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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2012)
6 NOVEMBER 1, 2012 Smoke Signals 1 1 Wi ' I i In TV- jj 1 Photo by Michelle Alalmo From laft, Hayaza Brian, Anna Jaffars and Alaxandrla Thorsgard stand In front of tha mural, which was craatad by tha Grand Ronda Mural Projact, during a Mural Calabration hald on Monday, Oct. 1 5. Earliar this yaar tha thraa Tribal youth wara chosan as intarns to halp paint tha mural that Is now hanging abova tha maintananca shad naxt to tha Grand Ronda Tribal Housing Authority building, at tha antranca to thaTriba's housing davalopmant, for tha whola community to anjoy. Tha 64-foot-long mural dapicts 12 imagas in a historical chronology of Grand Ronda Tribal history. Veterans' committee seeking donations The Tribe's Veterans' Special Event Board is looking for quality items for a Fallen Warriors dinner and silent auction to be held 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Willamina. Donations can be dropped off at the Elders' Activity Center, specified as a donation for the Veterans' board or Fallen Warriors dinner. Bernando teaches Wawa in Portland office Tribal member Eric Bernando teaches Chinuk Wawa language classes from 5:30 to 8:20 p.m. Wednesday at the Portland office, 4445 S.W. Barbur Blvd., Suite 101. For more information, contact Bernando at ChinukWawagmail.com or at 503-709-3017. D Tribal Council adopts trespass ordinance By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Tribal Council adopted a new trespass and exclusion ordinance at its Oct. 24 meeting. The new ordinance is designed "to protect the integrity and security of the Tribe as a whole, and enrolled Tribal members as individuals and as a community." The ordinance gives the Tribe's General Manager the authority to issue a trespassexclusion notice to a person who is on Tribal property that is not open to the public, in vio lation of a prominently posted no tice against trespass, has received notice that the property is not open to him or her or has been requested to leave by someone with actual or apparent authority to do so. In addition, the General Manager can issue a trespassexclusion no tice if someone is violating three standards of conduct: 1) Doing or threatening to do any act upon Tribal land which seriously threatens the peace, health, safety, morals or general welfare of the Tribe, its mem bers or other persons on Tribal land; 2) Doing or threatening to do any act upon Tribal land which se riously threatens the environ ment of the land, water, natural resources, air or other natural land or topographical feature on Tribal land or which would in any way threaten the envi ronmental quality of life for the Tribe, its members and other persons on Tribal land; 3) Exploring for or excavating upon items, sites or locations of historic, religious or scientific significance without authority from the Tribe or in violation of Tribal or federal laws or regula tions. The law requires the General Manager to issue a written notice and violation is a civil infraction punishable by a $500 fine for each violation. The ordinance also says that Tribal services, Tribal member benefits and other Tribally funded need and non-need based payments and access to Tribal property may be terminated pending compli ance by a violator who is a Tribal member. Appeals would first go to the General Manager and then Tribal Court. 'This ordinance has been talked about for quite some time," said Tribal Council Chairman Reyn Leno. 'This ordinance is basically something that we view as is impor tant to protect our membership ... a lot of it over in housing, and our employees here at the Tribe. We don't really have anything in place right now, but this is the first step toward that. "From past experiences over the past year, council has been very frustrated in that we felt that we couldn't protect our membership, couldn't protect our employees. This is the result. This is the maxi mum of what we have available to us today. ... This is just the first piece of it. We're going to keep tightening this up." Elders' garage sale seeking donations Tribal Elders are regularly seeking donations for fundraising garage sales. To donate an item or items, contact Tribal Elders Linda Brandon at 971-267-0918 or Duane Wheeler at 541-992-3254. D MEASURES continued from front page Grange, posted on her Facebook page after the announcement a brief statement: "Know when to fold." The pro-measure effort was fund ed by Canadian gaming firms Great Canadian Gaming Corp of Vancouver, British Columbia, and Clairvest of Toronto, as well as wealthy Lake Oswego businessmen Bruce Studer and Matt Rossman. In 2010, Oregon voters defeated the idea 68 percent to 32 percent. But all the TV ads and slick mail ers were not changing voter's minds and strong political opposition from current Gov. John Kitzhaber and three former governors Vic Atiyeh, Barbara Roberts and Ted Kulongoski made the effort even more difficult. In addition, both the Republican and Democratic parties in Oregon urged their members to vote "no" on the measures. "In the last few weeks it appears to the campaign team that not enough Oregon voters are ready to add a private casino to the state's gaming options," Dycus said in a prepared statement announcing the end of the pro-measure campaign. As in 2010, the private casino measures were opposed by all nine Oregon Tribes and the Oregon Restaurant Association. This year, the It's Still a Bad Idea Committee joined the fray. Opponents argued that a private casino in Oregon would detrimen tally affect Tribal revenues, which fund Tribal governmental opera tions like health care, education and social services, and also would have a disastrous effect on the Or egon Lottery, which funds many important state services. Kitzhaber recorded a TV commer cial in opposition to the measures, arguing that Oregon's nine feder ally recognized Tribes kept their promises to the state and that the state should keep its promise to the Tribes that private casinos will not be allowed within its borders. The news arrived in Grand Ronde just as Tribal Council was meet ing with Tribal lobbyist Justin Martin regarding anti-measure efforts. The Grand Ronde Tribe remained steadfastly opposed to the measures, which, if passed, would have a significant negative effect on Spirit Mountain Casino revenues that fund Tribal govern mental operations. The Tribe was a principal financial supporter of the anti-measure campaign. Despite the withdrawal of sup port, both measures remain on the Nov. 6 ballot and Grand Ronde Tribal officials continue to encour age Oregonians to cast "no" votes on the measures to send a clear mes sage again to their proponents. Cynara Lilly of the It's Still a Bad Idea Committee said anti-measure activists would continue to com municate the message that the proposals are a bad deal for Oregon through Election Day. "We still think it's really impor tant to educate voters about the re ality of these measures," Lilly said. "We think we need to keep having that conversation all the way up to Election Day." "Clearly, Oregon voters were see ing through what the proponents were trying to spin, and that in re ality this wasn't even close to being 'Good for Oregon,' " Martin said. "It was going to be good for them and bad for the state. "Shifting gaming dollars from the certainty of what we have now, gov ernmental programs that provide for public good to gaming dollars with a smaller amount to Oregon and a greater amount in terms of private profits for them, just doesn't make sense. "The Oregon electorate is once again refusing to be fooled or tricked by the vague promises of two wealthy gentlemen from Lake Oswego and their foreign backers. While this is great news, we need to be mindful of the reality that these measures are still on the ballot."
