SILETZ NEWS
Delores Pigsley,
Tribal Chairman
Mike Kennedy, Interim
General Manager
and Editor-in-Chief
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
Vol. 49, No. 4
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Salem, OR
Siletz News
Confederated Tribes of
Siletz Indians
P.O. Box 549
Siletz, OR 97380-0549
April 2021
‘Moccasin Telegraph’ finds new life as source of vaccine information for Tribes
Once leery of federal health initiatives,
Native Americans embrace COVID-19
vaccines as way to protect communi-
ties and families
By Brian Bull, Underscore.news; origi-
nally posted March 10, 2021
While the U.S. as a whole is just find-
ing its stride administering the COVID-
19 vaccine to its citizens, many Native
American Tribes – including the Confed-
Madam Secretary
Deb Haaland is confirmed as the coun-
try’s Secretary of the Interior, blazing
a trail as the first Native American to
ever lead a Cabinet agency
By Aliyah Chavez, Indian Country
Today; originally posted March 15, 2021
A fierce Indigenous woman is now
the caretaker of the nation’s public lands
and waters for the first time in U.S. history.
Deb Haaland was confirmed as the
nation’s 54 th Secretary of the Interior in a
51-40 vote Monday, making her the first
Native American to lead a Cabinet agency.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins,
Lindsey Graham, Lisa Murkowski and
Dan Sullivan broke from party lines to
vote to confirm Haaland, a notable choice
given other Republican senators publicly
saying she was not the right candidate.
It is not known when Haaland will
be sworn into office. But when she is,
Haaland will become the highest ranked
Indigenous person in an executive office
across the country.
Incoming Interior Secretary Haaland
stands eighth in line to the presidency. She
is also only the third woman to serve in
the position – a low number in stark com-
parison to the 50 men who have served
– an accomplishment fitting for March’s
National Women’s History Month.
Haaland is a citizen of Laguna Pueblo
and has ties to Jemez Pueblo through her
grandfather, which she frequently cites.
She spent her career in New Mexico as a
former small business owner, organizer
and Tribal administrator before running
for Congress.
In November, Haaland was re-elected
for a second term in Congress represent-
ing New Mexico’s 1 st Congressional Dis-
trict in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In 2018, she made history as one of the
first two Native women elected to Congress.
Now Haaland will be at the helm
of the Interior, a sprawling government
agency in charge of 70,000 employees,
one-fifth of the nation’s land and key
offices in natural resources. The agency
also oversees national parks and wildlife
refuges, and works with endangered spe-
cies conservation.
A key role of the Interior’s duty is
to respectfully manage the government’s
federal trust responsibilities promised to
See Haaland on page 8
erated Tribes of Siletz Indians – are on a
mean streak.
According to Cherity Bloom-Miller,
the Tribe’s clinical services director, CTSI
has vaccinated roughly one-quarter of the
5,547 enrolled members, and about one-
third of those who live in Oregon. As of
Friday, the Tribal government had given
the Moderna vaccine to 3,000 people 18
and over, members and otherwise.
Dee Pigsley, chairwoman of the Con-
federated Tribes of Siletz Indians, says she
was concerned the initial vaccine rollout
was moving too slowly. But by late Janu-
ary, they had enough Moderna vaccine
allocated from the state for 300 people.
“So we’ve been setting up appoint-
ments for tribal members,” Pigsley con-
tinues, noting that the Tribe was due to
get another 100 doses the following week.
“We’ve vaccinated the clinic staff, our
essential staff, elders. So we’re working
down that priority list.”
The CTSI is now looking to inoculate
casino workers over the next three weeks.
The Chinook Winds Casino Resort has
just reopened, boding well for one of the
Tribe’s biggest sources of revenue.
See Vaccine on page 11
Tribe helps provide much-needed housing in Lincoln City
Above: Reggie Butler Sr. cuts the rib-
bon at new workforce housing units.
Tribal staff and council members
attending incuded (l to r) Brett Lane,
Isaac DeAnda Jr., Sami Jo Difuntorum,
Lillie Butler, Lisa Norton, Loraine
Butler, Angela Ramirez, Delores
Pigsley, Selene Rilatos, Darlene and
Bill Stotts of Stotts Construction
Company, Rob Smith and Tracy Bailey.
Photo above by Diane Rodriquez; photo below by Andy Taylor
Right: Sixteen manufactured housing
units are ready for occupancy in early
March for victims of the Echo Moun-
tain Complex fire. This property is
near the Logan Road RV Park and was
leased by the Siletz Tribe to FEMA,
the first FEMA housing to be located
on Tribal land.
The American Rescue Plan and Native Communities
From the Democratic National Commit-
tee; dnc.org
Native Americans face persistent and
systemic inequities and COVID-19 has
exacted an especially high toll in Indian
Country. People living on reservations are
four times more likely to have COVID-19
and American Indians and Alaska Natives
are nearly twice as likely to die from
COVID-19 than white Americans.
Native American families and small
businesses also face severe economic chal-
lenges associated with the pandemic. And
the loss of Native elders threatens the sacred
preservation of language, tradition and cul-
ture. Tribal governments and Native com-
munities urgently need additional support
and assistance from the federal government.
The American Rescue Plan will change
the course of the pandemic in Indian Coun-
try, deliver immediate relief for hard-hit
Native American families and Tribal busi-
nesses, and build a bridge toward economic
recovery and resilience for Tribal Nations.
These investments build on actions
President Biden has taken in his first
weeks in office to rebuild the nation-to-
nation relationship, including signing a
Presidential Memorandum that directs
the whole of federal government to rein-
vigorate formal consultation with Tribal
nations, expanding access to the Strategic
National Stockpile for Native communi-
ties and expanding FEMA assistance for
See Rescue on page 18