Smoke Signals
September 1990 Page 13
RobertS(cont)
Western Oregon or the other way around, so we've not
been able to move crops in a rapid way or economical way,
now wc can make Oregon more economically strong than
it has been in the past."
Smoke Signals: "You are saying that smaller communi
ties need to identify what their strong points are and what
kind of aspects they have and then build on those instead
of trying to pursue something they don't have?" -
Roberts: "Let me give you an example: Baker's County
has a number of things that can be built on and that are
really strong but the other thing they've had that they've
never used before is the Oregon Trail to Baker's County,
and you could see the remnants of that trail, all the roots
that were there from the wagon train coming across
Eastern Oregon, what there doing now is building an
Oregon Trail information center in that area so that they
can show the tourists from this State and across the world
the Oregon Trail. So they found their aspect and worked
with that and I believe each community has a possibility of
doing that."
Smoke Signals: "What do you think got people to find
their aspects and strong points?"
Roberts: "Well, a few years ago Oregon's resource base
was so strong on fisheries, timber, our orchard's were all
producing and we basically were a natural resource State
and we've used those resources and sometimes we've
abused those resources, so for the first time we started
finding ways to make them stronger and searching for
better ways instead of just watching'what we had already'
Wc became creative on what we didn't have." . v
Smoke Signals: "If you achieved the governor's office,
how would you implement some of these things your
talking about?"
Roberts: "I think that regional strategies are the most
creative ways and I would certainly like to see programs
that would encourage that community cooperation, that's
absolutely critical. The Lottery being dedicated to the
economic development helps the communities get started,
whatever there aspects are, we have a Lottery fund to help
us do whatever it takes.
Clearly, the other thing is the population changes and as
the demands are greater we are going to have a work force
shortage. What we need to be certain is when the work
force diminishes in one industry, and that could happen in
forest products, that we make certain that some of the
workers from those diminished industries get plugged in
immediately to other places where we are going to have a
serious short fall in workers. We are beginning to have a
very serious housing shortage in Oregon, particularly in
affordable housing. One of the things that I give as an
example to help people understand how serious it is and
how little attention it gets is if you will go to the coast, new
motels and restaurants are being built for tourism and
recreation but we forget to build any housing for those
people who work in those restaurants and motels. So we've
not provided housing for all those workers and housing
costs have sky rocketed. - '
That's just one example on what we've done when we
haven't thought ahead."
Smoke Signals: "In Grand Ronde, Willamina and Sheri
dan I think about 80 of the population work in the forests.
They're real concerned with the owl issue and you can't go
anywhere without hearing about it in all conversations.
And I wondered what you thought about that. I know
that you have said you thought we could work it out and that
there is a solution somewhere, can we talk about that?"
Roberts: "I grew up in Sheridan so I am familiar with
what's going on and I'm very concerned about it. The
biggest problem wc have right now with the spotted owl is
partly deception, if you looked in Oregon right now, at the
mills that have closed down in the last 15 years prior to this
spotted owl issue is no, our major problem is not just the
spotted owl, our major problem is timber supply.
And I think the thing that makes me most angry right now
is to see politicians using those workers to get them fired up
against the spotted owl, instead of working for solutions to
find jobs for those people. And I am absolutely convinced
that if you have a governor who was committed to putting
those people to work in good jobs, many of them right in the
timber industry that we have today, and making sure those
people have those family wage jobs, wc could make that
happen. My job is not to frighten workers, my job is to find
good jobs for workers and I think that can be done. In 1984
when I ran the first time for Secretary of State I came out
agafnst log exports in Oregon because I believed everytime
we shipped out a log we shipped out a job and I still believe
that and so I am excited to finally seek a match with
Congress in this issue to be able to look like we could at least
take the State land and the Federal land and quit exporting
our logs and our jobs out of the state.
Secondly, Oregon is a state that has thousands of acres of
timber, whether your talking about old growth or whether
your talking about second growth, in this state we employ
less of our workers in secondary wood products than almost
any other timber state in the nation. In other states that are
not only making door frames and window frames but they
are making furniture and wood products of every kind you
could think of and they don't ship out their trees, they don't
even ship out their lumber, they don't ship anything out of
their state until they literally have made a product that is
finished in that state so that every single job that you can get
out of every single tree, they get it, and that's what Oregon
needs to do and we should help our companies move
towards that. So, regardless of the spotted owl, people
would still have jobs. What I'd like to do is while we are
waiting to get the results of this that we begin immediately
on how we are going to get more jobs for Oregonians.
So the major question is not just the spotted owl, but is the
timber supply and how we make sure that we get every job
out of every tree that we plant and grow and cut in this state,
I think we can do that. I want those people to work, I want
them to have jobs and I don't want them to be frightened
anymore. I could get more votes by coming into this
community and raising my fists and shouting about the owl
but that doesn't get jobs for workers, and that's my number
one priority."
Smoke Signals: "How does a person like yourself imple
ment those kind of things, how do you get people to
understand?"
Roberts: "Well, the hardest time to talk to people is when
their frightened. It's very easy for people who are fright
ened to not hear. It's my job, first of all as a candidate to
talk to people about these issues. Being afraid or not, they
need to understand and I want to be there to tell them."
Smoke Signals: "Well, thank you, that's nice to hear and
I'm sure a lot of other people would think so too.
It's my personal opinion that the Tribe needs to become
more involved in local government and in particular in state
government, that they need to have more of a voice and that
they need to be able to educate our own members about
what's going on and how they are affected by things like
secondary wood products or the owl issue. Our Tribe and
our people are affected by that and our communities are
affected by that, which in turn affects our Tribal members,
so I think it's really important that we improve our relation
ship with the state government and the local government
and I'd like to know how you feel about that and how you
would go about doingthat if you were to become governor."
Roberts: "I think one of the things that is most significant
about Native Americans is that they have a very strong
Tribal identification, they are a Nation, different from this
American Nation and they recognize that Nation, for them
to really act in their own best interests, they really have to
recognize both nations, both the Tribe and the United
States because the decisions that Congress makes about
fishing, about rivers, about the spotted owl, about log
exports, about drinking and treatment programs, all those
decisions impact the Tribe and it's members, the decisions
the Legislature makes about education, community col
leges, scholarships, hunting and fishing licenses, and about
jobs and economic development, all of those decisions
impact tribal members.
I tried, when I first became Secretary of State to sit down
with the Tribal Councils and talk to them about registering
their members to vote and I didn't get very far with it,
probably because I didn't understand as clearly as I might
have at that time. They had a tendency to remove them
selves from those decisions because they had a Nation of
their own to care for. I think one of the things we can do
is to involve more tribal members in that decision making.
I think if we can just get 30 or 40 tribal members who are
actively involved in state government, it will bring other
people in too."
Smoke Signals: "I understand what your saying about
Tribes being semi-reluctant to get involved with specific
issues and it's almost characteristic of the Native American
people to sit back and watch and then as things happen,
then react. I'd like to see that change. Do you think that
is possible?"
Roberts: "Yes. And, I think the other thing that's impor
tant is that the Tribe should be very careful not to lose their
heritage, I mean when I go to Pow Wows I watch the
children dance and that shouldn't get lost. The more
members of the tribe who are educated the better. Hope
fully they will come back to the tribe after they're educated
and participate in their own communities to bring back
their ideas. It is the combination of the two that will make
the Tribes stronger."
Smoke Signals: "That's nice to hear you say that because
the more you talk to people that are involved it doesn't
seem like that is ever brought up. I think it's real important
that we do hang on to our heritage because that's what
makes us unique and that's what makes us who we are and
what we have to offer to the rest of the state."
Barbara: "A good example of that is, I knew a woman that
I'd served with on the Multnomah County Juvenile Services
Commission who was ayoung Native American. She was an
attorney and living in Portland and she was involved with
school and being an attorney but, part of the time she spent
at an Indian Center in Portland teaching Indian crafts to
younger people who needed to feel pride in their heritage.
Her grandmother had taught her the skills she passed on
to others and she never lost that despite all her other
activities. That's almost the same as me, I sit at this desk at
this office in a very important position but I don't forget
where I come from.
I was home recently for graduation, in Sheridan, and it was
just like going home and I think a lot of tribal members fear
that if they reach out to this broader world that they won't
be able to go home. But, in this case, you can go home
again."