S moke S ignals
may 15, 2014
5
Tribal Council remands disenrollment cases
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
After two days and more than 11
hours of testimony, Tribal Council
voted 5-4 on Thursday, May 1, to re-
mand 86 recommendations for dis-
enrollment back to the Enrollment
Committee so its members can
consider new material presented
by the 16 affected families.
The Enrollment Committee for-
warded recommendations of disen-
rollment to Tribal Council on March
18 after holding approximately 80
hearings in December and January.
The committee concurred with En-
rollment staff recommendations for
disenrollment on the basis that the
Tribal members did not meet the con-
stitutional lineal descent requirement
at the time they were enrolled.
Those named in the disenroll-
ment cases trace their lineage back
to Chief Tumulth. The Cascades
Indian chief signed the 1855 Wil-
lamette Valley Treaty, but was
unjustly hung by Lt. Phil Sheridan
before the Grand Ronde Reserva-
tion was established.
The Chief Tumulth descendants
contended that a treaty should be
considered a record of Grand Ronde
members prepared by the Depart-
ment of the Interior.
Many of Chief Tumulth’s de-
scendants also contended that
they descend from Susan, one of
Chief Tumulth’s five wives. They
maintain that Susan appears on
an 1872 census roll of Grand Ronde
Indians prepared by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs with the name Susan
Tumolcha, which they contend is a
slightly different spelling of the last
name Tumulth.
The Tribal Constitution before
Sept. 14, 1999, required, among
other things, that members be
“descended from a member of the
Confederated Tribes of the Grand
Ronde Community of Oregon” and
provided that “descent … shall
include lineal descent from any
person who was named on any roll
or records of Grand Ronde members
prepared by the Department of the
Interior prior to the effective date
of this Constitution.”
Before the two-day meeting,
Tribal Council scheduled eight days
to review the enrollment files, listen
to Enrollment Committee hearing
recordings and read the informa-
tion submitted to the Enrollment
Committee.
Because of the gravity of the
issue, Tribal Council waived the
usual five-minute time limit on
providing input at its business
meetings.
Late on Thursday, May 1, Tribal
Council Chairman Reyn Leno broke
a 4-4 tie on the motion to remand
the cases back to the Enrollment
Committee, saying he believes
committee members have a right to
review the new material that was
presented. He was joined by Tribal
Council Vice Chair Jack Giffen Jr.,
Tribal Council Secretary Toby Mc-
Clary and Tribal Council members
Ed Pearsall and June Sherer in
sending the cases back for review.
Tribal Council members Kath-
leen Tom, Denise Harvey, Jon A.
George and Cheryle A. Kennedy
said they voted against the motion
to remand because they were ready
to vote on the disenrollment cases
at that time.
The Tribal Council meeting is
available for viewing on the Tribal
website under the Video section.
The disenrollment cases are the
result of an enrollment audit that
started in early 2013. The audit
fulfills one of the tasks assigned by
the 2010 Strategic Plan, which di-
rected the Tribe’s Enrollment staff
to audit enrollment files and ap-
plications, track reasons for denials
and audit blood quantum records
with the goal of strengthening the
Tribal family tree.
In other action on April 30, Tribal
Council approved the May 18 Gen-
eral Council agenda, which will
feature a presentation on economic
development and reports from the
Veterans Special Event Board and
Health Committee.
The General Council meeting
was postponed from May 4 so that
Tribal members could attend the
memorial service for Tribal Elder
Charles G. Haller. n
Tribe hires Jamie Baxter in case of emergencies
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
When the Grand Ronde Tribe
hired Jamie Baxter, 59, of West
Salem as Emergency Prepared-
ness coordinator early in March, it
landed one of the nation’s premier
emergency professionals.
Baxter served at Ground Zero in
the wake of the 2001 attack on the
World Trade Center in New York
City. She also served in Haiti in
2010 on the heels of the Samoan
tsunami deployment in 2009.
“Real world experience,” Baxter
says. “That’s what I try to bring
back here. I like to prepare people
for anything that might put us at
risk.”
Baxter has been a registered
nurse for 35 years, both in Sil-
verton and Salem, always in the
Emergency departments. She also
continues to work with the federal
Department of Health and Human
Services as a disaster nurse and
safety officer.
Baxter also is one of the few in-
ternationally certified emergency
managers. “There are only a couple
thousand in the world,” she says.
Now Baxter brings that wealth of
experience and training to Grand
Ronde in an effort to keep Tribal
people and employees safe in an
emergency.
“The job is pretty broad in scope,”
she says of her new duties. She
is responsible for preparedness,
response, mitigation and recovery.
Basically, how to keep us safe in a
disaster.
Baxter is and will continue to
teach and train volunteers about
being prepared. “The whole point of
preparedness is not just surviving
the event, but surviving it economi-
cally. So that’s part of my job … to
help create resilience,” she says.
She orders disaster supplies. Rap-
id response medical and prepared-
ness kits include small amounts
of food, water, flashlight and a
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Jamie Baxter started as the Tribe’s Emergency Preparedness coordinator
in March.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration weather radio to
get people through the first few
days. She would like to see “a little
go-bag” next to everyone’s bed and
in every Tribal office, with another
at home in the garage. She thinks of
the bags like people have an extra
set of eyeglasses; just in case.
“Right now, I’m doing things in-
crementally,” Baxter says.
She started with a just-imple-
mented mass notification process
for everybody on the Tribal campus,
in Tribal housing and in the com-
munity in the event that something
happens on Tribal property, such as
a road closure or major accident.
“To give credit,” she says, “the
Tribe’s Information Technology
Department brought the mass no-
tification process to the Tribe – I
just implemented it.”
With that said, she also advises
that in the area, “Risks are kind
of minimal. We’ve had some local
flooding and some local events, but
no major disasters. We’ve been very
fortunate.
“Our biggest threat is the Cas-
cadia Subduction Zone, a potential
earthquake fault along the coast-
line from British Columbia down
to northern California, including,
of course, the coasts of Oregon and
Washington.
“If the whole thing ruptures,
that’s a mass disaster.”
One of her responsibilities, Bax-
ter says, is putting in the time to
search for faults in the local area.
She studies maps from the U.S.
Geological Service and the Oregon
Department of Geology and Min-
eral Industries.
“And there’s always the chance
of a chemical event if a truck goes
over carrying refrigerant, for ex-
ample. That’s one of the bad things.
If it happens, we have to respond
quickly.”
Different Tribal agencies and
businesses have their own emer-
gency plans, Baxter says. She men-
tions the casino among others.
“My job is not to dictate how oth-
ers should plan, but to help with the
coordination, to keep in touch with
them. I’m here more as a resource
person, to help in any way I can.
“The Chief (Tribal Police Chief
Al LaChance; she operates under
his program) has been great,” she
adds. “He is really interested in do-
ing the right thing and bringing the
right training and education to the
Tribe. He’s committed to helping us
be prepared.”
Look for Baxter giving talks,
taking questions and answers on
campus and off.
“This is a great job for me at this
time in my career,” she says. “I
want to build a department that
is an example to other Tribal na-
tions. I’ve always loved the Tribe
and had friends here. And I really
love being able to go the opposite
way to traffic.”
Her husband, Jeff, is an electrical
engineer who manages a software
integration company based in
Albany. Together, they have five
children and seven grandchildren.
Jeff says she lives and breathes
this stuff. “He’s used to it,” she says.
“It’s just part of who I am.” n
Elder Bingo moved
Elder Bingo will be held at 12:30 p.m. the second and fourth Sat-
urday of the month at the Elders’ Activity Center.
For more information, contact Elder Activity Assistant Daniel Ham
at 503-879-2233. n