4
S moke S ignals
NOVEMBER 15, 2014
Seasonal shopping
2009 – A ceremony officially honoring
completion of the Grand Ronde Road
improvement project was held with
then-Tribal Council Vice Chair Reyn
Leno and Tribal Council member Wink
Soderberg helping to cut the ribbon.
The project cost $6.4 million.
2004 – A team of volunteers helped
in the construction of a new playground
area in the family housing development
Chxi Musam Illihi. The project took al-
most four hours to complete and became
a safe place for children to play.
1999 – The Grand Ronde Tribe sub-
mitted a claim under the Native Ameri-
can Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act to the American Museum of Natural
File photo
History in New York City, asking for
the return of Tomanowos, the Willa-
mette meteorite taken from Oregon in the early 1900s. The meteorite
belonged to the Native doctors of the Clackamas Tribe.
1994 – The Tribe reached an agreement with the Bureau of Land Man-
agement regarding a survey error that occurred in 1871. The 84 acres
near the Reservation known as the Thompson Strip was not added to
the Reservation and was sold in 1907. The Tribe gave up its claim on the
land in exchange for another 240 acres and Congress approved the deal.
1989 – Smoke Signals and Tribal archives do not have a copy of the
November 1989 edition.
1984 – The Tribal Constitution was adopted with a 145-14 vote. The
new Constitution stated that the blood quantum requirement for enroll-
ment was to be lowered to 1/16th.
Yesteryears is a look back at Tribal history in five-year incre-
ments through the pages of Smoke Signals.
Fish distribution
set for Nov. 17-18
Tribal fish distribution will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and
Tuesday, Nov. 17-18, at the Natural Resources Department’s Fish Lab,
47010 S.W. Hebo Road. Tribal members must show photo identification to
pick up their fish. Elders will have a line established to expediently fill their
requests. To ensure this, only Elders’ orders will be filled using the line.
If you are picking up for others, a signed release form will be required.
There will be no early or late pickups, and fish will not be mailed.
For more information, contact the Natural Resources Department at
503-879-2424. n
Ad created by George Valdez
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Elder Cordelia Kneeland looks at a quilt for sale at fellow Elder
Betty Lambert’s booth during the Elders Bazaar held at the Tribal
gymnasium on Friday, Nov. 7. The bazaar also was held Saturday Nov. 8.
Two more bazaars will be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14-15 and Dec.
12-13, at Spirit Mountain Casino from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Tribal Council resends two proposed
constitutional amendments to voters
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Tribal members should be voting
on two proposed amendments to
the Tribe’s Constitution between
mid-February and early March
now that Tribal Council has again
asked the Secretary of the Inte-
rior to call an election during its
Wednesday, Nov. 5, meeting.
The amendments, which would
institute term limits on future
Tribal Council service and remove
the Bureau of Indian Affairs from
Tribal constitutional elections,
were originally scheduled to go
before Tribal voters on June 6, but
irregularities that occurred at the
BIA’s Siletz Agency Office caused
Tribal Council to ask the BIA to
cancel the election on May 14.
Tribal Council Chairman Reyn
Leno said in May that the Tribe
had “learned of several procedural
errors … these errors were caused
by the BIA Siletz Agency Office’s
failure to follow federal regulations
for conducting secretarial elections.
Unfortunately, Tribal Council be-
lieves the integrity of the election
process has already been seriously
compromised.”
At the Tuesday, Nov. 4, Legis-
lative Action Committee meeting,
Tribal Attorney Rob Greene said
the new election will be overseen
by the BIA’s regional office in
Portland and that the BIA will pay
for the cost of the previous failed
election.
Greene added that a training
session will be held on Tuesday,
Nov. 25, between BIA staff and
the Tribal Elections Board to en-
sure the constitutional election is
conducted properly. The BIA also
will pay for the training session,
he said.
Greene estimated that with an
expedited review of the proposed
amendments’ wording, since they
have already been approved by the
Solicitor’s Office, that an election
could be held in late February to
early March.
The first proposed amendment
would remove the BIA’s oversight
role regarding Tribal constitutional
elections.
The second proposed amendment
would establish term limits of three
consecutive terms on future Tribal
Council service. After three con-
secutive three-year terms, a Tribal
Council member would have to take
a year off before being eligible to
run again and serve another three
consecutive terms. The term limits,
if approved, would not be retroac-
tive and would not affect current
Tribal Council members who have
already served three or more con-
secutive terms.
To change the Tribal Constitu-
tion, at least 30 percent of those
registered to vote with the BIA
must cast ballots and 66.7 percent
– two-thirds – of those voting must
approve an amendment.
In other action, Tribal Council
approved a per capita distribution
date of Dec. 12 and the enrollment
of three infants into the Tribe.
Tribal Council also OK’d a set-
tlement with the Indian Health
Service regarding contract support
cost claims from fiscal year 1996
through fiscal year 2011. The set-
tlement must now wind its way
through the federal government.
Also included in the Nov. 5 Tribal
Council packet were authorizations
to proceed that:
• Moved Tribal Council meetings
to 4 p.m. in December, January,
February and March to accom-
modate the dark and inclem-
ent weather during the winter
months.
• Moved the Dec. 7 General Council
meeting up an hour to 10 a.m. to
accommodate the Tribal Council
Christmas Party.
Tribal Council member Jon A.
George, Land and Culture Depart-
ment Manager Jan Looking Wolf
Reibach, Education Department
Manager Eirik Thorsgard and
Cultural Youth Education Spe-
cialist Travis Stewart provided the
cultural drumming and singing to
open the meeting.
The meeting can be viewed in
its entirety at the Tribal website,
www.grandronde.org, under the
Video tab. n