NOTICES
Title VII Parent Committee Members Needed
by Juanita Whitebear
The Lincoln County School District’s Indian Education Program serves all
Native American students in grades K-12 enrolled in Lincoln County’s 19 schools.
Our program is designed to “meet the special educational and culturally related
academic needs for our Indian students.”
Currently, we have four paid staff and approximately 600 students registered
with the program. Last year, our school district had the highest number of Native
American graduates in the state of Oregon. We give thanks for all the parents/
relatives’ involvement to help make this possible.
Once a year, we have elections for the Title VII Parent Committee. Parents/
guardians of Indian students, administrators, teachers in LCSD, and Title VII
high school students are eligible to serve on this board and vote in the election.
The Parent Committee is the strong force and voice for our Native students to
the schools. We are encouraging our Native community to again become more
involved with the committee so we can continue to see our students succeed.
We are looking for Native American people who will:
Commit to meet in the evenings once a month at various schools throughout
the district
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Help decide how and where the Title VII funds are spent
Help make decisions on issues that may arise regarding our Native students
Offer support to all LCSD schools regarding our students
Volunteer to help with tribal history and cultural classes
Know about or willing to commit time to attend conferences and trainings
regarding Indian education
We are now taking nominations and will hold elections on Oct. 25. All ballots
must be returned by 5 p.m. on Oct. 25 at Siletz School. If you are interested in
running or know someone who you think wift serve on this committee, please
contact one of the Title VII representatives in your area.
Thank you - All of My Relations
Fred Rider, Title IX Coordinator - Toledo High, 541-336-5104
Patty Savage-Socha, Indian Education Assistant - Siletz School, 541-444-1134
Juanita Whitebear, Indian Education Assistant - Taft High, 541-996-2115
Ann Goddard, Indian Education Assistant - Newport High, 541-265-9281
Walt’s Words of Wit and Wisdom
by Walt Klamath
By golly, I wrote about all the
important things already - fishing and
hunting. Maybe a little nostalgia ...
When I first started to work here
with Janet, she says that I’m going to
work with young kids. I was strongly
opposed to this, but she wouldn’t accept
no for an answer and in the process, I
became involved with the little people.
Really though, it wasn’t all that bad.
In fact, it was rather enjoyable once I
got used to the idea. As it turned out,
Janet put me up to putting a raft trip
together for the young people, I think
starting from third grade to the fifth.
Well, along with Frank Petersen, Dave
Graham, Ed Bartlett, and Clayton
Shultz (I don’t know what happened to
Janet), we put one together.
Now, not knowing too much (still
don’t), it was decided that in order to
accomplish this, it would take a certain
amount of dollars. So it will take
X amount and we need X number of
kids to make it affordable.
Well, 70 sounded like a good
number. We gathered 70 names and
divided that by the amount of $ needed,
and it would be affordable. Phil Rilatos
let us have a school bus and USDA gave
us a bunch of dented cans. I think what
wasn’t dented, the lovely young lady
in charge dented, and we started off.
There were not 70 kids, however, only
30. Oh well.
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Siletz News
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We arrived at Maupin for a four-
hour or so trip. While having breakfast,
I was watching for someone to bring
the rafts to take the kids down the river.
No one showed during breakfast time.
Well then, they would meet us at the
launching site.
The Chemawa crew loaded up and
we followed them upriver a little below
Sheers Bridge. Dave then gathered all
of us by the river’s edge and then the
news hit me. He said to the kids that if
they don’t listen, things won’t go right.
This is when I began the disagreement.
I said that they can’t do it, they’re
too small, their arms are like weenies.
The boys and girls were arguing. The
boys were saying, “I don’t want to be
in her raft. She’s a girl.” And the girls
were throwing pinecones at the boys.
They weren’t paying any attention to
Dave and Ed.
Well, they pumped the rafts up, I
think five of them, and they boarded.
The kids were a bunch of riots running
wild. I knew that this was going to
be a disaster. Now I knew why we
only had 30 out of 70. Those mothers
knew something I didn’t, a premonition
if you will.
Well, the first bend was a wild one.
There was an aluminum boat wrapped
around a rock, the water was a swirling
white and crazy. I was very worried. I
figured that this was my last day on
October 2002
earth. I was not about to come
home and tell some mother that her
child had drowned. I was prepared to
join the children.
But around the bend came the first
boat. Them little weenie arms were
hitting them paddles like crazy. Those
little people were doing everything
right. Then the second boat, then third.
In the fifth boat, something went wrong.
The boat went up on that rock almost
perpendicular to the water, then spun
around and came off the rock. In the
process, one of the kids fell out.
All the others in the raft quit
paddling and went to the side that the
fella fell out of. He came up on the other
side of the boat. Now those little weenie
arms stopped that boat in the middle of
that rapid, picked up the unfortunate
guy, and then started on their merry
way. Well, kind of, because then they
started jumping out of the boat and I
figured okay, Great Spirit, you have
control, and I went on my merry way.
Incidentally, this is the only raft trip
I was on that went the way I think they
should. That is, I take them to point A;
go to point B, pick up the cadavers, and
then come home. I don’t like to get wet,
especially in cold water. This has been
my plan all along, but something always
happens and I have to go on the boat.
Out of 12 times down the
Deschutes River, that first time is the
only time it worked. I don’t remember
too much about who was on the boats
the first time, but the one who fell out
of the boat works at the casino today.
I do miss these excursions. Our
staff members who did all these things
are gone now, except for myself.
George Nagel has taken over Dave and
Ed’s place. Incidentally, George does a
marvelous job. I shuttle once in a while.
I would like to see us do these
things again. We now have access to the
Rogue River. We can run it with the
provision that we clean up the campsites
as we go, which we do anyway. I don’t
know exactly why we’re not doing these
things. Maybe it’s financial, maybe it’s
lack of enthusiasm.
We took some adults on another
trip. I’ll talk about that at another time.
I wish I could name names because
everyone who has gone with us has had
a wonderful time. Once in a while, I’ll
see someone working at the casino who
was with us. They still remember the
good times.
Some even say they still have the
rock. I always tell people to pick up a
rock to take with them to remember, as
there will never again be a time like
today. That is, this particular group
never again will meet like this. We’ll
meet on different occasions, but never
like today. I’d like to thank all of those
who have been with us for the memory.