News Stories May 21, 2018

Central Oregon Community College’s annual Salmon Bake, an event organized by the First Nations Student Union, will be on Saturday, June 2^nd from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bend campus’s athletic field. It is a free community event with entertainment for the whole family. In addition to a silent auction of Native American arts and crafts to support the FNSU scholarship program, at the Salmon Bake there will be hoop dancing, dancing and drumming from Quartz Creek and a number of vendor tables. The meal is made possible by a donation of salmon from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs’ Fish and Wildlife Committee. For COCC’s last academic year, more than four percent of the college’s students were American Indian or Alaska Native.

The second phase of demolition work will begin this week in Warm Springs and Simnasho. The work includes the abatement and cleanup of buildings, demolition of buildings, and the removal of underground storage tanks. Buildings include the Simnasho School, several buildings on the campus, the Roads Building & Shop and Land Operations Building on Hollywood, and old buildings near Shitike Creek Road. The final phase of the project will be the abatement and cleanup – not demolition – of the Old Elementary School and cafeteria.

The Madras team of Jessica & Erica Olivera lost in a close match for fifth place at the state tennis championships – losing to a North Bend duo 6-4, 5-7, 7-6, 7-4 Jessica & Erica Olivera

At the 4A Track Championships in Eugene over the weekend, for Madras – Chad Thurby placed in the 100, Dalton Waldo in the 200, Tyler Anderson in both the 1500 and 3000 and Olivia Symons in the Long Jump

Governor Kate Brown and the state’s delegation to Congress are opposing efforts by the federal government to change the way Medicaid is dispersed to American Indians. The federal proposal is that instead of recognizing tribes as sovereign governments, they be recognized as racial groups. U.S. Representatives Greg Walden and Peter DeFazio and U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley sent letters last week to HHS Secretary Alex Azar that opposed the agency recommendation. The letter signed by Walden, DeFazio and 54 other members of the House of Representatives, expressed “profound concerns and strong opposition to a recent decision…to undermine tribal sovereignty.”

TOPPENISH, Wash. — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee will be a guest speaker today during the grand opening of the Yakama Nation’s new veterans center. The new building replaces the tribe’s veterans center that had been housed in a small cinder block building near the tribe’s headquarters just west of Toppenish. The new building was recently constructed about a block away, and the tribe and the Yakama Warriors Association will celebrate its grand opening today.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown last month proclaimed this week American Indian Week in Oregon and encourages all Oregonians to join in the observance. The proclamation reads “The State of Oregon seeks to encourage learning about cultural items, resources and sites as a way to increase appreciation for the value all Oregonians gain from rich the rich and enduring Tribal heritage.