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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 2008)
DECEMBER 15, 2008 Smoke Signals 5 Mew c&sm sngim vJ-w J :-.,-v,-. . Photo by Michelle Alaimo The top piece of the new sign for Spirit Mountain Casino waits to be put up as workers install another piece of the sign on Monday, Dec. 1,at the casino. Unmarked grave sites in Grand Ronde We need your help If anyone knows the location of an unmarked grave or knows the name of someone who was buried at the Grand Ronde Cemetery and their grave has not been marked, contact Mike Larsen, Facilities Manager, at 503-879-2407. 3(0) to 4(0) mmeinrDlbeirs SODERBERG continued from front page Salem. "I joined when I first got on coun cil," Soderberg says. "I had my choice of committees that I could be on. Meth is such a problem out there that I wanted to be involved in some sort of resolution to the whole thing. So I started going to the meetings ... Then I thought it would be natural progression." Soderberg says the Governor's Task Force meetings involve 30 to 40 members who are all top people in their fields from all over the state. "Being on the Governor's Task Force, there's a lot of people there who deal in different fields," Soder berg says, such as law enforcement and treatment. They are all good, creative people and I can hear that it is not just something they heard. It is something they are intensely involved in. They have a passion." Soderberg says the news is good regarding meth use in Oregon. For instance, a 2005 state law severely restricting access to pseu doephedrine has made it more dif ficult for dealers to obtain the raw ingredients to cook up meth. In 2007, Oregon law enforcement found 18 meth lobs, dump sites and remnants of drug labs, a more than 95 percent decrease from the aver age of 450 labs a year discovered in 2003 and 200 1. "(Meth use) is decreasing, but kids are turning to prescription drugs," Soderberg says. Drug use is so endemic and chameleon-like, Soderberg says that he suggested the Nine Tribes Meth Task Force change its name to just the Drug Task Force. "Meth is here and it's bad, but it'll go its way and something else will replace it," Soderberg says. "There always will be something else that the kids or the addicts will find that will give them a quicker fix, or a longer fix." Soderberg says heroin and mari juana are making comebacks in Oregon. "Everything is pretty much jacked up now. It's all brought up through Mexico," he says, citing the power ful political and economic influence drug cartels have south of the border. Soderberg said he became inter ested in fighting drug abuse from attending conferences and hearing about the death and destruction caused by addiction. "(Money) is why it's so bad in Indian Country right now," Soder berg says, "especially in the border states. These guys come in and set up house on a reservation, and they get these kids that's why there are so many gangs they get them hooked and then these kids are just like their pushers." Soderberg says his goal is to "see a diminishing in drug use on Indian reservations and the hold that drug peddlers have on Indian reservations. It's not just us we're battling for here. We're battling for Indian Country all over the United States." Soderberg, who won a new three year term on Tribnl Council in Sep tember, alfo will serve a three-year term on the Governor's Meth Task Force. B t- r- , I .) in,! . & ) 'O. o Photo by Justin Phillips Polk County Sheriff Sgt. Kevin Hayes helps Nathan Roberts pick out a new tool set during the annual "Shop With the Sheriff" event held on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Dallas Wal-Mart. Tribal Council Vice Chairman Reyn Leno and Tribal Social Services Manager Dave Fullerton drove 17 low-income community children to the Wal Mart. Each child received $35 with which to buy Christmas presents for family members. Afterward, the children wrapped presents at Grand Ronde Grade School. ED die its' CMstiinnias Pairty sett ffocr Dec. 20 The Elders' Christmas Party will be held beginning at 1 p.m. Satur day, Dec. 20, in the new Elders' Activity Center. The party will begin with a happy hour and virgin bar, as well as visiting, games and gift exchange. Dinner will be served at 5 p.m. For more information, call Cherie Butler at 503-879-6371 or Violet Folden at 503-879-3386 or 971-218-3750. D v 7: ' If J ' - rTTTMTHrfDg? I r l A CD3E3337 II.mIIhIIu OiiMIIIMt I .1' l Ad tfpalpd by Geoiqe VsMcf