DECEMBER 15, 2003
Smoke Signals
Warrior Interrupted: Tribal lierrtber Brad Leno Reflects On Tragedy
4
Brad Leno continued from page 3
a trip to the store, (Leno and some friends prevailed
on a woman in town to buy them a few cases of beer.
"We watched her kids while she bought the beer,"
said Leno.) The trip involved backing into a street
side mail box ("I got mad and got out. It had bent
the box over a little. Nothing happened to the car
but I was still mad. I popped open the trunk and
took a beer.")
He ended up at his other sister's house (Tribal
member Brianna) that night with his long time
friend and neighbor, Evan (Rue) Bailer, then 19, and
Matthew Castellon, then 18, a boy who had been
close friends with Brad's younger brother, Tribal
member Brett, then 16.
The boys played "drinking games on the evening
of July 14 and the early morning hours of July 15.
Telling the story from a table at Grover Cottage at
MacLaren, Leno was in the company of another
Grand Ronde Tribal member, Willard (Wid) Thomp
son, who was Treatment Manager for kids with sub
stance abuse problems at MacLaren.
Like Leno, Thompson comes from a logging fam
ily in rural Oregon, but Thompson grew to resent
the drinking traditions of loggers he grew up with
and his anger flashed as he described it. "I'd seen
the lifestyle of drinking on the way home every night
from logging. . . All they want to do is fight and drink."
Thompson interrupted Leno at this point in the
story. "When you drank, did you get physical?" he
asked.
"No," said Leno, "not unless I was trying to keep
someone else from fighting."
"You're a peacemaker?"
"Generally, at parties, yeah," said Leno.
"What was different this night?" asked Thomp
son. "It was a bunch of guys, I guess," Leno said.
"Rue started saying he wanted to go to a different
party," said Leno, on with the story.
The next effort to get moving again came at nearly
five in the morning. By that time, Leno said he had
consumed "24 to 26" beers. "I generally only drink
12-13, but that night it appeared to me that every
one was out to get me drunk," said Leno.
There was a push and pull to get going again, to
change the scenery, to find a
party and soon three intoxicated
boys were on the road again. Only
two would finish the night.
"There's all these little things,"
said Wid Thompson as Brad told
the story. He referred to the drugs
and alcohol, the power and size of
a car in the hands of a youth who
had been drinking, Leno's temper,
which flared when he hit the
mailbox, the big brother and little
brother relationships among the
boys and the inevitable role that
peer pressure plays in the hearts
and minds of so many at really
every age.
"Probably all you need to do is
light the fuse because the bomb
was already there," said Thomp
son. On the other hand, how many
times does the same setup in ev
ery community across America
result in no excitement, unful
filled danger, and no trouble when
the night comes to an end?
"I had to get gas at Seaway on
the way back," said Leno. "I was
thinking I should go home or I
should go back to my sisters'
place." Instead, he recalled, "We
turned up Fort Hill Road because
there was a party up that way."
I was going through the mill at
15-20 rnph," he said. "Matt and Rue were telling me
to speed up. As soon as I got to the end of the mill, I
landed on the gas." He remembers the Hyundai
Sonata reaching 95 rnph. The country road has some
short straightaways, and some sharp curves. The
posted speed limit varies from 20-30 mph.
"We were basically going sideways on every cor
ner," said Leno.
Sitting in the passenger seat was Evan Rue Bailer.
When Leno was in sixth grade, his older friend and.
neighbor had had a birthday party where liquor was
available, Leno said, and he remembered drinking
"a quarter of a half gallon of vodka and part of a 40
ounce beer." Maybe that was a turning point, he
thought.
What makes recognizing such relationships so dif
ficult is that the leader, the older or more experi
enced member often plays dual roles, providing posi
tive feedback, status and protection as well as poor
judgment. In short, the quality of the relationship
is similar to the role that teachers and advisors play.
"It's basically the same behavior," said Gary
Lawhead, MacLaren's superintendent, "but groom
ing is for selfish purposes and mentoring is for a
selfless purpose."
What makes interceding in such relationships so
difficult is that the bonds, both among individuals
and within a community, for adults as well as chil
dren, stretch way beyond any particular activity,
and the whole fabric, good and bad, appears threat
ened when a part is threatened.
As Rita Bailer, Rue's mother, said, "We were neigh
bors with the Lenos for 11 years."
A perfect example of the dual nature of this fabric
is the story that many people told about Castellon's
funeral. On one hand, a giant turnout testified to
the popular place, even the esteem that Castellon
held in the community. He was often seen to stand
up for younger kids being bullied. But at the same
funeral, some of these same friends invited Brad Leno
to party with them afterwards. (In describing it,
Leno lacked words to express the frustration he felt
at the request).
Even today, said Rita Bailer, kids are still leaving
packs of cigarettes and joints as a memorial at the
makeshift shrine set up for Castellon at the acci
dent scene.
Sitting in the back seat of the Sonata, behind Leno,
was Matthew Castellon, a boy whose mother, Tribal
member Marilyn Porter, described him as one who
"wanted to make people laugh. He would do what
ever to make people laugh." And, "He had a real
anger problem. It wouldn't take much to set his
fuse." And, "he didn't want to do his (school) work
but when he did his work, it was good." And, "He
wanted to be a logger. (Logger) Leroy (Scott) made a
friends home." And finally, "He was my affection
giver, my protector. He was my world."
Castellon also had shown a real affinity for and
ability with younger kids, according to Wendy Scott,
who with her husband, Leroy, and Tribal kids
fi
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Support Group The Leno family: from left: Brett, Brandy, Isaiah (Brianna's son), Lonnie, Tammy,
Brianna, Lyana (better known as Nana: Brianna's daughter) and in the foreground, the family dogs.
big impression on him." And, "Matthew liked bas
ketball. That was one of his big loves." And, "He
was really into his smile. He was so proud of his
teeth and his smile. And the way he dressed. He
always had to look just so." And, "I didn't know he
had such friends." At the funeral, she said, "When
everybody came, it filled up the main auditorium,
the side auditorium, the yard and part way down
the block." And, "I never knew. He never brought
friends home. It was very rare that he would bring
Been There Grand Ronde Tribal member
Willard (Wid) Thompson was Leno's drug and
alcohol Treatment Manager at Grover Cottage, where
the boys focus on substance abuse. He also grew
up in a rural, logging community.
Shawna and Daniel, made a second home for
Castellon in those days. The Scott children were
not even teens yet, but Castellon fit in like another
member of the family. "I can't remember a single
time asking him to baby sit that he said, 'No,' said
Scott. "It was like he was one of (Daniel's) own broth
ers. They were very close."
"Matt once said he didn't think he could be killed
in a car accident," said Wendy Scott. "Like I tell
my kids, they don't have any idea how easy it is to
be killed out there. This is a crazy world."
"(But Castellon) really had a lot of confidence in
Brad's driving ability," added Scott. "The way he
talked."
When Leno turned up Fort Hill Road that early
morning, Castellon, traveling with his seat belt on
in what otherwise ought to have been one of the saf
est seats in the car, had a mile and a half to live,
which at the speeds Leno would be driving, amounted
to about a minute.
Back in the car on that
night, "Rue got scared,"
Leno recalled.
"Matteo told him, Tou
know he can handle it.'"
"I thought I was a good
driver," said Leno. "I
slowed down. Well, I
know I hit the pole at 76
miles per hour."
"I remember coming to
this one corner. I slowed
even more because it
looked sharp. That's all I
remember. That corner
in the road was two cor
ners before the wreck."
When the car hit the
pole, the iorce was nearly
full on Castellon. The
force was so great that it
cut the car in half, front
from back.
"I remember waking up
staring down the road
thinking I ran through a
fence, or hit a mailbox,"
said Leno. "I remember
Rue telling me we've got
to get out of the car."
Leno punched out the
window that was left to
him, and crawled from the
driver's seat. Leno and
Bailer emerged from the front half of the car with
injuries so minor that you might not otherwise re
alize what had happened. Leno described a cut on
his head from wrestling around in his sister's living
room earlier in the night as about the same as the
cut he received on his chin in the accident. Bailer
had slight burns on his face from the air bag, ac
cording to Leno.
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