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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2019)
Election Day Saturday, Sept. 7 PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 Tribal Council: Audit ‘cannot be relied on’ regarding blood quantum By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Tribe closes on Blue Heron purchase A 2012 enrollment audit that became the foundation for a divisive era of disenroll- ment proceedings within the Grand Ronde Tribe “cannot be relied on to confirm whether an individual’s blood quantum in the Tribe’s system is actually correct,” according to a July 24 Tribal Council memorandum. The enrollment audit, conducted by New Mexi- co-based accounting firm Anuskewicz & McCabe, was declassified by Tribal Council in an Aug. 6 authorization to proceed. Six Tribal Council members approved the declassification and three Tribal Council members did not vote on the issue. A copy of the enrollment audit and Tribal Coun- cil memorandum were provided to Smoke Signals on Monday, Aug. 19. According to the Tribal Council memorandum addressed to Tribal members that accompanies the declassified enrollment audit, the Tribe’s 2010 Strategic Plan directed the Member Services De- partment to perform an audit of enrollment files. Member Services personnel reported back that there were numerous inconsistencies between enrollment files and not all files contained com- plete documentation. An outside auditing firm, the now defunct Anuskewicz & McCabe, was subsequently hired to examine the enrollment files and found a pleth- ora of problems, from missing documents in many files to blood quantum and lineal descent issues. Among the items that Anuskewicz & McCabe was tasked with examining were determining whether all required documents are in each file and identifing deficiencies, recalculating blood quantum for each Tribal member using documen- tation available in the Tribe’s enrollment records and determining whether each Tribal member met all enrollment requirements in effect at the time of his or her enrollment. Almost seven years after the audit was submit- See AUDIT continued on page 8 Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde completed its $15.25 million purchase of the 23-acre Blue Heron Paper Mill site in Oregon City on Thursday, Aug. 15. It is the first time in 164 years that the Tribe has officially owned land near Willamette Falls. By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor O REGON CITY — The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde once again owns land at Willamette Falls for the first time since its antecedent Tribes ceded the area to the federal government in the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855. On Thursday, Aug. 15, the Tribe finalized its purchase of the 23-acre Blue Heron Paper Mill site from Washington developer George Heidgerken. The Grand Ronde Tribal Council voted to purchase two properties in Clackamas Coun- ty, including the Blue Heron Paper Mill site, on July 10 and approved a supplemental bud- get of $17 million to acquire both properties. The Tribe purchased the Blue Heron site for $15.25 million, according to the Clackamas County Recording Office. A second property, which includes 1.5 miles of land that borders the site and Willamette River, was scheduled to close at the end of August. The Blue Heron property is within the Tribe’s ancestral homelands and holds sig- nificant historical and cultural importance New chief judge takes over By Danielle Frost Smoke Signals staff writer C hief Judge Cynthia Kaufman Noble has succeeded David D. Shaw on the Tribal Court, where she will preside over name changes, divorces, small claims, housing appeals, personal injury Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez lawsuits, ethics complaints, election appeals and more. Noble took over as chief judge on July 1 and her term runs through June 2021. Shaw served the Tribe as See JUDGE continued on page 7 New Tribal Court Chief Judge Cynthia Kaufman Noble, right, shakes hands with Employee Relations Specialist Sean Barton as Employee Relations Coordinator Linda Warren looks on during a meet and greet held in Tribal Court on Friday, Aug. 16. See BLUE HERON continued on page 9 SEPTEMBER 1, 2019 Tribal member Ty George participates in the Saturday afternoon Grand Entry on the second day of the 2019 Grand Ronde Contest Powwow held at Uyxat Powwow Grounds on Saturday, Aug. 17. Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez Special 12-page Grand Ronde annual Contest Powwow pullout inside
