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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2017)
PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 Elders fishing trip — pg. 8 OCTOBER 1, 2017 Health & Wellness Center feting 20th anniversary Building’s construction changed medical care in Grand Ronde By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor T Smoke Signals file photo The Tribal Health Committee and Human Services Division staff arranged for then-Human Services Division Manager Cheryle A. Kennedy to break ground on the site of the Health & Wellness Center with a backhoe in August 1996. he Grand Ronde Health & Wellness Cen- ter will celebrate its 20th anniversary of providing health care to Grand Ronde Tribal and community members from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6. The center, one of the first buildings con- structed by the Tribe after the 1995 opening of Spirit Mountain Casino and subsequent influx of gaming revenue, opened with 20 programs and 61 employees. The celebration will open with the Grand Ronde Veterans Color Guard bringing in the colors accompanied by Grand Ronde drummers and singers. After an invocation, there will be comments from Tribal Council members and Health & Wellness staff. The celebration also will include honorings, facility tour and light refreshments. According to back issues of Smoke Signals, construction of the Health & Wellness Center started in October 1996. It was built simulta- neously with the Natural Resources office off of Hebo Road. See CELEBRATION continued on page 9 Native American absenteeism rates improving locally By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor F Photo by Michelle Alaimo Tribal Elder Rosetta LaBonte Manangan has traced the non-Native side of her family back to being some of the first settlers in Oregon. Her great-great-grandfather Louis LaBonte was on a list of Astorians of the Pacific Fur Co. who lived near the Columbia River during the winter of 1813-14. Deep Oregon roots List of ‘Astorians’ includes first LaBonte in area By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor W hile most Grand Ronde Tribal members know that their Native lineage traces back through time immemorial before written records were kept, Tribal Elder Rosetta LaBonte Manangan knows exactly where her non-Native ancestry begins in Oregon. Manangan, 90, knows that her great-great-grand- father Louis LaBonte was on a list of Pacific Fur Co. employees who lived near the Columbia River during See LABONTE continued on page 11 irst-year numbers recently released by the Oregon De- partment of Education indi- cate that an effort to combat Native American student chronic absen- teeism in the Willamina School District by district employees in collaboration with the Confederat- ed Tribes of Grand Ronde is having a positive effect. Chronic absenteeism is defined as students missing 10 percent or more of school days annually. According to the Department of Education, the percentage of Na- tive American students who were chronically absent in Willamina decreased in all three schools – el- ementary, middle and high. At the elementary school, the percentage dropped from 43.22 percent in 2015-16 to 36.51 per- cent in 2016-17. The middle school saw a smaller decrease from 45.45 percent to 42.42 percent while the high school dropped more than 7 percentage points from 55.36 per- cent to 48.28 percent. In 2013, Spirit Mountain Com- munity Fund financed a study by ECONorthwest and the Chalk- board Project that compared the membership rolls for seven par- ticipating Oregon Tribes with data from the state Department of Education. One of the most disturbing find- ings from that study released in early 2014 was the elevated rates of chronic absenteeism among Native See EDUCATION continued on page 10