KWSO News for Mon., Oct. 11, 2021

Last Friday’s (10/8/21) Warm Springs Community COVID-19 update reported 30 people with active COVID-19 in Warm Springs and 33 close contacts receiving daily monitoring.  The Warm Springs I.H.S. Clinic is closed today.  They will resume COVID-19 testing, vaccinations and flu shots along with all their other services tomorrow.

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Offices are closed today in observance of Indigenous People’s Day.  Due to the holiday for the Tribes there will be no senior lunch today.

Oregon now officially recognizes the 2^nd Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples Day— a recognition of the Native American communities here long before Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas.  Oregon has many different Indigenous communities including nine federally recognized tribes: Burns Paiute of Harney County; Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians; Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; Confederated Tribes of Siletz; Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Reservation; Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians; Coquille Indian Tribe; and Klamath Tribes. According to the 2020 census, there are 129,081 Oregonians who identify as full or part American Indian and Alaska Native, comprising 3.1% of the state’s population.   https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2021/10/10/oregon-recognize-its-first-indigenous-peoples-day/6059666001/

The draft 2022 Tribal Budget for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs is now posted at the Tribal Administration Building, Warm Springs Market, The Post Office and Three Warriors Market.  The Tribes Secretary Treasurer – CEO Glendon Smith says that due to COVID-19 there will be no in-person budget meetings however Tribal Council has created a survey form to get feedback from the membership on the draft budget.   The survey will be available this Saturday at a Community Drive Up Event from 10am – 2pm at the Old Elementary School.  There will be incentive prizes for Tribal Members who have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine who also complete the Tribal Council Budget survey.   The draft budget shows a loss of revenue including Timber Revenue down about 1.5 Million dollars and Enterprises down 1.2 Million.  American Rescue Plan Act funds will fill that gap to the tune of 4 million 7 hundred thousand dollars.  And Tribal Programs, overall, will operate with similar budgets to what they have this year.   You can see the draft budget in last week’s edition of the SPILYAY TYMOO

Authorities say deputies stumbled into a significant illegal marijuana operation in southern Oregon this week, finding an amount of marijuana with a street value conservatively estimated at over $100 million. The Herald and News reports a large potato shed south of Klamath Falls was filled with marijuana in various stages of processing. Klamath County Sheriff Chris Kaber said Friday it was found after someone called in possible smoke in the area. Kaber says a search warrant executed at the site Thursday led detectives to two other grow operations that were linked to the processing facility, where they found more marijuana and processing equipment. No arrests have been made. An investigation is ongoing.