Smoke Signals 7
APRIL 1, 2005
Meth Watch: A Conversation Draws Many
METII continued
from page 6
In 1972, the federal government
first regulated amphetamines as a
narcotic and the jails have been fill
ing up with drug users ever since.
In addition to neighborhood
watches, strategies for solving the
problem include The Oregonian's re
port that suggested keeping closer tabs
on the few major international manu
facturers of ephedrine and
pseudoephedrin. Found in most cold
remedies, these are the operative
chemicals in meth.
At the meeting, Ilellie said that
with 80 percent of Oregon's meth be
lieved to be coming from Mexico and
California, stopping Oregon meth labs
will merely shift supply sources, but
the law keeping the operative chemi
cals behind the counter does have some
important, if limited, benefits.
While nobody is assuming preven
tion laws are either stopping or even
slowing the spread of meth, driving
the manufacturers out of state does
mean that many Oregon children will
never have to live in a home that
doubles as a meth manufacturing
plant.
This year in Salem, legislation has
been introduced to require law enforce
ment agencies to notify communities
when convicted meth cookers move
into the neighborhood. In Washing
ton, D.C., Oregon legislators have in
troduced two meth fighting bills.
Since 1989, according to a recent
article in the Hillsboro Argus, 1,600
jurisdictions around the country have
chosen to send non-violent drug offend
ers like some meth abusers to
treatment instead of jail. Just such a
program, run through so-called "Drug
Courts," is now beginning in Wash
ington County. It has been funded
with $60,000, enough to cover the 12-18-month
treatment for 10 men and
10 women. The county also is seek-
hi: I "
Hi . S
Prevention Larry Hellie, left, a Human Resources Consultant who specializes
in drug abuse prevention in his personal time and Jennifer J. Martin, an Assistant U.S.
Attorney who prosecutes drug cases, spoke about meth at a community meeting.
ing a federal grant to cover a larger
number of people.
At the moment, the concept of drug
courts for even a part of the meth com
munity faces the same lack of fund
ing that has been a recurring source
of failure in this effort almost from go.
But there are a lot of ways that ex
perts slice the numbers and digest the
strategies.
For Ilellie, the difference in costs for
locking up an offender or sending them
through treatment is a giant barrier.
The state pays $60-plusday ($21,900
plusyear) to lock up a drug offender,
or $250-l,000day ($91,250-365,000
year) to treat one in a private sector
in-patient facility.
At the Oregon Department of Cor
rections, the cost per inmate per day
is $64 ($23,360year), according to
DOC spokeswoman Perrin Damon,
and treatment programs are included
in that cost. That's the average of cost
of care including programs," she said,
"whether an inmate takes advantage
of them or not."
Hellie said in conversation after the
meeting that the DOC treatment pro
gram is "usually confined to last 60
days before release" and isn't going to
do the job.
In Washington County, where the
drug courts are starting, the Hillsboro
Argus reported that the annual cost of
incarcerating a drug offender is
$60,000year while drug court treat
ment amounts to $3,000-4,000person.
But again, Hellie cautioned that the
drug court was not going to do the job.
"Drug court money is "just being
pissed away," said Hellie. "Twelve-step
programs and the like have a pretty
good chance with alcohol and even co
caine and heroin," he said. "Meth is
entirely different. It's not amenable
to a drug court program. The attrac
tion of meth is too overwhelming for
the majority of people." But, he said,
"for non-violent, young offenders, I'd
rather see them in drug court."
Still, in conversation after the event,
Hellie noted, "Addiction is clearly a
medical problem."
"We have a system in place that fails
on its own terms. (The medical and
legal issues) are mutually exclusive.
We don't have a system that realisti
cally deals with the total issue."
"Politicians want to turn a blind eye
to the issue because it requires much
deeper thought than most of those
people are capable of."
"The legal system is not set up to
address (many of the issues) that con
tribute to meth abuse," said Assistant
U.S. Attorney Martin.
Within this world of divergent opin
ions on matters as straightforward as
costs and as muddled as the right mix
of treatment, enforcement and preven
tion, the Tribe is moving forward with
plans of its own.
"How do we make this not about en
forcement but about a community ef
fort?" asked Tribal Council member
Angie Blackwell, one of the driving
forces behind the Tribe's local meth
efforts. "Meth is the presenting issue,"
she said. "The real issue is, how do
we develop a healthy community, ev
erybody working together to build a
healthy community.
Because of the larger societal fail
ure to deal effectively with this issue,
Tribal Council selected meth preven
tion as the focus of an upcoming Tribal
grant application to the Administra
tion for Native Americans.
The planned project will be an inter-departmental
and community ef
fort to address this problem, accord
ing to Kim Ray Rogers, Tribal Plan
ning and Grants Manager.
Warriors' Medal Of Valor Crosses The Country
Marshall Tall Eagle Serna is "restoring honor to our people'
f '
t . ; km
L ' M. lit .,iJ a.
By Ron Karten
Marshall Tall Eagle Serna
(Apache), an Army Master Ser
geant who served in Saigon during
the Vietnam War, and his wife,
Lauretta, aim to give a Warriors'
Medal of Valor to every living Vet
eran and every active duty soldier
in the country.
They also go to police, firefighters
and others that have gone "above and
beyond in community service," said
Tribal Elder Gene LaBonte, Presi
dent of the Northwest Indian Veter
ans Association (NIVA) and the Grand
Ronde Honor Guard, who has partici
pated in giving out these medals.
LaBonte also has distributed the
medals to Governor Ted Kulongoski,
to two different National Guard gen
erals, to Jim Willis, Oregon Director
of Veterans Affairs and to Arthur Jack
son, an Oregon Medal of Honor recipi
ent. "We go to Veterans funerals to
present the Colors, and we present
these medals to the families of the de
ceased if they have not received one,"
said LaBonte.
The mission started at the 2002
Grand Ronde Veterans' Pow-wow, said
Serna. "The Creator gave me a vision
of honoring our Veterans in a military
way."
Since then, he has designed and
minted thousands of medals. The
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
purchased 300 of them at $10 each for
NIVA, where LaBonte and other Vets
picked up the ball. (See Smoke Sig
nals 8104).
There currently are 5,000-7,000 out
there, said Serna.
"We are headed up to Alaska to
present medals to about 250 active
military personnel at the Ketchikan
Coast Guard Station for a June 2 pre
sentation," he said.
The Sernas also have been invited
to England to give medals to Ameri
can Veterans living there. They are
fund-raising for that trip now.
"We'll send a free medal to all active
duty soldiers in a combat zone," said
Serna, a man without a big bank ac
count behind him. "I know in my
heart if I got addresses for $125,000
worth of medals, I know the money
would be there. Every time we get low
on funds, somebody is there with the
money."
This is the first medal minted by
Tribal people for Veterans, according
to Serna, and though there are no regu
lations for Native-issued medals, Serna
said, "We are seeking to get it autho
rized by the military."
Without any artistic training, Serna
designed the medals himself. He is
retailing them for $24.95 each with the
$10 wholesale price tag for buying 10
or more. Any profits, he said, go to
pay for medals already minted, and to
defray costs for those still to be made.
Serna has lived his post-military
years as a private investigator with
the Marion County public de
fender. Locally, recipients have included
Tribal Council Vice Chair Reyn
Leno, Tribal Council member Jan
D. Reibach and LaBonte.
"Lot of times it brings tears to
your eyes," said LaBonte. "For
many of these people, this is the
most important medal they have
received. Most all of these medal
lion recipients are like that.
"And lots more people men
and women are looking for these
medals."
"For me," said Reyn Leno, "it
completes my feelings as a Vet
eran to be honored by the United
States, now to be honored by your
own people."
One Veteran, a Tribal Elder, re
called LaBonte, said when he re
ceived the medal that he had
known about it when he was just
a boy, but didn't know if he'd see
it before he passed on.
Even though the medal was not
physically created until 2002.