Opinion
Smoke Signals
Dear Tribal Housing Authority,
I just wanted to write to you to tell
you thank you. You have given us
an opportunity to purchase our first
home. We are enjoying our home,
and couldn't have done it without
you. Enclosed is a picture of my fam
ily in front of our house. Again,
thank you and God bless you.
Sincerely,
The Meagher Family
'J J -ri"- 0 .if
Dear Editor:
My name is Shereena DeJulio. I
live in Montrose, Colorado, more
than 1200 miles from Grand Ronde.
I dropped out of school at age 14,
and by my 18th birthday, I was
contently caring for my three chil
dren. I never really had a chance at
a decent education. But since educa
tion is important to me, I returned to
get my G.E.D. when I was 19.
Recently, I was awarded an under
graduate Trust Fund Scholarship that
will enable me to attend college. Due
to my limited finances, I would not
have been able to attend without this
generous scholarship.
I would like to thank the Tribal Edu
cation staff for putting their faith in
me and giving me the greatest gift of
all, an education. A special thanks
to Marion Mercier, who helped me
with all the paperwork, answered my
questions, and gave me moral sup
port. Another special thank you goes
to Dean Azule, who gave me the
tastes, and now a hunger, for a
higher education through a short
term program last spring. And fi
nally, a warm thank you to my sis
ter, Roxanne Teeter, for attending the
1998 Honor and Recognition Dinner
in my behalf.
Even though I am far from my roots
in Oregon, my tribe gave me the sup
port I needed. Since leaving school
more than 22 years ago to raise my
family, I am now able to return and
further my education. On August
19th, I will become a full-time Fresh
man! Thank you very much!
Sincerely,
Shereena DeJulio
Roll 1986
To tribal members:
I was reading the Smoke Signals
with the new Tribal Council candi
dates. I do agree on some of the
things they brought up. But I don't
understand what they are talking
about on the programs they keep
bringing up to other members. Be
cause most of the programs they have
now do not help the members. You
call up for help and they tell you that
they don't have the funding. They
always have an excuse. They act like
you are conning them out of money.
There is always going to be drug
abuse and alcoholism in every nation
ality. That's their excuse for not giv
ing us per capita. They say a lot of
us will use it for that. Well, that will
be the individual choice. I think ev
erybody should be treated equal and
get the four hundred per month. The
candidate who was speaking about
welfare and how per capita would de
crease it, that four hundred per month
would be more than what welfare
would give them. My husband is de
ceased and I am a single parent rais
ing two children ages 15 and 11. I
have always worked and that four
hundred would help out a lot.
I am back in college to further my
career to get a better paying job so I
can support my kids and am not al
ways struggling from paycheck to
paycheck. Then they talk about giv
ing more help to those who want to
go through college. It's still a struggle
to make it. You try to pay rent, utili
ties, food, clothing, etc.... and it's
hard.
It's all right to invest our money,
but let's not overdo it. I believe in
twenty years they will still be invest
ing it, and tribal members will not see
any of that money so how is that help
ing us? The Casino was put up to
help the Tribe become self-supporting,
but how is that helping the mem
bers? Only a few are prospering. I
know when I call for help, I am given
the run-around. Finally, I have to
get ahold of one of the Tribal Coun
cil, then they do help me. I am thank
ful for that, but it's what you have to
do to get it. We shouldn't have to do
that. There is always a few who
abuse the system, but we shouldn't
all have to pay for it. That per capita
will help out on a lot of things. That
one thousand we get so often helps
out. So, the ones who are thinking
about stopping it, I don't want them
on Council. That's my opinion on
everything.
Brenda Gray
Roll 339
Dear friends and relatives:
This is a belated thank you to the
Grand Ronde Tribe for their assis
tance when my wife, Louise, passed
away last month in Warm Springs.
Louise and I were married for 53
years, and I have lived in Warm
Springs since 1946.
I would like to apologize to my
friends and family in Grand Ronde
for not doing a better job of notifica
tion: In our grief we only notified
one person in Grand Ronde with the
news of my wife, so I guess the word
didn't get passed on. I later learned
that friends and family were upset
about not being notified. I am sorry.
We had many relatives come to
Warm Springs for my wife's services
on July 7. All of my immediate fam
ily from Grand Ronde were here, as
well as my brother's family, who live
in California. Also our Nisqually
relatives were here. One of the things
we talked about was having a Lan
gley family reunion in Grand Ronde
sometime next year as we have a lot
of extended family living out of the
area. So we are thinking we would
like to do that probably next July. We
will be working with Berle Contreras
and her family to plan this event.
Again, I would like to thank the
Tribe for sending the beautiful flow
ers to the service, and check to the
funeral home.
Allen "Biff" Langley
Dear Smoke Signals Editor,
Hi, my name is Kalene Contreras
and I am on the Pow-wow Commit
tee. I am writing this letter to thank
all of my volunteers that helped out
with the meals at the Pow-wow this
year. I believe that it was a great suc
cess, I would like to give special
thanks to Glen Blackwell and all the
employeestribal members from
Spirit Mountain Casino who worked
very hard to make this the great suc
cess that it was everyone was such
a great help. Some Spirit Mountain
Casino employees were working
overtime just to make this a great suc
cess. I really appreciate everyone's
help and cooperation at this year's
Pow-wow.
Once again, thank you very much
for all your help.
Sincerely,
Kalene Contreras
Roll 3286
SHUSH
SMOKE SIGNALS
9615 Grand Ronde Road
Grand Ronde, Or 97347
EDITOR:
TRACY DUGAN
(503) 879-2254
REPORTER:
OSCAR JOHNSON
(503) 879-2321
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'J " i,i -i 0'
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SUBMISSIONS
FROM OUR READERS:
SMOKE SIGNALS, a publication of
the Confederated Tribes of the Grand
Ronde Community of Oregon, is pub
lished twice a month. We have estab
lished an Editorial Policy to encourage
input from readers about stories
printed in SMOKE SIGNALS, and
other tribal issues. However, all let
ters must be received at the newspa
per office with author's signature, ad
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SMOKE SIGNALS reserves the right
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and to refuse publication of any letter
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UPCOMING DEADLINES:
Thursday, Sept. 3, 1998
Friday, Sept. 18, 1998
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