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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2001)
Smoke Signals SPECIAL SECTION - JULY 1, 2001 Ed Larsen My Dear Tribal Members: Hil For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ed Larsen. Once again, I come to ask for your support. I am asking you to vote for me for Tribal Council. Below are some of a few reasons I think you should: 1.) I have almost nine years experience. I am just finishing up my third consecutive term. The last two as your Tribal Council Vice-Chair. I have been able to grow and change as needed to keep up with the Tribe's tremendous success and growing pains. 2. ) I am a good listener. I say this because many of you have told me this is so. I truly take it as a huge compliment that some of you had not met called me and said you had heard that if you contacted me, I would try to help. 3. ) When you call, it doesn't have to be limited to office hours. I take calls after hours and weekends. A lot of them at home. 4. ) I am a people person. I can get along with just about everybody. Probably 99.5. 5. ) This personality trait I have just mentioned has helped me build relationships not only with my fellow Tribal Council members, but out side the Tribe as well. 6. ) I have represented you on various boards and committees. Some are Tribal and some are not. Some of my involvement besides day-today matters are: ' a.) The non-Tribal are: Y-CAP of Yamhill County, Head Start of Yamhill County, SIT (Services Integration Team) of Polk County, and the Transportation Committee for COG (Council of Govern ments) for Mid-Willamette Valley. b.) The Tribal are: SMDC (Spirit Mountain Development Corpo ration), SMGI (Spirit Mountain Gaming Incorporated), SMMCI (Spirit Mountain Management and Consulting Incorporated) and a Health Authority Board member and liaison. A few things I want to see done: 1. ) Figure out a better way to answer questions from the member ship. Maybe this could be done with more community meetings. 2. ) Although we have continued to reach out further to Tribal mem bers, I think we need to explore the possibility of a satellite office. Possibly try one in the Portland or Eugene area. 3. ) Put insurance on non-Tribal spouses, no matter which spouse is the Elder. As long as one is an Elder. 4. ) Do some more research to see about getting Spirit Mountain back. 5. ) Keep a balance of programs and per capita payments so ben efits can be more equitable no matter where you live or how much you make. These are just a few of my thoughts and concerns. If you have any questions for me, feel free to call me at 503-550-9797 or 503-550-9796. I remain committed to serving you as always. This is the only prom ise I can make to you. Other things require the vote of at least five Tribal Council people. When I first ran for council almost nine years ago, I paraphrased John F. Kennedy. I said, try not to think "what can the Tribe do for me?" Instead - try to think "what can I do to help my Tribe?" Now I would like to say "you can please some of the people some of the time, you can please all the people some of the time. You can even please some of the people all the time. But you can't please all the people all the time." I thank you for your time to read this. If you don't know me, maybe we can meet at the candidate forum in July. I ask you to be sure to register to vote. Hopefully when you vote one will be for me. Thank you. Yours truly, Ed Larsen Renaldo (Quinelle) Minjarez Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, My name is Renaldo (Quinelle) Minjarez. I am a Tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, member 962. I understand that one of the first questions on everyone's mind is "what family are you from?" hence (Quinelle). My mother was Charlotte Quinelle, daughter of Leonard Jo seph Quinelle and Lizzette Warren. My fa ther was Ricardo Jacoba Minjarez, son of Gertrude Perry and Edward Minjarez. I was raised by my grandmother Gertrude Perry (Walla WallaModoc?), daughter of Edward Perry (Walla Walla) and Madlene Thomason (Modoc?). Okay! Enough of the family tree! I have been and remain, and always will be an active advocate for the Native American, American Indian, Indigenous People, regardless of the term preferred, "our community." I was raised with the longhouse Washat religion and learned the meaning of family and community. My grandmother was a mover in the urban struggles of Native Americans primarily in the Portland, Oregon area. Which accounts for me starting young in the issues of "cultural preservation," and the plight of the "Ur ban Indian Organization," this ranged from cultural preservation, social services, emergency assistance programs, housing development, com munity development to ICWA and family advocacy. What are my issues in this election campaign? Logically my issues are your issues. A primary responsibility of mine, as it should be for others, is to bring your voice to the ears of the Tribal Council and to advocate nbt only verbally, but assist in the develop ment of proposals to present your issues in a more empowering man ner. The fundamental truth is that the Tribal Council will not OK or resolve every issue, however this just means we look at other alterna tives to address the issues. a. ) Family and community? We need to foster family unification and preservation. Family and community should be approached in the same manner, as the children are our future, so are we the future of our parents now Elders in our community. As we ask of children so should we follow those instructions to fulfill a responsibility, and honor to see that the needs of our community are met now and in the future. As a family (community) we need to support our youth and Elders through empowerment programs and continue leadership programs. b. ) Tribal programs and services? The Tribe as a whole has done a phenomenal job. However, we need to support and empower all our programs so that they can meet the vast needs of our community, and see that they reach their optimal capacity utilizing every possible means to meet this objective. c. ) Quality of living? We need to see that quality of living is met in our community. d. ) Casino and timber? We need to ask the questions "What if we did not have the timber and casino anymore? What would we do?" By asking the question now, we should look at other economical strategies to insure the future of our Tribe in the worst case scenario. Education: National Technical School (Los Angeles, CA) - Computer Technologies Grantsmanship Center - Grant Writing Portland Community College (Portland, OR.) - GED - Micro Computer Applications - Business Computers - Accounting Roosevelt High (Portland, OR.), James John Elementary (Portland, OR.) Professional Roles and Positions (80's to Present): President - Portland Native American Inter-Tribal Council (lifetime membership) IncorporatorChief Executive Officer - Computer & Technology Con sultation (owner) President - American Indian Association of Portland (general mem bership) IncorporatorTreasurer - Low Income Housing for Native Americans of Portland, Oregon. Treasurer - Philippine American Chamber of Commerce (business membership) Chief Executive Officer & Chairman, Instructor - Kon-A-Way Til-Li-Kum, PC (partner)
