Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
February 1, 2017 - Vol. 42, No. 3
February – A’A’mi-Ushatch – Winter - Anm
Tribes, state okay cannabis agreement
Tribal Council Chairman Aus-
tin Greene Jr. and Oregon Gover-
nor Kate Brown have signed an
inter-governmental agreement for
the tribes’ cannabis project.
The agreement between the
tribes and state—the first of its
kind in Oregon and unique in the
nation—took about a year to ac-
complish.
The agreement will allow the
tribes to sell on-reservation grown
cannabis in the state off-reserva-
tion market.
Essential aspects of the agree-
ment are the tribes’ own cannabis
regulations, and the tribal cannabis
commission.
The commission works coop-
eratively with the Oregon Liquor
Control Commission, which regu-
lates the cannabis market in the
state.
The tribal regulations meet or
exceed the state standards, said
Don Sampson, Warm Springs Ven-
tures executive director.
Purchasers are assured that the
highest health and safety standards
are met with the tribal product, Mr.
Sampson said.
The tribes are working with a
new cannabis production manage-
ment team partner. “I’m very con-
fident in their abilities and exper-
tise,” Sampson said.
The cannabis greenhouse op-
eration overall will be a total of
24,000 square feet in size. Sixteen-
thousand square feet will be for
the greenhouse, and 8,000 square
feet for the production warehouse
and offices.
The scale is about one-third
smaller than initially planned: The
idea is start with a smaller project,
gain expertise, and then expand
some time in the future, Mr.
Sampson said.
The start-up cost is also more
manageable with the smaller facil-
Year of
success
at ECE
The teachers
and staff at
Warm
Springs Head
Start and
Early Head
Start.
They have
been working
hard at ECE,
and their
status jump
in the Quality
Rating and
Improvement
System
shows that
hard work can
pay off.
O ne year ago Cheryl Tom trans-
ferred to the Warm Springs Head
Start – Early Head Start, serving at
first as interim director.
After submitting all the required
documents, Cheryl was approved by
the Office of Head Start to main-
tain the position full-time. She works
with Anita Hisatake, who is the edu-
cation curriculum coordinator.
Anita received her degree in
Teaching from Oregon State Uni-
versity. She supervises the current
teaching staff of lead teachers:
Victoria “Cakes” Smith, Justine
Thomas, Sylvia McCabe, Ellen
Hellon, James Keo, Leah Villa, Dor-
othy “Dot” Thurby and Leanne
Smith.
Teacher assistants are Eileen
Dick, Nellie Tanewasha, Ernestine
Switzler-Ruiz, Rosa Wolfe, Meleena
Edwards, Aletha Govenor, Johnson
Bill, Gladys Graybael, Paulette
Henry and aide Cassandra
ity, he said. There are three
phases of the project, moving
forward now that the inter-gov-
ernment agreement is in place.
The first phase is site work
and construction of the green-
house. Phase 2 is the processing
of the product, and phase 3 is
the establishment of an off-res-
ervation retail store.
Ventures is also planning to
meet with the officials of the
Puyallup Tribe, which operates
a cannabis testing facility, a point
of serious interest to Warm
Springs.
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Tanewasha.
Becky Danzuka is the family in-
terventionist and supervisor of the
Early Head Start and home visitors,
Michelle Jim and Patricia Brown,
and currently recruiting to fill one
vacancy.
Jody Begay is the family services
coordinator, supervising the family
ser vice advocate Cheyenne
Wahnetah, and currently recruiting
for one other.
Danni Katchia is the health ser-
vices coordinator, and Angie Spino
is the Head Start – Early Head Start
office manager.
The early intervention program
consists of the professional special-
ists from the High Desert educa-
tion service district, tribal disabili-
ties
coordinator
Edna
Campuzano, and consulting
teacher Rose Ball.
Warm Springs Head Start –
Early Head Start also contracts
a mental health specialist to meet
the requirements of the Head
Start policy and regulations.
(See HEAD START on 3)
‘ Celestial Visions’
opening at Museum
The Museum at Warm Springs
will open the Celestial Visions
exhibition this Thursday, Febru-
ary 2. The opening reception will
start at 5:30 p.m. This is the
2017 Tribal Youth Art Exhibit,
celebrating this summer’s total
eclipse of the sun. Works by
individual and classrooms will be
on display.
The Twenty-Fourth Annual
Tribal Youth Art Show will be on
display in the Changing Exhibits
through early April.
Stop by the museum this
Thursday afternoon at 5:30 to
honor the youth artists.
At left, an interesting
work, Dreamer, by Alexi
Smith, 12.
Photos courtesy Natalie Kirk/Curator - Museum at Warm Springs
3 Teepees by Adrianna
Perez, 14
Horse by Kiahna Allen, 9
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Healthy
snowpack
so far this
winter
The snowpack this winter in the
region is about 122 percent of av-
erage. This will help the roots and
fish in the spring.
Tribal Natural Resources is plan-
ning this week to take snowmobiles
out to measure the snowpack spe-
cifically on the reservation. To
make the measurements, they take
snowmobiles up to the Bald Peter
area, toward Mt. Jefferson, said
Ryan Smith, hydrologist and tribal
environmental manager.
The snowpack this year is
healthy, especially in comparison
with some other recent years. In
2015, for instance, the level was 41
percent of average; and in 2014,
thirty-seven percent of average.
There have been no major
weather related medical emergencies
so far this winter, as residents and
departments have gone out of their
way to help one another.
There are more than 1,000
homes on the reservation; so the
departments—mainly BIA Roads
and Utilities—were not able to clear
all the driveways.
Instead, the focus was on elders,
particularly those with medical con-
ditions such as a need for dialysis.
A list of elders’ names and addresses
was made available from Vital Sta-
tistics.
(See HEAD START on 3)
Change in
marriage
requirement
Almost no jurisdiction in the U.S.
still requires a blood test before two
people can obtain a marriage license.
Of the states, only Montana and
Mississippi, plus the District of
Columbia, have the requirement.
The Tribal Council decided re-
cently to eliminate the blood test and
health certificate requirement for
people wanting to obtain a tribal
marriage license.
The action came on recommen-
dation of the tribal Justice Team.
The requirement was that “tribal
members who wish to be married
must obtain a ‘health certificate’
from a licensed physician certifying
that the marriage license applicants
are free from certain medical ill-
nesses and conditions…”
The Justice Team recommended
the elimination of the requirement
as outdated, and because Oregon
no longer has the requirement.
People wanting to avoid the test
could simply go off reservation to
get married; so having a tribal
blood-test requirement was obso-
lete. It was inconvenient and an
avoidable expense for members, so
Council removed it.