TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS
Siletz Mat Club Dual Meet
Siletz Valley School • Jan. 15, 2009
Kai Skidmore (above), Logan Butler (above right) and McKenzie Watson (right) all
wrestle for the Siletz Mat Club. They and the rest of the team participated in a dual
Photos by Natasha Kavanaugh
meet with the mat club from Newport and the Oregon School of Wrestling from
Mid-Coast Christian School.
TLC Attitudes of Gratitude
by Lynn Whitlow
"Love cures people - both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it.”
Karl Menninger
February, the month most of us associate with romantic love, with hearts, red
roses, chocolate, lace and Valentine’s cards. Romantic love, however, accounts for
only a portion of the love category.
We thrive on the caring and affection of friends and family members. Their sweet
affection, caring words, tender touches and smiles give us good feelings, can change
a day that started poorly into a special occasion. How small, yet how huge, is a well-
timed hug, a word of encouragement or endearment, a note of appreciation.
Every one of us likes and needs to be recognized, to get some attention, to know
that someone cares about us. A friend once said that for bliss, we need 18 hugs a day.
I don't know if there is any scientific evidence for that, but I’d guess that if you liked
the huggers, 18 hugs would make you feel pretty dam good!
Be aware that you have the power within you to make the world a more positive
place. Smile at strangers as you pass on the street, hug and kiss your spouse before either
of you leave the house for work, your children before you send them off to school.
Call a friend you haven't talked to for awhile and let him/her know you were
thinking of them and miss them. Call your mother and tell her you love her ... your
dad too.
Give a genuine complement to a co-worker, friend or family member. Love is one
thing that multiplies the more you give it away. So start today. Don't wait for Valentine’s
Day or tomorrow or next week. And give Valentines...they aren't just for lovers!
The women (and children) at the TLC have some love, appreciation and gratitude
for a number of persons, things and events. Following are some of them: 1 am gratef ul
for Christmas trees, for wood stoves and wood, for snowflakes. For clean and serene
days, months and years. For stone soup!
For old-school Christmas carols, for snowy days and crispy nights. For my TLC
family, a fireplace, for White Bison teachings. I am grateful for chicken soup, for fam
ily, a clean room, to be able to visit with my sister. Friends and lollipops.
Other gratitudes include: Jan. 20! Obama! For the CEDARR meetings, for being
a volunteer. To have 16 months clean and sober!
We also have gratitude for a few other folks — for our regular shift volunteers,
Alice McCain and Lisa Brown. Thank you so much!
Also great appreciation for Denise Riding In and Holly Jackson for covering three
days of Christmas! What an awesome gift to all of us. Thanks too for the stimulating
Boggle games. We had great fun.
Also to Monique Jackson for helping organize the Christmas decorations and box
ing them up. And for helping a resident organize her room. Nice personal touches.
We also want to let our law enforcement/security folks know we appreciate them.
A special thanks to Officer Desmond Harpster for the rescue at the bullpen when the
equipment would not let the gate open and to Perry Johnson for keeping an eye out
for us and patrolling the TLC. You are appreciated!
Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Love somebody real good!
Walt’s Words of Wit and Wisdom
by Walt Klamath
Another month, another year, new beginnings, today the first day of the rest of one’s life.
I had thought of doing some growling about some circumstances. After thinking
about it, however ... my uncle told me many years ago that, “When you work for
someone, do your job, do the best you can and don’t talk bad about the company that
you work for. If you must, then quit and then complain.”
Most of the time, it will not do anything but cause hard feelings and the wrong
ones will see it and make something entirely different than intended. I have followed
my uncle's advice for many years now and have witnessed all the things he said could
happen. So much for philosophy.
Back to what I like next best - don't know for sure what is best.
Last year while hunting, 1 was not able to get out and run around like a scared
jackrabbit. With my rifle lying across the hood, I was watching hunters and of course
looking back in time when this spot had no roads, just trails looking down on the head
of Serene Creek.
Anyway, time has passed and roads have become widespread - well not roads, more like
glorified trails. Jeeps became very popular; I would see Jeeps everywhere, the old ones with
the four-cylinder engine and inadequate heater. As time went on, the doggone Volkswagen
began showing up in places that a self-respecting Jeep wouldn’t be caught dead at.
There were standards of rifles being used very seldom; about every other hunter
had a 30-40 Krag or a Winchester 30-30.1 have seen a few Winchesters in the last few
years, but I cannot remember seeing a 30-40.
Of course, from a distance some of them were like any bolt action, but the majority
I have seen were lever action. When I was young, we didn't have any elk, just deer and
bear and cougar. Many a bear was brought down with the old Winchester.
My uncle used a shotgun that I cold not figure out. He had to be so close, at least
that’s what it looked like to me at the time. Since then I have seen the slugs that come
from that single-shot. The slugs are as big as your thumb.
Eddie Bensell used to hunt with my dad s 25-35. He brought down many a deer
and bear with that low-powered low-velocity rifle.
Nowadays, the more power the better (maybe), the magnums have become the
hunter s choice distance. Sometimes, that is a disadvantage to reach so far down a
canyon across a plain. Those magnums are quite accurate with factory loads and even
more accurate with self-hand loads. 1 don't really know why, my experience with hand
loads has not been great.
All these thoughts go through my mind as I wait patiently (no choice) for my
hunting partner to emerge from the canyon, wondering if maybe he got lost. It has
taken so long. There I am with my magnum, a range finder and hot coffee - and I’m
freezing. My truck doesn't have a heater, just like the old Jeep.
February 2009
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Siletz News
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