Siletz news /, June 01, 2000, Page 3, Image 3

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
understanding and management of
environmental issues. I also recognized the
Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ) for its efforts to involve tribes
in environmental management decisions.
The DEQ has been serious about
implementing Gov. Kitzhaber’s executive
order instructing state agencies to deal
with tribes on a government-to-
government basis.
I expressed the hope that conferences
such as this will deepen our understanding
of environmental issues and strengthen our
tribal and intergovernmental capacity to
address them.
Governor’s Fee-to-Trust
Meeting
During the past month, the Siletz
Tribal Council and staff were involved in
several important activities.
The Oregonian Visits as
Part of “Diversity Policy”
In early May, nine staff members from
The Oregonian (including Courtney
Thompson, whom many of you know as a
principal reporter on Indian affairs)
descended on Siletz. Most were here for the
first time, and all of them learned about our
history and programs, met our staff, and
toured our facilities.
The Oregonian selected the Siletz Tribe
to help give substance to its policy of
recognizing ethnic and cultural diversity. The
newspaper is similarly involved with
Hispanic, African American, Asian, and
other groups.
Tom Maurer, team leader, said The
Oregonian wants to make sure Indian issues
are written with accurate background
information. He said that field trips such as
this one to Siletz and orientation sessions
The Oregonian staff has had on federal
Indian laws and policies are giving them a
better basis on which to write Indian articles.
We will see.
National Tribal Conference
on Environmental Mgt.
On May 8-11, our tribe hosted the
Environmental Protection Agency’s Fifth
National Tribal Conference on Environmental
Management at Chinook Winds. The
conference brought together about 600
tribal, state, and federal officials from across
the country to tackle various environmental
issues that affect Indian tribes.
In my opening comments, I recognized
the EPA’s efforts in developing greater tribal
At the invitation of Gov. John Kitzhaber,
Craig Dorsay and I, along with officials from
other Oregon tribes, attended a meeting to
discuss fee-to-trust issues.
One of Kitzhaber’s concerns was that
the current 30-day comment period is
insufficient for the state to comment on a
tribe’s application to put fee land into trust
status. The governor’s legal counsel, Chip
Lazenby, advised that if issues aren’t
resolved within the time allowed, the state’s
only recourse is to file its objections officially,
which could delay the process.
The governor believes that by
extending the current 30-day comment
period, issues can be resolved without the
state resorting to legal means. He suggested
that by extending the comment period, state
concerns could be resolved through informal
consultations between the tribe and
applicable state agencies, i.e., LCDC.
Craig and I expressed the view that
especially for terminated tribes, establishing
an adequate land base is essential for
economic development, and the time factor
involved in accomplishing the fee-to-trust
process is critical. We said that tribes can’t
put an option on property, then be forced to
go through a lengthy fee-to-trust process.
Experience has shown that as soon as it’s
known that a tribe has targeted a parcel to
purchase, the price escalates. This has
forced tribes to go through third parties or
quickly identify land and purchase it -
knowing the fee-to-trust process is lengthy.
Although all tribes are involved in fee-
to-trust issues, we pointed out that there are
differences between the “landless” coastal
tribes that were terminated and those with
established reservations in the east. We
suggested that specifically for the “landless”
tribes on the west side, a need may exist
for formulating a special fee-to-trust process.
One frustrated tribal official said
discussing the issue further doesn’t benefit
tribes at all and questioned the tribes’
continued participation. The governor was
about to end the meeting, but other tribal
officials expressed the need to keep
communications flowing in an effort to
resolve issues.
I also said that despite difficulties, it was
essential we continue the dialogue. After all,
we have nothing to lose at this point; it’s to
our mutual benefit. By the end of the meeting,
tribal officials and the governor agreed to
continue our dialogue and form work groups
to tackle specific issues.
Distorted Media Reports
on ECONorthwest Study
In the last issue of Siletz News, I
reported on the economic and social impact
study conducted by ECONorthwest. Both
the Lincoln City and Newport newspapers
did a fine job of reporting on the study.
I can’t say the same for the Salem
Statesman Journal, however. Kari Jensen
wrote the article for this newspaper, which
distorted some, and omitted other, critical
facts. Her report was picked up by the
Associated Press and was carried across
the country, including The Oregonian.
Unfortunately, The Oregonian didn’t verify
the Associated Press account before
printing the article and violated its own
“diversity policy.”
Jensen wrote that Chinook Winds
drew people who would have spent their
money elsewhere if the casino had not been
there, “resulting in an estimated $4.8 million
loss to local businesses in 1998.” She
completely ignored ECONorthwest’s
analysis that “Chinook Winds attracted
475,000 new visitors to the county in 1998
who spent $14.8 million at local businesses”
representing a net gain to local non-tribal
businesses of over $10 million in 1998.
Mysteriously, Jensen exhumed three
members of the now discredited and defunct
No-Casino Association of Lincoln City: Lori
Hollingsworth,
Lisa Voelker, and
Leslie Green.
Hollingsworth, the city council member
who in 1995 voted against providing city
services, including water, to Chinook Winds,
tried to cast doubt on the credibility of the
study. In fact, the study was conducted by
a credible independent economic research
firm, the largest in the Northwest.
Voelker, a jeweler, wrote anti-casino
articles in the News Guard in a futile attempt
to block construction of Chinook Winds.
Jensen quotes Voelker as saying “I don’t
know of anyone jumping up and down
because of increased business,” failing to
mention that Chinook winds was awarded
(See Chairman on page 25)
3