Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
January 29, 2020 - Vol. 45, No. 3
Wiyak’ik’ila – Winter - Anm
Auto school idea for former vehicle pool
T he
tribal vehicle closed
some time ago, due to various
factors, and the building now
stands empty at the industrial
park. The vehicle pool and its
equipment could be put to use
as an automotive school, said
Valerie Switzler, general manager
of the tribal Education Branch.
Ms. Switzler reviewed the
progress of this project last week
at Tribal Council. A funding
source for an automotive school
is Career Technical Education,
CTE; in partnership with the
War m Springs office of the
Workforce Innovation and Op-
portunity Act, WOIA—
Workforce Development.
The automotive school is a
cooperative effort, bringing in
the Jefferson County School Dis-
trict 509-J, Central Oregon Com-
munity College, the Oregon De-
partment of Education, and
Warm Springs Vocational Reha-
bilitation, Ms. Switzler said. She
explains how this fast-developing
project has come about so far:
A friend at the Oregon De-
partment of Education suggested
tribal Education apply for CTE
funding, “and I said we would love
to,” Val says.
The initial idea was for a con-
struction program. At the same
time, though, Education employee
Wayne Miller, who has an auto-
motive mechanic background,
and Melinda Poitra of WEDD
were talking about how items at
the former vehicle pool were go-
ing to be sold off.
Val, Melinda and Wayne then
got together, reaching out to part-
ners at 509-J, COCC and Warm
Springs Utilities. Gordon Scott,
now with OHSU who also has
experience as an auto me-
chanic, also gave input.
See AUTO SCHOOL on 2
James Edmund Greeley
admires the hand drums
created by Ms. Bennett’s
Warm Springs Academy
students.
The Museum at Warm Springs
Youth Art Show will run
through March, closing with
the with the Young At Art Fair.
Stop by the museum and
check out the show!
MMIW by Anona Francis
Jayson Smith photos/Spilyay
See HB 2509 on page 2
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Lincoln’s
turning 43
T he Forty-Third Annual
Lincoln’s Powwow is coming up
Friday through Sunday, February
7-9 at Simnasho.
The opening Grand Entry will
be at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 7;
followed by the Saturday Grand
Entry at 1 p.m., and the Sunday
Entry at 1:30.
Some other events at this year’s
Lincoln’s:
Added: Men’s Chicken/Round
Bustle category, 18 years and up.
Other competition categories in-
clude:
Tiny Tots, paid daily. Junior
Boys, 7-12 years old. Junior Girls,
7-12 years. Teen Boys, 13-17.
Teen Girls, 13-17. Adult Men, 18-
59 years. Adult Women, 18-59.
Golden Age Men and Women, 60
and up. Other events:
Outgoing Queen Special, Old
Style Jingle, 16-21 years old.
Round Dance on the evening of
Thursday, February 6. Items in the
Lincoln’s Powwow Raffle:
Otter pelt. Shell dress. Hand
drum. Fire Kindle. Wapas. Shawl.
Wing dress. Pendleton blanket.
Native print chair. Pendleton
towel. Native print jacket, and
many more items. There will also
be:
The Drumming Contest, and
the Hand Drum Contest. Lincoln’s
Powwow is a drug and alcohol free
event. Dry camping welcomed
with your travel trailer.
At this year’s Lincoln’s Powwow
the Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs Census Complete Count
Committee will have an informa-
tion table.
The powwow is a free event.
For vendor information contact
Sandra at 541-325-1839.
In the region the Lincoln’s Pow-
wow of Simnasho is followed by
the Washington’s Birthday Celebra-
tion at the Toppenish Longhouse,
Friday through Sunday, February
14-16.
Tribes’ count committee readying for 2020 census
The Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs Complete Count
Committee is meeting in advance
of the 2020 Census.
The official start of the census
will be on April 1, though Warm
Springs residents should be able to
begin submitting their census sur-
vey information sometime in
March, said Cheryl Tom, the tribes’
census liaison.
The census will collect informa-
tion at least through June, with
some follow-up before a final data
submission in September.
The Confederated Tribes Com-
plete Count Committee is coordi-
nating the count for the reserva-
tion, and for Celilo Village.
The Celilo residents will receive
mail-out census forms. The Warm
Springs residents will be working
with the enumerators, or census
takers, to submit the household
data.
This will be done on comput-
ers. A person can print the form
from the computer, or submit di-
rectly online.
The Complete Count Commit-
tee is working on how best to
make computers easily accessible
to residents of the reservation.
A kick-off idea is to have a
family community night at the
Warm Springs Academy, where
the computer lab would be open
to families wishing to submit their
census information. The library
at the Family Resource Center
also has computers, as examples.
This information will be updated
as the census approaches.
The Complete Count Com-
mittee was scheduled to hold
their weekly meeting this Thurs-
day at the resource center.
Caroline Cruz, general manager
of Health and Human Services,
is the committee chairwoman.
The importance of a com-
plete count of the reservation and
Celilo households cannot be
overstated: The information
helps dictate the allocation of bil-
lions of dollars in federal fund-
ing for housing, infrastructure,
health and other services.
Native Americans were the
most under-counted group in the
2010 census, jeopardizing fund-
ing for communities that are
among the most in need. Some
other things to keep in mind with
the 2020 census:
The Complete Count Commit-
tee is working on how households
and residents should specify
ethnicity. A person can list up to
nine tribes in describing his or her
heritage.
However, in order to indicate
the reservation as home, the per-
son should specify membership in
the Confederated Tribes. The
designation may be something like
‘CTWSO,’ for instance; standing
for ‘Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs, Oregon.’
This will help ensure that the
data best describes the member-
ship makeup of the Confederated
Tribes, for purposes of funding
allocation and services planning.
According to one estimate: For
each person not counted who
should be counted, some $3,000
in federal support for services is
lost. Regarding your census in-
formation: Confidentiality is strictly
ensured. Federal law does not al-
low the Census Bureau or anyone
to share this private information.