APRIL 1,2007
MOGC
A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
www.grandronde.org
Grand Ronde Honor Guard and Dayton High School Honor Veterans
By Angie Sears
On Sunday, March 18, approxi
mately 125 Veterans from World
War II, Vietnam, and the Korean
War visited the Grand Ronde Vet
erans Memorial where the Grand
Ronde Honor Guard presented
each of them with a medallion of
honor.
Among the group of Veterans
honored were Samuel Sandoval,
World War II Marine and Navajo
Code Talker; and Alex Mathews,
member of Pawnee Nation, World
War II POW and survivor of the
Bataan Death March.
The Veterans are part of a group
that travel with a non-profit organi
zation called Remembering Amer
ica's Hero's (RAH). RAH, founded
by Ken Buckles, brings Veterans
to local high schools for a "Living
History Day," where the students
and staff honor them for their great
sacrifices, and the Veterans share
their wartime experiences.
The group of Veterans traveled
from various locations across the
country fpr the event. On Sunday
they visited the Evergreen Aviation
u
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FN U : i J
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Grand Ronde Honor Guard members (starting top right to left) Marshal
Tall-Eagle, James Gordon, Tribal member Ron Rife, (middle, right to left)
Kia Ishem, Dee Odem, Norris Merrill, Tribal member Gene LaBonte, Soren
McCallister, (front) Tribal member Steve Rife.
Museum in McMinnville, before
moving on to Spirit Mountain Ca
sino, where they spent the night.
"We're very proud of our memo
rial, and when Mr. Buckles saw
it he wanted his group to come
here ... It was really something
to present them with the medal
lions, and they were proud. I know
they've received a lot of ribbons and
medallions before, but they were
grateful to be here," said Gene La
Bonte, Grand Ronde Tribal mem
ber, Honor Guard, and Veteran of
the Navy.
"It was a neat experience for the
Veterans to visit the memorial. I
know it meant a lot to them, and I
know that the medals they received
meant a lot to them because they
were all wearing them proudly the
next day," said Dave Fluke, Dayton
High School history teacher.
On Monday, March 19, the group
went to Dayton High School for
a "Living History Day." The day
began with a welcome breakfast
See VETERANS
on page 6
J . f - i " ' ' ' jT
; i
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
Community of Oregon
9615 Grand Ronde Road
Grand Ronde, Oregon 97347
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SALEM, OR
PERMIT NO. 178
Tribe Passes On Boise
Cascade Property
Environmental unknowns and a short time line
derailed the investment.
By Ron Karten
In mid-March, the Tribe was one
of seven potential buyers looking
into the purchase of Boise Cascade's
13-acre riverfront complex in Salem,
including 310 acres the company
owns on Minto-Brown Island.
The city anticipates that the site
at 315 Commercial Street SE could
become a showcase in the downtown's
urban renaissance featuring river
side condominiums, offices, retail,
restaurants, and parking.
The property will be re-zoned to
allow for the mixed-use development,
but realty specialists predict that it
could take years for the entire prop
erty to be developed.
"The Tribe is always interested
in properties to diversify the Tribal
portfolio," said Tribal Public Affairs
Director Siobhan Taylor. "And the
Tribe is even more interested in such
properties found within the Tribe's
ceded territories, which the Boise
Cascade site is."
The riverfront represents one of
the last great encampments for the
Kalapuya band of the Tribe's ances
tors. Some 400 ancestors are thought
to have wintered here until disease
outbreaks, and encroaching settle
ment beginning in the 1850s wiped
out all but a handful.
Still, the investment was not to
be.
"We saw this as an opportunity to
participate in the development of cen
tral Salem," said Tribal Council mem
ber Val Sheker. "But as we considered
the potential cost of the purchase,
clean up, preservation, and develop
ment, it just didn't pencil out."
"It had lot of unknowns," said
Tribal Council member Wink So
derberg. "We didn't have all of the answers,
but we had enough of them to cause
us concern," said Tribal member
and Tribal Realty Specialist Jan
Michael Looking Wolf Reibach, who
headed up the Tribal investigation
into the property.
"Nearly a dozen upper level Tribal
staffers worked for more than a
month performing extensive research
on the project, including environmen
tal studies, property appraisals, title
research, and potential development
costs," said Reibach. "The Tribe
worked hard at examining this oppor
tunity and bringing this information
to the Council."
The other six parties said to be
interested in the property have not
been named, and Boise Cascade de
clined to comment on how many had
submitted bids. "There were some
bids," said Boise Cascade spokes
man Fred Birnbaum. He declined to
speculate about whether any of the
bids would be accepted, but said that
a decision will hopefully come sooner
rather than later.