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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2002)
4 SEPTEMBER 1, 2002 Smoke Signals Kevin Simmons Will Work In The Office Of Congressman David Wu Hatfield continued from front page individuals who know their way around Washington, D.C. and pro duce long-term benefits for all the Tribes and the Pacific Northwest. Simmons, 26, called it, "a great honor for a young man like myself to represent the Tribe and a great responsibility." His approach to this new adventure is still to be determined. "I always try to find my role or play my role." He kindly declined to talk about his accomplishments and you only learn incidentally that he was president of his class at LaSalle High School in Portland, or Home coming King, or even that he played football in high school and college. It's not that he's hiding anything. He has a photograph of the team in action in a box packed to go. He likes to remember those days. "I just don't want to come off..." he said. He trailed off rather than specify the potential pitfalls of talk ing about yourself. "It's kind of the way I was raised," he said. "You do what you have to do; respect your creator, respect your family, respect your community." After a year working for the Tribe in Grand Ronde, Simmons had the highest thanks and praise for his co-workers in both the Edu cation and Social Services depart ments. He was a college counselor at Education, and is an employ ment and training specialist at So cial Services. He reeled off names of those who have helped him seemingly without end. "They al lowed me to spread my wings in the community. "A traditional world view is that need to be within a community and having these people open their arms to me. . ." and again he trailed off. "I've always had a great amount of help. And this fellow ship is a great example." Simmons focused on "Native American studies" at Humboldt State University in Areata, Califor nia, and within that field, his em phasis was on law and govern ment. He praised his Catholic school education while recognizing the excesses suffered by members of his family at the hands of other Catholic institutions. He had uncles at both Wounded Knee and the American Indian Movement oc cupation of Alcatraz "who teased me" about this education and still encouraged him to make the most of it. "I always had that family there to rein me in," he said, "keep me in check and grounded.... They'd tell me, 'you got this good education and now you use it. That's what we do.' "It was always a learning thing," he said of the conflicts of growing up, "but I didn't always know it." His fellowship will take him to serve on Congressman David Wu's staff from November 1 through July 31, 2003, but Simmons' only plans are to "go in with an open mind and learn." He'll bring his family with him, including his fiancee, Robin, and his 14-month old daughter Kaelynn Noelani Simmons. Her middle name, given by her Hawai ian godfather, means "beautiful little girl from heaven," he said. And though this time of year, he really misses football, he said that he now focuses his spare time en ergy on Kaelynn. Whether law school or govern ment work is in his future, as he now suspects, one thing he knows for sure - "I found my career path. I can't imagine doing anything else in life than working with Indian people." B Fort Hoskins To Come Alive As An Interpretive Center The first of three in the area to undergo changes, renovation. By Ron Karten Fort Hoskins in the Benton County city of Hoskins is one of three forts built to serve the U.S. government's 19th cen tury policy of moving Indians onto res ervations. (The other two are Fort Yam hill in Grand Ronde, under de velopment see re lated story, and Fort Umpqua at Winchester Bay on the middle Oregon Coast, and not yet planned for development). Memorializing sites of oppression like this is a tricky business. History is too often slanted by the viewpoint of its winners, so it is important that all participants gain a voice in the pro cess. With that in mind, the Benton County Parks Department early on sought representation from the Con federated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indi ans on the advisory committee. Rob ert Kentta, Siletz Tribes' Cultural Di rector is the Siletz representative and Tony Johnson, a member of the Chi nook Tribe, is the representative from Grand Ronde. N. I I - fc i u y Benton County Parks purchased the 130-acre property in 1992 from the Dunn family that (as the Frantz fam ily) had purchased it from the U.S. Army in 1866 shortly after the fort was decommissioned. With the prop erty, the county also took on the task of interpreting "multiple layers of his tory," according to overview materials supplied by Alisa Larson, an Assiniboine Indian from the Fort Belknap Reservation in North Central Montana who is also a Tribal liaison on this project for Benton County Parks. Three of nine "interpretive" panels will discuss Indian history at the site. Others will consider settlement and Civil War eras, the boom and bust of the logging industry, the Valley & Siletz Railroad that aided the logging industry while it lasted and the current ghost town status of Hoskins. Kentta and the Cultural Committee for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde drafted the Indian panels. The panels cover the Aboriginal inhabit ants the Luckiamute band of the Kalapuya (Calapooia) as well as In dian interaction with the fort, and fed eral Indian removal policies, includ ing establishment of the reservations. "Some try to soft shoe these stories," said Kentta, "or tell them from the fed eral government's perspective." His approach? "To tell the truth." "I give a lot of talks (on the subject)," Kentta said, "and sometimes (white) people come up to me afterward and say that they're so embarrassed (by the history). I tell them that there's no need to feel personally responsible but when you hear of Tribal issues from here on out, incorporate this under standing into your reaction." The question came up in a public fo rum: "Why would we want to be in volved with this the site of a perse cution?" said Larson. "And our answer was, 'So that the Grand Ronde and Siletz side of the story can be told.'" Opening Day ceremonies will be on Saturday, September 14, at 10 a.m. through 2 p.m. It will be the begin ning of a new era in the life of these forts, an era of learning and under Fort Yamhill Project is a Partnership Between Tribes and Parks Department 2006 is a long way off, but the planning has already begun. By Ron Karten In 1856, infamous Civil War general Philip H. Sheridan, then a 2nd Lieuten ant, supervised construction ofbuildings at Fort Yamhill. The fort became a buffer between the newly created Grand Ronde Reservation and local settlers. "Initially," said Grand Ronde Cul tural Resources manager June Olson, "these forts were built for joint pro tection protecting Indians from white people and white people from Indians. For a short period of time, they were intended to maintain the peace. Clearly, federal policy came into play and the mission quickly changed." According to Grand Ronde Tribal Elder Merle Homes, a participant in the development of both the Fort Yam hill and Fort Hoskins sites, "for the ten years that Fort Yamhill was in exist ence, the Indians had martial law. The military decisions were final. There were no appeals. When they ran away trying to get back home and were caught, they got corporal punishment and they shaved their heads. That may not be significant to white people, but it was to our people." A lot of history has come and gone and now the re stored Con federated Tribes of Grand Ronde (CTGR) have formed a partnership with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) to study the site and develop "appro priate educational and recreational facilities" there, with a planned pub lic opening on the fort's 150th anniver sary in 2006. 1 r - -: ! ..iy ; I The Parks department bought a 50 acre parcel in 1989, and recently, CTGR acquired 114 adjacent acres also associated with the original fort complex. Archeological studies have shown that at least 24 buildings in- developed with the findings of a "grid walk," said Olson. In addition, though community in put has been delayed until the fall, Parks Department Master Planning Coordinator Kristen Stallman said that ($mw&tm imam eluding a sentry box, officers' quarters, barracks, carpenter's and blacksmith's shops, a hospital, cook houses, stables, barn, and sutler's (mercantile, with military and Native supplies) store were located on the OPRD parcel. This summer, according to Olson, crews will do survey work to evaluate the Tribe's acquisition. Maps will be this summer would also be devoted to doing inventory on plant communities, wildlife habitat and contour informa tion through aerial photography. "One of the most important and challenging elements of the master plan will be determining the interpre tive stories the site will tell," accord ing to a recent Tribal brochure. But that is still in the future.
