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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1998)
May 15, 1998 Opinion 5 Survey to be mailed to tribal households Grand Ronde tribal member Elaine LaBonte Moon, a student at the University of California Davis will be conducting a survey of tribal mem bers for a research project. The survey will be mailed to tribal households shortly. Part of her project involves analyzing contem porary tribal values and practices as they relate to natural resources. Everyone who returns a com pleted survey will be entered into a drawing for $75, and the first 50 surveys received will be en tered in to a special early bird drawing of $50. Watch for the survey in the mail. If you have any questions, please contact Greg Archuleta at the tribal offices at 1-800-422-0232, ext. 2250. n- , til rt : ii l; ii i 'ittl SMOKE SIGNALS 9615 Grand Ronde Road Grand Ronde, Or 97347 Internet e-mail addresses: tracynewsmacnet.com klmnewsmacnet.com Editor: TRACY DUGAN (503) 879-2254 Graphics 8C News Coordinator: KIM MUELLER (503) 879-2264 1-800-422-0232 FAX: (503) 879-2263 Members of the Native American Journalist Association and the Associated Press. SUBMISSIONS FROM OUR READERS: SMOKE SIGNALS, a publication of the Confeder ated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Or egon, is publised twice a month. We have established an Editorial Policy to encourage input from readers about stories printed in SMOKE SIGNALS, as well as other tribal Issues. However, all letters must be received at the newspaper office with author's signa ture, address, and phone number in order to be con sidered for publication. 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 re flect the opinions of SMOKE SIGNALS, tribal em ployees, or Tribal Council. UPCOMING DEADLINES: Wednesday, May 20, 1998 Friday, June 5, 1998 O Printed on recycled paper. Letters to The family of Esther LaBonte Borquez would like to express our thanks and much appreciation for all of the help and kindness shown to Les LaBonte during his illness and recent death. All of you who helped him gave a tremendous amount of time and an abundance of love and care. We wish to thank those of you who prepared food and provided help during the day of the funeral. Words cannot express our deepest appreciation for all that you did for Les. Thank you, Esther LaBonte Borquez - Roll 2135 To the Editor and tribal members: After reading a letter to the Editor from my Aunt Sanda (Langley) Henny, I was encouraged to ex press my feelings to my people. I remember when all the wonderful things that currently exist for our Tribe, did not. Remember back to when our Tribe was not recognized we had no insurance, no benefits, no Casino, we had only ourselves. I currently live out of state. Two years ago my father passed away. Without the help of Council, I could never have come home to be with my family. The only way we can accomplish what seems to be the impossible is for us all to stick together with one spirit. We must not wallow in our selfishness but stand together and support those who work so hard to help us all. Complaining does not make our problems lessen. It causes us to pull apart as a people. Help come forward with suggestions. It is not the Council's job alone, to find all the solutions. It is ours as a whole. Our Council members do have to work in the confines of the Federal Government. When you are unsatisfied with what is happening with the Council, you may run yourself or elect new Council members. You have the right to vote on your state representatives, members of Congress, and Senators. I want to say that I stand behind the Tribal Coun cil and all of you at Spirit Mountain. Thank you for your continued support and hard work! Elizabeth Langley - Tribal Roll 2334 Crownsville, MD the Editor Dear Editor: I attended the General Council meeting on May 3. I noticed that our Tribal Council seems to be between a rock and a hard place when it comes to addressing some complaints. I see our Tribal Coun cil as a body of elected officials whose job is to make policies and decisions on behalf of the Grand Ronde Tribe. Because of this we have many ser vices available to us, if needed. The big difference between our government and the U.S. government is that U.S. politicians are able to divorce themselves from the people they serve. And I am sure there are many reasons for that. But one, I know, is so they don't become emotionally involved. Given the dynamics of the Grand Ronde Tribe, our Council is unable and probably unwilling to do that. Hence the struggle from individual complaints to not get emotionally involved and feel personally attacked. I believe our Council should not have to deal with individual complaints about services. I have needed services from nearly all programs the Tribe has to offer, and my treatment over past years has been consistently fair. I attribute this fact to my treating people who provide these services with respect, a little patience on my part, and the will ingness to do the footwork. No one owes me a dime! The Tribe provides services to lend a helping hand, not a handout. And through our own hard work, with some tribal sup port we can learn and develop ways to support our selves and our families. It's easy to blame others for our problems. I know because I used to do it. Since I decided to take responsibility for myself and my actions (or inaction) through my own hard work and support services from the Tribe, I have become a produc tive member of this community. And as for Council giving themselves a raise, we should remember that they are working for us, and the amount and type of work required by them is growing continuously. We should support them in the same way we want them to support us. Sincerely, Christine Contreras Roll 3431 ( BRICK SALE HAPPENING AGAIN Ni I Have your family name or the name of a loved one engraved I on a brick which will be laid at the clinic entrance. I The Health and Human Services Committee is again offering bricks for sale which will be at the new Health I and Wellness Center. The brick(s) will bear the name of your choosing. Last year, many who purchased ' bricks thought that the names had to be "in memory" of a loved one who had passed away. Actually, the ' J name of any person or family you wish to recognize can be placed on the bricks for all to see. Remember, J the names are limited to 40 CHARACTERS AND SPACES, with 20 spaces per line. This includes spaces J between names, all punctuation, commas, and apostrophes. There are no spaces in between the letters, J just between the words. An example of a family brick with two lines might be: Mike and Joann Smith (20 letters and spaces) , and family (10 letters and spaces) i A payment of $50 per brick must accompany the form. The deadline is Friday, August 7, 1 998. ! I wish to purchase brick(s) and have the following name(s) engraved on it: j Please cut out this form and mail it with your check to: Diane Lane or Bernadine Shriver Grand Ronde Tribe, Health and Human Services Committee, P.O. Box 97, Grand Ronde, OR 97347 i
