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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2017)
PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 Annual Contest Powwow special section — pgs. 7-11 SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 Tribal Election Day is Sept. 9 Delayed ballots are affecting some voters SUN By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor T ribal Election Day is Saturday, Sept. 9. This year’s Tribal Council candidates for three open seats are incumbents Tonya Gleason-Shepek and Chris Mercier, and chal- lengers Mark Mercier, Michael Langley, Lisa Leno and David Lewis. Angela Schlappie withdrew from the race in late July, but too belatedly to have her name removed from the ballot. The three winners will serve Tribal Council terms through September 2020. According to the Tribe’s Member Services De- partment, 4,133 Tribal members will be 18 or older on Election Day and eligible to vote. Ballots were mailed to registered Tribal voters on Wednesday, July 26. Candidate statements appeared in the July Tilixam Wawa, which was mailed first class to Tribal members in mid-July. During the Aug. 9 Tribal Council meeting, the issue of some Tribal members not receiving bal- lots was discussed and it appears many of those who were missing their ballots are members of the Chief Tumulth family, who were designated for disenrollment and provisionally disenrolled until the Tribal Court of Appeals ruled last year that the Tribe waited too long to revoke their membership. Russell Wilkinson, a member of the Chief Tumulth family, said during the Tribal Council meeting that he and his family members sub- mitted about 58 signature verification forms and about 25 percent of them had not yet received ballots. Tribal Attorney Rob Greene said he would contact the Election Board regarding the issue and added that he thought board members would handle the situation “very expeditiously.” See ELECTION continued on page 23 SPOT Composite photo by Michelle Alaimo A composite photo of the total solar eclipse that occurred over Grand Ronde on Monday, Aug. 21. A diamond ring effect photo is on page 28. Skies clear for total solar eclipse over Grand Ronde By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor F or 101 seconds beginning at 10:17 a.m. Monday, Aug. 21, the temperature in Grand Ronde dipped noticeably, street lights in Tribal Elder housing activated and the sun disappeared from the sky as totality from a solar eclipse enveloped the area. The Great American Eclipse saw the moon move between the sun and Earth and cast a 60-mile-wide shadow that raced across North America at 2,000 mph. The total solar eclipse made landfall in Lin- coln City, Ore., and ended its path across the United States in South Carolina. It was the first solar eclipse to traverse the continent since 1918. For Grand Ronde area residents and vis- itors, totality – when the moon completely blocks sunlight from reaching Earth – lasted a mere 101 seconds, but it was 101 seconds people will remember the rest of their lives. The Shrestha family of Portland raced to the intersection of Grand Ronde and Hebo roads from Pacific City on early Monday morning when they heard cloud cover might not burn off quickly enough to allow them to See ECLIPSE continued on page 13 Congressman Kurt Schrader visits the Tribe U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, left, talks with, second from left, Tribal Council member Jack Giffen Jr., Tribal Council Secretary Jon A. George and Tribal Council Chair Reyn Leno during his visit to the Tribe’s Natural Resources Department on Tuesday, Aug. 15. By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor U Photo by Michelle Alaimo .S. Rep. Kurt Schrader received a crash course in the Tribe’s natural resourc- es efforts during a one-hour visit to the Tribe’s Natural Resources Department on Tuesday, Aug. 15. Schrader, who represents Ore- gon’s fifth congressional district in the House of Representatives, has served in Congress since 2009. He was greeted by Tribal Council Chairman Reyn Leno and Tribal Council member Jack Giffen Jr., who made a priority of thanking him for his help in getting amendments to the Grand Ronde Reservation Act through Congress and signed by President Barack Obama be- fore he left office in January. The Tribe worked approximately seven See VISIT continued on page 12