10
S moke S ignals
february 1, 2014
Help wanted
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde’s 477 Employment and
Training Program and Land and Culture Department have resourc-
es that can be utilized along with community members who have a
passion for gardening or want to learn the art of agriculture.
If you are a Grand Ronde Tribal or community member and want
to be a part of the planning, preparation and cultivation of the Tribal
garden and orchard site for this year’s planting season, contact Bar-
bara Gibbons at 800-242-8196, ext. 2135, or e-mail barbara.gibbons@
grandronde.org. n
CTGr Higher education
program deadlines set
There are now only two Higher Education programs depending on whether
you are full-time or part-time. The deadline for the Full-Time College pro-
gram is at least 30 days before the start of classes. The deadline for the
Part-Time College program is at least 10 days before the start of class.
Visit the Tribal Web site for more program information and an application.
www.grandronde.org/departments/education/higher-education/ n
College placement Testing offered
College Placement Testing offered on-site at the Adult Education Building
for Chemeketa Community College, Linn-Benton Community College and
Mount Hood Community College. The Placement Test is one of the first steps
to beginning college classes. Call 503-879-2282 to sign up for your placement
test – allow about one week for scheduling purposes. n
JOB OppOrTunITIes
Currently, Spirit Mountain Casino has several job openings. Job
postings are updated every Friday and can be viewed at http://spir-
itmountain.com/careers or you may call the Job Hotline number at
503-879-2350, ext. 3744, or 800-760-7977, ext. 3744.
If you are an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde and need assistance in processing an application or have any
questions, you can contact Tribal Development and we would be
happy to assist you. E-mail: Tribal_Development@spiritmtn.com
David DeHart: 503-879-3867 or cell: 503-437-2176
Misty Carl: 503-879-3813 or cell: 503-437-1679
“The Tribal Career Development Department (TCD) is responsible
for enhancing the self-sufficiency opportunities for enrolled members
of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. This department will
meet the needs of Tribal members through a progression of custom-
ized processes to ensure opportunities for the individual by providing
a collaborative and trusting environment, consultation and career
recommendations.”
Voting must be completed by March 1
BRIDGE continued
from front page
Tribal Historian David Lewis was
appointed in September to the nine-
member Bridge Naming Committee
responsible for paring down the
thousands of candidates.
“With input from the Grand
Ronde language program,” Lewis
said, the Tribe submitted one of the
finalist names: Tillicum Crossing
Transit Bridge, subtitled “Bridge
of the People.”
Grand Ronde Public Affairs
Director Siobhan Taylor recom-
mended to Tri-Met in early spring
last year that the bridge “honor
the original people of this place.
The first people. The people who
were here before the Europeans,
before westward expansion and
settlement, and all the growth and
development that has transpired
over the centuries.
“Name it after the people who
welcomed the newcomers, who
showed Lewis & Clark how to sur-
vive, who helped settlers make it
through those first rough winters.
Those people were rewarded by
losing their lands, their rights and
eventually their recognition as
Tribal people. Give it a name that
honors the original people of the
Portland Basin. Name it after the
people who make up today’s Grand
Ronde Tribe.”
The Grand Ronde Tribe, Taylor
said, would “come up with a name
that would represent all that, but
also make it a name that would
embrace all of the Portland metro
community.”
“That’s when David Lewis
stepped in with his cultural and
historic genius and came up with
Tillicum Crossing,” Taylor said.
“The People’s Bridge. I can’t think
of a better name. It names it for the
ancestors; it names it for the Tribal
people and all Native people today;
and it names it for all of us Native
and non-Native people who reside
in the Portland area and will travel
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
The portland-Milwaukie Light rail Bridge is under construction in portland.
The bridge, which crosses the Willamette river, is expected to open in
september 2015.
How to vote
Comments on the four
bridge name finalists are due
by 5 p.m. Saturday, March 1,
by visiting http://trimet.org/na-
methebridge/ on the Internet.
Tri-Met General Manager
Neil McFarland will select the
name soon thereafter.
that bridge on a regular basis.”
The Grand Ronde Tribe pub-
licly endorsed the name and many
Tribal members sent letters and
e-mails in support during the deci-
sion-making process.
Tillicum, a Chinuk Wawa word
for people, Tribe and relatives, also
translates as “gathering of people,”
or in the bridge’s case, Bridge of the
People. The “crossing” part reflects
both the Native experience in the
area and the use of the bridge.
“It is very representative of use
by people,” Lewis said, “and it is
connected by Tribal history and
mythology with the nearby Bridge
of the Gods.”
The other three name finalists
are Abigail Scott Duniway Transit
Bridge, Cascadia Crossing Tran-
sit Bridge and Wy’east Transit
Bridge.
Abigail Scott Duniway was
known as the “the pioneer woman
suffragist of the great Northwest,”
according to the Bridge Naming
Committee.
Cascadia takes its name from the
Cascade mountain range, a cross-
border region of the Northwest. It
also is associated with the Cascade
Tribes, who are among the confed-
eration that ultimately became the
Grand Ronde Tribe, Lewis said.
Cascadia and Tillicum reflect the
Native experience, but Indian lin-
guists in Oregon have never heard
of Wy’east being used by Native
peoples.
People in the region have over
many years come to associate
Wy’east with both Mt. Hood and
the Native peoples of the area, but
linguists find no record of the word
being Native.
According to Linguistic Anthro-
pologist Henry Zenk, a Grand
Ronde Tribal specialist with par-
ticular knowledge in Kalapuyan,
Molalla, Chinookan, including
Clackamas, Cascades and Wasco-
Wishram languages, “The weight
of evidence is against Wy’east
as a genuine Tribal name of Mt.
Hood.”
Linguists specializing in the
Sahaptin language also have not
heard of Native use of the word.
Sahaptin has long been spoken
in a section of the northwestern
plateau along the Columbia River
and its tributaries in southern
Washington, northern Oregon and
southwestern Idaho.
The new bridge will serve bikes
and pedestrians, including those
with disabilities, light rail, buses and
emergency vehicles, but no private
cars. The bridge is 1,720 feet — close
to a third of a mile — long.
Requirements for submitting
names included information de-
scribing the proposed name’s origin
and meaning, the name’s cultural
and regional perspective, its in-
spirational quality, a reflection of
how the bridge connects people,
how the name rolls off the tongue
and what the name will mean 100
years from now.
Bridge construction is scheduled
for completion in 2014 and the
bridge will open in 2015 when the
last of the light rail and lighting
systems are completed, and when
light rail makes its first crossing.
The bridge connects west and
east Portland south of the Mar-
quam Bridge with a west side
landing at John’s Landing near
the future site of Oregon Health &
Science University’s south water-
front campus, and near OMSI on
the east side.
At 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3, in an
open meeting at the Oregon His-
torical Society, bridge designer and
architect Donald MacDonald and
Bridge Naming Committee Chair
Chet Orloff will describe the design
and naming process. n