E Coosh EEWA: The way it is
Weaving the stories
of women’s lives
By Alyssa Macy
Spilyay Tymoo March 4, 2015
Letters to the editor
A thank you
National Women’s History
Month kicks off with the
theme Weaving the Stories of
Women’s Lives. This theme
“presents the opportunity to
integrate the diverse and com-
pelling stories of women’s
lives into a colorful tapestry
highlighting the intricacies and
interconnections of these sto-
ries.”
Now in its thirty-fifth year,
the National Women’s His-
tory Project has become a na-
tional clearinghouse for infor-
mation and training on
multicultural women’s history.
While an important resource,
the stories of
Native Ameri-
Spilyay
can women are
Speaks
still scarce.
Native
women have always had im-
portant roles in our societies–
from builders, warriors, farm-
ers, leaders, craftswomen,
healers and mothers. Today,
women serve on our Tribal
Councils, serve as cultural
keepers and educators, and
are a formidable force of
influence and change.
Yet, some would argue that
the role of Native American
women is not one that is re-
spected, celebrated or recog-
nized enough. Stories of Na-
tive American women con-
tinue to be notably absent in
textbooks, media and class-
rooms discussions. Further,
national statistics on violence,
rape and health show that
Native American women are
often victimized and suffer
from many health issues.
It’s important that we talk
about and share the stories of
our grandmothers, mothers,
sisters and daughters. This
storytelling is part of weav-
ing our stories into the col-
lective history of our Na-
tion… and it provides a
source of inspiration and en-
couragement for our young
women and girls.
Today is a good day to re-
flect on a women who have
inspired you or served as a
mentor and to share that story
with a young woman in your
life.
There are many, many sto-
ries of women right here in
our own community. Who did
you look up to as a child? Did
you have a mentor? Is there a
woman that serves an impor-
tant teaching role in your life?
We’d like to hear from you
on Tuesday, March 7, on the
91.9FM CommUnity Talk
Show. We will focus on Na-
tional Women’s History
Month and local women’s
contributions with special
guest Jeri Brunoe. You can
also share thoughts by send-
ing an email to:
alyssa.macy@wstribes.org.
Page 4
I’d like to take this time to
thank all the people for the
prayers while I was in the
hospital.
Special thanks to my sis-
ter Deanie, daughter
Revonne, my son Moses,
Shawndelle, Deidra, Nichole,
Sharice, Ses, Baby Deb, Mom
Marcia and Dad Ricky, all for
being with me at the hospi-
tal.
Aunt and Uncle Geraldine
and Wilford, thank you for
coming right away and pray-
ing.
Again, thank you each and
everyone for your prayers
and may the good lord bless
you all. Sorry I can’t name all
of you, I didn’t forget, there’s
too many names to list.
Plus thank you to every-
one who came to the prayers
services at my house after I
got out of the hospital.
Love you and my prayers
go out to all of you. Love,
Reva.
MHS seniors
Thank you to Austin
Greene and Quartz Creek
Drum, and Carlos Calica and
Star Horse, for the Honor
Songs for the Madras High
School seniors. Kenman.
Canoe Family
After five incredible years
and five Canoe Journeys, I
have officially passed the
reigns over to Youth Coordi-
nators Jazmine Ike-Lopez, 17
years young, and Daisy
Begay, 25 years young.
I will remain involved as a
singer, a dancer, and a puller
where possible amidst father-
hood, CTWS initiatives, and
arts. I am confident in our
members, past, present and
future. With your help, the
Canoe Family will continue
on.
Over the years, we have
fundraised approximately
$180,000, and received 250
sign-ins for meetings and
practices. Sixty-five people
trained in Cold-Water Safety
Rescue. We appeared at ap-
proximately 50 gatherings
throughout the region, and
have taught 30 songs of the
Columbia Plateau.
I want to thank the
Twenty-Third Tribal Council
and former secretary-trea-
surer Jody Calica for the op-
portunity and confidence in
me to coordinate the Family
and Project for so long.
I would like to humbly
and sincerely encourage com-
munity members to partake
in the coordinators’ meetings,
practices, and initiatives as
they push forward as the ex-
perienced and committed
members they¹ve been.
They’re still open to sug-
gestion, encouragement, and
correction as the Family and
Project has always been.
Thank all the community
members who have contrib-
uted to the Canoe Family in
so many ways! The list goes
on an on and can be found
at fb.com/canoefamily
Jefferson Greene
To Veterans
Hello and good day to you,
your family, friends and rela-
tives. Thank you for your
service to our community
and citizens of the United
States of America.
Whether you served over-
seas or in CONUS, and
whether you served for three
months or three years or
more, we are in dire need of
your services, again.
Your training, discipline
and leadership experience is
needed to help our commu-
nity pull itself back up by its
bootstraps out of the current
state of depression.
More people are on food
stamps, general assistance,
and without work than in any
time in recent history!
Our increased population
is increasingly straining our
spiritual, financial and natu-
ral resources, threatening our
physical, emotional, mental
and spiritual well-being; and
is now threatening our politi-
cal stability.
Never have we been in
more need of your leader-
ship experience, knowledge
and skills than now—March
2015.
Recent Tribal Councils
(the Twenty-First through
Twenty-Fourth) have allowed
our tribal government to
reach record levels of defi-
cit, while depleting our re-
serve funds including pen-
sions, trust funds and per
capita.
And while the U.S.
economy attributed to some
of our current financial chal-
lenges, as a direct and indi-
rect result of the so-called
Great Recession of 2007 to
2012, it was not the smoking
gun of our current financial
demise.
I am not here to point fin-
gers at individuals; however,
current and future decisions
must invariably be based on
past actions and/or inactions
by Tribal Council leadership.
Only a small number of
our current Tribal Council are
veterans of the U.S. Armed
Forces, and an even smaller
percentage fill our top man-
agement positions including
tribal enterprises.
This does not mean lack
of competency, but we know
there is a noticeable differ-
ence between good manage-
ment and leadership traits.
The tribes certainly may
have strong management and
technical skills, but it seems
apparent we may be lacking
in visionary leadership. We
can talk days on end about
micro- and macro-manage-
ment, but in the end it really
comes down to a melding of
management with leadership.
How do we accomplish
this melding of management
with leadership without oust-
ing or re-structuring our gov-
ernmental entity?
Much of what seems to
have occurred since the cur-
rent council members took
office stems with the internal
battle between the “old guard”
and “new guard” methods of
conducting business.
Rules of order and Tribal
Council business seems to be
determined by which Tribal
Council members are present
on a given day and constitut-
ing a quorum...
Whatever happened to
Tribal Council rendering de-
cisions affecting the general
membership with all Council
members present, instead of
a simple majority?
Why have political deci-
sions evolved into changing
agenda items to suit a major-
ity vote rather than super
majority or even consensus
style decision-making?
Where’s the fundamental
fairness doctrine when we
need it the most? Who should
be advocating and spearhead-
ing this doctrine that mirrors
our tribal customs and tradi-
tions? If the practice of only
following the Constitution and
Bylaws applies primarily to
requiring a Tribal Council
meeting on the first Monday
of each month, then what
other provisions are being
applied by rote, rather than
for specific reasons.
In other words, when did
we become so technical that
we assert that our past actions
followed the “letter of the
law” tongue in cheek style,
rather than rendering deci-
sions and taking action/non-
action in accordance with the
principle or concept of “spirit
of the law”?
As a veteran and commu-
nity member who grew up in
our community, I would like
to recommend the following
actions, along with support-
ing reasoning, to be under-
taken by our leadership, and
seek your support in this rec-
ommended course of action
in support of putting back the
decision-making authority
Congratulations on CDAs
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
ECE’s Leanne Smith-Lucero and Melissa Danzuka.
Leann Smith-Lucero
and Melissa Danzuka are
the latest two teachers at
the Warm Springs Head
Start program to earn their
Child Development Asso-
ciates credentials.
Leanne, 21, has worked
at the Early Childhood
Education Center since she
was 18. Melissa, 27, first
started there when she was
18, as part of the tribal
youth worker program.
The CDA credentials
into the hands of “the
people” of the community of
Warm Springs.
Given the fact there are
sporadic and sometimes
lengthy gaps in legal activities
of previous Tribal Councils,
transparency and public offi-
cial responsibility requires re-
sponsibility be taken in the fol-
lowing manner (no particular
order of importance):
1. Accept and adopt min-
utes “as is,” subject to clarifi-
cation by past council mem-
bers;
2. Establish parameters to
reviewability (ie.-20-years, 15-
years, 10-years); and,
3. Prioritize, even limit to
categories which encapsulates
“actions only,” or those that
did not require quorum ac-
tion; and
4. Additional parameters
could include minutes for
meetings where initially a quo-
rum was present and meet-
ing minutes ended due to
council member(s) leaving
preventing quorum action;
and
5. At a minimum, sum-
mary minutes includes legal
meeting day and attendance
record only; and
6. Establish transparent
meeting protocol with some-
thing other than adopting
Robert’s Rules of Order as
are a step toward a BA
degree in Child Develop-
ment. There are now eight
teachers at ECE with the
CDA credentials.
The CDA program in-
cludes taking classes, and
being interviewed and ob-
served by the certifying
agents. Parent surveys are
another important part of
the process.
Congratulations Leanne
and Melissa, from the
ECE staff.
“guide only” but flexible
enough to identify bottlenecks
in decision making process;
and
7. Establish transparent
procedures allowing tribal
member ability to get on
agenda for informational,
action or non-action pur-
poses; and
8. Establish transparent
procedures that limit griev-
ances or matters which in-
volve elected or appointed
personnel including manage-
ment personnel; and
9. Evaluate effectiveness
or usefulness of current com-
mittee system.
Veterans: A call to action
in furtherance of and protec-
tion of our community be-
cause you know and under-
stand what it means to lead
and do what’s right.
I know we see the issues
stated above somewhat dif-
ferently; however, the prin-
ciple is the same. If and when
we see something not right,
we take action because we
learned to take control and
render command decisions-
when others wouldn’t.
Forward and onward let’s
walk side-by-side and re-unify
our people and their voice;
and especially the silent voices
not yet born.
Gerald Danzuka
Indian Business Talk
Spilyay Tymoo
(Coyote News, Est. 1976)
Publisher Emeritus: Sid Miller
Multi Media Specialist: Alyssa Macy
Managing 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 489, Warm Springs, OR
97761.
Phone: 541-553-2210 or 541-771-7521
E-Mail: dave.mcmechan@wstribes.org.
Annual Subscription rates: Within U.S.: $20.00
By your elders you should be taught
By Bruce Engle
Loan officer
W.S. Credit Enterprise
“By your contemporaries
you might be led, but by your
elders you should be taught.”
I want to share a few
thoughts and some sugges-
tions for parents, teachers,
and parents to be.
Why?
Parents, aunties, uncles
and other “old people” have
been there, done that, and
sometimes and somehow
learned a thing or two.
The young don’t know
much for a long-long-long
time. Parents know that. They
bemoan. They wince. They
cringe.
They can change the situ-
ation; if they will.
Will they? Can they?
They should. They can.
That’s one of their jobs.
That general observation
applies to teaching kids about
business as well as about liv-
ing.
Finance is an essential part
of both. We are all in busi-
ness as buyers, sellers, or
both.
Failure to be and act finan-
cial savvy makes business
success almost impossible to
achieve. The same might be
said for many categories of
personal success.
Where is Bruce going with
this? Somewhere helpful, I
hope.
I’m
looking
into
Kidpreneurship training pro-
grams and materials. Fort Hall
has a great new program go-
ing. They are in their fourth
week. They started with nine
boys and nine girls. All are still
in the program.
I have talked with the
teachers and have ordered
the books. I’m impressed with
what they are doing and how
they are going about it.
I’ll be writing more about
Kidpreneurship soon. In the
meantime, if the idea has
struck a responsive chord in
you, let’s talk about it.
Would it be good for
Warm Springs kids? Anybody
interested? We could do it
here.
Shall we?