SILETZ NEWS
Delores Pigsley,
Tribal Chairman
Brenda Bremner,
General Manager
and Editor-in-Chief
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Vol. 45, No. 5
Siletz News
Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380-0549
May 2017
Presorted
First-Class
Mail
U.S. Postage
Paid - Permit
No. 178
Salem, OR
Let the healing
begin
By Ashliegh Ramirez, Service Learn-
ing Coordinator
On March 22, the Behavioral
Health Department sponsored a Heal-
ing March in Siletz, Ore. An Eradica-
tion March was held in 2014 to try to
get the drugs and the dealers out of
Siletz. Now in 2017, drug and alcohol
abuse continues to be an issue of con-
cern for the community.
Tribal Prevention Coordinator Dee
Butler once again saw the need for a
march. Tara Underwood, a teacher at
Siletz Valley School, was essential in
getting the school on board for the
entire student body, grades K-12, to
participate in the march.
This year the team wanted to
emphasize the healing component of
the march.
In late September, Dee began teach-
ing curriculum once a week to middle
school students at Siletz Valley School,
with the assistance of Sharla Robinson,
youth development director. I was able
to assist them with the last few weeks
of the curriculum in January.
The 11-week curriculum discusses
the negative effects alcohol and drugs
have on the body along with a focus on
both peer and external pressure the kids
might face to use drugs and alcohol. It
aims to normalize the talk about drugs
Courtesy photos by Angela Ramirez
Students at Siletz Valley School and
Siletz Valley Early College Academy
(above) participate in the Healing March
on March 22.
Vance Lindstrom from Siletz Gospel
Tabernacle (right) attends the march.
See additional photos on page 10.
See Healing on page 10
Willamette University announces
2017 Commencement speakers,
honorary degree recipients include
Pigsley, Frank
By Adam Torgerson, Director of Media
Relations, Willamette University; origi-
nally posted April 18, 2017
In a career spanning more than 35
years, Leonard Pitts, Jr. has been a college
professor, a radio producer and a lecturer.
He’s one of the most popular newspaper
columnists in the country and author of a
series of critically acclaimed books.
On May 14 at 3 p.m., Pitts will deliver
the commencement address for Wil-
lamette University’s College of Liberal
Arts and receive an Honorary Doctor of
Humane Letters.
During the commencement ceremony,
the university will bestow honorary
degrees upon two people whose service
had a profound community impact: Delo-
res “Dee” Pigsley and Gerry Frank.
Confederated Tribes of the Siletz
Chair Pigsley will receive an Honorary
Doctor of Laws for more than 40 years of
leadership and service to others. Elected
chair in 1986, her work as Tribal councilor
in the late ’70s was critical to the Tribe’s
successful repatriation effort following
the 1954 federal declaration that the Siletz
was no longer recognized as a sovereign
Indian nation.
Frank is a fourth-generation Orego-
nian with deep roots in Oregon’s civic,
political and mercantile history. As chief
of staff for 20 years to former U.S. Sen.
Mark Hatfield and as a board member and
trustee to dozens of Oregon institutions,
Frank has strengthened and supported the
state’s communities for decades. For his
service, Frank will be awarded an Honor-
ary Doctor of Public Service.
Willamette Law and MBA
Willamette MBA candidates will
cross the stage first on May 14, following
See Degree on page 8
Courtesy photo by Alicia Keene
Jeff Sweet, youth services coordinator, entertains families as the Easter Bunny
at the Tribe’s Easter Egg Hunt on April 15. Here he holds Naiya Mason.