Smoke signals., June 15, 2016, Page 13, Image 13

S moke S ignals
JUNE 15, 2016
Starlight Parade
'It was a real honor to have him
here and be able to talk to him'
SECRETARY continued
from page 10
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Little Miss Grand Ronde Kaleigha Simi, left, and Junior Miss Grand
Ronde Isabelle Grout take a selie while riding in a 1967 Chevy Camaro
during the Portland General Electric/SOLVE Starlight Parade in
downtown Portland on Saturday, June 4. In the background is Veterans
Special Event Board Princess Iyana Holmes, second from right, and
Veterans Special Event Board Junior Queen Amaryssa Mooney.
Tribal Elder Deitz Peters, right, along with his wife, Rose, and their
grandson Ethan Breckheimer wave to the crowd while walking in
the Portland General Electric/SOLVE Starlight Parade in downtown
Portland on Saturday, June 4.
The Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde
12th ANNUAL
FAMILY NIGHT OUT
METH AWARENESS
& RESOURCE FAIR
*FREE EVENT*
COME & JOIN IN THE
FUN!!!
Stump Jump
Rat Race
Obstacle Course
Wednesday
June 22, 2016
4:30 - 8:00 P.M.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
CALL 503-879-2034
ZIP LINE
T-Shirts
Princess 5 in 1
Combo
Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde Campus
Rock Wall &
Monkey Motion
Thank you for respecting Grand Ronde Tribal
Community and our Culture by not
displaying gang affiliation, or by bringing drugs,
alcohol or weapons to this event.
13
claim.
“We need to build the capability
to handle that,” McDonald said.
“The average veteran uses the VA
for only 34 percent of their health
care. If that goes to 35 percent,
we need a budget increase of $1.4
billion. That’s a huge difference.”
McDonald added that Veterans
Affairs needs to build a system that
can handle Afghanistan and Iraq
veterans when they start turning
50 and 60 years of age.
In response to a question from
Leno about the increase in aging
veterans, McDonald said that Vet-
eran Affairs needs to improve at
predicting demand and work with
Congress to obtain the budgetary
resources needed to handle that
demand.
During the hourlong Town Hall,
McDonald also discussed success-
ful efforts to reduce the number of
homeless veterans, helping current
military personnel transition out
of the service into private industry
jobs, and how valuable the De-
partment of Veterans Affairs is to
American medicine because of its
groundbreaking medical research,
training of doctors and clinical
training for residents.
Grand Ronde Tribal veterans who
attended the Town Hall included
Wink Soderberg (Navy), Raymond
Petite (Army) and Steve Bobb Sr.
(Marine Corps), and community
veterans Bob Duncan, Dennis
Kleffner, Ron Tuomi and Al Miller.
Tribal Council members who
attended included Leno, Secretary
Cheryle A. Kennedy, Brenda Tu-
omi, Denise Harvey, Jon A. George,
Gleason-Shepek and Chris Mercier.
Tribal Council Chief of Staff Sta-
cia Martin and General Manager
David Fullerton helped keep the
whirlwind tour of Grand Ronde on
schedule. Tribal Police Chief Jake
McKnight and Sgt. Tim Hernandez
augmented Secret Service security
for McDonald’s visit.
At achaf-hammi, the Tribal
plankhouse, McDonald was greeted
by Culture Department Manager
Kathy Cole and Tribal Elder Greg
Archuleta, who gave a brief history
of the Tribe and the plankhouse.
Archuleta and George joined Cole
and Public Affairs Administrative
Assistant Chelsea Clark in singing
a prayer song. Before leaving and
heading back to Salem, McDonald
asked how to say “thank you” in the
Tribe’s language, Chinuk wawa,
which George taught him.
Leno said it was a “great honor”
to host McDonald at Grand Ronde.
“Grand Ronde was actually
chosen as the Tribe to come out
here to be for the Tribal piece of
it,” Leno said during the same-
day Tribal Council meeting. “I
believe that he does understand
a lot of the problems with the VA.
We talked a lot with him about
the Agent Orange issue for the
upcoming veterans, the Vietnam
veterans out there. … I think the
man totally understands a lot
of the problems and a lot of the
bureaucracy. I just think it was a
real honor to have him here and
be able to talk to him.” 