PAGE 2 - AUGUST, 1985, SILETZ, OREGON
Council
Chairman’s
Report
Delores Pigsley
FROM THE CHAIRMAN:
Many of you may not know that our Vice-Chairman,
Art Bensell, suffered a stroke on July 17,1985. Art, LeRoy
Wilder and myself were in Washington working on our
land acquisition project and held a series of meetings with
D epartm ent of Labor, Administration for Native
American, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Oregon Con
gressmen. Art is hospitalized in George Washington
University Hospital in Washington, D.C. By the time you
read this, he may have been released and on his way home
as he is progressing well. Drop him a card, I’m sure he
would like to hear from you. We all pray for his speedy
recovery.
Pow Wow time draws near. August 16,17,18 is Nesika
Illahee Pow Wow. This year should be one of the biggest
and best pow wows ever. Our new comfort facility should
be completed, we will have additional lighting, and a fine
meal is planned. Your Pow Wow Committee has worked
hard to make this year a success, and if you would like to
help, please let the Pow Wow Committee know.
Tribal
Employee
Interested
T he C o n fe d e ra te d
Tribes of Siletz form ed
a Housing Authority in
Ms. Doni White, a Siletz
T rib a l em p lo y e e w as order to receive fun
selected to the Performance ding for HUD housing.
S ta n d a rd s
A d v iso ry If you think you m ight
Committee for the Indian
and Native American (INA) be interested in renting
program under the Job or buying a home in the
Training Partnership Act. Siletz a re a through the
This Advisory Committee
provides a participatory Siletz Indian Housing
framework through which Authority contact Jeff
the Employment and Train
ing Administration can con W illia m s , H o u s in g
sult with grantee repre C oordinator a t P.O.
sentatives on policy issues Box 549, Siletz, OR
involved in the development
and operation of the per 97380 or phone 444-2532
formance standards system E x t . 33. T o ll- f r e e
c o v e rin g th e 193 INA n u m b e r
is 1-800-
grantees âcross the country.
922-1399. (In-State on
ly)
SILETZ
NEWS
BREMER
E D 'T 0 R
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 549
Siletz, Oregon 97380
Telephone: (503) 444-2532
DEADLINE FOR THE SEPTEMBER
SILETZ NEWS IS AUGUST 20,1985
Send all articles and photos (black & white
only) to P.O. Box 549, Siletz, OR. 97380.
Letters To The Editor
Just
Reply,!
Dear Editor:
In the Lincoln County
Leader which came out July
24, 1985, a letter to the editor
was published which reads:
To the Editor:
I am so angry!
My children struggle to
. make house payments or
pay rent on homes that
are too small for their
needs. The Siletz Indians
are given $2.5 million to
build homes. This money
came from taxes taken
from my children and
yours.
I am tired of these give
away programs. Enough
already. Write your con
g ressm an o r re p r e
sentative.
Bette Selkregg
South Beach
This person doesn’t think
that Indians pay taxes, and
we don’t struggle to pay
house payments or rent. She
wasn’t the least bit upset
that the Newport Housing
Authority also built new
townhouse apartm ents in
Newport last year. Where
did she think all of that
money came from? Heaven
NO — TAXES mine and
yours, Tribal members.
The Siletz Tribal Council is
working very hard to pro
vide a better life for tribal
members. The goal of an
en terp rise is to provide
employment for any tribal
member who wants to work
and a home to live in.
The Revenues from these
homes will be returned to
H.U.D. If only people — In
dian and non-Indian — would
stop being so jealous of one
another and try to work
together for a better sense of
unity — all of us would
benefit.
Kristi Martin
Siletz, Oregon
Concerned
Dear Editor:
I am a Siletz-Chetco,
Tututni born in Crescent Ci
ty, California July 15, 1957.
At an early age I was remov
ed from my parents and
placed in various state in
stitutions. This has been my
lifestyle, but this is not my
purpose for writing this let
ter. There is a group that is
g ranted by the F ederal
Government or the tribe to
research our Culture. I
wonder what this means.
There.are a few of us resear
ching our history seeking
Historical Documentation of
fact concerning the status of
the Siletz tribe. It has been
my privilege and honor to
know these people and their
concerted efforts to unders
tand the total impact of past
and present Federal Policies
and Procedures of the Siletz
Tribes. On more than one oc
casion I have assumed er
roneously a particular In
dian issue to be clear and
definite. Upon further in
vestigation other valuable
information was revealed
and there led to yet other in
formation, other investiga
tions. I often wondered
where did it start? What pur
pose did it serve? There was
no revelations to my reason
ing and analyzing. All basic
educational study habits at
random selection of one area
of Federal Policies of one
particular tribe would keep a
dedicated person busy for an
8 hour day for the rest of his
or her life. It has been my ex
perience that the research
has had an effect to the
degree of discouragement. It
has also appeared to be the
design of the documents to
mislead and hide the intent
and scope of its contents with
language that the tribes
(that dealt with those issues
at that time) had to deal with
at that time. Another exam
ple to consider is the tribes
immediate concerns which
was survival with pressure
from the weapons of the set
tle r s a n d g o v e rn m e n t
military weapons. We could
pursue this line of investiga
tion indefinitely. It’s that
simple to get involved with
one crisis that instigated
other critical policies. I will
direct your attention for the
need for this through ex
amination of the historical
“ F a c ts” documented. To
clearly understand the im--
pact of those facts today, I
could not put a right or a
wrong label on any. of these
policies and procedures that
"Opinions
Questions,
Concerns''
All letters received will be printed. Please type
or write legible, no profane language will be
printed. All letters must include your name and
? address. Send letters to:'"Siletz News", P.O. Box
549, Siletz, OR. 97380. Questions? Call 444-2536.
were forced upon the Siletz
tribes, nor acceptance of the
different segments. But the
facts are the truth, truth is
assumed to be good. That’s
how we were taught to look
at truth with honor and
dignity. If we could look at it
a different way with a dif
ferent view, with our emo
tions, prejudices and opi
nions put on hold. Let’s study
the issues as they are, ex
amine the language closely
and be clear about the (in
ferences) implications that
we make are often mistaken
inferences and judgments.
By a thorough investigation
we have to take into account
that the first glimpse of
evidence is our signal to dig
further into the issues. So
often we arrive at the door
but we never go in. The sur
face overwhelms and con
ceits to the point of complete
knowledge. Perhaps this is
part of our weakness as
human-beings because we
all want to be right whether
it be for praise or just the
n ee d fo r re c o g n itio n .
Whatever the case may be
should not stop your efforts
to cram for the examination,
term papers or thesis of the
lives that were sacrificed for
our existence. There is a
need to direct our energies
toward the forces that are
responsible for our/yours
and mine present survival.
The energies that we direct
at each other for what ever
reasons can be utilized for
th e united stu rg g le for
freedom.
I Pray for the People
Gary Butler
AKA P.O. W. 41965
P.S. The Tututni’s were the
most important tribes. They
lived on the lower Rogue
River and on the Coast north
and south of its mouth. They
were “moved” to the Siletz
Reservation AKA concentra
tion c a m p in 1856 as
Prisoners of War, having
taken part in protecting their
traditional homelands from
invaders. This camp served
as a means to destroy our na
tions through extermination
policies. This is not an
assumption on my part this
is re c o rd e d in Oregon
History there has been a
grave miscarriage of justice
done to our people. If our na
tion is to survive we have to
be what the Creator intended
us to be and live in harmony
with Grandmother Earth to
preserve life not create
weapons to destroy Her and
life too. We have given up
nothing our people never had
a chance to vote on the land
agreement or the Hunting
and F ish in g ag re em e n t
those issues are not closed.
We cannot afford to let these
issues be closed. We cannot
blame any tribal members
for any wrongs. I believe in
the beginning they believed
they were doing the right
th in g a n d in th e end
manipulated by the U.S.
Government with govern
ment funding to succeed in
making sure we could not
sue for 1,000,000 acres of land
so we could not hunt or fish
on 1,000,000 acres of land.
These issues are still open
we as people need to become
aware of this. You are one
person as I am one person.
Let’s start working together
and begin building a nation
our future generations can
be proud of.
I Pray for the People
CHANGE OF ADDRESS
or
ADDRESS CORRECTION
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Mail to "Siletz News"
P.O. Box 549
Siletz. OR. 97380