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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2002)
AUGUST 1, 2002 Smoke Signals 3 Council Relations Coordinator Will Help Tribal Members Sort Through Complex Tribal Government Charles Haller II responds to the need for follow-through and to calls for openness in government. By Ron Karten As Tribal government grows in complexity, the need for follow-up and follow-through grows too. Tribal member and new Tribal Council Relations Coordinator Charles Haller II said he is up for the challenge and ready to respond. Haller said he wants the commu nity to know that he can be a valu able resource for them. Haller has been Tribal Council Relations Coordinator since last November, but after recent commu nity meetings, he said, "it started to become obvious that nobody knew my position existed." Among Haller's projects is one to "institutionalize" the still young Council Forum, initiated in May to keep members up to date on issues "pertinent to Tribal members." In addition, Haller is in contact with the Tribe's eight advisory com mittees. By statute, they are re quired to report on their activities to the council, but have not yet co ordinated that communication on a regular basis. Haller is seeking to bring that communication up to date and keep it there. Another part of his job is to cre ate a database on the big issues for the council so that any council mem ber can keep up with the latest in formation on each issue. Whether that communication will be available in writing or on a closed computer system is still un der discussion, Haller said. Questions coming to the Tribal Council or individual council mem bers have not yet amounted to a flood. At the high point in the spring, fewer than ten Tribal mem bers called or wrote in with ques tions during the week, Haller said. Still, with Tribal members both lo cal and far-flung, and with ques tions of council openness high on many people's minds, it makes sense to establish a system for making Tribal business more orderly and accessible. With two Bachelor's degrees from the University of Oregon - one in Journalism and one in Interna tional Studies Haller came well prepared for this job. He spent four years in Copenhagen working for an inter national development organization called the World Assembly of Youth, a non-political, non-religious group affiliated with the United Nations on many individual development projects. He wrote grants, devel oped conferences, made recommen dations on funding for projects, and wrote reports on the outcomes. He also worked as the John Tuttle intern at Oregon Public Broadcasting doing pre-production and post-production work, which at one point was exactly what he had hoped to do with his life. But Rob Proudfoot, an International Studies professor at the University of Oregon made him aware of Indian is sues in a way that got him thinking about returning to Grand Ronde to serve the Tribe. "The Tribe made it possible for me to get an education," he said. "I couldn't have afforded it and I wanted to pay back." Now, he has one of the most difficult and thankless jobs a bureaucracy has to offer making communication work. So, when questions come in for the council or specific members, they get routed to Haller, who takes a look to see if perhaps one of the Tribal agencies should take the first shot at the question, or 1 L K ' P ,. , y - i i T - . ; V , V; V Charles Haller II Tribal Council Relations Coordinator whether it belongs directly with the council or a member. Haller is hoping that Tribal members will start to recognize him as the place to start asking questions. He is ac cessible, and often, he said, he can answer questions right away. B You can reach Charles Haller II at 1-800-422-0232 ext. 1309 or 503-879-1309, or by email at: charles.hallergrandronde.org. Cause of Davidson's Car Fire Is Determined To Be Accidental Remembrance service for Lucien and Janesse held at Tribal Governance Center. By Peta Tinda The cause of the fire took the lives of two Grand Ronde Tribal mem bers and severely burned three oth ers was determined to have been an accident, according to Lt. Dale Rutledge of the Oregon State Po lice Department. On June 20, Lauren and Eyvette Davidson were driving home from McMinnville with their three chil dren when their 1997 GMC Sub urban burst into flames. Lauren and Eyvette were able to save one child, Benjamin, age 12, but two others, Lucien, 11 and Janesse, 10 died in the fire. The source of the fire was under investigation for several weeks. A break in the case came when the investigators were able to verify conclusively what was in the cargo area of the vehicle. "We found out that they had about a 16 pound box of pool chlo rine. The granular stuff that you get at the hardware store," said Rutledge. "Chlorine is an oxidizer if it mixes with certain chemicals. It causes a fire that feeds on itself. We also found out they had a can of engine degreaser in the back of the vehicle. Engine degreaser is a petroleum product. If it is mixed with the chlo rine it will self-ignite. Then it burns very violently and rapidly." Rutledge said that they knew that the engine degreaser had some thing to do with the fire, based on a labo ratory analysis. "What we didn't know was how the two combined and we probably will never know. Most likely the contents shifted. We know that whatever happened was an ac cident. That helps re solve the issue, both for us and the family." In order to test their theory, the investiga tors bought the same i liipfek, .' if :' 'hi Remembered Family, friends and community members gathered in Grand Ronde on Satur day, July 13 to pay tribute to and remember Lucien and Janesse Davidson. kind of chlorine and degreaser that was in the vehicle at the time. "We got identical components and put them together," said Rutledge. "First we tried tests with a small quantity, which immediately burst into flames all by itself. Then we saturated the box with the engine degreaser. It took about five min utes, but it also burst into flames." Rutledge said the test matched exactly with what the witnesses at the scene described. "Lots of white smoke, red flames and a lot of popping noises. Based on what witnesses saw and heard, that's how the fire had to have started." Rutledge said that the investiga tors looked at the Suburban to de termine if it was a mechanical fail ure, but they soon ruled the vehicle out as the cause of the fire. "Fire behaves in very predictable ways. We knew that the fire engulfed the vehicle all at once and the only way to do that is by igniting some kind of flammable gas," he said. "Gas needs an ignition source and there weren't any in the back of the vehicle. But chlorine doesn't need and ignition and it's a fast violent fire, just like the witnesses de scribed." The tragic accident has affected the community very deeply. A num ber of fundraisers to help the fam ily with medical costs have been held. You can contribute to the Loren Davidson Family Fund at any Bank of America and family members have reopened the rinvirlsnn's P.uvptte's Rrnnlrcirlo Cafe on Highway 18 just west of Grand Ronde. The restaurant is now open Wednesday through Sun day of each week. The staff at the Legacy Emanuel Hospital Burn Center in Portland said that Benjamin is progressing "quite well" and his condition has been upgraded to "Fair." A nurse said Benjamin has had his eyes open for some time now and his breathing tube has been removed and he is eating regular food. The staff said that Loren is still in "Serious" condition, but that he has stabilized since being upgraded from critical. Eyvette is still listed as serious, but the staff sounded optimistic that her condition would be upgraded soon. D
