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