E Coosh EEWA: The way it is
Page 4 Spilyay Tymoo August 24, 2022
Letters to the editor
A thank you
Time to sport
We want to thank all par-
ticipants of the Clarion Call
Revival meeting.
Thank you Glendon
Smith, and thank you to Eu-
gene Greene and support
staff for use of the pavilion
and field.
Thank you to the Emer-
gency Preparedness Team,
and thank you Public Utili-
ties for your assistance.
Thank you Joie for your par-
ticipation from the Sanitation
Department, and Natural
Resources for the fish and
deer meat.
Thank you Tribal Police
Department for security of
the tent, and thank you
KWSO for announcements.
A special thank you to
Mina Estimo and Mona Jim.
Valerie Fuiava, Ur-
bana Manion and Sue
Harrison want to thank all
those in attendance who re-
sponded to the Clarion Call
meeting.
We thank the Lord for
each of you, and to each
group above mentioned. We
know that it could not have
been done without unity and
working in one accord.
Thank you Jesus, and God
Bless you all.
Sports physicals for stu-
dents are coming up on
Thursday, September 1 at the
Warm Springs Indian Health
Service clinic. The state of
Oregon requires annual
physicals prior to students
participating in any school
sport.
Call IHS to schedule an
appointment, 541-553-2610.
A parent or guardian is re-
quired at the appointment.
There are covid precautions,
so only the student and par-
ent or guardian are allowed
at the appointment.
ECE Round-Up
In-coming 3-year-old and
returning 4-year-olds are in-
vited this Wednesday, August
24 to the Early Childhood
Education Round-Up at the
Warm Springs IHS clinic.
Call 541-553-2610 to sched-
ule. Scheduling for the round-
up includes:
A medical provider ap-
pointment for a physical.
Dental provider appointment
for dental screening. Limited
vision screening. Contact
ECE for questions regarding
the Head Start program, 541-
553-3240.
Birth
Benito Noel Arthur
Gonzalo Arthur and
Monica Arthur of Warm
Springs are pleased to an-
nounce the birth of their
son Benito Noel Arthur,
born on August 15, 2022.
Benito joins brothers
Keanu, 17, Kody, 16 and
Adonai, 9; and sister
Monai, 2.
A reservation tour, meeting with Gov. Brown
Governor
Kate
Brown visited War m
Springs and the reserva-
tion for two days in Au-
gust. Her time with the
tribes included a govern-
ment-to-government
meeting with the Tribal
Council, a salmon bake
at HeHe, a tour of the
Museum at War m
Springs, and a visit with
Health and Human Ser-
vices.
As g overnor, Ms.
Brown has been a long-
time friend of the tribes.
She was especially sup-
portive of the Confed-
erated Tribes’ successful
and historic Congres-
sional nullification of the
1865 document.
During her political
career, Gov. Brown has
served in the Oregon
House and Senate, and
as Secretary of State. She
has been elected twice to the
governorship. Because of
term limits, she is not run-
ning in this November’s elec-
tion.
Meeting with Tribal
Council during her recent
visit, the governor and Coun-
cil reviewed the reservation
domestic water projects,
among other pending and
vital issues. Gov. Brown also
visited Health and Human
Services, the homeless tran-
sition shelter, and the Native
American Youth Suicide Hot
Line office.
Along with tribal officials
and staff, she was accompa-
nied by the Oregon executive
director of the Legislative
Commission on Indian Ser-
vices, Mr. Patrick Flanagan.
After meeting with Tribal
Council the governor com-
mented, “Ongoing water
treatment infrastructure chal-
lenges are incredibly concern-
ing, and I appreciate the op-
portunity to hear directly
from the tribe on how they
are working to use all avail-
able resources to address
these issues. And I am
grateful for every oppor-
tunity to strengthen
Oregon’s long-standing
government-to-govern-
ment relationship with
the Warm Springs Tribes.”
The governor and tribal friends, including
tribal attorney Howie Arnett, meet for the
salmon bake at HeHe.
Invitation to
W.S. veterans
The Oregon Airshow of
the Cascades is coming up on
Friday and Saturday, August
26-27 at the Madras Airfield.
They show will feature U.S.
Army Black Hawk tours, fire-
works, glider rides, live mu-
sic, and the Erickson Air
Museum.
The organizers are look-
ing for Warm Springs vet-
erans who may be interested
attending the airshow this
year. They are hoping Warm
Springs veterans will attend
and tour some of the air-
craft, and potentially fly in
one.
If there are any Warm
Springs veterans who plan on
attending, please contact Amy
at 541-553-2134.
The governor visits the innovative Shelter to
Independent Living housing facility with Caroline
Cruz and staff of Health and Human Services.
Governor Brown outside the administrative
building with Bobby Brunoe, secretary-treasruer;
and Tribal Council members Lincoln Jay Suppah,
Rosa Graybael, Alvis Smith III and vice chairman
Captain Moody.
Duncan Brunoe photos/KWSO
Imprisoned for fishing, he fights for sacred rights
Wilbur Slockish Jr. has
been shot at, and has had
rocks hurled at him. He has
had to hide out for months,
then spent another 20 months
serving time in federal pris-
ons across the country—all
of that for fishing in the Co-
lumbia River.
And yet Slockish, a tradi-
tional river chief of the
Klickitat Band of the
Yakama Nation, would en-
dure it all again to protect his
right of access to the river
and the fish that his people
believe were bestowed to
them by the Creator.
“It’s a sacred covenant,”
he said. “Nothing’s more im-
portant.”
Slockish hasn’t stopped
fighting for the river. After
his release from prison, he
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Wilbur Slockish Jr. lifetime dedicated to tribal fishing.
focused his efforts on wa-
ter quality and health issues
related to the Hanford
Nuclear Reser vation in
Benton County, Washing-
ton, which was decommis-
sioned in 1989. The plant
released significant amounts
of radioactive waste into the
river, causing irreparable eco-
logical harm.
For the past two decades,
Slockish has made presenta-
tions at local elementary
schools around Thanksgiving
about the spiritual signifi-
cance of the river and its fish.
He has represented the
Yakama Nation on several
river-related commissions and
committees and still serves
on the Columbia River Inter-
Tribal Fish Commission,
which represents the tribes
and their rights along the
river.
Slockish and the other
fishermen’s high-profile case
has helped bring attention to
their issues and given tribes
better access to the river,
said Jeremy FiveCrows, the
organization’s spokesman.
The 20 months Slockish
spent in prison “were hell,”
but it’s all about keeping a
promise he made as a 14-
year-old—to the first salmon
he ever caught—to be a
good steward of the land.
Columbia River salmon are core of ancient religion
Spilyay Tymoo
(Coyote News, Est. 1976)
Publisher Emeritus in Memorium: Sid Miller
Editor: Dave McMechan
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For thousands of years
Native tribes in this area
have relied on Nch’i-
Wána, ‘the great river,’
for its salmon and steel-
head trout. The tribes
have also relied on the
surrounding areas of the
Nch’i-Wána for the fields
bearing edible roots, me-
dicinal herbs and berry
bushes, as well as the deer
and elk whose meat and
hides are used for food
and ritual.
That reliance tran-
scends the material realm
into the spiritual, as the
acts of gathering, con-
suming and respecting
those foods are inextrica-
bly linked to the tribes’ re-
ligious practice.
Yet now the river is
under threat. Warming
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Northwest tribal fishing community.
waters linked to climate
change endanger the salmon,
as these fish rely on cooler
temperatures to survive.
Hydroelectric dams on the
Columbia and its tributaries
have curtailed the river’s flow,
further imperiling salmon’s
migration from the Pacific
upstream to their freshwater
spawning grounds.
Industrial pollution is a
threat: Testing by the Co-
lumbia Riverkeeper, a non-
profit that aims to protect
water quality, shows that fish
caught in the area are con-
taminated with flame retar-
dants; polychlorinated bi-
phenyls, or PCBs; and heavy
metals.
Pollution, dams and cli-
mate change are not only
threatening the health of
the river and its habitat,
but also the millennia-old
spiritual traditions that
hold Native communities
together.
We are the salmon
people or river people.
Without water there are
no fish, plants or herbs.
And as stated earlier: Fish-
ing, gathering, consuming
and respecting these foods
are inextricably linked to
the tribes’ religious prac-
tice.
Aja DeCoteau, execu-
tive director of the Co-
lumbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission, repre-
senting interests of the
Warm Springs, Yakama,
Umatilla and Nez Perce
tribes.