Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2002)
TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS Walt’s Words of Wit and Wisdom By Walt Klamath By golly, it’s been some time since I have written anything about fires. First off, I must congratulate you in the Siletz area. We have not had a major fire in a long time. Ima member of the Siletz Fire Department, Logsden Substation. The last fire I was on in Logsden was a motor home fire. There have been several car fires that were set by someone in cars that were along the road. Just because we have not had any bad fires, though, is no reason to become complacent. We did not have a big campaign about smoke detectors this year as we should have. These are very important for saving lives. Sometimes the advance warning of a few seconds may be the difference between life and death from being severely burned. Check your smoke detectors. Statistics say that half of them in this country don’t work. Batteries are dead or sometimes the ones that are hooked into the house current are disconnected because they go off at inopportune times. This is normally because they are located in the wrong place. There are areas in the home where they will go off all the time, like in the kitchen or bathrooms. So if one does go off and you disengage it, be sure that it’s ready when you retire for the night or whenever you rest. Have detectors at all levels of the home in all of the bedrooms. Once, before time, Coyote had seen the Moon come up every day, then glide over Mother Earth and then go down. He studied this for a long time. Then Coyote decided that he wanted to ride with the Moon. So trie next day, when the Moon came up, he asked the Moon if he could ride with him. The Moon did not reply but kept on moving along. This went on for some time, maybe for years. Then Coyote decided that he would jump on the Moon and ride with him. Coyote went to where the Moon came up from the Earth, and jumped. Coyote was on the Moon, but Moon was not talking. Coyote couldn’t get the Moon to say anything. As the Moon went higher in the sky, it began to get cold. Coyote was not liking this too well and asked the Moon to let him off. The Moon just kept on going, higher and higher. It was getting so very cold now; Coyote was having a hard time hanging onto the Moon. O Coyote kept talking to the Moon, asking to be let off, but the Moon never answered. Finally, Coyote lost his hold and fell. He fell a long way, gathering up a lot of speed as he fell. When he hit Mother Earth, his speed was so great that he went deeper and deeper into Mother Earth, coming to rest deep in the heart of Mother Earth. Coyote crawled out; he was angry with the Moon for doing this to him. Where Coyote landed, the deep hole is today Crater Lake. Every night out on the desert, you can hear Coyotes singing. They are scolding the Moon for what happened to Coyote. Ahhoh, true story. Have fire drills in your home, too. Make sure everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and where they should meet. When the fire department gets there, the first thing we need to know is if anyone is still in the building. If everyone is not accounted for, we have to look for them. This is dangerous to our people too, especially if the person is actually out of the building. So it’s very important to practice what you should do so that everyone will know each other’s whereabouts. When you practice your drill, blindfold all participants, then go to the rooms that they know very well. Spin them around two or three times, then have them get down on their hands and knees to find their way out. In the case of a fire, you will be disoriented to a certain degree. There may be smoke that will be choking you, so you must get down low and find your way out. Do this often, until everyone in the family can do it with ease. Then keep refreshing yourselves by making a game of it. It could save your life and the lives of others. We hope that no one will ever have to do these things for real. But as the Boy Scout motto says, “Be Prepared.” I personally do not want to visit you on a professional call unless it’s to give away 911 stickers or to tell you to put numbers on your house or driveway so that we can find you. I have said a time or two that if it’s on fire, we can find it, but that’s not necessarily true. We have had to look for a few minutes for a place that was on fire that we could not see from the road. This is a loss of crucial time, for in a fire we have no time, time is our enemy. So if your home is well-marked, it’s a big help. We are also human and our adrenaline gets to roaring and sometimes we don’t know where we are going or who lives at this particular address. I have had people tell me that they couldn’t get a number. Big deal - put a post out there with some kind of identification on it. Do anything to help us help you. Take care of yourselves and enjoy the many blessings that we have. Child care, con’t from page 1 The center should be completed in about six months. At that time, its nine employees will be able to provide safe and structured child care for up to six infants, 15 toddlers, and 20 preschool age children, and after-school care for 20 children up to age 12. The center will serve tribal families and other families in the community from its location at the north end of the Oak Flats housing development in Siletz. Bev Youngman cited a survey showing that 83 children in the community need child care. Bev was joined by DeAnn Brown, Tom Chandler, Ramona Fisher, Robin Limbert, and Nancy McCrary on a committee charged with getting the child care center project off the ground. This is the first stage of the Education Enhancement Center that eventually will include classrooms and a library, multi-use area, swimming pool, amphitheater, and tennis courts. The architect and contractor for the child care center joined the Tribal Council at the ground breaking. Dietmar Goebel of Newport, Ore., is the architect. He previously worked with the tribe as the architect for the Siletz Community Health Clinic. TOMCO Construction Inc. of Spokane, Wash., is the contractor and was represented by owner Mel White and Charlie Pimms, principal. Funding for the center comes from a Community Development Block Grant and from NAHASDA (Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act) funds. June 2002 □ Siletz News O 11
