OCTOBER 1, 2001
Smoke Signals 9
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Daniel Ham thinks his
new job is a thrill.
By Peta Tinda
Despite years at Spirit Mountain Casino, Daniel Ham
gets a thrill out of his work.
"There's still an excitement to being around gaming ac
tivities," Ham said. "Especially seeing people winning."
Ham is the new Gaming Inspector at Spirit Mountain
Casino, a position for which he said he is well suited.
"I like it," said Ham, who has three years of experi
ence in security and two years in surveillance. "I (also)
went to Spirit Mountain Security Academy and
Clackamas County Public Safety Academy. A lot of the
job is similar, but instead of sitting in front of a closed
circuit TV camera, you actually go down and watch it."
In his new position as Gaming Inspector, Ham moni
tors and enforces compliance with all internal gaming
controls, rules and regulations. His others functions in
clude maintaining a presence at the casino to moni
tor for compliance with the Tribe's gaming compact with
the state, maintaining minimum internal control stan
dards, rules and regulations as well as applicable law.
Ham investigates and reports to the director about any potential viola
tions, investigates any cash variances greater than $100 and reports find
ings, responds to and verifies primary jackpots of the wide area progres
sive system and he must be present when any Gaming Commission seal is
broken on any gaming device or progressive controller and is responsible
for resealing the gaming device or the progressive controller.
While on the job, he also observes the video lottery terminals or table
games drop, fingerprints gaming license applicants and assists in the quar
terly audits of the gaming system.
"But the main thing is that it (my job duties) have to be independent of
the management of the casino and not be. influenced by the manage
ment," said Ham. "I also handle patron disputes; disputes'over winnings,
that sort of thing. Also part of my job is learning all of the table games;
I'm certified in craps, blackjack and roulette. To know what's going on,
you must know how to do it yourself."
The effect of having a full-time Gaming Inspector will be that the Gam-
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"Success Story" Tribal member Daniel Ham is the Gaming Commission's new full-time,
on-site Gaming Inspector at the Tribe's Spirit Mountain Casino. He is certified in table games,
responsible for overseeing security measures on slot machines and charged with monitoring the
casino's fair gaming compliance autonomous from the management of the casino and even the
Tribal Council.
ing Commission will have more presence at the casino.
"It'll be good to have someone there when the commission is closed, espe
cially on nights and weekends, when there usually isn't anyone there on
site to deal with issues," said Ham.
A typical day for Ham might include doing spot checks at the casino,
counting card inventories and overseeing security on controlled items, like
cards and dice.
"For instance, we have three craps tables and after each shift, we 'can
cel out' the dice, that is, we drill a hole in them," said Ham. "This is so no
one can steal the dice and try to 'load' them, which would make them roll
the same number repeatedly.
"We have a lot of security on controlled items," Ham said.
When asked to describe himself, Ham said that he would be a good
example of how the Tribe and the people of Grand Ronde are making
changes from the time before Restoration.
"I'm a success story," said Ham. II
3
AFTERMATH The people of the nation react, pull together
Continued from front page
Leno, Acting Executive Officer in a
memo to staff. "Please take this
much needed time to reflect on
what has taken place and to re
group and re-charge."
Sheridan resident August "Gus"
Smoorenburg, a Dutch Nazi resis
tance fighter during World War II said
he was sadden by the tragic events
that took place in New York, Wash
ington, D.C. and Pennsylvania.
"It breaks my heart seeing the
tragedies unfolding in New York
and the Pentagon," said Smooren
burg. "Looking at television it
amazes me of the similarities of my
experiences during WW II, the tone
of our President We are in a War'
and 'We are confronted with the
duration and intensity of retalia
tions against the enemy.'
"I like to know how the Taliban
(the Afghanistan ruling party) can
even think to fight the United
States knowing that Hirohito and
Adolph Hitler could not succeed
fighting the United States."
Tribal member Veronica Gaston
who lives near the Pentagon in
Washington, D.C. described the
surroundings as "tense" a week af
ter the attacks.
"Everything is still pretty much
closed in Washington, D.C," said
Gaston. "You either have to prove
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you work there or show identifica
tion that you live there to get in."
"All the monuments in Washing
ton, D.C. are still closed," said
Gaston. "It's spooky."
Gene Hill, Chief Executive Of
ficer of the Spirit Mountain Devel
opment Corporation (SMDC), said
they are still in the process of put
ting together and shipping Sabre
Tool units to New York to help in
the removal of the wreckage.
The Tribe and other investors are
still in the progress of getting a com
plete partnership in place with Sabre-Tool.
On September 17, 2001, Health
& Wellness employees Egypt
Powley and Tracy Biery went
around Tribal offices and collected
$690.06 that will be going to the
Red Cross.
Blood and Platelet donors will be
needed over the next several weeks
to help replenish the nation's blood
supply. Call the Willamette Chap
ter of the American Red Cross at
503-585-5416 if you wish to help.
They will direct you to a local blood
drive and set up an appointment
for you to donate.
To send donations to the Red
Cross for assisting victims of the
attacks, call 1-800-HELP-NOW.
The Office of Victims of Crime has
established a hotline at 1-800-331-0075
to leave contact information
to get more details about victims
and survivors. D