Letters to the Editor -- Feb. 15, 2015

Dear Smoke Signals:

My family and I want to extend a huge thank you to the Grand Ronde Tribal Housing Authority. We recently purchased a 1968 home in Keizer with plans of updating it. The Home Repair Grant allowed us to literally make our house a warm and inviting space. We were able to improve the energy efficiency of our home by having the original single pane windows replaced and insulating the underfloor of the house. What was once drafty and cold is now warm and comfortable.

Loyal Hamilton was great to work with and helped to make the process as easy as possible. He was able to guide us through identifying the areas that would be of greatest benefit to us from an efficiency standpoint. I know that the blessing of receiving this grant will continue to bless my family and our guests for many years to come.

Thank you to all of those who work to make these and other opportunities available to Tribal members. We are truly blessed by your hard work and generosity. Know that we are truly grateful for the many opportunities and services that are provided to us as Grand Ronde Tribal members.\

Jeremy Haller

Roll #2058

Dear Smoke Signals:

It has been several years since we as members have been given the opportunity to vote on something other than Tribal Council elections. For that we should all be thankful and more importantly give credit where credit is due: to our Tribal leaders for providing us this chance.

This is also the opportunity for us to voice our opinions through means other than voting. I hope to see more of you explaining how you are voting and why in this section of our Tribal newsletter. If you are fortunate enough to live near Grand Ronde, hopefully you will take advantage of the General Council meetings and Wednesday night meetings to equally express your thoughts on this matter. That is what democracy is all about: debate and vote.

As for me, I would like to take this opportunity to express my own opinions. Right now I am unsure what to make of the first constitutional amendment before us, the removal of the Bureau of Indian Affairs oversight from these kinds of elections. Initially, I am skeptical because there didn’t seem to be anything prompting Tribal Council’s decision to propose this amendment. I would think some sort of overly negative event made our Tribal leaders realize this was something we needed. But I haven’t heard or read anything. At least five Tribal Council members thought it was a good idea and that seems to be enough. Hopefully more explanation will be coming forth because my initial thoughts are it removes a safeguard to changing our Constitution and makes it easier for council to propose changes, but not for us the general membership. Unless better arguments are put before me, at this point I will have to be a “no” vote.

The second amendment is a little confusing. I see people calling it “term limits,” but when you really read the language, all this proposal really does is require a sabbatical for council members in between three-term stints. Nine years on, one year off. That is hardly term limits. I understand a survey was conducted five or six years ago and the general membership came out strongly in favor of term limits, but what we are voting on is a far cry from that. I read into that survey as meaning the membership doesn’t want Tribal leaders making lifelong careers out of being on council. Under this supposed version of “term limits,” that is still possible. You just have to take one year off every decade. By supporting this amendment, I would be accepting some weakened and watered-down version of what the members clearly wanted. Very little would really change, which is why at this point I am also a “no.”

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Brenda Tuomi

Roll #1438