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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2013)
E Coosh EEWA: The w^y it is Pgge 4 Spilygy Tymoo June 26, 2013 Letters to the editor Voting is the chance to --------------------------------------------- Referendum you need, is to be educated in the U.S.A. I f ybu don’t make your I wpuld encourage our and have full knowledge of have a car, or you’re physi opinion heard membership to get out an our Treaty, our Constitution cally disabled, the city of By Yvonne Iverson On Tuesday, July 9, tribal members will be asked once again to vote on the motorsports referendum. The original vote was 68 voters short of meeting the one-third mini Spilyay. mum require Speaks ment. A third- party voting service company adminis tered the May election, and will do so again on July 9. Multiple inform ational m eetings about the m otorsports project were held in Warm Springs, and one was scheduled in Portland to reach the almost 300 tribal member voters living in the Metro Area. I have read the comments and heard people say that “not voting is a no vote,” and if tribal members are not go ing to the polls that means they do not support whatever it is that is up for election, i.e. new school, adoptions, motorsports. If this is true, and you do the math on the last election and assume that the 68 people who did not vote would have voted no, then the outcome w ould have been 531 no votes and 526 votes yes. This would have put an end to the discussion and we could m ove on w ithout spending any more money on another referendum. People are concerned about how the tribe will come up w ith money for the motorsports project, but in the mean time we are spend ing thousands of dollars on another election, not to men tion the cost of meetings, m ailouts, sta ff tim e and travel. “It is important to vote, so that our leaders are able to get a clear answer to the question,” says Joelden Sur face. “It costs money we don’t have when we have to have another vote.” A lot of time and money is being spent trying to get di rection and input from tribal members. “(Voting is) One of the only chances we get to state our opinion and stance on our future,” says Jefferson Greene. On July 9 you will have the opportunity to vote on the m o to rsports referendum . Leta Smith encourages oth ers to “Just get out and vote, tribal people... Make a differ ence, your vote counts.” vote in the motorsports ref erendum. This has become a hot political issue, and I do not appreciate the scare tac tics used to derail a much-, needed project. This project will not im pact any of our traditional responsibilities. We, as a people, have to look beyond negative notions and under stand our tribe needs rev enue. We have to look out for the financial welfare of future generation. The concern, the only concern I got from our el ders is that they do not want o u r leaders to abuse this project, meaning, don’t use this project as another rea son to travel or make your household income more-fa-, vorable while the poor and unemployed hurt just to pro vide a meal for their fami lies or ; gas for work. Remember leaders, many working tribal mem bers are supporting more then one household. N ext, is our Cascade Locks project. Autwi Rudy Clements recruited me to be a tribal ambassador to this project. He told me that he was recruiting me for my voice and my honesty and he knew that I would always in sure that the tribal member ship was getting accurate in form ation. Rudy always wanted me to remind the membership that it was the goal of the Gaming Board to insure the financial stabil ity o f our Tribe. This is why this project was so impor tant. Rudy was so elated when this referendum passed with high voter turnout. Today, this project is be ing abused. Being used for political bantering, or to get votes, and that really hurts my heart when people fail to pass on accurate informa tion. M ore recently, a Simnasho District Council member was sharing with dis trict members that the Cas cade Project was costing the Tribe $20,000 per month to the tribal attorneys. That is a false statement. Why dis honor our Tribe by lying to our people? This project has gotten thro u g h two significant hurdles. To toss it aside like .trash is foolishness. Educa tion is good for our young people, but utilizing educa tion as clout to scare our people is disgraceful. The m ost im portant education Spilyay Tymoo (C o yo te News, Est. 1976) Publisher Emeritus: Sid Miller Reporter/ Advertising Director: Yvonne Iverson Editor: Dave McMechan Spilyay Tymoo is published bi-weekly by the Con federated Tribes of Warm Springs. Our offices are located at 4174 Highway 3 in Warm Springs. Any written materials submitted to Spilyay Tymoo should be addressed to: Spilyay Tymoo, P.O. Box 870, Warm Springs, OR 97761. Phone:541-553-2210 E-Mail: dave.mcmechan@wstribes.org. Annual Subscription rates: Within U.S.: $15.00 and By-laws, and all the his torical documents left by our elders to guide you new lead ers, Do not abuse the Tribes’ assets. That was the message the people were sending out with this 2013 Tribal Council elections. We want to know if all o f you are traveling? How many have collected that per diem? Conferences? W here is the travel refo rm the people were promised? The only Council members that should be trav eling are our Chair, Vice- Chair, arid our Chiefs, Politics has no place in our Tribe. Period. Politics inter feres with the wellness of our leadership and our people suffer for that. You got an axe to grind, you have no place at that Council table. Your global agenda should be to look out for all people of this tribe, not for your own benefit. Atawishamash, Leona A. Ike From Eugene Look at all the resources. I’ve lived in Eugene, O r egon w ith the traum atic brain-injury, I’m told I have for many, many years now. I’ve learned a lot about our brains. The city of Eugene has many advantages for all folks Eugene has a LTD bus you can use and take from places to places, run around this city. The LTD bus can also help and take you grocery shop ping w hen needed. You should just have your own shopping cart. This Eugene has many re sources for everyone. I ’m also a big fan of the Oregon Ducks now too! Eugene also has two colleges, the U of O and Lane Community College. There is a lot of resources in Eugene we can all take ad vantages of. My uncle Olney Patt Jr. graduated from the Univer sity of Oregon many years ago. Eugene has many re sources for us all! Quack, Quack! Evette Patt, 50 Kourt Dr., apt. 3, Eugene OR 97404; ph. 541-461-3375. Charlotte for the salmon and dumplins, Clarence Vernon Sam, the Salmon, Sisters Malessa and Harvey, Marina, Doris, Laritha for the food and the gifts. I will always re member that day. Love all of you, Harvey Jim To graduate I too would like to thank all of the family that made our Eleventh Anniversary , a great one. The traveling of my In-laws, the gifts, food and all. Love you, ' Eliza Brown-Jim Flandreau South Dakota 2013 - Marella Rose VanPelt. Congratulations, We’re proud of you! A l l our love: Eillie Patt VanPelt (mother), Harvey & Eli^a jim (grandparents), Tony & Gloria & Boys (brother), Flisyi Madrano & Family, Teonard D. Bryant (brother), Tevi & Pearl VanPelt <dF Fam ily, Marella & Robert Sam & Family, Chet VanPelt Jr. & Family, A nthony & Tates VanPelt & Family, Wolfman (Vernon) Suppah & Family, Coby — Sister & Sister & Honey too. , Thanks Thanking all for the won derful Birthday and Anniver sary luncheon on Saturday, April 27 (birth was April 18). Thanks to my wife (Eliza) Our children: Levi and Pearl for the roots and frybread, Rella and B obbit for the place setting, Chet and Becky for salad and photos, Tiger and Tates for everything, Tony and Gloria and Leo and boys, Wanona, our cooks Jeanine and Tommy, Marella, Helena Jackson, Congratulations Congratulations, Krysten! We are so proud of you for earning your Associates of A rts (Oregon Transfer) Degree from Central Oregon Commu nity College. We’ve always been proud of your accomplish ments and know we have many more proud moments to look forward too! You did it! Hoveyou! Mom, Edward, Dylan & Hayden V Teira too! Diabetics on Medicare face deadline, need information By Terry Blankenship (Note: Terry Blankenship is vice president of patient care at Diabetes Care Club, the nation’s third-largest provider of diabetic testing supplies and one of only 18 companies authorised to serve Medicare patients. He invites, people to email questions to: tblankenship@ simplex- healthcare.com. For further information on Diabetes Care Club, visit www.diabetescareclub.com. Or call 1-800-376-7521.) If you have diabetes and are on Medicare, you have an im portant decision to make in just a couple of weeks. You have probably heard that Medicare is changing the system through which you get your diabetes testing sup plies. So unlike now, when ’ you can order supplies from thousands o f mail order companies, beginning July 1 you’ll only be able to order from 18. There is litde question that this new system will be bet ter in the long run: The gov ernment will save money and you will see your co-pay and deductible amounts decrease. For example, patients test ing one time a day, before July 1, have an average co pay of approximately $14.47 on their testing supplies. After July 1, for the same order, the co-pay will de crease to approxim ately $4.49. This is a savings to you of almost 70 percent. The actual cost may be even lower, or no ebst at all, if you have secondary .insur ance. Yet despite these signifi cant benefits, in the short term this new system is caus ing confusion for patients who must change providers, , They don’t know where to begin. And this makes them vulnerable . to scammers who might see an opportunity to trick patients into giving personal informa- tiori. At Diabetes Care Club, we have heard these types o f concerns from people who call searching for a new provider. They are rightly apprehensive about moving to another company and d on’t know exactly what questions to ask. Patients w onder w hat matters most when choosing a provider. And, of course, the answer to that question depends on what the patient values most. Still, after years in the dia betes care industry, I believe there are some key points th a t patien ts and their caregivers should consider before selecting a provider to trust with their healthcare needs. • H ow m uch exp eri ence does the provider have? A provider should have a proven record of excellence in distributing diabetes sup plies and responding to large numbers o f customers. If you receive a call or email from a provider and are un sure of their legitimacy, it is im portant to check your sources before providing any personal information. Medicare will not call pa tients about this change so if you receive a call claim ing to be from Medicare, it is a scam. • Is the provider big enough to handle more custom ers w ithout dis ruption? A provider should be able to explain in detail how it has prepared to take on thousands o f new custom ers beginning on July 1. • Is d iab etes the provider’s main focus? Ideally, a provider should make diabetes care its top priority rather than spread ing its resources over a range of medical issues. • W hat ordering op tions does the provider offer? A provider should allow patients to order testing sup plies by- phone, email, or online and offer convenient hours for customer support. • Does the provider ac cept “assignment?” All mail-order providers m ust accept assignment, which means they cannot charge more than the prices set by Medicare, But retail outlets like pharmacies do not have to accept assign ment and can charge more. It is im portant to ask to make sure you are not pay ing added costs. ■ W hat products does the provider stock? A quality provider should offer a wide range of prod ucts so that patients can get a product that best meets their needs, • D oes the p ro vid er handle all the paperwork? A quality provider will handle any paperwork asso ciated with Medicare, saving patients time and effort with these confusing forms. • Does the provider de liver on time and for free? Patients should expect their provider to cover the costs of shipping and guar antee that testing supplies will arrive on time and in proper condition. I also recomrnend that patients and their caregivers visit: NationalDiabetesSupply- Finder.com This is a w ebsite th at helps people find the names of all 18 providers autho rized by Medicare and link to their services. Addition ally you can contact Medi care directly. My hope is that by arm ing people with a few key questions and more informa tion, we can help them make a seamless and stress free switch to a provider they trust. In that way, they will be able to rest assured after July 1 that their supplies will be waiting for them in the mail box, just as always.
