14
JULY 15, 2019
70th Jeffers
Family Reunion
Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019, at Wildcat covered bridge, Highway 126
and Siuslaw River Road (the old homestead of Ira Jeffers).
From Eugene, take Highway 126 west toward Mapleton. At
approximately mile marker 27.5, turn left on Siuslaw River Road.
From Mapleton to Eugene, turn right at approximately mile
marker 26.5 on Siuslaw River Road. Look for
signs with balloons for your turnoff.
Bring lawn chairs and favorite food dish to share.
Eat around noon.
Call Evelyn Seidel at 503-831-4955 or
Lori at 541-543-6117 for more information.
Smoke Signals
Congratulations to Tribal member
Leland Hofenbredl for getting
all-around logger at the Fourth of
July Logging Show. Leland, we are
proud of you and your accomplish-
ment; keep up the good work.
Photographed with his son, Matt.
Love, your family and the entire
Hofenbredl Logging team.
Spam calls inundate
Governance Center phones
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
The Tribe’s Governance Center became a target of robo calls on Wednes-
day, July 10, as the central phones operators fielded more than 1,800 calls
from a single phone number.
According to General Manager’s Office Executive Assistant Barbara
Branson, the calls originated from the phone number 240-351-4448. An
Internet search found the number listed on www.shouldianswer.com as
a nuisance call, Social Security scam and spammer from India, among
other references.
“IT staff is working with our phone provider to try to resolve the issue,”
Branson said. “Unfortunately, we are losing legitimate callers and we
are turning the phones off periodically as the volume is great. We have
posted an alert on the Tribe’s Facebook page to let members know that
there is a problem.”
One Tribal employee who received a call from the phone number on their
direct line said the caller was offering loans with a 2- to 4-percent interest
rate and spoke with an accent.
The phone number was eventually blocked from reaching the Tribe's
system, Senior Telecommunications Technician Mark Scheelar announced
via e-mail. 
Smoke Signals file photo
Former Smoke Signals photojournalist Michelle Alaimo received a first-place
award in Best Sports Photo from the Native American Journalists Association
for this photograph of Willamina High School junior Jordan Reyes hugging
his brother Michael Reyes after Jordan won the Class 3A 106-pound weight
class state title during the OSAA Wrestling State Championships held at
Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland in February 2018.
Smoke Signals wins
five NAJA awards
The Grand Ronde Tribal newspaper Smoke Signals won five awards,
including three first places, in the 2019 Native American Journalists As-
sociation Native Media Awards for work published in 2018.
The winners were announced via e-mail on Wednesday, July 10, and the
awards will be given out during a banquet to be held Wednesday, Sept.
18, at the Mystic Lake Center in Prior Lake, Minn., during the annual
National Native Media Awards Conference.
Editor Dean Rhodes received a first-place award in the Best News Story
category for “The New Normal,” which examined the effect of the Cowlitz
Tribe’s Ilani casino on Spirit Mountain Casino one year after opening. The
story appeared in the May 1, 2018, edition.
Staff writer Danielle Frost took second place in the Best News Story
category for “Meteorite Impact,” which detailed the Tribe’s 2018 visit to
Tomanowos at the American Museum of Natural History in New York
City. The story appeared in the July 1, 2018, edition.
Former Smoke Signals photojournalist Michelle Alaimo took first place
in Best Sports Photo for her photograph of Tribal member Jordan Reyes
winning the 3A state wrestling title for Willamina High School in Febru-
ary 2018. The photo appeared in the March 1, 2018, edition. Alaimo left
Smoke Signals in September 2018 to move to South Carolina.
Frost took second place in the Best Sports Story category for “Spikers,”
which was about two Grand Ronde Tribal members who were playing com-
munity college volleyball. The story appeared in the Nov. 1, 2018, edition.
For the second consecutive year, Frost also received a first-place award
in the Best Coverage of Native America category for her story “A Cul-
tural Milestone,” which reported on the Grand Ronde Tribe’s successful
return to Willamette Falls to traditionally fish for salmon off a removable
platform in October 2018. The story appeared in the Nov. 1, 2018, edition
and marked the third straight year that Smoke Signals has won the top
award in this category.
Smoke Signals’ awards were in the Associate category for nonTribal
members who work for Tribal publications that have a circulation of be-
tween 5,000 and 10,000 copies.
The five awards mark the 54th time Smoke Signals has been honored
by NAJA since 2008. 