PRESORTED
FIRST CLASS MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
SALEM, OR
PERMIT NO. 178
f n
!.,..l.!..li''l'('l'''l''l,l'l'"IH'll""l("li'
0SNEW?PrtPER FRO J. UO LIBRARY" SYSTEM PRE
J299 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
EUGENE Off 57-H33-lZ05
FEBRUARY 15, 2012 -n
moke N isnal
A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
www.grandronde.org
MOLALLA
ROGUE RIVER
KALAPUYA a CHASTA
Indian Affairs Committee holds
hearing after almost four-hour delay
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Grand Ronde Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle
A. Kennedy testified on Thursday, Feb. 2,
before the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs in support of Senate Bill 356, which
would amend the 1988 Grand Ronde Reservation
Act to streamline how the Tribe takes former
reservation land into trust.
The Senate bill was introduced by Oregon
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, and co-sponsored
by fellow Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden.
The House of Representative's companion bill
was introduced by Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader
and is supported by Reps. Peter DeFazio and
Earl Blumenauer. All three are Democrats, as
well.
Senate Bill 356 also is supported by the U.S.
Department of Interior.
The proposed amendment to the Grand Ronde
Reservation Act would end the current two-step
process that requires the Grand Ronde Tribe
take each piece of former reservation land into
trust with approval from the Bureau of Indian
Affairs and then request that it be designated
reservation land by Congress.
See SENATE
continued on page 7
r,
i ex
Courtesy photo
Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy testified
on Thursday, Feb. 2, before the Senate Committee
on Indian Affairs in support of Senate Bill 356.
Chess Club
another gambit
for local youth
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Not since 1997, when IBM's
chess computer Deep Blue
defeated reigning chess
grandmaster Garry Kasparov, has
there been this much excitement in
Grand Ronde over one of the world's
most difficult board games.
"The queen can move in any di
rection," says Tribal member Cohen
Haller, 6, one of more than a dozen
Grand Ronde kindergarten through
fifth-grade students who play in the
K-5 chess program. "I like learning
all the different ways they move."
"So, Cohen," says Matt Bucknell,
from the side of one of the games
being played in the K-5 section
after school on a recent Thursday
afternoon. "You have these pieces
here that are awesome. See if you
can move one of them to put Dakota
in check."
"It takes a lot of strategizing,"
says Tribal member Dakota Ross,
10. "You've got to think about your
moves. Strategizing really stretches
your intelligence."
Ross says that part of his strategy
is to get his bishops out there to
protect the more valuable players.
Tribal member Jacob Holmes, 6,
likes the idea that he can beat his
cousins at the game. He also says
the excitement of the game gives
him more energy.
Since October, the Tribe's K-5
students have been participating
in the Portland-based Chess for
Success program that brings them
together to practice twice a week
See CHESS
continued on page 13
SI BUG
Tribal member Olivia Hughes is 'wheelie' good on a unicycle
0 v
&p) . (fit ij '
ihiimi i itv"
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal member Olivia Hughes, 8, performs with the unicycle club from
Salem's Liberty Elementary School, the Liberty Hot Wheelz, during
halftime of the Portland Trailblazers game against the Charlotte Bobcats
at the Rose Garden in Portland on Wednesday, Feb. 1 .
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
On Feb. 1 , there was a rout
at the Rose Garden. The
Portland Trailblazers
ran all over the cellar-dwelling
Charlotte Bobcats and by half
time the score was 61-35.
It was then that Tribal mem
ber Olivia Hughes, 8, a second-grader
at Salem's Liberty
Elementary School, and the
rest of the Liberty unicycle club,
Liberty Hot Wheelz, rolled out
on to the court and displayed
their senses of balance.
Thirteen students from sec
ond through eighth grades,
with one wheel under each of
them, with basketballs and
plastic hoops on the side to
fiddle with, cycled back and
forth across the court, up and
over ramps, with small uni
cycles and five-foot "giraffes,"
miraculous not just that they
got up on the unicycles and
stayed up, but that nobody ran
into anybody else, coming and
going as they did.
One fellow, seemingly stopped
by traffic, jumped his unicycle
up and down like a pogo stick
while others circled around
with tricks of their own.
This brainchild of Liberty
Physical Education teacher
Kevin Derowitsch has set Lib
erty aside from the rest of
See UNICYCLE
continued on page 8
I