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January
15, 800
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A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
January 15, 2000
By Tracy Dugan
Happy New Year, and Welcome
the year 2000! Some great
new things happened for the Tribe
in 1 999. Here's a review of the ma
jor events.
LATE WINTER III
I After a formal ribbon-cutting cer
emony, Spirit Mountain Lodge opens
its doors, to immediate success as
the third phase of Spirit Mountain
Casino is completed.
I Tribal members are invited to a
Grand Opening Ceremony for the
Lodge.
I An ad hoc committee is formed to
organize the creation of a Veterans'
memorial in Grand Ronde.
SPRING III
I Tribal Council announces that the
BIA will conduct a special election of
the Grand Ronde membership. The
election will determine whether or not
to amend the Tribe's Enrollment
Ordnance.
I The Tribe sponsors a retirement din
ner for Congresswoman Elizabeth
Furse, who was the Restoration Co
ordinator for the Tribe, and was a
key player in the Tribe's Restoration
effort.
I Tribal Council announces its affili
ation with MaPS Credit Union. All
tribal members and employees be
come eligible to join the credit union.
I Russellville Commons, an upscale
Portland housing project in which the
Tribe is an investor, is completed.
I The Tribe settles its dispute with the
Grand Ronde Community Water As
sociation over the cost and terms on
which water is supplied to Grand
Meadows, the Tribe's manufactured
home subdivision.
I Nanitch Sahallie Youth Treatment
Facility in Keizer, Oregon celebrates
ten years of helping tribal youth over
come drug arid alcohol dependency.
SUMMER III
I Elders and Council participate in
the groundbreaking of the Elders'
Housing development, currently un
der construction.
I The Tribe hosts the Affiliated Tribes
of Northwest Indians (ATNI) confer
ence at the casino and lodge.
I Direlle Calica is selected to be the
second Hatfield Fellow, and will
continued on page 4
Community Fundi helps a
variety of momi-profnts in 1999
By Brent Merrill
The Grand Ronde Tribe's Spirit
Mountain Community Fund distrib
uted $1.8 million throughout the
state last year.
1999 grants ranged from $270,000
to the Raphael House in Portland
to $2,500 for the Oregon State Parks
Trust. The grants covered the en
tire community spectrum with
grants to the arts community, vari
ous ethnic groups and emergency
services, law enforcement, education
and health organizations.
Recipients of the fund have been
thankful and appreciative of the
Tribe's efforts.
"The Spirit Mountain Community
Fund has found a wonderful way
to give to the community," Ginnie
Cooper, director of libraries for
Multnomah County. "The fund's
gift to the library ensures that books
and special programs about Indians
of the Northwest and throughout
the country will be available to all."
i continued on pages 8-9
C OQ
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University of Oregon Library V 1
Smoke signals
Planting seedlings during the Willamette River Initiative in March.
Two Council will serve on
transportation committee
By Brent Merrill
Making local highways safer is
just one of the priorities a new trans
portation advisory committee (TAC)
in Yamhill County will be looking at
when they begin work this year.
Grand Ronde Tribal Council mem
bers Ed Larsen and Butch LaBonte
will serve on the TAC.
Surveys have been sent in the
mail to 4,000 Yamhill County resi
dents to get their input on public
transportation issues. The surveys
were sent randomly to 10 percent of
the county's registered voters.
The information gathered in the
surveys could help plan the future
of public transportation in Yamhill
County for years to come.
In the summer of 1999, Yamhill
County contacted the Mid-Willamette
Valley Council of Govern
ments (MWVCOG) about doing a
transit study for the county. A tran
sit study examines public transpor
tation like buses and all other forms
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
Community of Oregon
9615 Grand Ronde Road
Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347
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of public transportation.
"We have formed a citizen's trans
portation advisory committee of some
20 members," said Richard Van
Orman of MWVCOG. "Basically,
what we are going to be doing is a
public transportation study for the
county. We will probably be work
ing on this throughout the year."
Van Orman said one of the objec
tives of the TAC would be to look at
safety issues along Highway 99,
Highway 22, Highway 18 and
Highway 47 as well as other county
thoroughfares.
"Can public transportation help?"
said Van Orman rhetorically. "We
have documented that 9,000 county
residents leave the county everyday
to go to work. We have 18,000
county residents traveling within
the county everyday and when
school is in session, we have 16,000
public school students on the roads
every morning."
According to Van Orman, one of
the other issues the TAC will exam
ine is what he called "the transpor
tation disadvantaged."
According to MWVCOG statistics,
24,500 county residents do not have
adequate access to public transpor
tation. Van Orman said disabled
people, senior citizens and young
people needing to get to and from af
ter school activities will be the target
of improved transportation services.
Van Orman said the study would
also look at ways to help provide
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Ed Larsen
'- - - -- - - - - 1
Butch LaBonte
transportation to people who simply
cannot afford a private automobile.
"Approximately 30 percent of the
county population fits into one of
those categories," said Van Orman.
Thirty percent of Yamhill's popula
tion is about 25,000 people.
"What we are seeing is there is a
market for public transportation," said
Van Orman. He said the TAC would
look at ways to meet that market.
Van Orman said the involvement
of county residents who receive the
survey is critical.
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