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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 1998)
nR.CULU. IE 78 .06 mmmm, mm S6& August 15, 1998 f? v (0) "I r7 LI Li vy LiXU S0 Ik try A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe Umpqua Molaila Rogue River Kalapuya Chasta Council considers input from meetings By Oscar Johnson After a string of long-anticipated meetings in Portland, Salem, Eugene, Grand Ronde and Bend, member votes on future tribal spending are in and tallied, directing Council to make Elder pension, education and health security programs top priorities. In a July 31 rap-up session follow ing the last community meeting in Bend, Grand Ronde Council and staff studied voting results and shared in sights on the public forums which were the first to be held outside of Grand Ronde in more than two years. Nearly 30 Central Oregon mem bers at last month's community meet ing in Bend made the journey from surrounding areas such as Prineville and Warm Springs Indian Reserva tion casting most of their votes for the pension and Member Benefit plans as well as a tribal credit union. " Council members said the meetings were a positive experience and suc cessful in garnering valuable input from members, leading the govern ing body to unanimously opt for more frequent member forums. In the future, Council hopes to hold similar meetings every six months to a year with the next round set tenta tively for next April. "I like going there and meeting the people. We came out of the meet ings with a lot of good ideas we had not thought about," said Council Vice Chairman, Ed Larsen. "Of course we'll still be waiting for those write ins from people who were not able to attend the meetings." Council also noted how the major ity of members voiced support for paying into stable, more comprehen sive services and long-term invest ment over whittling away tribal rev enues through member benefit dis bursements. Despite this vocal support, how ever, when the votes were tallied members showed that the modest an nual payouts rank No. 4 (receiving 68 votes) out of 13 categories. Education and health security re spectively are the second and third most important programs to voters while Elder pension was deemed the No. 1 priority for tribal spending with 94 votes. About 100 attendees of the five meetings voted, casting seven lots each for a minimum of three catego ries, gave input on behalf of the Tribe's 4,130 members. Of all the new programs and projects suggested at the five meet ings, opening a tribal credit union received the most support, ranking as the sixth most important priority with 58 votes. Noting the large task of starting a financial institution, at last month's Members' top priorities from community meetings Grand Ronde .... 21 ...... Program Portland Salem Eugene Elder's Pension 21 7 ...18 ... Education 29 4. Health Security 20 4 . Member Benefit 19........... 7 . Housing 18 4. Credit Union 16 6. Grand Ronde Infrastructure .. 0 11 .18 .18 .14 .11. .13 .13 19. 12. .9.. 19. .3.. 13. Additional Timber Lands...... 15........ 0 7 ................. 6 . Bend ...27 ... ...13... ...23 ... ...19... ...11 ... ...20 ... ....0.... ....0.... rap-up meeting Council committed to exploring the idea further. Council Secretary, Ed Pearsall, also recom mended looking into whether or not it would be more feasible for the Tribe to join an already existing credit union. Mindful of their obligation to meet members concerns, Council also hopes that some criticism from what attendance at recent meetings showed are a vocal minority, can be addressed by increased public awareness. Member questions about voting on decisions affecting the Tribe, limit ing of programs to the Six County Ser vice Area, and increasing the Mem ber Benefit Fund are some of the is sues that Council members may look to mediums such as Smoke Signals, additional public meetings or an ombudsperson to address. Tribal officials believe it is vital for members to know that some tribal de cisions do not allow time for a public vote; and that the limiting federally funded programs to the Six County Service Area is mandated by the state. They also said increased mem ber benefits could draw negative pub licity to the Tribe in its legislative struggles for more timber lands or to maintain gaming rights. "Members need to be educated on how things work," explains Larsen who concedes that the Tribe might also need an ombudsperson to help meet such needs. "People keep saying we need to involve them more but it works both ways they need to call up and let us know what their needs are." TOTALS 94 ...... 83 77 68 63 58 37 28 Candidates answer tough questions On August 1, the Election Board held a Candidates' Forum for tribal members who wanted to ask Tribal Council can didates questions about significant tribal issues. Smoke Signals has re printed some of the questions and an swers for the benefit of members who could not attend. Seven of the ten can didates were able to attend the Forum. Why are you running, what is your agenda? Barbara Lake: My agenda is firstly Indian Child Welfare. Our program needs a lot of work. There are things that fall through the cracks, and our children suffer because of it. And that was the main issue for me. GeneLaBonte: My main thing is chil dren and education. Many of our mem bers dip into their Trust Fund in order to go to college. I think we should fur nish tribal members with an education so they don't have to dip into their Minor Trust Fund. Our children could have that dividend as a nest egg for them when they grow up, and shouldn't have to use it for school. Ken Gregg: My agenda is a question of the people. I don't know if it is a question of apathy on the part of our tribal members, or if it is by design by any one singular group. I feel the con trol of the Tribe needs to go to the people, not any one individual. I am not blaming anyone for the direction the Tribe has taken, but we are just a decade of broken promises by our fed eral government with our treaty prob lems. We still suffer from that. I don't want to see the same thing from our own people. We don't want to see a welfare system here. When it comes to sharing the wealth with our people, it is their right. They do want some thing out of it. We are not able to com municate well with people. At this continued on page 3 Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde xiJ Community of Oregon 9615 Grand Ronde Road Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347 Address Service Requested University or ureUu" , Received on: QB-ib-w Smoke signals PRESORTED FIRST-CLASS MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID SALEM, OR PERMIT NO. 178 . i fcl fTO l EV -- il MtTi hVt . il -J .1 U .11 ill t Jt .
