4 DECEMBER 1,2007
Smoke Signals
Tribal Elder picked
for national calendar
Janet Billey to appear in 2009 edition of 'Powwow:
Portraits of Native Americans'
Riddling ffaireweOI
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Sitinals alitor
Tribal Elder Janet Billey will be
featured in "Powwow: Portraits of
Native Americans," a 2009 calen
dar by Seattle photographer lien
Marra.
Marra photographed Billey (Grand
RondePaiute), 61, at the Post Falls,
Idaho, pow-wow in July. She will be
the first Grand Ronde Tribal member
to be featured in Marra's work.
Marra creates two 16-month calen
dars annually "Powwow: Portraits
of Native Americans" and "Native
American Dance." They are usually
available every July.
Marra and his wife, Linda, have
spent the last 20 years traveling to
Native American pow-wows across
the country, documenting "the com
mitment and spirit of the exciting affirmations of Indian identity."
To view Marra's Web site, go to www.benmarra.com. The site shows his
traveling exhibition for museums and published work.
The Marras also are working on a hard-cover book with a working title of
"Faces From the Land: A Photographic Journey Through Native America."
It will feature more than 150 color photos and personal narratives, and
also may include Billey.
"It's a 20-year retrospective of our project," Linda said via e-mail.
Billey's portrait features her wearing a replica hat created by many coast
al Tribes. The hat is cedar covered with a variety of seashells, including
tiger shells, cowries, white clam shells, abalone shells and dentiliums.
Billey is the daughter of late Tribal member Elmer Tom and Christine
Wewa Tom, and was born and raised on the Warm Springs Reservation
in central Oregon.
"It is a beautiful world out there where you can help make regalia as I
have and still do," Billey said in her self-written essay that will accompany
her calendar portrait. " 'Us,' as Native Americans, can work in beauty. So
dance on my people."
'
a I
Copyright of Ben Marra
Smoke Signals photojournalist and Tribal member Toby McClary was the
center of attention at a going-away party held Nov. 9 in the Governance
Building. McClary, who has taken photos for Smoke Signals for four years,
resigned to accept a supervisory position at Spirit Mountain Casino.
Above, telegram singer Petra Bolton of McMinnville, who was arranged
by McClary's mother, Joann Mercier, messes up his hair as about 30 Tribal
employees watch. Below, McClary received a Pendleton blanket from
Tribal Council members Steve Bobb Sr., Kathleen Tom and Chris Mercier
in appreciation of his years of service to the Tribal publication. "Toby was
here for four years and I only worked with him for three months. I feel
cheated," said Publications Coordinator Dean Rhodes.
& i
v.
Photos by Dean Rhodes
Gang afffiHiaftion becoming cuDftural identity
GANGS continued
from front page
During Grant's Nov. 14 staff train
ing session held in the Education
Building, a PowerPoint presenta
tion detailed gang activity in Tribal
communities nationwide. Slides
showed gang-related graffiti pock
marking Tribal communities.
Pictures downloaded from Inter
net social networking sites, such as
Myspace and Bebo, showed Native
American youth, including people
from Grand Ronde, proudly wear
ing gang colors, posing in gang
stances and flashing gang signs.
"In the lives of certain people
involved in gang activity, gang af
filiation has become their cultural
identity," he said.
The first steps in combating gang
expansion in a Tribal community
include awareness and a willingness
to take the threat seriously. With
24,000 gangs in the United States
that include more than 760,000
members, gangs are increasingly in
filtrating suburban areas and Tribal
communities, Grant said.
Dismissing youths as gangster
"wannabes" often creates the po
tential for escalation of violent
behaviors as the neophyte gang
members attempt to "stand up" and
Gang warning signs
Sgt. Nathan Goldberg of the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Grand
Ronde residents should be on the lookout for the following suspicious
activity that might indicate gang activity:
Graffiti that includes strange symbols or abbreviations;
Frequent short visits by people to a nearby house;
People who appear to be on meth ("Gang activity ties into drug
abuse most of the time," he said.)
Emergency phone numbers are:
Grand Ronde substation: 503-879-2420 (call to report suspicious
activity that is not an emergency);
911 (call if you witness suspicious activity in progress);
Dallas office: 503-623-9251 (call if no answer at Grand Ronde
substation)
prove themselves, he added.
Although Grand Ronde is relatively
remote, the distance from an urban
center is not a shield. Portland is only
an hour away and Salem, which also
has gangs, is even closer.
One of the many gang myths, he
said, is that gangs are limited to
large cities.
"Every community that has a
gang problem did not have a gang
problem at one point," Grant said.
"What we're trying to say is that
there is no place in this community
for this type of behavior. A commu
nity approach works. Prison is not
the answer. You can't arrest your
way out of the problem."
Grant complimented the Grand
Ronde Tribe for its social, cultural,
educational and economic programs
to combat gang activity and provide
an alternative to youths from filling
a void in their lives with destructive
gangster behavior.
"There has been a proactive ap
proach to gang problems in Grand
Ronde," said Polk County Sheriffs
Office Sgt. Nathan Goldberg. He
supervises the Sheriffs Office sub
station in Grand Ronde.
Grant said that community coali
tions, such as the Tribe's Commu
nity Awareness Team, in addition
to mentoring, graffiti eradication
and mural projects are a "reasoned,
responsible" approach to combating
gang activity.
Goldberg said his staff, which
includes five deputies assigned to
Grand Ronde, has worked with Trib
al employees to educate residents
about what constitutes gang activ
ity and is not just petty criminal
mischief. "People are more aware of
gang activity," Goldberg said.
Goldberg said the Sheriffs Office
does not have firm numbers on the
increase in gang-related crimes in
Grand Ronde because the depart
ment's tracking statistics don't
label incidents as "gang-related."
"It's mostly anecdotal informa
tion," Goldberg said. "There's no
way of proving if something is
gang-related. A lot of it may be
that people are just more aware of
what might be gang activity and
not that it has increased from a
certain level."
"We need to recognize that the
gangster mentality is present and
support efforts of the Community
Awareness Team," Grant said.
"We want to bring (gang activ
ity) to the minimum that we can,"
Goldberg added.