0 FEBRUARY 15, 2012
Smoke Signals
Only 20 spots aire available on (tDne team
J A A J 'V
Photo by Michelle Alalmo
Tribal member Olivia Hughes, 8, ducks below a bar as she performs a trick
during a performance 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.
UNICYCLE continued
from front page
Salem's, Oregon's and likely most
of the country's elementary schools
with the 10-year-old unicycle club.
He also leads a 35-member jump
roping club at the school.
Olivia knew about Liberty Hot
Wheelz from her older sisters and
she had seen the group perform
long before she was old enough to
participate.
"They always perform for the
student body," said Olivia's mother,
Tribal member Nikki Hughes. "Ol
ivia had seen it for years because
she has older sisters. When she got
in first grade, she said, T want to
do it.' She couldn't ride a bike yet.
A friend taught her to ride a bike.
She learned in two days, and then
went back to teacher."
Olivia earned her audition to the
club a year before anybody else
ever had.
"I was excited for her," said Nikki.
"I knew that if she wanted to do it,
she'd be able to do it. Her sisters
had done swim team for a couple
years when Olivia said she wanted
to do that. She took swimming les
sons and same thing again. She had
four lessons before tryouts and she
wa9 determined enough to make it
and she did."
Unicycle team members have per
formed for high schools and univer
sities and performed for the Blazers
twice before, Derowitsch said. They
perform about six times a season,
with practice held October through
December and performances end
ing in March.
"We started as basically a morn
ing unicycle practice because kids
needed something to do," said
Derowitsch. "It started as general
practice time. Then, I had a call
from City Center in Salem. They
were tearing down an old hotel
and having wheels and arts show,
taking bikes apart and making
art out of them. They asked if
we could give a demonstration.
Of course, we did. Then others
asked.
"It's quite a production to put
something like this together. Every
year, I don't think we'll ever do this
again, but I can't turn down oppor
tunities to show off our kids."
Some 50 students audition for
about 20 slots. They start out in
the mornings, riding the unicycles,
learning to get on and off.
"It's like a farm club so to speak,"
Derowitsch said. "When they get
their skills to a certain point, they
go to the performance group. Then,
they practice two nights a week
after school, putting the routine
together. We're adding in if we can
and subtracting where we have to.
We're morphing the time to get the
routine to 7.5 minutes."
The time is very strict at the Rose
Garden, he said.
"I have a TV broadcast person at
my side at all times giving me the
time I have left," he said. "There's
a three-minute warning, then a
two-minute warning. At the end, we
ride them right out of the corner (of
the court). We have put the routine
together in such a way that every
body is following each other on out
the door and into the sunset."
As halftime ended, Derowitsch
said, "Everybody was smiling and
happy that we finished the entire
routine and it was good."
The team rode a limousine up to
Portland before the event, gorged
at Burger King and walked to the
Rose Garden. Olivia's father, Dan,
and older sister, Tribal member
Cassie, who is in seventh grade,
helped get the ramps and the
limbo stick out, and helped team
members get on the giraffes. Nikki
visited the lower seats to get pho
tographs, while middle sister and
Tribal member Genevieve, in fourth
grade, and grandmother and Tribal
Elder Susie Gilliam stayed up "in
the nosebleed seats."
Olivia was very excited, but
nervous, her mom said. "She just
talked a lot about it. She couldn't
believe how big (the Rose Garden)
was."
In the end, "She just was happy
to have done it and excited. We got
her a drink and watched the rest of
the game, and she just talked and
talked and talked about all the dif
ferent things that happened. And
said what a privilege it was, and
how exciting it was."
Derowitsch pretty much knows
by now who will be successful in
the group.
"What I usually do is have audi
tions for the kids who want to do
the morning program," he said. "I
look for kids that when I place them
up against the wall on the unicycle,
they show balance and get to the
point where they are comfortable.
I'm looking for kids who are not
afraid to come off the wall quickly,
who are willing to take the risk and
can build that trust with me in that
short period of time.
"I can teach anybody to ride a
unicycle. I learned at 54. It took me
three months to get there. Fifteen
minutes every morning and after
noon. And I worked solo. I'm not
elegant up there on a unicycle, but
I can get from one end of the gym
to the other."
Physical Education and heading
are currently Olivia's favorite sub
jects. She reads the Junie B. Jones,
Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Cam
Jansen books, Nikki said.
The family enjoys camping blithe
Oregon coast and at Hood Canal
in Washington state. They're also
busy with church activities. Olivia's
been on several mission trips to
Arizona to the Navajo Indian res
ervation. "In Monument, Arizona," said
Nikki, "there's a teeny, tiny church
there that doesn't have anybody to
love them. So we go in and do Vaca
tion Bible School for them."
EFFECTOWE MOW
Changes to Social Services
Emergency Assistance
and Medical Gas Voucher Program
For all income criteria programs, wage verification for past
60 days (wage stubs) will need to be submitted. If client has not
worked for a period of time, client will need to submit a printout
from their State Employment Office or printout from Oregon
Self-Sufficiency Office as verification of income. Rentaldeposit
or utility assistance may be utilized only one time in a. 24-month
rolling calendar period and is not to exceed the maximum con
tribution of $1,000 per household within any 24-month rolling
calendar period.
Medical Gas Vouchers
Social Services will not provide gas vouchers for medical ap
pointments, counseling or drug & alcohol treatment. The only
exception to this is for scheduled treatment plans, (i.e.: radiation,
chemotherapy, surgery, etc.) and has caused hardship on the fam
ily, medical gas vouchers can be distributed to meet the need of the
circumstances. A copy of all scheduled treatment plans must be
received before client is eligible to receive this service. Assistance
will end on the date of the last treatment appointment.
For a complete copy of policy or questions, please contact Tammy
C. Garrison at 503-879-2077. D
Zumba held in gym
Zumba, an easy-to-follow, Latin-inspired and calorie-burning dance fit
ness party, is held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday in the
Tribal gymnasium. The first class is free and $6 thereafter for drop-ins, or
$5 if participants purchase a punch card. Contact Tribal Recreation Coor
dinator Alton Butler at 503-879-1369 or alton.butlergrandronde.org.
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