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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2000)
OR. COLL. E 78 .06 S66 November 15, 2000 STA QUA MLA 3UYA it 1 r ri MOCC 5 nuouu rvlvcn A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe www.grandronde.org November 15, 2000 mm Third Hatfield Fellow Heads for the Nation's Capitol Inspirational story serves as an example for all Indian People. J. '' V S ,: ' V j '"V ' Alyssa Macy Warm Springs By Chris Mercier Truth really is stranger than fiction. Just ask Warm Springs Tribal member Alyssa Macy, the newest recipient of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde's Mark O. Hatfield Fellowship. As a young girl her father Jimmy revealed to her that the day she was born, as the two new parents strode out of the hospital, an eagle flew above them. The same bird flew mysteriously over their car as they drove back to their home on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, prompting her parents to conclude that this infant girl was going to ac complish something epic, something. . . great. Jimmy would continue to remind her of this often while she grew up. But Macy dismissed it as hokey and concocted by a loving father to in spire his daughter. "Yeah, I never really believed it," Macy said when she called from Tempe, where she recently gradu ated from Arizona State University. "But then my mother told me about it one day, even though she didn't know my father had already told me." Now she believes it. "I realize now that I have a pur pose," she said. "But I am still not quite sure what it is." For now, her purpose lies in Wash ington, D.C., where she is slated to assume the new role as a liaison for Native American issues under Darlene Hooley. Although she is a greenhorn to the political landscape that defines our nation's capitol, Macy feels reborn and faced with a new challenge, a new avenue. "Six months ago, I'd have never guessed I'd be doing this," she said. "But I'm open-minded about it, be cause this fellowship may open new doors." "It's kind of like starting over," she added. That would be nothing new for Macy, who has had to "start over" one way or another more times than she cares to remember, often invol untarily. Macy grew up on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, a place she defines as "a vacuum." Her par ents are the late Jimmy Macy, a Warm Springs Tribal member and Carla Dalton. They were both adamant Native American activists, having met in Portland during an American Indian Movement rally. Jimmy was part Wasco, and fittingly a descendant of Billy Chenook, one of the Chiefs who signed the Treaty of 1855 that de lineated the territory of what is now the Warm Springs Reservation. Her mother is from Arizona, half-Hopi and half-Navajo. The two fell in love and eventually married. Macy was the product of that union, and at the age of five when her parents divorced, became sadly torn between the two of them during a bitter custody battle. She lived with Carla until the age of 10 then moved in with her dad, who died in a car accident when she was 17. Although Jimmy and Carla both had children on other occasions, Macy still grew up alone, never get ting much opportunity to know her three brothers or three sisters. Both parents were alcoholics, and as a re sult of that, she virtually raised her self. "Growing up on a reservation was a totally different experience," she said. "It was like growing up in a vacuum." Macy loved both her parents de spite the difficulties. And she man aged to forge some lifelong friend ships with many Elders in the Tribe, whom she considers mentors and still consults for advice to this day. Macy had no educational role models, not a single person to demonstrate the rewards one might reap by pursu ing higher learning. As if that weren't discouraging enough, she was ignorant of off-res-continued on page 9 Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon 9615 Grand Ronde Road Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347 Address Service Requested PRESORTED FIRST-CLASS MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID SALEM, OR PERMIT NO. 178 Serials Dept. - Kni9ht Library 12SS UNIVERSITY OF OREGON EUGENE OR 37403-1205 p it t ' ' . If V ' ' "Y ' vwfaW .. if. J 1 1 p li! 114 v ,., nl 'J I J mm LOCAL PARTICIPATION - Amid the chants of "Proud to be Drug Free" the entire student body of Grand Ronde Elementary School partici pated in this year's Red Ribbon March from the school to the Tribal Governance Center. Tribal Council walked with the students and the Grand Ronde Veterans' Color Guard led the way. Photo by Justin Phillips The Meaning of Red Ribbon Week By Chris Mercier Jp riday, October 27, students of Grand Ronde Elementary J School marched from their building to the Tribal Offices in recognition of Red Ribbon Week. The trek in essence marked their decrees of living a life free of drug and alcohol use, a mes sage not to be forgotten. For those not in the know, the origin itself of Red Ribbon Week is equally memorable, if less uplifting. Three weeks. No two words could have meant more for Enrique Camarena back in February of 1985. In three weeks, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was to reassign Camarena, away from his nearly five-year project of trailing some of Mexico's most prominent drug barons. Camarena was in deep, too deep. His efforts had been revealing, and he had come to suspect that this drug ring extended well into the upper reaches of Mexico's government. Not surprisingly, the bearer of such information was a marked man. continued on page 8 Emergency Services Enhanced Tribe builds new communications tower. By Brent Merrill A new communications tower located on the ridge di rectly east of the Tribe's Spirit Mountain Casino will soon make communications easier for emergency services in the area. According to the Tribe's Director of Public Works Eric Scott, the project has three phases and should be com pleted by the first of the new year. Phase one is the site preparation work, including the installation of power lines and telephone lines up to the site, improving the existing roadway and drainage ditches to the top of the hill and ;:;r:.----.-. the actual construction of the building pads and tower site. Scott said 1,400 feet of conduit; tele phone lines and power lines were placed up to the tower site. The critical work for phase one, which is now complete, was getting the site pre pared before the wet weather started. continued on page 4 if University of Or Received on: 11 Smoke signals egon Library 17-00 u q; c LU
