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Honors In Education — Pullout
OCTOBER 15, 2017
Celebrating 20 years of healing
Health & Wellness Center event includes cultural presentation, guest speakers
By Danielle Frost
Smoke Signals staff writer
A
nticipation from the more than 100
people in attendance filled the air at
the Grand Ronde Health & Wellness
Center as the Veterans Color Guard brought
in the colors, accompanied by cultural drum-
ming and singing, to fete the building’s 20th
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
anniversary on Friday, Oct. 6.
As attendees entered the building, they
were greeted by current Health Committee
members Alan Ham, Gladys Hobbs, Berna-
dine Shriver and Claudia Leno, who present-
See ANNIVERSARY
continued on page 8
Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy speaks during the Grand Ronde Health & Wellness
Center’s 20th anniversary celebration held at the clinic on Friday, Oct. 6. Behind her waiting to
speak are John Mercier, left, Interim Tribal Employment Rights Office director, and Tribal Council
Secretary Jon A. George.
Police Chief Jake McKnight returns
from elite National Academy
By Danielle Frost
Smoke Signals staff writer
S
ix per year is the number of law enforcement
officers, out of hundreds who apply annually
in Oregon, selected to participate in the FBI’s
elite National Academy.
This past summer, Tribal Police Chief Jake McK-
night was among three Oregon law enforcement
officers who participated in the intensive, 10-week
training, which is held quarterly at FBI headquar-
See FBI TRAINING
continued on page 13
Grand Ronde Tribal Police Chief Jake McKnight
recently returned from training at the Federal Bureau
of Investigation’s National Academy in Quantico,
Va. Part of the training included participating in the
“Yellow Brick Road” run. He received the yellow brick
for completing the challenge.
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribe holds annual Coffee & Conversation
Event commemorates 2011 signing of MOU to manage Table Rocks area
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
M
EDFORD – The Grand
Ronde Tribe held its sixth
Coffee & Conversation
event in southern Oregon on Fri-
day, Sept. 29, to commemorate the
1853 treaty signing at Table Rock
and the September 2011 signing of
a memorandum of understanding
with the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment and The Nature Conservancy
to manage the Table Rocks area
north of Medford.
Upper and Lower Table Rock
have significant cultural and his-
toric importance to the Grand
Ronde Tribe because Rogue River
Tribal members lived in the area
See MOU
continued on page 9
Stephanie Craig, left, shows
Desirae Hernandez a tarweed
plant during the Tribal
encampment held at the Lower
Table Rock Trailhead near
Medford on Friday, Sept. 29.
Craig is a Tribal member and a
traditional Tribal ethnobotanist
and was teaching Hernandez
about the traditional native
plants that grow in the Table
Photo by Michelle Alaimo Rocks area.