Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
Water system
nearing limit
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
The plant, built in 1982, is located near the Deschutes River
off Lower Dry Creek Campground Road.
This summer brought sev-
eral weeks of very hot weather.
It was in mid July, at the height
of the heat wave, that the
Warm Springs water treatment
plant almost reached capacity.
The plant was producing as
much drinking water was pos-
sible—close to 4.3 million gal-
lons a day. This was just barely
enough to meet the demand.
Steve Courtney has worked
at the treatment plant for 30
years, almost since the plant was
built in 1982.
He explains the water deliv-
ery system: First, the water is
drawn from the Deschutes and
Visit at
k-8 Academy
Parents and their
kindergarten children visited
the K-8 Academy on
Monday. They met with
teachers and checked out
the classrooms.
The official Warm Springs K-
8 Academy dedication and
opening is set for 9 a.m. on
Wednesday, August 27.
treated at the plant. The water
is then pumped to the commu-
nity water tanks. These tanks
are located at various neighbor-
hoods: Greeley Heights, West
Hills, Kah-Nee-Ta, etc.
In mid July these tanks came
close to being depleted, as
people were using more water
than the usual.
During one day in mid July,
the treatment plant pumped out
4.25 million gallons of water—
just 50,000 gallons away from
total capacity. If the use were
to exceed capacity, then some
people would be without water.
See WATER on 10
August 20, 2014
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
50 cents
August – Shatm – Summer - Shatm
$1 million communications grant
To provide
faster police,
fire response
The Confederated Tribes re-
ceived a $1 million grant to upgrade
the public safety radio network.
The project will improve the po-
lice and fire radio system on the
reservation.
The grant, from the Department
of Homeland Security, will also pro-
vide for construction of a telecom-
munications tower on the Mutton
Mountains area of the reservation.
This is part of Homeland
Security’s ongoing efforts to support
state, local, tribal and territorial part-
ners.
The total amount awarded to the
Confederated Tribes is $1,069,200,
through the Tribal Homeland Secu-
rity Grant Program.
With the new Mutton Mountains
tower, the grant will fund an upgrade
of the existing two-way public safety
radio network to a “simulcast” sys-
tem.
Stan Suenaga, manager of the
tribes’ Public Safety Branch, spon-
sored the grant request. He received
a telephone call last week from
Washington, D.C., letting him know
of the award.
“It was great news for us, and a
big vote of confidence,” Suenaga
said. “We ended up getting a big
Raya Shike-
Snow and
Freddie Ortiz
(bottom row
of gym
bleachers)
were among
the students
and parents
at the school
orientation
day on
Monday.
The Warm Springs
Recreation Department will
host the Back to School
Yard Sale this Saturday,
August 23, at the
Community Center front
yard. Set-up starts at 9
a.m., and the sale is from 1-
4 p.m. Call 541-553-3243 for
more information.
Next, the Back to School
barbecue will be on
Thursday, September 4,
starting at 4 p.m.
Class lists and schedules
will be available for students
that day. In addition to the
barbecue, there will also be
backpacks and supplies for
students.
Vol. 39, No. 17
P.O. Box 870
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Dave McMechan/Spilyay photos
Teacher Ardis Smith-Clark (lower left) greets visitors in the cafeteria.
chunk of the $10 million funding
available in Indian County.
“It shows that FEMA is happy
with how we’ve been systematically
upgrading our communications ca-
pabilities over the years and that
there is more work to be done.”
Suenaga also explained the im-
pact of the “Simulcast” radio sys-
tem funded by the grant:
“This is a sophisticated technol-
ogy that will allow our first re-
sponders to transmit and receive
two-way radio communications au-
tomatically through the closest
tower, rather than requiring them
to manually switch between re-
peaters,” he said.
“It will improve response time for
the police and fire departments,
which ultimately will provide better
service to the tribal members living
throughout the reservation.”
More coverage
Dan Martinez, Fire and Safety
chief, was also happy to hear of the
grant award. “With a tower on Mut-
ton Mountains, we will finally be
able to get coverage down along the
Deschutes River, where we have a
lot of boating, fishing and rafting
incidents,” Martinez said.
“It will also help our wild-land
firefighters. Last month we had to
put a firefighter at the top of Mut-
ton Mountains to relay radio mes-
sages from crews fighting the fire
along the Deschutes.”
A needs assess-
ment identified the
tribal Public Safety
radio network as
the top priority for
improvement...
Tribal telecommunications
Warm Springs tribal leaders have
been working on improving tele-
communications since 2002, when
the Tribes first completed a telecom-
munications needs assessment.
That first assessment determined
that telecommunications services
were severely limited on the Warm
Springs reservation. It also identi-
fied the Public Safety radio network
as the top priority for improvement.
Since that time, the tribes have
been working with consultants
Adam Haas and Marsha Spellman
of Converge Communications.
They have secured grants that have
funded the construction of new tow-
ers, upgrades to radio equipment,
access to additional frequencies for
the tribes’ departments, and essen-
tially expanded and improved the
network.
To date, this effort has resulted
in a total of $3.8 million dollars in
grant funding, including the latest
grant award.
See COMMUNICATIONS on 5
Memorial Highway
designation honors veterans
Tribal Council approved two
veterans programs—the Tribal
Veterans Memorial Highway, and
the creation of the Warm Springs
Warriors Society. The actions came
following a presentation by Jody
Calica.
Calica and other veterans have
proposed designating Highway 26
on the reservation as the Tribal
Veterans Memorial Highway. Tribal
Council, the BIA regional office and
the
War m
Springs
BIA
superintendent, state and federal
officials are in favor of the highway
designation.
The next step will be the
placement of signs along Highway
26, showing the roadway is the Tribal
Veterans Memorial Highway. Calica
last week requested $5,200 for four
signs. Council unanimously
approved the request.
Two of the signs will be placed
where the Highway 26 enters the
reservation, and two signs will be
located in intermediary spots along
the highway. With support from the
BIA, funding is also available
through the Federal Highway
Administration (the Transportation
Equity Act).
Calica was speaking on behalf of
the VFW Elliot Palmer Post 4217,
American Legion Eugene A.
“Cougar” Greene Post 47, and other
tribal veterans. The Tribal Veterans
Memorial Highway is a way of a
showing appreciation for the
service, and raise awareness of the
many local veterans, Calica said.
Among tribal members, both
living and those who have passed
on, are more than 70 veterans of
the wars in the Middle East; 107
veterans of the Vietnam War; 97
veterans of the Korean War.
Many veterans on the
reservation do not receive the
medical and other benefits they are
entitled to, Calica said. A big part
of the problem, he said, is the long
delay in the process of applying for
and receiving the benefits. His own
paperwork, Calica said, was lost
after being in the VA system for
three years. “So I see what a lot of
the other veterans are going
through,” he said.
Other projects in the planning
phase are a Veterans Memorial
Wayside to be located along
Highway 26, and a memorial on the
museum grounds.
Veterans hall
The VFW Elliot Palmer Post
4217, Ladies Auxiliary and
American Legion meet in the
building on Hollywood Boulevard
by Shitike Creek.
See VETERANS on page 5