4 APRIL 1,2012
Smoke Signals
Tribal memlbeir Phebn Ginudle clears hunrdDe
By Ron Karten
Smoke Sifnals stuff writer
It was a cloudy and rainy after
noon, but in a conference room
on the 10th floor of the Portland
Building on Tuesday, March 20, the
day could not have looked better to
Tribal member Phebi Crude and
the almost 30 friends, relatives and
colleagues who packed the room for
the ceremony.
All honors went to Grude for
successful completion of a one
year course in the Public Works
Construction Inspector training
program with the city of Portland.
She still has perhaps another year
of on-the-job learning before becom
ing an inspector.
"We'll know when she's ready,"
said Inspection Supervisor Rick
McCoy.
Many enter the program from the
construction in-
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with much of the
knowledge they'll
need on the job.
The close-knit
Construction
Inspection unit
brought Grude
into the fold a
year ago.
Laurie Allen,
vice president of
NW Operations for CMTS, LLC,
a consulting contractor providing
staffing and other professional
services to the industry, got the
ball rolling with a presentation at
the Portland office.
Portland Tribal office staffers
Chris Garcia and Tribal member
Jon George took it from there. Gar
cia is an Employment and Training
specialist for the Tribe and George
is a Vocational Rehabilitation spe
cialist. "When we told Phebi about the
program," said George, "she said, 'I
think I can do that.' And that was
all the information we needed."
"It's been a good fit," said Gar
cia. Both were on hand to mark
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Grude's success and celebrated
the event with a Tribal blessing
drum song.
Calling this "a very special oc
casion," Grude's daughter, Tribal
member Brooke Chavez, presented
her mother with flowers. "I'm so
proud of her," she said.
Denise Stone, one of two aunts
on hand for the ceremony, brought
many to tears. "We've been through
a lot in our family. We're so proud
of her. We've been trying to know
the right things to help her. We
love you," she said to Grude. And
then to the room, "Thank you all
so much. You gave her something
that we couldn't."
To become an inspector in Port
land, a city that McCoy says, "Sets
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Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Denis Stone, left, takes a photo of
Tribal member Phebi Grude, right,
with her aunt Allyn Donaugh during
Grude's graduation ceremony from
the city of Portland's Bureau of
Environmental Services and CMTS,
LLC, Public Works Construction
Inspector Apprenticeship Program
at the Portland Building in Portland
on Tuesday, March 20. Stone is also
Grude's aunt.
the standard," for the country,
Grude is charged with learning
"all of the fundamentals of doing
the construction," McCoy said. And
everybody continues learning on
the job.
"When Phebi started," McCoy
said, "she had a lot of personal
issues, but she stepped up and
decided she wanted to do it. She
wanted to work overtime to see how
things were done."
He described how attentively
she watched the laying of pipe and
wire when most other inspectors
feel like, 'It's all you can do to stay
awake.'
"When I saw that, I knew this was
going to be a fit for her. Everybody
is fighting over her because she
does such a good job."
"You're not going to learn unless
you have it in your heart," said In
spector Nadine Meyers. "You have
Tribal member Phebi Grude gives
Jon George, Tribal member and
Vocational Rehabilitation specialist
at the Tribe's Portland Area Office,
a hug after Grude's graduation
ceremony from the city of
Portland's Bureau of Environmental
Services and CMTS, LLC, Public
Works Construction Inspector
Apprenticeship Program at the
Portland Building in Portland on
Tuesday, March 20. On the right is
Chris Garcia, Employment & Training
specialist at the Tribe's Portland
office. The two brought the program
to Grude's attention through their
work at the Portland office.
to be creative, resourceful. Well,
Phebi knows her stuff. She knows
how to hold her ground with con
tractors. She's really a good asset.
I wish she were on my team."
Grude had some apartment re
modeling in her background and
was a concrete laborer and finisher,
but she never thought she had
the background to be a building
inspector.
"I was looking into the welding
program," she said.
Today, she has a wide range of
experiences to draw from, and of all
the different jobs that one does as an
inspector, Grude is drawn to work
ing with the plans, she said. "Mak
ing sure it's a buildable project."
Grude has art in her background,
too. She's got things she's made all
over her home. "There's nothing
that hasn't been art-ified in our
house," she said.
She once planted succulents in
shoes and boots for a succulent
farm.
She used to smoke cigars, she
said with a laugh.
And on a "Grimm" note, her
daughter, Brooke, said she often
had to do a parking space tango
with the Portland television pro
duction that operates right by one
of her jobs this last year.
After the certificate and acrylic
keepsake presentations, the group
shared a pink cake with frosting .
pictures on the top showing a vest,
cap, boots and a tape measure.
Tools for the future. D
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