LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To the editor:
My name is Kari Schaller and I am
the daughter of the late Terrence Mason.
For the past year and a half, my
family and 1 have been corresponding
with Tribal Council in regards to a tribal
member (Tristen Leroy John aka
Tristen Holt aka Tristen Trudell) we
believe has been fraudulently enrolled.
I have tried to keep this matter confi
dential to protect Tristen and my intent
has not been to harm or humiliate him
in any way but to protect our tribal rolls.
Il is very important to my family and
I that our tribal roll is accurate and the
integrity is not compromised by nepo
tism and disregard for our laws and
Constitution This issue had remained
confidential for almost a year until
Tristen himself addressed this issue at the
May 2006 General Council meeting.
On Dec. 21, 2006, Tristen was
given his right to an enrollment hear
ing. in this hearing, it was revealed that
Tristen’s mother had submitted two
previous enrollment applications for
Tristen John in 1990 and 1991 that
were not processed or were returned
because the applications were incom
plete and not accompanied by a birth
certificate or other birth record. Tristen
failed to provide any evidence at this
hearing that he is eligible for enrollment
under my father, Terrance Mason. It
was further revealed the application
for Tristen that he was enrolled un
der contained false information.
The end result - Resolution No.
2006-436 was approved to dis-enroll
Tristen Leroy John. However on March
5, 2007, due to a technicality, the coun
cil re-voted and without additional evi
dence two council members changed
their vote and the resolution has now
been denied.
Under the Tribal Council Ethics
Ordinance Section §3.002, “Tribal
Council members shall take action in
the best interest of the Siletz Tribe
and the Tribal membership, not in
their personal interest. Tribal Council
members shall carry out their duties and
responsibilities in the highest ethical
manner. Violation of this ordinance
may constitute “neglect of duty’ or
‘gross misconduct.”'
I am asking each of the council
members to review their Code of Eth
ics and their positions and to revote on
the enrollment hearing of Dec. 21,
2006. This issue affects all of us as a
tribe and compromises the integrity of
our rolls. While this involves my fam
ily personally, this could happen to any
one of us.
The leaders of our tribe need to be
held accountable for their decisions
and it is my opinion that five of our
members have ignored vital evidence
and have jeopardized our rolls due to
conflicts of interest and personal emo
tions that are not in the best interest of
our tribe.
Kari (Mason) Schaller
4
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Siletz News
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To the editor:
Integrity of Our Enrollment
Under Attack
it is with a sad heart that I’m writ
ing this letter to express my concerns
on the recent vote of our Tribal Coun
cil on March 5, 2007, held at Chinook
Winds Casino.
The vote I'm writing about concerns
the enrollment of Tristen John, who
was notified in writing several times by
the Siletz Tribal Council to submit a
DNA to prove his parentage based on
a reasonable basis existing to question
the parentage listed on his application.
A motion was made at this meeting
to dis-enroll Tristen due to: submission
of a fraudulent enrollment application,
his repeated failure to submit a DNA
test requested by Tribal Council, and
various other evidence brought for
ward to question who his true biologi
cal father is. Sadly the vote failed, five
voting no and four voting yes.
The facts are that Tristen John’s
enrollment application listed my father,
the late Terrance Mason, as the father and
his mother as Trish John (a non-Native).
It was brought to Tribal Council’s at
tention that the hospital record (not a
legal birth certificate) provided on his
enrollment application was not signed
by my father, Terrance Mason.
It was also brought to council’s at
tention through a highly accredited
handwriting expert analysis that it “was
highly probable that the signature of
Terry Mason on the application sub
mitted for enrollment was written by
Irish John (based on the slant of the
writing, sizing of loops, stop and start
patterns, and various other tools used
to analyze handwriting).”
Until recently, nobody in our fam
ily knew that Tristen was an enrolled
tribal member claiming (my father)
Terrance Mason was the father. Upon
hearing the news, my sister (Kari
Schaller) contacted Tristen and asked
him if he was willing to take a DNA
test to prove he was our brother, since
we were always told that my dad had
only four kids.
Tristen told Kari initially that he
would but stated, “It would suck if he
found out he was not Indian.” Tristen
still to this date has not submitted a
DNA test and because of the last Tribal
Council vote now will not have to in
order to stay enrolled.
It's highly likely that we now have
a non-Native on our rolls, which I be
lieve is terribly wrong and disrespect
ful to all our ancestors. It's my under
standing that a request for a re-vote can
be made at any time.
I'm asking you. the people, to please
inquire into the facts of this case and
to ask your Tribal Council members to
revote. We just need one council mem
ber to change their vote to protect the
integrity of our rolls.
With humbled respects.
Kelly Mason
April 2007
To the editor:
Attention All Tribal Members!
We believe someone has fraudu
lently enrolled into our tribe under our
brother Terry Mason's name. Unfortu
nately, our brother Terry Mason passed
away March 25, 1984, and is not here
to defend himself, but we are and will.
The enrollee was posted for enroll
ment under a different tribal family's
name 10 years after our brother passed
way. The only thing that the enrollee
had to enroll with is a birth record (not
certificate - which lists no father). The
birth record has our brother’s name
hand-written, listing him as the father.
It was proven in court by a handwriting
analysis that the writing was probably
that of the enrollee’s biological mother.
This case of fraudulent enrollment
has been going on for over a year. Our
family has provided Tribal Council
with enough evidence to question the
enrollee on being our brother’s son and
the only way to prove it would be for
him to take a DNA test.
The enrollee was asked to provide
Tribal Council with a DNA sample on
three different occasions, but has not.
On Dec. 21, 2006, he was given the op
portunity to have an enrollment hear
ing and bring forward any new evidence
to prove he is our brother's son.
After hearing all of the testimony
and no new evidence presented. Tribal
Council voted to dis-enroll him by a
vote of 4-3-2 (Phil Rilatos Sr. abstained
because his family is involved, and
Loraine Butler abstained because she
was called as a witness in the hearing,
it was an enrollment issue and she is
the Enrollment clerk).
He filed in court to have a revote
because he was dis-enrolled during the
tribal elections. The judge ordered it to
go back to Tribal Council for a revote.
On March 5, 2007, a Special Tribal
Council meeting was held with Enroll
ment on the agenda to revote. There
was no new evidence presented and
nothing had changed.
To our disappointment, he stayed
enrolled by a vote of 4-5-0. The two
Tribal Council members (Phil Rilatos
Sr. and Loraine Butler) who previously
abstained due to conflict both changed
their vote to no this time.
Our family was not only shocked
by the outcome, but was saddened. We
feel that the Tribal Council members
who voted no are voting personal be
cause no proof has been provided that
he is our brother's son.
We hope this opens the eyes of all
tribal members. We want to thank all
tribal members who have supported us
with phone calls and genuine concern.
God bless,
Monica Bessette on behalf of the
Mason family
To the editor:
I'm writing this letter to bring to light
the neglect of duty and gross misconduct
of some members of our Tribal Council.
Beginning November 2005, my
family and I have provided Tribal
Council with an overwhelming amount
of evidence to question the enrollment
of a member (Tristen Leroy John) who we
believe has been fraudulently enrolled
under my deceased uncle, Terry Mason.
Terry passed away in March 1984.
Tristen’s mother attempted enrolling him
in 1990 and 1991. and the request was
denied for failing to provide a birth cer
tificate or birth record to complete his
application. In February 1993, on the third
attempt, he was enrolled in this fashion:
•
•
•
Using Terry Mason as father (10
years after Terry was deceased)
Posted to General Council as
Tristen Leroy John
Using a birth record listing him as
Tristen Scott Holt
Upon learning about the above,
Terry’s daughter (Kari Schaller) con
tacted the Siletz Enrollment Depart
ment. She was told she could only pro
test his enrollment when he enrolls a
descendent (i.e., a child). We later
found this information not to be true.
Enrollment Ordinance Section
§2.310 states, "The Enrollment Staff shall
recommend to Tribal Council removal
of the Tribal roll any person whose appli
cation. after approval, contains certain
false information that is material to the
eligibility for enrollment of that person.”
In February 2006, Siletz News
posted a birth announcement of Tristen
John’s daughter and it listed the grand
parent as Phil Rilatos Jr.? There was
no mention of Terry Mason or any con
nection to the Mason family.
Our family protested this enroll
ment of his daughter and asked Tribal
Council to open the file under the En
rollment Ordinance Section §2.307
“Tribal Council may inquire into the
paternity or maternity of an applicant
where a reasonable basis exists to ques
tion the parentage of an applicant.”
At the Aug. 5, 2006, General Council
meeting, Reggie Butler stated, “It doesn't
say anything anywhere in our ordinance
that anybody has to take a DNA test.”
On May 22, 2004, Resolution No.
2004-172, a member after 18 years of
enrollment was dis-enrolled from the
Siletz Tribe because she was enrolled
based on false information and she is
not of Siletz blood by a vote of 7-1-1
(Reggie Butler voted no and to keep
this person enrolled after a DNA test
showed she was not of Siletz blood).
On Oct. 22, 2004, Resolution No.
2004-401, two members were dis-
enrolled from the Siletz. Tribe because
they were enrolled based on false in
formation and are not of Siletz blood
by a vote of 7-0-0 (Reggie voted yes
to dis-enroll these two members).
This issue is not about low bkxxl quan
tum, this issue is about no bkxxJ quantum.
Stephanie (Mason) Morrow