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OCTOBER 15, 2022
Smoke Signals
University of Oregon
begins scholars program
EUGENE – The University of Oregon started its Home Flight
Scholars Program on Monday, Oct. 10, that is immediately available
to currently enrolled eligible undergraduate students and was built
in consultation with its Native American Advisory Council.
Through a combination of federal, state and institutional grants,
the Home Flight Scholars Program will cover full tuition and fee costs
for American Indian/Alaska Native residents, create a new academic
advisor position, enhance mentorship opportunities and develop a
culture-rich program for new students to help them start successful
academic careers.
The program became available immediately to an estimated 150
to 175 self-identified American Indian/Alaska Native undergraduate
students who are Oregon residents.
Under the program, once state and federal options are exhausted, the
University of Oregon will waive remaining tuition and fees for Oregon
residents who are enrolled citizens of any federally recognized Tribe.
“The university is dedicated to the success of Oregon’s American In-
dian/Alaska Native students,” said Interim President Patrick Phillips.
“The Home Flight Scholars Program tackles the unique challenges
these students face and prepares them to graduate with an education
and the experience that empowers them to return home and make a
positive impact in their communities and for their families.”
“With Home Flight, we can provide academic and social guidance
that will complement Tribal educational values,” said Jason Younker,
assistant vice president and advisor to the president on sovereignty
and government-to-government relations. “We hope that each graduate
will consider returning to their home Reservation and become future
stewards and leaders within their communities.” 
No in-person voting for BIA
constitutional elections
ELECTION continued
from front page
successful was not answered before
press time. Tribal members had
until Oct. 7 to challenge the list.
This will be the eighth time since
1999 that Tribal voters will be
asked to amend the Constitution.
Only two proposals out of those
previous seven votes that included
11 suggested amendments received
the required two-thirds majority to
alter the Tribe’s Constitution.
The proposed constitutional
amendment would amend Article
V, Section 5 to limit involuntary
loss of membership to fraud and
dual enrollment, and remove the
current language regarding loss
of membership for failure to meet
enrollment criteria.
The proposal comes in reaction to
the divisive disenrollment proceed-
ings that occurred in 2015 during
which Tribal members were pro-
visionally disenrolled. Eventually,
the Tribal Court of Appeals ruled
that the Tribal members who were
identified for disenrollment be-
cause they allegedly did not meet
enrollment criteria were to remain
in the Tribe because the govern-
ment had waited too long to start
proceedings against them.
Unlike regular Tribal Council
elections, a constitutional amend-
ment election is supervised by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, which
required Tribal members to reg-
ister separately to vote. At least
30 percent of those who registered
to vote must cast a ballot – 258 of
the 858 registered voters – for the
results to count and 66.7 percent
of those voting must approve the
amendment before it can change
the Constitution.
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Registered voters for
constitutional elections
November 2022: 858
March 2019: 1,293
July 2016: 1,546
March 2015: 1,091
June 2012: 1,108
November 2011: About 1,400
February 2008: 1,491
July 1999: More than 1,049
In March 2015, Tribal voters
were asked to remove the Bureau
of Indian Affairs from supervis-
ing Grand Ronde constitutional
amendment elections, but the pro-
posal was overwhelmingly rejected
with 62.4 percent wanting to retain
federal oversight.
A voter list was posted on the Gov-
ernance Center doors on Wednes-
day, Oct. 4. Ballots were scheduled
to be mailed out no later than Oct.
10 and must be returned by Nov. 2.
There is no in-person voting for a
BIA constitutional election.
Tribal Council Chief of Staff Sta-
cia Hernandez said there would be
four hybrid in-person/Zoom educa-
tional meetings with the first one
held Thursday, Oct. 13, at Portland
State University’s Native American
Student & Community Center. Fu-
ture sessions will be held in Tribal
Council Chambers in Grand Ronde
at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18; in
Salem at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct.
20, at the Salem Public Library,
585 Liberty St. S.E.; and in Tribal
Council Chambers in Grand Ronde
at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26.
For more information, visit the
Tribal government’s website at
www.grandronde.org or contact
Hernandez at stacia.martin@gran-
dronde.org. 
Drop box installed
The Grand Ronde Tribal Police Department, 9655 Grand Ronde
Road, now has a medication drop box located in the front lobby.
Lobby hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The drop box is for any prescribed or over-the-counter medication.
If the containers are too large to fit in the drop box, please repackage
them in a zip-lock plastic bag. Tribal Police employees cannot handle
the medications so the person dropping them off must repackage them.
Needles and liquids are not allowed in the drop box.
Tribal Police suggest mixing liquid medications with cat litter or cof-
fee grounds and then throwing them away with the household trash.
For more information, call 503-879-1821. 
Health Authority issues
lamprey consumption advisory
SALEM – The Oregon Health Authority issued recommendations
on the amount of lamprey people should eat from the Columbia River
and its Oregon tributaries on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
Fish tissue data from the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fishing Com-
mission found PCBs at levels of concern in lamprey for the general
population and PCBs and mercury for vulnerable populations, such
as children under 6, people who are or may become pregnant and
nursing mothers.
Eating too many fish contaminated with PCBs or mercury can cause
negative health effects, including damage to organs, the nervous
system and the brain.
Because lamprey are consumed mainly by Tribal members in Or-
egon, Washington and Idaho, Tribal members are also considered
a vulnerable population, especially people with thyroid or immune
system problems.
The levels of PCBs and mercury were similar among all three rivers
tested, which leads scientists to suspect the contaminants came from
the lampreys’ time in the Pacific Ocean.
“As Oregon’s largest consumers of lamprey, this consumption ad-
visory will impact Tribal people most of all,” said Fish Commission
Executive Director Aja DeCouteau. “We must all work together to
make limiting consumption a temporary solution because the Tribes
believe that the long-term solution to this problem isn’t keeping
people from eating contaminated fish … it’s keeping fish from being
contaminated in the first place.”
The advisory recommends people in the general population eat four
servings of lamprey per month and those in vulnerable populations
only eat two. A meal is about the size and thickness of child’s hand
or an ounce for every 20 pounds of body weight. 