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
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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
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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