PRESORTED
STANDARD MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT NO. 700
Tribal member
competes in Mrs.
American pageant
— pg. 8
september 15, 2022
Female candidates make Tribal history
Voters send George, Tuomi and Harvey back to council
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
W
ith only four candidates
on the 2022 ballot, Tribal
voters were going to do
one of two things – re-elect two in-
cumbents and return a former Trib-
al Council member to the governing
board, or return two former Tribal
Council members and re-elect one
incumbent.
They did the former.
And Tribal voters did some-
thing that has never occurred since
1983’s Restoration – elect an all-fe-
male trio during a Tribal Council
election.
Incumbents Denise Harvey and
Kathleen George won two of the
three open seats during the Sept.
10 Tribal Council election, which
Kathleen George
marked the smallest slate of can-
didates ever nominated since Res-
toration.
Harvey, who was first elected to
Tribal Council in 2013 after five un-
Brenda Tuomi
Denise Harvey
successful campaigns, captured her
fourth consecutive three-year term.
Harvey, 60, previously finished
first in 2013 and 2019, and third
in 2016. She finished third with
741 votes.
“My life’s greatest work is serv-
See ELECTION
continued on page 7
Tribe renames
Willamette Falls site
Tumwata Village
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
O
REGON CITY – Blue Heron is out; Tum-
wata Village is in. The Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde announced on
Wednesday, Sept. 7, that it has chosen a new
name for the 23-acre site near Willamette Falls
that was once home to the former Blue Heron
Paper Mill.
Tumwata Village includes the Native name
for the falls and reflects the Tribe’s longstanding
connection to the area.
“As a name, Tumwata Village represents the
Grand Ronde Tribe’s connection to the falls as well
as the sacred lands and practices of our ancestors,”
said Grand Ronde Tribal Council Chairwoman
Cheryle A. Kennedy in a press release announcing
the name change. “As a place, Tumwata Village
will be a welcoming one that provides public access
to the falls, a chance to learn about our heritage
and culture, and an opportunity for new prosperity
throughout the region.”
The Tribe purchased the site in August 2019
for $15.25 million. It marked the first time that
the Tribe owned landed at Willamette Falls in
more than 150 years.
Along with the new name, the Tribe launched
a new website, www.tumwatavillage.org, so that
people can learn more about its vision for the
site, development plans, progress and how to
support restoration efforts.
“Tumwata Village is a meaningful name for a
meaningful site,” Kennedy said. “It connects the
See TUMWATA VILLAGE
continued on page 5
Photo by Kamiah Koch
Candic Linton sits in a meeting room within Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Ore.,
on Thursday, Sept. 8. She is serving an almost four-year sentence in the facility.
Grief relief
Tribal member turned to drugs to cope with murder of husband
(Editor’s note: The U.S. criminal justice
system disproportionately affects Native
Americans, women in particular, who are
overrepresented in the prison population with
the highest incarceration rate of any racial
group. This story is the fourth and final in a
series that examines the effects of mass in-
carceration on Grand Ronde Tribal mothers
and their children. Previous stories focused on
early post-prison release, several years after
incarceration and the intergenerational effects
of the criminal justice system on families.)
By Danielle Harrison
Smoke Signals assistant editor/staff writer
W
ILSONVILLE — When Grand Ronde
Tribal member Candic Linton was
sentenced to almost four years in
prison in early January 2022 for delivery of
methamphetamine, she knew it was time to
make changes.
It wasn’t her first experience with incarcera-
See PRISON
continued on page 9