CUJ - A Look Back at 2017 would bring the total employment up to 860 during the peak summer months. Even in the slower winter months the number of employees would be around 760 to 800, George said.
JULY Indian Lake camping facilities southeast of Pilot Rock received an award of $110,000 from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund to perform major improvements. Another $240,000 was pledged by the BOT for the Tribes, which own and operate Indian Lake Campground. The major portion of the $350,000 Indian Lake project will be used to replace three vault toilets. Other major improvements will include the expansion of an arbor and removal of an old underground diesel tank. A $3.5 million grant will be used to construct a 1-mile road that will provide access to an otherwise isolated chunk of tribal industrial land along the Columbia River near the Port of Umatilla. The paved road will cut east from Beach Access Road and then cross between Two Rivers Corrections Institute (state prison) and Port of Umatilla land.
Tr i b a l F a r m E n t e r p r i s e e n j o y e d Electricity generated exceptional wheat harvests in the from a 300-foot-long so- summer. lar array to be installed on the south side of the Tribes’ Field Station and Engineering Laboratory is expected to power new LED lights in three buildings on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Over the anticipated 25-year lifespan (warranty) of the project the CTUIR expect to save more than $450,000 in electrical utility bills. Total cost for the project is estimated at $267,000, but the CTUIR investment will be less than one fourth of that amount. Yields more than two times the average are being harvested in wheat fields farmed by the Farm Enterprise Program. Yields of as much as 125 bushel per acre have been cut in fields along the river bottom.
AUGUST A crowd estimated at more than 300 braved the summer heat at the July Grounds for the annual Community Picnic. More than 450 hamburgers, 250 hotdogs, five gallons of macaroni salad, and seven gallons of potato salad, plus coolers filled with water, juice and soda were served. The CTUIR were one of 20 tribes identified to receive some of the $540 million remaining in the federal government’s Land Buy-Back Program. The U.S. Department of Interior announced a revised strategy for consolidation of fractional land interests. The CTUIR already has purchased more than 10,100 acres using $12.4 million from the Land Buy-Back Program. In that process, the Tribes made 4,538 offers. Of those, 1,759 offers were returned and 1,682 were accepted. Twenty-five candidates filed nominating petitions seeking to fill 11 elected positions on the Board of Trustees and General Council for the CTUIR. At least one new face was to be on the Board after the election. Rosenda Shippentower, BOT Treasurer, was running in November for a member-at-large position, leaving the treasurer position open for election of either Doris Wheeler or Eugena Stacona. Four men are vying for the position of General Council Chairman, including incumbent Alan Crawford, who ran unopposed for the position two years ago. This year he is being challenged by David Close, who was recalled as BOT Secretary in 2015; Kyle McGuire, the current GC Vice-Chair; and newcomer Willie Sigo IV. New statues of a grandmother and grand- Staff and officials view the solar eclipse son harvesting tules sym- outside the Nixyaawii Governance bolize not only the historical Center in August. significance of The Gathering Place, but also the partnership between the CTUIR and the Port of Kennewick. About 100 people, including leaders from the CTUIR, the Port and City of Kennewick, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and public art proponents, came together under a hot mid-day sun to dedicate the new display along the north shore of Clover Island in the Columbia River. With a huge incoming class of freshmen, Nixyaawii Community School has set a cap on attendance and started a waiting list for students that want to come to the charter school.
January 2018
On the first day of school there was a total of 76 students – 29 freshmen, 18 sophomores, 18 juniors and 11 seniors. Ninety percent of the students are Native Americans. The first-ever Summer Youth Fair celebrated youth employees completing their summer jobs and projects. The youth employees ranged from 14-18 years old and worked in various departments and programs on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. There will be no referendums to legalize marijuana or purchase tribal member life insurance on the Nov. 14 ballot for the CTUIR. Leila Spencer, who is leading proponents of the two referendum measures, told the Election Commission on Sept. 5 that she likely will have to start over in her effort to get the questions – about pot and life insurance – in front of voters. Efforts to work through General Council and the BOT were fruitless, and Spencer and others learned that the CTUIR Constitution does not have provisions for referendums or initiatives at this time.
SEPTEMBER The BOT allocated $160,000 to establish proof that the east boundary of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (UIR) was labeled incorrectly during a survey conducted in 1871. The quest to re-establish the rightful boundary stems from the belief that a survey misidentified the correct location of key landmarks. The result of this misidentification “lopped off” roughly 250,000 acres of land that originally belonged to the CTUIR according to Tamastslikt Cultural Institute Director Bobbie Conner. This issue was addressed in The Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946. The Indian Claims Commission (ICC) was intended to address outstanding legal claims that tribes may have had against the U.S. Government according to resolution 17-064. The ICC, Conner said, could not restore wrongfully-taken land and only awarded monetary settlements. The Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon came and went without a flaw. It was perfect once again. The BOT designated public squares for candidates to place political signs on CTUIR-owned lands in their meeting Sept. 25. The BOT approved an amendment to the Land Development Code (LDC) July 24 that allowed for campaign signs to be posted on CTUIR-owned lands within “public squares.” Previously the LDC prohibited political and campaign signs on CTUIR lands. Also amended in the July 24 meeting were the allowable dates for sign posting and size requirements for signs.
of Tony Jimenez Jr. of Pendleton. He will be sentenced for the crime Feb. 1, 2018, at the U.S. District Courthouse in Portland. Simpson, 24, admitted guilt to second-degree murder for shooting and killing Jimenez on March 19, 2016, on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, according to court records in the federal case. The BOT approved a resolution that set out a timeline and funding for construction of a new Education Facility that will include a new Nixyaawii Community School. The Education facility would put under a single roof all early-childhood learning systems, including Cay-UmaWa Head Start, Tribal Day Care, and the After School Program, as well as the Tribes’ Language Program. In a totally separate part of the facility would be NCS, which is in its 14th year William Sigo IV talks at a on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. NCS candidates’ forum in October. is chartered under Pendleton School District 16R and as such it is a public school that anyone can attend. It is not an “Indian school.” NCS has an enrollment of 80 students in ninth through 12th grade; about 60 are members of the CTUIR and another 10 are Native American students from other tribes, which leaves 10 non-natives.
NOVEMBER Voters elected William Sigo IV as General Council Chair over incumbent Alan Crawford and retained Gary Burke as BOT Chair. Also retaining seats on the BOT were Secretary N. Kat Brigham, and members at-large Aaron Ashley and Woodrow Star. Doris Wheeler was elected treasurer while former treasurer Rosenda Shippentower was elected to an at-large member position. Newcomer Sally Kosey also was elected to an at-large position. On the General Council with Sigo, Michael Ray Johnson was elected vice-chair, Shawna Gavin was elected secretary, and Thomas Morning Owl was elected by write-in as interpreter. A run-off election is planned Feb. 12 to elect a BOT vice-chair after incumbent Jeremy Wolf and challenger Shana Radford finished in a tie with 370 votes each. Tribal elders will see an increase in their monthly benefit payments as they grow older, according to the 2018 budget for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). The Board of Trustees (BOT) appropriated an additional $135,900 to fund an increase in the monthly elders’ benefit payments, which will be based on ages once an elder reaches 65 years old.
Relay racers do their best to stay on and control their horses during action at the Round-Up.
OCTOBER Twenty-one of the 26 candidates participated Oct. 19 at a political forum in front of more than 40 people in the General Council Chambers at Nixyaawii Governance Center. The General Council Chairman and three at-large members of the Board of Trustees that didn’t show, nor did two other candidates for atlarge BOT positions. With so many candidates, remarks and responses were brief. Each candidate had a one-minute opening, an off-the-top-of-your-head opportunity to comment on a random issue, and two minutes for a closing statement. An Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), one of three now owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, was demonstrated for the BOT by two employees who are Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified pilots. Travis Olsen and Stacy Schumacher in the CTUIR Geographic Information System (GIS) Program, who are certified to fly the drones, demonstrated the crafts for tribal leaders. The GIS Program will be the lead entity in coordinating the use of drones and management of data captured with the UAS. Environmental Management’s Richland Operations Office (RL) recently dedicated the Indigenous Restoration Area at the Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Federal Training Center in honor of Tribal leaders. The three Tribal leaders recognized for their commitment, leadership, and support to HAMMER and its partnerships in the Oct. 3 ceremony included Bill Burke, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR); Russell Jim, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation; and the late J. Herman Reuben, Nez Perce Tribe.
Sequoia Conner and Tayler Craig have been selected as the 2018 Happy Canyon Princesses. Sequoia Conner, 18, is the daughter of Terri Carnes and Marcus Conner. Her maternal grandparents are Angelita Smith and Herb Carnes; paternal grandparents are Virginia Wilkenson and Cecil Conner. Tayler Craig, 21, is the daughter of Rachael Hoptowit and Fermore Craig Jr. and is an only child. Her maternal grandparents are Belba Hoptowit and William McLane; her paternal grandparents are Priscilla Craig and Fermore Craig Sr.
Noah Enright, a senior at Nearly 100 people came and went Nixyaawii, drives against a throughout a three-hour open house Umatilla defender. Dec. 3 at Crow’s Shadow Institute for the Arts (CSIA) where patrons celebrated the imminent retirement of Master Printer Frank Janzen.
DECEMBER Debra Croswell resigned in December, seven months after her position of Deputy Executive Director was eliminated by the BOT. She had been serving as Interim Executive Director since February of 2017 when Dave Tovey resigned. (See story on Page 5A.) Tribal Environmental Recovery Facility announced it would no longer accept plastic containers for recycling following a decision by China banning 24 different types of recyclable material. (See story on Page 3A.) Nixyaawii Golden Eagles girls are ranked number one in the state and the boys are in the top five as Old Oregon League action begins. (See stories on Page 1B./)
The CTUIR recently negotiated and signed an inter-tribal Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the other treaty tribes hunting bison in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE). The agreement was developed to address safety needs in the Beattie Gulch portion of the hunt area, west of Gardiner, Montana, through bison harvest coordination. Beattie Gulch is one of the first locations that migrating bison are available for harvest as they leave the Yellowstone National Park. Julian Darryl James Simpson pleaded guilty Oct. 27 to the murder
Confederated Umatilla Journal
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