Smoke signals., August 01, 2011, Page 15, Image 13

Smoke Signals 15
AUGUST 1,2011
Dear Grand Ronde Tribal members:
In the July 15, 2011, issue of Smoke Signals, it was stated I gave testimony
on June 3, 2007, during a public hearing regarding a "Proposed Constitu
tional Enrollment Amendment." If you read the transcript of that public
hearing you will see I did state I felt the amendments proposed at that time
should be presented to the Tribal voters as one amendment.
In reviewing the information I have about the public hearing and the
changes that were proposed to our Constitutional Membership Require
ments, I recall there seemed to be some confusion over what was really
being proposed. I believe that is because from the time the Enrollment Re
quirements Ad Hoc Committee presented their recommendations to Tribal
Council on Oct. 17, 2006, to the date of the public hearing on June 3, 2007,
the proposed definition of Grand Ronde blood had gone through several
changes, yet each change was presented as the Enrollment Requirements
Ad Hoc Committee's recommendations when those changes were not worded
according to the committee's recommendations.
Plus, the committee had recommended one amendment and one vote, but
Tribal Council decided on two amendments and two votes. This was all done
under the leadership of Chris Mercier, who was Tribal Chair at that time,
and Angie Blackwell, who was Vice Chair.
After giving testimony and talking with various Tribal members after the
public hearing, I began to see the wisdom of having separate amendments
for each proposed change to our Constitutional Membership Requirements.
Thus, knowing what I know now, I would have advocated at that public
hearing that each proposed change to our Constitutional Membership Re
quirements should be presented as separate amendments as they turned
out to be in the February 2008 BIA-conducted election.
I continue to feel the 2008 BIA-conducted election was a success because
Tribal voters had the "freedom of choice" to vote on each proposed amend
ment based on each amendment's individual merits. That is the way I believe
it should be in any Tribal Constitutional election in the future. This type
of an election also lets the members of Tribal Council know how the voting
Tribal membership feels about each issue.
I personally think the most important testimony I gave during the June
3, 2007, public hearing was my recommendation for the definition of Grand
Ronde blood, which is stated in the transcript of that public hearing, and
was as follows: "Grand Ronde blood is defined as all Indian blood derived
from a direct ancestor whose name validly appears on any official Tribal
membership roll previous to the Restoration of November, 1983." Please
pay close attention to the words "previous to the Restoration of November,
1983," as that denotes our Grand Ronde Indian blood is ancestral, mean
ing it comes from our ancestors before Restoration. There is a difference
in what I proposed as a definition of Grand Ronde blood during the public
hearing in June 2007 and what the current Tribal Council is proposing for
the definition of Grand Ronde blood.
In closing, I want to emphasize that since the passage and approval of the
1999 amendment to our Tribal Constitution, my No. 1 priority has been our
Constitutional Membership Requirements and working to see that Grand
Ronde Indians are allowed to enroll in our Tribe, which is their Tribe, if
they have the correct required blood quantum, and one or more ancestors
on a roll or record of "Grand Ronde members" from the time the Grand
Ronde Reservation was officially created by Executive Order in June 1857
up through Termination.
Leroy Good
Roll 892
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There is a sign-up sheet at the Eugene site, 711 Country Club Road.
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