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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2003)
4 JULY 15, 2003 Smoke Signals Tribal Members Reunited With Tomanowos In New York City Tomanowos continued from front page sky people to come to our planet. Most people who refer to it as the Willamette Meteorite don't know how to pronounce Willamette. Although its origins are mysterious, its present situation is clear cut. It is a long way from home and encased in steel and concrete in the largest city in the world. Clackamas Tribal people never saw the Statue of Liberty. They never saw Central Park or took a tour of the mu seum that would become home to their sacred rock. When warriors dipped their arrows in the pockets of water that collected in Tomanowos, they were hoping for luck, health and protection. They had no idea their source of strength would one day become someone's property. They had no idea that the eventual "owners" would hack pieces of it offand offer them up for sale to the highest bidder or the most interested trader. People who think they own those pieces should be ware or at the very least be careful. Tomanowos' fingers were just as important to him as yours are to you. Why would they be for sale? Because they are valuable that's why. Because at 15 and a half-tons, Tomanowos is the sixth largest meteorite to ever land on Earth and is easily one of the most A f .-J ' - II it w 1 mi 9? 1; t Home For Now Oregon's Willamette Meteorite or Tomanowos as it is know to the Clackamas People is currently being displayed in the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the Museum of Natural History in New York City. In June, a group of Grand Ronde Tribal members traveled to New York to be reunited with Tomanowos in an annual ceremony. famous space rocks ever. It is a com modity traded by museum curators and hobby collectors globally. For now, Tomanowos sits in the Museum of Natural History as the cen terpiece of the Rose Center for Earth and Space. The museum's newest sec tion is home for the meteorite and draws millions of visitors from around the world to see it, to touch it. Chil dren gather around it and they feel its rough edges, and they imagine. For the third year in a row, Tribal members traveled to New York City in June to be reunited with Tomanowos. Tribal member Bobby Mercier was asked by the Tribal Council to perform the private ceremony afforded Tribal members on an annual basis. The mu seum staff cleared the building out and secured each entrance. Tribal members were brought in and they were allowed some quiet time with Tomanowos. If you listen intently, Tomanowos will speak to you. "Why did it take you so long," said Tribal Elder Kathryn Harrison of her impression of what Tomanowos was saying to her. "I've been waiting a long time to see you." Those gathered, including the two Tribal youth selected as this year's in terns to the museum, said they felt humbled to be in the presence of this sacred object. For now, Grand Ronde Tribal people will continue their pilgrimage to the largest city in the world. They will fly in big airplanes and stay in leg endary hotels. They will brave the infamous New York cab rides and ven ture into the subways to see the sights maybe even a celebrity or two. They will walk around the streets in awe and wonder. They will eat a slice of pizza and watch the colorful vari ety of people go by. Each time we come from home to this place, we will bring a little bit of home with us. We will share that little bit of ourselves with Tomanowos just like it shares it power with us when we are in its presence. And, we will thank Creator. A-ho. They Have Plans For The Future, But Right Now It's All Tribal Member Twins Julie and Jada Endicott raise the level of school sports at Taft About Work, Play High School in Lincoln City. By Ron Karten This summer, the Endicott twins will travel two hours each way to play ball for the Northwest Outlaws, an Amateur Softball Association team based in Kelso, Washington. The coach had seen what they did for the Taft High School Tigers and invited them to join. They discovered that even in the amateur big leagues, not many play ers have the competitive juice that keeps the two of them going. "Only three at the most are looking to be recruited (by a college team)," said Julie Endicott, daughter of Cathy Steere, Operations Manager for the Spirit Mountain Gaming Commis sion. "For most, the goal is not to win, just to pass the summer and have fun, and we went to go out and kill." "I don't mind if we lose games," said twin sister Jada. "I just want every body to try." The girls graduated this year from Taft High School and brought the Taft volleyball and Softball teams from ob scurity to the top of their leagues. Jada helped do the same for the bas ketball team. "The volleyball team never had gone to state or even took first place in a tournament," said Julie, "but this past year, we won the league champion ship." The softball team, which sat in the cellar for years, ended up first in the league this year and went to the semi-finals at state. The basket ball team had not won the league since 1979, according to Jada, but won the league this year and went to state. Their successes come on the heels of their dedication. "We don't have time to hang out with friends," said Julie. "I work two jobs, play sports and sleep. During the school year, with softball and homework, I get about five hours of sleep. Sometimes," she said of sister, Jada, "she goes off of three." "I had really hard classes," said Jada. She referred to calculus honors English literature, and anatomy-physiology. When it comes to Julie's best sub ject, she said, "Boys," but with the joke over, she added, "My favorite class was weight training." When Jada's math teacher left Taft after her junior year, and another, less well-received teacher came in, Jada and Julie regularly traveled to Waldport where their teacher had gone (1-12 hours each way) to get help and extra University in Spokane. ' - - - - She came up with the plan this way: "I went to our school counselor and said, 'this is what I want to do. How do I get there?' I also want to stay as close to Oregon as possible, to be close to our little sister, Kari." Kari is six years old. Not necessarily so for Jada. "I don't care about being close to home," she said. "I want the full college experi ence." Her plans are to go to school at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in ff EI i work that would help them keep up with the subject. While both sisters still hold out hope of being recruited by a college team -possibly Northern Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene, they have alternative plans in place. Julie wants to attend Oregon State University for pre-nurs-ing courses, then transfer to Linfield's nursing program and finally study an esthesiology for four years at Gonzaga Honolulu for a year and then maybe transfer to University of California at San Diego to pursue a pre-med college career. Jada earned all A's with one excep tion in high school. That math teacher. Along with good grades and a batting average in the high 300s, Jada earned the Valco League's Scholar Athlete award, and a similar one from the Army. For the last two years, she also earned the Athlete of the Year award. Julie was named to the softball sec ond team All League as a right fielder in her freshman year, and in Volley ball, was first team All League off-side hitter. In academics, the story is also very competent. "I can keep above a three point," said Julie, "but not a 3.5." And one subject caused particular prob lems. She couldn't stand that math teacher. "Jada had to teach me," she said. Besides playing ball this summer, each of the girls has a job on a tree farm in Grand Ronde. They get up at five in the morning and work from six to three each day. "Being outside makes the day go by faster," said Julie. "Yeah, watching me do all the work," said Jada. Julie also is a hostess at Mo's Res taurant in Lincoln City. "I don't like it," said Julie. "The work environ ment is not very interesting. Stand ing, waiting for two hours at a time. The waitresses don't like where you're seating people and management com plains that you want SO MUCH time off to play softball." "A lot of hot guys come in," suggested Jada. "Yeah, but they all have hot girls attached to them," said Julie. The girls attribute their sports start tot-ball. "We've been playing ever since," said Julie. "We've been able to get better because there's two of us and we com pete." "With hard feelings?" asked Jada, whose batting average is higher. "Yeah," said Julie. Then, she added, "You're not better than me so don't give me that smile." "Yeah," smiled Jada.
