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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2002)
Smoke Signals 5 Marine Veteran Will Walk For Honor From Table Rock to Grand Ronde FEBRUARY 15, 2002 Continued from page 4 historical quarterly publication, giv ing an account more on par with a cattle drive. The walk consumed 33 days, and the deaths were often blamed on disease, though one In dian was killed for wandering be yond the confines of the military escort. Local settlers were less than hospitable, obviously. The group also had to deal with the elements, cows and horses running off, and the deadly pestering of one Timeleon Love, a psychopath who took pride in being an Indian-killer. Bobb and Merrill hope to cover the same distance in only two weeks, and with fewer unpleasantries. They've already planned the walk on a day-by-day basis, and plan on alternating between hotels and a trailer for most of the trip. Bobb estimates they'll walk nine hours and 20 miles per day. "Planning wise, I think we've cov ered all possibilities weather, food, rest," he said. "We'll have to pack our own water and eat lots of energy bars. Having that trailer lined up helps." Their success in doing the walk will spell a windfall for the Veter ans' Memorial; they've taken per mile pledges from just about every one. The goal of the memorial project still stands at $300,000 with present estimates of the fund be ing at one-fourth that. But the money taken in from their pledges will hopefully put them within strik ing distance. - 4t I O I . ..Illif Him WlWHiHimn ...illx ........ ' ::'"......,. v ' ' ' On an Old Trail... Tribal member Steve Bobb will cover the same distance in his walk from Table Rock as Tribal ancestors who were forcibly removed from their lands and then relocated to Grand Ronde. Bobb began walking regularly after a life changing health issue nearly took his life in 1997. Bobb will now turn is passion for fitness into an effort to raise money for the planned Veterans' Memorial. "Hopefully, this will get us over the hump," Bobb said. That hump will be the first physi cal manifestation of the memorial a bronze statue for which Bobb has been making the clay casting sculpture. He is still an active mem ber of the Veterans' Committee and has been instrumental in the origi nal idea since its inception some ten years ago. Other Veterans from around Or egon hope to meet up with the two, some even taking part in the walk. For that reason Bobb and Merrill plan on making stops in Roseburg and Eugene, to receive support from whomever wishes to dole it out. The idea for the walk stemmed from SOLV (Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism), which raised money by organizing North-South coastal walks to clean up roadside trash. Bobb's first idea was to walk from the Idaho border to the Oregon coast, but others suggested the Table Rock to Grand Ronde trek, which seemed much more appropriate given his ancestral background. The timing even seems more perfect given the events of September 11. "Right now I think there is a lot of appreciation for Veterans," he said. "And this will help them be appreciated even more." Next up for the memorial is bring ing in the black granite in which all the names of local Veterans will be inscribed. That too will be a costly process as the biggest source of black granite in found in India. But Bobb, like others, isn't the least bit discouraged. "There have been a lot of people who have seen this through," he said. "They've hung in there. Get ting their names on the wall will be a big deal. It says they'll be remem bered for their efforts." Council member June Sell Sherer expressed her own support for the walk. "If I could do it, I would go, too," she said. "This clues in the Tribe and others on how we feel about our history, and our attachment to Elders and Veterans." Sell-Sherer herself served in the Army, from 1966 to 1969, though she was stationed in Germany dur ing Vietnam. She achieved the rank of Specialist 5th Class in the 513th Military Intelligence, and knows fully the value of Veterans. "You know I've made my pledge along with other members of coun cil," she said Sell-Sherer Mike Larsen, a Vietnam Veteran, also appreciates the walk on mul tiple levels, one for what will mean to Tribal members and Veterans, another for what it will mean to Steve Bobb. "This will give people a good idea of what our ancestors went through," he told me. "But as for Steve Bobb, well I know what he's gone through in his life, and I'm proud to see him do this." B Grand Ronde Tribe Takes on Downtown Portland Tribal investments like the Gregory Lofts in the Pearl District have proven successful. I Big City, Big Building The Gregory Lofts project in downtown Portland's Pearl District has proven to be a successful investment for the Grand Ronde Tribe. The living sections are completely sold out and the lower level retail spaces con tinue to attract the best that Portland has to offer. By Chris Mercier The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde has its hand in many affairs these days, some cultural, some public rela tions, and more often than not, some business. One aspect of Tribal business is investments. Due to the nature of investing, some ventures work and some don't. A Tribal in vestment that worked out well has been the Gregory Lofts project in downtown Portland. Spirit Mountain Development Corporation, the business and in vestment arm of the Tribe, to use a catchword that's been buzzing in business circles the past few years, has diversified. Nowhere has this been more obvious than in Port land, where only two years ago a vacant lot existed that has since evolved into the Gregory Lofts. Peta Tinda and I drove up to Port land in January to see the lofts and meet with John Carroll, head of AspenCarroll, Limited Liability Company and a progenitor in the Tribe's foray into real estate devel opment. For the record, neither of us knew that driving a government vehicle entitled us to stay at park ing meters free for the maximum duration allowed. So let me say that another wise investment for SMDC, or for anyone really, would be to post change machines on ev ery street corner, perhaps demand ing a five-cent surcharge with ev ery transaction. That way resi dents and visitors could save count less minutes not frantically dash ing from store to store begging for quarters and ever mindful of the malicious meter maids. That little incident aside, our visi tation to the Pearl District was a smooth one, and we approached the Gregory Lofts a bit on the awe struck side. The Smoke Signals ran some photos of the structure back in the fall when the project origi nally came through. Those pictures didn't quite do it justice, and really, neither will the same ones we click and shoot today. To get a feel for the Gregory Lofts, one must visit and peruse them first-hand. You'll understand. For those of you who don't know, the Pearl District, while hardly new, for years was a post-industrial ghost town. The decrepit, worn, red-brick warehouses were prob ably very charming in their hey day, which would have been the earlier half of the 20th century, but by the time the 1980's finished, those same places were hardly liv able. "Ten years ago, you couldn't give away space," said Debbie Thomas, of Thomas Real Estate and a part ner of the Tribe in the Gregory ven ture. Carroll nodded in agreement while we ate lunch at Pho Van, a plush Vietnamese restaurant rounding out the Gregory's bottom floor. Even this place where we enjoy pho bac, rice vermicelli, and spicy sausage in chili sauce was once a tire repair shop. Thomas knows because it precisely where she came when it was time to ro tate. Now, Michael Powell, of Powell's Books, eats to our right, and most of the furniture and wares, Thomas assured me, was shipped expressly from Vietnam. Thomas and Carroll both have seen the surge of Portland. The tide shifted ten years ago, when Seattle was named by Money magazine the best American city to live in, with Portland not far behind. The Pa cific Northwest, with the emergence of grunge, Boeing, Starbuck's and Microsoft, combined with a pleas ing climate and lovely mountain and evergreen-laden vistas in ev ery which direction, quickly became continued on page 6
