Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
January 2, 2019 - Vol. 43, No. 1
Wiyak’ik’ila – Winter - Anm
Membership to elect new Tribal Council
Absentee ballots are expected to
be in the mail within the next few
weeks for the election of the
Twenty-Eighth Tribal Council of
the Confederated Tribes.
The election will be on April 4.
For a number of reasons, there
will not be a primary election for
the Agency District (see the letter of
explanation from Wasco Chief JR
Smith on page 4). To the candi-
dates:
Spilyay Tymoo and KWSO will
be providing information about
the candidates to the
membership, with a special edition
of the newspaper and candidate
interviews on KWSO.
You can submit a written state-
ment and a photo to the Spilyay.
If you don’t have a photo to sub-
mit, we can take the picture. You
can also email the statement and
photo to:
david.mcmechan@wstribes.org
Or stop by the Media Center
at 4174 Highway 3 in War m
Springs.
Statements should be limited to
250 words or fewer; as there are
a total of 36 candidates.
Candidates can also schedule
an interview with KWSO in Janu-
ary or February. Please call 541-
553-1968 to schedule a time. The
interview will take 15-20 minutes.
The Agency District nomi-
nees are (listed alphabetically):
Mike Clements. Austin Greene
Jr. Leona Ike. Anita Jackson.
Jeremiah Johnson. Cassie
Katchia. Dan Martinez. Carina
Miller. Jeff Sanders Jr. Wilfred
Sando. Dustin Seyler. Glendon
Smith. Randy Smith. Lola
Sohappy. Valerie Switzler.
See TRIBAL COUNCIL on 2
Show through January
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Shutdown
closed BIA
The Bureau of Indian Affairs of-
fice was closed as a result of the
partial federal government shut-
down. This includes the Office of
the Special Trustee.
Many federal workers had not
been working since the part shut-
down began in mid December. The
clinic was on regular business hours.
The shutdown affected some
federal grant processes of the tribes,
such as Housing and Urban Devel-
opment. The process went into a
kind of holding pattern during the
shutdown, said Chief Operations
Office Alyssa Macy.
Ball field
funding
explanation
Emily Courtney created the Painted Ladies series
(below) for the Twenty-Fifth Annual Tribal Member Art
Exhibit at the Museum at Warm Springs; while Travis
Bobb created the green M&M in traditional regalia. At
top is a detail from a beaded vest by Marge Kalama.
The exhibit is on display through January.
New board will work on tribal housing at river
There are more than 30 desig-
nated tribal fishing sites along the
mid Columbia River. The sites are
a legacy of the federal government’s
construction of the dams on the
Columbia.
The dams flooded the traditional
fishing sites, and also destroyed
homes and entire tribal villages.
The federal government for de-
cades now has been obligated to
provide housing for tribal members
who were displaced from their
homes by the dams and reservoirs.
After the construction of the
dams, the federal government re-
built homes for non-Indians who
were displaced, but nothing was
done for the Native people.
Some of these tribal members
have been living at the designated
fishing sites, in conditions that are
unsafe and unsanitary.
Then a few years ago, correct-
ing this long-standing omission be-
came a priority of lawmakers from
the Northwest. As a result of this
effort, the U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers is now working on a tribal
housing project at the Columbia.
The Corps last year received $1.8
million to develop a plan for the
housing project. Details—the loca-
tion and types of housing—will be
worked out with the tribes: The
Warm Springs, Yakama, Umatilla
and Nez Perce.
For its part, the Tribal
Council has created a new Co-
lumbia River intertribal hous-
ing entity, with a possible name
of N’Chi Wana Housing.
The board will work with
other tribes and the Corps of
Engineers on developing and
implementing the tribal hous-
ing project at the Columbia.
See HOUSING on page 2
The following explains the
Warm Springs ball fields funding
request the tribes made to the
Oregon Parks and Recreation
Grants Division funding program.
The program is called the Land and
Water Conservation Fund, or
LWCF.
This is a federal funding pro-
gram providing about $75 million
in annual funding to all 50 states
for outdoor parks and recreation
projects.
Warm Springs competed for
LWCF funding, and was awarded
$360,500. There is a requirement
that the tribes match that amount
at 50 percent, either in cash or in-
kind services such as construction
of areas and facilities that value
up to the required match amount.
So, the total amount of project
funding is valued at $721,000.
In November the LWCF pro-
gram managers at Oregon State
Parks contacted the tribes, saying
there was a surplus in LWCF
funds.
They asked if the tribes might
be in interested in adjusting their
original budget request, and add
more funds on a 50-percent-to-50-
percent matching basis.
The offer to add more funding
to the original grant application
without having to write an entire
grant proposal again was a rare and
unusual opportunity. So here is the
ballfield funding summary, as of
late December:
· The most recent request for
an adjustment in grant application
funding is for an additional
$202,000 on top of the original
award of $721,000 for a new to-
tal of $923,000, has not been ap-
proved and authorized as of De-
cember 28, 2018.
· Additional funding would go
to construct for an eight fixtures
restrooms with four flush valve
type toilets and four laboratories
(sinks), all accessible and unisex
type near the future multi-purpose
fields overlying the two 300 foot
softball fields.
See BALL FIELDS on page 2