6
SMOKE SIGNALS
APRIL 1, 2024
Tribal Council secretary
attends Elected Tribal
Offi cial Academy Training
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 medica-
tion. If the containers are too large to fi t 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
coffee grounds and then throwing them away with the household
trash.
For more information, call 503-879-1821.
Photo collection
Photo courtesy of The Evergreen State College
Tribal Council Secretary Michael Cherry, second from left, attended the
second annual Elected Tribal Offi cial Academy Training that was held in
February at ilani Casino Resort in Ridgefi eld, Wash. A few of her fellow
attendees included The Evergreen State College Tribal Liaison Lyn Dennis,
left, Tulalip Tribes Chairwoman Teri Gobin, second from right, and Cowlitz
Tribal Council member Suzanne Donaldson.
RIDGEFIELD, Wash. – Grand
Ronde Tribal Council Secretary
Michael Cherry attended the sec-
ond annual Elected Tribal Offi cial
Academy Training in February at
ilani Casino Resort.
Cherry was one 48 Tribal offi cials
who participated in the training ac-
cording to a press release from The
Evergreen State College, which de-
veloped curriculum for the training.
Tribes represented included
Squaxin Island, Nisqually, Lum-
mi Nation, Confederated Tribes
of Colville, Confederated Tribes
of Umatilla, Spokane, Hoh, Port
Gamble S’Klallam; Tulalip Tribes;
Jamestown S’Klallam; Confederat-
ed Tribes of Grand Ronde, Skokom-
ish and the Cowlitz Tribe.
Cowlitz Tribal Chairwoman Pat-
ty Kinswa-Gaiser welcomed attend-
ees to the event and The Evergreen
State College President John Car-
michael gave opening remarks.
Resilient Tribal governance
was highlighted throughout the
training, including topics such as
the federal Supreme Court, con-
gressional updates, an overview
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs,
communication and political pro-
tocols, Tribal budgets and fi scal
policy, climate change, legislative
processes at the state and federal
level, and gaming and sustainable
Tribal economies.
Grand Ronde Tribal member and
Northwest Regional BIA Director
Bryan Mercier was one of the fea-
tured speakers.
The training is a result of a con-
sultation that previously took place
at The Evergreen State College, in
which Tribes requested a training
for newly elected Tribal officials
and Tribal liaisons.
“Attending the Elected Tribal
Offi cial Academy Training was a
transformative experience that
provided invaluable insights and
opportunities to collaborate with
other elected officials,” Cherry
said. “The training offered a unique
opportunity for both new and sea-
soned elected Tribal leaders to gain
a deeper understanding of Tribal
governance and Tribal sovereign-
ty essential to our communities.
I cannot emphasize enough how
effective this training was, I only
wish I attended sooner.”
For a more in-depth story about
Cherry’s experience, listen to the
Smoke Signals podcast by visiting
smokesignals.org and clicking on
the “podcast” link under the drop-
down menu.
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal member Leland Butler discusses his photographs during an artist
talk and opening reception for his exhibit, “Connected to the Land,”
in the art gallery at Linfi eld University in McMinnville on Wednesday,
March 20. “Over the course of making photos, I’ve become attached to
the duality of light and shadow and the beauty it creates in an image,”
Butler said in his artist statement. “With that same idea, there is an
internal exploration that takes place throughout life and similarly, one
can fi nd the beauty in the duality of our own internal light and shadow
through expression and exploration (internally and externally). This
collection of photos explores that concept through landscape photos
of the Pacifi c Northwest that were created while also exploring the
internal light and shadow. The spiritual journeys we embark on to fi nd
life’s answers about self often brings us back to nature and that’s what
connects us to the land.” The exhibit is co-curated with Chachalu Tribal
Museum & Cultural Center and Linfi eld Art Gallery. Butler was selected
as the 2024 Indigenous Place Keeping Artist Fellow, receiving $20,000
to advance his artistic work. The fellowship is administered by the
Tribe’s Cultural Resources Department. It will run through Friday, May 3.