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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2019)
PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 Tribal Youth Spring Break — pg. 11 APRIL 1, 2019 Tribal voters favor resolving split-sibling issue, but not enough By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor F or the fourth time in Tribal history, more than 60 percent of Tribal voters favored amending the Tribal Constitution, but again fell short of overcoming the document’s two-thirds majority requirement. During the Friday, March 22, constitutional amendment election, 63.5 percent of those who voted favored allowing unenrolled siblings of Tribal members with the same parents be grant- ed membership. However, that fell 3.2 percent- age points short of the 66.7 percent mandated by the Tribal Constitution. A total of 1,293 Tribal members registered to vote in the Bureau of Indian Affairs-supervised election and 73.5 percent of them voted, well above the required 30 percent necessary for the election to count. The final vote count was 601 in favor of the proposed amendment and 345 against. Five ballots were disqualified for no vote or lack of a signature. “My heart is sad,” posted Tribal Council mem- ber Denise Harvey on Facebook after the election results were announced. “We tried so hard to make a wrong a right and we came so close to making it happen.” During the September 2018 Tribal Council election’s advisory vote process, 69.7 percent of Tribal voters who responded to a similarly worded proposal favored solving the split-sibling issue. An encouraged Tribal Council then voted in October to move forward with a proposed amend- ment designed to address the singular issue of siblings who are not Tribal members despite having brothers and sisters who are and have the same parent(s). The proposed amendment to the Tribal Con- stitution would have amended Article V to allow for the enrollment of applicants who have enrolled brothers and sisters by the same Tribal See AMENDMENT continued on page 7 Photos by Timothy J. Gonzalez Grand Ronde Tribal member Troy Douglass has opened his own clothing store, Cultural Blends, in the Lloyd Center Mall. After having a “pop-up” location inside the mall over the holiday season, management encouraged him to lease a brick-and-mortar store for his cross-cultural clothing brand. Blending cultures Grand Ronde Tribal member weaves together a clothing line By Danielle Frost Smoke Signals staff writer ORTLAND — Having superstars like basketball player Damian Lillard or rapper Snoop Dogg wear your clothing line is something most independent designers only dream of having happen. But for Tribal member Troy Douglass, it’s a case of perseverance paying off. And the secret to his success? “You have to hustle,” Douglass, 29, says. “Sometimes it means you have to make your- self uncomfortable. The more I put myself out there, the more comes from it.” Douglass started a clothing line while he was a student at the University of Hawaii in Hilo. Since then, he has taken the business from selling out of boxes at the school cafe- teria and farmer’s markets to a brick-and- mortar location in the Lloyd Center Mall with P See BUSINESS continued on page 10 Tribal member Troy Douglass is a huge Trail Blazers fan and designed a hat, Play Like It’s 1977, in honor of the team’s 1977 NBA championship season. A friend attended an autograph session with Trail Blazer guard Damian Lillard and asked if he would wear the hat. Lillard donned the hat after a crucial playoff win in 2014. A photograph was taken and made the rounds on social media. An Egg-cellent time set for Saturday, April 20 By Danielle Frost Three-year- old Nevaeh Grijalva heads for some eggs during the Tribe’s annual Easter Egg Hunt held at Tribal Housing last year. Smoke Signals staff writer E Smoke Signals file photo aster is Sunday, April 21, which means the annual Tribal Hous- ing Department’s Easter Egg Hunt will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 20, rain or shine, at the covered area in Tribal housing on Raven Loop. “Regardless of the weather, we hunt,” Rental Housing & Self-Suffi- ciency Coordinator Deborah Kroeker said. Easter Egg Hunt organizers advise being on time for the event, as partic- ipants are not shy about cleaning out the supplies fast. “It is important for first-time attend- ees to know that they should be a little early and they should bring their own Easter baskets or bags,” Kroeker said. “The kids here are quick – from the time we yell ‘Hunt!’ is usually about a minute before the grounds are cleared See EASTER continued on page 6