Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
New law
respecting
religion
A true and religious belief held
among a culture is always to be re-
spected. Oregon Senate Bill 189 is
a great, and successful example of
this principal. For years an Oregon
law regarding health care has been
in conflict with a spiritual belief held
and practiced by some tribal mem-
bers.
“It felt so unfair to our tribal
people and to our staff who wanted
to support the patients,” said Dr.
Shilo Tippett, manager of
Caregiver Experience and Inclusion
at the St. Charles Health System.
“It felt morally wrong not to be able
to do this,” she said.
At issue has been the religious
belief that at passing, the body of
the departed must be buried whole,
thereby allowing the person to
travel to the spiritual world, Dr.
Tippett said.
Previous Oregon law required
“that pathological waste, including
amputated body parts, organs, and
tissues, must be incinerated by the
health care facility within a certain
time after removal from a patient’s
body.”
Some patients in need of seri-
ous or life-saving medical care, such
as amputation, were hesitant or
against the idea of having the pro-
cedure. The concern has been that
the patient would not be able to
receive the body part back after
surgery, precluding the religious
practice at burial. “We’ve known
this has been a concern, and it had
been on the books for a long time,”
said Tribal Council Chair man
Jonathan Smith.
The previous law was hurtful not
only to the patient: The caregiver
was also distressed because of the
additional and unneeded anxiety of
the patient, Dr. Tippett said.
Working in partnership for the
past year, the Confederated Tribes
and St. Charles were able to change
the law. “It was very good to see
St. Charles support us in this,”
Chairman Smith said, “and our
continuing partnership is going to
be a key for success in the future.”
The Chairman, Dr. Tippett and
Councilman Wilson Wewa were
among the tribal advocates for
changing the law.
And following the advocacy of
St. Charles and the tribes, the state
legislature changed the law “to al-
low a patient or their representa-
tive to remove amputated body
parts, organs, and tissues from a
health care facility for purposes of
cremation, interment, or other fi-
nal disposition.” (The change “ex-
cludes pathological waste that may
cause disease or adverse health im-
pacts in humans.”)
For background: St. Charles
Health System caregivers began the
work on amending the law last sum-
mer, following a survey among the
tribal community: By a large mar-
gin community members said they
wanted the law to change, allowing
for tribal custom and practice.
See SB 189 on 6
August 9, 2023 - Vol. 48, No. 16
August – Shatm – Summer - Shatm
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Water, power line work in Warm Springs
Utility crews in early August
finished the first phase of the
Shitike Creek Bridge water line
crossing project. The work will
provide a permanent solution to
a water delivery issue that came
to light in 2018-19, said Chico
Holliday, tribal Utilities general
manager.
At that time the 14-inch wa-
ter main in the creek was com-
promised, impacting the Agency
water service to the south side
of the creek, Mr. Holliday said.
The solution at the time, as
an emergency repair, was the re-
placement of the 14-inch water
main with a smaller line, as a tem-
porary solution until funding be-
came available for the permanent
solution, Mr. Holliday said.
About a year to the day of
the installation of the temporary
fix, the system failed again, as
“the flow could not meet the
demand,” he said.
The solution at that time was
the installation of a new 12-inch
line, which until now had been
the primary line for service to
the Agency south side.
The project that concluded
last week replaces the 12-inch line
with a 16-inch primary line, while
the 12-inch line will now be the
redundancy or back-up line, Mr.
The Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs Canoe
Family joined more than
100 other tribal canoe
families at the conclusion
of the Journey to
Muckleshoot.
More than 10,000 people
gathered on the
Muckleshoot Reservation
to welcome the canoes
and paddlers, and to share
songs and dances for
several days at Alki
Beach.
Tents, RVs, vans and cars
covered the grass in front
of the newly constructed
Muckleshoot Community
Center. The week-long
celebration was July 31-
August 6.
The canoe of the Warm
Springs Family is pictured
above at center with the
flag of the Confederated
Tribes; and members of
the family are pictured at
Samiakin Allen/
KWSO photos
Holliday said.
The new line goes from the area
of the cattle guard on Shitike Creek
Road, following the creek down to
the bridge, where it makes a 90-de-
gree turn across the creek. The line
will be alongside the bridge.
A second phase will be the in-
stallation of control valves along the
line on both sides of the bridge, Mr.
Holliday said.
The Indian Health Service is
funding about 90 percent of the
overall $2.3 million project. The
Confederated Tribes are providing
$450,000.
Power lines
Meanwhile, a line crew with Pa-
cific Power & Light has been install-
ing new power poles in Warm
Springs, as part of a project along
highways 26 and 97.
PP&L is also changing out the
power transformers. The trans-
former aspect of the work has to
do with the incidence of wildfires
in the region, Holliday said. There
are instances—the 2020 Beachie
Creek fire, for instance—when the
transformers have been contribut-
ing, or at times main factors in the
spread of wildfire. The new system
will allow PP&L to shut down spe-
cific transformers during emergency
situations, Mr. Holliday said.
Coutesy photo
Construction crew installing new water line in the area of the
Shitike Creek crossing, where in the past, previous problems
have caused significant water outages and other problems.