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