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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