Smoke signals., April 01, 1985, Image 2

FINAL REPORT from your INTERIM COUNCIL
It has been our pleasure as Interim Council, which was elected, Feb ,11, 1984,
pursuant to the Grand Ronde Testoration Act, P,L, 98-165, of Nov, 22, 1983, to
serve you, our membership, during this past year.
Since our election, the Interim Council has taken on the arduous task of
evaluating our Past, assessing our Present, and proposing a Future for our People,
The statistics shown herein this Newsletter show that we have been working hard
towards fulfilling our statutory obligations of working with the Secretary of
Interior in meeting our joint obligations in developing the Grand Ronde Reserva
tion Plan.
We have strived for unity in our effort to serve our People to the best of
our ability, and we are proud of our accomplishments during this past year. We
have met every action according to schedule as required in our Restoration Act!
we have developed our Constitution and it has been approved. We negotiated and
are purchasing and thereby, preserving, the old, historic Grand Ronde Train Depot
to be used for additional office space. We have advertised, as required, and
hired consultants so we could commence the work on our Reservation Plan, At this
writing, we have completed Phase I and have entered into Phase II of our three
Phase Plan. We have been involved in up-dating our enrollment (set -up meetings
for nominations and election of the Tribal Council, as required, also, by our Act,
These, then, were our main responsibilities, but, along with all of this we also,
took, care of other tribal business, This included; attending the endless list of
meetings and various- Workshops that would enable us to Become better informed so
we could serve you,' our -membership , to the highest degree, We planned and sponsor-
ed the first Restoration Pow-wow which, was a resounding success, We have campaign
ed and earned a seat for the Tribe on the Oregon Commission on Indian Services;
S,B,157 is- the Bill to expand the CIS membershipwhich'will include the Grand Ronde
once it becomes Law, Another concern which we have addressed during this short
time is the tribal logo which, has- now become a reality as you can see by- this
newsletter, and which, will be -used on all other tribal business headings, etc, from
now on,
As a terminated Tribe for these past twenty-nine C29) years, we know we have
experienced physical, cultural and economic deprivation but, we continued our tradi
tions because we are Indians Grand Ronde Indians, first, and all else, second; we
have survived as a People, We believe that this strong Indian identity is the founda
tion for our future. While we realize it is unrealistic to acquire a land base in
the total acreage of our former 69, 120 acre Reservation, it has been our goal, never
theless, to strive for enough land so our People will have a reasonable chance to
deyelop a viable economy. Like our ancestors, we feel that land is sacred and
important to us; what is an Indian without land, So, we would hope and pray that
we have laid the ground-work for the Tribe to acquire a Homeland where we, too, like
our ancestors, can make our living, gather our food, build our homes and raise our
children and grand-children; and, yes, be laid to rest, '. .. ..
It is our hope that our time in serving you during this year has been useful,
we feel it has been. If we. have offended anyone or if someone, feels our. service to be
unsatisfactory , we can only say that we have always made ourselves available both at
the Tribal Office and at the numerous Council and General Meetings to share informa
tion and to answer questions. We have enjoyed serving you and we know our plans for
the future can become a reality only if we all work together, We are confident that
the Tribal Council to be elected on March 23, 1985, will continue to work to fulfill
their obligations, We feel that our path to a better future can be no more arduous
than our path through our past.