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 .