Page 8
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
February 13, 2019
Tribal Council election 2019 - Candidates
Leona Ike - Agency District
Our tribe will need us,
the people, to stand to-
gether. Negativity and
voting, or lack thereof,
has played a role in the
current state of our
Tribe. We need to have
hope and brush aside the
negativity of individuals
or groups so our Tribe
will be able to move for-
ward.
Voting is an important
voice, our young people
hold the voting majority:
We need you to advance
our community. I often
think of our past elders
who are long gone, each
and every one of us carry
their spirit in our spirit
and we need to recognize
that strength. Your vote
is part of that strength.
Participate in voting and
help lead us to better to-
morrows. Our past elders
always lead with hope, al-
ways hope. Hope gives
vision, vision gives us
goals, goals then can be
reached.
Addiction: We need to
find why, with such a big
alcohol and drug pro-
gram, Why our people still
struggle. Families and
homes are impacted, in-
cluding my own. Out-
reach is essential to a suc-
cessful program. Transpor-
tation is important for cli-
ents, and that needs to be
an added focus to our treat-
ment programs. Our courts
need improved vision to
improve success of those
who struggle with addiction.
There also must be fair-
ness in compensating our
working tribal membership.
Many are the working poor,
payday to payday. We need
to insure wage fairness for
our people. Lack of fair-
ness can contribute to hope-
lessness, negativity and frus-
tration. We need to be able
not to have to choose be-
tween food and the light bill.
Our children, grandchildren
and elders suffer and it
tears at the heart of the
working poor.
In our history we had
continued executive
leadership when our
tribe thrived. It wasn’t
until leadership politi-
cized these appoint-
ments that our Tribe
begin to flounder. Lewis
Pitt, Charles Jackson,
Vern Jackson and Ken
Smith were long term
public servants, and the
result of that: Our Tribe
was the strongest Tribe
in Indian Country.
Since Ken Smith we
have had more then a
dozen executive leaders
and three years is not
enough time to grasp a
vision to improve qual-
ity of government that
enhances tribal liveli-
hood. Instead, the im-
balance has caused im-
balance in our commu-
nity—poverty, addiction,
water issues, housing is-
sues, incarceration, lack
of quality infrastruc-
ture, etc.
Your vote and con-
tinued participation can
alleviate and assist in
turning these issues
around.
May our Creator al-
ways guide each and ev-
ery one all of us.
Leona Ike
Marcia Soliz - Agency District Write-In Candidate
I am seeking one of
the Tribe’s most impor-
tant and biggest jobs on
the reservation, Tribal
Council representative.
Each representative
should reflect on needs
and consider the totality
of the membership.
Using strategic think-
ing and following the
Constitution and other
key documents when
items are discussed and
decisions made is neces-
sary. Being that, a repre-
sentative is the most
challenging undertaking.
We need people with
experience, developed
knowledg e, maturity,
people who have empa-
thy, that have a demon-
strated actions of help-
ing our people and
Tribe.
We need people on
Council that are credible,
tr ustworthy, and can
speak with knowledge
and confidence about
many things, because they
need to be an advocate and
ambassador for the Tribe
and its people at the com-
munity level, state, regional
and national levels. We need
to reduce and alleviate cri-
sis response.
I believe the composition
of a leader is situation
awareness, experience and
memory, leadership values
and character.
Leadership has different
levels: Follower, leader of
people, leader of leaders,
and leader of organizations.
At minimum there are
five responsibilities:
briefing, debriefing, com-
municating hazards and
good news to others, ac-
knowledge and under-
stand messages from oth-
ers, and to ask if you
don’t know. Principles of
leadership are duty, re-
spect and integrity. What
are you for in an effec-
tive leader? Our People
Are The Most Important
‘Resource’ because with-
out them we won’t have
much. There’s room for
everyone to contribute to
and gain success.
I have the ability, ex-
perience and strength to
be an effective leader
for you. This is an op-
portunity to put worthy
leadership in place.
Please Vote, and I hum-
bly ask you to Write Me
In on the ballot as one
of your Agency votes.
Thank you,
Marcia Soliz
Anita Jackson - Agency District
I am a Tribal Council
candidate for the Agency
District and ask for your
vote on April 4, 2019. I
grew up on our reserva-
tion and worked for the
Tribes at Kah-Nee-Ta,
Legal Aide, Tribal Court,
Public Safety, and the
Warm Springs Gaming
Commission.
For many years now,
we as a nation and indi-
vidually, have experienced
declines in every area of
life and our government
has not been able to ei-
ther slow down or stop
the decline. We cannot
survive, let alone thrive,
under the current condi-
tions. We must come to-
gether as one Nation, with
common goals and plans,
commit to put differences
aside, and to work to-
gether to save ourselves
and our Home for our
future generations. We
are descendants of strong
People and our Ancestors
faced even greater chal-
lenges in their day. Our An-
cestors worked together for
our benefit and the benefit
of future generations. We
can save ourselves, we can
save our future, and we can
once again thrive as a Na-
tion but it will take dedica-
tion and new leadership.
If I am elected to serve
as your representative on
Tribal Council, I pledge the
following:
To support tribal culture
and traditions, our Native
languages, and our unwrit-
ten laws, and rely on them
as the foundation of our
government.
To protect the sover-
eignty of our People and
ensure our Treaty reserved
rights are protected.
To do all in my power to
ensure our Tribe does not
allow favoritism, nepotism,
protectionism, or black-ball-
ing, but rather serves all of
us equally and fairly.
Tribal-wide issues such
as employment, housing,
health services, education
and substance-abuse pre-
vention will be my prior-
ity; to strengthen the
Tribal Member Prefer-
ence Employment Policy
and Tribal TERO Policy
so it applies to all Tribal
Departments and Enter-
prises.
I love my People and
Reservation. We are a
Great Nation with so
many blessings from the
Creator. We are here to-
day because of the hard
work, vision and sacri-
fices of our Ancestors,
and we owe the same to
our present and future
generations. Let’s love
each other, find the best
in each other, and be nice
to each other as has been
our teachings since time
immemorial.
Anita Jackson
Randy Smith - Agency District
Good day my people,
I would like to share
some personal history as
a candidate to represent
the
Agency/War m
Springs members, both
those living today and
those generations that
will inevitably follow.
I am 69 years in age,
I have resided in Warm
Springs my entire life
and am especially proud
of the fact that my gen-
eration was the benefac-
tors of brilliant Tribal
leadership. Although the
Chiefs and elected Rep-
resentatives back in the
day were not formally
educated, they had a
clear picture of our
Treaty and traditions,
and the intuitiveness to
comprehend the impor-
tance of formal educa-
tion and the important
role it would play in im-
proving the lives of the
membership, as well as
protecting our Sover-
eignty, Treaty Rights,
and the future of the
following generations.
Tribal leadership of
that era I believe based
all of the business deci-
sions upon the “oral tra-
ditions of our Treaty.”
They shared a mutual
commitment to the en-
tire membership regard-
less of district, and had
the inherent ability to uti-
lize the “common sense”
that our elders emphasized.
As a child, I recall these
leaders carrying briefcases,
which I believed to be very
odd at the time, the late
1950s, but today I realize
that they were educating
themselves to preserve our
Treaty Rights.
Another strong attribute
was not only did these lead-
ers emphasize higher edu-
cation to their children and
the membership, but when
these individuals returned
home they listened to rec-
ommendations. They ac-
cepted and acted upon
these recommendations, if
there was no apparent
threat to the oral teachings
and the Treaty, as passed
down by the elders.
This is my rose model
that I would bring to the
table if elected as your/our
representative. One indi-
vidual alone cannot restore
the hopes and dreams of
the young adults, chil-
dren and future genera-
tions. Unity within Coun-
cil chambers is para-
mount: Without it the
future of our children
will be dismal and void
of anything positive.
I was provided nu-
merous opportunities
growing up. I experi-
enced the pride of be-
ing enrolled with the
Warm Springs Reserva-
tion, which was nation-
ally and internationally
renowned as the most
“progressive Tribe in the
nation.” It is this exact
model that other suc-
cessful tribes of today
followed to improve the
lives of their member-
ship, a combining of
both oral teachings and
contemporary business
decisions that not only
provided the member-
ship today, but also for
future generations.
Our elders may not
have been very educa-
tion, but they held our
oral and Traditional
Teachings in the highest
regards. They had a
common sense to not
only grasp but compre-
hend the realities of the
day in accordance to the
teachings that were
passed down.
Thank you,
Randy Smith
Taw ‘TJ’ Foltz - Simnasho District
Cassie Katchia - Agency District
Taw ‘TJ’ Foltz received
his AAOT in Education
from Central Oregon
Community College, and
is currently working as a
Prevention Coordinator
in Warm Springs.
He is a strong advo-
cate for a drug and alco-
hol free community.
He has coached dif-
ferent sports for several
years in the local commu-
nity, and has been a part
of various community
coalitions. These include
the Native Aspirations Coa-
lition, and Let’s Talk Diver-
sity.
His professional interests
focus on the well being of
the community, and helping
train prevention personnel.
His current projects in-
clude creating training ma-
terial for new and current
prevention coordinators.
In addition, he is attend-
ing OSU-Cascades, major-
ing in Human Develop-
ment and Family Science
with an emphasis on Hu-
man Services.
He was recently hon-
ored by being named to
the Dean’s List while at-
tending Central Oregon
Community College. He
has had the honor of
making this list twice
while attending this insti-
tution.
When he is not at-
tending school or focus-
ing on work, Taw enjoys
watching his children
play sports or participat-
ing in sports himself.
Hello Tribal Members,
I’m Catherine ‘Cassie’
Katchi.
My mother passed
away over 22 years ago.
But she worked hard
until her passing. She was
the traditional cultural
specialist, and lifetime
Agency Longhouse mem-
ber.
My father was Cy
Katchia. He worked in
different areas, ending
his employment in BIA
Roads. He had several
appointments to the
Land Use and Water
boards. He passed in 2007.
I graduated from Ma-
dras High School in 1975.
I attended Central Oregon
Community College, earn-
ing over 110 credits.
I began work for Ac-
counting as an accounts
payable aid, moved to full-
time staff Accountant, and
worked Accounts Receiv-
able, Payroll, Cash Man-
agement.
I administered federal
contracts and grants, state
grants, local agreements. I
was elevated to Account-
ing Supervisor, then to
Special Projects with
IHS/Confederated
Tribes Joint Venture.
I was appointed by
Tribal Council to repre-
sent the Tribe, to work
with other Northwest
tribes on a methodology
for Area Shares.
I was requested to be
technical support for the
Direct Service Tribes
Advisory Committee
(DSTAC).
Cassie Katchia