t I
Smoke Signals
August 1994
Tribal Life
Page 3
Candidates speak out on tribal issues, concerns
BvFrankKintr '
Bj Frank King
Twelve candidates
addressed a small audience
at the candidates forum at the
Community Center July 24.
The candidates are running
for twopositions on the Tribal
Council now held by Merle
Holmes and Candy
Robertson, were among the
speakers.
The candidates addressed
three subjects in a round
robin format:
The things that bothered
them the most about tribal
government.
The things they would like
to change.
Why they would like to be
on the tribal council.
The speakers names were
drawn by Sharon Hanson,
chairwoman of the elections
committee.
The candidates had three
minutes to answer each of the
questions.
A portion of the candidates'
statements follow:
Merle Leno: Favors
expanded tribal services
outside of the service area.
Jenness involved with
Ambassador's Program
Tribal Council member
Auiy Jenness is
representing the Tribe
through a Native American
Ambassadors' Program this
year.
Sponsored by Americans
for Indian Opportunity
(AIO), this program consists
of 22 young tribal members
from all over the united States.
The ages rangefrom25 to35.
The idea behind the
Ambassadors' Program is to
bring together current and
future tribal leaders to
network, talk about the future
of Indian tribes, government,
and meet other tribal leaders.
The members meet four
times per year.
The meetings, which are
funded through many
supporters of AIO, primarily
the Kellogg Foundation,
have been held this year at
the Makah Indian
reservation, and
Washington, D.C.
This month, Andy will
travel to Sante Fe, and the
last trip the ambassadors will
take will be to Bolivia in the
Fall
In addition to attending
"All 3,000 of us need some
services, no matter where we
live. The Tribal Council has
to stick together on issues."
Timothy Holmes:
Concerned about economic
development Recommends
increasing health services out
of the service area. "My main
concern is the rapport
between the Tribal Council
and the General Council."
Merle Holmes: Growth will
be a challenge because of the
gaming facility. Employment
will growfroml20to 500-600
people - they have to be
trained. "There are needs in
every program. We will have
to make good use of the
increased revenue." Action
is being taken to improve
communications by hiring a
specialist Holmes is in favor
of enlarging the tribal court to
"gear for growth."
Margaret Provost: The
Tribes need a more
comprehensive health clinic
and housing. "There are a lot
of sick people in our tribe
treatment should not be a
I
i . , -
Andy Jenness
these four meetings, each
ambassador must complete a
field project to present to the
group. Andy, who has always
been interested in language
preservation, is working on
documenting Chinook Jargon
for tribal members and future
generations.
Applications for the
Ambassadors' Program are
available through AIO in New
Mexico. Contact LauraHarris,
(505) 867-0278 for more
information.
Andy was recently selected
to be Treasurer by his fellow
Council members. The title is
awarded by nomination and
vote, the same as Chairman,
Vice-Chair, and Secretary.
Band-aid." She wants better
communications between the
Tribal Council, the managers
and tribal members. She is
concerned about the hiring
of tribal members, and the
process being fair.
Dean Mercier: "My main
concern is getting the
cemetery committee
organized.
He sees it a means of
fostering tribal unity. He said
that the Tribal Council's
public relations and access
to individual tribal members
should be improved by more
and better individual
contacts.
Wilbur West: He is worried
about timber resources
dwindling. He is anti
gambling, but the gaming
facility "should be run by
Indians for Indians,
particularly Grand Ronde
Indians." Information should
be promptly issued to tribal
members. Major subjects
should go before the General
Council for a vote.
June Olson: She hopes for
Deputy sheriff now on duty
Beginning August 1, there will be a full-time Polk County
deputy patrolling Grand Ronde. The Grand Ronde Tribe
reached an agreement with the Polk County Commissioners'
office where the Tribe will provide money for salary and
benefits for the deputy who will be on duty. Tribal leaders
have been interested in helping to alleviate the growing drug
and crime problem in the community. Not only is there
evidence of drug use in Grand Ronde, but many of the local
residents have been robbed. The Tribal Chemical Dependency
offices have been burglarized as well. Polk County Sheriffs
Office is based in Dallas. The office's 1 3 patrol officers havent
been enough to cover such a wide rural area. This new deputy
will patrol tribal and non-tribal lands.
J IN 1
;- r
,4 V" A 49.. f
lit
f . . , Vy ,,
From left: Sheriff Steele, Deputy Wolf, Chip
Tom, Polk County Undersheriff Barbara
Runyon, and John Mercier.
tribal unity. She is concerned
about benefit disparity
between the people in the
service area and those at a
distance. "As you live farther
away, your benefit package
dwindles." She said the
system fosters an "us against
them" attitude. She stressed
that the Tribal Council has to
be responsive to the general
membership through better
information practices and
organizational structure,
Matthew Kirkland:
Emphasized a pro-active
approach to tribal
management. He is in favor of
the strategic plan being
developed. "We like to be
informed, to have the freedom
of access to information." He
believes that tribal members
should have the opportunity
to meet individually, in a good
environment, with individual
Council members.
Candy Robertson: She
would continue to press for
good economic development
and creation of jobs due to
the gaming facility. "Training
will be provided for several
thousand people. That will
result in further education
opportunities and housing."
She said that more
information will go to tribal
members by publishing
Smoke Signals twice instead
of once a month. She said the
current Tribal Council and
staff will be able to
communicate more
effectively.
Joyce Kirk: She said that with
the new gaming center the
Tribes have to be financially
accountable to make self
governance work. "More
information should be made
available to the Gneral
Council through the tribal
newsletter." She wants to be
more involved in the decision
making process.
Bob Mercier: "We don't have
tribal participation. We need
to reach out to the people to
see how this tribe should be
run." He favors a health
program that would cover all
tribal members. He suggested
that the discussion of future
Staff member selected for
grant panel
A tribal employee was
recently selected by a federal
agency to serve on a grant
review panel. Constance
Albrecht, the tribal
grantsperson, was selected
by the Administration for
Native Americans to
participate on the panel.
The Administrations for
Native Americans (ANA) is
an agency within the
Department of Health and
Human Services. ANA
specializes in giving grants
to Indian Tribes and
organizations with the
purpose of encouraging
Tribes to become self
governing and self-sufficient
The Grand Ronde tribe has
received one ANA grant for
development of a land use
code, and will likely receive
another one in the near future
for the Tribal Housing
Program.
ANA recendy began a new
grant program aimed at
assisting tribes in dealing
with environmental issues.
For example, a grant might be
given to a tribe for developing
tribal ordinances for water
protection or waste disposal.
benefits include a retirement
plan for tribal members.
ReynLeno: "There isabarrier
between the General Council
and the Tribal Council. Every
concern should be
addressed." He believes that
the governmental process
should be reorganized so that
controversial issues -go
before the General Council.
He said that currently, tribal
members are not able to
provide input on important
actions taken by the tribal
council until after the fact.
Election Notice
'Election for new
Tribal Council
members will be
Sept. 10, 1994.
At the Tribal
Community Center,
Grand Ronde.
Polling hours are 9
a.m. to 6 p.m.
According to Ms. Albrecht,
they were looking for people
to help the agency review
grant applications fortius new
program. Ms. Albrecht has
had extensive experience in
the governmental field,
including working with a tribe
in Idaho to set up their
environmental programs, and
decided toapply for the review
panel.
Ms. Albrecht spent July 1 1 -15
in Washington, D.C.
participating in the panel, with
ANA paying all of her travel
costs. She said, "It was quite
interesting to see the diversity
of environmental problems
on Indian lands and to
evaluate the diversity of
programs proposed by the
tribes and tribal organizations
to solve those problems. We
put in a lot of hours reading
and scoring applications, and
writing up suggestions for
improvement in case they
wish to apply again."
Ms. Albrecht also said, "It
was also a good education in
grant writing for me, which
will help in writing future
grants for ANA and other
agencies."