Election Board
We are hoping Tribal members will
apply to serve on the Election Board. In
this issue, you will find an application that
needs to be submitted (see below).
Election Board members are reim
bursed for travel. Members cannot be a
mother, father, brother, sister or child of
anyone serving on the Tribal Council or
running for council.
1 encourage anyone interested to
apply.
Congress Urged to Pass
Bill to Enact 99-Year
Leasing Authority
The Siletz Tribal Council has been
working diligently to have the U.S. Con
gress pass a bill authorizing the Siletz Tribe
to enter into 99-year leasing authority.
Although Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon
already had introduced a bill in the Senate
to accomplish this, no action has yet been
taken in the House of Representatives.
The primary' purpose of Siletz Council
member Bud Lane, Tribal attorney Craig
Dorsay and my recent trip to Washington,
D.C., was to urge enactment of legislation
authorizing 99-year leasing.
We explained to the legislators and
staff how vitally important the proposed
bill was to help our Tribe achieve eco
nomic viability. We also stated how im
portant it was to authorize the processing
of our trust applications by the Northwest
Regional Office instead of by the Bureau
of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.
Under the present system, trust ap
plications are routinely and unnecessarily
delayed in the central office, where they
languish for several years without action.
The regional office has the knowledge, ex
pertise and willingness to make decisions
and process trust applications more expe
ditiously for Tribal economic development
and other important Tribal purposes.
We are hopeful the trust application
process will be moved from the central
office to the Northwest Regional Office
and the U.S. Congress will adopt legisla
tion for 99-year leasing authority.
Delores Pigsley
Nesika lllahee Pow-Wow
With the weather cooperating, the
Siletz Tribe hosted another tremendously
successful annual pow-wow. A capacity
crowd visited on Saturday for the parade and
pow-wow. Our grand marshal was Hiroto
“Zak” Zakoji, a tremendous supporter of
our Tribe since prior to Restoration.
A little background on Zak: He was
born and raised in Portland, Ore. As a
teen-ager during World War II, he was
incarcerated with family, first in the North
Portland Livestock Pavilion, then in a
concentration camp in Idaho.
He served briefly in the Army fol
lowing the war then graduated from the
University of Oregon. During Klamath
Termination, he worked with the Klamath
Tribe as director of Klamath Education
and Information on the staff of the Oregon
Department of Education.
Following service with the Depart
ment of Education, he began his career
with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He has
had extraordinary service in many jobs in
the BIA working with Tribes.
In 1977 he was loaned by the BIA to
the then-restored Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians to serve as interim general
manager until a permanent general man
ager was hired.
Following retirement from the BIA,
Zak assisted various Tribes in their devel
Election Board Applications Due
opmental projects and issues. He helped
the Siletz Council become designated as
a self-governance Tribe.
He also helped the Siletz Tribal Coun
cil establish the Tribe’s gaming enterprise,
including complex issues determining the
gaming facility’s location, the casino’s
design and construction, personnel issues,
process of formulating regulations of the
Tribal gaming commission, issues involv
ing controversial Tribal/state compact
negotiations, etc.
We are proud of Zak and his lifelong
accomplishments. We are especially
proud to have worked with him.
We owe him much appreciation for
all the assistance he has provided to our
Tribe. He was honored by the Tribal
Council with a Tribal Treaty blanket.
State Fair and Oregon
150 Celebration
The Siletz Tribe will participate with
the other four Western Oregon Tribes dur
ing the State Fair in Salem in a facility
next to Columbia Hall on Sept. 4 begin
ning at 10 a.m.
The Tribe will showcase our Feather
Dancers and the Grand Ronde Tribe its
Canoe Dancers. In between dances, each
Tribal chairman and Tribal royalty will
have an opportunity to relate to the as
sembled audience each Tribe’s history.
The Tribes also will have information
available at each Tribe’s booth.
Oregon Tribal Gaming
Alliance (OTGA)
All nine Oregon Tribes participated
during this year’s OTGA meeting held
in Coos Bay to discuss Oregon Tribal
gaming issues.
On the agenda was discussion of
the Dewberry case brought by a citizen
group called the People Against a Casino
Town (PACT). Although the Confeder
ated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and
Siuslaw Indians already have a casino
operating near Florence, Ore., PACT has
been persistent in challenging the consti
tutional authority of the Oregon governor
to execute Class III gaming compacts.
The Oregon governor signed the gam
ing compact with the Coos Tribe in 2003
under which the Tribe was authorized to
operate a casino and conduct Class III
gaming.
On June 18, 2009, however, after a
series of legal moves, the Oregon Su
preme Court decided to allow PACT to
challenge the Oregon governor’s authority
to enter into a gaming compact with the
confederated Tribes.
Because of the legal complexities
involved in this case - which not only
have an impact on the Coos Tribe but have
significant implications for all Oregon
Tribes - I have requested Craig Dorsay,
our Tribal attorney, to provide our readers
with a clear and concise description of this
case in the next issue of Siletz News.
Nuu-wee-ya’ «swords)
Introduction to the Athabaskan Language
Open to Tribal members of all ages
Siletz
Salem
Siletz Tribal Community Center
Sept. 8-6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Oct. 6-6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Salem Area Office
Sept. 15-6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Oct. 13-6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Portland
Eugene
Portland Area Office
Sept. 21-6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Oct. 12-6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Eugene Area Office
Sept. 14-6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Oct. 5-6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Come and join other members of your community and Tribe in learning to
speak one of our ancient languages.
For more information, contact Bud Lane at the Siletz Cultural Department at
541-444-8320 or 800-922-1399, ext. 1320; ore-mail budl@ctsi.nsn.us.
Deadline for consideration for the 2009/10
Election Board is Sept. 30, 2009
Send letters to:
Any Tribal member interested in serving on the Election Board must fill
out the following form and return it to the address below prior to 4:30 p m on
Sept. 30, 2009.
Please mail or fax your application to Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians,
Attn: Executive Secretary to Tribal Council, P.O. Box 549, Siletz, OR, 97380-
0549; Fax: 541-444-8325.
E-mail and/or phone requests will not be accepted.
Name: roh
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)Evening (
Siletz News
•
September 2009
Deadline for the October issue is
Sept. 9. Submission of articles and
photos is encouraged. Please see the
Passages Policy on page 24 when sub
mitting items for Passages.
)
Once applications are reviewed by the Tribal Council, appointments will be
made and appointment letters will be sent to selected applicants.
2
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Telephone: Day (
Siletz News
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380-0549
541-444-8291 or
800-922-1399, ext, 1291
Fax: 541-444-2307
E-mail: pias@ctsi.nsn.us
Siletz News is free to enrolled
Siletz Tribal members. For all others,
a $12 annual subscription fee applies.
Please make checks payable to CTSI
and mail to Siletz News.
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Change of address: Tribal mem
bers-call the Enrollment Department
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per office.