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JANUARY 1,2013
A Publication of the Grand Ronde Tribe
www.grandronde.org
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Foffttlh) Foirst Natfioinis Powwow sett for J a mi. 26
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
SALEM Four of western Oregon's five
federally recognized Tribes will come to
gether once again to host the fifth annual
Gathering of Oregon's First Nations Powwow on
Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Salem Pavilion on the
Oregon State Fairgrounds.
The theme will be health, said Siobhan Taylor,
Public Affairs director for the Grand Ronde Tribe,
who is organizing the event. "Diabetes, exercise,
healthy eating will all be on the agenda."
The four sponsoring western Tribes are the
Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua
and Siuslaw Indians, Coquille Indian Tribe,
Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians
and Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. The
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians decided
not to participate in this year's powwow.
The four eastern Oregon Tribes Confeder
ated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation,
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reserva-
See POWWOW
continued on page 4
Grand Ronde Royalty Princess Elizabeth Watson
Croy performs a traditional dance during the
fourth annual Gathering of Oregon's First Nations
Powwow at the Oregon State Fair & Expo Center
Pavilion in Salem in January 201 2.
rS1
Smoke Signals file photo
Tr 111 S)
CHARGING f U V' 11 -V I
Ji L" k
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
The new electric car charging station at Grand Ronde Station is now open for use.
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New electric car charging station opens at Grand Ronde Station
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
The Grand Ronde Tribe
has joined the West Coast
Electric Highway.
On April 18, the Grand Ronde
Tribal Council set the stage for
two electric charging stations
to be installed at the Tribal
convenience store along heavily
traveled Highway 18.
On Nov. 27, the two charging
stations came online and in the
month since the stations have
been serving daily customers,
said store manager Opal Hale.
The Tribe is planning a grand
openingribbon cutting ceremony
at the store for late February or
early March, said Jilene Mercier,
Senior Administrative Assistant
in the Economic Development
Department and the Tribe's
point person on the project.
"This project brings economic
diversification to the Tribe with
no upfront costs since it was
funded by an ODOT TIGER
grant," said Tribal Economic
Development Director Titu
Asghar.
"The Tribe is very excited
about the recent opening of
the electrical vehicle charging
station at the C-store and be
ing part of this green initiative
See ELECTRIC
continued on page 7
Spirit Mountain
Community Fund
surpasses $58
million in giving
Tribe awards $640,656.40
to 33 nonprofits on Dec. 12
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
As part of the Grand Ronde
Tribe's latest effort to im
prove the quality of life in
Oregon consistent with its values,
Spirit Mountain Community Fund
distributed more than $640,000 to
33 Oregon nonprofits on Wednes
day, Dec. 12.
Since its inception in 1997, the
Community Fund has donated
more than $58.3 million to nonprof
its in an 11 -county area in western
Oregon and to Oregon's nine feder
ally recognized Tribes as part of its
gaming compact with the state.
The grants fund projects in the
areas of education, health, arts
and culture, environment, historic
preservation and public safety.
This quarter's recipients included
Dallas-based Farmers Ending Hun
ger, a 7-year-old nonprofit that so
licits food or in-kind donations that
go to the Oregon Food Bank and
the Polk-Marion Food Share, said
Executive Director John Burt.
He said that he hopes the $15,000
Community Fund grant will enable
the group to increase donations by
$1 million from the $1.8 million to
$2 million the group has collected
in recent years.
This was the second Community
Fund grant awarded to the group.
See FUND
continued on page 8