Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
April 11, 2018
Page 7
Lifetime, Twanat awards at museum Honor Dinner
The Museum at Warm Springs
on Saturday will host the Sixteenth
Annual Honor Dinner. The
evening will include the presenta-
tion of the Twanat Award, and two
Lifetime Achievement Awards.
The Twanat Award recipient this
year is Michael Hammond. Mr.
Hammond was the executive direc-
tor of the museum at the time of
its opening in 1993.
During his eight year tenure,
programs began that still continue
today. These include the Annual
Tribal Youth Art Exhibit, the Seeds
of Discovery science field day, the
Tribal Member Art Exhibit, and
special arts and crafts programs for
youth.
The Lifetime Achievement
Award recipients this year are the
Hon. Edward J. Leavy and Louie
Pitt Jr.
Judge Leavy is a distinguished
Senior Circuit Court Judge of the
United States Court of Appeals
for the Ninth Circuit, and one of
Oregon’s most admired jurists.
Judge Leavy has assisted the tribes
and the U.S. to resolve long-stand-
ing issues in a joint, cooperative
and amicable manner.
Louie Pitt Jr. is the Director of
Governmental Affairs for the
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs. He is responsible for
maintaining relationships with off-
reservation governmental entities,
looking out for tribal interests, and
ensuring open communications.
This year’s award recipients join
this list of distinguished individu-
als, former honorees of the Mu-
seum at Warm Springs:
Twanat Award
2003—Governor Victor Atiyeh.
2004—Sen. Daniel Inouye.
2005—The Honorable Owen
Panner.
2006—Kenneth Smith.
2007—Richard West.
2008—Sherman Alexie.
2009—Gordon Smith.
2010—Elizabeth Furse.
2011—Commander
John
Herrington.
2012—Lillian Pitt.
2013—Professor Charles
Wilkinson.
2014—Billy Mills
2015—Spencer Beebe
2016—Governor
Ted
Kulongoski.
2017—Elizabeth Woody.
Lifetime Achievement Award
2006—Richard L. Kohnstamm.
2007—Chief
Nelson
Wallulatum and Warren Rudy
Clements.
2008—Olney Patt Sr. and
Stanley Speaks.
2009—Chief Delvis Heath Sr.
2010—James D. Noteboom.
2011—The Confederated Tribes
of Siletz Indians.
2012—Broughton Bishop and
Adeline Miller
2013—Stephen Wright.
2014—Dennis Karnopp.
2015—Tina Kuckkahn-Miller.
2016—Dr. Thomas Creelman
and the late Jeanie Thompson-
Smith.
2017—Donald J. Stastny and
Steven Andersen.
The 2018 Museum at Warm
Springs Honor Dinner will be at
the World Forestry Center in Port-
land.
Great cause at
Black Bear Diner
Over the past years, the
Jefferson County Relay for
Life Teams and the Madras
Black Bear Diner have
partnered to help fight the
fight against cancer.
Black Bear Madras owner
Joe Davis will have the Relay
Teams assisting in bussing
tables and collecting tips on the
evenings of May 11 and 18.
So please bring your fam-
ily and friends out to the Black
Bear Diner on May 11 and 25.
The American Cancer So-
ciety and Relay for Life is
committed to saving lives
from cancer. Your donations
help us fight all types of can-
cer, for all types of people, in
all types of communities
around the globe.
Spirits
& Lands
The tribes celebrated the
Second Annual Warm
Springs Healing our Spirits
& Lands Round Dance in
late March at the Community
Center.
Jayson Smith photos
Buy Back: question of ‘fair market value’
(Continued from page 1)
Having a consolidated land in-
terest would allow the tribes to de-
ter mine, and then potentially
implement, the best use of the
land.
Best use is precluded when mul-
tiple people—heirs of the original
allottee—own fractions of an in-
terest in the particular parcel.
After the April 24 deadline
passes, it is possible this year that
the Buy Back program will have a
second series of offers. This could
help address the low response to
the first wave of offers, Mr. Jack-
son said.
Councilman Jody Calica raised
the issue of the Buy Back program
assessment of ‘fair market value’
of the allotments in questions.
Tribal Council had raised the
fair market value issue in Febru-
ary, when Council met with ap-
praisers from the Office of Ap-
praisal Services, an office of the
Department of the Interior. Ap-
praisers from this office have
worked with tribes and the BIA to
implement the Buy-Back compo-
nent of the Cobell settlement.
The Office of Appraisal Ser-
vices last year used a process called
‘mass appraisal’ to come up with
fair market value calculations for
more than 340 tracts on the Warm
Springs Reservation.
Mass appraisal is used to calcu-
late fair market values for large
numbers of parcels. This is a less
expensive alternative to site spe-
cific appraisals.
The mass appraisal value of a
parcel can be quite different from
the site specific value, in some
cases a much lower value. In these
instances, the appraisers evaluate
the information in order to recon-
cile the figures, with the hope of a
achieving a fair market value.
Willing sellers
Land Buy Back purchases are
made only from willing sellers at
fair market value, as set by the
Office of Appraisal Services.
Consolidated interests are im-
mediately restored to tribal trust
ownership for uses benefiting the
reservation community and tribal
members. Benefits of the program,
as described in the Buy Back lit-
erature:
Returning fractionated lands to
tribes in trust has potential to im-
prove tribal community resources
by increasing home site locations,
improving transportation routes,
spurring economic development,
easing approval for infrastructure
and community projects, and pre-
serving traditional cultural or cer-
emonial sites.
Fractionated interests in prop-
erty make good use difficult, be-
cause of the number of people—
hundreds, even thousands—with
an interest. The land buy-back
program would give fair market
value to each individual who has
an interest in an allotment, plus $75.
Native poet Laura Da’
at Madras COCC
Laura Da’ is an award
winning poet and proud
member of the Eastern
Shawnee Tribe of
Oklahoma.
Da’s poetry weaves
rich images to create a
shifting vision of the
past and present.
Coming up on Wednesday, April
18 with Warm Springs Recreation:
There will be a Penny Carni-
val at the Community Center 5-
7:30.
Laura will be present-
ing on the Madras
Campus in the Commu-
nity Room on Wednes-
day, April 25.
At 12 a light lunch
will be provided
Then at 12:30-1:30
Laura will read selec-
tions of her poetry and
facilitate a discussion
with questions and
answers.
Laura will also be
selling some of her
books. Free and open
to all.
There is a family movie night
on Wednesday at 5:30 at the former
elementary school gym. They will
show Moana. Don’t forget to bring
your own seating.