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.