KWSO News Thu. Mar. 28, 2019

Warm Springs Telecom reports that internet and phone outages earlier this week were the result of two separate issues.  Service in the Sidwalter area was disrupted when the switching of power from solar panels to the generator didn’t trigger.  On cloudy days or when snow covers the solar panels – a propane generator comes on to power the Telecom equipment on the Sidwalter lookout tower.  That was resolved on Tuesday.  A separate phone outage Tuesday interrupted service to businesses and was resolved after discovering a switch issue with LS Networks in CenturyLink’s Madras hut.

A new Miss Warm Springs was crowned last night at the Agency Longhouse.  Charisse Heath is currently a student at Yakima Valley College.  Her contemporary talents were basketball and CPR – both which she demonstrated.  She did a talk about traditional foods and food preservation.   Charisse Heath was crowned by outgoing Miss Warm Springs Thyreicia Simtustus.   Heath’s parents were the late Christopher Heath Sr. and Irma Wahnetah.  She lives in Washington with her aunt and uncle, Anthony and Colleen Johnson.

It’s Spring Break and today is the final day of the Young at Art Fair at the Museum at Warm Springs.  All Ttibal Youth 10 and older can participate in weaving, painting, drawing, beading, raw hide and social dance activities between 10am and 3pm today.  Talk to Natalie at the Museum if you have any questions.

The Madras Pioneer reports that former Madras Aquatic Center and KIDS Club director, Joe McHaney, was arraigned last Thursday on 18 counts of theft, computer crime, official misconduct and tampering with public records.  The alleged counts are from 2017 and early 2018.  McHaney plead not guilty and his next court date is April 25^th.  The charges follow an indictment by a Jefferson County Grand Jury earlier this month.

This week’s Madras Pioneer features the pull out history section called the Agate.  The annual feature section is the work of the Jefferson County Historical Society.  This issue has articles on Ashwood Mining around the turn of the Century, newspapers from the past in Jefferson County, the Rajneeshpurum Farrier, Turk Irving, and the Fighter Jet that used to be part of the Sahalee Park Playground.  The Jefferson County Historical Society is having their annual fundraiser on Saturday April 6^th a the Jefferson County Senior Center.  Former Museum at Warm Springs Director Carol Leone is the featured speaker.  You can learn more on page 2 of this week’s Pioneer.