Spilyay Tym
Coyote News, est. 1976
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
December 20, 2017 - Vol. 42, No. 26
December – Nch’i-An - Winter - Yiyam
John Kalama, Andy Stacon
and Dennis White (clockwise
from front) form the foundation
for the new entranceway at
the Children’s Protective
Services Center. The
Construction crew has been
at the CPS remodel project for
about a month. Already the
building is unrecognizable,
with the whole interior being
redone from floor to ceiling.
The new layout is much more
practical, giving added space
for the infant center, laundry
facilities, offices, better
access and hallways, etc.
There will be a new roof, and
exterior and interior paint.
Construction foreman Tim
Johnson expects the work to
be done in late January or
February.
Plan to
move
historic
building
Next door, a Housing crew is
remodeling the Vern Jackson
Home. This will be for
transitional living, a facility for
children and their parents.
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Name the new Travel Plaza restaurant
A mong the many amenities and
services, the tribes’ Plateau
Travel Plaza will feature a new
restaurant with seating for 70.
As the grand opening is just a
few months away, the restaurant
is in need of a name.
Indian Head Casino has
launched a naming contest open
to Warm Springs community
members. Some guidelines to
keep in mind:
The name should reflect posi-
tively and descriptively on the
Travel Plaza. The name must be
original, not likely to be confused
with another similar business or
enterprise; and not be the trade-
mark, trade name or property
of another person or entity.
In instances where the same
name is submitted, the commit-
tee will select the one with the
earliest entry by time and date.
The author of the winning sug-
gestion, chosen by the selection
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Billboard on the highway announcing the Plateau Travel Plaza.
committee, will receive a $250
check. Members of the commit-
tee will not know the names asso-
ciated with the contest.
Additional rules: Only two en-
tries per submission. The winner
is solely responsible for all federal,
state and local taxes on the prize.
All entries are due by January
6. Entries can be mailed to Indian
Head Casino, attention Nicole
Garcia-Smith, PO Box 890, Warm
Springs, OR 97761. Or email her
at: NGarcia-Smith@indianhead
gaming.com.
General manager on board
Another important develop-
ment at the Plateau Travel Plaza is
the hiring of the general manager,
Eric Angel. The search and hiring
process has been thorough and ex-
tensive, as the Travel Plaza is a
unique and vital project for the
tribes.
Years of experience working
with these kinds of projects, and
with Native American tribes in
particular, were the factors in
bringing Mr. Angel on board,
said Jeffrey Carstensen, Indian
Head Casino general manager.
Most recently, Mr. Angel was
manager of the Golden Acorn
Travel Plaza near San Diego,
owned by the Campo
Kumeyaay Nation. To the Pla-
teau Travel Plaza, he brings
seven years’ experience, and
enthusiasm and dedication to
the interests of the tribes and
membership.
Personally, Mr. Angel comes
from a humble background in
Indiana, working his way to
management positions of re-
sponsibility.
(See PLATEAU on page 3)
For many reasons a year to remember
T his past year the most dramatic
day on the reservation ‘overshad-
owed’ some of the bigger develop-
ments of 2017.
The Great Eclipse was unforget-
table, but there were other events
of greater long-term importance to
the membership. For example:
At the beginning of the year Kah-
Nee-Ta had only a small chance of
staying open. The yearly cost to the
tribes had become wholly unviable.
The beloved resort would be gone,
along with 180 seasonal jobs.
Then at midyear—with the clo-
sure deadline approaching—the re-
sort board found an investment and
management partner. The transi-
tion to AV Northwest is set for New
Year’s Day.
The partner will assume manage-
ment, and invest millions—for won-
derful improvements, plus intrigu-
ing additions at the Village. The
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Spilyay Courtyard at Kah-Nee-Ta.
resort—owned by the tribes since
1961—will stay open, beginning a
new chapter in 2018.
Some four months before the
Great Eclipse, the tribes celebrated
another important day: It was mid
April when Indian Head Casino
and the tribes broke ground on the
Plateau Travel Plaza. This was a
day years in the making. Briefly:
The tribes own 10 acres strate-
gically located at the entrance to
the Madras Industrial Park, just
KNT
off the highway. This trust par-
cel had been in disuse for many
years, though research showed a
clear business opportunity.
Based on the research, Tribal
Council in 2015 approved a gam-
ing board plan to develop the site.
The board and management
worked on the financing; con-
struction began in April, and the
Plateau Travel Plaza will open in
the spring.
Meanwhile this year the tribes
saw the completion of the Ox-
bow Dredge Mining Restoration
projection. Two miles of the
Middle Fork of the John Day—
within the tribes’ 1,000-plus
acres on the river—were made
whole again, helping the salmon.
This was a project of the Con-
federated Tribes Branch of
Natural Resources, and the
BPA. The completion and dedi-
cation in the summer of 2017
celebrated a project the tribes,
Natural Resources and BPA
began in 2001.
And just this month we’ve
seen the start of the Downtown
project. Twenty-Seventeen may
be remembered as the year of
the Great Eclipse, though other
big things happened of lasting
importance.
Dave McMechan
The Warm Springs Community
Action Team has Tribal Council
approval for a business development
project on the campus.
The project involves the two-
story ‘old commissary’ building, an
historic structure built in the late
Nineteenth Century.
The Community Action Team
plan is to relocate the old commis-
sary from its current location by the
Post Office and police station.
The new site for the building
would be Highway 26 and Paiute
Avenue, the area of the Kalama Fry
Bread stand. The Community Ac-
tion Team secured an Administra-
tion for Native Americans grant that
will help with the moving costs.
The Action Team has also re-
ceived close to $70,000 in pro bono
architectural and landscape design
services.
At its new site with extensive
improvements, the old commissary
would serve as a private business
development center.
Small business owners in the com-
munity would have space in the
building to set up their shops. The
building would also house a small
business promotion and coaching
center, said Dustin Seyler, Commu-
nity Action Team finance counse-
lor and small business advisor.
The Community Action Team
has been working on the business
development project for about two
years, meeting with small business
owners, and securing funding and
architectural-landscape design ser-
vices.
The initial idea for the project
goes back some years before that,
having been identified in the 2005
War m Springs Downtown Im-
provement Plan. The plan, com-
missioned at the time by the Tribal
Council:
“Calls for the tribes to take steps
to clear a new site for the commis-
sary building, move the building, de-
velop structural and architectural
plans for a new foundation and
renovated interior, seek and obtain
funding to move and renovate the
building, and establish a committee
that will provide ongoing oversight
and programming of activities and
maintenance.”
Then last year the Warm Springs
Community Action Team met with
50 local small business owners. A
general consensus among the own-
ers: In the downtown area “there is
a lack of retail sales space and of-
fice space. There are no buildings
to work out of, and no downtown
business district in which to oper-
ate.”
Following a presentation by the
Action Team early this month,
Tribal Council approved a 10-year
lease of the commissary building in
order to carry out the Downtown
Plan and the business owner survey.