Smoke Signals 5
JANUARY 1,2007
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Tribal member John Waters is almost through his air
traffic control and pilot requirements; it won't be long
until he is directing traffic overhead.
7v '--f " :
Tribal member John
Waters, above, is on
the telephone, up in
the school's air traffic
control tower. To the
left is a shot of the
radar screen, and all the
planes he will one day
be keeping out of each
other's hair.
Photos courtesy of John Waters
By Ron Karten
Tribal member John Waters, 26,
expects to graduate from the Com
munity College of Beaver County
near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
next May. He'll have an Associ
ate of Science Degree in Air Traf
fic Control. By the end of next
December, if all goes as planned,
he'll have completed his commer
cial pilot's rating at the Pan Am
International Flight Academy in
Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and
be ready to start directing air
traffic.
"I've always been fascinated by
anything with aviation," he said
during a break from Christmas
shopping in Chicago recently, "I
knew I'd be there somewhere. I
thought as a pilot but as I did
some research, I decided that air
traffic control was a better career
for me. The pay is better for air
traffic controllers. They have a
better schedule (unless you choose
to work the night shift). You're
home every night. A pilot is gone
on the road for two weeks of every
month."
His mom, Tribal member Debo
rah Waters, told him in his last
years of high school that he should
talk to the Tribe when he started
looking at colleges and for college
aid. The Tribe has been helping
the Waters family with John's col
lege education ever since.
Waters called Tribal member
and Education Specialist Bryan
Langley "a tremendous help," but
Langley said that he didn't have
to do much.
"John is a very responsible stu
dent who continues to excell in his
chosen course of study, Langley
wrote in an email. "John is one
of those students that require
very little work because he had a
plan for success and works hard
to achieve his goals."
It took Waters three colleges
to find Beaver County's Air Traf
fic Control (ATC) program, but
once he discovered that it as the
most comprehensive program in
the country, it was love at first
sight.
Among other things, Beaver
County Community College of
fers control tower and radar labs.
"Take a smaller city, the amount
of traffic would qualify them for
(a facility rated) ATC-6. We're
trained at an ATC-12 facility.
Chicago's O'Hare Airport is an
ATC-12 facility," he said.
And once Waters is done, this is
one of 12 programs in the nation
that offer direct placement into
Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) ATC towers. It is the only
program that has an operating
control tower and requires a
pilot's license to graduate. The
program complements pilot train
ing programs offered up to and
including the commercial pilot
rating.
"Aviation is like a second lan
guage," said Waters. "There are
certain ways that you say every
thing. I could send you books on
phraseology. When you talk to
pilots, they're looking for certain
words in certain orders. If I'm
talking to five different planes at
one time, you don't have time for
a conversation, so all the words
have to be precise and ordered.
You have so many planes doing so
many different things that some
of the most important things we
learn are phraseology."
Although Waters has never been
out to the Tribe, his folks try to get
out here every year. But Waters
has been involved in Indian edu
cation activities in Michigan since
grade school. "They have a really
nice program," he said.
With a 4.0 accumulative college
grade point average, Waters is the
top student in his class, and has
added a class leading to the Cer
tified Weather Observer license,
that will allow him to expand his
professional abilities by providing
weather reports for airports.
"It's a big benefit to me since I
can also work in flight service."
Through the academy, Waters
spends a lot of his time in the air
with a Piper Archer plane. Wa
ters has earned his Private Pilot
license and is working on the In
strument rating. Still ahead are
the Multi-engine and Commercial
ratings.
Then, through an agreement
between his school and the FAA,
graduates land on the FAA's di
rect hire list.
"We get to pick five states to
work in. I've visited a lot of
different towers," he said. "I'm
putting Portland down as one
of my choices. I'm going to put
Oregon down. Also Washington,
and possibly California. I want
to be a little closer to the Tribe,"
he said. B
A Ml owe To F Dim a once
Tribal member Kalene Contreras finds her calling.
By Ron Karten
After Termination, Tribal mem
ber Berle Contreras left Grand
Ronde to find work (through beauty
school) in San Francisco. After
Restoration when the casino went
up, her daughter, Tribal member
Kalene Contreras, left San Fran
cisco to find work back here in
Grand Ronde.
"I wanted to get closer to my mom
and to work at the casino and for
the Tribe. I guess you could say,
I've been trying to find my home,"
she said. She has since been a
black jack dealer and she did the
"soft count (the bills)" at the casino.
She also has been a secretary in
the Social Services Department,
and now, "I think I finally found
my home in Finance. I love num
bers." As the department's new Ac
counts Clerk, Contreras said, "I do
the filing, the mail, take payments
for phone bills, sewer bills. I write
receipts for any checks that come
in. There's lots of filing. I don't
mind the paperwork. It keeps me
busy. I like this job because there
are a lot of different duties and I
like to stay busy doing different
things. Then I don't get bored."
She started in this position at the
end of November and still has not
"touched on all of my duties. I still
have more to learn, so it's pretty
exciting."
Over the years, Contreras has
been masterful at finding oppor
tunities through the Tribe. Most
recently, she took on temporary
work handling the Tribe's central
phone desk, a job she got through
the Tribal Work Experience pro
gram. And each job has its stories. At
the casino, she recalled the "little
rituals" people had before they'd
bet or raise. "You'd laugh daily,"
she said.
"They always had a good luck
charm, too."
"The cards are still going to be
the same when they come out,"
she said, "but if it works for them
it works for me. I just love working
with the public."
Family and Tribal activities
are a large part of Contreras' life.
Her son, Tribal member Raymond
Duran, 22, of Willamina, has two
children, Tribal member Daysia,
1, and a step son, Anthony, who
is 7. There is also a baby boy due
in February. Contreras also has a
daughter, Lea Pratt (Hupa), 17.
Contreras and Daysia and Antho
ny, too, danced together on the floor
of the gym during the Restoration
Pow-wow. "Now that I don't work
weekends," she said, "I'm able to go
to all of the meetings and gather
ings at the Tribe."
Before coming to Grand Ronde,
Contreras was a letter carrier in
Alameda, California. "It took its
toll and like I said, I was coming
I V I
Tribal member Kalene Contreras
here to find my calling. When
one door closes another opens. I
know it. When the Records Clerk
job opened up and I didn't get it, I
knew something better was coming
along, and then the Accounts Clerk
opened up."