DECEMBER 2025 | VOLUME 33 ISSUE 12 CONFEDERATED UMATILLA JOURNAL The monthly newspaper of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation | Pendleton, Oregon cuj.ctuir.org
Oaths taken, term begins Four new faces join Board of Trustees TRAVIS SNELL The CUJ
Approximately 200 people attended the Dec. 3 swearing-in ceremony at the Nixyáawii Governance Center on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The nine-member board will lead the tribe for a two-year term. WIL PHINNEY FOR THE CUJ
MISSION – Recently elected members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Board of Trustees (BOT) and General Council officers took their oaths of office on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the Nixyáawii Governance Center. A crowd of approximately 200 people gathered in the center’s rotunda to watch CTUIR Chief Judge William Johnson swear in the eight BOT members and four General Council officers. The BOT exerts the Cayuse, Walla Walla and Umatilla Tribes’ sovereign authority to protect the rights reserved by the Treaty of 1855 and promote the interests of tribal members and residents of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. It See SWEARING IN, Page A14
Family of Wesley Jones using tribal culture for strength Search continues for missing man TRAVIS SNELL The CUJ
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation member Wesley Dixon Jones, shown here with his daughters Twila Jones, left, and Molly Jones, has been missing since Oct. 5. MOLLY JONES / CONTRIBUTED
Native American weighing approximately 140 pounds with long black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black and red Tiger Scott jacket, black shirt, black sweatpants and boots. According to the Umatilla Tribal Police Department (UTPD), his family reported him missing at 10:44 that night and began searching for him the next day. Molly said she and her family have looked for Wesley almost daily along the Umatilla River and surrounding areas. She said they, along with volunteers, have searched on horseback, on ATVs, in the river wearing waders and side by side in the brush. The family also helped bring in a sonar device
See JONES, Page A11
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MISSION – With two months having passed since his disappearance, family members of 71-year-old Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) member Wesley Dixon Jones are relying heavily on their tribal culture with the hope they will see him again. Molly Jones, Wesley’s daughter, said she and her family are relying on their prayers, tribal ceremonies and sweat lodge to see them through this difficult time. “We are just going day by day. This is very heartwrenching,” she said. “Our hearts are really heavy, and it’s a really different kind of trauma that we are having to learn to live through – having to live and go to work or get the kids ready for school – and at the same time all you want to do is find your dad or your brother or your uncle or your grandpa. We have multiple family members in our communities who are helping us search…It’s very difficult as a family.” Wesley was last seen on video around 3:15 p.m. on Oct. 5 in his gray 2003 Ford Escape heading east along Short Mile Road. When the vehicle returned west on the same road Wesley was no longer visible in it. The driver’s identity hasn’t been disclosed because of the investigation. Wesley is described as a 5-feet, 8-inch-tall
for underwater searches. During the weekend of Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 a search led by the MMIW Search & Hope Alliance used sonar for deeper waters along the Umatilla River. Two days earlier, the UTPD, FBI and a CTUIR Department of Natural Resources employee walked the river from Nicktyoway Road to the Highway 331 bridge using a GIS application to mark deep pools of water for the sonar search. The MMIW Search & Hope Alliance-led search also included an area east of Sampson Lane and Short Mile Road along the railroad right-of-way, as well as upriver around the Cayuse community. “I don’t think we’ve looked thoroughly in a lot of areas that need to be searched. There is a lot of river span to be looking at and a lot of land span along that,” Molly said. Since Oct. 6, the UTPD has conducted searches with the Umatilla County Sheriff ’s Office Search & Rescue, aerial drone searches over parts of the Umatilla River and searches on foot. Other areas included in the investigation are between Cayuse and Bingham roads as well as Short Mile Road to Cayuse Road, including River Road. On Nov. 18 with the help of CTUIR’s Geographic Information Systems, the UTPD conducted an aerial drone search in three previously unsearched locations. Citing the investigation, the UTPD did not specify the locations other
Nixyáawii’s Jacob Jones passes the ball during a team practice on Nov. 21, 2025, in Mission.
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