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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2001)
CANDIDATES’ STATEMENTS Loraine Butler Lillie Butler My name is Lillie (Logan) Butler. I am running for a Tribal Council position and I am willing to put the energy and time in working for the Siletz Tribe. The tribe in the early 1980s came up with priorities of health, education, and housing, and later added economic development. The priorities have not gone away and there is still need in these areas. I currently work for the Siletz Tribe in Contract Health Services. The tribe has been able to provide services for health in their 11-county service areas based on a priority list and provide $400 for prescriptions for those outside the service area. Additional funding is needed to assist in health care. There is a need for housing for the members. The Housing Authority has provided many homes and rentals in the Siletz area and assisted with down payments for homes and funding for repairs. The Housing Improvement Program at one time was the main funding source for housing needs, but federal cuts have virtually eliminated this program. The tribe basically is relying on the Housing Authority for housing assistance and there is an income level that eliminates some of the membership. Education should be a top priority with the Siletz Tribe. This is a program that starts with our very young, goes on through adulthood, and should include the elders. It is an area that teaches our very young that education will 8 always be part of their lives. It is where they will learn what they want their future to be. The funding needs to be available for programs for the young and to assist those that are going on for vocational and higher education. It should not be a hardship for students when they graduate from high school and want to continue their education. Economic development is instrumental in achieving the funding to assist the needs of extended health care, housing, and education. At one time, timber revenue was the tribe’s only source of income. Timber revenues assisted in the start-up of Chinook Winds. But, the Siletz Tribe needs additional economic development. The Siletz Tribe needs to start growing in economic development. Chinook Winds is making a lot of money, but the distribution to the tribe is minimal. A 4 percent profit coming to the tribe is not very much when the expenditures are approximately 94 percent of the gross profit. I am willing to work for improved health, education, housing needs, and economic development. I am willing to work at bringing back more to the membership from Chinook Winds. I want to remind the membership what they received in 1999 and the year 2000 and remind the elders what they received. For change to happen, new leadership needs to be voted in. I am asking for your vote at the upcoming election. Hello, My name is Loraine Y. Butler. I am a candidate for the upcoming tribal elections. I am from the Butler family on my father’s side. His name was Bruce Butler Jr., “Brucie” to most of his friends and family. His father was Bruce Butler Sr.; his mother was Jane Hollis Butler. My mother’s name is Martha Case Moody; her mother was Ethel (Logan) Gurdipee, her father Edward Case Sr. I am a single parent. I have five children and eight grandchildren. Three of my children work at Chinook Winds, Renee (Bingo), Martha (VLT tech.) and Nathan (surveillance). My son Rusty works in Siletz with the Prevention team. My daughter Misty is a student at Phagan’s Beauty College in Newport. I have 10 years of sobriety on New Year’s Eve 2001. I have worked for the tribe on and off for 10 years. I am very proud of my Indian blood and . my Indian heritage. I practice my Indian culture through the sweat lodge ceremony, feather dance, sun dance, and the sacred pipe ceremony. I love to make regalia for myself and family. We attend pow-wows to celebrate and dance. I have tried to teach my children and grandchildren to love and respect the Indian culture and pray in our Indian way. I am very concerned for our tribe and our tribal people. I feel that our Tribal Council has become so involved in the casino and tribal politics that they have forgotten about the basic needs of the people. Our elders have many needs. We lost an elder this week in death. Another elder moved to a nursing home. How sad that we don’t have an assisted living home here in Siletz, where she could live out the rest of her days in the town she was bom and raised in. I have concerns about some of our tribal programs. These programs are federally funded for our members. Why do we try so hard to prevent our members from getting on the programs to utilize them? For example, our Employment Services Program. The clients are expected to do “x” amounts of job searches a week. Some of these people have families. They have no cars, no insurance, and most of all they have no job skills and experience. Why aren't we providing these people with staff and equipment to get the basic skills they need to get employed? I have great concern for our tribal children and their education. The Siletz Tribe donates thousands of dollars to Lincoln County every year. Lincoln City has a new high school; Newport is building new schools also. Our children are being bused to Toledo High School, where they play second to the children from Toledo. Our high school dropout rate is high. The Council must know this, do they care? My sister Lavern lost her home and everything she owned in a house fire this year. I went to upper management and requested help for her. I was told there are no funds for her. She needed to go to Contact and Red Cross for help. How can this be? She got $1,000 from housing. This was not tribal money, it was HUD grant money. This money was to help her rebuild her life. Could you rent a home and furnish it, plus take care of your two children with $1,000? This could happen to you or someone in your family. I have heard that charity begins at home. Let’s try and make positive changes in our tribe to help our tribal people, the members, eiders, and the children. We as tribal members have a lot to be proud of. On the outside to the public we look good. Now let’s make some changes on the inside to help the less fortunate tribal members. I ask for your support to make these dreams a reality. Thank you, Loraine Y. Butler
