Smoke Signals
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Long-time tribal staff hoimored
By Brent Merrill
Grand Ronde tribal employees
were honored at a service
award ceremony on Wed
nesday, January 12 in the Gover
nance Center.
Tribal Chair Kathryn Harrison rec
ognized tribal employees as the main
reason for the Tribe's success.
"The Tribal Council may make
policy, but it is the tribal employees
who implement policy and they are
the reason for our successes," said
Harrison to the audience. "I remem
ber when we were in a one room
building with outdoor plumbing.
Now, so many things have changed.
We have so many success stories."
Human Resources' data files coor
dinator Connie Rohde acted as the
emcee at the employee recognition
ceremony. Rohde introduced each
employee as they were recognized.
"This is a very special event for the
Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde," said Rohde. "I am very
happy to be a part of this memorable
event because it is for the employ
ees. We are recognizing their hard
work and efforts to continue to build
the tribal community."
Employees with 10 years or more
of service to the Tribe were honored
with a Pendleton blanket.
Bonnie Tom and Teri Mercier were
honored for 15 years of service.
"I am very excited to receive the
service award, and I am very grate-
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Bonnie Tom (left) and Teri Mercier were honored by the Tribe for 15 years of
service. "That was a great day," said Tom. Photo by Brent Merrill
ful to those who have allowed me to
learn all that I could during this
time," said Teri Mercier. "I have been
fortunate to have good friends and
mentors here at the Tribe, like
Bonnie Tom and Cheryle Kennedy.
"My family and I are grateful for
the opportunities the Tribe has given
us, and I hope I will be able to serve
the Tribe for many more years," said
Mercier.
"That was really exciting," said
Bonnie Tom. "That was a great day.
To be given service awards and to
have everybody else given service
awards was really exciting. I en
joyed spending that time together.
"My reason for being here is the
job has grown steadily through the
years," said Tom. "It has never been
boring. I don't think I've had a dull
moment here. My goal is to see as
sisted living established before I re
tire. In my heart, from the work in
the field that I do and the people I
talk with, we think it is really neces
sary. I think we have had a lot of
Elders pass away and it would have
been really vital to them. It would
have made such a difference in their
lives if we would have had assisted
living to help them and make things
easier for them. I'm looking for a lot
of help to have it happen."
Staff works together after a water
main break at health center
By Brent Merrill
A water main broke on January
12 at the tribal health center and of
fices were flooded and equipment
damaged.
Capital Projects Manager John
Mercier said a two and half inch
water line near the community cen
ter broke and water flowed into the
clinic and flooded it.
Mercier said the break was not
weather-related.
"It was a water line (pipe) that had
a weakness in it and it just gave,"
described Mercier.
Wellness Coordinator Bonnie Tom
said the water damage took out the
department's computer system.
"It affected us a lot," said Wellness
Coordinator Bonnie Tom. "We didn't
have our computers and they had to
tear up all the wall boards and suck
up all the water. A lot of computer
equipment was damaged. We were
messed up with our transports and our
home visits. Some of our supplies and
educational equipment that was on
the floor was lost. So, we will be re
building our supply of teaching aides."
Mercier said the help from staff in
cleaning the clinic up was vital and
welcomed.
"I'm really, really happy with the
way people pulled together," said Mer
cier of the clean-up efforts. "They just
came right in and started picking
things up out of the water to get it
dried off. We sucked the water off of
the carpet and that was pretty hard
work because there was so much wa
ter the equipment would fill up so fast
and they had to go and dump it and
start again. Everybody who came in
just started diving in to lend a hand.
They really worked hard to minimize
the damage."
"It could have been worse," said
Tom. "If the other employees wouldn't
have pitched in so much. I got a call
early that morning and we (Bonnie
and her husband Chip) went down
and saw the damage. I went home
and got my rubber boots and came
back. I asked what I could do to help.
We all worked together.
"Bob Schmid pitched in and was
sucking up water with one of the
vacuums," said Tom of those who
helped. "It was nice of those who
helped in a crisis situation. Every
body pulled together."
Mercier said the medical and den
tal wings of the health center were
only down for one day.
"For as bad as it was flooded in
there, we really pulled off a good
emergency management process,"
said Mercier.
Water damage got up into the sheet
rock and meant the entire rubber base
had to be torn up from the base of the
wall, said Mercier. Fans were brought
in to speed the drying process.
"We didn't lose any computer data
which is a miracle considering water
flowed right into the computer room,"
said Mercier.
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This office was one of many that was
damaged by the broken water line.
Photo by Brent Merrill
Mercier said a special disaster re
lief company (Service Master) was
called in to help get everything back
to normal as soon as possible. Mer
cier said the company is cleaning fur
niture, shampooing carpets and re
pairing water damage.
"Because everybody pulled to
gether the damage was minimal,"
said Mercier.
The following are Tribal
employees that were recognized
for their years of service to the
Tribe at a service awards cer
emony held on January 12 at the
Governance Center. Employees
recognized were all regular full
time or part-time employees
who have worked for the Tribe
over 5 years with no more than
a two year break in service.
5 YEARS
MARY ALICE BOWEN
DOUG COLTON
PENNY DELOE
SHEILA ELLIOTT-MCDONALD
JON GEORGE
ROB GREENE
NANCY HOLMES
LINDA LAYDEN
ALLEN NELSON
SHARMONNERIA
WENDELL OLSON
JACKIE PROVOST
PAM WARREN
6 YEARS
JERRY BRANDON
JILL JEFFERS
KAREN LARSEN
LINDA MANN
ROBERT SCHMID
7 YEARS
TRACY DUGAN
CHRIS HOLLIDAY
APRIL HOWREN
SUSAN KLEIN
RON KUHLMAN
LIZ LENO
ELAINE MOORE
MARY THOMAS
CINDY WATKINS
MIKE WILSON-'.-; as
VIOLET ZIMBRICK
8 YEARS
BARBARA LAKE
BRYAN LANGLEY
MIKE LARSEN
KARANSCHARF
9 YEARS
PEGGY BIERY
TRACY BIERY
MELANIE EBENSTEINER
JOHN MERCIER
MARCELLUS NORWEST
KELLY HERBER
LONNIE LENO
MARION MERCIER
BARBARA STEERE
PATSEYWARD
10 YEARS
JANELL HALLER
CONNIE HOLMES
VERNON KENNEDY
JEFF KUUST
JEANNE LARSEN
JEFF NEPSTAD
KATHYTOM
DAKOTA WHLTECLOUD
DARLENE AARON
11 YEARS
GREG LENO
12 YEARS
CLIFF ADAMS
LINDA JIREK
RUSS LENO
13 YEARS
JACKIE WHISLER
14 YEARS
MARGO MERCIER
15 YEARS
TERI MERCIER
BUJNJN1H 1UM