SILETZ NEWS
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Vol. 41, No. 10
October 2013
Siletz News
Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380-0549
Delores Pigsley,
Tribal Chairman
Brenda Bremner,
General Manager
and Editor-in-Chief
T41 P4
KNIGHT LIBRARY
SERIALS DEPARTMENT
1299 UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
EUGENE OR 97403-1205
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Courtesy photo above by DebbieWilliams
Other courtesy photos by Ann Goddard
Run to the Rogue
Sept. 6-8,2013 • Siletz, Ore., to Agness, Ore.
Clockwise from top left: Izayah
Aviles and Tony Blomstrom; Arthur
Butler; Kaye Stainbrook; Jordan
Hoover; Jessie Cordova; and Micah
Grant and Jessie Rocha join a team
of runners and walkers to carry the
eagle staff back to the homeland of
many Siletz Tribal ancestors in
Southern Oregon.
See more photos of this year's Run to
the Rogue on pages 9-16.
Tribal Unity gathering encourages Congress to stand on common
ground with Indian Country, keep trust responsibility amid partisanship
WASHINGTON - For a third time in
as many years, Indian Country advocates
and leaders came together in Washington,
D.C., in September with unified messages
and policy priorities for the start of the fall
session of Congress.
Tribal Unity Impact Days have been
instrumental in communicating the key
Indian policy priorities for Congress to
address. In recent years, the effort was
critical to advocating for successful
amendments to the Stafford Act and the
Violence Against Women Act.
This year, Tribal leaders stood
together to remind Congress of the federal
trust responsibility and that, amid partisan
division in other areas, Indian Country is
common ground for all Americans.
The National Congress of Ameri
can Indians (NCAI) joined the Alaska
Federation of Natives, California Asso
ciation of Tribal Governments, Coalition
of Large Tribes, Eight Northern Pueblos
Council, Great Plains Tribal Chair
man's Association, Midwest Alliance of
Sovereign Tribes, Navajo Nation and the
United South and Eastern Tribes in host
ing the events.
This year, Tribal Unity focused on the
protection of treaty promises in the federal
budget, Tribal tax policy and land restora
tion - including a Carcieri fix.
Tribal Unity Impact Days kicked off
in the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
hearing room with more than 130 attendees
participating in the Tribal briefing. Tribal
leaders heard from Sens. Mark Begich
(AK), Heidi Heitkamp (ND) and Jon Tester
(MT) and Reps. Xavier Becerra (CA), Tom
Cole (OK), Betty McCollum (MN), Steve
Pearce (NM), and Raul Ruiz (CA).
Many members thanked Tribal lead
ers for their dedication in traveling to the
nation's capital to share how policy deci
sions are affecting Tribal communities,
especially the impact of sequestration on
health, education, public safety and other
Tribal governmental services. Cole and
McCollum emphasized their support for
protecting Tribal treaty obligations from
indiscriminate reductions.
NCAI and its partners also sought
broad support from Congress to assist
in providing more fair treatment for
Tribal governments under the tax code.
The Internal Revenue Code has included
Indian Tribes in a piecemeal fashion,
which chooses when and where to
acknowledge Tribes’ taxing authority.
Several Tribal tax bills have been
introduced during the 113th Congress -
HR 2332, HR 3030 and HR 3042.
See Tribal Unity on page 3.