Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
June 21, 2017 - Vol. 42, No. 13
June – Atixan – Spring - Wawaxam
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Happy Pi-Ume-Sha
The Forty-Seventh Annual
Treaty Days starts this Wednesday,
June 21 with the Pi-Ume-Sha
Health Fair—with the theme this
year, ‘Water is Life.’ The health fair
is through 1 p.m. this Wednesday at
the community center.
Next is the opening of the new
Museum at Warm Springs exhibit,
Celestial Visions. Grand opening—
the theme anticipating the 2017 to-
tal solar eclipse—is this Thursday,
June 22, at 5:30 p.m.
The first of the weekend Grand
Entries is Friday, June 23 at 7 p.m.
at the powwow grounds.
The Pi-Ume-Sha Traditional Pa-
rade is Saturday at 11 a.m., before
the 1 p.m. Grand Entry. Pi-Ume-
Sha then hosts two more Grand
Entries, Saturday evening at 7; and
Sunday at 2 p.m.
The powwow this year marks
162 years since the signing of the
Treaty of 1855. In that year tribal
leaders of the Tenino, Tyigh,
Wyam, Dockspuse and Wasco
agreed to treaty terms as presented
by Indian Affairs, then a division
of the U.S. War Department.
Tribal leaders signed the treaty
on June 25, 1855, near Celilo Falls.
Pi-Ume-Sha began in 1970, dur-
ing the Vietnam War, and was an
honor to veterans—still a central
feature of powwow weekend.
Tribal Council discussion
with school district officials
Tribal Council met with the new
superintendent of the Jefferson
County School District 509-J, and
the outgoing superintendent.
The new superintendent is Ken
Parshall, also the principal for the
past two years of the Warm Springs
Academy. The outgoing superinten-
dent is Rick Molitor, resigning to
focus on his business enterprise.
Mr. Molitor presented Tribal
Council with a Pendleton blanket
featuring a white buffalo image, the
mascot at Madras High School. He
said the partnership between the
tribes and the school district to build
the Warm Springs Academy was a
highlight of his career as superin-
tendent.
Council Chair man Austin
Greene Jr. agreed on this point.
“The effort to pass the referendum
was a remarkable step in investing
in our children,” Chairman Greene
said. The membership, manage-
ment, Twenty-Sixth Tribal Council
and school district worked hard to
make it a reality, he said.
Council Vice Chairman Jody
Calica said there had been a 40-
year impasse in developing a new
school in Warm Springs, and he
appreciates the help in overcom-
ing the impasse.
He added that the tribes and
district now have to come up with
a new long-term education agree-
ment, a matter that has been pend-
ing for about a year now.
Jayson Smith/Spilyay
The Confederated Tribes, the Education Committee and school district 509-J hosted the first
Warm Springs Academy Powwow. The Ich’inun Summer Jam Powwow Slam was held the
Tuesday evening of the last week of the school year.
(See SCHOOL on page 7)
Balloon test
flight for
solar eclipse
Veterans
Memorial
Park
The architect working with the
Warm Springs Veterans Memo-
rial Park Committee has devel-
oped a design for the project.
Meanwhile the funding details are
being worked out.
The architects Statsny Brun
also designed the museum, and
are donating services to the me-
morial park committee.
Some funding can come in-
kind, such as through the use of
tribal services for some of the
work. Other funding will come
from grant sources, such as the
Spirit Mountain Community
Fund. Tribal development direc-
tor Bruce Irwin was working on
this in recent weeks.
A design of the project in-
cludes an elevated mound with
concrete walkways lead up to the
central feature. This feature in-
cludes seven flags: Those of the
VFW, American Legion, POW/
MIA, Warriors flag, Confeder-
ated Tribes of Warm Springs,
state of Oregon, and the United
States. Other notable features:
A bronze Warrior Statue, the
The architect’s concept image of the Veterans Memorial Park at the Museum at Warm Springs.
Soldier’s Cross, Service Medallions,
ten basalt columns, and names of
the veterans of the Confederated
Tribes. There is a running water fea-
ture, and a central flame.
The Veterans Memorial Park
Committee working on the project
include Tamera Calhoun, president;
Charles Tailfeathers, vice president;
Susan Guerin, secretary; Johnathan
Courtney, treasurer; trustees AJ
Atencio, Dennis Dowty, Dan
Martinez and Alvis Smith III; and
Chaplain Phillip David.
Left:
Architect’s
schematic
of the
Veterans
Memorial
Park
design.
Graphics courtesy
StastnyBrun
Architects and the
Veterans Memorial
Park Committee.
Students at the Warm Springs
Academy got to see a test flight of
a high-altitude helium balloon—the
kind that will launch here during the
August 21 solar eclipse.
The Space Grant Consortium,
the NASA partnership and academy
hosted the balloon demonstration in
the afternoon of the last day of
school.
The balloon ascended to a height
of 18,000 feet, said Aurolyn Stwyer,
Ventures marketing director, who
has been working with the NASA
partnership team.
After the balloon launch, the
team launched a rocket as the school
day ended. This is part of a Science
Technology, Engineering and Math-
ematics (STEM) curriculum.
Since the partnership has been
visiting Warm Springs, the academy
now has an engineering club.
A STEM summer camp, with an
unmanned aerial systems component
with Ventures, is another upcoming
project of the team. Then in Au-
gust, during the eclipse, they will
launch helium balloons equipped
with cameras.