Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
Organization
to begin
reopening
Tribal Council on Tuesday voted
5-4 to begin the reopening of tribal
organization starting this coming
Monday, June 8. Next week will be
the first phase of the four-phase re-
opening, with 25-percent of employ-
ees returning over each successive
week.
The Covid-19 Response team
had recommended a delay of one
more week, to June 15. A majority
of the Council members, though,
felt it is time on June 8 to begin the
reopening.
As the employees return there will
be new precautions such as more
cleaning supplies and hand sanitizers,
thermometers, plexi-glass windows
when appropriate, and in time addi-
tional precautions.
Over the weeks, as more employ-
ees return to work, there will be a
need for additional cleaning supplies.
Meanwhile, “I think we have enough
now to open on June 8,” said
Caroline Cruz, Response team mem-
ber and general manager of Health
and Human Services.
The Response team had recom-
mended the additional week of clo-
sure after last week and weekend
that saw 18 new positive test results
in the community. Ten of these
were among members of the same
family.
As these cases were reported, the
Community Health Team and Clinic
conducted the social tracing and
additional testing. As of Tuesday
of this week, the news was good
with no new positive tests besides
the 13.
Further update
To now the Warm Springs Health
and Wellness Center had adminis-
tered 515 total Covid-19 tests. As
of earlier this week, there were a
total of 462 negative results; 15
pending. Over the past several weeks,
there have been 35 total positive cases,
with 17 people now recovered. The
18 most recent happened over the
past 10 days or so.
“We continue to do random sur-
veillance testing of our high-risk
community members,” said Hyllis
Dauphinais, clinic chief executive
officer. “We will begin a broader
surveillance of the tribal employees,
as staff begin to return to work in
the coming weeks.”
The Warm Springs Tribal Coun-
cil and Covid-19 Response team
firmly recommend:
“Our community members who
have tested positive, please stay
home and quarantine to protect our
community from further spread.
“Many may not feel sick or have
symptoms, but after testing positive,
it is of the utmost importance that
you quarantine for 14 days to pre-
vent further spread of the virus.”
Meanwhile, Tribal Council would
like to congratulate those that have
made it through the 12 years for
education, to graduate high school.
College graduates should be ac-
knowledged too. Please celebrate safely.
June 3, 2020 - Vol. 45, No. 12
June – Atixan – Spring - Wawaxam
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Indian Head Casino reopening June 11
T he Confederated Tribes
announced Tuesday that Indian
Head Casino will reopen at 10
a.m. on Thursday, June 11.
“We are very excited to open
and with the amount of phone
calls we receive on a daily basis
from our guests, we know they
are looking forward to our
opening too,” said Belinda
Chavez, Director of Marketing
for Indian Head Gaming.
“We are committed to fol-
lowing the Centers for Disease
Control’s guidelines, and we
have implemented safety and
sanitation measures in addition
to limiting our occupancy to
250 total guests,” said Chavez.
A few things you should keep
in mind before you head over to
Indian Head Casino:
The casino will open with new
operating hours of 10 a.m. to 2
a.m.
All guests will be required to
enter the casino thru the doors on
the east side of the building, which
is the entrance to Cottonwood
Restaurant. Face masks will be re-
quired for all guests and employ-
ees, as well as a touchless tempera-
ture check before entering the
building.
Once you are on the casino
floor you will notice a few small
changes: At least initially, the en-
tire property at Indian Head Ca-
sino will be non-smoking.
Plexiglass shields and social dis-
tancing markers have been in-
stalled in high traffic areas such
as the Players Club, cashier booths
and the check-out counter at the
Tule Grill.
In addition to new cleaning pro-
cedures, Indian Head will provide
multiple hand sanitizing stations on
the casino floor. The slot ma-
chines will be open and ready for
play from the moment the doors
open. Table games, however, will
open on a later date.
All restaurants at Indian Head
Casino will be open for take-out,
and the Cottonwood Restaurant
will offer curbside delivery.
Indian Head Casino voluntar-
ily closed on March 18 in re-
sponse to the Covid-19 pandemic
and continued to stay closed for
nearly three months.
Indian Head Casino is owned
and operated by the Confeder-
ated Tribes of Warm Springs.
Learn more about the casino at:
indianheadcasino.com/
The hard choice to cancel traditional events
E very spring, inside the
Celilo Longhouse at Celilo Vil-
lage on the edge of the Colum-
bia River, traditional elders,
food gatherers, and members
of the public prepare to feast
on the first Chinook salmon of
the season. Ahead of the annual
celebration, the sound of tradi-
tional songs and drums fills the
air, as celebrants roast fish over
open fires.
This year, despite the Covid-
19 pandemic, the village de-
cided to hold the First Salmon
Feast, while limiting attendance
to reduce the public health risk.
Several people who attended
the feast on April 13 later tested
positive for Covid-19, including
Celilo Village leader Bobby
Begay, although it wasn’t con-
firmed that any of these people
had contracted the virus at the
longhouse event.
Less than two weeks later,
Begay, 51, died from complica-
tions due to the virus. A leading
fish technician for the Colum-
bia River Inter-Tribal Fish Com-
mission, Mr. Begay had a repu-
tation as an effective advocate
for cultural and environmental
protection. Friends and colleagues
described him as a force of na-
ture: upbeat, welcoming, and keen
to build bridges between Native
American communities and out-
siders.
The tragedy of this year’s feast
brings into focus the terrible
choices tribal communities every-
where are now facing. On one
hand, canceling events may save
lives and is necessary in the fight
against a pandemic that has al-
ready devastated lives and liveli-
hoods across the globe. Yet, for
many Native American commu-
nities, such gatherings are critical;
they reinforce a sense of cohe-
sion and identity.
Some Native Americans fear
that ceasing these practices could
even jeopardize treaty-protected
rights.
Wilson Wewa, a 64-year-old
Tribal Council member of the
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs and Northern Paiute
spiritual leader, recalled how his
grandfather and other tribal elders
used to say that ‘all it will take is
the stroke of a pen to take away
our reservation, and then we’re
going to be just like white people.’
Courtesy CRITFC
Before his passing, the late Bobby Begay harvesting eels.
No Good Options
The First Salmon Feast holds
tremendous cultural significance
for the Native Americans who call
the Columbia River home. Hosted
near the former site of Celilo Falls,
the feast draws hundreds of visi-
tors each spring, who come to en-
joy music, food, and the ancient
custom of honoring the fish that
are so central to Native American
heritage in this area of the Pacific
Northwest.
Four years ago Se-ah-dom
Edmo, 43, attended the feast.
During the gathering that spring,
she was so moved by the mes-
sage of ritual and togetherness
that she came away from the
event inspired to leave her job,
which had become less and less
satisfying. “It was only because
I was there [at the feast] that I
was able to get to that place, hear
those things, and make them
real in my life,” she said.
Please see EVENTS on 5
Census outreach on the reservation
Back in mid March the Con-
federated Tribes kicked off the
2020 Census count. Tribal
member George Aguilar, in fact,
filed the very first Census in the
state of Oregon, a request made
by the U.S. Census Bureau.
At the time of the kick-off
event, the coronavirus was just
beginning to make major head-
lines. Social distancing was some-
thing new. The tribal organiza-
tion was still open, as Council
had not yet declared the pan-
demic emergency.
The start of the Census on
the reservation was important,
as tribal under-counting has
been a problem. This has led
to loss revenue: Census data di-
rectly impacts how the federal gov-
ernment allocates more than $675
billion every year for programs and
services vital for tribal communi-
ties. These include Medicaid, so-
cial services, housing, public safety,
veterans services, emergency pre-
paredness, education, school
lunches and more.
According to a report this
spring: Native Americans are the
most undercounted group on the
U.S. Census.
Understandably, the pandemic
has made the Census even more
of a challenge for the tribes, as the
outreach has been more difficult.
At a recent count, fewer than 20
percent of the membership had
filed their Census information.
The National Congress of Ameri-
can Indians has said the pandemic
has made the Census difficult
across Indian Country.
This week the Census enumera-
tors again began distributing infor-
mation at residences on the Warm
Springs Reservation. And there
are incentives for filing your Cen-
sus information.
The Complete Count Commit-
tee is creating these incentives to
encourage people to participate in
the Census. There are t-shirts and
other gifts for those who filed.
Volunteers like Jaylyn Suppah and
Sue Matters are helping coordinate
the community outreach.
The Census is a series of ques-
tions such as your age and date of
birth, your race, and sex. There
are questions about the number of
people in the household, and the
relationship to the person answer-
ing the Census question.
Please see CENSUS on 6