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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2002)
Committee Feature Pow-wow continued from front page "Recently I've had people emailing me," said Mercier. "They want to know about the events, especially the drumming contests. Drums want to come here." Prizes for the drumming and dancing are at tracting more people. Last year a group of drum mers from New Mexico made the long drive up to Oregon. One person called from Louisiana wanting to know how to accommodate him or herself and 12 family members for the Pow-wow. "Our name has made itself across the coun try," Mercier added. "We're trendsetters." He could very well be right. Already they've had to cut back drastically on the number of vendors. They can pick and choose vendors now and have done away with the swap meet stuff altogether. Only quality Native goods now. "Vendors are very difficult to deal with," said Mercier. "You have to deal with electricity, and space, and even politics." And of course vendors are ultimately only part of the attraction. The committee must decide what events will take place and when, juggling the drumming and dancing contests with vet erans, royalty and guest speakers. The Pow-wow Commit tee clearly takes great pride in its job, which ex plains why they've con templated other ideas that likely will increase their workload, like bringing a stick game tournament. Or possibly constructing an amphitheater, or maybe even recruiting more international indig enous groups, much like a Maori group that showed up ten years ago. "This just benefits the whole community," said Ainam. "The Lodge gets booked up, and the casino definitely gets a surge in business." B A ' ( Young Dancer - People of all ages love to come to the Grand Ronde Annual Pow-wow. This young dancer participated in the 2002 pow-wow. The Tribe's pow-wow has grown every year and is now one of the biggest on the West Coast attracting dancers and drummers from all over the country. Education Committee BACKGROUND: The Tribal Education Committee was founded in 1986 via the Educa tion Committee Ordinance. The original intent of its establishment was to create a body that could act in an advisory capacity to Tribal Coun cil regarding educational issues. They meet the first Monday of every month. PEOPLE INVOLVED: A six (6) person body staffs the committee. Like most every other com mittee, when vacancies open, potential members must submit applications stating reason for in terest and are ultimately appointed by Tribal ,4 "Sky High" A bird's eye view of theTribe's new education complex in Grand Ronde. Council. The position is paid. Tribal member Candy Robertson is the present chair. MEMBERS: David DeHart, Fred McGee, Joann Mercier, Patsy Pullin, Candy Robertson (Chair), Marie Schmidt. One seat is vacant. FUNCTION: The Education Committee has gone through plenty of evolution during its nearly 20-year existence, taking on new objec tives and duties, and upholding the original in tents. Either way its main function is still as an advisory body, identifying the educational needs of Tribal members, and developing policies and procedures for the Tribe as a whole. "What we first wanted to do," explained Robertson, who has been involved with the com mittee for almost its entire life. "We wanted to find out what students wanted. We wanted to know how to make education easier." Yet that was more easily said than done then, and still is now. Their duties are many. The committee works with council and with the Edu cation division setting educational goals for mem bership, monitoring state and federal legislation that affects Indian education, recommending conferences, seminars, and workshops that might benefit interested Tribal members. They also help council in researching all available edu cational scholarships, grants and funding sources. They also are responsible for the annual re view of educational program activities, accept ing suggestions and proposing revisions. The committee works with council to draft educational policies and make sure that those implemented are consistent with Tribal priorities and federal requirements. And last but definitely not least they conduct hearings on formal education ap peals, grievances and complaints filed by appli cants and recipients. And all those of course are just the duties of the Education Committee. As Robertson ex plained, the bigger issues confronting commit tee members today are those dealing with aware ness and communication. Plenty of opportuni ties exist for Tribal members living far away, J ' V; I l tCEHBHG2j Ml'" urn. .;.. iUn t but making that known is a genuine task. The recent success and financial independence of many Tribes nationwide also makes federal funding less every year, giving even more im portance to the Tribe for Tribal members seek ing higher education. Robertson would also like to see the Tribe have more say in regional educational issues, perhaps even getting members on local school boards, and making more education services like tutor ing and career advising available to students in local high schools and colleges. "I think we definitely need more communica tion between schools with Tribal concerns," she said. That really is it: the issues. More than any thing the Education Committee is about issues, she said. And to keep well informed on those is quite possibly the hardest thing. H Elders9 Committee BACKGROUND: July 14, 1993 marked the birth of Grand Ronde's Elders' Committee when Tribal Council officially passed the Elders' Com mittee Ordinance. PEOPLE INVOLVED: As per the original or dinance, the committee was designed to have seven (7) members, one of whom should be a Tribal Council member. Tribal Elder Val Grout fills that particular slot. Tribal Council appoints members to two (2) year terms. Tribal Elder Louise Medeiros serves as chair. MEMBERS: Arlene Beck Secretary), Ruby Bigoni (Vice Chair), Cheri Butler, Donna Casey, Clarice Ellison, Val Grout, and Louise Medeiros (Chair). FUNCTION: Given that the Tribe places a good deal of emphasis and reverence on its El- SED ders, this committee was established to oversee Elders' activities, from the mealsite to annual trips to just fostering a healthy community for the aged. It is, as Chairperson Medeiros main tains, "a full-time job." First and foremost of the committee's duties is the research and recruitment of Tribal members who qualify for Elder status, which are basi cally all members over the age of 55. The com mittee would like to lure those Elders to Grand Ronde and the assortment of services available to them by right. "We have Elders out there with concerns," says Medeiros. "They just don't know what's out there for them. There's so many benefits and they just don't know it." Elders continued on next page
