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CouncilCORNER>
TO THE PEOPLE
By Deb Louie
To The People:
I want to express my gratitude for your support in this past
election. THANK YOU! As I have always told you, I will do my
best to serve all of you, the membership of the Colville
Tribe.
There are many important issues, we as the Council, must take
care of that which concerns our entire Tribe.
However, whenever you need individual help, I will do what I
can to assist you. If I cannot address your request, I will
direct you to people hired with the expertise to take care of
them. I try my best to address all concerns relayed to me in a
timely manner and I will continue to do this.
You can visit me at the office anytime or call me at the
office. I welcome calls to my home (509) 634-4669 or cell
phone (509) 631-0487. Again, thank you for your support and
confidence.
Respectfully,
Deb Louie
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HutchinsonUpdate
By Margie Hutchinson
Dear Tribal Members:
Thank you so much for your support in my reelection to the
Colville Business Council. I am proud to have your support,
and I encourage your input and questions on any issues of
concern. I appreciate the phone calls, and I always make every
effort to return those calls, because I expect the same…
I am extremely excited about the future direction of the
tribe, and especially grateful that I will be a part of that
new direction. We still have many difficult issues to deal
with but I AM confident we will take a very proactive approach
with the new leadership in place.
With my thanks,
Margie Hutchinson
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MoomawUpdate
By
Cherie Moomaw
I wish to
thank all the members of the Colville Tribe that chose to vote
in the recent Tribal election. I appreciate those voters of
the Omak District that encouraged, supported, and voted for
me.
I will do my best to represent and work for all members of the
Colville Tribes.
Your vote does count,
Cherie Moomaw
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MosesUpdate
By Harvey Moses, Jr.
JUNE 10, 2005
Greetings:
Things have been hectic around the old tribal office but to
me that means we are doing something. As you may already be
aware or if you’re not, the CEO at CTEC resigned. I believe his
resignation letter cites loss of confidence in him by the Board
of Directors. The Chairman of the Board also resigned effective
June I. We need to get people into CTEC that have vision. We
need to get people into CTEC and on the board that have business
sense who can take the corporation into the 21st century. We
need leadership in CTEC that will look to development of new
sources of income and not solely depend on our forest products.
We don’t need bureaucratic types on the board. We need to get
into the thick of things again, years ago we (the CCT) were the
leaders in Indian Country, we need to get past the politics, the
favoritism in employment and in appointments, we need to get our
own tribal members training to fill all positions created in
both CTEC and the Tribal Government, this is what will make us
successful today, tomorrow an next year.
Our new Paschal Sherman School is now opened
for business; this happened on June 3, 2005 with all the
expected hoopla for such an event. All but 3 council members
were present. There was a state senator present -I forget his
name. The BIA Ed person was present plus a BIA type from
Albuquerque, plus numerous past and present priests. The school
is a work of art and should be treated as such. We in the
Nespelem district need to keep pushing for a school here in
Nespelem that will give our students a choice of educational
opportunities.
I attended the Nespelem Headstart graduation
on June 3rd; it was an enjoyable experience to see those little
people be honored like that. It took me back to the first time I
attended such an event like that, I attended my son’s headstart
graduation program, he is now 14 and graduating from the Grand
Coulee Dam Middle School 8th grade to become a freshmen at Lake
Roosevelt High School next year, how time files. I’d better also
mention that my daughter Amy is graduating from EWU with a
degree in Archeology on June II tho I’d like to say
congratulations to all graduates at all levels. Keep in mind
that there are all sorts of opportunities out there and
continued education is just one of them. Trade schools or
technical schools are another. I ask you high school grads to
consider the aforecited; the world is yours to conquer. Good
luck to each and every one of you.
I attended the "Peace Makers" training held
at the Nespelem Headstart. I have never attended this type of
activity before; it’s an attempt to open up another avenue for
our youth who get into trouble as opposed to just the court
thing. There are merits in the Peace Makers process; it will be
using our culture and traditional teaching to deal with troubled
youth and his/her family unit.
I am a part of the Wenatchi Negotiations
team. We are dealing with the Yakama’s for fishing rights for
the Wenatchi members at Icicle River. We met in Seattle last
month with the Yakama’s who are preventing the Colville
Wenatchi’s from fishing at Icicle River. They say that we are
infringing on their treaty rights. They told us to go to the
State and see if they would be willing to allow the Wenatchi’s
to get fish out of their allocation. The meeting in Olympia was
successful; the State is working on a proposal which will be
ready for discussion Mid-July. Tentatively the Yakama’s agree
with this process via, their attorney who represented the Yakama
Tribe.
Until next month be same and enjoy the
summer.
JULY 14, 2005
Greetings Tribal Members:
The Tribal Election process is over for another year.
Congratulations to the successors and congratulations to those
of you that were not voted into the CBC this year also. You made
the membership sit up and take note of why you felt you were the
best choice for that position you ran for. In all cases you made
the incumbent more aware of why they are currently in that
position.
There is a message in this year’s election,
and that is listening to your constituents, or they will find
someone who will. There are three unseasoned CBC members coming
on board. I will offer as much assistance to each of them as
possible. They were each elected for specific reasons and they
each will have to work hard to move their agendas forward. Good
luck to each of you.
Today July 6, was a momentous day for the
Colville Confederated Tribes; the Douglas County PUD Manager and
Commissioners were here to present the cash settlement of $13.5
million to the CBC for the taking of Tribal lands. A 100% pay
out will be made in October 2005 of this amount. The attorneys
are working to make sure the amount distributed is not counted
as a taxable income.
On June 13th, I
traveled to Oroville where a construction company laying water
pipe in the middle of the town found ancient human remains.
Those remains are of a very large native man, who was in his
20’s and apparently a man of importance within the Tribe back
then because of the items buried with him. I commend the
History/Archeology Program for their quick action in this
instance; taking charge and doing the survey work to recover
these remains and repatriate them just as quick.
I traveled to Walla Walla to take part in a
meeting between the Corps of Engineers (COE), BPA and
representatives from the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Wanapum and Yakama
Tribes regarding future contracting processes with the COE to do
Cultural Survey work on each of our tribal ‘Usual and Accustom’
territories and reservation lands. As is the usual case, the two
governmental agencies don’t quite get the fact that we as Tribes
are here to stay and have the capabilities to do professional
archeological work that must take place when burial sites and
artifacts are disturbed. I believe we must keep working together
towards assisting them in acknowledging that, at all times WE
will protect our culture and traditions in each of our areas of
responsibilities.
The Tribes are looking at the possibility of
developing a utility company within the Tribal organization. By
doing this we hope to provide cheaper power to the user (our
tribal members), the Tribal government and CTEC entities. We
currently have a small power producing plant at CIPV. In
addition to our settlement with Douglas County PUD we are to
receive a 4.5% of power or revenue produced by Well’s Dam. If
this business idea transpires, we would need lineman, equipment
operators, office staff and a manager. This has the potential of
meaningful employment opportunities for 4 to 8 tribal members
with competitive salary and benefit packages.
The 2005 4th of
July Pow Wow is now history and I believe it was successful,
thanks to the hard work of the Pow Wow Committee. The dinner was
good and the attendance was up both with the dinner itself and
for the War dances. It never ceases to amaze me at how light
those dancers appear on their feet when they are out there
performing. I attended Sunday’s rodeo, too. I have admiration
for those individuals who have the courage and fearlessness to
compete in this sport that I enjoy watching from the (safe)
sidelines.
Have a good month,
Harvey Moses, Jr.
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Indian COUNTRY
By
Michael E. Marchand
Trust
Reform Legislation
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has drafted a trust
reform bill to amend the 1994 Act. Since that Act was passed,
Ross Swimmer was appointed head of the Office of Special
Trustee. The federal government has been under heavy pressure
by the courts to reform its trust management system. Our
trustee has lost track of many of its Indians and their
resources and cannot possibly account for their assets, nor
can it show that they have been managed correctly. Currently,
the courts say that the federal government must meet the
highest fiduciary standards, but the Executive branch has its
own interpretations and these are not consistent. So there are
no standards nor is there any process in place to arrive at
standards. Without these, how can the government design an
administration when nobody knows what is supposed to be
accomplished. Mr. Swimmer has been very convincing to Interior
and has been given a lot of rein on how to revamp the system.
Dollars have been moved out of BIA and into OST to fund the
creation, which has been used to create a lot of new positions
and new office space. BIA programs have been getting big cuts
and this is a big concern. National listening sessions have
been conducted to get tribal input on the changes needed under
the sponsorship of NCAI and this group has adopted a list of
principles that they would like to see incorporated into
revamping the system. In the Northwest, there has been another
effort at putting together a draft bill and this was led by
Quinault, Colville, Lummi, Hoopa, and Rocky Boy, with several
other tribes, and they have been working with Alan Parker who
runs the Indian policy program with Evergreen College at this
time. The final draft bill will be coming out soon and
hopefully some needed changes will be forthcoming this year.
Getting a settlement for the Cobell lawsuit is a major issue
and the government is also concerned about getting flooded by
tribal government breach of trust lawsuits.
Trust Accounts Analysis:
An attempt was made by the government to account for Colville
tribal moneys for a period from the 1970’s into the 1990’s.
The BIA contracted with the Arthur Anderson accounting firm to
look at tribal government trust accounts for about a 20-year
time period. For Colville, the period contained about a
half-billion dollars in trust account transactions. This
included claims payments and primarily timber sale dollars.
The BIA budgeted so much money to do this accounting and then
ran into problems with missing records and other problems.
Decisions were made between the BIA and the Arthur Anderson
contractor on how to deal with this missing information or
data gaps. I don’t know how they made these decisions, whether
they made sense or not. There are some unknowns. The bottom
line is that the BIA said they looked at the books as best
they could and concluded that we owed them a few dollars. The
data gaps could be significant or maybe they are not, no one
really knows at this point. With this volume of transactions,
a few percentage points one way or the other could amount to
millions of dollars. There are issues about how the money was
handled and can the government prove that it was done
correctly and that we received the amount of interest owed to
us. To begin the process of investigating this history, the
tribe has entered into a process to be a pilot to access our
records. Forensic accounting experts are being hired and the
tribes will look at a sampling of these data gaps and see if
any sense can be made out of this. Maybe the problem is big or
maybe it is not, we will look at this as best we can at this
point in time. This whole process of retesting the books was
initiated by the Intertribal Monitoring Association, for which
I presently serve on the Board of Directors. ITMA is the
association of tribes with significant trust accounts.
First Salmon Ceremony:
A couple of weeks ago the tribe sponsored a First Salmon
Ceremony and Dinner, which started on Omak Creek at sunrise
and concluded at the Omak Senior Center. There was a good
turnout and we also were honored to have many visitors who
came down from Canada. The purpose was to honor the Chinook
salmon, which were the first ones to return from the ones that
we planted a couple years ago. The tribe has been working on
this project for a number of years and this has been a success
with the help of Bonneville Power Administration which was
represented by our own tribal member John Smith who has worked
on behalf of tribal interests within BPA for many years and
who incidentally is now retiring. Many of our elders who used
to fish when there were plenty of salmon at the traditional
fishing sites have now passed away, but there are still a few
of our elders left who saw the great fish runs at Kettle Falls
and Celilo Falls. Our people had a great salmon culture, which
has fallen on hard times, but hopefully the tide is starting
to turn a little bit. In the year 2001 we put on a powwow at
the Omak Longhouse and this is the year that the steelhead
returned on their own. The old Bile-Coleman Company had built
a railroad up to Disautel and blasted big boulders into the
creek, which came to be called the Mission Falls. This
blockage was removed and the way was cleared for the fish.
There are still management issues on the creek but this is the
only stream that currently has any major potential so we need
to keep working with it. Tribal elders tell us that in order
for the salmon to return, that the ceremonies need to be
conducted and the salmon need to be respected.
Canoe Trek:
The Okanagan Nations are sponsoring a canoe trip from Canada
down the Okanogan River again. Our tribe has built a couple of
canoes with help from our cousins in Canada. At one time this
was the main mode of travel for this region and there were
many types of boats that used to be built. A few of our people
are trying to relearn this craft again. These treks are real
special and I encourage everyone to try and get involved if
possible. Young and old can participate with paddling or with
the building. The boats that are being used are made of
cottonwood and they are basically carved out of the solid
tree. Other types of canoes were made, including birch bark
and white pine bark. Arrow Lakes people also used the canoe
which many books call the Kootenai sturgeon nosed canoe.
Hopefully we can build a few more boats each year and get this
re-established again.
Wenatchee Fishing Case:
There is not much that I can report on due to confidentiality
agreements within the case being litigated, but I can say that
we have continued to meet and we have also included the State
of Washington. We are working on plans for a fishery site on
the Icicle that would give us a fishing site of our own.
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CharleysCORNER
By
Shireley K Charley
To the
Membership,
I apologize for the strong wording in this month’s letter to
you. I feel like my hands are tied while trying to carry out
the duties that I THINK are my responsibilities on your
behalf.
I don’t think asking Administration to do their jobs is
“micro-managing” or asking a department for job descriptions
that are “confidential”. How are people applying for a
position if they can’t see what is required of them or if they
qualify for the position? Is this the reason that some people
don’t have the required credentials, and yet, they are still
employed? Is the CCT Court part of the criminal background
check? There are many questions and opinions that come up
daily. Some of the members that are asking or stating them
have yet to come into the Council Chambers!!! I do a lot of
research that is necessary to prove that what I am being asked
by some of you is true. I will continue to do this to make
sure the Tribe is protected. I don’t have blinders on nor will
I put any on. I might not know all of your circumstances, but
if I am not asked, I don’t know you want my help. I can only
do the best job that you will allow me to do.
I did vote not to reappoint the outgoing CTEC Board members.
Those of you that did call and talk to me asked that I vote
this way, and I did. It is obvious that issues are not being
addressed at their level of authority. I know some issues take
time and need to be within the rules. But, I also can prove
there are numerous times the rules are ignored and an action
is taken, right or wrong. A lot of the time it IS who you are
and nothing else. Law protects the whistle blowers. The law
shouldn’t be ignored or delayed in an ALJ process. Whistle
blowers, in my eyes, are needed. They need to be able to prove
what they are whistling about. I have concern when an issue is
not being looked into because there is no signature. Is this a
way to make sure that the person that is being retaliated
against is really the person? I have great concern when the
division director or management isn’t trying to create
positive avenues of self-sufficiency for our family members or
us. This needs to be changed soon! I can only pave the
non-existing avenues for us.
I have read all of the letters that are sent to me and try to
get results from the division or your supervisor. I know there
are times that the end result isn’t what you want to hear. You
need to call or write again so I will know what your outcome
was. I commend the ones of you that are not afraid to notify
Council. This action should not be taken as a threat. We need
to know that there is the possibility of the upper management
not doing their jobs but still getting great evaluations, pay
raises and continued travel benefits. Bad decisions should not
be rewarded.
We are trying to address the issues that we are experiencing
with the services to non-services at the IHS Clinic and the
P.O. issues. There was a meeting with two (2) representatives
from the Portland Area Office, Administration, Council and
members at Nespelem Longhouse and there was to be results and
another meeting. I’m not sure what has happened except more
denials. We have agreements with the Government. It is suppose
to pay for our health issues and still this isn’t being done
in all areas or with all members. Colville has three (3)
clinics in three (3) districts and transportation isn’t being
provided to Omak members (no clinic). Can’t get Po’s, can’t
get appointments, and can’t get to the doctors locally to get
well. Omak needs to get more of the allocated dollars to be
able to get medical services locally. Makes sense to me, what
about you?
Happy note…..The Wells Dam payment has been delivered!!! I
voiced that payment to us should be made, but, I would of
liked the repayment of the actual cost used by repaid to our
General Fund. Somewhere along the line, we are going to have
to start paying this fund back in order to start saving. We
can’t continue to rely on grants, trees, and State payments to
make us money. A concern that is being addressed is that right
now, the money is to be considered income!! Meaning it would
be reported on your yearly income taxes. I know we are working
on this very hard and rapidly so this won’t happen. As it
stands, payment is to be made in the month of October.
I can be reached at (509) 634-2219 (direct line), (509)
634-2200 (main office), (509) 826-5840 (home) or
1-888-881-7684 (toll free).
Shirley K. Charley
Omak District Council
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