PRESORTED
STANDARD MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT NO. 700
Tribal employee seeking
office on Conservation
District board — pg. 11
october 15, 2022
858 register
to vote in Nov.
2 election
Saluting Steve
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
A
bout 20 percent of adult
Tribal members registered
to vote in the Nov. 2 consti-
tutional amendment election that
will determine whether to limit
future disenrollment proceedings
to only cases of fraud and dual
enrollment.
According to the voter registration
list released by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 858
Tribal members registered during
what Senior Staff Attorney Holly
Partridge said was the shortest reg-
istration process timeline the Tribe
has ever had for a BIA-run election.
During the recent Sept. 10 Tribal
Council election, there were 4,402
adult Tribal members.
The number of registered voters
is the smallest amount for any
constitutional election held by the
Tribe. In all of the other seven con-
stitutional elections, more than a
1,000 Tribal members registered,
ranging from 1,091 in March 2015
to more than 1,500 in July 2016.
A “unified” Tribal Council ap-
proved sending the proposal out
to voters during its Aug. 10 meet-
ing and held its first educational
meeting regarding the proposal via
Facebook Live on Sept. 21. Eight of
the nine Tribal Council members
appear on the voting list, which is
available to review at the Tribal
government’s website at www.
grandronde.org.
Smoke Signals’ inquiry to the
Bureau of Indian Affairs to find out
if any challenges to the list were
Photos by Timothy J. Gonzalez
The family of former Tribal Council member Steve Bobb Sr. gathered under a new memorial sign during
a dedication ceremony at the Willamina School District’s Career Technical Education automotive shop on
Tuesday, Oct. 4. Bobb was a Willamina High alumnus and a strong supporter of the district. He walked on Aug.
11 at the age of 73. The Willamina School Board voted unanimously during its September meeting to rename
the automotive shop in his honor.
See ELECTION
continued on page 8
Willamina School District’s
Career Technical Education
automotive shop was
dedicated to former Tribal
Council member Steve Bobb
Sr. Bobb was a Willamina High
alumnus and strong supporter
of the district. He also was a
Vietnam War-era Marine Corps
veteran and three-term Grand
Ronde Tribal Council member.
Tribe restarts its southern Oregon outreach
By Kamiah Koch
Social media/digital journalist
M
EDFORD – The Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde reinvigorated its
outreach in southern Oregon by
hosting its ninth Coffee & Conversation at the
Courtyard by Marriott adjacent to the Medford
Airport on Friday, Oct. 7.
This event also commemorated the Sept. 10,
Photo by Timothy J. Gonzalez
1853, treaty with the Rogue River Tribes that
ceded a large swath of southern Oregon that
now includes Medford to the federal govern-
ment.
After two years of cancellations due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, staff from Friends of Cas-
See OUTREACH
continued on page 6
Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy greets Terry Dickey, board member of the
Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, during the Coffee & Conversation event held
at the Courtyard by Marriott in Medford on Friday, Oct 7. The annual meeting between Tribal
representatives and local government officials in southern Oregon was held for the first time in
two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.