Candlelight vigil held on BIA lawn

By Cary Rosenbaum of the CUJ MISSION – A small but powerful candlelight vigil was held Oct. 15 in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Seven community members and CTUIR workers gathered on the BIA lawn to share experiences, prayers and songs, while standing in a half circle. Dana Campbell, the tribe’s child youth advocate for the Family Violence Services…

Discover Program seeks applicants for 2021

MISSION – Applications are being accepted for two more CTUIR employees to take part in the 2021 Pamáwaluukt Empower (Discover) Program, which offers supervisory – and now managerial – level training to Tribal members interested in advancing to management positions. “Pamáwaluukt,” the Discover program title, stands for “Each person raising themselves up.” Applications for 2021 are available on the CTUIR…

Tribal member harvests bighorn carrying deadly respiratory disease

By the CUJ MISSION – Tests on a bighorn sheep ram harvested from the Burnt River herd by a Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) hunter indicate the animal was carrying a deadly disease responsible for the loss of bighorn populations throughout the Western United States. Wildlife biologists from the CTUIR Department of Natural Resources received in late…

Warming station open with COVID-19 restrictions

By Wil Phinney of the CUJ MISSION – As temperatures dip below 36 degrees, homeless people on the Umatilla Indian Reservation will have a place to go again this winter when the Warming Station opens in November under new management. The Cmuytp’ama Warming Station will soon be open from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. for up to seven adults, but…

Coyote Business Park unveils new logo, website

MISSION – Coyote Business Park, owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), has unveiled a redesigned logo and website as part of its rebranding efforts to promote the development opportunities of the business park. “The updated logo and website provide some new energy for Coyote Business Park,” said Bill Tovey, Director of the Department of Economic…

Wildhorse distributes food to employees

MISSION – Food was distributed each Tuesday in October and again Nov. 3 to nearly 250 employees of Wildhorse Resort & Casino, many of who were furloughed or laid off earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine volunteers loaded into vehicles “box kits” of food in two shifts – one in the morning and one in the afternoon…

Peacekeepers on the Road

Yakama-based group delivers food, positive message By Wil Phinney of the CUJ MISSION – Quanah Spencer said he came to the Umatilla Indian Reservation, where he has several relatives, to “take away despair, anxiety, and give back hope” to the Native people struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Spencer, the Tribal Relations Director for BNSF Railroad Company, was one of more…

Paying respect to a Umatilla hero

There’s a sight to be seen that connects my tribe and yours. It’s one headstone among thousands at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Lucas White, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, was laid to rest there in 2006 at age 28. I’m one of a handful of Colvilles I know to pay respects in-person.…

The freaks were out on Dogwood Lane

About five years ago Frank Lopez decided he’d create a little Halloween fun in the neighborhood and he’s been making his yard look sicker and grosser and scarier every year since. “Nobody was doing anything so I decided I’d decorate the yard and little by little … something to get the trick-or-treaters out here,” said Lopez, a Coral Aztec Indian…