Smoke Signals 5
MAY 15, 2002
The Tribe's New Employment and Training Specialist Is Thankful, Busy
Klamath-Modoc Tribal member Joe Kirk is helping Grand Ronde members get jobs and
keep them.
By Peta Tinda
The first thing you notice when you walk into
Joe Kirk's office is the smell of sage.
Kirk, the Grande Ronde Tribal Employment
and Training specialist, burns sage each Mon
day and offers prayers for the week.
"I smudge my office with the sage and I say
prayers and give thanks. I think about things,
like what I'm doing and why," said Kirk.
What he's doing all week is helping Tribal
members find jobs, fill out applications and man
age their budgets. He also handles all the re
quests for Tribal assistance.
He sometimes goes to his client's houses to
check on them and pretty much does whatever
he can to help.
"I've got 63 clients. When I get here in the
morning, this thing is lit up," said Kirk, point
ing at his telephone's message light.
"But we don't do it for them. We just help the
clients." said Kirk.
That help can range from getting a client re
ferred to the education department for job skills
training, to helping someone get a set of tires so
they can drive to work.
"We do all kinds of assistance. It all depends
on the person's situation and every individual
is different," said Kirk. "We help people put their
lives back in order."
Kirk was hired by the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde early this year. His wife Joyce, a
Grand Ronde Tribal member, was hired a few
months later as an Administrative Assistant in
the Social Services program. Now they work in
the same office buildings.
"I really like working together," said Joyce.
"But it's no different than working with another
fellow counselor, except we take our vacations
at the same time."
Kirk's resume speaks of a life spent helping
others. He graduated from Southern Oregon
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Family Grand Ronde Tribal member Joyce Kirk (Bean) poses for a photo with her husband Joe Kirk. The
Kirks recently moved to Grand Ronde after working for the Klamath Tribe in southern Oregon. Joe is the Tribe's
new Employment and Training Specialist in the Adult Vocational Rehabilitation program and Joyce is the Social
Services program's new administrative assistant.
University with a degree in social sciences. Af
ter that he attended Oregon State University
and got a degree in education. He worked for
the Navajo Tribe for 16 years at a public school
and then was a dorm manager at Chemawa
Indian School. He went back to Klamath in 1987
and began working as director of social services
while he helped raise his daughter with Joyce -Jocelyn.
Kirk also spent time working in an alterna
tive school where Native kids who had been dis
missed from public schools were given a second
chance at getting an education.
"I always knew I wanted to be in social ser
vices," said Kirk. "The best part of this job is
seeing people succeed. Getting a call and it's
someone saying T found a job,' or when they
realize that they can have control over their
lives. There's a certain self empowerment in
that.?
"Joe has always worked in social services.
Even in college his idea was to educate himself
to help people," said Joyce. "His whole goal in
life has been to help Indian people." B
Tribal Leaders Express Dismay and Disappointment
With Warm Springs' Casino Approach
Poll shows majority of Oregonians do not want an expansion of gaming.
Tribal leaders from Cow Creek have joined
Grand Ronde's Tribal council in raising
serious issues surrounding Warm
Springs' attempts to place a new casino in or
near the Columbia Gorge. Pointing to legal
problems, unfortunate timing, and the possibil
ity of setting off a major proliferation of Indian
casinos near or inside of urban centers, the lead
ership is urging Warm Springs to reconsider
their efforts. .
Earlier this month, every Tribal chair joined
Governor Kitzhaber on stage at the 5th Annual
Government-to-Government Summit. But it
was the summit's master of ceremonies, the
governor's chief legal counsel Danny Santos that
put a frame around the legal issues surround
ing Warm Springs' attempts. Santos has repeat
edly explained that it's the opinion of the
governor's office that Warm Springs can't locate
a casino outside of it's original reservation, with
out seriously altering the initial gaming com
pacts that each Tribe has signed with the state.
Simply put, that means tearing up the current
rules and starting all over again with automatic
compact negotiations allowing for the possibil
ity of each Tribe building a casino on lands that
are placed in trust.
"If Warm Springs prevails, clearly we'd have
to look at casino locations much closer to Port
land," said Grand Ronde Tribal Chair Cheryle
Kennedy. "I know that Siletz would look at Sa
lem and Burns at Bend. Cow Creek would have
to come close to Eugene. Reservation locations
have always been a quirk of history. As a ter
minated Tribe we have approximately 10,000
acres, while Warm Springs has over 600,000
acres within its initial reservation, filled with all
sorts of resource opportunities that we don't
share. If they want to change the rules and
essentially build a casino off-reservation, all
Tribes will be forced to stay competitive and that
will lead to changing Indian gaming from an
entertainment destination to convenience gam
bling. I don't think the majority of Oregonians
want to see that day."
A new statewide poll shows that while most
Oregonians have a positive impression of Indian
gaming, especially for the community funded
programs that are now established across the
state, 80 percent don't want to see any further
expansion of gaming.
Yet that's exactly what some within the main
stream business community are pushing for.
There's the usual noise about racetracks and
card rooms, not to mention the lottery expan
sion and line games. But with all the pressure
mounting to replace a nearly billion dollar bud
get shortfall with any possible new revenue
source, many within this community are just
waiting for any excuse to pounce.
"We're looking at a very tense special session
in June," said Grand Ronde's Intergovernmen
tal Affairs Director Justin Martin. "After that,
when Oregon elects a new governor along with
a new legislature this November, there will no
doubt be enormous pressure to add gaming op
tions outside of our reservations. I'm hoping no
one, especially Warm Springs will give anyone
the excuse they need to justify the expansion of
gaming."
Martin went on to say that he's dismayed that
Warm Springs' staff have been trying to insinu
ate that there's a full-scale lobbying effort to keep
Warm Springs from succeeding.
"We've communicated with Warm Springs on
numerous occasions before we ever went public
with our objections," explained Martin. "We've
told them repeatedly that we stand behind them
and would help them in any way we can as long
as they build a replacement casino within their
existing reservation lands. We've expressed our
concerns that the Warm Springs' Gorge site
poses such numerous engineering, environmen
tal and economic issues that it will require the
Tribe to initiate a huge loan to even attempt to
build there and that's only after they've paid
for all their litigation expenses. Then, if they
open the casino, they've got labor issues inter
nally if they're going to try and offer casino jobs
to Warm Springs Tribal members and convince
them to commute a substantial distance.
Frankly, while they may not see it yet, we're
quite concerned about their future (Warm
Springs) and we're very concerned about the
future of Indian gaming if this proposal moves
forward."