PRESORTED
STANDARD MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT NO. 700
43 employees honored for 591
years of service— pg. 8
JANUARY 15, 2017
Obama signs
Reservation Act
amendments
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
W
ASHINGTON, D.C. — President
Barack Obama signed amendments to
the Grand Ronde Reservation Act into
law on Wednesday, Dec. 14, that streamline how
the Tribe takes land into trust.
The law ends the two-step process that re-
quired the Grand Ronde Tribe to take each piece
of former reservation land
into trust with approval
from the Bureau of Indian
Affairs and then request
that the land be desig-
nated reservation land by
Congress.
The amendment will now
allow the Grand Ronde
Tribe to combine the
two-step process for real
President
property
that is within the
Barack Obama
boundaries of its original
69,100-acre reservation established in 1857. It
also stated that all real property taken into trust
within the boundaries of the original reservation
after Sept. 9, 1988, be considered reservation land.
Obama’s signature concludes a more than six-
year effort by the Tribe to end the lengthy and
cumbersome process. Tribal Council Chair Reyn
Leno has often said the legislation will save the
Tribe and federal government time and money
by streamlining the process.
The Senate bill, introduced by Oregon Sen. Ron
Wyden and co-sponsored by Oregon Sen. Jeff
Merkley, was approved on July 14, 2016, and
sent to the House of Representatives. The House
bill, sponsored by Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader,
was approved on Dec. 6, 2016. n
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Grand Ronde Tribal Police Department Sgt. Rod McAllister displays a body camera that all
officers in the department began wearing a few months ago.
Candid cameras
Tribal police recording officers’ daily interactions
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
I
n an effort to be a transparent as possible,
Grand Ronde Tribal Police Chief Jake
McKnight has ushered in a new era.
Grand Ronde Tribal police officers have
been using body cameras while on duty
for the last six months. Body cameras are
Winter storm forces postponement
of General Council until Jan. 15
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
I
n reaction to the forecast of a
winter storm hitting the Wil-
lamette Valley beginning on
Saturday, Jan. 7, Tribal Council
postponed the scheduled Sun-
day, Jan. 8, General Council
meeting until Jan. 15.
The forecast called for snow-
fall to begin midday on Saturday
and then freezing rain and ice
to begin falling overnight on
Saturday into Sunday morning
with a thaw not beginning until
Sunday afternoon.
Tribal Council Chief of Staff
Stacia Martin sent out a mes-
sage at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan.
6, alerting everyone that the
General Council meeting had
been rescheduled and the Tribe’s
Reader Board on Grand Ronde
Road and social media and In-
ternet sites were updated to
reflect the new meeting date.
Tribal Facilities Manager
Tyson Mercier said the Tribal
campus experienced the same
weather conditions as the rest of
the region – snow, freezing rain
See GENERAL COUNCIL
continued on page 6
designed to capture the action an officer is
seeing while it happens.
“It’s a hot topic around the country right
now and I feel like eventually it’s going to
be a mandatory thing,” said McKnight. “I
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continued on page 10
Community steps up to help
Tribal member in fire loss
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
T
ribal member Tammy Shaw
knows triumph, recently ex-
periencing the biggest victory
of her life.
Sadly, Tammy also knows loss in
an intimate way that comes only in
tragedy.
Beating cancer after having her
thyroid removed was the greatest
victory.
Losing her beloved dog “Baby” in
a fire that destroyed her parent’s
recreational vehicle three days
before Christmas was her greatest
loss.
Her parent’s RV and adjacent
shop, which is located on Firehall
Road in Grand Ronde, burned down
in a fire on Thursday, Dec. 22, and
will be covered by insurance the
family has learned, but nothing can
ever replace Tammy’s dog.
“My dog was the worst part; that
was like my child,” said Tammy
during a telephone interview on
her break from work at Old Navy
in Lincoln City. “She was my baby.
That makes it hard. Sometimes I
close my eyes and she is looking
at me.”
Tammy, the daughter of Wesley
See FIRE
continued on page 7