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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1999)
Smoke Signals 2 TirSIbe spomsors-.Fiuirse TeloineirBTieratt dinliiniGr On March 20, the Tribe co-sponsored a dinner at the Portland Hilton in honor of retired Congresswoman . Elizabeth Furse. Furse and her hus band, John Piatt, were each given blankets with the Tribe's logo, simi lar to the coverlets on the beds in the rooms at Spirit Mountain Lodge. Before she was elected to Con gress, Furse advocated for the fed eral restoration of Oregon tribes, and was the Restoration Coordinator for Grand Ronde. She also helped re store the Siletz Tribe. The evening presenters were Senator Mark 0. Hatfield (R-Ret.) and Oregon First Lady, Sharon Kitzhaber. Other guests included council members from the Warm Springs, the Cow Creek Band of Umpquas, Governor John Kitz haber, and Congressman David Wu, (D) who won Furse's seat in Oregon's 1st District. Eagle Beak Drum also performed some songs during the reception for Furse. K h H) I' ' ' . ! If v.V From left: Jeannette McGarry; Elizabeth Furse; Intergovernmental Affairs Lobbyist, Justin Martin; Council Chair, Kathryn Harrison; John Piatt; and Executive Officer, Ted Mala. , Photo by Tracy Dugan University museum receives Community Fund grant BXA funding, continued The Grand Ronde Tribe, through the Spirit Mountain Community Fund, has awarded $250,000 to Wil lamette University for the Native American Gallery at the university's Hallie Ford Museum of Art. The Hallie Ford Museum of Art opened in September to rave re views, especially for its Northwest collection of Indian baskets. The Native American Gallery also in cludes contemporary art. The Hallie Ford Museum serves both Willamette students and the general public. In honor of this gift, the Native Ameri can Gallery will be named the Con federated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Gallery. "As a Tribe that was once termi nated," said Council Chair Kathryn Harrison, "being able to help sup port the museum takes on special meaning. We never thought we would be able to -do something like this. Many of our Elders will be able to view this basket collection." The Spirit Mountain Community Fund is the result of the Tribe's com pact agreement with the State of Or egon. Each year, the Tribe gives six percent of its profits from Spirit Mountain Casino to the Community Fund for grants to deserving com munity projects and organizations in an 11-county area. Tribal community msGiistos The Tribal Council has asked the Bureau of Indian Affairs to conduct a vote of the tribal membership to amend the Tribe's Constitution with regard to tribal enrollment requirements. A series of tribal community meetings are scheduled to discuss the proposed amendment. The pro cess necessary to amend the Constitution will also be discussed, includ ing the requirements for registering Tribal members for this special BIA election. Community reeling eclicclub G 12 (xOncf 3 Monday, April 19 st 5:30 p.m. Tribal Community Center Thursday, April 22 at 6:30 p.m. Doubletree Motel , .32S0 G2tc'2y Read- . Monday, April 26 st 5:30 p.m. Swcctbrier Inn Thursday, April 29 at 5:30 p.m. River House Resort ..... , 3075 N. Hwy97 , 66 They have not taken Into account the fact that ; this tribe has been terminated for 29 years. Those are 29 years those funds were not received." Janell Haller Self-Determination Coordinator Continued from front page Whether Grand Ronde or other tribes give up federal funds will de pend on several things. Not the least of these are how much say they will have in where the money goes and what guaran tees they have lawmakers will not try to use a tribe's ability to forfeit funds one year as an excuse to deny them the next. BIATribal Workgroup officials ar gue that redistributing the scant fed eral dollars set aside for tribal pro grams is no solution. They say report findings show an overall increase in funding for In dian Country and distributing larger shares of the new funds to less fortunate tribes would be a better solution. But Pearsall believes that even adopting a policy that allows only future funding increases to be dis tributed on a poor triberich tribe basis might lock tribes into future unwanted deals. Td rather not buy into it," Pearsall said. "It opens up the door for some thing else down the road." Currently, the amount of TPA fed eral dollars allocated is determined by what individual tribes calculate, to be their program needs, less how much of the costs they can cover through other sources. The remain ing "unmet need" is supposed to be covered by the federal government, Haller said. But she says last year the Tribe had to come up with an extra $683,000 to cover such unmet needs. Revenue from Spirit Mountain Casino is what enabled the Tribe to cover additional program costs. But this does not mean the Tribe can afford it. "Right now the majority of casino revenue is going into endowment funds that will eventually sustain these programs indefinitely," Haller said. - She says if the Tribe has to con tinue covering unmet program needs it will not be able to maintain the same level of services for things such as road repair; scholarships and In dian Child Welfare. "They have not taken into account the fact that this tribe has been ter minated for 29 years. Those are 29 years those funds were not re ceived," said Haller. She feels the Bureau's request is based more on popular myth about Indian casinos than it is financial fact. "Where are they getting their data? If they are saying the casino makes us one of the wealthiest tribes, we didn't sub mit any data.""" T-
