia River In ter-Tribal Fish, Commission. Chief H eath nom inated P a tt fo r th e ' CO O position, with the second by Wasco Chief Alfred Smith Jr. Patt is taking over the C O O position from Urbana Ross, who was appointed to the position in 2010, having previously worked in the Governmental Affairs Branch, at N atural R esources and at Kah-Nee-Ta. At the May 6 Council m eet ing, C o u n cilm an R aym ond Tsumpti suggested that the S-T and C O O positions be open for two weeks, in order to field pos sible candidates. O ther Council members dis agreed with the idea, and the proposal was put to a vote, end ing in a 5-5 tie. See TRIBAL COUNCIL on 10 Referendum next week T ribal m em bers on Tuesday, May 21, will decide w hether the tribes should continue to pursue the m otorsports proposal. There are approximately 3,170 tribal m em ber voters; a valid refer endum will need to see a turnout o f at least one-third that number. T h e p o llin g p lace in W arm Springs will be open at the Com munity Center aerobics room from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m., May 21 ■ New voting method The referendum vote will employ the use o f a mechanical vote count ing machine. This will be the first time the Confederated Tribes uses this m ethod for tallying votes. A third party company, A uto m ated Election Service, based in Albuquerque, is assisting w ith the m otorsports park referendum. The tribes contacted the company fol lowing the spring Tribal Council election. Council members felt that hiring a neutral third party to conduct the election w ould help eliminate the debate about the m ethod o f vote counting. Absentee voters should have already noticed a change with bar coded stickers on the ballot en velopes sent to them in the mail. See REFERENDUM on 9 School construction schedule A construction start-date o f June 24 is proposed for W arm Springs k-8 school. T he date is still n o t cer tain yet, though, as the tribes are waiting for w ord from the U.S. D e partm ent o f Agriculture. T he tribes have applied for a $6.5 m illio n lo a n th r o u g h th e USDA. Final approval from the agency may not come until August, b u t pre liminary site work could begin in June if the USDA indicates that approval is pending, said Je ff D esw ert, o f Kirby Nagelhout Construction Com pany, the W arm Springs k-8 project manager. Beginning the site w ork in June would keep the project on track for a fall 2014 opening, said Deswert. The Kirby Nagelhout group up dated the school district board on the Warm Springs school project at the Monday board meeting. They also discussed the tribal member hiring program that appEes to the k-8 project. The preference plan, applying to the subcontractors, is as stro n g as legally possible, D eswert said. School board m em bers said a main priority for all district construc tion projects is the hiring o f local workers. Win a 2013 Can-Am Spyder® ST-S or $15,000 Cash! Courtesy of Pro Caliber of Bend! See page 12 for details. 1 r * I1 S
