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November 1, 1995 SMOKE SIGNALS
Letters to the Editor
To the People of the Confederated Tribes
of the Grand Ronde:
I would like to thank the People of Grand Ronde for open
ing your community to me.
It has now been eight months since I was welcomed into
your community and given the opportunity to bring you
the services of Vocational Rehabilitation Division.
It's hard to find the words to express my gratitude for the
warmth and kindness you have shown me in providing me
with work space, support services, and most importantly
the sense of being a part of your community.
I also want to congratulate Grand Ronde on having your
own Rehabilitation Program approved and the staff hired.
I look forward to continuing my work here at Grand
Ronde and with tribal members and their families in the
Salem area, working side by side with the Grand Ronde
counseling staff.
Respectfully,
Georgia Isaia
Rehabilitation Counselor
Dear Friends:
I would like to find any and all information possible on
"Old Chief John" of the Applegates on the Rouge River.
Also, any information possible on his daughter, Kitty
Metcalfe. I would be very interested in where these two
people are buried.
1 am trying to find this information as our family is re
lated to Chief John. He would be my great-great-greatgrandfather
through Kitty Metcalfe and her daughter, Ellen.
I have family photos of Ellen Metcalfe Gilliam.
I absolutely do not approve of what Robert Metcalfe did
when he was the Indian Agent at Siletz. It was the most
deplorable thing that he could do. Also by taking his daugh
ters away from their mother (Kitty) and telling them that
she was dead was also despicable. If I remember right one
of her daughters found out later that she had lived for sev
eral years after that. Did she remarry and have another
family? What happened to her? I have the family history
for all three daughters: Ellen, Winnifred, and Mary if any
one would be interested.
Thank you very much for your time.
An Indian Sister,
Reva J. Moen
1445 Railroad Blvd., Space 15, Eugene, OR 97402
To all tribal members:
I received our Smoke Signals with the election returns
and I am shocked! With over 3,000 members, only a little
over 600 voted! ' 4 ' 1
Do the rest of you care that the ones living on the reser
vation are making all the choices where our land and mon
ies are concerned?
I, for one, feel that if the land, timber, and casino are
going the benefit the very, very few, then we'd better start
now to disband the Tribe. Why should a few prosper on
what should be for the whole Tribe?
A true Indian is for his whole tribe, not for himself, friends,
and family. We should be united as one, and share all things
equally.
I think it is way past time to write our senators and con
gressmen. I, for one, have done so, asking them to check
into our Tribe and find out exactly where our monies are
going, to stop all government aid to our Tribe, to shut down
the casino, so we're not making a very few members richer.
I did write our Council chairman to get answers to these
1 J questions and have bd&fi told "when time allows." It's been
over five months and time has run out. If my Tribe won't
take the time to answer my questions, I know the govern
ment will.
All of you who feel the way I do should write your con
gressman and senator.
Why should we be left out just because we're not in the
six county area? We're still members, we're paying our tax
dollars to help support our Tribe, and we're getting nothing
in return.
I'm fed up. Our land and monies should be all for one, or
none for all. So write now and demand changes, demand
our rights.
Thank you,
Vonnie Edmondson, Roll 105
Future housing
in Grand Ronde;
applications available
The Housing Department is encouraging any low or
moderate income tribal member who is interested in
either renting or buying a home on tribal land in the
Grand Ronde community to complete an application.
Application forms will be available on Monday, No
vember 13 at the Housing Department in the Public
Works building. Although there are no homes avail
able at this time, it is important to get on the waiting
list as soon as possible.
The Tribe will soon have its own Housing Author
ity. In order to qualify for funds to build new housing,
the Housing Authority will have to show how many
homes are needed. This need will be demonstrated by
the number of names on the waiting list. Homebuyers
and renters will be selected according to their place on
the waiting list, and then they will need to meet certain
other qualifications which have not yet been determined.
If you have previously submitted an application
to the Housing Department, you must still apply for
this new housing with a separate application. The
applications currently on file only apply to down pay
ment assistance and housing repair programs.
If you are interested in buying a home, even if you
do not feel you would qualify due to high monthly mort
gage payments, you should apply. The HUD programs
that may be available to the Housing Authority are in
novative and include subsidies for homebuyers to make
the homes affordable.
Elders are especially encouraged to apply. For an
application or more information, tribal members should
call the Housing Department at (503) 879-2401, or 1-800-422-0232,
extension 2401.
Chairman responds to
member's concerns
By Mark Mercier
The letter from tribal member Vonnie Edmondson printed
in this edition of Smoke Signals has a number of confusing
and misleading statements in it. Tribal Council and the
Smoke Signals staff feel that some of these statements should
be answered.
Ms. Edmondson writes that she is shocked at the voter
turnout for this past Tribal Council election. Although there
are more than 3,000 tribal members, only about 2,000 are
old enough to vote. There are many children in the Grand
Ronde Tribe. This election, over 600 participated that's
about 30 of those eligible. Although we wish this num
ber were higher, it was still the biggest turnout of voters
ever. Additionally, more than half of the votes were made
by absentee ballots. That suggests that people who live
away from the reservation are participating and making
decisions.
Ms. Edmondson goes on to express fear that the casino
and timber dollars will only benefit a few tribal members.
First of all, the casino has only been open for a few days. It
will take several months before we can tell how profitable
it will be. Tribal Council met this week to discuss the 1996
budget and make long-term spending plans for the Tribe
and all of its members.
No one will get rich from the casino; Tribal Council will
plan how to spend the Tribe's dollars to benefit all the mem
bers fairly and equitably.
Ms. Edmondson is also unhappy about how federal dol
lars coming into the Tribe are spent. As Smoke Signals has
mentioned on many occasions, the Six County Service
Area is a requirement mandated by Congress at the re
quest of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Tribal Council
knows many members are unhappy with this limitation. But
it should be clear that the service area is not something
the Tribe invented to deprive tribal members who live
far away from the reservation. It is something the Tribe
had to do in order to get any federal dollars at all.
Furthermore, the Tribe has already notified Indian Health
Service and the Bureau of Indian Affairs that it plans to
expand its service area for provision of federally funded
services.
Finally, Ms. Edmondson states in her letter that the Tribe
should be terminated once again and that all members should
write their senators and congresspeople to make this hap
pen. Under the Tribe's constitution, that is a decision only
the general membership can make. We have never accepted
that Congress has a right to terminate this tribe without the
consent of its people.
The 1954 Western Oregon Termination Act, which took
away the federal government's recognition of the Tribe as
a sovereign nation, was a terrible blow to the self-esteem
and well being of Grand Ronde tribal members. One thing
the people decided after restoration was that it must never
happen again. If Ms. Edmondson is committed to the Tribe
in any way, she will respect its constitution and bring her
request for disbanding the Tribe before the general mem
bershipnot to Congress. Tribal Council has received no
such request for her to do so.
As tribal chairman, I know that many members have
questions about the future. Please remember that Tribal
Council is trying to plan for the future of the Tribe and all
of its members, not just a few.