Smoke Signals 7
OCTOBER 1,2011
Tribal member Kathleen Feehan George to run Community Fund
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Tribal member Kathleen Feehan
George is the new director of Spirit
Mountain Community Fund, the
philanthropic arm of the Confeder
ated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
George, 40, succeeds Tribal mem
ber Shelley Hanson Sneed, who
resigned in April to become admin
istrator of the Oregon Landscape
Contractors Board in Salem.
Spirit Mountain Community
Fund formed in 1997 and distrib
utes 6 percent of Spirit Moun
tain Casino profits to charitable
organizations in 11 counties in
western Oregon and the other
eight federally recognized Oregon
Tribes. Since its creation, the
Community Fund has granted
almost $55 million.
George will run a program that
includes three other employees.
"I think it is just such an honor
to be able to work for Spirit Moun
tain Community Fund," George
said. "When I applied for the job,
I thought about the work that
the fund does, which is support
ing nonprofits in communities,
promoting education, health care,
environmental protection, public
safety, culture and the arts, his-
4-1
A?)
11
Kathlaan
Faahan Gaorga
toric preserva
tion and the
things that
make our com
munities such
great places to
live. That is
the work the
Community
Fund sup
ports. "So when I
thought about that job, I just was
so excited about the possibility of
contributing to the work in those
communities and to working on
behalf of our Tribe to share our
good fortune to do good work on
the ground in the communities of
western Oregon."
George, who was raised in Mil
waukie, was the Tribe's Environ
mental Coordinator for six years
from 1996 to 2002, developing the
Tribe's first environmental pro
gram. She then moved to Pendleton to
work for the Confederated Tribes
of Umatilla Reservation where she
honed her skills as a water quality
policy analyst and senior policy
analyst.
In 2010, she left the Umatilla
Tribe to open Cedar Consulting, a
natural resources consulting firm.
George said her environmental
consulting work will "take a huge
back seat" once she starts working
for the Community Fund.
"The focus of my work will be
working for Spirit Mountain Com
munity Fund," she said.
Tribal Council Vice Chair Reyn
Leno, who also sits on the Com
munity Fund's Board of Trustees,
said he thinks George's previous
experience working for the Tribe
will be a great asset as Community
Fund director.
"I think Kathleen will be a great
benefit to the program," Leno said.
"Her previous employment at Natu
ral Resources gave her knowledge
of all of the Tribe and its history.
"She'll be delivering the message
that the Community Fund is not
just the casino; it's all of the Tribe.
Having her here will be a great
thing for the Tribe."
George said her first task once
she starts working for the Commu
nity Fund in October is to become
familiar with its current operating
procedures and its 14-year his
tory. "It's going to be exciting time to
look over the success of the fund to
date. We're coming up on a 15-year
anniversary of huge contributions
to communities and nonprofits," she
said. "I think 15 years is a wonder
ful opportunity to look at our suc
cess to date, look at the goals of the
fund and see how much progress we
have made in accomplishing those
goals, and are there any ways in
which the Board of Trustees and
Tribal Council might want to pur
sue those goals differently in the
next 15 years."
George received her bachelor's
degree in Environmental Biol
ogy from Dominican University of
California.
She is married to Rick George and
has two sons, Noah, 7, and Sean, 3,
who are both members of the Grand
Ronde Tribe.
The family is moving back to the
Willamette Valley, perhaps to the
McMinnville area.
"That was another huge appeal
of this position," George said. "It
was a wonderful opportunity for
my family and my two little boys
to move back closer to the Tribe,
to Tribal culture and family. We're
really looking forward to it."
According to her Linkedln profile,
George's hobbies include garden
ing, hiking, basket making and
beadwork.
'Tltooir ara p3)pQ airo IbotiCn sidles'
ENROLLMENT continued
from front page
to send a bundle of four proposed
enrollment changes to the General
Membership.
The all-or-nothing proposal would
change the following requirements
for Tribal enrollment:
It would reduce the relinquish
ment time from five years to two
years that a person must wait to
become a member of the Grand
Ronde Tribe after officially leav
ing another Tribe;
It would eliminate the require
ment that new members have a
parent on a Tribal membership
roll at the time of their birth;
It would redefine Grand Ronde
blood as "all Indian blood derived
from a direct ancestor whose
name validly appears on any roll
or record of Grand Ronde mem
bers prepared by the Department .
of Interior or the Tribe prior to
or since the effective date of this
Constitution."
And it would establish an annual
quota of no more than 5 percent of
currently enrolled members may
be accepted as new members.
The "bundled" approach was
supported by Tribal Chairwoman
Cheryle A. Kennedy, who broke a
4-4 tie. Also in favor of sending the
bundled proposal to Tribal voters
were then-Tribal Council Secretary
Kathleen Tom and Tribal Council
members Valorie Sheker, Chris
Mercier and Wink Soderberg.
Voting no were Leno and Tribal
Council members Jack Giffen Jr.,
Toby McClary and Steve Bobb Sr.
Since then, Soderberg lost his
re-election bid and Bobb was un
available to attend the Sept. 14
meeting because of health issues. In
addition, Giffen was elected Tribal
Council secretary, replacing Tom
in the officer position, and June
Sherer returned to Tribal Council.
McClary encapsulated much of
the debate and cast what might
have been the deciding vote.
McClary said that he strongly
supports giving the Tribal member
ship a say in Tribal decision mak
ing through advisory votes, but he
also felt a responsibility to support
previous decisions made by Tribal
Council.
He added that although he favors
splitting up the amendment pack
age into separate votes, he could not
support overruling a previous coun
cil's decision in the "11th hour."
"I don't know that just because
the makeup on council has changed,
I don't know that that necessarily
means that we should overrule
a decision that has already been
made by council," McClary said.
"I think tonight I will be voting no
to suspend this because I feel very
passionately about supporting deci
sions that council has made."
Sheker said she has heard opin
ions on both sides of the issue,
supporting both the bundled and
separate approach.
"There are people on both sides.
. . . We're just going to have to make
an executive decision," she said.
Tribal member Denise Harvey,
who finished fifth in this year's
Tribal Council election, said how
an amendment is proposed is the
kind of decision that Tribal Council
members are elected to make.
"We elected you guys as our
Council leaders and when it comes
to a decision on how something is
put out to vote, it should be a deci
sion the Council comes to terms
with and makes a decision," Harvey
said. "I believe you guys are elected
officials and you should be able to
make those decisions yourself. We'll
live the consequences of that."
Tom objected to Leno's assertion
that the Tribe might be flooded with
new enrollment applications, not
ing that the bundled amendment
includes a limit on how many new
Tribal members can be enrolled in
a year.
"It would be more restrictive than
flooded," Tom said.
Giffen said he would support
halting the election and seeking an
advisory vote only if Tribal Coun
cil vowed to proceed immediately
with an enrollment requirement
amendment vote after receiving the
advisory results.
Newly elected, but veteran, Tribal
Council member June Sherer said
she was against the one amend
ment approach before she left
Tribal Council in September 2010
because it might cause Tribal vot
ers to subvert their stand on one
issue in order for another part of
the amendment to pass, such as the
parent on the roll clause.
'The only way for Tribal members
to have a real vote and express their
opinion on the different issues is to
be able to vote on them separately,"
Sherer said.
Other Tribal members, such as
former Tribal Council member
Angie Blackwell, said that Tribal
Council held an advisory vote in
September 2010 on the Tribal elec
tion process regarding a possible
primary and term limits and has
yet to act on those results.
"We've not seen any change or
result from that," Blackwell said.
"Saying that you want to give the
Tribal members a voice by doing
an advisory vote that you don't
have to do anything with is nothing
compared to giving the membership
a meaningful voice by sending out
the constitutional amendment and
letting them decide there. That's
where their voice will be heard."
"We have worked on this for a
year or better," Sheker said. "We
have asked for feedback from the
membership. It's not like we have
denied the membership a voice. We
have asked them to please com
ment. ... We're not blackmailing.
We are not forcing. We are not do
ing any of that. ... It's the member
ship that told us they want this to
go out for another vote. We're just
trying to proceed it through."
Leno, Giffen and Sherer support
ed stopping the current enrollment
requirement amendment election
while McClary, Mercier, Tom and
Sheker voted against it.
Election registration packets
from the Bureau of Indian Affairs
were sent out on Friday, Sept. 16.
Tribal members have until 4 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 17, to register to
vote in the election. Ballots will be
due no later than noon Tuesday,
Nov. 15, at the BIA Siletz Agency
Office.
To amend the Tribal Constitu
tion, at least 30 percent of regis
tered voters must cast ballots and
an amendment must be approved
by more than two-thirds of those
Tribal voters.
The video of the entire meeting
can be viewed on the Tribal Web
site at www.grandronde.org under
the Videos link. Discussion about
the election starts at the 30-minute
mark of the video.