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.
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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
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