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Spi lyay Ty rr
Coyote News, est. 1976
March 2, 2016
PO Box 489
»rings, OR 97761
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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
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