Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2024)
sNok signflz JANUARY 1, 2024 Drop box installed The Grand Ronde Tribal Police Department, 9655 Grand Ronde Road, 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. Photo by Michelle Alaimo The Tribe received two grants totaling $900,000 from Yamhill Community Care in early December. A $650,000 grant will support construction of the new Child Development Center. It will be located where the current softball field is on the Tribal campus. Tribe receives $900,000 in Yamhill Community Care grants By Dean Rhodes Publications coordinator McMINNVILLE – The Confed- erated Tribes of Grand Ronde re- ceived two grants totaling $900,000 from Yamhill Community Care in early December. A $250,000 grant will help the Tribe purchase capital materials for its transitional housing effort and a complementary $650,000 grant will support construction of the new Child Development Center. Tribal Council approved a $16.3 million contract with Triplett Well- man of Woodburn on Nov. 15 to construct the Child Development Center on the Tribal campus. Engineering and Planning Man- ager Ryan Webb said that the one-story, 26,000-square-foot build- ing will include 12 classrooms, outdoor play areas, community room, large commercial kitchen, 16 administrative offices, break room, restrooms and other support areas. The building will be constructed where the current softball field is located adjacent to the old powwow grounds courtyard in front of the Governance Center. The area is now under construction. Webb said the building will take approximately one year to construct and should be open in December 2024. Funding for the Child Develop- ment Center is a combination of American Rescue Plan Act mon- ies, grants from foundations such as Yamhill Community Care and Tribal dollars. “The funds are to support capital expenses to complete and furnish temporary and permanent support- ive housing under the Community Transitions Program, which in- creases access to safe and secure housing for our Tribal members,” Health Services Executive Director Kelly Rowe said about the $250,000 grant. Yamhill Community Care award- ed more than $3.19 million to 18 local community-based organiza- tions through its aligned Commu- nity Health Improvement Plan and Community Prevention Wellness Fund Initiative. “We are committed to fostering a healthier and more connected community through strategic in- vestments and collaborations,” President and Chief Executive Officer of Yamhill Community Care Seamus McCarthy said. “We are proud to partner with this year’s recipients and are excited to see how their innovative and impactful programs make a difference in the community.” Other organizations receiving grants included the Dayton Food Pantry, Habitat for Humanity, McMinnville School District and McMinnville Public Library, and the Willamette Valley campus in Willamina. Yamhill Community Care is a coordinated care organization that serves Oregon Health Plan members in Yamhill County and parts of Washington and Polk counties. 5 ‘A gross injustice’ against the Tribe is finally ending ERROR continued from front page The Tribe agreed to accept a 240- acre parcel of grant lands adjacent to the Grand Ronde Reservation in exchange and surrender its claims to the Thompson Strip. However, the Department of the Interior in 1994 “developed broad language that relinquished any future claims of this type within the state of Oregon” by the Grand Ronde Tribe. House Resolution 1722 replaces the phrase “state of Oregon” with the phrase “84 acres known as the Thompson Strip” in the Grand Ronde Reservation Act. It will also prohibit any property obtained by the Grand Ronde Tribe as part of a land claim settlement from being used for gaming activities. “The Thompson Strip (legislation) has been going on for almost a de- cade,” Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy said during a Facebook Live meeting Wednesday, Dec. 20. “One (chamber) would pass it and other wouldn’t. They couldn’t get it together. We had no recourse if there was another survey error. The proposal (passed by Congress) removed that. … This is phenomenal. My thinking about these things were once only dreams is hallelujah, here we are.” Oregon Rep. Andrea Salinas introduced legislation to fix the mistake on March 22. Her bill was co-sponsored by Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, and Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Earl Blumenauer, Val Hoyle and Lori Chavez-DeRemer. “I am deeply proud that my amendment to the Grand Ronde Reservation Act has passed the Senate and will soon become law,” Salinas said. “This is a historic mo- ment not only for the Grand Ronde Tribe, but for Indigenous peoples in Oregon and across the country. At long last, the Grand Ronde Tribe will finally have the right to pursue land claims and compensation once again. I am so grateful to Senator Merkley, my Oregon colleagues and everyone who helped get this im- portant legislation across the finish line, and I look forward to seeing it signed into law in the coming days.” “A gross injustice against the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is finally ending, and a new chapter of healing and justice for the Tribal community can begin,” Merkley said. “Nearly three de- cades ago, the Grand Ronde sought to fix a historical surveying error within their reservation boundary, only for the federal government to make another error that relin- quished the Tribe’s rights to future land claims and compensation. I’ve long championed legislation to correct this egregious injustice. With the strong partnership of Representative Salinas, it is finally becoming a law that will ensure the Grand Ronde has the legal ability to restore its right to pursue land claims in Oregon—rights already available to other federally-recog- nized Tribes in Oregon.” In the House, the bill was re- ferred to the Committee on Natu- ral Resources, which passed it out of committee to the full House in September. A companion bill also was intro- duced in the Senate in March by Merkley and heard by the Commit- tee on Indian Affairs in July. The Committee on Indian Affairs advanced similar legislation in July 2020 and it was approved by the entire Senate. However, it was not passed by the House of Represen- tatives and the bill died at the end of the 117th Congress.
