Smoke Signals
Diana George
This will reflect a
brief history of Diana
George; daughter of
Alberta Riggs George
and Lloyd A. George
Sr.; granddaughter of
Lena Norwest Riggs
Bobb and Levis L.
Riggs and a proud di
rect descendant of
Chief Solomon Riggs. I
grew up in Grand
Ronde with a large ex
tended family. Our
family has and remains highly involved in our Tribal
community with a powerful commitment to ensure
our Tribes continued success towards our goal of
self-sufficiency.
My education includes an A.S. degree in Law Enforcement-Corrections
and continued classes at Or
egon State University working towards a B.A. de
gree in Native American Law and Government.
My work experience began in 1975 as a manpower
counselor for the Urban Indian Program. In 1976,
I hired on with the State of Oregon at the Women's
Correctional Center until 1985, when I took a four
year break and was offered the position of our Tribe's
first education specialist, sharing an office with our
housing coordinator and general manager at the
cemetery where we used portable heaters to stay
warm and shared the outside facilities. We have
come a long way from those humble beginnings but
the memories of those days are precious and irre
placeable. In 1987, 1 took a position as the aca
demic tutor for Chemawa Indian School, leaving in
1989 to return to the Oregon State Penitentiary as
a counselor. I will retire from this position in Sep
tember. I was hired part-time at the casino in Sep
tember 1995 as a shift supervisor in the Table
Games department, transferring in 1996 to the po
sition of our casino's executive host, where I remain
today.
Tribal involvement includes working for the CETA
Manpower Program in 1974, which gave our people
the opportunity for training to enhance their chance
for employment. In 1989-1991, 1 served as a mem
ber and Chairperson of the Grand Ronde Develop
ment Corporation which is now known as Spirit
Mountain Development Corporation (SMDC). In
1991-1992, 1 served as a member and focus group
leader for our Community Health Council which
was the process for our community's participation
and input for our future health clinic. In August
1999, 1 was appointed by our Tribal Council to serve
on the new Board of Commissioners for the Health
Authority.
I am aware that our Tribe faces many issues of
concern and unfortunately space does not allow me
to address them in any depth. We need to prioritize
our needs of health care, Elders, housing, educa
tion, Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), our Veter
ans and others. We have made progress in some of
these areas, but we need to have continuous follow
up and an evaluative process in order to measure
our success and where and what we need to do to
continually improve. There is an area of deep con
cern that I would like to touch upon and that would
be the need to set in place a viable mentorintern
program for our Tribal members who work at our
casino and for the Tribe. If a member is willing to
continue their education and training they need to
be given an avenue for upward mobility and the
opportunity to compete for those top supervisor
management positions. I would like to see this pro
gram become a reality and I am committed to doing
what needs to be done in order for that to happen.
Our Tribe has achieved much and progressed
greatly since Restoration in 1983, but there remains
a need to always look to the future and not take our
success for granted. We need to strive for excel
lence in the way we do business. If elected to serve
on Tribal Council, I believe my work ethics, my
continued
ability to deal in a forthright honest manner and
my willingness to dig-in to get the job done regard
less of what it takes, would be an asset to the over
all continued success of our Tribe. I welcome the
opportunity to participate in a candidate forum
which should be mandatory for all those nominated
for Council. If you would like to speak to me re
garding any specific issue or concerns please call
me at (503) 463-1056 or write me at P.O. Box 69,
Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347. B
Richard McKnight
. t
My name is Richard
McKnight. I am the
son of Thomas and
Elvira (Langley)
McKnight. I live in
Willamina and have
been married to my
wife Vivian for 30
years. We have three
children; Thomas,
Leanna and Jake. We
also have five wonder
ful grandchildren. I
have lived in this area
all my life except for serving in the Armed Forces
and going to Vietnam for VA years. I helped estab
lished the Fish and Wildlife Committee and served
on it for several years. I was appointed to Council
and served almost three years.
If I were elected to Council I would be open-minded
to new ideas and ways to help build the Tribe to a
better foundation. Our financial needs are in good
shape but I think we can improve on it. I know I
can help because of my honesty and working with
the Tribal Council in the past. I have a good work
ing relationship with them. I would support your
ideas and work with everyone in the whole Tribe at
my best ability.
Thank you, .
- Richard A. McKnight
If you have any questions please feel free to write
meat: . .
Richard A. McKnight
P.O. Box 571
Willamina, OR 97396
. E-mail: RMcKn55508aol.com B
::).'
Ed Pearsall
My name is Ed
Pearsall; it's time to
elect your Council rep
resentatives. I have
been a Council mem
ber for the last six
years; four years as
the Council Secretary.
As your Council Sec
retary I am excited to
have been part of the
team to witness the
growth and economic
development of the
Tribe. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
has the opportunity to guarantee that programs will
be available for all members now and for future gen
erations. Education, health insurance, retirement and the
housing program endowments need to be fully
funded. If elected, I will work to increase these pro
grams. The retirement for the Elders is a special
concern of mine. I believe the Council is working
hard to make sure our Elder's lives are as comfort
able as possible, but more dollars need to be allo
cated each year. I also support the per capita pro
gram, when the endowments are fully funded I
would support an increase in per capita. The dol
lars are coming in now; we must use them wisely.
Many people believe the casino is our window of op
portunity, let us secure our future now by invest
ing our revenue wisely.
I have been the Tribal Council liaison for the Edu
cation Committee working closely with the mem
bers and staff. I am pleased with the growth and
success of the Education Department, I also chair
the Tribal Government Management and Budget
Subcommittee and sit in on all other Tribal Council
committees. Recently, I was appointed to the Com
mission on Indian Services State of Oregon as a
commissioner representing the Tribe. I also sit on
the Board of Directors as a board member for the
Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (O.M.S.I).
The Tribe's organizational programs have grown
considerably from 100 employees to approximately
300 employees in the past six years; this is a con
cern of mine. Government growth is very expen
sive, and while needed, it should constantly be evalu
ated to see that it is meeting the needs of the Tribal
members and insuring that the program reaches
as many people as possible to be cost effective.
The Tribal Council has discussed the possibility
of a mentoring program. I support this idea and
think its time to put together the criteria necessary
to adopt it as policy. . The policy should then be in
serted into the Human Resource manual to insure
that Tribal members have the opportunity to move
up in the organization.
The Tribal Council will make many decisions. It
appears that most decisions are supported by the
Tribal members, but there are also those who will
have different opinions. The more decisions we
make, the more likely some Tribal members will
disagree with our decisions. There is nothing wrong
with disagreement it is a natural result of a
democratic process. However, the important thing
is to find a way to resolve disagreement in a way
that does not damage the Tribe. It is important
that we attack the problem not the people. While
we may occasionally disagree on particular issues,
we need to work together to achieve our common
goal, which is to help the Tribe and its members for
the future.
I strongly believe that no one Councilperson or
family should control Tribal policy and procedure.
All members should be treated equal, regardless of
where they live. I feel it is important to be consid
erate, honest, straight forward and fair. I hope
you will re-elect me as your Councilman so I may
continue serving for the benefit of all Tribal
members. B