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Casino fl oat wins
award — pg. 5
june 15, 2014
Chachalu opens
Museum, cultural center continue Tribe’s rebirth
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
D
rum and song greeted
approximately 200
visitors to the Phase
1 opening of Chachalu, the
Grand Ronde Tribal Mu-
seum and Cultural Center,
on Thursday, June 5.
Chachalu’s opening has
been a long time coming and
a central dream of the Grand
Ronde people since at least
Restoration, but for many,
long years before that.
Guests included members
and staff of the Grand Ronde
Tribe, many friends and con-
tractors in granting, design
and construction that have
helped bring the project to
fruition.
“This is a signifi cant step,”
said Tribal Council Secre-
tary Toby McClary, reading
a letter from Tribal Council
Chair Reyn Leno, who could
not attend. “Never before
have we had a place to tell
our story.”
“This has been quite a journey,” said
Tribal Council member Cheryle A. Kenne-
See MUSEUM
continued on page 12
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Pam Endzweig, left, director of collections and senior research associate at the Museum of Natural
and Cultural History & State Museum of Anthropology at the university of Oregon, and Tribal
Council member Kathleen Tom take a selfi e with Kitty Tom’s baskets during the opening of Phase I
of the Chachalu Tribal Museum & Cultural Center on Thursday, June 5. Kitty Tom is Kathleen Tom’s
great-great-grandmother and the museum loaned the baskets to the Tribe for the exhibit.
Blumenauer invites Tribe to marijuana talks
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
O
regon Rep. Earl Blume-
nauer told the Grand Ronde
Tribal Council on Tuesday,
June 3, that he thinks Oregon and
Alaska will be the next states to le-
galize the use of marijuana, joining
Washington and Colorado.
“It is a movement that is taking
place across the United States,”
Blumenauer said during a two-hour
visit to the Grand Ronde Tribal
campus.
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
As the Democratic representative
for Oregon’s Third Congressional
District, which includes Portland
east of the Willamette River and
lies within the lands ceded by the
Grand Ronde Tribe in the Wil-
lamette Valley Treaty of 1855,
Blumenauer said he is working
in Congress to keep the federal
government from interfering with
what states decide to do regarding
See VISIT
continued on page 4
Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer listens as Tribal Council member Cheryle A.
Kennedy talks about how Native Americans receive rationed health care from
the federal government during his visit to Grand Ronde on Tuesday, June 3.