KWSO News for Thu., Dec. 30, 2021

The National Weather service is warning of extreme cold East of the Cascades through the week. As Emily Cureton Cook reports, this makes being unhoused even more dangerous. “On the outskirts of Bend unhoused people hunker down in tents or vehicles, as a volunteer distributes supplies. Satcher: do you have enough propane to get you to Friday….Volunteer Mike Satcher talks through the door of a battered old travel trailer. The trailer doesn’t have electricity, nor running water. But for the man inside— its an improvement Critter: The last 11 years I’ve been in a tent. The man goes by his nickname– Critter. A few winters ago, he went to the hospital with hypothermia. This year, a local aid group called The Helpers gave him a travel trailer. He sleeps with his dog, and worries she would bark all night at an emergency shelter. Advocates estimate more than a thousand people are unhoused across Central Oregon on any given night. There are only 120 beds available in emergency shelters in the largest cities, Bend and Redmond. Emily Cureton reporting” In Warm Springs, recent Tribal Council action has declared the Elmer Quinn Park to be a day use only park. The transient community that had been settled in there were recently notified by the Warm Springs Tribal Police that they would be removed from the park and wouldn’t be allowed to stay overnight any longer. Yesterday the WSTPD Emergency management and other departments were at Elmer Quinn Park to remove any campsites and debris that remained. There was a temporary shelter set up at the old elementary school gym.

Four Jefferson County organizations received a combined $60,000 in funding from the Oregon Community Foundation according to the Madras Pioneer. The Warm Springs Community Action team is received two $25,000 grants from the Oregon Community Foundation, which will be used to fund their ongoing youth mural project. Another arm of the WSCAT, Tananawit also received funding in the amount of $5000 which will be designated to supporting artists that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Another program funded by OCF is the Columbia River Institute for Indigenous Development who has been working on a program to document, preserve and teach their native language Ichishkin, where only 10 Ichishkin speakers remain in Warm Springs. Because of COVID-19 in person classes have been unavailable and this funding will go to help elders teach online. The Jefferson county Cultural commission also received funding, which in the past they have used to support many Jefferson County cultural activities.

Oregonian Chuck Sams this month became the first Native American to serve as director of the National Park Service. Sams is enrolled Cayuse and Walla Walla with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation, where he previously served as executive director. In an interview with O-P-B, Sams said he hopes to inspire Indian Country in his leadership of one of the nation’s foremost public lands agencies. “SAMS: “I’m so happy and I’m so grateful to President Biden for nominating me to be the 19th director of the National Park Service and to continue on in my stewardship responsibilities as an American Indian.” Sams is the first permanent director of the park service since 2017. His priorities for the agency include clearing a maintenance backlog, addressing overcrowding, and recruiting staff for national parks, monuments and memorials. Sams was sworn in by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, who herself became the first Native American cabinet secretary earlier in the year.

In Sports: The Lady Buffs basketball team was in action at the Sisters Holiday Shootout last night facing off against Ridgeview. They came up short with a 58-38 loss. They will face La Grande today at 10am. The Buff Boys faced off against Mazama last night at the Sisters Holiday shootout and came away victorious 58-49. They continue today as they play Trinity Lutheran at 2pm. In College football, the Oregon Ducks squared off against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Valero Alamo Bowl. In a shootout the Ducks fell to the Sooners 47-32. Sooners coach Bob Stoops was called out of retirement for the game as former coach Lincoln Riley left to take the Head Coaching job at Southern California. Stoops called it fun and appreciated the young guys in the program. Oklahoma jumped out to an early 30-3 lead before Oregon tried to mount a comeback.

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