Smoke Signals 5
JULY 1, 2004
Tribal Member Gets Nod For The Indian Summer Music Awards
Flutist Jan Michael Reibach honored for his releases "Native Blues'' and "One Heart, One Spirit."
By Peta Tinda
Grand Ronde Tribal member Jan
Michael Reibach has been chosen
as one of the nominees for the In
dian Summer Music Awards, to be
held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on
September 11, 2004.
The awards are meant to honor
the best Native American music that
has been released nationwide.
Reibach's "Native Blues" album
was nominated in the blues cat
egory and his "One Heart, One
Spirit," album was nominated in the
flute category.
He has also just signed on to a
new music label, High Spirit
Records, which is owned by Native
flute veteran Odell Borg. Reibach's
new album on the label, called,
"Looking Wolf," is scheduled for re
lease in August 2004.
Reibach's popularity as a musi
cian has grown by leaps and
bounds since he recorded his first
release, Native Blues, at his home
in Grand Meadows.
His album "Peaceful Journey" has
sold more than 9,000 copies and he
expects the success to continue.
"My music has evolved into some
thing unique," said Reibach in a re
cent interview.
It is unique, Reibach said, is be
cause he combines traditional solo
flute music with acoustic
guitars, rattles and a
classical piano.
The nominations have
brought a lot of attention
to his work, said
Reibach.
"Now I'm looking to
record on other labels,
but still retain total con
trol over my music."
The ISMA Awards will debut at
the Indian Summer Music Festival
held September 10-12 in'lilwau
kee Wisconsin.
"I feel very honored to be one of
the five nominees chosen," said
Reibach.
"I feel like it's good for the Tribe,
to get our name out there. And for
our Tribe it says a lot. When I
started, my first release I only had
about a 1,000 copies," he said.
Most of those were bought by
Tribal members and the local com
munity. From that, Reibach re-invested
in equipment.
"If it hadn't been for that first
wave of support I wouldn't have
been able to do it. It all comes back
to the Tribe if it wasn't for the
Tribe being there, I wouldn't have
my Tribal identity. Once again, I
owe it all to the Tribe."
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Public Safety Ordinance Amendments
As you may have seen from the notices in the Smoke Signals, or heard at
General or Tribal Council meetings, the Tribal Council proposed amendments
to the Public Safety Ordinance, which were approved by the Tribal Council
on June 9, 2004.
The Public Safety Ordinance was initially passed in August 2002 following
recognition by the Tribal Council of the need to protect the peace, health and
safety of people living or visiting Grand Ronde Tribal lands with the growth
of the governmental, residential and economic activities on Tribal lands. Since
Restoration in 1983, the Tribe has worked hard to create a full-service gov
ernment to protect Tribal resources, safeguard Tribal sovereignty and pro
vide services for Tribal members. The Tribe has provided opportunities for
Tribal members to return to the Grand Ronde Reservation through the de
velopment of several housing projects in Grand Ronde: Grand Meadows, Dip
Tilixam, and Chxi Musam Illihi.
The passage of the Public Safety Ordinance came after input from Tribal
government and Housing Authority staff, the Polk County Sheriffs Office
and the Tribal Court. In addition, Tribal members were invited to comment
on drafts of the Ordinance in September 2001 and June and July of 2002.
Recently, the Tribal Council proposed and passed amendments to the Pub
lic Safety Ordinance to address issues that routinely arise regarding use of
Tribal lands for campaigning activities and public demonstration activities.
As with the original passage of the Public Safety Ordinance, and as is the
case for other proposed ordinances or amendments, the Tribal membership
had the opportunity to review and comment on the recently proposed amend
ments. The Tribal Council received and considered substantive written com
ments from five members, substantive oral comments from five members
and written and oral comments limited to a request to postpone the amend
ments from 11 members.
The Tribal Council did not postpone action on the amendments because the
amendments address issues that frequently arise regarding permissible cam
paign activities on Tribal lands and reflect existing, but unwritten practice,
regarding such activities. The amendments also establish a needed policy on
procedures for public demonstration activities which include a permit re
quirement and designation of a public demonstration area. In addition, many
of the concerns raised in the comments pertained to provisions that were
already in effect and had been since the initial passage of the Ordinance and
any delay on the amendments would not have affected those provisions.
Some of the comments raised concerns about the penalties in the Ordi
nance and the possibility of the penalties placing a financial hardship on
members. The potential penalty associated with the amendments is $50;
however the primary enforcement mechanism regarding illegally placed po
litical signs will be to remove them and the primary enforcement mecha
nism for demonstrations without a permit will be to break them up. Repeat
offenders are more likely to get fined. The potential penalties of $500 or
$2,000 relate to previously existing Ordinance provisions. Such a penalty
has never been assessed since the passage of the Ordinance and would not be
assessed unless notice and opportunity to correct the violation have been
given to the person in violation and the person still refused to correct the
violation. The Ordinance also provides that an assessment of a penalty can
be reviewed by the Tribal Court.
Some of the comments questioned the "Harassment of Tribal Representa
tives" section. This section has also been part of the Ordinance since its
passage in 2002. This section was included in the Ordinance to protect the
safety of Tribal Representatives against threats, harassment, or other inap
propriate acts intended to injure, intimidate, coerce, or inhibit a Tribal Rep
resentative regarding an act or decision of the Tribal Representative in his or
her official or employment capacity.
The comments also inquired as to whether the proposed amendments re
garding political signs and public demonstrations might be more appropriate
in the Election Ordinance. The amendments are in the Public Safety Ordi
nance, rather than the Election Ordinance, because the amendments pertain
to use of Tribal lands. The Election Board is responsible for running elec
tions, not monitoring use of Tribal lands. In addition, many of the amend
ments include activities that are not connected to a Tribal election, such as
public demonstrations and political signs relating to state or federal elec
tions. Questions regarding the enforceability of the Ordinance and its amendments
were also mentioned in the comments. As the Ordinance is civil in nature, it
is enforceable against members and nonmembers. The Ordinance may be
enforced through the assessment of penalties, but penalties will not be as
sessed until after notice and opportunity for violators to correct the violation.
In addition, the Tribe may seek Tribal Court assistance in enforcing the Ordi
nance. One of the comments received suggested that the amendments might
lead to lawsuits in federal court; however the federal courts do not have juris
diction over lawsuits involving the Ordinance, including any lawsuits claim
ing a violation of the Indian Civil Rights Act. Any such lawsuits would be
heard in Tribal Court.
Many of the comments also raised concerns that the amendments will
limit the rights of the members to express themselves. The amendments
provide opportunities to the membership to express themselves that are safe
to the members and the rest of the community. As described above, the
amendments respond to routine questions regarding the ability of members
to have signs at their residences, wear buttons, distribute campaign materi
als, and have public demonstrations on Tribal lands. The amendments pro
vide a written expression of past practice. For example, the members will be
able to post political signs at their residences on Tribal lands; distribute cam
paign materials or petitions on Tribal lands after normal business hours,
during any government sponsored candidate forum and during the annual
pow wows; and wear campaign buttons while conducting legitimate business
at the Tribe (except Tribal Representatives). Tribal members will also be
able to conduct public demonstrations with a permit.
Passage of the Public Safety Ordinance and the amendments reflects the
efforts of the Tribal Council to provide a safe, healthy and peaceful environ
ment for the Tribal membership and other people living and visiting Tribal
lands. This effort will continue with the growth of governmental, economic
and residential activities on Tribal lands.
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