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Local News
Smoke Signals
Elders' Housing in early planning stages
By Oscar Johnson
Folksy one and two bedroom
homes nestled in a rural country land
scape and encompassed with foot
paths will soon be available to Grand
Ronde Elders along with affordable
rent, said tribal housing officials.
Elders could start moving into their
new community as soon as fall of next
year, according to an optimistic
schedule given by Grand Ronde
Housing Director, Linda Layden.
The plan for the roughly 10 acre sight
has recently been approved by the
Housing Authority Board of Commis
sioners and building infrastructure
such as roads, sewage lines and other
utilities is slated to start in October, said
Layden.
It will have a "clustered design with
a rural feel," Layden said. "Not the
typical de;ose suburban setting. It will
be more like the country road with a
group of buildings at the end."
The residential community will
house tribal Elders with low to mod
erate income (between $25,400 to
$29,400) for about 30 percent of their
annual income. Plans include 38
two-bedroom duplex, triplex or
quadplex units with a patio, covered
porch and carport. All the units will
be handicap accessible or adaptable.
Projected cost for the undertaking
is estimated to be about $3 million
and is funded in part by grants from
Housing & Urban Development
(HUD) that were accrued over the last
two years. In addition to the federal
funding, a bond acquired by the Tribe
will also help pay for the infastructure,
according to Layden.
Despite recent progress, the Hous
ing Authority has had limited success
in getting community input for the
project. Since April the Division has
held seven meetings to solicit ideas
on the design and layout of the
project from those who might be us
ing the new facilities but few have
participated, Layden said.
"It's hard to tell what people want
if only a few people show up," said
Layden. "If there are 100 people and
only 2 show up is that a good repre
sentation?" Although community participation
in the Elder housing development is
sparse, the Housing Authority is
poised to start building what Layden
says is the first stage of a lager mas
ter plan.
The master plan, she said, will
eventually include an Elder commu
nity center, a larger facility for se
nior assisted living, and two units for
adult foster care. There is also a de
tailed plan to extend the foot paths
down to Agency Creek where devel
opers hope to plant a few picnic
tables.
"Other stuff is still in the air," said
Layden. The additional plans are not
firm and will depend upon the evolv
ing needs of the Tribe but she added
that, "it will happen some time in the
future. " It is expected that once con
struction is com
plete on the first 38
units it will not take
long for them to fill
up. Layden says
there is currently a
waiting list of
about 50 Elders
but not all will
qualify or be inter
ested in the new
rental homes. She
encourages those
interested to apply
as soon as possible.
Linda Layden points out on a local
ing project will be located.
"(Tribal Elders) are welcomed to ap
ply. The units are on a first come
first serve basis," Layden said. "We
don't know what kind of deductions
apply yet so even if people are over
the (income) limit they should apply
anyway."
Elders interested in applying for a
rental in the new low to moderate in
come housing set to open late next
year should contact the Division's Oc
cupancy Specialist, Brian Langley, at
(503) 879-2467.
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area map where the Elders' nous-
Photo by Oscar Johnson
Tribal teen likes working at pre-school Smith appointed to advisory committee
By Tracy Dugan
Tribal member Brian Krehbiel is
helping all the kids from Twa Sun
chako Learning Center get ready for
their graduation at the Community
Center. He's got three and four year
olds asking him questions and tug
ging at his pant leg, but he doesn't
mind. Brian is the teacher's aide for
the pre-school, and loves being
around the kids all day.
During this past school year, Brian
worked part-time at Twa Sunchako,
and is now there full-time for the sum
mer. He just graduated from Wil
laniina High School, and wants to at
tend Chemeketa Community College
in the fall to study accounting. He
said his job has been great.
"There are twenty-one kids here
every day," he said. "Most of them
are tribal kids. It's fun to watch them
during their play time outside."
Some of Brian's responsibilities in
clude supervising the kids on their
playground, watching them during
inside activities, making sure they all
take their naps, and waking them up
from their naps.
Brian said, "I was a member of the
Native American Club at my high
school. Lisa Leno asked me if I would
be interested in this job, and she and
Vikki Bishop interviewed me."
Vikki Bishop is the head teacher at
the pre-school, and Lisa Leno is the
Youth Leadership Coordinator for
the Education Division.
"Being around the kids is really
fun," Brian said. "There's not a lot
of jobs where you get a hug when
you walk in the door."
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Brian Krehbiel with this year's pre-school class before graduation.
The Grand Ronde Gaming
Commission is lending a hand in
setting national standards for
Native American owned casinos.
Joe Smith, Director of the
Grand Ronde Gaming Commis
sion was last month appointed to
a seven member advisory com
mittee that began hashing out rec
ommendations they will make to
the National Indian Gaming Com
mission (NIGC).
Smith and six other tribal gam
ing officials from New York,
Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Michi
gan, Montana and South Dakota
met in Washington D.C. on June
3 and again on the 25th to help
develop Minimum Internal Con
trol Standards (MICS).
"The meetings are very intense. It's
an extreme workload," Smith said re
ferring to three-inch-thick copies of
the MICS draft and revisions the group
studied, discussed and apprized dur
ing the set of two day meetings.
The new MICS will regulate func
tions such as who will transport cash
boxes kept at casino gaming tables,
who has access to the keys and how
as well as where the money is
counted. The guidelines are based
on minimum requirements used by
the gaming industry in Nevada, said
Smith.
The Advisory Committee hopes to
make its recommendations to NIGC
within the next few weeks.
Smith added that NIGC hopes the
lMj
Joe Smith
new guidelines will be on the books
by this fall giving Native owned casi
nos about six months to comply.
What changes the new law will
bring for casinos will vary, Smith
said, but they should have little ef
fect on Grand Ronde's Spirit Moun
tain Casino.
"We have kind of a leg up on this
because before we opened the Casino
in 95' we got together with the Gam
ing Commission and decided to very
closely follow the Nevada stan
dards," Smith said. "I don't foresee
there being a any changes of a sig
nificant nature for us which is not
true for many of the other tribes
especially the smaller tribes."