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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2024)
PRESORTED STANDARD MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID PORTLAND, OR PERMIT NO. 700 Fall Festival and Halloween photos — pg. 8 november 15, 2024 General Council briefed on 2025 draft budget By Danielle Harrison Smoke Signals editor F inance Officer Chris Leno briefed Tribal members on the draft budget for calendar year 2025 during the Sunday, Nov. 3, General Council meeting held at the Governance Center and on Zoom. The draft budget portion of the meeting was held in executive ses- sion, which limits how much Smoke Signals can report on the details. Leno’s draft budget presentation ran approximately 55 minutes and he fielded 11 questions and com- ments regarding next year’s Tribal spending plan. Tribal members interested in ob- taining the slides of Leno’s presen- tation should contact Tribal Council Chief of Staff Stacia Hernandez at stacia.martin@grandronde.org or call 503-879-2304. The November Tilixam Wawa also features a detailed look at the 2025 draft budget and adult Tribal mem- bers have until 5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, to submit written comments. The final 2025 budget will be ad- opted on or before Dec. 31. Written comments can be submitted to 9615 Grand Ronde Road, Grand Ronde, OR, 97347; or emailed to chris.leno@ grandronde.org. In other action, the next General Council meeting will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, in Tribal Council chambers and on Zoom. Leroy Good, Tynan George, Chris- topher Bailey, Jessica Holmes and Ashley Tuomi won the $50 door prizes. Esther Foster, Jacqueline Wilmot and Andrea Knight won the $100 door prizes. The non-executive session portion of the meeting can be viewed by visiting the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org and clicking on the Government tab and then Videos. n Photo by Michelle Alaimo Aiyana Woodward, 5, and her mother, Tribal member Malia Blanchard, peel backs off of decals to iron onto a T-shirt during the Warriors of Hope Program’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month event in the Tribal gym on Saturday, Oct. 26. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Warriors of Hope: Men are also victims of domestic violence By Nicole Montesano TO SEE MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEO Smoke Signals staff writer D omestic violence is such a pervasive legacy of colonialism that it has become normalized in many Tribal families, speakers for the Tribe’s Warriors of Hope Program said at an aware- ness event at the Tribal gym on Saturday, Oct. 26. The Tribal program offers assistance with survi- vors of domestic and sexual violence. @SmokeSignalsCTGR @ctgrsmokesignals @SmokeSignalsCTGR At one of the event tables, participants ironed decals onto T-shirts that said, “Love shouldn’t See DOMESTIC VIOLENCE continued on page 7 Tribal Council expresses appreciation, reservations about apology By Nicole Montesano Smoke Signals staff writer P resident Joe Biden’s apology in late Oc- tober, for the nation’s enforcement of a genocidal policy that forced Native Amer- ican children into horrifically abusive boarding schools for more than 150 years, was important, members of the Grand Ronde Tribal Council said, but must be backed by actions. Speaking at the Gila Indian River Community in Arizona on Friday, Oct. 25, Biden told attend- ees and the nation that the boarding school era was “one of the most horrific chapters in Amer- ican history. We should be ashamed.” He added that it was “a chapter that most Americans don’t know about. The vast majority don’t even know about it.” Treatment of the children at the schools was traumatizing and sometimes deadly, Biden ac- knowledged. “Their clothes taken off. Their hair that they were told was sacred was chopped off. Their names literally erased and replaced by a number or an English name. … Children abused — emotionally, physically and sexually abused. Forced into hard labor. Some put up for adoption without the consent of their birth parents. Some left for dead in unmarked graves. “And for those who did return home, they were wounded in body and in spirit — trauma and shame passed down through generations.” Biden noted that “Tens of thousands of Native children entered the system. Nearly 1,000 doc- umented Native child deaths, though the real See APOLOGY continued on page 6
