1974-02-15 Char-Koosta News

              Valley Unit: Whilworlh Fumes, BIA Admits Mistake
Tribal Councilman Fred Whitworth calls the first year's cutting the the Valley Logging Unit "an outrage" and asks for closer Council control over the reservation forestry program.
Arlee: "This is an outrage, a damned outrage," Tribal Councilman Fred Whitworth, Arlee, muttered as he picked his way between the slush of honeycombed roads and slash from fallen trees.
"This" was the Valley logging Unit, 3 6,3 26 acres of timbered hills which trace the southern reservation boundary between Dixon and Arlee. The 81.3 mil-Lion board feet of the unit were sold last January to the Van Evan Company of Missoula for $4,9 21 ,339. The contract for the Valley's timber will run 8 years.
Cutting in the Valley Unit began last March but there had been some misgiving about the way the timber was to be harvested. Whitworth, who has a cattle ranch just below the lower boundaries of the cutting area, lias been critical of the Valley
Mission
Creek
Vanishes
MISSION CREEK DRIED UP TO A TRICKLE EARLIER THIS MONTH.
St. Ignatius: During the first week of February, a lot of people who live along Mission Creek noticed something was missing ....Mission Creek.
That's right. For about five days, from February 6 to Feb-rurary 11 there was hardly any flow at all through St. Ignatius and for a few days even the upper creek was just wet enough to gtaze the rocks.
A dried up creek is a serious thing. People along the creek rely on it for a great number of things from mood to winter stock water and fish and aquatic animals rely on it for their very lives.    Last May the Reservation Ranger attempted to restore the fisheries in the creek by planting 7,700 fingerling trout. According to Reservation Fisheries Ranger, Dave Harriman, these fish, which had (cont. on r»a?e 16 )
Unit sale since it was proposed in the fall of 19 7 2 . He voted against accepting the contract on the largest single timber sale in the history of the reservation because, as he told the Council
then, "We don't know what a high-volume, long term project like this is going to do to our game range and water shed". Voting against the sale with Whitworth when it was offered
to the Council on Jan. 19,19 73 were Councilmen Pat Lefthand, Elmo, and Tom "Bearhead" Swaney, St. Ignatius. However, the contract was approved 7 to
**        (cont. on page 6)
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THE BI-WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF THE SALISH, PEND'd ORIELLES AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE FLATHEAD RESERVATION
Volume 3 - Number 20
FULL MOON OF BANDS SPREAD ALL OVER (Feb. 15,19 7 4)
Con-Con District Meetings Continue
The Constitutional Committee is disappointed at the turnout in district Con-Con meetings. But those who did show up at Mission earlier this month agree that some changes in the Tribe's old constitution are necessary. More meetings are scheduled for Poison, Hot Springs and Ronar
Dayton and Big Arm district was cancelled because of the death of James Kallowat. The Elmo meeting will be rescheduled.
The third meeting in the series is planned for the Poison area district Feb. 16 at the Pol-son Community Center. The
fourth will be Feb. 21 at the Hot Springs Bath House for the Hot Springs, Camas District.
As yet, the Constitutional Committee has taken no action on changing the tribe's 39 yea" old constitution. Instead, the five men and five women of the
St. Ignatius: A reservation-wide series of Constitutional Committee district meetings got off to a slow start this month with
a "disappointing" turnout of tribal members in Mission and a cancelled meeting in Elmo.
Committee Chairman Doug Allard, St. Ignatius, told a group of 2 5 to 5 0 persons at Kai-Kai-Shi Center in Mission that "it is disappointing to
find so few people interested in the government of their tribe. This (the Constitutional Convention) committee was set up to propose changes in your con stitution and we are going to need all the help and support we can get." he said. The Feb. 2 meeting for the Mission and Dixon districts was the first of six district meetings planned for the entire reservation. A
Need Election Reforms
Most members who attended the Mission-Dixon meeting seemed to feel that the 1935 constitution was basically adequate and should not be changed. The only area in the old governing document that could be changed, people at the Mission meeting agreed, was election laws. Most felt a pressing need for a pre-election primary to reduce the ballot to a manageable size. The 19 73 Tribal Council ballot had 34 candidates running for 5 seats... an average of nearly 7 candidates for every seat. Most people
committee have decided to wait agreed that this made the choice to hear what people in all reser- of Tribal Councilmen too com-vation districts have to say aboutPlicated- A committee suggestion
the constitution before they draft,proposals. The committee was elected by resident voters Dec. 15 ....they have until
meeting the following weekend at April 5 to complete their rec-Koostahtah Hall for the Elmo,     ommendations.
that a primary should be helH in each district to narrow the race down to two candidates for the reservation-wide vote was overwhelmingly approved by persons attending the (cont. on paqe 3)