10
S moke S ignals
OCTOBER 15, 2014
Fish distribution
set for Nov. 17-18
Tribal fish distribution will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and
Tuesday, Nov. 17-18, at the Natural Resources Department’s Fish Lab,
47010 S.W. Hebo Road. Tribal members must show photo identification to
pick up their fish. Elders will have a line established to expediently fill their
requests. To ensure this, only Elders’ orders will be filled using the line.
If you are picking up for others, a signed release form will be required.
There will be no early or late pickups, and fish will not be mailed.
For more information, contact the Natural Resources Department at
503-879-2424. n
Fish & Wildlife Committee
has new e-mail address
In an effort to be of better service to the membership, the Tribe’s
Fish & Wildlife Committee has created an e-mail address for those
who hunt, fish and gather on the Reservation.
The e-mail address is designed so that Tribal members can make
the committee aware of any concerns or questions and to make posi-
tive comments. The committee will do its best to provide answers and
feedback to the membership so that everyone who wishes to utilize
the Reservation lands may do so legally.
Submit your comments, questions and concerns to FW.Committee@
grandronde.org. n
Tribe opens exhibit at End
West Valley district
seeking Fire Explorers of the Oregon Trail museum
The West Valley Fire District, which covers Grand Ronde,
Willamina and Sheridan, is seeking youths for its Fire Explorer
Program.
Young men and women age 14 to 20 will become familiar with
career opportunities in the fire service through classroom instruc-
tion, hands-on training and volunteer work.
The program encourages and promotes accountability, safety,
communication, teamwork, fitness and leadership.
Participants must attend weekly drills from 9 to 11:30 a.m.
Saturdays, adhere to dress and conduct codes, perform weekly
physical fitness and training specific to firefighting skills, and
demonstrate a willingness to make improvements and show
self-motivation.
For more information, contact Fire Explorer Post 908 adviser
Seth Bellarts at 503-437-2046. n
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde’s Chachalu Tribal Museum
and Cultural Center is continuing its collaboration with the End of the
Oregon Trail Interpretive & Visitor Information Center on several Native
American historical exhibits.
A new exhibit, “Before the Grand Ronde Reservation: Native Presence
and Assimilation at Willamette Falls,” opened Monday, Oct. 13. This new-
est collaboration joins other enhancements the Tribe has been installing
at the museum in 2014, including exterior interpretive and welcome signs,
and displays about Tribal culture and lifeways in the galleries.
Oregon City is one of the historic sites of the Clackamas Tribes where
they encountered settlers arriving on the Oregon Trail in the 1840s. The
Clackamas Tribes are among the Tribes and bands from western Oregon
that were sent to the Grand Ronde Reservation in the 1850s.
The End of the Oregon Trail museum is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily
at 1726 Washington St., Oregon City. Admission is $9 for adults, $7 for
senior citizens, $5 for children 4 to 17 years of age, and free for children
3 and younger and for active military personnel.
For more information, call the center at 503-657-9336. n
‘Our biggest competitor is the Oregon Lottery’
DILLON continued
from front page
left southern Oregon after gradu-
ating from high school because of
the bad economy. He went to Reno,
where his sister was working in
the gaming industry as well, and
started on the bottom rung as a
houseman, shampooing carpets and
working in the laundry.
“My sister said, ‘Hey, why don’t you
come down here. There are jobs here.’
… She was coming home every night
with a $50 bill, getting paid, and I’m
working myself to death for $18 a day
and she’s making $70 to $100 a night
and getting a break every hour. I’m
like, “I want to do that!’ ”
The day after he turned 21 in
1977, he started working at Club
Cal Neva, picking up chips as a
dealer. From there, he was pro-
moted to main floor person, pit boss
and then assistant manager of Cal
Neva’s racing and sports book.
In February 1984, he was pro-
moted to casino manager, a position
that reported to the general manag-
er. He remained in booming Reno
until 1993, when he took a position
as table games manager at Mystic
Lake Casino in Prior Lake, Minn.
“At that time, Mystic Lake was
the second largest Native American
casino in the country,” Dillon says.
“They had a huge table gaming de-
partment. They had 142 blackjack
games … 1,200 people in their table
gaming department.”
He was quickly promoted to direc-
tor of table games, and eventually
became director of gaming, interim
vice president of Little Six Casino
and assistant general manager at
Mystic Lake in charge of all gaming
departments, as well as surveil-
lance and security.
Interestingly, when the Tribe’s
Spirit Mountain Casino opened in
1995, it hired the Mystic Lake sur-
veillance and security staff.
In 1999, Dillon was asked to
return to Cal Neva in Reno as vice
president of operations. Cal Neva
had about 1,650 slots and the sec-
ond largest race and sports book in
the country. After casinos opened in
California, however, the Reno gam-
ing economy nosedived and Dillon
started looking for work elsewhere.
Six years ago, Dillon landed in
Grand Ronde as the director of
gaming.
“Technically, I still am,” he jokes.
“I haven’t hired a new director yet.
I’ve kind of come full circle, which
is very strange.”
Dillon says that although he has
never aspired to be a general man-
ager at a casino, he does have goals
as the new leader of Spirit Moun-
tain Casino. He says that early
conversations with Tribal Council
and the Spirit Mountain Gaming
board have helped identify some
projects he would like to work on.
He said the casino is coming up
on its 20th anniversary and the
building is in need of upgrades,
from updating the gaming floor
to renovating 106 more rooms at
Spirit Mountain Lodge.
“The gaming floor looks like it
did when we opened,” Dillon says.
“We need to try and improve the
ambiance, not just the games that
are on the floor. It really positions
who you are in the market.”
Dillon says that the casino also
needs to catch up on capital expen-
ditures that were postponed after
the economy crashed in 2008. Many
of the slot machines, which are the
core of the casino’s business, are
reaching their “end of life,” mean-
ing the manufacturers no longer
make replacement parts and no
longer support the technology.
“Our biggest competitor is the
Oregon Lottery,” Dillon says. “They
have a plan to replace all 12,000 of
their games within the next five
years. That puts more pressure on
us to make sure that we remain
competitive and refresh the games
on our floor.”
Dillon says the casino will con-
tinue to support Tribal member
employment, which usually runs
about 12 percent to 15 percent of
the workforce, but says the casino
is being challenged by an improving
economy to find good employees.
If someone can find a 9-to-5 job in
Salem or McMinnville, they are less
likely to take a job 25 to 40 miles
away that requires them to work
nights, weekends and holidays.
“We’re not getting near the num-
ber of applicants that we were,” he
says.
Dillon also says that the Tribe’s
new TERO program is giving Tribal
members other employment op-
tions that have regular hours and
better pay than working the entry
level, minimum-wage jobs at the
casino.
“It is going to get harder and
harder for us to attract quality
employees,” Dillon says.
Dillon says the aftereffects of the
recent recession continue to affect
Spirit Mountain Casino because
people became more frugal in their
discretionary spending.
“I think that, ongoing, it will be
challenging to grow the business.
I do think that we can do that.
People are getting tired of being so
thrifty. I think that as more people
are retiring every day, and gaming
is something retired people like to
do, I do think it will take time to
recreate that gaming habit.”
Dillon also says he wants to make
the casino a fun place to work
despite the fact that gaming is a
highly regulated business.
“You should still be able to have
fun and focus on your job,” he says.
“Sometimes you become stiff and
rigid because of that fear of violat-
ing a rule, but you do not have to
overreact to that.”
Dillon has been married to his
wife, Cathy, for more than 30 years.
He met her while working in Reno
and she has worked in gaming mar-
keting for much of their marriage.
They live in West Salem.
“I look at this job as this is not my
company, but the Tribe’s company,”
Dillon says. “I need to understand
‘What do they want their company
to be?’ And it is my job to help them
get where they want to go.” n