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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2011)
SILETZ NEWS Siletz News Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians P.O. Box 549 Siletz, OR 97380-0549 Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians Delores Pigsley, Tribal Chairman Brenda Bremner, General Manager and Editor-in-Chief Vol. 39, No. 11 November 2011 T3? P3 KNIGHT LIBRARY SERIALS DEPARTMENT 1299 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON EUGENE OR 97403-1205 Presorted First-Class Mail U.S. Postage Paid - Permit No. 178 Salem, OR ||||||||l•lHqllll•l|•«•l||lhlllW Tribe invites community to celebrate at 34th annual Restoration Pow-Wow Event commemorates first Tribe in Oregon to be restored By Diane Rodriquez The public is invited to join the Con federated Tribes of Siletz Indians on Nov. 19 as it holds its annual Restoration Pow- Wow at Chinook Winds Casino Resort. This free event begins with a grand entry at 6 p.m. Siletz cultural displays and American Indian vendors - with jewelry, beadwork and other items for sale - will be available throughout the day. This is the 34th year the Siletz Tribe has celebrated the signing of Public Law 95-195, which re-established govemment- to-govemment relations between the Con federated Tribes of Siletz Indians and the federal government. The Siletz Tribe was among the Tribes of Western Oregon that were terminated from federal recognition in August 1954. In the late 1960s, it became apparent that the only way to preserve and revital ize Tribal culture was for the Siletz Tribe to regain its status as a Tribe recognized by the United States. In November 1977, after years of intense lobbying, Congress and Presi dent Jimmy Carter approved Public Law 95-195, which reinstated recognition of the Siletz as a federal Indian Tribe. The Siletz Tribe was the second in the nation - and the first in Oregon - to achieve restoration. Dedicated to improving the quality of life of its more than 4,800 members, the Tribe puts strong emphasis on the educa tion, health and social well-being of all its members. Significant Tribal accomplishments since Restoration include opening the original health clinic in 1991 and a new much larger clinic in 2010; building more than 100 homes and multiple dwellings for Tribal members, including 20 units at Neachesna Village in Lincoln City that opened in 2009 and another eight units that opened earlier this year; completing the Siletz Dance House in 1996; opening the Tenas Illahee Childcare Center in 2003; and opening the Tillicum Fitness Center, a new gymnasium and a new USDA food distribution warehouse, all in Siletz, in 2008. Through its economic development division, the Siletz Tribal Business Cor poration, the Tribe opened the Siletz Gas & Mini-Mart in Siletz in 2003, the Logan Road RV Park in Lincoln City in 2004 and the Hee Hee Illahee RV Resort in Salem in 2006. The Tribe purchased the Imprints printing business in Lincoln City in 2008. It also opened O’Downey’s Irish Pub and Family Dining in Depoe Bay in 2010. Tribal offices in Portland, Salem and Eugene now are housed in Tribally owned See Restoration on page 4. Photo above by Natasha Kavanaugh Photo right by Diane Rodriquez Shee-Ne DePoe-Aspria (above) and two young grass dancers (right) enjoy their time in the dance arena during the 2010 Restoration Pow-Wow. Dancers and drums from throughout the area are invited to this social, non-competitive pow-wow. Pigsley receives awards from diverse state, national and international groups for efforts on behalf of Tribe Tribal chairman is honored by Ecotrust, PSU and WEWIN By Diane Rodriquez Delores Pigsley will be recognized with the 2011 Ecotrust Indigenous Leadership Award in a ceremony on Nov. 2, the third of three awards she has recently received. The Ecotrust event will take place at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Ore., where Pigsley will receive the Indig enous Leadership Award, which includes $25,000 to continue her work to enhance her Tribal community. She will be honored for holding the record for the longest time a woman has served on a Tribal Council in the North west - 32 years, including 26 as Tribal chairman. She has represented the inter ests of the Siletz Tribe with city, county, state and federal officials; has testified before Congress in support of adequate funding for Native programs; and has worked tirelessly for Tribal sovereignty. Four honorees each will receive $5,000 for their communities - Nora Dauenhauer (Tlingit), an Elder known internationally for her expertise of the Tlingit language; Wayne Warren Don (Cupik/Yupik), Tribal chairman who started the first cultural, academic and tourism camp in Alaska; Clan Chief Adam Dick (Kwakwaka’wakw Nation, B.C.), a traditionally trained leader and Tribal Elder widely sought for his cultural knowledge of potlatch, traditional nam ing, social and economic systems and cer emonial aspects of life; and Chuck Sams (Cocopah), dedicated to the conservation, protection and repatriation of Tribal land and natural resources in the Northwest. Ecotrust’s mission is to inspire fresh thinking that creates social equity, eco nomic opportunity and environmental well-being. Ecotrust works locally in ways that promise hope abroad and it honors and supports the wisdom of Native and First Nation leadership in its work. Award finalists honored in 2007 included Bud Lane, vice chairman of the Siletz Tribe and its language and traditional arts instructor. Award finalists in 2003 included Agnes Pilgrim, a Siletz Tribal Elder who lives in Grants Pass, Ore; and in 2001, David Hatch, a Siletz Tribal member who lives in Portland, Ore. Two other awards On Oct. 6, Pigsley received one of four Women Leaders of Oregon awards from the Center for Women, Politics & Policy, located at Portland State University. Pigsley was honored for her more than 30-year career advocating for Tribal sover eignty and negotiating compacts for Tribal affairs at the state level for the Siletz Tribe and nationally for Indian Country, and for serving as a mentor for young women. See Awards on page 4.
