CHAIRMAN S REPORT
Siletz Tribe
Commemorates Rogue
River Treaty
An event of great significance took
place on Sept. 10, 2003, when 150
Siletz Tribal members gathered at Table
Rock near Medford, Ore., to com
memorate the signing of the Rogue
River Treaty exactly 150 years ago.
I would like to share my thoughts
on the significance of this event for all
our readers of Siletz News.
September 10 was a beautiful day
and the ceremony was held in a
beautiful place. As beautiful as the
setting was, however, it was not without
a great deal of pain that we recalled the
tragic events 150 years ago that led to
the signing of the treaty and what
happened afterward.
The United States promised in the
treaty of Sept. 10,1853, that the Rogue
River tribes would be moved to a
temporary reservation at Table Rock
and then to a permanent reservation in
exchange for the tribes’ ceding of their
aboriginal lands.
It was the hatred and violence of
the settlers and their lust for Indian land
that drove the Indians from their
homeland to Table Rock, the temporary
reserve where the Rogue River Treaty
was signed.
From Table Rock, our ancestors
were removed to what was promised to
be their permanent 1.1-million-acre
Siletz or Coast Reservation, extending
To the editor:
This is an open letter to the Ben
family, especially Mrs. Rodney Ben.
I was speaking with Ed Ben at the
doings at Table Rock, trying to relay
my condolences to him. Ed was relating
to me how the wife of Rodney wanted
to contact me to have me sing at Rod’s
funeral. I really feel bad about that.
I never hear about our people leav
ing us until I read about it in our paper.
It’s no secret that I live in Lapwai -
and I’m in the “book.”
Mrs. Ben, it would have been my
high honor to sing for Rod and I would
have made my w ay home, some way.
And I pray for all the Ben family.
It is so hard to lose a loved one. The
happy times that he had with his family
Chairman Delores Pigsley
100 miles along the coast and 20 miles
inland. The reservation was approved
by executive order on Nov. 9,1855. But
permanence not to be!
The voracious hunger for Indian
land by Oregon legislators and steadily
encroaching settlers caused President
Johnson to issue an executive order on
Dec. 21, 1865, to illegally gouge
220,000 acres out of the center of our
reservation for white settlement.
It wasn’t enough, however, to split
our reservation in two, with the Alsea
Reservation in the south and the Siletz
in the north. Next came the further
reduction of the Coast Reservation by
the removal of the Indians from, and
abolition of, the Alsea Reservation by
the act of March 3, 1875. This was
followed by other congressional acts
that further diminished the Coast
should be remembered and not the hard
times of sickness.
None of use has a guarantee about
tomorrow, so we must love one another,
forgive and forget.
Gilbert Towner
Reservation to the point that virtually
nothing of the original reservation was
left by the early 1950s but a few
scattered parcels.
Those were dark, dreadful days.
They included massacres perpetrated
against our people in the 1850s and ‘60s
about which little is known or talked
about today, but about which the
historical evidence is there for anyone
to read and reflect on.
On that beautiful but solemn day
when we recalled the tragic circum
stances surrounding the signing of the
treaty, we also were reminded of the
resilience and spiritual strength of our
predecessors that brought us to where
we are today.
I believe the remarkable thing is that
despite what our tribe has had
to endure throughout our history,
including termination in 1953 and
what is known as the consent decree
of 1980 that unjustifiably took away our
hunting and fishing rights, our people
have maintained an inner strength
and dignity.
The evidence is all around us. Since
we were restored as a federally
recognized tribe in 1977, we have
moved steadily forward and have much
of which to be proud.
As chairman of the Siletz tribe, it’s
my hope that in the name of justice, the
many wrongs committed against
the Confederated Tribes of Siletz
Indians will someday be fully rec
ognized and addressed.
Siletz Tribal Budget
Process
During the week of Sept. 15, the
Siletz Tribal Council and Siletz
administration underwent three days of
program review, goal setting, and
budget discussions.
Program managers were invited to
appear before the council to present
their program needs and justification for
program funds. These managers then
described their needs for the next
funding year, based on their goals.
The Tribal Council’s task is a
difficult one - to develop an overall
tribal budget, based on the many (and
sometimes conflicting) needs of
individual programs and in view of
limited tribal financial resources.
Program managers must do at the
program and service level exactly what
the council must do at the tribal level -
evaluate and prioritize programs and
allocate funding accordingly. In
performing this function, the council
endeavors to obtain meaningful input
from tribal members. Information
provided by the tribe’s comprehensive
plan, input from tribal committees, and
a variety of other ways assist the council
in making budget decisions.
The Budget Committee makes
recommendations to the Tribal Council
on all budgets. Once the budgets are
passed, they are then posted in Siletz
News and comments are requested.
General Council Meeting
Nov. 1,2003
Siletz Tribal Community Center
Siletz, Oregon
Agenda
1 p.m.
Call to Order
Invocation
Roll Call
Approval of Agenda
Approval of Minutes
Program Reports
Education: Bev Youngman
Revolving Credit Program -
Lisa Norton
Tribal Member Concerns
Candidates for Council Declarations
Chairman’s Report
Announcements
Adjournment
October 2003 □
Siletz News
□
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