Spilyay Tymoo
Page 8 September 29,1981
Learning survival s k ills .......................
What’s a nice guy like Kenny doing in D.C.?
Regarding traffic, his wife
Jeannie noted that she gets
How does a fellow, plucked more respect from other drivers
fro m th e q u i e t , r u r a l when sh e’s wheeling the
environment of Warm Springs, Mercedes around than when
O r e g o n , c o p e w ith a she’s driving her little Honda.
d e m a n d in g g o v e r n m e n t She, too, said she’s learned “to
position and the hectic pace of drive like a maniac.”
Once he gets to his office,
a cosm opolitan city like
Ken’s time is booked solid
Washington, D.C.?
“All I’ve been doing is hour-to-hour, all day, every
working,” said Ken Smith day. Half his schedule is
during a rare weekend visit booked two weeks in advance
hom e. E a rlie r th is y ear and the balance of his schedule
President Reagan appointed fills up each day during those
him the Interior Department’s two weeks.
Each Monday he attends a
Assistant Secretary for Indian
political appointee’s meeting
Affairs.
Ken said he discovered very from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. All the
quickly that in order to keep his a s sista n t se c re ta rie s and
energy level up he has to deputies meet with Interior
exercise regularly, maintain a Secretary James Watt at that
healthy diet and stay physically time. Other regularly scheduled
fit. “If you don’t do that the meetings are at 7:45 a.m. on
stress and pace of life in D.C. Tuesdays and an early morning
would catch up with you and meeting on Fridays with Don
Hodell, Under Secretary of the
bury you,” he said.
“You can’t go to work with a Interior Department.
Back in his office, a staff of
hangover because on any day
you could have a major three to six people brief Ken
d e c is io n ” to m a k e , he ab o u t th at d ay ’s special
remarked. He said he rarely has m eetings. Some of those
any alcoholic beverages during meetings might include get-
the week and that his eating togethers with tribal groups,
and drinking habits have attorneys and a variety of
delegations.
changed out of necessity.
“Each day I’m absorbing
“I’m almost like a machine
Monday through Friday,” he tre m e n d o u s a m o u n ts of
said. Then he rattled off what a information. I become more
intelligent each month,” said
typical day is like for him.
He rises at 5:45 a.m., jumps Ken, meaning it. “Some days
into his jogging clothes, and I’m faced with as many as four
runs three miles at a nearby big issues. It was mind-
track. Although summers are boggling at first. Now I’m
hot and humid in Washington, settling in — getting smart.”
He said the toughest issues
D.Ct, he said his early mornihg
run is a quiet, peaceful and are the ones between two tribes
for exam ple, disputes
relaxing time for him.
F o llo w in g his ru n he between the Navajos and the
showers, has breakfast, then Hopis, and troubles between
leaves for the office at 7:15 or the Yurok and Hoopa people.
7:20 a.m. It’s only a 12 minute There is usually one reservation
drive to work — but a very crisis per month that Ken has to
different kind of ride than the deal with, personally.
Travel is another facet of his
12 minutes from his home on
the Deschutes to the Warm job, but Ken doesn’t fly first-
S p r in g s a d m i n i s t r a t i o n class an y m o re. He goes
excursion rate. “I can stretch
building.
“I’ve really learned how to the department’s travel budget
use my horn,” he quipped. that way,” he said, although he
“You have to be a very added that he. avoids ‘night
aggressive, yet defensive, driver coach’ whenever possible.
His eveniqgs are not always
in Washington, D.C. traffic.
You’re always honking your free despite his hectic daytime
schedule. He devotes two to
horn.”
by Sandy Rangila
three nights a week to business-
related meetings. “It gives me a
chance to get together with
people who couldn’t get in to
see me during the day,” he
explained.
By Friday night Ken said he
is both physically and mentally
tired. He said he needs the
weekends to rest up, swim and
rejuvenate himself for the next
week. But even during the
weekends Ken and Jeannie
don’t just loaf around.
T hey have jo in e d the
Sm ithsonian Institute and
Friends of Kennedy Center, as
well as attending outdoor band
concerts at the Jefferson
Memorial and other cultural
events. Ken even went to a
ballet for the first time. He
described it as “not too bad.”
Due to his excellent physical
condition, Ken captured the
title of fastest runner in the
Executive Branch on Septem
ber 10. He captained his team
“The Thundering Buffaloes” to
first place in the Nike Capital
Challenge, a three-mile benefit
race for the Special Olympics.
Ken’s time was 22 minutes, 35
seconds..
Life in the nation’s capital
hasn’t turned Ken into a “fat
cat.” The combination of his
r ig o r o u s sc h e d u le , self-
discipline and physical exercise
has resulted in a loss of at least
six pounds, a fact he is proud to
point out.
Staying in shape and having
learned some big-city survival
skills have apparently enabled
Ken to withstand the pressures
of D.C. — and still stay a nice
guy, too.
IN SHAPE—Interior’s Asst. Sec. for Indian Affairs Ken Smith
surged ahead of the pack to lead his team to victory in the Nike
Capital Challenge, a Special Olympics benefit race. Staying in
shape helps Ken deal with the stress and'pace o f D.C.
Photos courtesy B.J. Samuel
Eliza Greene is
part of a dream
by Pat Leno
A young girl’s love of horses
and an old man's dream have
put Hot Dog Greene and
Claude Puckett on the road of
sweat and hard work with the
hope they will find their fame
and fortune.
“Hot Dog” Eliza Greene, yet
to become a teenager, is the
daughter of Neda Wesley and
Harold Greene. She entered
try-outs in August during the
Jefferson County Fair to be a
part of a horse and trick riding
act for Claude Puckett. She
was one of three girls selected
to work with Puckett and his
string of trained horses.
So in August she packed her
c lo th e s a n d m o v e d to
Prineville. And her temporary
home has been a tent along side
the Crooked River. Her dream
of being able to spend her
waking hours with horses has
been answered.
Her day starts early as
horses need to be fed and
groomed early each day. Her
afternoons are spent working
out on the routines used in the
act.
An a fte rn o o n w o rk o u t
session consists of getting the
horses ready and into teams.
Hot Dog is learning to handle a
team of m atched horses
harnessed to a chariot for
racing. Being a light weight
girl, with strong determina
tion doesn't always mean she is
able to fully control the team of
horses, but her determination
wins out.
She is one of a team which
Puckett is building for his horse
act. He has the dream which he
refers to as his “dream of
colors.” He explains there are
four colors of people in this
world; red, black, yellow and
white. He says this nation has
been built by the four colors of
the world and he intends to
build his act around the four
colors. Hot Dog will represent
the color red, Terry Thompson
white and Larie Adrain of
Prineville is black.
Puckett said he has been
runner in the Executive Branch, outrunning other bureaucrats.
unable to find a girl to
represent the yellow people but
he knows she is out there
somewhere. Eventually he
plans to build a team of young
men who will also represent the
colors of the world.
Puckett said he has a dream
that he figures is worth a
million dollars once he can get
all his horses and youngsters
into what he calls a “shine.” “It
is going to take two long years
to get the entire act into shape,
the point where they will all
shine,” reflected Puckett as he
watched the girls going through
their rehearsal.
Faces and Places, of KATU,
Channel 2, will be in Prineville
in November to tape Puckett
and his group for a showing
later in the year. Puckett said it
is just one step toward his final
goal.
Hot Dog shares this dream
with Puckett and the othei
girls. She spends long hours
with the horses and she knows
the names of the 10 horses he
uses in his Liberty Act of which
she is a part. The Liberty Act is
an act in which the horses are
controlled by the sound of
P u c k e tt’s voice and are
unencumbered with any type of
halters or reins.
The group has already
perform ed at the W asco
C ounty F air earlier this
summer. The team appeared at
the Pendleton Round-U p,
where the girls entered in the
Chariot races.
Puckett says he is on a long
trail which he won’t be able to
complete in a day but he feels
he and the girls have the time
and they are going to make it
through th eir w ork and
determination. He describes
the life he and Hot Dog and the
girls lead as an ordeal but in the
truest sense they love every bit
o f the h a rd w ork and
■eartbreak it will take for them
to reach their ultimate goal.