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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' '
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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-