wxxxkxxxxxxxxxxxxxxk >< xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > oc <> w w x > ooo < 'April 1994
United States Senate
JI Senate Select Committee on
Indian Affairs
! Testimony of Stanley Strong
On S. 2055 (Siletz Indian
Reservation Act)
|
Mr. Chairman, my name is Stanley
(Strong. I am a Siletz Indian who was on the old
JTribal Council before termination and is on the
$ present Tribal Council.
F
I was born in Siletz on November 9,
r1908. I attended the government school at the
| Siletz Government Hill for a year until it was
• closed. Then all Indians went to the public
f school. Some had a hard time-they were shy
| and timid. I learned to play all sports and made
| good grades.
|
I loved to go fishing, hunting, trapping,
land peeling Cascara Bark. It brought food and
5 put money in my pockets. My dad was a logger,
forward hand in hand with the white man--as
brothers. In years to come our grandchildren
will believe in this because we built our tribe on
a solid foundation.
We need a plan here at Siletz where we
were raised. It gives a feeling of home.
r
Stanley Strong
(testimony of 1979)
F ire
By: Walt Klamath, Engineer Engine 802
Again, lets talk about fire alarms. These
little rascals need to be outside of all bedrooms
and any room that could be a starting place for a
fire. The living room, kitchen, den, anywhere.
The most important thing DOES IT WORK? If the
batteries are dead, don't mean a thing. The
alarm is not even a good ornament.
It is a sad thing, that most or at least
) using horses in those days. He always managed
half of the alarms in this county do not work.
| to have a big garden-and who helped him? I
Some are so corroded that the unit is worthless.
(did, of course. I also had to milk twelve cows
Some units will click or whistle or make some
( and ship cream as a boy.
kind of annoying sound when the batteries get
(
We had a few games, such as duckinaw,
low. So the darn thing is relieved of its
(shinny, etc. Also we learned games at school.
batteries, it shuts up--and in the event of a fire
sWe boys would much rather spear salmon in a
it continues to be quiet.
(salmon house during the season. You find a
If one follows the newspaper stories of
r riffle where the water is swift with an eddy or
the fa ta l fire s, w hich usually involve
? switch current four to five feet deep and build a
youngsters, most of the fatal fires, the smoke
r shade over and above the water. The shade
alarm was inoperable.
; allows you to see in the water. Spears are
It is very important that these alarms
: made of hard wood, bone or deer horns, or of
work. The alarm gives one, maybe a two minute
: iron. That was home, and freedom. Indians
warning depending upon where the alarm is and
| would smoke eels, fish, and deer meat for hard
where the origin of the smoke is coming from.
1 months. We also canned lots of vegetables and
Never the less, any warning is a big help.
| fru its .
Some may think that the smoke will
wake them up. Not necessarily so. The smoke is
•NO
J
But our land was taken.
full of carbon monoxide gas, and other toxic
) TRESPASSING!"
chemicals, that will put one into a deeper sleep.
All homes need to have smoke alarms
My mother told me: Our forefathers
that work. All families need to have an escape
were tricked into a meeting between Port plan. These plans need to be practiced often
Orford and Brookings, Oregon. The white man enough that everyone in the household will know
wanted our homeland. The soldiers drove our what to do and will do it automatically. The
r people by foot to the beach of Port Orford
families need to incorporate in this plan a
* through the waters to the boat. Some tried
meeting place, that when the fire department
vainly to resist only to be gun-butted and
arrives that all can be accounted for. For if a
beaten. Families were separated. Tears and
member of the family is not there, the fire
blood stained the ground. Loneliness took its
fighters will go into the structure to look for
) to ll.
the person. Now, if the one not accounted for
I
I know how brutal the Army can get
has went somewhere else, this has put a
| because I was a Sergeant with five battle
firefighters life in jeopardy for no reason.
stars, Purple Heart, Silver Star and a Bronze
We cannot over emphasize, keep fresh
Arrow Head. Yes, I fought for our country-the
batteries in your smoke alarms. Practice your
United States of America.
escape plans. Statistics show that most people
I'm thankful we have dedicated men and
will have a fire during their lifetime. Maybe we
| women like our leaders here in Washington to
can't stop everyone from having a fire, but with
| help us.
some precautions we can keep people around to
f
Allow us a land base and we'll show
talk about the fire they had.
r people we care about life. Just this month a
CHECK YOUR ALARM BATTERIES NOW. If
| young Indian fisherman brought a salmon to our
you cannot afford a smoke detector or two,
' family, to share and share alike. You can't beat
I
¡
1
I can imagine what desperation does-it
1 makes criminals out of once decent people,
i Some people are forced to cheat and steal to
| live. We were given Government Hill and a
| reservation to live on but the white man was
i sure he got it all back. This left us without a
land base or home. We became foreigners in
our own land. It grieves me to see the land that
was ours no longer ours.
We need to prove ourselves as
going
Lb gumg
check with your fire department, there are
several organizations that will donate smoke
detectors.
There are detectors that can be checked
with a flashlight. All that one needs to do is to
put the beam on a button on the detector and the
alarm will test. The others have little buttons to
push on. Whatever it is, DO IT.
DUII, Continued from page
2 1
drive in their business, a driver has to be
hired. This could also cost a penny or two.
Insurance! Wow, now this becomes
almost unbelieveable. That could go up 250% ,
believe it or not. 19 years ago mine went up
300% for the cheapest insurance-at the time. In
order to keep my license I had to have
insurance for 5 years. Some companies that had
reasonable rates would not insure me until I had
not drank for 10 years.
When we choose to drink and drive, we
are gambling with a pretty good sum of dollars.
There is always a chance that we will not be
stopped for driving under the influence. We may
be stopped for faulty or malfunctioning
equipment, like a license plate light or tail light
out or something small. When the officer comes
to the side window he may then detect the odor
of alcohol or see a container, open or unopened.
Then the officer will proceed with a sobriety
test after asking how much we have had to
drink tonight. The answer is always the same,
"just two beers".
Sometimes an officer will follow for
awhile. Now, I don't care who it is, when an
officer picks up the trail, after awhile we
become nervous, even off-duty officers get
nervous when they are being tailed. Everyone
does something that can be classed as dubious
at times, maybe swerve a little, crowd the
center line or the fog line, anything to give the
officer an excuse to stop us. They do not need
to have a reason at the time. They can stop one
just to tell them how good they are doing.
One can also get a DUII for using
medications. Many medications have warnings
on them, not to drive while taking these
medicines. It makes no difference what the
chemical is, if it is mind/mood alerting, then it
is unsafe to operate a motor vehicle, and the
DUII laws apply.
If an accident occurs, the costs really
soar. One accident could have one paying the
rest of their life. This is not saying that those
who do not indulge do not have accidents. Those
who do drink and drive, or use other drugs and
drive, the chances of a serious accident goes up
maybe 85%.
During the week, the national estimated
average of people on the highways that are
under the influence is 1 in 500. On Fridays and
Saturdays it goes up to 1 In 10.
In our lifetime 1 in 3 of us will be
involved in an alcohol related accident.
The best advice that can be given is: do
not drink and drive. Any amount of alcohol cuts
down the reasoning power. One drink, 1oz, has
an effect, maybe we don't think so. It does.
You know you have a drinking problem
w h en :
(1) You have had the roof of your mouth sun
burned.
(2) You have been run over by your own car,
while driving it.
(3) Your wife has dropped the electric cord in
the bath tub.
(4) You have woke up with a circus midget. In
her bed!
(5) You have done the Tennessee waltz in a
straight jacket.
(6) You have been arrested while in jail.
(7) You have been run over by the "Welcome
Wagon"
(From the 1983 AA Grapevine.)