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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1994)
Smoke Signals May 1994 Page 2 EDITORIAL AND OPINION Community involvement essential in combating drug problem By Mark Mercier, Tribal Council Chairman Since the discovery of discarded syringes for illegal drug use on the Grand Ronde Elementary School grounds, community members have been meeting to discuss ways to combat the problem. Solutions implemented to date are installation of lights on the school grounds, and a greater presence of Polk County deputies in the area. Also, the Tribe is negotiating a contract with the Polk County Sheriff Department, to have a deputy in the Grand Ronde area more frequently. To make this possible, the Tribe has committed $45,000 to cover the cost of salary. Other ideas discussed were summer activities, recreational, or otherwise, for kids with free time during their summer break. The past few public meetings were held on Feb. 23, March Smoke Signals changing style Readers will note a difference in this edition of Smoke Signals. Please let us know how we are doing in covering stories that you consider important. We are redesigning to make it easier to read. The stories that we consider to have the most immediate impact on tribal members will go on the front page. Next comes the editorial and opinion section. Letters to the editor are most welcome and we urge you to submit pieces for publication. Letters must be signed, and please give us your telephone number so we can contact you. The other sections include Tribal Life, Health, Education, and Small Business Development. A Sports and Outdoor section will be run in later editions if we can get submissions and news tips. Smoke Signals has provided much information to the Tribe for a long time, and will continue its mission of providing important news to the community. Letters Former Council Dear tribal members: Because I am a past Tribal Council member I have insight to contribute concerning the pay that Tribal Council members receive. I served on Council from 1990 until 1993 withabeginninghourly wage of $9.28 per hour. We had no limit on the number of hours we could work, so each Council member had the potential of earning $17,680 from the year I came into office in 1990. So if each Council member were given the 5 per cent cost of living increase per year, without any consideration of merit, the potential salary for 1994 could be $21,500. We've all heard that our tribe changed salary levels foremployecs to more realistic wages for the job they were doing. Kit Devine, Personnel Director, was in charge of comparing employee positions and salary levels with similar 15, and April 19, at Grand Ronde Elementary. The next public meeting will be held at the Tribal Community Center on May 24, 6:30 p.m. The initial public safety meeting that was held had over 100 people in attendance. The following meetings have had about twenty people attending. No amount of money spent for police protection, school activities, or activities sponsored by local churches will address the drug issue. It will take a great deal of commitment from the parents and community members to solve this problem. Grand Ronde is your community. You cannot depend on the Tribe or the public school system to deal with the issue of drugs alone. We need your involvement. And we need to work together. member: "Council earns their positions in other governments. I understand that this salary adjustment increased the salary of .;. many tribal employees. After I was . ofi" of Tribal Council, Kit then looked into Tribal Council pay, I do not know which of the tribes Kit reviewed, but I have heard that $25,000 came out to be the median level. I believe that our Tribal Council has more to do than other governments because our tribe was terminated, and they are trying to provide services to members the same as other tribes do. The Tribe has surpassed the growth of other tribes in a short amount of time. I firmly believe that we need to support our Tribal Council in this pay increase, for in fact it is what they should be getting. I want to add that there appears to be a misunderstanding among the membership that the Council has ' Editorial Policy Letters From Our Readers Smoke Signals Is a publication of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon. We have recently adopted an Editorial Policy that encourages input from readers about stories printed in Smoke Signals as well as other tribal issues. However, all letters from readers must be received at the Newsletter Office no later than the 20th of each month, with the author's signature address, and phone number in order to be considered for publication. Letters must be printed or typed, and cannot exceed 300 words. Smoke Signals reserves the right to edit any letter for clarity and length, and to refuse publication of any letter or any part of a letter that may contain libelous statements or personal attacks. Not all letters are guaranteed publication upon submission. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Smoke Signals, tribal employees, or Tribal Council. Mail letters to : SMOKE SIGNALS, 9615 Grand Ronde Rd., Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347 ATTN: Tracy Olson NEW Name: Address Indian Health Service budget cuts could cost lives Native Americans are dismayed over a proposed reduction in Indian Health Service's 1995 budget. Dismayed because they view the planned cutback as another broken promiseinthe 150-year relationship with the United States, and because the IHS is scheduled for a 13 percent budget reduction, while its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, is to get a three percent increase. The Indians have two powerful allies who are trying to get the always gotten $600 per month, prior to this increase. This came about in 1993, when I was on, Council. During thebudget process, the Tribal Council was told by the Executive Officer, Jim Willis, and Financial Director Pat Mercier that the Tribe was facing an economic crisis, and the budget needed to be cutback. - 1 According to tribal administration, each tribal committee was given an amount : for which their budgets were not to exceed. As a result, all committee budgets were cut by fifty percent, and some even more. Administration suggested Council 's salary be a maximum of $600 per month. Tribal Council took the biggest cut in pay, nearly a sixty five percent decrease, while employees received increases. Tribal Council authorized a big increase for the Executive Officer MOVING? Let us know! OLD proposed cutback eliminated: Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, and Sen. Mark O. Hatfield, R-Ore., ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee. In a March 25 letter to President Clinton, they, and other members of the Indian Affairs Committee said: "Further reductions will literally result in the likely deaths of American Indians and Alaska pay increase" in order to bring him up to a level comparable with others in similar positions. At this point of our tribal government, we need to recognize and compensate our Council for the work they do. I would like to see the Tribe promote, compensate, and recognize our own membership. Our membership seems to be the last to be recognized, given gifts, or rewarded for work well done and it -is a shame. In destroying that image, I would like to begin by supporting Council's pay increase. I have heard that one of the main objections to the Tribal Council raise is because those monies came from timber revenue. Actually, the increase is small compared with the loss that occurred with the greenery business and those losses were also from timber revenue. In summary the facts are: I Cut out and mail to: Smoke Signals 9615 Grand Ronde Road Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347 Natives whose health care... is already limited to the treatment of life-and-limb-threatening illnesses and injuries only." Inouye's panel recommended that some action be taken to resolve the issue before an April 29 meeting of the president and the nation's tribal leaders. The leaders intend to ask the president to restore these cuts. In 1990, the Tribal Council's pay was $17,680 (if they chose to work full-time.) In 1993 Tribal Council members had the ability to make $21,500 per year before tribal administration advised the $600 per month pay. Had Council been given merit increases every year, each member could have been making more than $25,000 per year in 1994. Given that the Tribe supported the new employee wage scale it is reasonable to support the increases determined by the findings of the Personnel Director. Respectfully submitted, Margaret Provost
