PRESORTED
STANDARD MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
PORTLAND, OR
PERMIT NO. 700
DeGarmo named first TERO Worker of
the Year — pg. 9
JUNE 15, 2015
Rose to the occasion
Casino float wins Queen's
Award at Grand Floral Parade
By Brent Merrill
P
Smoke Signals staff writer
ORTLAND — Spirit Mountain Casino’s
Grand Floral Parade float, “Bloom’n the
Beauty Within,” received the Queen's
Award for outstanding non-animated float on
Saturday, June 6.
This year’s Portland Rose Festival was themed
“Bloomin’ Good Time” and the Spirit Mountain
Casino Grand Floral Parade was the highlight
of the festival.
Spirit Mountain Casino was the parade’s
presenting sponsor for the fifth straight year
and Tribal member Steve Bobb Sr. once again
designed the casino’s float.
The parade, which is more than 100 years old,
starts in the parking garage at Portland’s Me-
morial Coliseum and travels through the streets
of downtown Portland to Lincoln High School
– about a four-mile journey from start to finish.
The ninth entry in this year’s parade was Spir-
it Mountain Casino’s float. The “elegant” float
featured three Tribal youth at different stages
of life. The design was a celebration of the future
and featured the progression of beauty from
within. Each of the three characters appeared to
“bloom” from the center of a Nootka rose.
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
The Spirit Mountain Casino float “Bloom’n the Beauty Within” rolls down Northwest Weidler Street in Portland
during the Spirit Mountain Casino Grand Floral Parade on Saturday, June 6. The float, designed by Tribal Elder
Steve Bobb Sr., won the Queen’s Award for the most outstanding non-animated float in the parade.
The first rose featured Spirit Mountain
Casino Sponsorship Administrator Jocelyn
Huffman’s daughter, Shelby, as the infant
model. In the second phase, Bobb used his
granddaughter, 9-year-old Keira, as the mod-
Board to consider policy
that would allow Tribal flag
By Dean Rhodes
W
Smoke Signals editor
ILLAMINA – The Wil-
lamina School Board
will consider a revised
policy regarding flag displays
and salutes at its Tuesday,
June 23, meeting that would
accommodate a parent’s request
to place the Grand Ronde Tribal
flag in the high school gym.
The revised policy, developed
by Willamina School District
administrators, would allow
the display of flags other than
the U.S. and Oregon flag “from
a federally recognized sovereign
nation located within district
boundaries if the sovereign na-
tion requests and provides an
appropriately sized flag.”
The policy also states that
the district will determine the
location of the flag – gymnasium
only – and the appropriate size
of the flag.
Willamina School District
Superintendent Gus Forster
said the revised policy will pro-
tect the district from receiving
requests “from everywhere” to
hang a flag inside school facil-
ities.
The Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde is the only feder-
ally recognized sovereign na-
tion within the school district’s
boundaries.
The original request to hang
the Tribal flag did not officially
come from the Tribe, but from
Tribal member Angela Fasana,
who is a graduate of Willamina
High School and has sent both
of her children to Willamina
schools.
Fasana’s original request
was inspired by her visit to
Pendleton, where she saw the
See FLAG
continued on page 11
el and 21-year-old Gabrielle Colton, daughter
of Carol Colton and granddaughter of Jo Ann
See PARADE
continued on page 14
Summit returns in
effort to help veterans
By Brent Merrill
T
Smoke Signals staff writer
he theme for this year’s
Native Veterans Summit is
“Honoring Iraq and Afghan-
istan Veterans.”
The third annual “gathering of
warriors” will be held in conjunc-
tion with the Marcellus Norwest
Memorial Veterans Powwow in
Grand Ronde on Thursday and Fri-
day, July 9-10, at Uyxat Powwow
Grounds, 9390 Highway 22.
The powwow runs Friday, July
10, through Sunday, July 12.
Veterans are welcome to attend
the free summit, which is being
hosted by the Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde, the Native Well-
ness Institute and the U.S. Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs’ Office of
Tribal Government Relations.
The summit’s goal since it started
in 2013 is to connect veterans with
services.
A recent analysis that appeared
If you go
Third annual Native Veterans
Summit: Honoring Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans
When: Thursday and Friday,
July 9-10
Where: Uyxat Powwow
Grounds, 9390 Highway 22
What: Listening session from
3-5 p.m. Thursday; speakers
beginning at 9 a.m. Friday.
More information: 503-879-
2036
in the February issue of the Annals
of Epidemiology found an annual
suicide rate of 29.5 per 100,000
veterans, approximately 50 percent
higher than the rate among other
civilians with similar demographic
See SUMMIT
continued on page 10