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raising — pg. 4
OCTOBER 15, 2014
Dillon takes over at casino
Longtime gaming employee named new general manager
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
S
Stan Dillon
tan Dillon, who has worked
in the gaming industry since
graduating from Ashland
High School in 1974 and moving
to Reno, Nev., became the offi cial
general manager of Spirit Moun-
tain Casino on Sept. 22.
Dillon, 58, had been interim gen-
eral manager for about two months
after the departure of General
Manager Randy Dugger. He then
agreed to a two-year contract with
the Spirit Mountain Gaming Board
of Directors.
Dillon has held many positions
during his 40-year career, but this
is the first time he will hold the
general manager title.
“I’ve developed a lot of friend-
ships and close relationships with
people here in the Tribe,” Dillon
says in his casino offi ce. “I thought
it would be a great opportunity for
me to step up to that position and
work with Tribal managers here. I
feel that hopefully I will be able to
move those people into positions
and develop them, which will be
the last goal in my career. If I
leave here, I probably won’t work
anymore. I plan on making this my
last job. I’m committed to Spirit
Mountain.”
Dillon grew up in Ashland and
See DILLON
continued on page 10
Lewis searches
for missing
Executive Order
Buchanan’s act established
Grand Ronde Reservation
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
T
ribal Historian David Lewis traveled to
Washington, D.C., in August on a search
for the original Executive Order estab-
lishing the Grand Ronde Reservation that was
signed by President James Buchanan in 1857.
Records of presidential Executive Orders
were first organized and numbered in 1860,
three years after Buchanan’s Executive Order
establishing the Tribe’s reservation was signed.
In addition, back in
those days Executive
Orders were some-
times written on the
reverse side of maps,
increasing the chances
that it might have been
misplaced.
Buchanan’s Execu-
tive Order, like oth-
er documents Lewis
uncovers and brings
David Lewis
back to the Chachalu
Museum & Cultural
Center, increases the size and stature of the
Tribal facility.
“These documents are used,” Lewis says, “as
tools to show, or for further research on all kinds
of things.”
Federal documents, in general, are not always
easy to track down, Lewis says. Whatever the
intent of archivists, individual documents can
wind up in any of dozens of repositories located
across the country.
Complicating matters, documents can be mis-
named or incorrectly fi led. In addition, it can be
See LEWIS
continued on page 9
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Workers from Servpro pull up the carpet in the Mawich classroom in the Tribe’s Early Childhood
Education building on Monday, Sept. 29. Vandals fl ooded the building by putting a garden hose
with the water running through a window of the building on Sunday, Sept. 28.
Vandals fl ood Early Childhood
classes using garden hose
Tribal Council off ers $500 reward to help fi nd suspects
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
T
he Tribe is seeking the community’s
help in catching the person or persons
responsible for flooding the Early
Childhood Education building with a garden
hose on the evening of Sunday, Sept. 28,
causing an estimated $35,000 to $40,000 in
damage.
Tribal Council is offering a $500 reward
for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of those responsible.
Education Department Manager Eirik
Anyone with information about the
incident should call the Grand Ronde
Police Department at 503-879-2123.
Thorsgard said that someone opened a
window in the back of the building, slit the
screen and placed a garden hose that had
been turned on fully in the window.
See VANDALS
continued on page 12