KWSO News for 11/18/19

With November being Native American Heritage Month, Central Oregon Community College is hosting a few events. Today and tomorrow they will feature Native American Flute Music with Warm Springs Tribal Member Clem Picard. Performance today will be at the Madras COCC Campus and tomorrow at the Bend Campus, both performances start at 6pm. Then Warm Springs Hip Hop Artist Blue Flamez will perform this Friday Nov 22^nd at the Bend Campus starting at 6pm. These events are free and open to the Public. For more information you can call 541-318-3782.

Warm Springs Tribal Member Johnathan Courtney will be a keynote speaker at the Veteran’s Military Suicide Prevention Conference being held this week.  The conference will focus on discussing key tools for supporting our under-served veterans, which include women services members, service members of color, LGBTQ service members and more. Courtney who currently serves as the Chairman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Deptartment of Oregon Veterans Health and Wellness Committee aims to use his experience to lead suicide prevention efforts in his community.  The conference is being held in Clackamas starting on Wednesday the 20^th to Friday the 22^nd.

The Warm Springs Health and Promotion Prevention Initiative (HAPPI) is coordinating items for distribution in December. The HAPPI Holiday goal is to provide families in need with gifts during the Holiday season. If your family could use assistance in providing for your children this holiday season, you can complete an application for each child up to 18 years of age. The applications do need to be completed by the legal parent/guardian with physical custody of children who reside on or near the Warm Springs Reservation. Completed applications should be turned in at the Warm Springs Library at the Family Resource Center by Friday December 6^th. Gifts will be available to be picked up on Thursday December 19^th 9am-7pm and Friday December 20^th 12-5pm at the Warm Springs Youth Center Gym (Old Elementary school).

The Warm Springs Recreation Department will be hosting their 43^rd Annual Christmas Bazaar on Saturday December 14^th at the Warm Springs Community Center. You can find Beautifully hand crafted gifts, delicious baked goods, fry bread and more. The event will be open from 10am-4pm and everyone is welcome to attend. Would you like to be a vendor or have questions? Call Warm Springs Recreation at 541-553-3243.

A meeting in Newport recently had Madras Attorney Tim Gassner and two collegues who are members of the Madras Indigent Defense Consortium (MIDC), pleading with the Public Defense Services Commission to restore funding to their legal group. The long shot efforts ultimately proved ineffective as the Public Defense Services Commission approved a new slate of contracts for 2020 with no money allotted to the Madras Consortium. The Bend Bulletin reports that the dispute in Madras is part of a larger effort to upgrade Oregon’s public defense system, and a first step in what’s expected to be a yearslong process that could include new legislation. The Office of Public Defense Services general counsel Eric Deitrick notes that with the MIDC out of the picture, its members could now join the district’s other defense consortium, the 22^nd Circuit Defenders. The latest contract cycle includes far more funding for the 22^nd Circuit Defenders than in the past.