Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
April 12, 2017 - Vol. 42, No. 8
April – Hawit`an – Spring - Wawaxam
Academy principal is new superintendent
The Jefferson County School
District 509-J Board of Directors
hired Warm Springs Academy Prin-
cipal Ken Parshall as the new dis-
trict superintendent.
Mr. Parshall has been the Warm
Springs Academy principal since the
beginning of the 2015 school year.
For the first two years of his ten-
ure as district superintendent,
Parshall will continue to serve as the
Warm Springs Academy principal.
This will be a challenge, he said;
but he wants to see the positive mo-
mentum continue at the Academy.
Parshall will take over as super-
intendent at the end of the current
school year, after the resignation of
current superintendent Rick
Principal-superintendent Parshall
Molitor.
The board members were unani-
mous in their choice of Parshall as
superintendent. They were espe-
cially excited about his experience
and success in turning around and
improving school performance.
Before joining the Warm Springs
Academy, Parshall was principal at
McNary and McKay high schools
in the Salem-Keizer district. Later
he was Salem-Keizer assistant dis-
trict superintendent, overseeing 63
schools.
Another change coming up
within the school district is the board
of directors. There are three posi-
tions up for election on the five-
member school board. The vote
will be the third Tuesday in May.
Candidates who are running in-
clude:
Position no. 1: Laurie
Danzuka of Warm Springs; and
Brian Crow of Madras.
Position no. 2: Jamie Hurd
of Madras; Juan Leach Orozco
of Madras; Sue Matters of
Warm Springs; and Gary Sisk of
Madras.
Position no. 3: Tom Norton
of Madras; and Alyssa Macy of
Warm Springs.
It looks possible that this new
school board, and new superin-
tendent will work with the tribal
Education Committee and Tribal
Council on a new long-term
education agreement with the
tribes.
The Children’s Protective
Services hosted an
awareness march last
week, with more than 100
people joining in the walk.
They marched from the
CPS building to the
community center, where
they enjoyed a lunch.
Joining the CPS team and
families were employees
from the Health and Human
Services Branch, Warm
Springs Police and Fire and
Safety, and others.
RETURN SERVICE
REQUESTED
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Proposed law
to address sea
lion problem
Columbia River tribes support a
proposed law to protect salmon and
steelhead runs in the Columbia
River by allowing for more efficient
removal of predatory sea lions.
Studies by the National Marine
Fisheries Service and others show
that predatory sea lions are having
an ongoing significant and detrimen-
tal impact on the fish runs.
NOAA Fisheries Service esti-
mates that up to 45 percent of a
recent spring chinook run was po-
tentially lost to sea lions.
Twenty years ago sea lions in the
Columbia were not a problem. In
more recent years, though, they have
moved up the river, and even into
smaller tributaries.
The proposed law to address the
problem is the Endangered Salmon
and Fisheries Predation Prevention
Act, introduced last week by Rep.
Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.)
and Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.).
A limited removal program has
been in effect since 2011, but a re-
view concluded the program insuf-
ficiently addresses the impacts to
endangered salmon. And hazing is
not an effective deterrent (related
article on page 5).
The new legislation would clear
up inefficiencies and red-tape to al-
low more effective management of
the sea lion population in the Co-
lumbia.
The day was to raise
awareness of April as Child
Abuse Prevention Month.
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Cannabis Commission hires executive director
The Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs Cannabis Commis-
sion has hired its executive direc-
tor. The commission hired Joe
Jensen, Environmental Scientist, as
executive director.
Jensen has 15 years experience
as an Environmental Scientist, and
also is experienced with cannabis
growing operations.
As an Environmental Scientist,
Jensen has worked with Oregon
tribes, including the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs.
He began growing about eight
years ago, when a family member
developed a medical condition that
required cannabis.
The combination of qualifica-
tions—on the environmental regu-
latory side, and the cannabis grow-
ing aspect—were factors in the hir-
ing decision, Cannabis Commission-
ers said.
Jensen started work last week.
His office is located at War m
Springs Ventures.
The hiring process took some
time, mainly because of weather:
The commission advertised the job
late last year, but found it impos-
sible to schedule all the interviews
because of the snow conditions this
past winter.
An initial project that Jensen will
be focusing on is the development
of the greenhouse growing facility
in the Dry Creek area. The
timeline for this is in the 6-month
range, with Warm Springs Con-
struction doing part of the job,
Jensen said.
The first crop can be expected
about four months later, he said.
Hiring the personnel needed to run
the operation will be another pri-
ority coming up soon.
The tribes have a Cannabis
Code, and a formal agreement with
the state of Oregon. These will
allow for the production of the
cannabis on reservation, and its
transport off the reservation. All
the sales will be off-reservation.
The crops will be grown in ac-
cordance with the state standards,
developed by the Oregon Depart-
ment of Agriculture, Jensen said.
The regulatory authority on the res-
ervation is the commission; while
off the reservation the authority
is the Oregon Liquor Control Com-
mission.
The testing of the tribal cannabis
will be done by an independent
third party testing lab. It is pos-
sible a tribe in Washington may
provide the ser vice to War m
Springs, said Don Sampson, execu-
tive director of Warm Springs Ven-
tures. Some time in the future an
interesting enterprise for the tribes
Joe Jensen
could be the development of its
own testing lab, Mr. Sampson said.
Unique enterprise
The hiring of the commission
executive director is a great step
toward carrying out the mandate
of the tribal cannabis referendum.
The membership is December
2015 approved the idea by a large
majority vote. Ventures then be-
gan the process of working out
some complicated legal aspects
of the project.
For instance, the state of Or-
egon had legalized cannabis earlier
in 2015. But the reservation is
outside of state jurisdiction, re-
quiring instead work with the
federal government.
The agencies involved were
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the
U.S. Marshal’s Office, and espe-
cially the U.S. Department of
Justice.
The tribes’ cannabis project
is unique, so the talks were about
a subject with no precedent.
In time, all parties were on
board with the legality of the
tribal proposal, which essentially
is for equal treatment and access
to the legitimate state market.
Ventures, Tribal Council and
legal counsel developed the
tribes’ Cannabis Code, and an
agreement of understanding
with the state of Oregon.
Tribal Council appointed the
Cannabis Commission: Ronald
Roome, attorney and former
tribal judge pro tem; Shana
Radford, Health Liaison with
Health and Human Services;
and Starla Green, who has many
years experience in law enforce-
ment.
Their recent commission ac-
tion was to hire Jensen, who ar-
rives here from Scappoose with
wife Hilary and son Liam.
Final phases
of mill
removal
Tribal Council approved phase 1
of the final mill site cleanup. This
involves the removal of the saw-
mill building, the biggest problem
area at the site.
Another building, called the tur-
bine building or pumphouse, would
have the doors and windows sealed
to prevent trespass. Tribal Council
toured the site last week with the
WSFPI liquidation receiver,
Hamstreet & Associates.
The problem at the property is
one of liability: if someone were
trespassing and suffered an injury,
for instance.
Last year all assets at the mill
were auctioned off, leaving items of
no value: old tires, concrete, wood
debris and the smaller scrap metal.
There are eight buildings on the
20-acre site—the main office is the
best example—that have value and
will remain standing.
Total cost of the final cleanup is
estimated at over $300,000. Some
of the work, in the “boneyard” area
closest the river, could be done by
Warm Springs Construction.
For budgeting purposes the Tribal
Council separated the project into
phases, the first phase addressing
the most problematic areas, like the
sawmill structure.