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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2009)
Smoke Signals 9 NOVEMBER 15,2009 Chinook Winds hosting first Rez Kitchen Tour The first Rez Kitchen Tour, a competition between chefs representing the nine Oregon Tribes, will be held Thursday and Friday, Nov. 19-20, at Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City. The competition will showcase use of local and traditional foods. It is a cooperative project of Oregon's nine federally recognized Tribes with fund ing from the Grand Ronde Tribe's Spirit Mountain Community Fund and support from Chinook Winds and the Siletz Tribal Business Corp. A private, panel-judged competition will occur on Nov. 19. Starting at 10 a.m. Nov. 20, the public can observe chefs demonstrating preparation of dishes and taste the various creations so they can vote on their favorite. Voting will close at 3 p.m. with event winners and the People's Choice awards being announced at 4 p.m. Admission is free and open to all ages. A vendor area will be available to Native American food vendors, Tribal restaurants, resorts and goods outlets, and advocacy and sponsor groups. For more information, contact Project Coordinator Tina Retasket at 541-444-8206 or 541-270-0413, or via e-mail at retaskethotmail.com. D ATTENTION TRIBAL MEMBERS COMMITTEE AND SPECIAL EVENT BOARD VACANCIES The following Committees and Special Event Boards have vacant po sitions. If you are interested, submit a completed application to Dakota Whitecloud, Tribal Council Relations Coordinator, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347. Rodeo Special Event Board 1 Vacancy Timber Committee 2 Vacancies Please send completed applications to Dakota Whitecloud, Tribal Council Relations Coordinator, 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR 97347. Tribal Pharmacy installs new automated phone lines By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor The Tribe's Pharmacy has installed a new automated phone sys tem for patients seeking refills that will allow staff to spend less time retrieving messages and more time serving clients. Pharmacy Director Julie Davis said the phone system became active in late October. Previously, Pharmacy staff retrieved more than 100 messages daily from the refill line. Now, people who call into the Pharmacy for a refill will be asked to "punch" in their refill number into the phone. The numbers will automatically be downloaded into the Pharmacy computer. All prescriptions have a number listed on the bottle's label. "You will also have the option to attach a voice mail message to your refill request if you need to leave us a message," Davis said. "Secondly, if you would like to call and check and see if your pre scription is ready for pick-up, you may do so. Just follow the prompts and again dial your prescription number into the phone. " "Lastly, the system will ask you if you want to pick up your pre scription or have it mailed." The Pharmacy's refill line number is 503-879-2342. "We hope that our patients welcome the change," Davis said. B s3E CDa Mondays and Wednesdays, 1:30 4 p.m. Tribal Education Building Contact Joanne Carr at 503-879-2282 or joanne.carrgrandronde.org I 'Dti's goimig tto Ibe froftaDDy dnffieGreDDft Ms year' MEMORIES continued from front page whole environment has changed," Haller says. In the beginning, says Tribal Elder and longtime Tribal Vice Chair Reyn Leno, "Restoration was about the government recognizing that they had made a mistake in terminating the Tribe. They recog nized that. Nowadays, Restoration is identified for the benefits we can give to Tribal members." Tribal Elder and Tribal Council member Wink Soderberg worked on the Restoration effort from 1978-82. "When it became a reality, I felt a deep sense of accomplishment," Soderberg says. "Now, the Tribe has progressed, and I think we're the best around in Indian Coun try. Other Tribes look to us as an example." Tribal member and Community Fund Director Shelley Hanson sees it in much the same way. "Restoration has been a huge suc cess" Hanson says. "Our goal was to create a community, a homeland to come back to, and that's been a huge success." Dut the question for Hanson is: Should the goal of Restoration now adapt to meet new Tribal goals for the future? Newly elected Tribal Council member Toby McClary says that "the focus has always been on the Grand Ronde community; now we're trying to reach out to more of our ceded lands." "There is a need to push Restora tion with our kids," says Leno, "to make them realize that what we have now is because of Restora tion." "One of the things I was taught," says Tribal Elder and Tribal Coun cil Relations Coordinator Dakota Whitecloud, "is you don't look im mediately in front of you. You try to look 10, 20, 30 years out. I would hope that as a community, the Tribe will not necessarily set itself apart from the rest of society, but show society what a community can do." Whitecloud says she sees for the future of the community a school, a college, a hospital. "I have so many dreams of what we could accom plish. These are the reasons we got into gaming to begin with." A big challenge, Tribal members say, continues to be the way the Tribe handles the financial legacy of Restoration. On one hand, that legacy has given financial security to Tribal Elders, opened health care, education and housing op portunities to Tribal members, enabled a cultural resurgence, a local social service effort, and the list that touches every Tribal mem ber, many on a daily basis, goes on and on. "I'm amazed that the Tribe has come this far," says Tribal Elder and Elder Health advocate Daniel Ham. Born in 1953, he calls him self, "One of the babies of the 195-1 Termination Act. "I remember hearing about being able to get education and medical care," he says. And in the wake of Restoration, he received Tribal help to go through a commercial driver course. In the early 1990s, he drove a truck for Woodburn Lumber as a result of that education. When the casino opened in 1995, he went through the Spirit Mountain Secu rity Academy and worked there. He eventually went on to work at the Gaming Commission and later at the Tribal Wellness Program. Today, thanks to Restoration, his children. Jack, 20, and Joe, 18, are attending Chemeketa Community College and Portland State Univer sity, respectively. Longstanding, local Tribal mem bers who lived here through Termi nation, who worked day and night without pay to make Restoration happen, also see an opportunistic side of some Tribal members who came along after the casino was built. "It's great that we have housing and all those things that Restora tion made possible," said Tribal member and former Cultural Re sources staffer Khani Schultz, "but I see less volunteering today. "In pre-Restoration days, I'd go over and help our Elders. I remember making thousands of pieces of handmade fry bread for celebrations. We were always vol unteering. And we had wonderful get-togethers." Haller said that casino dollars "changed my view (of Restoration) tremendously. What I saw back then was a united group moving forward with vision, but once the casino came, the vision totally changed. We were a nation of caring people. We're not nearly as caring now. I would love to see us getting back to being a caring nation again. We need to pull together as a strong unified leadership." As the number of Restoration an niversaries continues to increase, these different views point to an opportunity for reconciliation. Casino money also built Elder housing that in 2008 drew Tribal Elder Samantha Dala back to the community. For many years, Dala served in the Sheriffs Office of Tu lare County in California, fighting not only crime, but for most of that time also fighting failing health that ultimately brought her back to Grand Ronde. "I was born and raised in Port land," she says, "and I wanted to come home." I lere in Grand Ronde, she is serv ing the community as a member of this year's Tribal Restoration Celebration Committee. "It's going to be totally different this year," she says. There won't be gifts for everyone, but we'll have leather bags with a silver dollar in each for the children, and necklaces for Elders. I think it's going to be great." "It's a gift, your lineage, who you are," says Tribal member Rcina Nel son, who works in Member Services. "When we were first restored, I felt like I had an identity, but 26 years later, Restoration confirms that for me. It's vital for a Native people, a community, to have that." D
