E Coosh EEWA: The way it is Letters to the editor A painless way to stay healthy W ith their many festive holi- days, the fall and winter sea- sons can be the best times of year—unless you get the flu. In which case, for several days at least, this can be the worst time of year. The Warm Springs Com- munity Health nurses are pro- Spilyay viding flu Speaks shots—the best and most prac- tical way to prevent the flu. Even frequent hand wash- ing, and the use of hand sanitizers—both also highly recommended to avoid catching the virus—are not as reliable as the vaccination. The Community Health team will be at the Warm Springs Academy open house this Wednesday evening, Oc- tober 10, offering flu shots. If you miss them there, the Mobile Health Vehicle will be serving at these times, dates and places: Fire Management, Monday, October 15 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Indian Head Casino, Wednesday, October 17 from 9 a.m. to p.m. Tribal Administration, Tuesday, October 23 from 10 to 2. Three Warriors Market, Wednesday, October 24 from 9:30 to 1. And at the Comp and Benefits Fair on November 6 and 7. A vaccination protects you from the flu while also help- ing the community—includ- ing our vulnerable youth and elders—because you won’t be spreading the disease. Some other things to keep in mind: Cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and wash your hands afterward. Stay home when you are sick: If you’re sick, don’t get close to other people. If you’re well, avoid close con- tact with people who have the flu. But most importantly, get a flu shot: It’s painless, and for adults it lasts through the season. These days we are lucky to have the flu shot: One hundred years ago—in the winter of 1918-19—a lethal flu pandemic broke out. That fall and winter, 500 million people worldwide came down with the flu. Fifty- to 100-million people— about 5 percent of the popu- lation—died as result. The 1918 flu pandemic is one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. Fortunately today we have the vaccine. All things Housing Do-it-yourself mainte- nance, home ownership and HUD, housing assistance to veterans—The focus is on tribal housing at the upcom- ing Warm Springs Housing Authority Fair. Stop by the Greeley Heights community build- ing sometime between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday, October 24. In addition to the serious business on the agenda, there will be raffle prizes, door prizes and t- shirts. There will also be a light breakfast and lunch. Some additional agenda items: the Ross program, tax credits, health and safety, and demonstrations of mi- nor do-it-yourself mainte- nance. Contact Edna or any counselor at Housing for more information. Housing is at 1238 Veterans Way, near the administration building and Credit. Their number is 541-553-3358. Births Nayeli Jazlin McGill-Robinson Rex Bryant Robinson-An- geles and Tallulah Fawn McGill of Warm Springs are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter Nayeli Jazlin McGill-Robinson, born on September 22, 2018. Nayeli joins brothers Jasue, 16, and Adam, 13; and sisters Alyssa, 19, Natalya, 13, Monika, 10, Yeceli, 2, Aereliey, 16 months, Mahayla, 10, and Robin, 8. Grandmother on the father’s side is Amanda Robinson of Warm Springs. Grandmother on the mother’s side is Debra McGill of Warm Springs. LaRae Rose Hollilday Rony Holliday Jr. and Treauna Blueback of Warm Springs are pleased to an- nounce the birth of their daughter LaRae Rose Holliday, born on September 30, 2018. Grandparents on the father’s side are Talya and Tony Holliday Sr. Grandparents on the mother’s side are Kevin and Leana Blueback. Aspirations Native Aspirations of War m Springs wishes to thank the St. Charles Health System. St. Charles recently awarded Native Aspirations a $10,000 grant. Aspirations is a commu- nity organization dedicated to advancing youth interests Spilyay Tymoo (Coyote News, Est. 1976) Publisher Emeritus in Memorium: Sid Miller Editor: Dave McMechan Spilyay Tymoo is published bi-weekly by the Con- federated Tribes of Warm Springs. Our offices are located at 4174 Highway 3 in Warm Springs. Any written materials submitted to Spilyay Tymoo should be addressed to: Spilyay Tymoo, P.O. Box 489, Warm Springs, OR 97761. Phone: 541-553-2210 or 541-771-7521 E-Mail: david.mcmechan@wstribes.org. Annual Subscription rates: Within U.S.: $20.00 Page 4 Spilyay Tymoo October 10, 2018 Distinguished Alumna, Pat Courtney Gold of the Confederated Tribes. The group’s mission: To develop knowledge and skills through education, em- ployment readiness, and cul- tural exposure. This program offers 85 youth who are enrolled in high school, alternative edu- cation or GED courses the opportunity to gain 40 hours of programmed education and a minimum of 240 of on-the-job training during the summer. A minimum of six college students have the opportunity to be mentored by profes- sionals while they work in the Warm Springs Health and Human Services or related fields all year round fitting hours with their college sched- ules. The program works with Heart of Oregon Youth Corp to provide an additional 5 youth placements with a Tribal member supervisor. These are some of the fea- tures of Native Aspirations. The recent St. Charles Sys- tem grant comes from the Sister Catherine Hellmann Fund, created to help underserved people of the region. The grant to Native Aspirations was one of 10 re- cently awarded as part of the One Hundred Year Anniver- sary celebration of St. Charles. Referendum As a direct descendant of the Wasco Chief Toh-sympt, I must encourage our tribal membership to vote NO on the upcoming referendum on blood quantum. I was rather disheartened with the video interpretation that is not ac- curate in regards to how our ancestral tribal leadership viewed blood quantum. History cannot be changed to suit leadership or legal interpretation. Should this referendum pass, then we are changing history long M adras High School has tinctive art. For her dedication to this cause—and for her own masterful, often witty textile creations—she has won many honors, includ- ing the Oregon Governor’s Art Award and the NEA National Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor for folk and traditional artists. Ms. Courtney Gold is a 2018 Madras High School Distinguished Alumnus, this year joining Mr.Bob Shaw, Class of 1967; Ms. Elaine Ferguson Henderson, Class of 1952; Mr. Alan Watts, Class of 1978; Dr. Glenn Rodriguez, Class of 1972; and Mr. Joel Neilson, Class of 1992. named this year’s Distin- guished Alumni. Among the distinguished individu- als is Pat Courtney Gold, Madras High School Class of 1957. Ms. Courtney Gold grew up in Warm Springs. After high school she graduated from Whitman College, majoring in Math- ematics. Ms. Courtney Gold then taught high school Math, yet early on she was powerfully drawn to the traditional crafts and arts of her people. She was especially drawn to the el- egant and functional wo- ven bags, made for count- less generations by the Wasco women. Working with older relatives, including her mother, Ms. Courtney Gold and other Native art- ists led a revival of this dis- protected by our Treaty. We will erode our sovereignty and misalign our future. Our past leaders made one exception, to allow a one time allowance for the Wlx-push- palls due to these prisoners of war to the U.S. Cavalry that were left in our area who begin to marry into our treaty membership. The only other blood quantum accepted was the Columbia River ancestry. What this referendum will do is allow blood quantums from any recognized tribe. The long term impact will affect our already fragile fi- nancial wellness and in a mat- ter of time, our treaty rights. We, as a people, have an obligation to protect our sur- vival as a Tribe and encour- age our young to be respon- sible to marry or conceive children that do not risk mem- bership into our beloved Tribe. Choices have a long term impact, the only way to correct ill advised choices is not change policy to suit ill advised choices. Yuppie Indian Couple basket by Ms. Courtney Gold. Our responsibility must al- ways be to future generations that depend on us to make decisions based on their best interests. History is tied to sovereignty, sovereignty is tied to our Treaty. A Treaty negotiated to protect our un- written laws, our welfare, to bind our history with our fu- ture. Nye. Leona A.ike, Great-Great-Great Grand- daughter of Wasco Chief Toh-sympt. The Good Road of Life Suicide directly impacted 67 people in our community in 2017, the most recent year for which the data is available. These 67 individu- als had thoughts of suicide, or attempted suicide, and 15 of the 67 were youth. Dr. Clayton Small is Northern Cheyenne and has been to Warm Springs a few times. He has facilitated the Warm Springs youth camp, the Men’s Conference, and also presented at the spring Methamphetamine/Suicide Prevention Conference. Dr. Small returns to Warm Springs on Thursday and Fri- day, November 1 and 2, for the Survivors of Suicide Con- ference—The Good Road of Life: Challenges of Healing Native People. The conference will be at the Agency Longhouse both days from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. This year the Aspirations summer youth workers helped in the planning of the conference. They decided they wanted a day for adults, and a second day for the youth. The conference has been scheduled around the school schedule: Students will not be in school these two days. Mark your calendars. I hope you can make it. If you would like more information, call me at 541-615-0036. R o s a n n a Ja c k s o n , CTWS Suicide Prevention coordinator. Indian Business Talk: 2 debt payoff plans By Bruce Engle Loan officer W.S. Credit Enterprise Why 2? Depends on you. What? How? I am talking about two nationally recognized plans; the benefits of each, why you might choose one over the other, and maybe, how you might sometime benefit from using a bit from each to pay off a debt load. They both work if users follow the “rules”. The big- gest rule is: Make all your payments on time and in full, and keep on doing that until all the debts are no more! We’ll talk about ‘No more’ later. The first plan is the one most credit counselors have been taught. It saves the most money. That’s its main selling point. Your first task is to list all your debts from the highest interest rate debt to the low- est interest rate. Then you are to concentrate your main payoff effort on the debt with the highest interest rate. You will pay the minimum payments on each of your other debts. Then you will increase your payments as much as you can on that “highest interest rate” debt until it is gone. When that one is gone (forever maybe), take the money you were paying on it and start applying that amount in addition to your previous ‘minimum’ pay- ment on your new ‘highest interest rate’ debt. When that one has been paid off, keep on doing the same to each debt as you go through them from highest interest rate to—No debts. Again, that method—if you can keep on track—will save you the most money. The next repayment plan is the ‘Debt snowball’ by Dave Ramsey. He recom- mends attacking the debts from the smallest amount to the largest amount. Forget the interest rates! He thinks there is a more important factor to consider. It may be the psychologi- cal boost we get from a win; and then, another win. One boring win after another. One energizing win after an- other. His plan is to concentrate on paying off the smallest amount debt first while pay- ing the minimums on all the others. Pay that one off and then take that same payment amount and apply it to the new smallest balance debt. Keep doing that until they are no more. OK, how might the Snowball work better for some payers? Think of how down a los- ing football team might look when they are getting beat for the umpteenth time. It’s not a pretty sight. Now, imagine them just after their first win. And af- ter the next week’s win. Are they looking more confi- dent, walking taller and hap- pier? I think that is what the Snowball might do for a bor- rower who is feeling beat up and down. They begin to pile up some wins. They are walk- ing taller and doing better— for themselves and their de- pendents. Both plans can do that for their users. A third option would be to personalize a mixture of the plans depending upon the size of the debts with the highest interest rates. Imagine a $8,000 debt at 29 percent interest for 5 years. The monthly payments would be roughly $254. It would take 60 months for the first win. That might seem to be too much of a drag for some folks. A first win would come quicker if the balance on the 29 percent debt was one of the smallest on the list. That’s where a choice of “a right plan” might be a mixture of plans. The goal is to increase the chances for success in the debt re- payment battle. Again, the basic rule is to make all payments on time and in full. That includes Home, Vehicle, and Per- sonal Monthly Expenses. One way to get to an 800+ Credit Score is to pay off your personal credit card debts every month while never missing a monthly payment on your home and vehicle loans. Think ‘no more carry-over’ credit card balances. Let’s call that being on a ‘cash basis’ while still using a credit card for conve- nience. The Credit Report- ing Agencies like that. So do lenders and potential lend- ers. That’s a winning game plan. Execute and enjoy.