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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1998)
Community Smoke Signals Buy a home with no money down Time is running out on the USDA guaranteed home loan program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture still has $19,904,000 available to guar antee home loan mortgages in rural Oregon. These funds need to be used by September 30, 1998. The USDA guaranteed rural housing program allows buyers to purchase a home in rural Oregon with no down payment and without mortgage insurance. The home must be located in an eligible rural area, or communities with populations less than 10,000 which are rural in character. Communities with a population of less than 20,000 which are not located in a metropoli tan statistical area are considered eli gible rural areas. The loans are 30 year fixed interest rate. Income lim its vary according to family size and county of residence. Household in come can not exceed up to 115 per cent of the county median income. To qualify, for example, the adjusted family income for a family of four is $57,000 if the family resides in Benton, Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Yamhill, or Columbia counties. The loans can be used to buy or build homes up to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's maximum mortgage loan limits for the area. Some participating lenders are Northwest Mortgage, Premier Mort gage Resources, Commonwealth United Mortgage, Security Bank, Bank of the Cascades, North Ameri can Mortgage Company, Mellon Mortgage, Republic Mortgage Com pany, Inland Empire Bank, and Com mercial Bank. If you are interested you can call a participating lender, the USDA Port land office at (503) 414-3335 (Stan Schmidt or Debbie Nichols) or any lo cal USDA Rural Development Office. Be aware of lead paint in older homes Approximately three-quarters of the nation's housing stock built before 1978 contains some lead-based paint. When properly maintained and managed, this paint poses little risk. However, 1.7 million children have blood levels above safe limits, mostly due to exposure of lead-based paint hazards. Lead poisoning can cause permanent damage to the brain and many other organs and causes a reduced intelligence quotient and behavior problems in children. Lead can also cause abnormal fetal development in pregnant women. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced efforts to ensure that the public receives in formation necessary to prevent lead poisoning in homes that may contain lead-based paint hazards. Most home buyers and renters will receive infor mation on lead-based paint hazards during sales and rentals of housing built before 1978. Buyers and renters should receive specific information on lead based paint in the housing, as well as a federal pamphlet with practical, low cost tips on identifying and controlling lead-based paint hazards. Sellers, landlords, and their agents are responsible for providing this information to the buyer or renter before sale or lease. For a copy of Protect Your Family From Lead in Your Home, call the National Lead Information Clearing House at 1-800-424-LEAD. There is more information on the Internet at e-mail address: www.leadctrnsc.org. Reprinted from the EPA Tribal Newsletter, June 1998 Volunteers big part of "Excellence in Service" MCMINNVILLE, OR - Some do nate their time to learn a new craft. Others help out because they know they are helping law enforcement with keeping their county safe. Still others do it for the satisfaction-of a job well done. Whatever the reason, volunteers are helping keep customer service a top priority for the Yamhill County Sheriffs Office. Over40 volunteers donated over 3,000 hours of time to the Sheriffs Office during the first six months of 1998. Duties included fingerprint ing children during crime prevention seminars, assisting the civil depart ment and animal control staff, staff ing the Sheriff s Museum trailer dur ing local fairs and festivals, phoning area seniors to check on their condi tion, and even assisting with security for the Yamhill County Courthouse in McMinnville. Sheriffs Office offers driving tips: Nice weather means that construction crews will be working. Expect de lays and give crew members "a brake" or choose an alternate route. When driving busy roads, maintain your cool. Many drivers will be ag gressive, testing the limits of your tolerance by tailgating, changing speeds, or jumping lanes. The best thing you can do when challenged by an aggressive driver is get out of his or her way, and call the police (safely) from a cellular phone. Re port a description of the vehicle and direction of travel. Make sure passengers in your ve hicle are secured. Oregon's child safety seat law requires a properly installed safety seat for children un der age 4, andor 40 pounds. Never place a child safety seat in the front seat, especially in an airbag equipped vehicle. And, always wear seat belts. Guidance and leadership directs young people in today's world There seems to be many tragic stories in the news lately about youth vio lence. The shootings at Thurston High School in Springfield, as well as the ones in Dallas, made national headlines. For many tribal and community parents, these incidents have ignited concern about the threat of violence among children and young adults in Oregon and elsewhere. What can we do? How can we prevent it? The Grand Ronde Service Integration Team (SIT) has been organized for more than three years, and is committed to addressing these difficult ques tions. Made up of community leaders, educators, parents, and citizens, one of SIT's main issues is the eradication of gangs, drugs, and violence among Grand Ronde's young people. You can help today's youth by volunteering at your local school. Grand Ronde Elementary School (GRES) can always use volunteers in the following activities: LUNCH BUDDIES is a program linking community volunteers with stu dents in need of a positive adult friendship. Volunteers are asked to spend just one lunch hour a week with a child at GRES. The time will be spent eating, talking, perhaps reading or shooting hoops, but most importantly lis tening to and taking an interest in that one special individual child. For more information please call GRES at 879-5210. AFTER SCHOOL SPORTS program is offered at GRES from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Statistics show these are the hours most kids get into trouble because they are unattended until parents get home from work. In cooperation with the newly formed West Valley YMCA, sports this fall will include soccer for Kindergarten-2nd grade on Tuesdays and football for 3rd-5th graders on Thursdays. Both sports will begin run for 6 weeks, beginning September 22. Middle school students through adults are encouraged to help no experi enced needed call Kim Mueller at 879-2264. SANCTION COURT is a program for first time juvenile offenders in the community. The goal is to reduce the number of first-time juvenile status offenders and misdemeanants who re-offend. Currently, when a juvenile commits one of these offenses, a letter is sent to the youth's parents from the Juvenile Department. The Sanction Court Plan requires the collaboration of the Juvenile Depart ment, the local police agency, the Grand Ronde Tribe, and the Grand Ronde Service Integration Team, and will require support and involvement from members of the Grand Ronde community, tribal and non-tribal. Volunteers do not need to live directly in Grand Ronde or be parents, but should be people who care about youth and helping deter crime in the area. Volunteers who serve on the committee will work with the Service Integra tion Team and the police department in considering a community service or punishment for first-time juvenile offenders. If you would like to serve as a Court panel member or supervise the com munity service, please call Rhonda Holder at (503) 623-2349. SMART (START MAKING A READER TODAY) is an early literacy program which will be launched in the Willamina and Grand Ronde elemen tary schools this fall. SMART will recruit and train 195 volunteers to read for one hour each week with 195 kindergarten, first, and second graders in Yam hill County. Each student participating in the SMART program receives two new books to take home each month. The mission of SMART is to enhance the reading skills, attitudes, and life prospects of children, and to enable adult volunteers and communities to ex perience the rewards of enriching young lives. If you are interested in be coming a SMART volunteer for the 1998-99 school year, please call (503) 474-1252. BAND INSTRUMENTS and CLOTHING DONATIONS are always in need at Grand Ronde Elementary. If you have instrument that is just collect ing dust, why not give a child a chance to learn? Band instruments, freshly washed clothing and shoes in good shape can be dropped off to Mrs. Olsen or Mrs. Sumners at the school please do not drop them off unattended! For a second time, the popular DOOBIE BROTHERS will perform at Spirit Mountain Casino on October 1 5th. TICKETS ON SALE SEPTEMBER 3. Ticket prices: $30 and $35. Available at Spirit Mountain Casino, or call I-800-992-TIXX.
