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A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
www.grandronde.org
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Tribe seecs streamlined process for
taking former land back into trust
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
An amendment to the 1988 Grand Ronde
Reservation Act that would streamline
how the Tribe takes former reservation
land back into Tribal ownership has been intro
duced in both the House of Representatives and
Senate in Washington, D.C.
The amendment has the unanimous support of
Oregon's Democratic delegation, which includes
Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Rep
resentatives Earl Blumenauer, Peter DeFazio,
Kurt Schrader and David Wu.
The amendment would end the current two
step process that requires the Grand Ronde
Tribe to take each piece of former reservation
land into trust with approval from the Bureau
of Indian Affairs and then request that it be
designated reservation land. The amendment
would allow the Tribe to combine the process for
property that was within the boundaries of the
original reservation.
"The current process is time consuming and
often takes years to complete," Tribal Attorney
Rob Greene said. "The amendment means a
significant savings of time and resources" to the
Tribe and federal government.
"Our Tribal people have worked tirelessly to
pursue our goals of sovereignty by buying back
parcels of our original reservation and provid
ing on-reservation jobs and services to our
members," said Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle A.
See AMENDMENT
continued on page 10
Hundreds join Child
in saying goodbye in
Tribal gymnasium
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Timing is everything. Or
at least it was for the
hundreds of family and
friends who attended the recent
Celebration of Life for Tribal
Elder Lottie Child, 62.
Lines formed on both sides of
a hospital bed in the Tribal gym
nasium at about 2 p.m. Tuesday,
Feb. 15. Two-and-a-half hours
later, Child, resting comfortably
in the bed, was still exchanging
greetings and stories, still alert
and excited about the celebration
she insisted upon having while
she was still alive.
Child was remembered as
active, skilled and caring by
people who have been with her
throughout her life. The doctors
tell her she is succumbing to
cancer and she was facing her
third bout during the celebra
tion, coming just after removal of
a large brain tumor and a series
of strokes that left her paralyzed
from the waist down.
"Three years ago," said her
daughter, Brandy Farmer of
Vale, "the doctors told her she
had three months to live."
Still, said Farmer, "She is very
happy and ready. She is more
concerned about how we're tak
ing it.".
There was no shortage of tears
during the afternoon.
Tribal Elder Roselee Hall, her
niece, but the same age as Child,
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Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Elder Lottie Child talks with her niece. Tribal descendant Robin
Kisor, during a Celebration of Life held in Child's honor in the Tribal
gymnasium on Tuesday, Feb. 1 5. Child has been battling cancer.
grew up with her and recalled
one of their early exploits in
Philomath at Beaver Creek.
"We were talking about it
today," Hall said, tears drying
on her face. "She was laughing
so hard. We were fourth- or
fifth-graders and we had missed
the bus to go home. We looked
around, and there were all these
bicycles in racks outside the
See LOTTIE
continued on page 8
Tribal members
carving first
river canoe seen
in Grand Ronde
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
On Tuesdays and Thursdays,
it is all happening in an
unassuming steel shed over
the rickety wood bridge behind the
Tribe's Recovery House on Hebo
Road.
A slew of folks from the Cultural
Resources Department, as well as
knowledgeable volunteers and well
wishers, have been working for the
last month on the first river canoe
that the Grand Ronde people have
built certainly since Restoration
and likely since the early 1900s.
In fact, says Tribal member Brian
Krehbiel, Cultural Education spe
cialist, in researching the canoe
design, "I haven't found any proof of
a canoe Gike this) being made from
Grand Ronde natives since we were
marched here in the 1800s."
The 16-foot, three-to-four person,
shovel nose cedar canoe sits near
another, also in process, almost
twice as large and destined for the
ocean or for large rivers like the
Columbia, according to Krehbiel.
One day last week, he was using
a pull blade to shave ribbon after
ribbon of beautiful old growth cedar
that will, in the next month, leave
behind a river canoe sitting on a
soft, old growth forest-like floor
where there was once just dirt and
gravel.
In late March, the canoe will head
to the Willamette Heritage Center
at The Mill.
The process to take it there be
gan late last year when discussions
between Peter Booth, executive
director of the Heritage Center,
See CANOE
continued on page 7