SILETZ NewS
Delores Pigsley,
Tribal Chairman
Brenda Bremner,
General Manager
and Editor-in-Chief
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Vol. 41, No. 4
Siletz News
Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380-0549
April 2013
Presorted
First-Class
Mail
U.S. Postage
Paid - Permit
No. 178
Salem, OR
President Obama signs Violence Against Women Act into law, helps Tribes
Advocates celebrate
passage of protections
for all women
Courtesy photo from the National Congress of American Indians
Diane Millich (Southern Ute, second from left) and Deborah Parker (Tulalip, third from left) join President Barack Obama and
Vice President Joe Biden, members of the administration and Congress, women’s rights advocates and domestic abuse survivors
for the signing of the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization on March 7.
New LeD lighting saves electricity and money at Tribal
community center and recreation center in Siletz
From the Siletz Tribal Energy Program
Have you noticed something different
about the lights at the Siletz Tribal Com-
munity Center or the Siletz Rec Center,
but can’t quite figure out what it is?
The Siletz Tribal Energy Program
(STEP) funded the change of the indoor
overhead lights to LED lights at these
two locations, which was completed in
October 2012. Since then, the light bill
for the rec center has been less than half
of what it was during the same month the
year before. This has saved the Tribe $250
in just four months.
The electricity saved in these four
months is 3,588 kWh, which is equivalent
to 284 gallons of gasoline not being used.
If the savings continue at the same rate,
it will be like taking two cars off the road
each year or the total amount of electricity
used in two homes over an entire year.
The community center’s lights are
included with the rest of the electric bill,
so the savings are harder to notice. The
electricity use over the past four months,
See Lighting, con’t on page 7.
Photos by
Natasha
Kavanaugh
New LED
lights now
shine in the
Siletz Rec
Center (top
photo) and
the Siletz
Tribal
Community
Center.
WASHINGTON – Native women,
Tribal leaders, women’s rights advocates
and survivors of domestic abuse joined
President Barack Obama and Vice Presi-
dent Joe Biden on March 7 to celebrate the
reauthorization of the Violence Against
Women Act (VAWA).
Members of NCAI’s Executive
Committee joined in celebrating the
Tribal provisions of the bill enacted into
law, including President Jefferson Keel;
First Vice President Juana Majel Dixon,
also co-chair of NCAI’s Task Force on
Violence Against Women; Secretary Ed
Thomas; and Treasurer Ron Allen.
Terri Henry, co-chair of NCAI’s Task
Force on Violence Against Women, was
also in attendance, as were members of
Congress and the Obama administration.
Diane Millich, a member of the
Southern Ute Indian Tribe in Colorado,
opened the event by introducing Biden
and sharing her story that has been a focus
of national media attention since May
2012 and most recently in a New York
Times article.
Deborah Parker of the Tulalip Tribe of
Washington, an active and prominent voice
in the VAWA advocacy efforts alongside
the NCAI Task Force, also stood onstage
during the signing of VAWA.
“Indian Country has some of the high-
est rates of domestic abuse in America.
And one of the reasons is that when Native
American women are abused on Tribal
lands by an attacker who is not Native
American, the attacker is immune from
prosecution by Tribal courts. Well, as soon
as I sign this bill, that ends,” said Obama
moments before signing the bill. “Tribal
governments have an inherent right to pro-
tect their people and all women deserve
the right to live free from fear. And that
is what today is all about.”
“Today represents a historic moment
in the nation-to-nation relationships
between Tribes and the federal govern-
ment. Now that the Tribal provisions have
been enacted and protection for all women
reauthorized, justice can march forward,”
said Keel. “Local Tribal authorities have
much work to do to ensure that our
citizens are protected from these violent
crimes. NCAI has already begun focus-
ing on coordinating the implementation
of VAWA. Today is a great day because
it marks the beginning of justice and the
end to injustice that has gone unanswered
for too long.”
In addition to programmatic support
for Native survivors of domestic violence
and sexual assault, the law includes con-
stitutionally sound Tribal jurisdiction pro-
visions authorizing Tribal governments to
See VAwA, con’t on page 7.