6 APRIL 1,2009
Smoke Signals
Tribal member wins Oregon Kids state championship
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Tribal member Matthew Hofen
bredl, 12, won the Oregon Kids
Collegiate wrestling championship
held at Newberg High School on
March 7. He wrestled in the 75
pound novice division.
His first
thought, he
said, when the
last match end
ed, was, "I won
the state title!"
Representing
the Dallas Mat
Club, Hofen
bredl won five
matches in a
day to take first
place.
"One thing re
ally caught my
eye," said Dal
las Mat Club
rnnrh Jfiff Ear-
hart. "After he won Matthew
the championship
match, his eyes kind of teared up a
little bit. I could tell how much he
appreciated how hard he's worked
and that it finally paid off for
him."
Earhart also credited Steve Pas
santino, coach of the LaCreole
Middle School wrestling team in
Dallas, because Passantino also
has long had a hand in training
Hofenbredl.
"I'm glad they're my coaches,"
Hofenbredl said, and added, "Ev-
l f
eryone that went did a good job."
It also helped that between the
middle school wrestling team and
the Dallas Mat Club, Hofenbredl
practices probably four times as
much as most young wrestlers,
Earhart said.
"He only pinned one kid," said
Matthew's fa
ther, Tribal
member Le
land Hofen
bredl, of the
tournament,
"but he won
pretty easily in
the division."
"I don't think
he lost a match
all year," said
Earhart, "and
this is still
his first year
in middle
school."
In the fi-
Hofenbredl nalg Matthew
defeated Jasiah
Williams from the Northwest Dis
ciples Mat Club in Portland 9-1.
"I was kind of surprised that I
won," Matt said, "but I already wres
tled that kid before at other tourna
ments and had beaten him. I knew
it would be harder this time."
"He had a lot of support from the
entire mat club," Leland said. "Wil
lamina Mat Club members were
present when he won, so that was
pretty cool, too."
"He's really a leader in our mat
room," said Earhart. "He's one of
the older boys. He's a real hard
worker, real dedicated, leads by
example, but when he has to say
something, then he'll let them
know. He's a good role model and
good kid all around."
The mat club went out for pizza
afterward.
On March 25-27, Hofenbredl com
peted at the USA Wrestling Middle
School Dual National Champion
ships in Danville, 111. Matthew
won two of seven matches there,
Leland said.
Though Matthew did not place,
he saw it as "a good experience,"
Leland said.
"I couldn't be any prouder of
him," Leland said. "He worked
seven years to get to this point. He
earned it." D
Photo by Carter Tollas
Tribal Council member Steve Bobb Sr. and Tribal Elder Donna Casey
present TV personality Regis Philbin with a Tribal logo blanket before
his March 20 concert at Spirit Mountain Casino. Philbin talked about
his Spirit Mountain Casino appearance on his nationally televised talk
show, saying he had never performed in the Northwest before.
More than $100 million invested in community
KENNEDY continued
from front page
vice Web site, $4.3 billion was appro
priated in fiscal year 2008 to provide
health care to Native peoples living
on or near reservations and in rural
communities in 35 states, mostly in
the western United States.
However, a work group found that
Indian Health Service appropriated
funding provided only 52 percent of
the necessary federal funding to assure
"mainstream personal health care ser
vices to American Indians and Alaska
Natives using the IHS system."
Kennedy, testifying before two
Northwest congressmen (Norm Dicks
of Washington and Mike Simpson of
Idaho), said that when Tribes run out
of Contract Health Services' funds, it
disastrously affects Tribal members'
health.
"Many Tribal members put off im
portant medical care and procedures
until funding is available again,"
Kennedy said. "Sadly, this creates
undue illness and members are some
times lost due to untimely diagnoses,
due solely on the lack of funding.
"This process also creates a huge
burden nt the beginning of the fiscal
year on the CHS budget and in many
cases costs more money as the delay
in care magnifies the problems as
sociated with most diseases."
Kennedy offered an easy prescrip
tion for subcommittee members to
ponder.
"The good news is that the solution
is simple," she said, "fund the IHS at
a needs-based level."
At the beginning of her testimony,
Kennedy briefed subcommittee mem
bers on the Tribe's history of being a
Terminated Tribe for about 30 years
and the Tribe's Restoration in 1983.
"For most Grand Ronde people,
Termination meant a loss of home,
identity as a Tribe, and services from
the federal government," Kennedy
said. "As you would expect, Termina
tion forced the vast majority of Grand
Ronde Tribal members to leave
the reservation in search of work
and sustenance. While today many
Tribal members are returning to the
reservation, Grand Ronde has Tribal
members living across the United
States and around the world."
She also informed subcommittee
members that the Tribe's member
ship now totals more than 5,000.
But the majority of her testimony
keyed in on under-funding of Indian
health care.
"My testimony today is shaped in
part by a 30-year career as a health
administrator working to improve
the access and quality of health care
to Natives and, more importantly, as
someone who personally experienced
the immediate injustices of Termina
tion and has lived long enough to
witness and chronicle its long-term
consequences," she said.
Kennedy said that current health
care to eligible beneficiaries who re
side in the Tribe's six-county area is
provided by the Grand Ronde Health
& Wellness Center, which was built
and financed and is owned by the
Tribe.
The Tribe first contracted with
Indian Health Sen-ice in 1986 and
began running a Contract I lealth Ser
vices program. In 191)5, the Tribe and
Indian Health Service entered into a
self-governance agreement under Ti
tle V of the Indian Self-Determination
and Education Assistance Act, which
allowed Tribes to assume administra
tion and operation of health services
and programs in their communities.
Kennedy said that when the Tribe
took over delivery of health care
services, its goal was simple to
provide the best possible health care
to its people and include as many pos
sible health services in one location
as possible so that care could be inte
grated and coordinated by physicians
and other health care providers.
"Like most of the other Tribes,"
Kennedy said, "we have struggled to
achieve and maintain a high level of
health care service, despite chronic
under-funding, especially of CHS
funds.
"The challenge Grand Ronde has
faced in providing health services to
its members is an illustration of the
impact that CHS under-funding and
IHS under-funding in general has on
Tribal health programs and Tribal
sovereignty."
Kennedy also addressed earmark
money for Indian Country included
in the American Recovery and Rein
vestment Act of 2009.
"I must, however, add that the
recession the nation is now experi
encing has long been the norm for
Indian Country," she said. "In fact,
Indian Country suffers from much
higher rates of unemployment and
poverty than the rest of the nation.
Kconomic development is critical for
Indian Country and Tribal govern
ments know this better than anyone.
Hut economic development requires
good roads, good schools, good phone
systems and good health care among
other things."
Kennedy said the 30-year gap
in federal recognition affected the
Grand Ronde Tribe's community and
infrastructure development.
"Starting from ground zero, the
effort to build and sustain our com
munity has been a monumental chal
lenge," she said, "significantly more
complex than one faced by a mature,
established municipality with a
continuous history of development.
However, we continue to advance our
mission to improve the quality of life
for our Tribal members.
"Since Restoration, the Tribe has
worked diligently to develop the
foundation necessary to sustain a vi
able community. We have invested in
excess of $100 million to date toward
this effort. However, to accomplish
our ultimate objective requires an
additional investment of hundreds
of millions of dollars in areas such
as land acquisition, physical infra
structure, government institutional
systems, support services and other
resources which promote a sustain
able community and provide a rea
sonable opportunity for our people to
realize social and economic stability
and progress."
Kennedy closed her testimony by
challenging subcommittee members
and Congress as a whole "to fulfill
the treaty obligations of this nation
by appropriating more economic de
velopment funds for Indian Country
in the 2010 budget and any future
stimulus package, and base the
funding levels of the Indian Health
Service on the true health care needs
of Indian people."