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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 2001)
OR. COLL. E 78 .06 S66 December 15, 2001 ft f)MCCE DECEMBER 15, 2001 CHASTA UMPQUA ' MOLALLA " KALAPUYA ROGUE RIVER mmA 503-879-5211 1-800-422-0232 A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe www.grandronde.org U I II II I I I - 4- : i ,; ... J VJli , , - , .. .. ' i- p a. . c HOLIDAY SPIRIT Native musician Bill Miller, whose latest album is titled Spirit Rain, performed at the Tribe's Spirit Mountain Casino on Tuesday, November 2fJ in honor of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon's Restoration Celebration. Miller has taken his music around the globe while on tour, but he calls Nashville, Tennessee home. Casino Hosts Restoration Concert Bill Miller shares his music, his story. By Peta Tinda N; "ative musician Bill Miller has I been all around the world. He's toured with big-name acts like Pearl Jam and Tori Amos. Now, he's been to the Tribe's Spirit Moun tain Casino. And he hopes to some day return, for those of you who might have missed the concert he gave at the Rogue Room on Novem ber 20 in honor of the Grand Ronde Tribe's Restoration Celebration. "Restoration, that's a powerful word it means to be restored; re born," said Miller. "The people have been restored, as a whole." Miller is of Mohican-German par ents and was raised on the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in Wisconsin. He now lives in Nash ville, Tennessee with his wife and five kids. He has just released his tenth album, called Spirit Rain, and he has won several Native American Musical awards through out his career. continued on page 2 Tribal Investments - The Big Payback Founder of Portland based medical company arrives in Grand Ronde with $2.6 million check. By Peta Tinda When Richard Sass arrived at the Grand Ronde Governance Center on Friday, November 30, he was carrying something special a check for $2.6 million dollars. The check was to pay back a loan that Sass took out from the Tribe two years ago to invest in a startup com pany he was managing. The Portland based company, called Micro Helix, is developing cus tomized electronic interconnect sys tems that permit the transmission of electronic signals between two devices, such as a sensor and a com puter. One such device is called an L-VAD or left ventricular assist de vice. This heart-sized device is im planted inside a patient and helps the heart to function. Previously a patient would have to be tethered to a large, immobile 350-pound cart. Now the device has been miniatur ized to allow the patient to move freely. The company's Initial Public Of fering in September made stock in the company available to the gen eral public. In the days since, the company has raised $12 million from interested investors. This in turn allowed Sass to pay back the loan from the Tribe. Stock in the Micro Helix Company is currently trading at $6.20 a share on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the abbrevia tion MHLX. "It's been wonderful working with the Tribes," Sass said. "I'm very ap preciative of the loan. It bridged us from a time of not very much money, to where we are today. The loan was life saving." The actual product that Micro He lix makes is a small wire about four inches long and four times the thick ness of a human hair. It is im planted with a 21-gauge needle. This device "lives" inside the human body and can deliver energy to a variety of different life- support and assist devices. What makes Micro Helix's wire different is that it is to tally biocompatible and acceptable to the body's immune system. The connecter and plugs are hermetically sealed from bodily fluids. This is important because the fluids inside our bodies contain salt. If the salt leaks into the wire it will cause a short, which would be bad, possibly fatal for the patient. "Inside the human body is the most hazardous environment pos sible, worse than a steel mill," said Sass. "So it's very difficult to make things last a long time inside someone." Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon 9615 Grand Ronde Road Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347 Address Service Requested PRESORTED FIRST-CLASS MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID SALEM, OR PERMIT NO. 178 SERIALS DEPT. - KNIGHT LIBRARY ZS3 UNIUERSITY OF OREGON EUGENE OR 97403-1 205 ' 1 "You're Welcome" Businessman Richard Sass recently met with the Tribal Council in Grand Ronde and brought with him a check to pay the Tribe back for a loan he took out in April of 2000. Council members (from left to right) Val Grout, Bob Haller, Ed Pearsall, Reyn Leno and Jan D. Reibach met with Sass (center) when he was in Grand Ronde. Mr. Sass first became involved with the Grand Ronde Tribe five years ago when he was visiting the newly built wellness center. "I was very interested in the wellness center. The name, wellness center in particular I like," said Sass. It was then that he asked the Tribe for a $600, 000 loan. After paying back that loan, he then asked for a $2.5 million loan, which he paid back with interest. "My extreme thanks and gratitude to the Tribe." Sass said. "I am really pleased to be able to pay you back." D Shining Stars The Tribal Veteran's Color Guard was honored to make the trip to Spo kane, Washington for the annual winter meeting of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI). Pictured at the conference opening presentation is Norris Merrill, Tribal member Gene LaBonte, Tribal member Brenda Tuomi and her husband Ron Tuomi, Tribal member Lynn "Bear" Robertson and Tribal Elder Marce Norwest. 3U ' - ux : rv x ( t v w .v an 4 university ot uregon Library 1 Received on: 12-14-01 Smnkp c;? (-11-11 c Under Fire Department of the Interior Director Gale Norton (right) is under fire again. It was announced at the NCAI confer ence that Norton and other past Interior Department leaders will be ordered to stand trial in alleged mismanagement of Indian over several years (story on page 8). V 7- - CV r 2 VI i o c c V n 1 fc c B CQ 3 o - . V
