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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2003)
Smoke Signals 3 Tribal Members Get A Look At The 2004 Preliminary Budget With 'hard copy' to take home, Tribal members are encouraged to contact Finance Department with questions. NOVEMBER 15, 2003 By Ron Karten The November General Council meeting was held on Sunday, No vember 2, at the Tribal Community Center in Grand Ronde. Here are the highlights: Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy called the meeting to or der. Tribal member Bryan Langley offered the invocation. Tribal Finance Officer Larry Kovach summarized the Tribe's 2004 budget using a PowerPoint program, with 'hard copy' also avail able. Information provided came from a preliminary budget still under Tribal Council review. Kovach credited Rick Andersen, Budget Treasury Officer, Dakota Whitecloud, Executive Budget As sistant, and Administrative Assis tant Nancy Renfrow for much of the work required to put the review together. The council will adopt the final 2004 budget in December, said Kovach. Details about this budget and the six Tribal endowments will be available to Tribal members in the November issue of Council News. Further information is also available to Tribal members through the Tribe's Finance Department. Tribal member Les Knight asked whether Elders will get a cost of liv ing increase in 2004. The ques tion will not be answered until the Tribal Council has more informa tion, according to Tribal Council Vice Chairman Reyn Leno. Congratulations to $50 door prize winners. Tribal member Connie Holmes donated her winnings to the fund-raiser for 18-year-old Tribal member Amanda Jones Schulte, whose family is raising money to help with many of the costs associated with the young girl's needed heart-lung trans plant. Tribal member Dennis Hicks also won $50, the second month in a row he's been so lucky. Tribal member Jessie Brann won the third $50 prize. Tribal Elder Louise Coulson won the $100 prize. Congratulations also go to Tribal member Linda LaChance, who won a package of beauty products, and to Larry Kovach, Tribal Fi nance Officer, who won a food basket, both from an El ders' Committee raffle. The next general Tribal Council meeting is sched uled for 11 a.m., December 7 at the Tribal Community Center. 177 f J'- fi -.of" ' ... V'-v- t J 'I i ' C! .r l l m Ml .n if If Budget 2004 Tribal Finance Officer Larry Kovach (stand ing) gives the 2004 preliminary budget presentation at November's General Council meeting on Sunday, Novem ber 2 at the Community Center. Seated in front of Kovach is Darrel Clark the Tribes new General Manager of the con venience store. Deputy Bruce Distler Says He Is Glad He Can Be With "His Kids" Spirit Mountain Community Fund pays for school resource officer. ByPetaTinda West Valley schools are safer for stu dents and teachers thanks to the help of the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, which stepped up with a $73,465 grant to continue the School Resource Officer program, whose funding had been cut because of difficult the finan cial situation facing area schools. Bruce Distler, a Yamhill County Sheriffs deputy, has been in law en forcement for over ten years and been the SRO since March of 2001. "I feel really fortunate that the Com munity Fund choose to continue with the program," said Distler. "It's great because it puts me back with my kids." The program was originally part of a federally funded 3-year grant called Cops In Schools, (CIS) which is de signed to help law enforcement agen cies hire new, additional SRO's to en gage in community policing in and around primary and secondary schools. On the fourth year, the school and community are expected to pick up the bill for the officer. "Needless to say, the way the schools are, they wouldn't have been able to keep me, and the city couldn't make up the difference," said Distler. At first, there were many in the lo cal communities that were skeptical of the need for a police officer in the schools, thinking that it was only a big-city problem. "But then they had the shootings at Columbine," said Distler. "That's a word that lights everybody up there were students and teachers killed, and people realized that no, maybe this wasn't just a big-city thing." By having deputies in schools, said Yamhill County Sheriff Jack Crabtree, it reduces drug and alcohol use, vio lence and makes the kids feel safer. "I think that they (the Spirit Moun tain Community Fund) do a lot of good things for the community and this is one of them," said Crabtree. Gus Forster, Principal of Willamina High School, also thinks that the SRO is a good idea. "In this day and age, it's a real ne cessity in our school, we're not that large, but we've got a lot of issues that need to be dealt with immediately and effectively, and that's being done," said Forster. "We're real thankful that the Community Fund did get involved and support us." He regularly walks then halls and makes contact with the students when ever possible. He keeps his relationship with the students casual and speaks with a warm, friendly voice, greeting the kids as they walk by. At noontime, he gets in his patrol car ' ' : i . - Ii ', ff V v v -ill -r"Af,.' Resourceful Bruce Distler, School Resource Officer for Willamina and Grand Ronde, keeps a watchful eye on the students that attend the schools. Distler was able to continue working at the schools because of a $73,465 grant from the Spirit Mountain Community Fund. "It's not a question of being re-active, it's a question of being preventative," he added. Angie Blackwell, Director of the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, said that, "because of the relationship between the Sheriffs office, the school district and the Tribe, youth have yet another posi tive role model and mentor and teach ers have the support they need to help kids be safe and successful in school." Distler divides his time between the high school and grade school in Willamina, and makes frequent trips to Grand Ronde middle school. He looks at his role as a resource of ficer as more educational than anything else. and keeps an eye on the students that drive for lunch. Frequently he goes into classrooms and talks about drugs and alcohol, and holds question and answer sessions with the kids. Distler also works closely with the local school counselors. "For the most part, I can sit and ex plain to the kids what's appropriate and what's not appropriate, which saves me from doing it in a professional sense," explained Distler. The most difficult aspect of his job, he said, is when he has to arrest kids. He's only done it a few times, but that doesn't make it any easier. "If I have to deal with a student pro fessionally, there's one thing that I try to make them understand that it doesn't change our relationship, before or after the contact, it's just part of my job. I haven't singled them out, and I haven't classified them. I'm no harder on them than anybody else. I make sure they understand that I'm here to pro tect them, not give them a hard time." He always wonders if there was something he could have done sooner to prevent it. Distler has also been trained as a drug recognition expert, a skill that at times comes in handy. "If a teacher feels that a student is under the influence of a substance of some sort, then they can contact me to do tests. We also have a portable breath tester we can bring up from Sheridan," said Distler. "Occasionally we get a drug dog to come through the school, that sort of thing." There are certain things he cannot do because of legal issues, like check lockers. "It's better if the teachers and administrators do it," he said. So far this year he's only issued a few Minor in Possession of Alcohol and Mi nor in Possession of Tobacco citations. "Kids are always kind of testing the limits," he added. "My biggest concern," he said. "Is keeping the laws of the state, and try ing diligently to prevent anybody from being hurt or physically injured." There have been a couple of fatal crashes recently involving alcohol, he said. "I always tell students to avoid get ting into the car with somebody who is under the influence, or if they've been drinking, not to drive." The best thing about being a School Resource Officer, Distler said, can be summed up in one word: kids. "I really enjoy working with the stu dents," he said. "They know they can come talk to me, and that I'll make time for them." "I like kids and the kids like me," said Distler. B
