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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2016)
r I Spi lyay Ty rr Coyote News, est. 1976 March 2, 2016 PO Box 489 »rings, OR 97761 historical socie ECRW SS Postal Patron U.S. Postage PRSRTSTD Warm Springs, OR 97761 Voi. 41, No. 5 March - Wiyalppt - Winter-Anm Election season opens with Council nominations BIA committee sets Constitution vote for April 11 The three districts held their Tribal Council nomination meetings last week. Tribal Council was scheduled to m eet on W ednesday m orning o f this week (after print time for this publication) to finalize the candi date h'st. The official list o f nominees will be available after the Tribal Coun cil confirmation. The preliminary and unofficial list, b asedon the dis trict nomination meetings, was as fol lows: Agency District T here were 22 nominations, with one person declining the nomination; so there are 21 nominees. They are (alphabetically): Mike Clements, M ona Cochran, Eugene Austin G reene Jr., Susan G u e rin , A n ita J a c k s o n , J o h n Katchia Sr., Cameron Smith Lucero, Toni Made, D an Martinez, Demus Martinez, Carina Miller, Je ff Sand ers Sr., Jason Smith, Jonathan W Smith, G lendon Smith, Leona Ike Smith, Ryan Smith Sr., Wissie Smith, Terry Squiemphen, Val Switzler, and Gabriel Walker. Caroline Cruz was nom inated and seconded, b u t declined the nomination. Seekseequa District Shirley Allen, Reuben Henry,. W endell J im , V esta J o h n s o n , Brigette McConville, Scott Moses, and Lee Tom, allow them the time to dedicate to Tribal Council business. The date o f Monday, April 4, is the target date for the Tribal Coum cil election. , Simnasho District , Frederick D uran Bobb, Charles Calica; O rvie D anzuka, Priscilla Frank, Raymond Moody, Evaline Patt, Orthelia Patt, Sylvester Sahme Sr., E m e rso n S q uim phen, R on Suppah, and R aym ond T sum pti Sr. Arlita Rhoan was nominated and seconded, b ut she declined. Both Arlita and Caroline Cruz said their jobs—-A rlita is a language-teacher, and Caroline is director o f Health and Human Services— would not C andidates forum In th e m eantim e, th e W arm Springs Youth Council will host a candidates forum and community dinner on Monday, March 7. The event is in partnership with the Let’s Talk Diversity Coalition, and will be at the Agency Longhouse. Community members and all Tribal Council candidates are invited to attend the event. D inner will start at 5:30 p.m., followed by the forum at 6:30. The Confederated Tribes, and partners PGE and Oregon Parks and Recreation, hosted the Twenty-First Annual Eagle Watch over the weekend. The Quartz Creek Drummers and Dancers (right and below left) are a popular part of the event: They performed on Sunday afternoon, at the conclusion of the gathering. A rehabilitated golden eagle (below right) was part of the education and eagle Information display. The bird had been hit by a car, and lost its sight. Researchers have found that eagles live year-round In the Report on tribal health Round Butte area by the dams. D a v e M cM echan/S pilyay Warm Springs will host a partnership meeting with state Department of Education on Thursday, March 10. The meet ing will begin at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will be provided. The loca tion of the meeting was not yet finalized as of this Tuesday afternoon (listen to KWSO for the location announcement). The meeting Is chance for parents and students to share their thoughts on how to Improve education services to tribal members In Jefferson County. The Information will help the state In implementing the Oregon American Indlan/Alaska Na tive Education Plan. For more Information you can contact Angela Bluhm of the D e p a rtm e n t o f E d u c a tio n , • 5 0 3 -3 7 8 -5 1 5 2 . E m a il: Angela. bluhm@state.or.us agreement includes some significant changes, in com parison with the current agreement. “I think we’ll see positive changes,” said Deanie Smith. T he cu rren t education agree ment, or m em orandum o f under standing, will expire this summer; and the Tribal Council and the E du cation Committee have been work ing oyer the p ast year on a new MOU. , O ne of the problem areas in the Once every y e a r H ealth and H u man Services provides a comprehen sive rep ort on the sta te o f trib a l health, and the health care system. The report includes the m ost recent data com p iled on trib a l m em ber health and health care, services. Health and Human Services D i rector Caroline Cru% in February p re sen ted the m ost recen t rep o rt to T ribal Council. This article is the first in a series on the A nnual Health System R eport f o r w e Warm Springs Indian Reservation. current agreement is its vague ness in terms o f measurable benchmarks, the Council and Education Committee agreed. The proposed new agree ment would provide for greater inform ation sharing as to stu dent performance, attendance, drop-out rates, expulsions and suspensions. Specifically, a provision in the proposal states: “T h e J e f fe rs o n C o u n ty School District 509-J will pro vide data on m inor and major referrals, expulsions, suspen sions, attendance, num ber o f students below, at, or exceed in g b en ch m a rk s o r grade- level..:” There is some great news in the rep o rt, in regard to the overall health o f the tribal membership. “The vital statistics o f the tribal members have im proved dramati cally over the last few years,” the report says. The report, for instance, looks at tribal m em bers’ “years o f pro ductive life lost,” a way to measure premature deaths. Years o f produc tive life lost (YPLL) among tribal m em bers is the low est ever re corded in Warm Springs, the report says. “The YPLL num ber for the lat est three-year period was nearly half o f the num ber recorded in the pre vious three-year period. C o rre sponding infant mortality and early childhood death have decreased sig nificantly.” O n a n o th er topic: F or m any years, feen pregnancies were aver aging about 20 per year among tribal members. Then, in the m ost recent three-year period, the num ber de creased to an average o f eight, a g reat im p ro v em en t. (T he 2016 health report was developed during 2015, so the latest figures are for the year 2014.) • Teen pregnancy is a youth risk factor. For instance, parenthood is the leading reason why teen m oth ers drop out o f school. M ore than half o f teen m others never gradu ate from high school. Fewer than 2 percent graduate from college. See EDUCATION on 3 Tie HEALTH«» 5 Draft education agreement at Council The Education Committee and Tribal Council have been working on a new policy agreement that will guide education services to tribal m em b ers, as p ro v id e d by th e Jefferson County . School D istrict 509-J. E d u catio n C om m ittee m em bers— Ardis Smith, Clark, Deanie Smith and June Smith— m et last week with Tribal Council on a draft o f the agreement. Ardis is a teacher at the Warm Springs Eagle Acad emy; Deanie is the Confederated Tribes’ Language Program director; and June is the director o f the Warm Springs Boys and Girls Club. The tribes will share the proposal with the school district board, and then work toward a final multi-year agreem ent. T he p ro p o sed new Constitution vote The membership this spring will also vote on a num ber o f proposed changes— 15 proposed changes in all— to the tribal Constitution. This will be a secretarial election conducted by the BIA. Members 18 and over will be eligible to vote. The Tribal Council election, on the other hand, will be a tribal elec tion with the minimum age being 21. Youth who are younger than 21, but who are married, are also ehgible to vote in the Council election. The BIA election board has been meeting regularly in recent weeks on this election. The BIA is planning to conduct the vote on the Consti tutional amendments On Monday, April 11. • V A CELEBRATING 4 YEARS of LUCKY DAYS! i INDIAN HEAD A. CASINO A .Atniresca.it lndlanHeadGamlng.com I 541-460-7777 I US-26, Warm Springs, Oregon 97761 Includes all promotions taking place March 1 - March 31. All promotions require Players’ Club membership to participate. Management reserves all rights. Minimum points required. See Players' Club fo r complete détail;
