12
S moke S ignals
OCTOBER 15, 2016
Enrollment will always be an issue
ENROLLMENT continued
from front page
mately 80 hearings in December
2013 and January 2014.
During a two-day Tribal Council
hearing held on April 30 and May 1,
2014, Chief Tumulth descendants
presented evidence that they did
have a descendant – one of Chief
Tumulth’s ive wives – on an 1872
census roll of Grand Ronde Indians
that was prepared by the Depart-
ment of the Interior.
Shortly after that hearing on July
2, Tribal Council voted to relin-
quish its decision-making authority
in involuntary loss-of-membership
cases and invest the inal say in the
Enrollment Board, stating that the
disenrollment process had become
too “political.”
Although Enrollment Board hear-
ings are conidential, a court brief
written by attorneys for the Chief
Tumulth descendants said that a
majority of Enrollment Board mem-
bers did not agree that the woman
cited by them on the 1872 census
roll was related to Chief Tumulth,
so therefore the family members
did not meet the requirements
for membership when they were
enrolled.
The Enrollment Board voted in
July 2014 to disenroll all those who
became members based on lineal
descent from Chief Tumulth.
Chief Tumulth descendants were
then classified as “provisionally
disenrolled” awaiting the outcome
of lawsuits iled in Tribal Court.
Those provisionally disenrolled
saw their Tribal beneits, except for
health care and some housing ben-
eits, suspended until the appeal
process was completed.
The descendants lost their irst le-
gal battle when Tribal Court Chief
Judge David Shaw ruled on Sept.
1, 2015, that the Tribe acted legally
and within the requirements of the
Tribal Constitution and Enrollment
Ordinance in correcting the mis-
take and disenrolling them.
However, the Tribe’s three-judge
Court of Appeals – the Tribe’s
highest court – ruled on Friday,
Aug. 5, that the “alleged enrollment
error” regarding the Chief Tumulth
descendants had occurred so long
ago that the Tribe had failed to act
within a reasonable amount of time
to correct it.
The judges also advised that in
future involuntary loss-of-member-
ship cases that the Tribal govern-
ment has the burden of producing
“clear and convincing” evidence to
resolve whatever issue is raised.
“Enrollment cases are so import-
ant to crucial Tribal interests, and
to the individual and familial inter-
ests of family, culture and personal
identity, that this heightened stan-
dard of proof, and placing the bur-
den on the Tribe, is well justiied.
Disenrollment is such an extreme
sanction for Tribal citizens that it
justiies using the heightened civil
standard of proof of clear and con-
vincing evidence,” the judges wrote.
The Appeals Court remanded the
cases back to Tribal Court and the
Enrollment Board.
The deep differences of opinion
within the Tribe on the proper
course of action to take were ev-
ident in letters to the editor in
Smoke Signals as well as in intense
debates on various Tribally orient-
ed Facebook pages.
Even as late as the most recent
General Council meeting held on
Sunday, Oct. 2, Tribal members
passionately spoke in favor of
disenrolling Chief Tumulth’s de-
scendants while others supported
obeying the Court of Appeals ruling,
and both said that their approach
was supporting the Tribal Consti-
tution and Tribal sovereignty.
At the Tuesday, Oct. 4, Legis-
lative Action Committee meeting,
six of nine Tribal Council members
spoke about the Enrollment Board’s
decision to obey the Court of Ap-
peals decision.
“The decision that was rendered
yesterday, whether you agree or
disagree, it took a lot of weight off
of all of us,” said Tribal Council
Chairman Reyn Leno. “It was a
dificult decision for everybody and
as Kathleen (George) said, I hope a
lot of time doesn’t get wasted on ‘I’m
going to convince you of my opinion’
… The decision has been made. We
need to work through the issues in
the inancial part of it and all of
that. As far as council, I’m glad it’s
a board decision and not a council
decision because it will give us the
freedom to be able to express if you
were disappointed in the outcome of
it, we can certainly do that.”
Leno said he doesn’t think the
issue will go away, however. “En-
rollment has been an issue before
we were ever restored,” he added.
Tribal Council Vice Chair Cheryle
A. Kennedy thanked Enrollment
Board members for their work
and struggling with the difficult
decision. She cited the Tribal gov-
ernment’s separate branches that
created a balance of power and a
resolution to the case.
“I am really hoping we can move
on and put this behind us,” said
Tribal Council member Chris Mer-
cier. “I think we’ve got some larger
issues that are looming and coming
up in the next year, and I am ex-
pressing relief that a inal decision
has been made and we can all get
on with the business of the Tribe.”
Tribal Council Secretary Jon A.
George said he hopes the Tribe can
move forward in a positive way and
that healing can begin. “We have so
many other important matters for
this Tribe that focus on all of our
membership and the future of our
membership,” he said.
Tribal Council member Tonya
Gleason-Shepek said that Tribal
Council should meet on how to
remedy the legal decision through
a constitutional amendment. She
also is looking forward to an Elec-
tion Board public statement regard-
ing the decision.
Tribal Council member Jack
Giffen Jr. said the decision felt like
the Tribe getting terminated again.
“There’s only three of us sitting on
this council that were alive when we
were terminated,” Giffen said. “This
decision feels a lot like that Termi-
nation era. You take the voice of the
membership and you just throw it
into the wind. I feel sorry for the
family, but I don’t think this is ever
going to be the end of this issue. …
I hope that this council comes to the
realization that the membership’s
voice is more important than three
judges’ decision. The membership’s
voice is the voice of our people.”
YED K-12 Costume Bowling Party
and Trick-or-Treat
Friday, October 28
Families
Welcome!!!
Leave Grand Ronde at 9:30 a.m.
Walnut City Lanes 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Return to Grand Ronde 1:30 p.m.
CTGR Campus Trick-or-Treat 1:30-3 p.m.
Transportation: Will be provided for those in regular K5 programming
and limited openings for the 6-12 program.
COSMIC BOWLING
PRIZES
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RSVP to Amber Yates by October 24th @ 503-879-2101
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