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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 2023)
Spilyay Tymoo December 13 Page 7 Water system: a tribal member pespective (from page 5) Even then the 1964 devastat- ing flood took away the heavily pro- tected pipe and the concrete bridge. The creek’s bed is unstable due to loose river rock and gravel. When the BIA Roads Department rebuilt the new bridge, the excava- tion was approximately 18 feet deep in that area to reach the hard pan for the bridge foundation. Someone’s blog mentioned there was an exposed pipe lying on the creek’s bed. That is another poten- tial for a busted pipe scenario! Senators Jeff Merkley, Ron Wyden, the Indian Health Service and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sought funding for the wa- ter plant, and $28 million was ac- quired from the bipartisan $1.2 tril- lion bill signed into law by Presi- dent Biden. Study and reconstruc- tion for a treatment plant at Dry Creek will soon take place. The EPA noted it will still draw water from the Deschutes River. Warm Springs is the only commu- nity using this contaminated water source. The domestic water supply sys- tem from the BIA in the late 1800s has become obsolete. Fur- ther development along the High- way 26 in all probability will be- come inadequate. The tribally in- stalled 1960s system of 4-inch dipped and wrapped metal pipe may be too small, and soon may become a victim of electrolysis caused by a chemical substance in the soil. The 4-inch dipped, wrapped sys- tem is 63 years of age, and may be in need of replacement. Residen- tial supply piping from the water mains were mostly galvanized, treated pipes which had a short life span. Bentonite in the soil caused a deteriorating reaching with galva- nized piping. Leaks had always been problematic. Many projects emerged, water and sewer infra- structure, new housing subdivi- sions, and of course many band- aid repairs of broken down old water and plug ged-up sewer pipes. The tribal annual mainte- nance funding was always never enough… Kah-Nee-Ta Village will reopen sometime in 2024. The Dry Creek water treatment system may pos- sibly be still connected… As a con- cerned tribal member and a by- stander of this water crisis, I’ve pondered temporary use of the ex- isting ground water system of the B-200 road for Kah-Nee-Ta’s do- mestic and drinking water solution. Just wondering if the system is ad- equate for Simnasho and Kah- Nee-Ta. Note: Look for the conclusion of this article in the December 27 Spilyay Tymoo. Message from the Probate Department by Valerie Squiemohen Public Adminisrtator Within the last year, we have started a new Probate process. Previously, we had to have a hearing after every step in the process. When we hired the Probate Pro Tem judge, she changed the process, to make the whole thing go smoother for everyone and with fewer hearings. What starts the Probate pro- cess for us is receiving the death certificate from the Vital Sta- tistics Department. Then we can start filling out all of the opening paperwork— the Letter of Administration, the Petition to Probate, Order to Probate, Petition and Order to forward Decedents Mail, and Notice to Creditors—and then send it to Tribal Court for a judges’ signature. We then mail everything out along with a letter about the pro- cess and a court date, usually 90 days out. A person can attend the hear- ing in person, via video- conferencing or phone. You’re given a phone num- ber and a code to enter the hearing via phone and there will be a link to join via videoconferencing. That will be the first hearing. There are certain things each person (responsible for taking the lead) should know beforehand. There will be a form to fill out on the assets of the estate as well as the following: Will: Did the deceased have a will? Then you will need to bring it to the Probate Department, so that we can use that as a guide to disbursing their belongings. Hope- fully, it will tell us who is going to get what. At some point, all heirs will receive a copy of the Will. Bank information: If the de- ceased had a checking and/or a savings account, you will need to bring in a bank statement and/or a debit card for the account, so that we can write a letter to the bank and ask them to send us the money. We then deposit these funds into an estate account with Cash Management and keep the infor- mation in their probate file. Mail: Bring in any mail, es- pecially if there are checks in the mail. We will need to deposit the checks into the estate account also. Once we send in an address change for the deceased, the mail box will close if it is in the decedent’s name. Unless you worked it out with the deceased prior to their death to take over the ownership of the PO Box, those who also received mail at this address must get their own mailbox. Vehicles: All vehicles belong- ing to the deceased must be parked until such time as the Probate is complete. Please bring the keys and a title or registration to the Probate De- partment so we can put in their probate file. Probate has a fenced warehouse where the vehicle can be parked until such time as the probate is complete. Home: If there is a home that belonged only to the deceased, the Probate Department must know who is going to live in the house, for safekeeping, until such time as the probate is closed. They must take the power bill out of the de- ceased name and put it in whomever is going to be liv- ing in the house. There must be a unanimous decision by all heirs for one or more person(s) to live in the home by signing a letter naming the new residents. In most cases, we’ve found that a lot of people say they don’t want their home to be a party place. If anyone is found to have alcohol and/or drugs being used in the home, we would have to work with the Police Department to get said people evicted and possibly boarding up the home. Whomever is taking respon- sibility for the house must en- sure the Home Insurance is in- tact. If there is a house fire and it wasn’t insured, the house will be a total loss. Land: As far as land, we don’t probate this, it is done through BIA. Family: If there are fam- ily members that are not en- rolled with Warm Springs, we need names and addresses and where/if they are enrolled. Thank you, From the Probate De- partment of the Confed- erated Tribes of War m Springs. Love Languages from Native StrongHearts helpline This year, instead of stressing out about the holidays and gift giving, as some of us do, think about the many ways you can speak the love language of your partner, a gift that is free. Dr. Gary Chapman is the author of The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts. He has narrowed love languages down to just five so it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out which one speaks vol- umes to your partner. In no particular order, the five languages include: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service, Physical Touch and Receiving Gifts. Instead of breaking the bank, fill up the love tank to please your partner. Words of Affirmation: Ask yourself, “How many birthday cards, bouquets of flowers or any sort of gift that comes with a mes- sage telling your partner that you love them?” If he or she saves anything with “words of affir mation” or ex- pressed appreciation, filling up a partner’s love tank might start with a compliment. Don’t hesitate to pick up the pen, buy a card or handwrite a message straight from the heart. Quality Time: Does your part- ner complain that you work too much? Do you travel for work and leave your partner to take care of the daily chores, driving the kids to school or to participate in sports? This could mean that fill- ing up their love tank would mean spending quality time with your partner. Mark your calendar that no matter what, it’s date night with your partner. Or, bring home pizza for dinner so you can spend more time talking about how your day went. Acts of Service: Do something - anything! - that helps your part- ner at home. You may think a stay at home mom or dad is an easy job, but you would be surprised at the relentless demands of every- day life. Do the dishes, take out the trash, make the bed, wash the car or go grocery shopping. There are so many things that can be done to fill up your partner’s love tank when you speak their love language. Physical Touch: Would you describe your partner as having a personality that is clingy or distant and is their vibe warm or cold? When your partner’s love language is physical touch, let the love begin with a nice hug - a long hug. He or she may have been waiting for a long time. Gift Giving: Don’t wait for a birthday or a holiday to give your partner a gift. Gifts don’t have to be expensive. Often, when your partner’s love language is gift giv- ing—a single rose or a small bou- quet of flowers from the grocery store can be really cheap—espe- cially in the spring when the tu- lips and daffodils are abundant. If you want to buy them some- thing more expensive—the sky’s the limit (just don’t buy a gym membership). (Continued from page 4) All of this was made worse by the fact that he knew he had no one to pick him up, my gawd how horrible must that feel? Your school, the place that is supposed to take care of you and be a safe place, has just been locked down and evacuated due to a threat of vio- lence. On top of that, while most of the other students have a person that can come and take them away to safety HE knows for a fact he has nobody to save him. The situation at home sounded volatile and for numerous reasons, good and bad, nobody was coming for him. I now better understood why he was angry about being singled out as ‘too noisy’ and why he felt angry getting shushed, as if he were the only person making noise or being the focus of multiple teachers try- ing to maintain order. After he explained his situation I offered to take him home (ap- parently we live in the same neigh- borhood) and it was just a question of ensuring all Jefferson County School District protocol and secu- rity of the student was addressed. As it turned out, there was no need. School buses took the remain- ing students home that day. The take away from that student interaction was more of a verifica- tion that kids need to be taken care of, or they grow up to be adults who have never felt safe… any- where. People want to be cared for and need somebody to lean on when they need help. It’s what gets us from one bad event to the next with most of our heart and soul intact, and we can learn to as whole of a person as humanly possible. Mov- ing on… So, on Makwshtba Wigwa we do ‘Peer teaching.’ That is method of increasing the class’s vocabulary, and teaching the students to use the language tools we are learning. An example of that is as follows: Take the word ‘Achagelgaya’ which means ‘He will seize her.’ The student is tasked with: Defining the word, conjugating the word and then using it in a sen- tence. Conjugating the word is chang- ing the meaning based on gender. They are learning to change it from ‘He will seize her’ to “He will seize him’ to ‘She will seize her’ and to ‘She will seize her.’ It’s a question of knowing the pronouns and where they go in the word, then arraigning them accord- ingly. Next is using it in a sentence. For example, ‘Bill achagelgaya akiutan’ means ‘Bill will catch the mare.’ On t unba Wigwa we study more nouns, animals, foods, cloth- ing, and have conversations. The conversations are the ‘Hello, what is your name? My name is… I live in….’ Because these little sentences turn into larger and more specific information sentences, and hope- fully conversations. One of my favorite drills is to have the students talk with one an- other and make a question-response conversation, and exhaust their knowledge. Whoever says ‘atqalma ayamgelglaya’ first, ends the con- versation. Obviously they can’t lead the conversation with that (they have tried) but it does tell the speaking partner that they have come to the end of their knowledge. Then we switch partners and do it again, for about three or four rotations. Laktba Wigwa is very much the same but the subjects change, col- ors, body parts, numbers… unless there’s a quiz. With Gwenmaba Wigwa we do review of what we learned in the past week, as much as we can, but sometimes we have stuff that we didn’t get to in the week so we try to work that in. They are all learning at different rates and all have their strengths and weaknesses but with some self-study and help at home I’m sure they will be a complete success in the near future. It seems that we always get into a nice easy glide and then there’s a major interruption. I am finishing up this article one week from the lockdown event and the class is starting to gel again, hate to think about the situation if it turned into a tragedy... If you see or hear something, say something. Listen, learn with them As before I want to impart that what I learned as a trainer of sol- diers, is that people want a challenge. Whether large or small, they want to succeed and they want to have someone to be proud of them in their accomplishments, and to be cared for. So please, tell our young warriors that you are proud of them as often as you can. Re-enforce it by showing up and listening. Ask them about their day and just listen. You will find that you have a lot in common and most of your ‘differences’ are in your head… They are the kids you raised after all and you just might learn something new. Listen to the Kiksht words they learn, the sentences in our ancient language of the Big River… learn with them. For those of you who say things like ‘I don’t have the time to learn Kiksht’: If you were on Facebook? You had time to learn Kiksht. If you were watching TV or if you were on your phone, you have time to learn Kiksht… If you were at the casino (not if you work there, duh) you definintely squandered your Kiksht learning time! There are three Language classes at Madras High School and a depart- ment dedicated to teaching those lan- guages so, if you haven’t learned your language, it’s about allotting the time and making The Hard-Right Decision vs. The Easy-Wrong Decision. I have nothing but good feelings about these students and their fu- ture in Native Language. They are dedicated, focused and smart. They are going to have their lives ex- panded and learn to see Warm Springs, Oregon and the greater Pacific Northwest in a way that non-speakers won’t and that makes me happy for them. It is hard learning a new lan- guage. The rules of Bashtenemt are confusing and infect all aspects of speaking the Language of the Big River. But doing things that are hard is what makes everything we do worth our time, and these kids make it look easy. Being an Indian is hard. It’s hard holding on to our culture and beliefs in a country that actively works against us, and has for centuries. It’s hard maintaining our collec- tive identity as Indians in a country that always wants us to assimilate. Kiksht is a hard language to learn: Word pronunciation, emphasis, composition and sentence structure are all significantly different from other languages, and just similar enough to cause much confusion. But as one of my soldiers taught me after her time in Basic Train- ing, ‘If it isn’t hard, it isn’t worth doin’ - PVT Erikson/ORARNG. Rain Circle, Language teacher.
