4 JULY 15, 2002
Smoke Signals
Community Fund's Paula Cook Helps Spread The Goodwill
By Ron Karten
Paula Cook gets almost 40 re
quests a month for money. And she
is happy about it.
As a recent addition to the Tribe's
Spirit Mountain Community Fund
office, Cook is the first contact most
people have with the Tribe's pro
gram of community giving. As part
of the promise to return something
to the community, the Tribe gives
away more than $4 million a year
to worthy causes in an 11 county
region, said Cook.
"I love this job," she said. "Being
able to help people, all the good
projects. All are important."
As the administrative assistant for
the Community Fund office, Cook
takes in the requests and handles
the initial calls. She evaluates the
inquiries and drafts letters in reply.
She prepares information for the
board of directors and provides ad
ministrative support to Fund Direc-
i ; i i
o. " - - .i . . i
Paula Cook
tor and Grand Ronde Tribal mem
ber Angela Blackwell.
Cook is no stranger to good work.
Prior to her family's Oregon adven
ture, Cook was a database manager
for the Board of Higher Education
& Ministry for the United Method
ist Church in Nashville.
"I used to work on 'studio row,'"
she said, where all the houses had
been converted into music studios
for the Grand Ole Opry.
But what she misses most
about Nashville is not the
music but the Opry Mills
Mall, a three-mile long
shopping center filled
with specialty shops.
And she also misses the
fact that it doesn't rain all
the time in Nashville.
"The precipitation rates
are about the same," she
said. "But it comes in
thunderstorms and then it's over,
not like here where it drizzles all
the time."
A horse-person all her life, she
and husband Joseph, who works as
a mental Health Therapist in the
Tribe's health clinic have acquired
two horses for their new home in
McMinnville. Blackie, Paula's
horse, had been a racehorse but
broke his leg and was about to be
auctioned off to a slaughterhouse
when a family in Sandy, Oregon
bought him to save him. The Cooks
got Blackie from them.
And now, she rides him nearly
everyday. They've just bought a
horse trailer and hope this summer
to bring the horses up to the moun
tains for special outings.
And if it weren't for Sadie, the
Basset Hound who eats scraps from
the table and nudges her out of bed
with or without her Stephen King
novel in hand, all would be well
with Paula. Of her three children,
Jessica, 8, is an artist who has some
beautiful pictures of "Blackie" on
display in Cook's office, Nathan, 12,
is a football player, and Jennifer,
19, starts pre-med at Portland State
University in the fall and she'll be
the family doctor, said Cook.
But that Sadie... B
Todd Fenk Joins Polk County Sheriff's Office As Deputy In Grand Ronde
"Maybe an hour a week looks like a TV cop show."
t "urn I'l
(
t .
By Ron Karten
T o d d
Fenk, 25,
became a
Deputy in
the Polk
County
Sheriffs of
fice in
Grand
Ronde on
April Fool's
Day last year but it was no joke. A
volunteer cadet and reserve deputy
since 1997, Fenk knew the job and
the community pretty well by the
time he came on full time.
Among his most interesting expe
riences so far, he counts the high
speed chase of Orlando Johnson,
who fled from a routine traffic stop
reaching speeds of 110 miles per
hour before wrecking in a ditch
alongside Route 18 (see sidebar).
"He didn't want to go to jail," said
Fenk.
Also, he reports an earlier case,
before coming to the Grand Ronde
area, when he was chasing a
woman threatening to commit sui
cide. He said that she disappeared
down a gravel road and "I almost
ran over my sergeant" hurrying to
get to her. After they finally did
block her in, got her out of her car,
and walked her around to keep her
awake (because she was full of
sleeping pills), the fire department
arrived and took over.
They must have done a good job
because a few days later, he said,
she called, not so despondent, to
thank him for a job well done.
Fenk lives in Monmouth, where
he went to Western Oregon Univer
sity. He majored in law enforce
ment and Spanish. He grew up on
a dairy farm in Tillamook and
sometimes thinks way in the future
that he might like to retire to the
farm, but not to a working farm.
"Maybe a few cows," he thinks.
The family has a wild spread of
careers, from his parents who were
farmers, to his brother who is an
engineer at Intel to his half-sister
who is a biologist with the Depart
ment of Fish & Wildlife. Fenk
started thinking about law enforce
ment in high school, when he had
a good friend who was interested.
By the time he was a junior in high
school, he was sure about it.
Today, he said, "maybe one hour
a week looks at all like the life of
television cops maybe two hours
on a hot week."
With the rest of the time, he said,
"there's a lot of paperwork and
hoops to jump through but it's still
worth it."
"His greatest asset is his enthusi
asm," said Sergeant Jeff Van
Laanen of the Sheriffs Grand
Ronde office. "And he speaks Span
ish. It's fantastic to have someone
who is bilingual."
Down the line, Fenk said, "I'd defi
nitely like to become a detective." B
Protect Yourself Against Heat Stress!
High temperatures can cause nausea, cramps, dizziness, confusion, or even
loss of conscience. Heat stress can affect anybody even those in good health.
That's why it's a good to take the proper precautions, whether you work inside
or outside.
Here are some things to protect yourself from heat stress:
1. Drink before you get thirsty. The natural inclination is to drink when
you get thirsty, but if you're expose to high temperatures, you shouldn't
wait that long. Drink at least one cup of water every 20 minutes.
2. Dress for the occasion. Wear fewer and lighter clothes. If you're
working in temperatures above 95 then cover your skin well and wear
fire-resistant clothes.
3. Eat light. Heavy meals can turn up the body's internal temperature.
Eat lightly and snack more through the day rather than eating a heavy
meal.
Article courtesy of Safety Complicate Alert, May 31, 2001 edition.
High Speed Chase Leads To Accident, Arrest
Deputy Todd Fenk followed Orlando Johnson until
he crashed his Camaro in Grand Ronde.
By Ron Karten
Early June was not a good time
of year for Orlando Johnson, his
two passengers, or the Camaro
they rode in on.
Johnson, a 37 year-old Salem
resident, was stopped for speeding
by Polk County Sheriffs Deputy
Todd Fenk who is assigned to work
the Grand Ronde area, around 9
p.m. at milepost 18 on Highway
18 in Grand Ronde.
According to a report from the
sheriffs office, Johnson took off
and led Fenk eastbound on high
speed chase. Johnson reportedly
swerved into the westbound lane,
then off the road into a ditch
where he struck a cement culvert.
Johnson's car rolled "several
times," the report said, before
Johnson emerged and again took
off, this time on foot.
Passengers in the vehicle were
taken to hospitals. Dusty Lynn
Wood, 23, of Salem, went to Co
lumbia Willamette Valley Medical
Center in McMinnville with mi
nor injuries and was released.
Laleana Crounse, 28, of Port
land, went by Life Flight to Or
egon Health Sciences University
Hospital in Portland, where she
was listed in stable condition and
subsequently released.
Johnson, meanwhile, was
tracked down that night by the
Salem Police K-9 Unit, after
which he, too, was taken to Co
lumbia Willamette Valley Medi
cal Center, where he was treated
for dog bites.
Johnson also is "a person of in
terest" in several Salem area rob
beries, according to the Sheriffs
report and has been taken into
custody. Polk County charged
him with two counts of Assault
2, felonies, for the passengers,
and a count of Attempting to
Elude, also a felony. Additional
charges relating to the robberies
were pending. B
Venn Leaves The Wellness Center,
Takes Post In McMinnville
Christina Venn, a Family Nurse Practitioner for the Tribe's Health and
Wellness Center, has resigned to take a position in the family practice
urgent care clinic with Dr. James Molloy in McMinnville.
"It has been a privilege to meet and work with the employees of the
Health and Wellness Center," Venn wrote in an email saying goodbye.
Health Clinic's Laboratory Supervisor
Leaves After Four Years
Lisa Gift, the Health and Wellness Center's Laboratory Supervisor for
the last four years, has "traded the rainy Oregon weather for the sunny
weather of California," according to Crystal Foster, medical technologist
in the lab.
"These past four years at Grand Ronde have been a tremendous expe
rience for me," Gift wrote in her farewell email.
She has taken a position as a medical technologist at California Poly
technic State University in San Luis Obispo.