Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
August 17, 2016
Vol. 41, No. 17
August – Shatm – Summer - Shatm
KNT remodel to house UAS center
The tribes’ unmanned aerial
systems program saw key de-
velopments in recent weeks.
A big development is the re-
modeling work that is going on
at the lower floor at the Kah-
Nee-Ta Lodge.
Warm Springs Construction
is remodeling the old gaming
commission rooms into a state-
of-the-art UAS training and
conference center. The work
began in June, and should be
done around October, said
Tom Strong, Construction
project supervisor.
This is funded through a
state grant. The first part of
the project involved tearing out
the old carpet, window blinds
and other interior aspects of the
old rooms. The Construction
team hauled away probably a
hundred yards of the old inte-
rior, Strong said.
Construction then framed
up new walls, sanded the pan-
eling, and otherwise prepared
the area for the new facility,
which is going to be high-tech.
Drone park
The UAS program and
Tribal Construction are part of
Warm Springs Ventures, the
tribes’ economic development
enterprise.
Another project that Ven-
tures and the UAS program are
D.McMechan/Spilyay
Tom Strong and Eric Williams of Warm Springs Construction sand the
wooden paneling at the KNT UAS center. Remodel work started in June.
working on at Kah-Nee-Ta is a
drone park, which would be unique.
Aurolyn Stwyer, business and
marketing manager at Ventures, ex-
plains some of the basic aspects of
this idea:
The park would feature a large
enclosed net structure, similar to an
aviary.
The enclosure would mean the
park is considered indoors, and
would therefore be regulated as
a recreational hobby zone.
The enclosure would also
provide for the safety of pa-
trons, and prevent damage to
the drone hardware.
The park could be used for
drone recreation, and for flight
training.
The target markets would be
Portland, Bend and the Colum-
bia River gorge.
There is an opportunity for
drone park patrons to have a
special rate package at Kah-
Nee-Ta, Ms. Stwyer said.
In other recent news from
the UAS program:
Working with Ventures, a
certified FAA pilot conducted
drone pilot training with three
employees of the Branch of
Natural Resources Fire Man-
agement.
Employees with BNR Fish-
eries and habitat restoration,
wildlife management , and Cul-
tural Resources, as well as Ven-
tures staff also took part in the
training.
This was a pilot study for
the upcoming Kah-Nee-Ta
training center at Kah-Nee-Ta:
A key component of the train-
ing was preparation for the
upcoming FAA Drone Pilot
certification test, set for later
this month.
Name the travel plaza
Council okays new
non-profit enterprise
The Confederated Tribes have a
backlog of projects that have re-
mained unfunded for years.
A new community center, and a
new Children’s Protective Services
building, are two of many examples
that come to mind.
The problem, of course, is fund-
ing: The tribes in recent years have
made substantial cuts in many ar-
eas, for the sake of balancing the
annual budget.
A way to help address the back-
log of needed projects is through
grants, from private foundations
and individuals. Each year in Or-
egon, tens of millions of dollars in
grants are awarded for worthy
projects.
An important aspect of a suc-
cessful grant application is having a
501c3 nonprofit organization as the
applicant. The 501c3 designation
allows the donor to claim a tax de-
duction for the contribution—an
essential incentive for most donors,
said Bruce Irwin, Confederated
Tribes development director.
Irwin and chief operations man-
ager Alyssa Macy last week pre-
sented Tribal Council with a proposal
to re-establish a 501c3 nonprofit
organization of the Confederated
Tribes.
Tribal Council approved the pro-
posal, a first step in establishing the
nonprofit, and a first step toward
finding grant funding for the many
facilities, infrastructure and other
needs of the reservation.
The tribes had a 501c3 corpora-
tion in the past, but the designation
lapsed with the IRS in 2012. The
previous nonprofit was called the
Warm Springs Community Devel-
opment Corporation. The tribes
have not yet determined the name
for the new nonprofit.
Some of the initial work of the
new nonprofit will be the designa-
tion of an active and informed
board, plus completion of the nec-
essary federal paperwork to estab-
lish the corporation. Grant propos-
als would have to fall within one of
a number of specific categories.
Some of these are:
Education (the category with the
most contributions), philanthropy
and volunteerism, arts, culture, hu-
manities, human services, commu-
nity improvement and development,
science, environmental quality and
protection. Also:
Food nutrition, agriculture, pub-
lic safety and disaster preparedness
and relief, recreation, leisure, sports,
and animal related.
The tribes’ travel plaza will
be conveniently located on
Highway 26 and Cherry Lane
in Madras. The new 13,000
square feet facility will be a one-
stop shop.
It is proposed to include a
convenient store, deli food, fuel,
showers, restrooms, laundry ser-
vices, approximately 30-40
Class II gaming machines, cof-
fee bar and casual dining.
The Gaming Commission
and a naming selection commit-
tee are hosting a contest, open
to tribal community members.
They are asking community
members to suggest names for
the travel center. Here are the
criteria for the contest:
· The name should reflect
positively and descriptive on the
travel plaza.
· The name should not be
offensive, insulting or deroga-
tory in nature.
· In instances where the
same name is submitted, the
selection committee will select
the entry with the earliest entry
by time and date.
· The name must be origi-
nal, not likely to cause confu-
sion with any other similar busi-
ness or enterprise; and not be
the trademark, trade name or
property of any other person
or entity.
· The selection committee
has the authority to reject an
entry it deems inappropriate.
The author of the winning
suggestion, chosen by the selec-
tion committee, will receive a
$200 check.
Members of the selection
committee will be blinded to the
names associated with the en-
tries. Additional rules:
· Only two entries per sub-
mission.
· The winner is solely respon-
sible for all federal, state and
local taxes on the prize.
All entries are due by Sep-
tember 1, 2016. Entries can be
mailed to Indian Head Casino,
attention: Jeffrey Carstensen,
PO Box 890, Warm Springs,
OR 97761. Or emailed to:
NGarcia-Smith@indianhead
gaming.com
The Travel Center is an ap-
proved project of the Tribal
Council of the Confederated
Tribes. New tribal member jobs
and revenue were the two key
factors in Council approval.
The property where the travel
center will be located has not
been in productive use for a
number of years.
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Enrollment
issue at
Council
Tribal Council last week took up
the issue of new tribal member en-
rollment, meeting with Lucille
Suppach of Vital Statistics and le-
gal counsel.
Part of this was to continue dis-
cussion of a resolution of the pre-
vious Tribal Council, regarding a
possible referendum asking whether
to change the enrollment baseline
year.
The Twenty-Sixth Tribal Coun-
cil adopted resolution no. 12,157 in
April of this year. The resolution
would take effect only upon the
passage of a referendum of the
tribal members. The resolution says
in part:
“The Tribal Council now wishes
to change the rules for determining
blood quantum for automatic en-
rollment by adding the 1980 census
to the list of baseline census years
for determining the Confederated
Tribes blood quantum of applicants
for automatic enrollment…”
Currently, the 1940 census and
the 1960 census are the lists that
are used to determine an individual’s
blood quantum of the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs.
One-quarter blood of the Con-
federated Tribes of Warm Springs,
including blood of a traditionally
affiliated tribe, is the requirement
for eligibility for automatic enroll-
ment.
The question for the member-
ship: How to calculate one-quarter
blood of the Confederated Tribes?
The standard for now is based
on the 1940 census and 1960 cen-
sus: The standard for now is that
tribal members on those census
roles can include all Native Ameri-
can blood as blood of the Confed-
erated Tribes of Warm Springs.
Descendants of these individu-
als calculate their CTWS blood ac-
cording to that standard.
A referendum suggestion of the
Twenty-Sixth Tribal Council (Reso-
lution no. 12,157) would ask:
Should the same standard apply to
the 1980 census?
Passage of this would mean that
any tribal member on the 1980 cen-
sus could count all of his or her
Native American blood as blood of
the Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs.
Descendants of these individu-
als could then re-calculate their
blood quantum based on this new
standard.
Passage of the referendum
would mean that approximately 56
candidates on the recent adoption
election referendum list would be-
come eligible for automatic enroll-
ment. The total number of candi-
dates on the list was more than 200.
The adoption election held in
June of this year fell short of the
required 50-percent voter turnout.
A total of 987 ballots were cast,
while a figure in the range of 1,500
was required.