MAY 15, 2001
Smoke Signals 5
Last General Council Meeting
Continued from front pag
DRAWINGS
Russ Leno won the Veterans' Memorial drawing for a food basket. Bessie
Burgess, Tom Leno and Rhonda Metcalf won the three drawings for $50. The
Tribe's Executive Officer Bob Martin, a Vietnam-era Veteran, won the draw
ing for $100 and donated the winnings to the Veteran's Memorial fundraising
effort. The Veterans wish to thank Bob for his generous donation.
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Royalty Drawing - Miss Grand Ronde 2000-01 Kandee Little (left) and
Royalty hopefuls Allison Empey and Brandee Little announced the winners
of the recent raffles held by the royalty girls to raise money for travel ex
penses. The Royalty girls gave away a Tribal logo Pendleton blanket and a
television at the General Council meeting.
No General Council meetings will be held throughout
the summer. They will resume in September.
STANDING OVATION:
The meeting closed with a standing ovation for Tribal Chair Kathryn Har
rison who announced earlier that she would not be seeking re-election to the
Tribal Council. Tribal members thanked Kathryn for her years of service to
the Tribe.
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Election Committee Chair Tribal member Ellen (Bean) Fischer, Chair
of the Tribal Election Committee, reminded Tribal Council candidates of the
deadline for submitting their statements to Smoke Signals for publication in
the upcoming special election issue. Candidate Statements will be published
in the July 1 edition of Smoke Signals. Election Day is set for Saturday,
September 8.
Annual Tribal Community Meetings held throughout the State
A series of community meetings were held throughout the state in April to get Tribal leadership more in touch with
the wants and needs of Tribal members living throughout the state. The first meeting was held in Tualatin, near
Portland, on Thursday, April 12 and the next meeting was held in Eugene at Lane Community College. The last of
the community meeting was held in Grand Ronde on Saturday, April 19. Just over 100 people (Tribal members and
their families) attended the three meetings this year.
Tribal staff provided the membership with overviews of the last year in each program and with updates on what
Tribal members can expect from each program this year and in the future. After the overviews, staff and participants
broke into small groups to facilitate discussion about individual programs and endowments. Tribal members in Tualatin
again asked council to consider a satellite office in the area to better serve members in Portland. Tribal members in
Eugene said they wanted to continue health benefits for non-Tribal member spouses and that they wanted benefits
to be less dependent on residence location and income. Tribal members living in the homelands of Grand Ronde
want the council to be more focused on acquiring back traditional lands and developing alternative water sources so
housing construction can continue.
"Tribal Council and Tribal staff Jelt that all three meetings were positive and productive," said Policy and Planning
Director Kim Rogers. "Currently, council and staff are in the process of reviewing information gathered from the
meetings for future program and facility planning."
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John Mercier of the Tribe's Public Works department goes
over a list of capitol improvement projects that the Tribe
has planned for the future at the Grand Ronde community
meeting.
Deputy Director of Operations
Chris Leno explains to his group
at the Grand Ronde community
meeting about the importance of
funding endowments for health,
education and Elder's benefits.
Photos by Brent Merrill
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Self-Governance Specialist Janell Haller (left) and Business Development Specialist Perri
McDaniel (right) discussed the Tribe's various endowments with participants at the com
munity meeting in Eugene. The Eugene meeting was held at Lane Community College.
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Public Works Director Eric Scott shows Tribal members at the Tualatin
community meeting the plans for the Tribe's new education complex
that will be constructed next to the Pow-wow grounds.
New Policy and Planning Director Kim Rogers
introduces himself and the other program di
rectors at the Tualatin community meeting.
Education Director Marion Mercier detailed the
accomplishments of her program throughout the
last year. Mercier told participants at the Tualatin
community meeting that she was excited to have
the new education complex being constructed in
Grand Ronde. Mercier said it will be nice to have
all the education programs in one complex.