Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
December 4, 2019 - Vol. 43, No. 25
December – Nch’i-An - Winter - Yiyam
New state initiative to assess MMIP
The Oregon legislature this year
passed House Bill 2625, provid-
ing resources for the state to help
address one of the most serious
problems among tribes.
The problem—many feel it is a
crisis, and in Canada referred to
as a genocide—is the incidence of
missing and murdered indigenous
women, or MMIW.
Both federal and state lawmak-
ers and law enforcement agencies
are now aware of the problem, and
both are taking action. On the
federal level a new task force is
forming specifically to address the
problem.
At a meeting last week with
Tribal Council, U.S. Attorney for
the District of Oregon Bill Will-
iams spoke to the subject: Mr.
Williams said U.S. Attorney Gen-
eral Barr recently made important
funding decisions to help address
the crisis.
His discussion with Mr. Barr
happened this fall at a meeting with
tribes in Montana, Mr. Williams
said.
Tribal Council also met last
week with law enforcement rep-
resentatives from the state of
Oregon.
Council spoke with Terri
Davis, state police deputy super-
intendent, and Mitch Sparks of
the Oregon Legislative Commis-
sion on Indian Services.
HB 2625 commissions a report
on the incidence in Oregon of
missing and murdered indigenous
people; and the reasons why this
specific group is being targeted.
Loop holes in jurisdiction is seen
as one of the barriers to combat-
ing the crisis.
The meeting with Tribal Coun-
cil was the first official step in the
process of developing the report,
Ms. Davis said.
The task force next will be meet-
ing with the other eight Oregon
tribes, gathering information in
order to make a recommendation
to the legislature in 2020.
Ms. Davis and Mr. Sparks
are planning a community
meeting soon in Warm Springs
to hear first-hand from the
members regarding experi-
ences with cases of missing and
murdered indigenous people.
In the U.S. Native American
women are more than twice as
likely to experience violence
than any other demographic.
One in three Native women is
sexually assaulted during her
life; and over 85 percent of
these assaults are perpetrated
by non-Natives, according to
the data.
A Fall
Snowfall
The first day of winter this
year will be on Saturday, De-
cember 21. The snow fell early,
though, making for a winter-
like November.
The storm arrived at the
Oregon Coast early last week,
bringing near hurricane-force
winds.
The conditions moved in-
land, and arrived in Central
Oregon the day before
Thanksgiving, causing work
delays.
Tribal Public Safety teams
responded to several accidents,
many of them at the top of
the grade to the north.
A problem during the early
part of the storm was the abil-
ity of the response teams to
navigate the frozen roadway,
said Carmen Smith, general
manager of tribal Public
Safety.
During the snow event, a
Jayson Smith/Spilay
The Highwaty 26 grade was especially treacherous during the November snowfall.
fatal motor vehicle accident hap-
pened on Tenino Road, in part
caused by the driving conditions.
Schoolie Flats experienced a
power outage due to the wind and
snow.
The last time a November storm
of this intensity happened in Cen-
tral Oregon was 2002. Over the
past week at least five inches of
snow fell on the reservation, with
conditions now clearing.
Tribal Council discussion with U.S. Attorneys
It was a case of road rage on
the reservation: Three tribal mem-
bers in a vehicle threatened by
another driver wielding a firearm.
This happend earlier this year on
Highway 26.
The suspect was taken into cus-
tody, and held in a Portland jail
pending trial. Finally after the trial
the jury found the person guilty.
Then came the sentencing:
Time served, and the person was
set free. The question being: Would
this have been the sentence if the
road-rage incident happened off
the reservation?
“I don’t agree with the sentenc-
ing,” said Tribal Councilwoman
Anita Jackson. “That makes it
seem like lives here don’t matter.”
Tribal Council met last week
with the U.S. Attorney for the re-
gion Bill Williams; U.S. Attorney
tribal liaison Tim Simmons; and
assistant U.S. Attorney Paul
Maloney, who takes the lead on
many of the federal criminal cases
arising on the reservation.
“I agree with you,” Mr. Maloney
said. “That was not a good mes-
sage with the sentencing, and that
was not our recommendation.”
At least once a year Tribal Coun-
cil meets with the U.S. Attorney’s
Office. During last week’s con-
ference, federal law enforcement
of cannabis was a topic of discus-
sion, as the tribes are preparing a
hemp project through Ventures.
The Ventures plan at this time
envisions a CBD operation, now
regulated as a standard crop un-
der the U.S. Department of Agri-
culture—Food and Drug Admin-
istration.
Much of cannabis regulation
“is like the Wild West,” Mr. Will-
iams said, as the industry is still
new. Eleven states including Or-
egon have legalized marijuana,
Williams said. Illinois will become
the twelfth as of January 1, while
33 states allow medical use of
marijuana.
Regarding marijuana, the U.S.
Attorney’s Office focuses on cases
involving trafficking, violence,
youth endangerment, and abuse
of public lands, Mr. Williams said.
Over-production of cannabis
is a big problem since legalization
took effect, he said.
Methamphetamine continues
to be a serious drug problem in
Indian country, as it is across the
U.S., Williams said.
Another topic at Council was
the exclusion order authority of
the tribes. Councilman Glendon
Smith raised the question of
whether a federal judge—as part
of the sentencing of a non-mem-
ber for a crime committed on the
reservation—could exclude the
person from the reservation.
Mr. Williams said this has not
yet happened, as the federal gov-
ernment respects tribal author-
ity to issue the exclusion.
Councilman Smith said there
are cases where a person is aware
of the exclusion order, violates
the order, spends time in the
tribal jail, only to repeat the sce-
nario again and again.
“I know of one individual
who has been doing this at least
since the 1990s,” Mr. Smith said.
“And he doesn’t mind spending
time in our jail.”
This becomes a drain on the
resources of the tribes, he said.
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
CEO
position at
Ventures
Warm Springs Ventures, the
economic development enterprise
of the Confederated Tribes, seeks
to fill the position of chief execu-
tive officer. Ventures is a wholly
owned company of the tribes.
Their mission is “to create sources
of revenue through new business
development that enhances oppor-
tunities for tribal members.”
The chief executive officer will
have responsibility for the Ventures
operations in accordance with the
enterprise strategic plan. The clos-
ing date to apply will be January
31, 2020. For additional informa-
tion please email
leslie.cochran@wstribes.org
sandra.danzuka@wstribes.org
The following some of the de-
tails from the job announcement,
posted this week:
The chief executive officer pro-
vides leadership and management
of the Warm Springs Ventures
staff, oversight and growth of its
subsidiary enterprises, and is re-
sponsible for exploring new busi-
ness opportunities to diversify the
local economy with a priority of
generating new revenue for the
tribes. Some of the qualifications:
A Bachelor’s degree in business,
public administration, planning or
a related field. An MBA is pre-
ferred. Also: a minimum of five
years demonstrated leadership and
management of a multi- and di-
verse enterprise environments.
No single-use
retail bags after
January 1
In Oregon a ban goes into ef-
fect on January 1 regarding single-
use check-out bags: After that
date a retail store or restaurant
may provide only re-usable or re-
cycled paper checkout bags to cus-
tomers.
In certain cases the seller must
charge a fee to customers for pro-
viding the bag.
The new law repeals the state
law requiring retail stores, who pro-
vide plastic checkout bags, to of-
fer paper bags as an alternative.
By definition in the new law:
A single-use checkout bag is
one made of paper, plastic or other
material, provided to a customer
at the time of checkout, that does
not meet the definition of recycled
paper checkout bag, reusable fab-
ric checkout bag or reusable plas-
tic checkout bag. Also by defini-
tion:
See HB 2509 on page 2
The Warm Springs
Baptist Church invites you to
a community Christmas
Dinner at 5 p.m. on Satur-
day, December 21.