JANUARY 15, 2001
Smoke Signals 5
Spirit Mountain Invests in the Future of Women's Health Care
OHSU's program will train primary care providers in the proper technique for clinical breast exams.
PORTLAND, OR. Women in Or
egon are the beneficiaries of a
$45,000 grant to the Oregon Health
and Sciences University (OHSU) in
Portland from the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde's Spirit Moun
tain Community Fund. The commit
ment to better the lives of women
comes from the Community Fund
that is the charitable arm of the
Tribe's Spirit Mountain Casino.
The grant was awarded to OHSU's
Department of Health and Preventa
tive Medicine to assist in the training
of primary care providers. The state
wide training is aimed at educating
75 percent of the state's 3,000 care
providers in the proper techniques of
clinical breast examinations (CBE).
The need for this training is par
ticularly acute, as breast cancer is the
most common reported cancer among
Oregon women. In 1997, more than
3,000 new cases were diagnosed.
Oregon primary care providers them
selves recognize the need for in
creased training in this area: of 1,428
Oregon providers surveyed, 59 per
cent requested additional CBE train
ing. Experts estimate that the breast
cancer death rate can be reduced by
30 percent if all women receive regu
lar screening, including CBEs, age
appropriate screening mammograms
and self-breast exams.
The awarding of this grant is in
keeping with the Grand Ronde
Tribe's commitment to the health of
Oregonians. Spirit Mountain Com
munity Fund is closing in on the $10
million mark for giving to deserving
community organizations since the
fund was created in 1997.
"My background in nursing has
underscored just how important
early detection is for breast cancer,
and I know what a tremendous need
exists for more training," said Kath
ryn Harrison, Chair of the Grand
Ronde Tribal Council. "I'm pleased
that our Tribe is able to share our
good fortune with Oregon Health
Sciences University. This grant will
help more health care providers per
form proper exams."
The Community Fund's grant rep
resents 33 percent of the 12-month
expense budget for the project imple
mentation period. OHSU's Depart
ment of Public Health and Preven
tative Medicine will raise the remain
ing funds through course tuition and
additional fund raising. The North
west Health Foundation, Regence
BlueCross BlueShield, Norwest Phy
sicians Mutual Insurance Company
and the Oregon Health Division
have also made commitments.
Acknowledgment Sought for Code Talkers from Other Indian Tribes
POLACCA, AZ. (AP) - The Hopis
and other American Indians want
recognition for the men who used
their Native languages to confound
enemies during World War II.
President Clinton recently decided
to award congressional gold medals
to the original 29 "code talkers" and
silver medals to about 300 Navajo
soldiers who followed them to the
Pacific Theater during the war.
But there has been little historical
mention, much less recognition, for
code talkers from other Tribes, in
cluding the Hopi, Choctaw, Sioux,
Chippewa and Seminole.
"I honor the Navajos for the excel
lent job that they did," said Hopi Coun
cilman Cliff Balenquah, a former Di
rector of the Tribe's Veterans' Affairs
office. "But they find no shame in
giving themselves honor. There are
a lot of code talkers and their families
Franklin Shupla, a Hopi code talker, said the original 11 Hopi
code talkers also went to extraordinary lengths to use their
language and concepts to come up with terms for battle.
who are equally deserving of these
congressional medals."
Balenquah has been lobbying the
State of Arizona to recognize the Hopi
code talkers and plans a national
campaign on behalf of all Indians
who used their Native tongues to
radio messages during the war.
But Thomas Begay, a Navajo code
talker in the Marines during the battle
for Iwo Jima, said the Navajos' contri
butions were greater than other Tribes
because they created hundreds of
words in special encoded vocabularies.
Franklin Shupla, a Hopi code talker,
said the original 11 Hopi code talkers
also went to extraordinary lengths to
use their language and concepts to
come up with terms for battle.
They came up with the Hopi word
for eggs, "nu-hu," for bombs; "bah
ki," a house on water, for ships; and
the different kinds of birds for planes,
like "pah-we-waka," ducks, for sea
planes. The word for chicken hawks
was used for dive-bombers.
The Hopi code talkers first used the
language in combat on the Marshall
Islands and later at New Caledonia
before shipping out to Leyte in 1944
after General Douglas MacArthur
honored his pledge to reconquer the
Philippines from the Japanese.
Still, Shupla believes his contribu
tion is for others to judge.
"If the president included all of us,
it sure would make us happy. But I
also think at times that maybe it
should just be forgotten about,"
Shupla said. "When I wake up in
the middle of the night, I'm thinking
about my grandchildren, not the
Philippines in 1944."
But Lloyd "Van" Codynah of
Lawton, Oklahoma, whose father and
uncle were among the 17 Comanche
code talkers in Europe, wants them
acknowledged. , , .
"It always really bothered my dad
before he died in 1988, about the lack
of recognition they had received,"
Codynah said. "The government tried
to give my uncle a congressional medal
of honor a few years back, but he
turned it down because they wouldn't
give it to the other code talkers, too,
whom he considered his brothers."
Federal Agencies, Tribes Work to Save Ancient Art in Umpqua River
ROSEBURG, OR. (AP) From
Dirty Shame Rockshelter on the
Owyhee River to scrawls on bedrock
outcroppings in Scottsburg; from pro
jectile points found along Wildcat Can
yon on the Columbia River to boulders
riddled with carvings at Agness along
the Rogue River, Oregon is a state
steeped in Native American history.
But, time is taking its toll.
Less than seven percent of the state
has been surveyed for Native Ameri
can archaeological sites. Roughly
22,000 sites have been confirmed
and are documented in state archives.
But, with each day that passes, sites
yet unknown and unstudied deterio
rate and may be lost for all time.
Representatives of the U.S. Forest
Service, Bureau of Land Manage
ment and local Tribes are doing their
best to preserve these prehistoric
sites, but fear they may be playing a
waiting game.
"Sometimes nothing can be done,
so you just have to let nature take
its course," said Leland Gilsen, Head
Archaeologist at the Oregon State
Historic Preservation Office in Salem.
"Time compromises the integrity of
all archaeological sites. There's just
nothing you can do about it."
State and federal employees are
mandated to protect and preserve ar
chaeological sites. Whenever such
locations are suffering as a result of
age, vandalism or erosion, they are
obligated to find ways to nurse the
sites back to health. Such endeav
ors are not always easy.
Recently, the Forest Service has
been working to protect sites of cul
tural and archaeological significance
along the North Umpqua River. One
such site is the Susan Creek Indian
Mounds, where rock cairns above
Susan Creek Falls stand as decay
ing proof of a time when juvenile
North Umpqua boys met manhood
by proving they knew no fear.
Archaeologists speculate that as a
puberty ritual the young men would
fast for several days while stacking
the heaviest rocks they could find and
then wait for a visit from their spirit
guide. Such rituals were meant to
help the Umpqua acquire property
and attain focus in life. Only a hand
ful of the original moss-covered pyra
mids remain. Some have fallen due
to age; others have been knocked
over by vandals. A sign detailing the
importance of the site has been
riddled with bullet holes.
Debra Barner, a Forest Service Ar
chaeologist, has been studying sites
in the Umpqua National Forest and
fears the repercussions for vandaliz
ing, stealing and destroying archaeo
logical sites are not severe enough to
make a significant difference.
"There is the 1909 Antiquities Act,
but it didn't have any real criminal
penalties," she said.
But the Archaeological Resources
Protection Act passed in 1979 does have
some aiminal and civil penalties as
signed to it. It makes it illegal to exca
vate, remove, damage or deface sites.
Sometimes damage is inflicted with
the best of intentions. Barner uses the
Medicine Creek Rock overhang near
Toketee Falls as an example. In the
1920s or 1930s, individuals seeking to
photograph pictographs the rock
paintings lining the wall of the boul
der were concerned about visibil
ity. They drew chalk outlines around
each image. If you make a rubbing of
a petroglyph (rock carving) that kind
of damage is not going to show," she
said. "Defacing damage like with
chalk that's more serious. That
damage is still visible today."
Scholars have also found cultural
materials at Medicine Creek beneath
6,845-year-old Mount Mazama ash.
The paintings at the site may be
more than 250 years old.
When it's impossible to preserve and
protect, officials try to record any in
formation they can glean from a site
for future study. Almost 100 miles to
the west of Medicine Creek, in
Scottsburg, petroglyphs in the bed of
the Umpqua River have eroded as a
result of endless harsh winters. The
mysterious carvings that line the bed
rock are visible for only a few months
of the year when the river is low
enough to allow them to peek through
rapids. This site is undocumented by
the State Historic Preservation Office,
but has been well known to residents
for more than a century.
Scottsburg Mayor Henry Fryer re
members the carvings well from his
childhood in the 1940s. He said his
father, who lived in the area since
the 19th century, would often refer
to them.
"There used to be a lot more of
them," said Fryer. They've just grad
ually disappeared over time."
Four separate Tribes are known to
have spent time in what Gilsen called
the Scottsburg quadrangle, including
the Penutian-speaking Kalapuyans;
its subgroup, the Yoncalla, who pri
marily lived in Drain, Sutherlin and
Yoncalla; the Siuslaw-speaking Lower
Umpqua Tribe; and the Athapaskan
speaking Upper Umpqua.
Gilsen said little can be done about
natural erosion at the river site.
"There are a lot of archaeologists
who are writing books and conduct
ing studies to document sites before
it's too late," he said. "That may be
all that can be done in this case."