4 SEPTEMBER 1, 2005
Smoke Signals
Tribal Youth, Internship Program Conclude Another Successful Summer
7 p- i 4 V i:
Success Story Youth Education Supervisor Marie Heimburg hands out
awards to students at the Summer Youth Employee Luncheon held on Friday, Au
gust 19. Left to right are, Sharona Jackson, Tanatia Jackson and Kerrina Grout.
Appreciation Tribal youth Alicia Selwyn and Ashley Bedortha present
Tribal Council member Angie Blackwell (Ashley Is mom) a piece of art work
for Tribal Council in appreciation of their support of the internship program.
Some of the Tribal Youth traveled to New York over the summer.
The Water From The Tap Still Bubbling Up In Grand Meadows
Two years after first reported, nothing has been done yet.
By Ron Karten
"Yossarian was in the hospital with a pain in his liver that fell just short
of being jaundice. The doctors were puzzled by the fact that it wasn't quite
jaundice. If it became jaundice they could treat it. If it didn't become jaun
dice and went away they could discharge him. But this just being short
of jaundice all the time confused them."
B Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Here in Grand Meadows, the
water bubbles out of the tap thick
and cloudy. There's nothing
wrong with it from a health stand
point. It's perfectly clean, and one -source
said that he believed it is
cleaner than bottled water. But it
doesn't look so healthy when it
comes out of the tap.
It comes from up in the hills south
of Grand Ronde. The system is
gravity fed so by the time it hits
town the water is coming pretty
fast, and as it is forced into succes
sively smaller pipes, air gets caught
up in the water making the bub
bly, frothy mix.
Like the doctors in Catch 22,
Tribal Public Works Director John
Mercier is a little perplexed by the
problem. He says that if the wa
ter were unhealthy, he'd move
heaven and earth to get it fixed,
but this business of the water just
not looking healthy keeps him
from embarking on the one pro
posed solution that he can try
blowing out the system's dead
ends once or twice a year.
According to Tribal Engineer Eric
Scott, that may or may not actually
fix the problem. Another option, ac
cording to Scott, is to replace the 6
inch tributary pipes that travel from
home to home in Grand Ronde with
8 inchers to better accommodate the
water rushing down from the hills.
In addition, Scott said, newer
pipes in the system have air release
valves but older pipes do not.
And though no project has yet
been assigned to make all these
fixes, Scott is not at all sure that
making them will solve the problem.
"It's difficult to know what the
water will be like after," he said.
Mercier isn't alone in his assess
ment. Grand Meadows resident,
Tribal Elder Jerry McCarthy, said
that the water is safe.
In the first place, oxygen is a pu
rifying agent. In Germany, he
said, they use oxygen instead of
chlorine to keep their water clean.
McCarthy is former Chief Water
Operations Engineer for the Port
land Water Bureau.
The Portland Water Bureau used
to blow out its dead ends because
dead end water is a trap for bacte
ria, he said, but many sections of
Portland live with water like Grand
Meadows water.
But for many in Grand Meadows
who can go to almost any other tap
in town and get good, clean, clear
water, the fuhgeddaboutit solution
is less than they've hoped for.
"I don't drink the water," said
Grand Meadows resident Michael
Watkins, Director of the Tribe's
Wellness Clinic. "They say that
the water is perfectly safe but
people get a perception when the
water comes out cloudy."
The Watkins family buys bottled
water to drink but uses the tap for
washing and just about everything
else. "We've just gotten used to it,"
he said.
"I'm just disappointed that this
doesn't seem to be important and
nobody's doing anything about it,"
said Tribal member Brent Merrill,
Grand Meadows resident and Edi
tor of Smoke Signals. "Two years
ago, we were told that this issue
was going to be addressed and it
hasn't been. Why aren't we doing
something about it?
South Korean Leaders Visit Yamhill County, Grand Ronde Tribe
Tribal Council participates in an international intergovernmental relations journey.
By Chris Mercier,
Tribal Council member
If you were at Spirit Mountain Ca
sino on July 30, that drumming and
singing emanating out of Rogue Room
A were not rehearsals for our contest
pow-wow. Rather, they were part of
the end of a 10,000-mile intergovern
mental relations journey.
The Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde hosted a group of 20 delegates
from South Korea, Geumsan Prov
ince to be precise, the sister county
to Yamhill. The delegation stayed
in Grand Ronde for two nights at
Spirit Mountain Lodge, and on July
30, went out with a bang as the
Tribe treated them to a farewell ban
quet that featured drumming, sing
ing, the Veterans' Honor Guard and
a multi-course meal that boasted not
only Oregon ingredients, but food
stuffs indigenous to Yamhill County,
like blackberries, hazelnuts and
spinach. Attendance for the dinner
was estimated at more than 65
people, including Tribal Council
Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy, my
self, Kathryn Harrison, Tribal Tour-
SQi
Aw J
Ambassadors Tribal member
CeeCee Moreland and daughter, Nakoosa,
pose with members of the South Korean
delegation visiting Grand Ronde. Artist John
Hawks (left) and Yamhill County Commis
sioner Mary Stern (right) greeted the group at
Hawks World Gallery in McMinnville.
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$4 I
mil In"'
1 1 r L
- 1 J. $ ' s
a if 3.
ism Coordinator Elaine LaBonte and Mary Stern.
Yamhill County Commissioner The Geumsan delegation's visit is
part of a longstanding relationship that
Yamhill County has had with the Ko
reans, one intended to boost commerce
and create a cultural awareness be
tween the two communities. In 1996,
Yamhill sent a delegation over to
Geumsan that included then-Chairman
Mark Mercier.
The delegation arrived in Oregon on
July 28, beginning a four-day whirl
wind tour that took them to Yamhill's
outstanding locales and events, in
cluding The Hawks' World Gallery,
Michelbook Country Club and the Ev
ergreen Aviation Museum, Cascade
Steel Rolling Mills in McMinnville as
well as George Fox University and
the Olde Fashioned Days Parade in
Newberg.
The July 30 banquet had drum
ming by Travis Mercier, and a fare
well song by CeeCee Kneeland and
members of the Tribe's Royalty.
An invitation has already been ex
tended from the Geumsan delegation to
host members of a Yamhill County
group, with representation from Grand
Ronde, next year for the 2006 World
Ginseng Festival.