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
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KNIGHT LIBRARY
SERIALS DEPARTMENT
1299 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
EUGENE OR 97403-1205
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Salem, OR
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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.