Local News
KWSO News for Fri., Apr. 29, 2022
Apr
In Warm Springs, the Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center continues to monitor data from samples collected as part of the waste water monitoring program for COVID-19 in Oregon. The clinic has seen low numbers as far as COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, however, this week they are reporting an increase in COVID concentration in the Agency lagoon which is raising concern. The community is encouraged to continue to take precautions by avoiding large gatherings, wearing masks indoors where there are a lot of people, and maintaining good sanitation practices. Everyone should have COVID-19 home test kits on hand so if you do feel sick – you can test yourself. Kits are available during the work week at Emergency Management and after work hours and on the weekend at Fire & Safety on Campus and at the Simnasho Fire Hall.
With the Tribal Council elections over, next up for them is the swearing in ceremony of the 29th Tribal Council for the confederated Tribes of Warm Springs which will take place on May 2nd. The current Tribal Council asked outgoing Tribal Council Chairman Raymond Tsumpti for a few words, here’s what he had to say. “I told them, I do not want fanfare at all and they did it anyway, and they wanted a few words from me and I said well, if there’s any credit to be made about me being their representative, I give credit to my district and having the trust and confidence to be their representative.” Lincoln Jay Suppah and Raymond Moody are two Incumbents in the Simnasho District and Wilson Wewa is the incumbent in the Seekseequa District. There will be 5 new members of Tribal Council, and they are: Carlos Calica in the Simnasho District, Rosa Graybael in the Seekseequa District, and in the Agency District: James Manion, Alvis Smith III and Jonathan W. Smith. The swearing in ceremony will start at 9am on Monday May 2nd in front of the Tribal Administration Building.
The Native American Music Awards recently closed the voting for Award nominations for music made between 2019 to 2021. Categories were abundant, ranging from different Genres as well as Best Single, Best Music Videos and much more. Warm Springs was well represented as Blue Flamez, Bigg B and Kalliah and Blackwater were up for nominations. Next up they will have the ceremony to announce the winners of the awards and that will be held on Saturday November 19th, 2022. To listen to any nominated music you can visit namalive.com.
On Saturday April 23rd, five school from the Jefferson County School district competed against teams throughout Central and Eastern Oregon in the Oregon Battle of the Books. The Warm Springs K-8 Academy fielded a team for the first time in school history and became the first school in the JCSD history to advance to the Elite 8 in any Oregon Battle of the Books division. On Saturday they started with Round Robin play and each team participated in four battles. Teams who scored the highest amount of points or answered the most questions correctly during round robin play advanced to the Elite 8. In the Elite 8 the K-8 Eagles were edged out by the #1 seed South Wasco Middle School Redsides who went on to win the tournament. The match was back and forth with the Redsides icing the battle on the final set of questions, defeating the Eagles by 10 points. Congratulations to Arema White, Caymon Ippolito, Julian Stwyer, Jada Medina, Heaven Stwyer and Head Coach Heidi Casper on a tremendous year.
At the Madras High School, Principal Brian Cook, who has been serving the Jefferson County 509-J School District since 2016 is leaving his position at the end of the school year. As reported by the Madras Pioneer, Crook is moving to Arizona for family reasons and he stated “this was not the plan for us, but family is the most important thing and we know it’s the best thing to do.” Crook has accepted a position as assistant Principal at Deer Valley High School in Glendale, but plans to continue visiting Central Oregon as they have Grand Children who live in Redmond. The Jefferson County School District has begun interviews for potential principal candidates and hopes to hire a new principal in the next few weeks. In other MHS news, Head Football coach Kurt Taylor is stepping down from that position as well as his position as Physical Education teacher but plans to stay at the school in a new role as Dean of Students and Intervention Specialist. Taylor says the move will allow him to spend more time with his two young children. Madras High School does plan to take their time looking for a new head coach as they want to find the right fit and not rush into bringing someone on.
In Local Sports: The Madras High School Buff Boys Baseball was scheduled to travel to Estacada yesterday, but the game was postponed. The Lady Buffs hosted Estacada yesterday and got beat up 19-2 in League action. In the Coaches report she gave credit to Estacada as a very disciplined and good hitting team who brought their A game. She shared that the Lady Buffs played relatively well looking at the stats, but lost their intensity and fire after the 2nd inning being down 8-1. She said they need to regroup and keep cleaning up the defense, work with the pitchers on changing up their speeds and HIT HIT HIT. Next up for the Lady Buffs, they are on the road Monday to Estacada with game time at 5pm. In Girls Tennis, they faced off against Estacada and won 5 matches while dropping 2. In singles, Estacada’s Grace Jossi defeated Madras’ Diamond Amaya in 2 sets, Estacada’s Ana Garcia Munoz defeated Madras’ Kimberly Mendoza in 2 sets and Madras’ Mia Mitchell won her match. Madras Doubles, all 4 matches were won by the Lady Buffs. The Warm Springs Nation Little League will be in action tomorrow as the Minor boys will host Sisters 2 at 1pm. The Junior Boys will be on the road to Madras as they will battle the Jefferson County Dodgers starting at 10am for a double header.
For those who prefer to listen to their KWSO News, Click Play Below:
