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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2018)
S moke S ignals MAY 1, 2018 5 Tribal Council withdraws attorney’s fee reimbursement By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor 2013 – The Tribe mount- ed a new exhibit at the Willamette Heritage Center at the The Mill in Salem. “We Were Here First … and We Are Here to Stay: Assimilation, Termination and Restoration of the Con- federated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Ore- gon” took visitors through the 1850s Treaty Era to 2013 File photo the Termination Era of the 1950s to the Tribe’s preparation for its 30th anniversary of being restored. The exhibit was curated by the Land and Culture Department Exhibits and Archives Program staff members David Lewis, Julie Brown and Veronica Montano. 2008 – The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission approved a rule change that returned big-game hunting rights for cultural ceremonies to Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde members. The Tribe had been working to regain the rights after losing them. “A great day … a historic day,” said Tribal Council Vice Chair Reyn Leno. “I wish every Tribal member knew what was going on here today.” 2003 – Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy testified before the Senate Health Policy Committee on SB 878, which amend- ed a previous legislative decision made the prior year to cut health benefits for Native Americans along with the general population of Oregon as a cost-savings move. However, the new plan included higher deductibles and loss of preventive care services. “It’s hardly an insurance plan at all,” said Edward Fox, director of the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. 1998 – Language specialist Tony Johnson was featured for his development of a Chinuk Wawa archive of written and audio mate- rials. Johnson was pursuing a master’s degree in linguistics at the University of Oregon when he was recruited as a language specialist by the Grand Ronde Culture Board. He decided that establishment of a language program archive was an essential first step. With the help of archival materials, Tribal Elders and his own experience, Johnson compiled a dictionary of 825 Chinuk words with English equivalents. He also adapted a font created by a Canadian professor that could be easily modified to represent all the sounds in Chinuk Wawa. 1993 – Tribal Council Chairman Mark Mercier attended a Forest Conference in Portland with President Bill Clinton and Vice Presi- dent Al Gore. Clinton came to Portland to discuss the “timber crisis” with various political figures, business owners, Tribal officials and environmentalists. During the daylong conference, Clinton listened to both sides speak about their concerns. His Cabinet was set to bring a plan to end the gridlock within 60 days of the conference. 1988 – A hearing for the Grand Ronde Reservation Act was held in Washington, D.C. At the same time the House Committee on Inte- rior and Insular Affairs had its hearing, Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield submitted a similar bill in the Senate to show his support for the establishment of a 9,811-acre Reservation in Yamhill County. Rep. Les AuCoin, who introduced the Reservation Bill in the House of Representatives, said that the Tribe had agreed not to export logs or compete in the timber market for 20 years. “This is an important gesture by the Grand Ronde Tribe,” he said. “A gesture that shows a good neighbor attitude for the nonTribal community in this heavily timber-dependent region of my district.” Yesteryears is a look back at Tribal history in five-year in- crements through the pages of Smoke Signals. Tribal Council postponed approv- al of a reimbursement to Tribal Council member Denise Harvey for attorney’s fees she incurred in defending herself against an ethics complaint during the Wednesday, April 18, meeting. Tribal member Rebecca Knight, a former Hatfield Fellow, filed an eth- ics complaint against Harvey regard- ing her participation in interviews for a new Spirit Mountain Commu- nity Fund program coordinator. A March 26 authorization to proceed approved by seven Tribal Council members authorized trans- ferring $111,011.65 from general contingency to the Tribal Council budget to pay for Harvey’s legal expenses and attorney’s fees. Tribal Council considered the re- imbursement at its Tuesday, April 17, Legislative Action Committee meeting and was set to approve it at the Tribal Council meeting. However, it was pulled from the agenda early on Wednesday. Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris Mercier said the reimbursement was removed from the agenda because more motions were filed after Tribal Court Chief Judge Da- vid Shaw ruled from the bench in Harvey’s favor. Mercier said Tribal Council will await a final resolution of the case before re-addressing the reimburse- ment. “The case is not yet at its final disposition and we are hoping to get a final written opinion on it before we move forward,” Mercier said. The issue has been winding its way through Tribal administrative and legal processes for more than a year, occasionally rising to the level of Tribal Council discussion. At the March 22, 2017, Tribal Council meeting, Tribal member Brenda Gray asked Harvey about her observation of the interviews for hiring a new Community Fund program coordinator, but was told that since an inquiry had been initiated that her questions were inappropriate in a public meeting. During the May 31, 2017, Tribal Council meeting, Knight unsuc- cessfully requested a copy of the investigative report and a June 13, 2017, authorization to proceed released the investigative report to a mediator, as well as Knight and Harvey, but prohibited the parties from sharing the information out- side of the mediation process. An Executive Summary stated that the Tribal Council Ordinance authorizes the reimbursement and follows past practice and is consis- tent with how the Tribe has han- dled previous ethics proceedings involving Tribal Council members that occurred in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2012. “The Tribal Council Ordinance authorizes indemnification of an in- dividual who is made a party to the proceeding because of conduct by the individual while she is or was a Tribal Council member against liability for reasonable expenses, including defending costs, incurred in the proceeding if council deter- mines that the individual met the standards of conduct set forth in the Tribal Council Ordinance,” the proposed resolution states. Harvey was appointed to the Community Fund Board of Trust- ees in September 2016 to fulfill the term of former Tribal Council member Ed Pearsall and was re-ap- pointed to serve a two-year term in October 2017. She was not present at the Tribal Council meeting be- cause she was attending the Na- tional Indian Gaming Association tradeshow and convention being held in Las Vegas, Nev. In other action, Tribal Council approved a supplemental budget for 2018 that will allocate $75,000 to the planning process of the 36- unit Elders Phase III mixed-income housing development project and approved the enrollment of two infants into the Tribe because they meet the requirements outlined in the Tribal Constitution and Enroll- ment Ordinance. By consensus, Tribal Council also approved the agenda for the Sunday, May 6, General Council meeting to be held in the Tribal Community Center. Employment Services will make a presentation and the meeting will be followed by a Community Input meeting seek- ing suggestions for advisory vote topics to be placed on the Septem- ber Tribal Council election ballot. Also included in the April 18 Tribal Council packet were ap- proved authorizations to proceed that allow all seven Youth Council members to attend the National UNITY Conference being held in San Diego, Calif., in early July; pro- vides Tribal members with up to 10 free compact discs of Tribal Council work session recordings per year and provides free electronic copies to Tribal members with an officially registered e-mail; approves sending out electronic versions of Tilixam Wawa to Tribal members who pro- vide an e-mail address to Member Services; and approves adding Chi- nuk Wawa language immersion to the Tradition and Culture section of the draft 2018 Strategic Plan. The entire meeting can be viewed by visiting the Tribal website and clicking on the News tab and then Video. LIHEAP program open in service area The Tribal Social Service’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Pro- gram is open to eligible Tribal members in the six-county service area and Clackamas County. This is a first-come, first-served program and income criteria applies. The program is federally funded through the Department of Health and Human Services and is designed to help low-income households with home heating costs. For more information, contact Social Services at 503-879-2034.
