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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2016)
S moke S ignals JANUARY 15, 2016 Availability of Public Transportation Grant Funds The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde announces the avail- ability of applications for public transportation funding. Projects providing transportation services to Elders and persons with disabil- ities are eligible and general public transportation projects also are eligible. The Tribe will be selecting up to two projects for competitive applications to the Oregon Department of Transportation for its Special Transportation Fund (STF) Discretionary Grant Program. Applications for projects serving the Grand Ronde community must be submitted to the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde not later than 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1, 2016. For more information, contact Kim Rogers at 503-879-2250, kim.rogers@grandronde. org. The application packet includes instructions and eligibility guidelines. n Bobb appointed to Initiative Tribal Elder and former Tribal Council member Steve Bobb Sr. has been appointed to the Mid-Willamette Homeless Initiative, a joint venture between Salem, Keizer and Marion and Polk counties to tackle the issue of homelessness collaboratively as a region. Bobb was appointed by Polk County on Wednesday, Jan. 13. Each juris- diction can appoint up to five people to serve on the task force. Exactly what the task force will focus on will be determined once the group meets, but potential ideas discussed include the scope of home- lessness throughout the region; systemic issues; private development vs. government-sponsored development; housing-first strategy; inventory of available services; how it affects businesses and public safety; and what financial resources exist. Co-chairwomen of the Homeless Initiative are Marion County Commis- sioner Janet Carlson, Polk County Commissioner Jennifer Wheeler, Salem Mayor Anna Peterson and Keizer Mayor Cathy Clark. The task force’s first meeting will be in February. n 5 Tribal Council approves six Natural Resources grant applications By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor Tribal Council approved six grant applications from the Tribe’s Natural Resources Department at its Wednesday, Jan. 6, meeting. The grants being sought include: • A $30,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant that would conduct bank stabilization work on Agency Creek near the day-use area; • A maximum $150,000 grant through the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Endan- gered Species Program to purchase accessories for the sonar equipment used to monitor aquatic activity at the fish weir on Agency Creek; • A grant not to exceed $18,900 from the BIA’s Invasive Species Program to remove or reduce the threat of non-Native invasive plants on the International Paper property; • A grant not to exceed $12,000 from the Oregon Youth Conservation Corps for partial funding of the Summer Youth Crew; • A grant not to exceed $26,612 from the Oregon Parks & Recreation De- partment’s Recreational Trails Program to partially fund the Summer Youth Crew; • And a grant not to exceed $26,612 from the BIA’s Tribal Youth Initiative Program to partially fund the Summer Youth Crew. In other action, Tribal Council approved an interagency agreement with the Willamina School District. The new agreement calls for semi-annual meetings between the Willamina School Board and Tribal Council, as well as requires the school district to communicate with Tribal Council, authorized Tribal staff or an appointed Tribal liaison when seeking input on Tribal issues. The School Board adopted the agreement at its Jan. 11 meeting. Tribal Council also approved the enrollment of two infants into the Tribe because they qualify under the provisions outlined in the Enrollment Ordinance and Tribal Constitution. Culture Department employees Travis Stewart and Brian Krehbiel and Public Affairs Administrative Assistant Chelsea Clark performed the cultural drumming and singing to open the meeting. The meeting, in its entirety, can be viewed at the Tribal website, www. grandronde.org, by clicking on the News tab and then Video. n Move is being made mainly for security reasons CHIPS continued from front page at Spirit Mountain. After that date, the chips become collector items only. Spirit Mountain Casino General Manager Stan Dillon said the move is being made mainly for security reasons, but also to enhance the collectible value of specialty pro- motional chips issued in the past. Dillon said that playing chips have a series of dots and dashes around the edges to enhance the casino’s ability to guarantee that the chips being played at Spirit Mountain Casino gaming tables are only from Spirit Mountain. “We can recognize that chip and we as a company can know that those are our chips,” said Dillon. “We know that the pattern fits our gaming chip. The purpose is a pro- tection issue for the house. It’s not good game protection to have all these different chips in your tray at one time. We want to make sure our chips are clean, modern and easy to recognize.” Dillon said that issuing specialty chips, such as the Martha Jane and anniversary chips, are promotional, but also the casino can bring in rev- enue from guests who like to collect playing chips. “The reason we do those is be- cause it’s fun and guests like it, but another reason casinos do that is casinos actually make money on it because there are a lot of chip collectors out there in the industry,” said Dillon. “People like to collect different chips from all around the country and they trade them. So Photo by Michelle Alaimo Spirit Mountain Casino collector chips, from top, include the Martha Jane Sands and Indian Boy $25 chips from 2008, the seventh anniversary $5 chips from 2002, the 10th anniversary $5 chips from 2005 and the 20th anniversary $5 chips from 2015. they have a value. “It gives our 20-year chip more value for people who want to collect it and (specialty) chips are for col- lectors; that’s why you make those.” Dillon said the industry norm is to only have chips in play for a limited amount of time. “When you take that chip out of circulation then now it’s a collect- ible chip because no one can get one there. If you don’t have one you can’t get one (from the casino) and that’s what gives it its value,” said Dillon. Dillon said issuing a 120-day no- tice to the public is a standard in the gaming industry and required by the Gaming Commission. “It gives guests ample time to redeem them,” said Dillon. “In this case, we’ll post it on our Internet site, we’ll post it at our casino cages and we posted it in the paper. We will honor the ones you have, but you can’t get them anymore so you can’t come in and ask for them.” Dillon said he believes the higher denomination chips like the Martha Jane and the Indian Boy $25 chips will be valued by collectors more than the $5 anniversary chips be- cause there will be fewer of them kept by guests. Tom Slater of Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, agrees with Dil- lon. “The higher denomination chips tend to be more valuable because people were less likely to keep them and not redeem them for their face value,” said Slater. A Sands Hotel $5 casino chip sold at auction in 2004 for more than $33,000, according to Old Vegas Chips’ website. The Sands chip had previously been unknown and the $33,000 bid is considered to be the current record holder in terms of value for a collector playing chip. The Sands Hotel closed in 1996 after 43.5 years of operation in Las Vegas. According to Heritage Auctions, the basic factors used to determine collector chip value are rarity, location, aesthetic appeal and con- dition. Rarity is the most important factor in any collectible and it is the same with casino chips. The collector market is so focused on the rarity of an item that collector’s organizations can tell exactly how many of a certain chip are in exis- tence throughout the world and the value of these items is derived from that number. n WALK-IN DENTAL APPOI NTMENTS FOR KIDS <6 NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY FOR DENTAL CHECK-UPS FOR KIDS 5 AND UNDER WHO ARE ELIGIBLE TO BE SEEN AT THE TRIBAL CLINIC. JUST COME ON IN! We will check your child’s teeth during any of our clinic hours without an ap- pointment. Dental check-ups are recommended beginning with the first tooth! Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Dental Clinic Phone 503-879-2020 Hours: Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri 8:00—5:00; Thur 9:30-5:30
