6 NOVEMBER 1, 2012
Smoke Signals
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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."