4 AUGUST 15, 2003
Smoke Signals
'Honoring Pole' Headed for 91 1 's Pennsylvania Site
Lummi Nation's First Stop is Grand Ronde as part of second cross-country trip.
By Ron Karten
The Lummi Indian Nation is giving a new totem
pole to the nation. This one will be an Honoring
Pole, and will be placed in Shanksville, Pennsylva
nia on September 7. Shanksville is the site of the
crash of United Flight 93, the fourth 911 hijacked
airplane.
The cross-country road trip taking this one east
will stop first on Wednesday, August 27 at the Con
federated Tribes of Grand
Ronde. A ceremony is sched
uled here at 9 am.
"The thing is," said Tribal
member Gene LaBonte,
"you're not forgotten. For
firefighters and the police
and the survivors of the di
sasters and the families of
those lost it's something we'll need to remember
for a long, long time." LaBonte will be part of the
Color Guard activities when the Lummi pole arrives.
Reminiscent of the trip to New York made by last
year's Healing Pole, this effort also was inspired by
the last trip.
"What happened," said Jewell P.W. James, Mas
ter Carver of the Lummi Indian Nation, "was that
we were just passing through Erie, Pennsylvania,
and this man comes up to us and asks, 'Is that the
Healing Pole?' It was totally covered up, but he had
heard about it."
It turned out that he was a volunteer fireman and
one of the first on the scene of the crash in
Shanksville. It also turned out that his mom was
part Indian and had taught him what she could about
the tradition. He told his story, made a donation to
the Lummi effort and disappeared.
As a result, the Lummis made a detour to
Shanksville on that trip, and when they arrived, they
saw "a couple thousand people in vari
ous stages of grief," according to James.
"The place was just swollen with people
going there to remember the families of
the people who died and the people who
sacrificed their lives."
It got the Lummis thinking about
those who are forgotten, and the theme
for the Honoring Pole of this year began
to take shape: "We have not forgotten."
"Everybody has a gift that the Great
Spirit gave them," said James. "In Indian Country,
in order to keep that gift, you give back to the people,
which is the way to tell the Great Spirit that you
appreciate having been endowed with the gift."
James's gift is carving. He has made a name for
both himself and the Lummi Nation by making gifts
of his totem poles. But James said, "When we do
poles, we give back to the Lummi community first."
Out of three poles the Lummi Nation brought to
him for this and another project, James and his team
of 8-9 others found an extra 20 feet of log for a bench
given to the Lummis "to honor our traditional cooks."
The Honoring Pole will be 13 feet high, carved out
of 650-year-old Western Red Cedar, said James. "It
is going to have a bear
with two stylized hu
mans on it, one male
and one female because
there were males and fe
males on Flight 93."
"The bear is a figure
in the mythology of In
dian Country that de
picts strength, courage,
power, and a willingness
to move forward not
worrying about one's
own safety," according
to information supplied
by the Lummis. "These
are the same virtues
that motivated the "He
roes" that fought to save
Flight 93. These are the
same values that make our Veterans our protectors,
our heroes, our guardians."
The Honoring Pole is the second of three poles an
ticipated. Next year in the months before the na
tional election, the Lummis hope to place a third
pole by the Pentagon.
Overall, the project aims to promote local, regional
and national awareness of the Lummi Nation and
the need for sacred lands protection. It aims to cul
tivate good relations with members of Congress, and
ultimately, to influence the 2004 national election.
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Accounting Counting on New Grants Specialist
Yvonne Vanlandingham brings experience from the Siletz.
By Ron Karten
Outside the world of accounting, terms like "cash
reports" and "financial reporting" have some sort of
meaning, but exactly what they mean and what
they're used for is mostly a mystery. So, it is good to
have somebody like Yvonne Vanlandingham on board
not only to explain these things, but also to take
care of them for the rest of us.
As the Accounting Department's Grants Specialist
since April 15, Vanlandingham is responsible for
grants coming from the likes of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection
Agency. She keeps track of them when they come in,
and then, when different Tribal agencies decide that
it is time to spend those grants, Vanlandingham
double-checks to make sure the grant covers a par
ticular expenditure, and that grant money remains
in the agency's account to cover the expense.
"Is this going to be an allowable cost?" she asked.
"Do (the agencies) have money in their budget? I
run a lot of Revenue and Expense Reports." And
there she goes again with those accounting terms.
"I enjoy this type of work," she said. "I was never
a Grants Specialist, but I've worked with grants."
In 12 years with the Confederated Tribes of the
Siletz Indians, Vanlandingham handled payroll and
housing authority issues. She is very familiar with
that other peculiar language, the one spoken by fed
eral and state bureaucracies.
"I've been in accounting for 20 years," she said.
On this job, "I get to do a little accounting but I get
to do other things, too."
For quite awhile, she had her sights set on work
ing here in Grand Ronde. "I always wanted to work
for the Grand Ronde Tribe," she said, "because I knew
people who worked here and they really liked it. I've
been keeping my eye open for an opening here."
The challenge for her today is learning the impor
tant details of all of the Grand Ronde Tribal pro
grams funded with grants. "My goal is to become
more familiar with each of the departments to be as
knowledgeable as I can be," she said.
And while she is at it, she is building bridges be
tween programs.
"She has spent and is continuing to spend time
building rapport with program managers - at Head
Start, Voca
tional Reha
bilitation," said her boss,
Assistant Con
troller Mike
Hubbard.
"Rightly or
wrongly, in
the past, de
partments have had a
feeling that
there is an 'us
vs them' men
tality, and
we're trying
hard to make
it more of a
'teamwork'
mentality."
And Vanlandingham is seeing success in this re
spect. "The programs are really good about sharing
information," she said.
She also attends trainings the Head Start pro-
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Yvonne Vanlandingham
Grants Specialist
gram is an example of a recent one she at
tended in an effort to learn as much as she
can about the programs and the grants they
offer.
"The first thing I'll look at (with any grant),"
she said, "is their reporting requirements. The
use of federal moneys also requires the Tribes
to follow federal rules on civil rights, for ex
ample, and on drug and alcohol issues.
A native Oregonian, Vanlandingham grew
up in Clatskanie, but also has lived in Toledo,
Lincoln City, and now makes her home in
Salem. Mother of two and grandmother of
three, Vanlandingham has a longstanding love
of gardening "flowers not vegetables," she
said, with a particular love for "roses - flow
ers that are pretty and smell good," she said.
At the moment, however, she and her new
husband (of four years last Valentine's Day!)
live in an apartment in Salem where the best
they are going to be able to do to fill her love of
flowers is to plant them in flower pots on the patio.
Family and church activities keep her going.
"Seems like I'm busy between work and home and
church and family life," she said.
Tribal Member Killed In Car Crash
Amy Jeffers leaves two young children.
Tribal member Amy L. Jeffers, 23, died Sun
day, August 10 when a vehicle in which she
was riding went off the road and rolled over
"several times," according to a police report.
Jeffers lived in Grand Ronde.
The accident occurred northeast of Salem.
The driver of the 2000 Toyota pickup,
Kandie Little, 22, swerved to avoid a deer and
lost control of the vehicle.' Little, also from
Grand Ronde, was treated at Salem Hospital
and released.
Also in the car was Kristina Rutherford, 23,
of Salem, who was taken to Salem Hospital.
Two days after the accident, Rutherford was
listed in 'fair' condition. Her injuries were not
considered life threatening.
Jeffers is survived by her mother, Jill Bran
don, formerly with the Tribes' Wellness Cen
ter, now of LaPine, Oregon; her father, Robert
Jeffers, of Salem; a sister, Kristie Jeffers, of
Salem, and two children, Brandon Shephard,
six months; and Rock Shephard, 5.
Services are scheduled for today at 11 a.m.
at the Grand Ronde Cemetery. A pot luck din
ner will be held immediately following the ser
vices at the Grand Ronde Community Center.