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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2006)
TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS Ask Raven Raven will answer your questions about problems associated with alco hol, tobacco, and other drugs. Look for boxes in tribal offices with Raven s picture. You can leave your questions for Raven in these boxes. Those ques tions suitable Siletz News will be an swered here. If you want a confiden tial answer to a question, please leave an address and Raven will contact you. Dear Raven: I live here in Siletz and have seen a number of kids in red, as in they are representing as a gang. Also, there are a number of kids say ing they’re in a gang but they wear blue. At least six of these kids are tribal members and I have seen two adult men wearing colors. What can we do as a community about the grow ing interest of our youth in gangs? From, Concerned Parent Dear Concerned Parent: Thank you for bringing this issue to my attention. It’s very important. We need parents like you who are willing to speak up for our youth. I will ask Delina John and Jenifer Metcalf to invite someone to come to our community and speak with parents and youth about gangs to help us un derstand how we can help our youth stay on a good path. Watch for an an nouncement this summer. In the meantime, I want to urge parents who see their young people wearing colors to provide firm guid ance about the clothing they wear. Elders, when you see adults wear ing gang colors, please speak with them. As role models for youth, they need to be told about their responsibil ity to help keep our young people safe. When they wear gang colors, they encourage those youth who are already susceptible and give them the message that it’s manly or cool to be in a gang. This is very serious and those adults who participate in this need to be dealt with in a very direct way. Here are some examples of gang clothing: Siletz Tribal Alcohol & Drug Programs Prevention, Outpatient Treatment, and Women’s Transitional Siletz: 1-800-600-5599 or 541-444-8286 Eugene: 541-484-4234 • • • • Constant or frequent choice of color in other clothing is red or blue Baggy pants Often together in groups of more than two people Often call out to each other a name or number that represents the gang Signed, Raven ATOD and Youth Delinquency Prevention Parents, if you think your child may be at risk for alcohol, tobacco, or other drug problems and/or juvenile delinquency behaviors, please call Delina John or Jenifer Metcalf at I-800-600-5599 or 541-444-8286. One of them will talk with you about risk factors and things that help protect your child from developing those prob lems. They will help you make a pre vention plan that will support you as a parent and provide your child with sup port for making good choices. Look in the next issue of Siletz News for prevention updates and activities! We hope to have a weekly river day this summer. If you are a youth who is interested in learning how to use a kayak or a canoe, please contact Jenifer or Delina to sign up. Space is limited and participation will be on a “first-come, first-served” basis. We will try to help everyone who is interested have some river experience! TLC Attitudes of Gratitude by Lynn Whitlow I am so grateful for spring! It reju venates my spirit every year. A rebirth of the earth’s resources and a warming that gets us moving. Flowers bursting forth - yellows, pinks, reds, purples, and whites. Pale green leaf tips quivering with life. Rays of sun reflecting diamonds on spider webs. Grass growing faster than we can tame it. Life’s treasures are increasing daily! Gratitude! It’s so easy to focus on what is lacking in our life, to compare what we have with what others have, rather than looking at what we do have - the bless ings and gifts in our life. It’s alright, actually necessary, to be aware of and acknowledge what we need to work toward, but what a bet ter, more positive outlook we have when we focus on the positives! There is a saying, “Everything hap pens for a reason.” Sometimes we have a difficult time trying to figure out the reason when something happens in our life that creates obstacles. Our path becomes a rocky road. We can learn to move the rocks or go over and around them - in the meantime, gathering strengths and experiences that develop our lives more fully. An attitude of gratitude is impor tant in the recovery process - no mat ter what we are recovering from. If we are stuck in anger, grief, or an unfor giving spirit, recovery is going to suf fer and, likely, lead to relapse. Head bandanas and/or hats, usually red or blue. Bandanas are often pulled down over the eyebrows • Salem: 503-390-9494 Portland: 503-238-1512 Meth Task Force Meeting Being able to work through those “rocks in the road” and being grateful for the smooth areas - gifts and bless ings - helps us heal quickly and become positive, socially functional people. We stress a positive outlook at the TLC. We don’t avoid the pitfalls and rocks in the road. We deal with them and focus on what good is happening today. Makes life and recovery a hap pier place to be. When asked to contribute a grati tude list for this column, our residents came up with the following: I am grateful for: my child, sobriety, family and friends, my health, Pepsi and tea, a place to live, being Indian, having a higher power to look after me, the sup port I get from staff and other residents, my hopeful outlook on my life, mental and physical health, family support and their understanding, beautiful healthy, and highly intelligent children. We are grateful too for our valued volunteers and for the other folks who help us out when we need them. Thank you, Tony Whitehead, for getting our lawnmower up and running again. The yard looks so good now that we can trim it up. Thank you, George Nagel, for get ting the woodshed all spiffed up and for cutting kindling. You are a prince among men! We also are thankful to Stephanie and Casey King for the lovely blue and clear glass dishes they gifted us with. The residents really like them! Your homework assignment for this spring and summer, and the rest of your life: Practice gratitude! If you want to do some positive paybacks, volunteer at TLC or some other non-profit of your choice. Give me a call at I-800-922-1399, ext. 1238, or 541-444-8238. I'll be happy to sign you up! June 7- Noon to 1 p.m. I Siletz Community Health Clinic I Conference Room I The Meth Task Force is open to all community members - youth and adults. If you have questions or need more information, please call Janet or Delina at 541-444-8286 or 1-800-600-5599. You can make a difference! Please join us! 6 • Siletz News • I | | | | Left: Maria Westervelt rides the merry-go-round at the Santa Monica Pier in April. I I Right: Trish Carey delivers meals to I I June 2006 tribal elders and others in the Siletz (photos courtesy of Maria Westervelt) community twice each week.
