SILETZ NewS
Presorted
First-Class
Mail
U.S. Postage
Paid - Permit
No. 178
Salem, OR
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
May 2013
First Annual SAAM 5K Run/walk a success
By Kelley Ellis, Coordinator/Advocate
Siletz CARE Program
The Siletz CARE Program held the 1 st
Annual Sexual Assault Awareness Month
SAAM 5K Run/Walk on April 20 which
started at the Siletz Valley School football
field in Siletz.
There were 64 registered participants
for the run/walk as well as 15 dogs, both
small and large, who adorned SAAM
5k teal ribbon bandanas. Although the
weather was not perfect, the attendees had
a great time and many of the participants
said they would be back next year.
Matthew Orr was awarded the male
Top Overall medal coming in at 22:27
and Bri Hansen received the female
Top Overall award coming in at 24:28.
Donald Oldenburg and Erin Carrington
received the awards for top master’s
male and female finishers. Awards were
also given in each of the age categories.
Results can be found at http://tinyurl.
com/2013SAAMresults.
An Earth Day Fair for the community
was also provided which included some
local programs and organizations. The
Siletz Tribal Energy Program provided
environmental information along with
a raffle and also coordinated having
the Lincoln County Solid Waste Watt
Wagon present. Both My Sisters’ Place
and the CTSI CARE Program provided
awareness materials and information on
sexual assault, domestic violence, dating
violence and stalking. The Lincoln County
District Attorney’s Victim Assistance
Department also attended to promote
National Crime Victims Week, April
22-27, 2013. The most active booth was
the local 4-H Sustainable Living Club
who provided a display and instruction
on how to develop an Earth Barrel and
they also provided free live tree saplings
to the community.
Fresh hot coffee and cocoa was
provided by Dutch Brothers in Newport as
well as the delicious hot chowder served
courtesy of the Chowder Bowl in Newport.
A silent auction was also provided which
attracted many participants.
All proceeds from the event will
benefit domestic violence, sexual
assault, stalking and teen dating violence
programs in Lincoln County, including
the CARE Program and My Sisters’ Place.
The purpose of this event was to bring
awareness to sexual assault and encourage
the community to break the silence and
start talking about it.
Left: Tribal member Christopher Bayya
came in 11 th place overall during the
SAAM 5k, his first competitive race. He
also celebrated his 9 th birthday that day.
Right: Siletz Tribal Energy Program
raffle auction.
See additional photos on page 5.
warm Springs Tribe honors wilkinson
for his efforts on behalf of Indians
By Diane Rodriquez
Charles Wilkinson, law professor and
author of the Siletz Tribal history book
The People Are Dancing Again, received
the Twanat Award from The Museum at
Warms Springs Board of Directors at an
honor dinner on April 6.
“Indian Tribes just have a way of hon-
oring people in an especially memorable
fashion. It’s something I’ve been lucky to
receive over the years at Siletz and cer-
tainly was the case with this award from
the Warm Springs Tribe,” said Wilkinson
in an interview. “I will say that I think one
reason for the award was the Siletz his-
tory that I so enjoyed doing. The evening
was extremely gracious and it made me
feel really good that two of my sons, Seth
and David, were able to come down from
Seattle. Also, many friends from Siletz
were there that evening and it was great
seeing them.”
The museum board established the
Twanat Award (to carry on traditions) in
2003 to honor individuals whose tireless
work on behalf of American Indians is an
example to all Americans.
Wilkinson has been involved with
Native issues since 1971, when he first
joined the Native American Rights Fund
as a staff attorney. He helped the Menomi-
nee Tribe achieve restoration in 1973 and
the Siletz Tribe accomplish the same in
1977, the first two terminated Tribes in
the nation to be restored to federally rec-
ognized Tribal status by Act of Congress.
He served on the law faculty at the
University of Oregon, where he received
the Ersted Award for Distinguished
Teaching. He now is the Moses Lasky
Professor of Law at the University of
Colorado-Boulder. In 2002, he received
the Hazel Barnes Prize, the university’s
highest award for teaching and research.
Wilkinson has written several books
on law, history and society in the Ameri-
can West and has placed a major empha-
sis on American Indians. His 14 books
include the standard law texts on federal
public land law and Indian law. He
also has published many articles in law
reviews, popular journals and newspapers.
In addition to his duties as a professor,
Wilkinson still has writing on his agenda.
“I’m writing a memoir and a big part of
it will be the experiences I’ve been so lucky
to have with Tribes over the years. You can
bet that Siletz restoration will be a big chunk
of it,” he said. “I’d just like to say hello to
everybody. I live in Boulder and Siletz is the
See wilkinson, con’t on page 4.
Oral Arguments at the Supreme Court
of the United States
From the National Congress of American Indians
On April 16, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Adop-
tive Couple v. Baby Girl.
“NCAI is optimistic as a result of today’s oral arguments and we believe
the U.S. Supreme Court will rule to keep the Brown family together and uphold
the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), just as the South Carolina Supreme
Court did,” said Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American
Indians (NCAI).
“We will remain vigilant and ensure that the general public, the media and
Indian Country is provided with the accurate facts in this case,” continued Keel.
“Dusten Brown is a loving father who has at all times done whatever he could
to fight for the right to raise his daughter. The attempted adoption was based on
misleading information provided by adoption attorneys and was for that reason
rejected by multiple South Carolina courts. And the Indian Child Welfare Act
– which was supported in briefs filed by the United States government and 19
states, among many others – must be upheld and enforced.”
In the days leading up to the oral arguments, the Tribal Supreme Court Project
– NCAI and the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) – in partnership with the
National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) and the Cherokee Nation,
hosted a number of events. This included a national teleconference briefing and
an Indian Country prayer gathering on the steps of the Supreme Court.
Prior to the oral arguments, Tribal Supreme Court Project partners and
NICWA organized a legal response to the appeal that has resulted in overwhelm-
ing response in support of the family, ICWA and federal Indian law.
In total, 24 amicus briefs were submitted in support of the Brown family –
Veronica, the daughter, and Dusten, the father – and ICWA.
See Supreme Court, con’t on page 15.