Smoke Signals 3
Tribe's New Recreattion Coordinator
And Lands Manager Report
Reports, raffles and many questions make for a marathon October General Council meeting.
OCTOBER 15, 2004
By Ron Karten
The October General Council
meeting was held on Sunday, Oc
tober 10, at the Tribal Community
Center in Grand Ronde. Here are
the highlights:
Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle
Kennedy called the meeting to or
der. Tribal Elder Val Grout offered
the invocation.
Tribal member Lori Greenberg,
recently hired as the Tribe's Recre
ation Coordinator, introduced her
self and her first recreation initia
tives to the community.
With degrees from Linfield Col
lege and Oregon State University,
Greenberg de
scribed group ac
tivities includ
ing basketball
teams, recre
ational field trips,
classes, a daily
program sched
ule, play struc
tures and sports
camps for kids
of all ages and
promised to work
toward develop
ing appropriate
programs for El
ders. Long term,
Greenberg said
that her list in
cludes a skate
park, general use
park, aquatic cen
ter, baseballsoft
ball fields, a la
crosse field and
nature trails.
She asked
Tribal members:
wnere do you
want the recre
ation program to go?"
Tribal member Monty Parazoo
said that the program "needs to be
expanded to include kids that don't
live in the area" and provide "Res
ervation experiences for those who
don't live here."
Many questions and suggestions
came up, one about the program
serving children who are below the
blood quantum for membership.
Depending on what agency is pro
viding funding for a project, differ
ent rules on this subject apply.
In response to questions raised at
previous Tribal Council meetings,
Lands Coordinator Mike Wilson pro
vided maps and other information
that Tribal members can use to learn
about the Tribe's land holdings.
The Tribe now owns 10,052 acres
of reservation property, 1,634 acres
of fee-lands, which are equivalent
to property that any other group or
individual owns, requiring taxes be
paid to the state and other state
regulations followed, 595 acres of
Tribal Trust land for a total of
12,281 acres. Of that, 2,229 acres
are off the Reservation.
He described the Tribal process for
acquiring lands, starting with the
search for lands that meet current
and future Tribal needs, as de
scribed by the Tribal Housing Au
thority and others. The Lands of
fice does the preliminary work, in
cluding costvalue assessment, en
vironmental assessment and so on
"to be sure we have a good piece of
property for the Tribe," said Wilson.
Ultimately for any piece of prop
erty, the Tribal Council rules on a
purchase proposal from the Lands
Department. "Every purchase,"
said Wilson, "has a resolution."
The department also maintains a
much land back as possible."
Tribal member Frank Hostler did
not fault the Tribe's acquisition of
lands but suggested that the Tribe
also invest in businesses that will
provide jobs in the area.
"There's a lot of room for housing,"
he said, "but where are all the
people going to work?"
Tribal member Tim Holmes asked
about the Tribe's interest in wet
lands mitigation as well as the idea
of "banking" wetlands, a process by
which an owner creates or improves
a wetlands area, receives credit
from the state for creating it, and
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ry v ..). v f:
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Recreation On The Rez Tribal member Lori Greenberg, the Tribe 's new Recreation Coordinator, provided
Tribal members with a look at her efforts and ideas for recreation programs to be offered through the Tribe.
list of Tribal properties, updated
annually, that is available in a
number of Tribal office locations.
On the Tribal website, informa
tion also is available by clicking on
"Programs," then "Cultural Re
sources" and from there, click on
"Map Gallery" and from there to
"Tribal Lands," "Tribal Facilities
Photo," "Ceded Lands" and "Cur
rent and Original Reservation."
And finally, said Wilson, he and
Realty Specialist Jan Michael
Reibach will be happy to respond
to questions at the Tribal Lands
Office at 503 879-2380, or for those
out of town, call the Tribe's 800
number, 800-422-0232 and ask for
extension 2380.
Tribal member Candy Robertson
let the membership know that her
family property at the foot of Spirit
Mountain was still for sale to the
Tribe. Tribal Council Chairwoman
Kennedy and Tribal members
agreed that the Tribe will always be
interested in recouping all of the
land that made up the original Res
ervation. "One of our early first principles,"
said Kennedy, "was getting as
then either uses that credit to off
set another wetlands area that may
need to be filled in, or sells that
credit to a developer who needs to
fill in a wetlands area.
The Tribe is not now involved in
such an enterprise, though Wilson
noted that there is beginning to be
some talk about doing it.
Winners of the $50 raffle were
Tribal members Marion Mercier,
Janet Giddings and Lee Ann
Huffman, and the $100 winner was
Julie Brown.
Modoc Shawnee Jackson ad
dressed the meeting seeking a for
mal hearing regarding three chil
dren in her family who are enrolled
with Grand Ronde but who have
been made wards of the state.
"If we lose these children to the
state, we'll never see them again,"
she said.
Tribal Elder Betty Bly asked
about Tribal planning in case of
another winter like last winter.
Plans are still being developed, said
Tribal Public Works Manager John
Mercier.
A number of Tribal members
raised concerns that Tribal Elders
were being charged too much for
Elder housing. And many signed
a petition to reduce some of the
monthly fees.
In seeking to provide services
more equally, said Kennedy, the
Tribe considers not just the 38 cur
rently in Elder housing but also the
200-plus others who live offthe res
ervation. She called it, "a real bal
ancing act."
Tribal member Ann Lewis ex
pressed frustration at still not be
ing able to acquire the appropriate
documents to evaluate Tribal losses
through the financial services firm
of Strategic
Wealth Manage
ment. It was an
nounced that
Tribal member
Mike Larsen has
been appointed as
the interim man
ager for the Spirit
Mountain Casino.
He replaces Rich
ard Kline who re
signed the previ
ous week.
Tribal member
Michael Bolton of
fered to let the
Tribe use five of
his horses for
horseback riding.
Tribal member
Pearl Mekemson
secured the use of
the old Bailey
house for a class
teaching basket
weaving.
The Tribe is "get
ting close" to hav
ing medical alert
buttons in Elder housing to help se
cure the well-being of Elders, said
Tribal General Manager Cliff
Adams.
Council Chairwoman Kennedy re
ported that Tribal leaders had been
invited to a Presidential breakfast
during the opening of the
Smithsonian's new Indian Museum
in Washington, D.C. There, the
President signed an order affirming
his commitment to Tribal sovereignty.
Tribal Engineer Eric Scott said
that the Grand Ronde Road project
was back on track with a public
meeting set for October 19 at 6:30
p.m. in the Tribe's Governance
Building atrium, and construction
to start in the summer of 2005.
In the days ahead, there will be
a Restoration dinner and a mini
pow-wow on November 21 in the
Community Center.
The annual Christmas party will
be on December 11 at the Commu
nity Center; and at the same time,
the Tribe will host a Youth pow
wow in the gym.
The next meeting will be Novem
ber 7 at 11 a.m. in the Community
Center. B