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Siletz News II
SIHA Eviction
Attempts Fails
Siletz Tribal Court, in a decision handed down
January 7, 1990, ruled that the Siletz Indian Housing
A uthority cannot evict hom ebuyer Y vonne Fish from
the T ribe’s new housing project.
S .1 JH. A. w anted Fish out o f the hom e she had been
buying at 152 Chetco Court because the B oard o f
Comm issioners believed that Fish had “ abandoned” the
house. S.I.H.A. further argued that Fish had never
occupied the house in accordance w ith the hom ebuyer’s
agreem ent
D uring the eviction proceeding held in Tribal
Council Chambers, both Fish and S.I.H.A. officials
agreed thatF ish has a job that requires her to spend m uch
tim e away from Siletz. S.I.H.A. C om m issioner Sharon
Butler pointed to a list o f 60 tribal mem bers w aiting for
tribal housing to justify the attem pted eviction.
B ut Fish m aintained that she had occupied the
house and that she had not abandoned the property.
W hile the Court deliberated, Fish sum m ed up her posi
tion: “M aking m e choose betw een m y livelihood and a
place to live is a pretty poor excuse for kicking someone
out.”
In an unanim ous decision, Judges John Roe, D iane
Robertson, and Cynthia Viles found that S.I.H.A. could
not evict Fish. The C ourt’s decision said in part “ that the
Siletz Indian H ousing A uthority had failed to show that
there had been a violation o f the agreem ent or that there
had been an abandonm ent o f the property.”
C hief Judge John R oe also said that S.I.H.A.
needed first to define “ abandonment” and “occupancy”
and m ake these definitions know n to homebuyers before
e v ic tin g any o n e fo r n o n -co m p lian ce w ith th e
hom ebuyer’s agreement.
S .IJI.A . Com m issioner M anuel Rilatos said that it
was difficult to call the C ourt’s decision “good or bad,”
but that he believed the case w as decided on a “technical
ity.”
S.I.H.A. D irector Paul M ason sees “no difficul
ties w ith the decision. These are the first 39 hom es,”
M ason said. “Changes w ill be made— changes in the
contract— so this w on’t happen again.”
□
Tribal Court Briefs
Siletz Tribal C ourt dism issed two cases brought by
tribal members.
The tw o petitions, one subm itted by L isa Brown
and the other filed by Andrew V iles, both alleged that the
Tribal Council and tribal officials violatedrights guaran
teed to them by the Siletz C onstitution and other laws.
Both suits resulted from actions taken w hile they were
employees o f the Tribe.
A cting C hief Judge D iane Robertson ruled that
neither Brown nor V iles had follow ed the. T ribe’s griev
ance procedure and had no rig h t to a hearing on the
merits.
The Siletz Fam ily W elfare Court certified the
hom e o f M ichael and A nnie G reen o f 727 NW 3rd,
N ewport, O regon as a Tribal F oster H ome. The home of
Sam and Sheila B ayya at 174 Chetco Court, Siletz,
Oregon was also certified a tribal F oster H om e by Siletz
Fam ily W elfare Court Judge Cheryl Lane.
Evictions proceedings w ere brought by the Siletz
Indian H ousing A uthority against tw o tribal members:
Yvonne Fish and D avid Rilatos. Tribal C ourt dismissed
the action against Fish (see opposite colum n for story).
The case against Rilatos, at last report, was still pending
in Siletz Tribal Court.
Tribal M em ber Edm ond A. Ben o f Salem filed a
petition in Siletz Tribal Court alleging that Tribal Coun
cil violated rights protected by the Siletz Constitution
when it donated $2,500 to the Siletz Fire Department.
Citing past “bias, prejudice, o r incompetence,”
B en also requests that C hief Judge John R oe “remove
him self from all actions regarding this Petition For
Review.” The case is still pending in Tribal Court. □
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