Spilyay Tymoo, Wqrm Springs, Oregon
Msy 27, 2004
Pge 11
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A few days after the house was destroyed by an electrical fire, the Fire Department cleared the property for
safety by control-burning the remainder of the structure.
Electrical short sparks fire, house destroyed
A house on Tommie Street at
Upper Dry Creek Road was de
stroyed earlier this month by fire.
The house belonged to Floyd
Gibson, and was being rented by
Steve Anderson. Total loss due to
the fire was estimated at $40,000.
The owner had insured the struc
ture, said Fire Chief Dan Martinez.
No one was hurt in the incident,
which happened on May 12. Cause of
the blaze is believed to be an electrical
short.
Anderson was at home asleep when
the fire broke out, said Martinez.
Most fortunately, the fire alarm was
working. Upon being awakened by
the alarm, Anderson ran across the
street and called 911, said
Martinez.
Two fire trucks and six fire fight
ers, plus a command vehicle and
an ambulance responded. Anderson
was treated for smoke inhalation.
School: attendance still a concern
(Continued from page 1)
"Whoever is raising this child needs
to show their involvement," said
Leonard. She advocates that parents
should get to know their student's teach
ers and come in to the school to see
how they're doing. She also understands
that it's sometimes easier said than
done.
When a child is attending school in
Warm Springs, it's a simple thing for
the parent to spend part of their lunch
hour at the school. When the child
moves to the schools in Madras, that
commute turns into a 30 mile round
trip - tough to do on a lunch hour. "I've told the School about
Leonard has an alternative Power dedicated OUr kids are
School is a computer network that par- i i v
ens can use to check attendance, grades When thej re in Sports. We
' and missing assignments of their stu- have kids ttho live Clear Otit
dents. It's available for middle and high
school students. Parents can access the
network by calling the high school and
t ' v.,
X 0
v
requesting a password.
Most students are excited by Power
School. They are using it to pre-check
a grade (for better or worse) and to
hold teachers accountable if they failed
to record an assignment that was actu
ally turned in.
. Attendance is a big issue for
Leonard, especially when parents are
unable to make their youngster go to
school.
She says, "I think that's what I found
to be the hardest part of my job; to go
out to a student's home and hear par
ents say, 'I just can't get them to go to
school'.'"
She goes on, "In some homes the
kids are running the house instead of
the adults. They are choosing whether
or not to come to school. We have some
kids that are missing 50 percent of each
trimester. How they pass, I don't know.
Some do and most don't."
Skipping students are a problem.
They don't fit any easy method or cat
egory. "We have those students that just
don't come and we have others who
ride the bus, but don't come to school
and then ride the bus back home," says
Leonard. "We have those students
who come and go to classes they want
to go to. Who knows what they're do
ing in between?"
Next school year Leonard is plan
ning to make more home visits. She
may even try a war of attrition with
some of the harder cases where the
parents get so tired of seeing her that
they say to the child, 'Get to school,
I'm tired of her knocking on my door.'
As part of the school district's war
on poor attendance, they have a phone
calling system at the high school. When
a student doesn't show up for class, the
student's name is entered on a phone
machine and a message is left for par
ents. Sports is another big issue with
Leonard. She sees sports as a positive
activity for young Natives.
"I've told the school about how
dedicated our kids are when they're in
sports," she says. "Ve have kids who
live clear out in Simnasho, they have
in Simnasho, they have to get
up at 5:30 or 6, come to
school, go to school all day,
practice, then go home.
They're gone more than 12
hours a day."
Lana Leonard
to get up at 5:30 or 6, come to school,
go to school all day, practice, then go
home. They're gone more than 12 hours
a day."
One way reservation parents can
become more involved in their
children's education is to suggest to
administration officials that they would
like to see more sports options avail
able to their children.
Foster Kalama is the senior tribal li
aison. He works at the high school. He
says that parental involvement in a
child's education is critical.
"I feel , just like I hear on KWSO,
'Do you know where your kid is?' Do
you know what your kid is doing? Do
you know who your kid's friends are?'"
he says. "Those questions are very
strong in my belief. I think, 'Do they
know how their kids are acting in class?"'
Kalama works with kids who are
having a tough time in school. He feels
most of that stems from lack of sup
port at home or peer pressure. For
years gangs were a problem around the
high school.
"Gangs were really bad at one time,"
he says. "Now we have it down to a
level of zero tolerance. We still have
little problems here and there."
He goes on, "If we attacked peer
pressure and lack of parental involve
ment together as parents, tribal lead
ers, teachers everybody works to
gether - we can beat this. We can have
more kids graduating. I'm really grate
ful for the attendance liaisons for that
reason, Butch and Lana."
More leadership is something that
would help the kids. Take Tribal Coun
cil, for example. On one hand, he ap
preciates what they did when they tied
the kid's trust fund money to gradua
tion and certain G.P.A. All too often in
the past, when the trust fund money
had no ties, it was used for drugs or
alcohol.
"They did it and I feel very hon
ored that they did something to save a
lot of our kids," he says.
Tribal Council has done other posi
tive things such as changing the penal
code to create harassment and stalking
laws. Students had complained regularly
about bullies stalking and harassing
them.
"Tribal Council passed those two
ordinances," he says. "Now we have
two new laws that have been put into
effect. It's helped a lot, it's cut down
on harassment and it's cut down on the
stalking."
On the other hand, letters to Tribal
Council don't always work. "I write a
lot letters to the Tribal Council with, nq ; ,
....... . . , ,
response, ne says, it our leadersnip
could see what I see or if leaders would
ask questions and get off politics - we're
not a product and we're being treated
like a product. These kids aren't dumb,
these kids talk to me every day and
they say: 'Why are things like they
are?'"
Kalama is concerned about alcohol
ism and drug use among young tribal
members. He feels part of the answer
is to give the kids more to do,
"I've written letters," he says. "I don't
know how many times. About opening
a water park at Kah Neeta. This would
attract the kids from many, many miles
away. They have to find things for our
kids to do." Kalama has an open door
to his office at the high school for any
young Native. Sometimes the students
are in his office to share a confidence
or decompress from a stressful day.
See SCHOOL oh page 16
Alger: retiring after
21 years at W.S. clinic
(Continued from page 1)
Today, about 125 people work at the
clinic.
Here are some examples of the
changes Alger has seen in health care
service on the reservation since he
became clinic director:
The I Iealth and Wellness Center has
added more than 2,650 new patients
since 1993.
The number of visits to the dentist
by the local population went has gone
from 6,815 to close to 28,000, an in
crease of 400 percent.
The number of pharmacy prescrip
tions at the clinic went from 74,150 in
1993, to 124,250 last year. The num
ber of visits to the diabetes program
has increased by 300 percent; and with
better treatment, the number of people
on dialysis has gone down by 80 per
cent. Physical therapy and optometry are
services at the clinic that were not yet
available locally in 1993. (These statis
tics were taken from an IHS-Tribal
report of 2002.)
In general terms, said Alger, there
is overall more interest in health care
among tribes now than there was ten
years ago. And there is more coopera
tion and collaboration among the tribes
and IHS, he said.
After he retires from his job at the
clinic Alger plans to work for a time,
perhaps several months, with the re
gional IHS office in Portland. There
are new clinic
chief executives
coming on board
in the three-state
region, and Alger
could be of help as
an advisor in these
transitions.
Alger lives in
Madras with his
wife Marlys, who
is the principal of
Russ Alger
the Westside Elementary School. As he
is getting ready to leave the Warm
Springs clinic, Alger says there arc
many things about his job that he will
miss:
"Mostly, the people," he says, "their
friendliness and the spirit they have.
I've made a lot of good friendships.
I've really enjoyed working with the
ciders. I guess you could say I've grown
up with them."
The work, he says, has always been
challenging and always changing. "So
I'll miss the variety of things that I've
done here."
The Tribal Council will make a rec
ommendation to the regional IHS of
fice on who will be the next director
of the Warm Springs Health and
Wellness Center. In the meantime there
will be an acting director.
The clinic last week held a farewell
party for Alger. Many people spoke of
the good work that Alger has done over
the years in Warm Springs.
r
4
nig FEED 8.
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(Just North of Cenex
next to light Technics)
M-F 9ajn.-6p.in.
Sat. 9 a.m. 4 p jiu
Closed Sunday
mi ilium hk
1527 NVf Hatris - Madtas Industrial Park
541-475-7900
il I;
- Pet foods
- Custom Minerals
(for all classes of livestock)
-Salt & Minerals Blocks
-Wood Stove (pellets)
Calving Supplies
Equis line of horse feed.
Mare and Foal to Senior Horse.
Ask about punch card (buy 8 bags, get 9th bag free)
Warm Springs, Please support
the businesses you see in the Spilyay Tymoo.
Small Hands to Hold Love ... Not fire
If
Fact: Children from age two to seventeen start fires
that endanger lives, cause injuries, death and burn
millions of dollars in property.
Fact: Children under the age of three cause a
majority of these fires and lose their lives in the
process.
This does not have to happen. Parents need to teach
their children about the dangers of fire and create a
fire-safe home.
Install Smoke Detectors ... Plan an Escape Route
AMERIND offers Home and Fire Safety Training to Children in
Indian Country.
Contact AMERIND'S Loss Prevention Team for more information:
wvvw.amerind-corp.org 800-352-3496
AMERIND: A Consortium of Tribes Protecting Tribes and Their Families
I III