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About Siletz news letter. (Siletz, Oregon) 1989-1997 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1995)
2 June 1995 Chairman’s Report From Delores Pigsley Tribal Chairman Delores Pigsley addressing the crowd at the Grand Opening of Chinook Winds. CHINOOK WINDS GAMING CENTER OPENS On Saturday, May the 27th, I called on Je ssie D avis, the C hairm an of the Ad Hoc Gaming C om m ittee, to cu t the ribbon fo r th e Grand Opening of the temporary Chinook Winds G aming Center. Two days earlier, I called on Jessie to cut the ribbon to open the facility for tribal members, th e ir fam ilies and friends for a preview of the gaming center. The Grand Opening was a historic event for our Tribe and an emotional one for all of us who struggled long and hard to achieve this goal. It is h a rd to b e lie v e th a t th is a ttra ctive , e fficie n tly designed 10,000 square foot facility, is only tem porary. It could easily serve as our perm anent gaming center. We s till have a perm anent, 140,000 square feet gam ing and convention center to look forw ard to. Prelim inary sketches by our a rchitects, Kane and Johnson, reveal that it w ill be a beautiful and m agnificent structure, ready for another ribbon cutting cerem ony by this tim e next year. W e are filled with pride because of our successful launching of Chinook Winds and the m any econom ic and social opportunities that gaming will open up for us. P le a se re fe r to th e Je ssie D a vis’ Gaming Report following the Chairm an's Report fo r m ore inform ation. GENERAL COUNCIL ISSUES THE TRIBAL COUNCIL IS CURRENTLY WORKING TO RESOLVE: There has been a tendency fo r some T rib a l m em bers to launch personal attacks against certain Council Members and staff - and to dem and that triba l officia ls be recalled or staff be terminated based on single issues. Some members complain that the Tribal Council refuses to address members concerns. As Tribal Chairman, I place on the agendas of T ribal C ouncil m eetings all item s o f concern requested by the m em bers and have provided a m ple o p p o rtu n ity fo r th o se issu e s to be discussed, some o f which are sim ply aired, others brought to a vote. It m ust be rem em bered, however, that according to our Tribal Constitution, the votes taken by the General Council are advisory. A vote of the General Council does not constitute a m andate. T he re sp o n sib ility o f the T rib a l Council is to carefully evaluate those advisory actions and to decide accordingly. It may not be in the best interest of the Tribe to follow the re co m m e n d a tio n s o f th e G e n era l C o u n cil. Ribbon Cutting Ceremony What an honor it was for me to be called on by Chairman Dee on May 26th to cut the ribbon opening the Chinook Winds Gaming Center for tribal members, family and friends! I was honored again on May 27th when Dee invited me to cut the ribbon for the Grand Opening. I was given the ribbon which I will keep and treasure! It will remind me of one of the proudest days of my life. As I circulated among the crowd, the faces of all our tribal members were also beaming with pride. It took the cooperation of many people to accomplish this. It will take cooperative effort to make the permanent Chinook Winds Gaming and Convention Center a reality. Planning for the Permanent Facility John Douglas of Comstock and Jessie Davis at the Chinook Winds Grand Opening. Designing the 140,000 sq. ft. Chinook Winds Gaming and Convention Center has been contracted to Kane and Johnson of Minneapolis Minnesota. K&J is an architectural firm with an outstanding track record in the designing of Indian gaming Som etim es they are advisory actions that do not follow personnel procedures. But the basic principle th a t we m ust abide by is to conduct business according to our Constitution and Ordinances. The Tribal Council is our governm ental body delegated w ith the authority to conduct the business of the Tribe. It would be impossible for the General Council to c o n d u c t tr ib a l b u s in e s s . T h a t is th e constitutional role of the Tribal Council. There are m any ways m em bers can particip a te in our triba l governm ent process. Serving on com m ittees and special projects of p a rticu la r interest is one way. The general elections are also another avenue fo r members to be involved. There was more participation in the last general election than there has ever been, including the constitutional election and that was good. I w ant to state clearly that I support the right of our members to use the referendum process. BONNIE PETERSEN SPOKE ABOUT TRIBAL ISSUES Bonnie Petersen spoke from her heart at the G eneral C ouncil m eeting on May 6th. Bonnie has been an excellent and valued member o f our sta ff now fo r m any years. Hers was a constructive message, reminding all of us o f the need to com e to these meetings with a positive attitude not ju s t to tear down and criticize. She appealed to our members not to be preoccupied with firing people but to devote our e n e rg ie s to s tre n g th e n o u r T rib e and our em ployees. We are grateful to Bonnie to r reminding us, in the m idst of so m uch negativism , w hat we m ust do to m aintain our basic values and cohesiveness as a Tribe. centers. The architects have prepared preliminary plans based on tribal input and will be refining these plans as the tribal consultation process continues. The actual construction of the facility has been contracted to PCL, the firm that did the construction of the temporary facility. Despite problems including adverse weather conditions and an extremely tight time schedule, PCL did an outstanding job of complet ing the work on schedule. The construction of the permanent facility will also be on a fast-track, design/build basis. It was exciting to watch the construction of the 10,000 sq ft temporary facility. But just think of it! Our Chinook Winds Gaming and Convention Center will be fourteen times larger. Owner'« Representative Creative Designs and Engi neering of Newport was contracted to be the Tribe's Owner's Representative. Detonar Goebel, architect, and Dennis Lowiy, engineer, of Creative Designs are responsible for overseeing the
