S moke S ignals
NOVEMBER 15, 2017
5
Portland proclamation
2012 – For the second consecutive election, Oregonians overwhelm-
ingly rejected the idea of allowing a private casino to be built in the
Portland suburb of Wood Village. Voters rejected the idea by a 71
percent to 29 percent margin. Oregonians also defeated a constitu-
tional amendment to allow private casinos in the state.
2007 – Grand Ronde Tribal member Rebecca Knight was selected
as a 2007-08 Hatfield Fellow. Knight, 22, was the ninth fellow and
fifth Grand Ronde Tribal member selected for the program. She was
set to begin a fellowship in Con-
gresswoman Darlene Hooley’s
office the following month.
2002 – Roy Hawthorne, a World
War II Navajo code talker, was
the featured speaker at the Vet-
erans’ Memorial fundraiser event
in Grand Ronde. He waived his
customary speaking fee to help
the Tribe defray costs. Haw-
thorne was a part of a group of
Navajo men who developed the
only military code the Japanese
were unable to break during the
File photo
war. The fundraising event also 2007
included other speakers, dancers
and the Eagle Beak Singers.
1997 – Tribal member Tammy Garrison, owner of T & L Cookie
Co., gained regional notoriety after winning the Wal-Mart Champi-
onship Bake-off for Oregon and was set to compete in the national
championship. She began her business earlier that year.
1992 – The Tribe was gearing up for the ninth annual Restoration
celebration on Nov. 22. “I was really young at the time,” said Karen
Harrison, Tribal receptionist. “But I remember the excitement and
uncertainty during the plane ride to Washington, D.C. We weren’t
sure the bill would pass.”
1987 – The Tribal Health Program was planning an “AIDS Work-
shop” to alleviate concerns from Tribal members about the virus and
how it was transmitted. Some of the questions the workshop planned
to address were if only drug users contracted AIDS, if it could be
spread by shaking hands or kissing, and if children needed to worry
about contracting it at school.
Yesteryears is a look back at Tribal history in five-year in-
crements through the pages of Smoke Signals.
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal Council Secretary Jon A. George, right, shakes hands with Portland
Mayor Ted Wheeler after Wheeler signed a proclamation declaring the
month of November as Native American Heritage Month during the
Portland City Council meeting held at Portland City Hall on Wednesday, Nov.
8. After Wheeler read the proclamation aloud, George thanked the council
for the government-to-government relationship and for recognizing Native
peoples. Wheeler then gave George a copy of the proclamation.
Food Bank provides
boxes, seeks help
The Grand Ronde Food Bank – iskam mfkhmfk haws – is operated
by Marion-Polk Food Share, which has been leading the fight to end
hunger since 1987 because no one should be hungry.
Recipients of SNAP, TANF, SSI or LIHEAP assistance automatically
qualify for assistance at the Grand Ronde Food Bank, 9675 Grand Ronde
Road. No one will be turned away in need of a food box.
“We believe that everyone deserves to have enough to eat,” Food Bank
Coordinator Francene Ambrose says. “You are welcome to get a food box
at each of our regular weekly distributions. No one will be turned away
in need of a food box.”
Upcoming food box distribution dates will be:
• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 18 (holiday box distribution).
The Food Bank will be closed the week of Nov. 20-24 in observance of
the Thanksgiving holiday and re-open on Friday. Dec. 1.
Those who are unable to pick up a food box can fill out an authorized
representative form and that person can pick up a food box on your
behalf. The authorization is good for one year.
The Food Bank continues to seek volunteers to help with repacking
food, putting food on the shelves, handing out food boxes and end-of-
month inventory.
Call to ensure someone is available to assist. People also can sign up
for a monthly e-mail for the Food Bank calendar and events, as well as
follow the Food Bank on Facebook.
The Food Bank is an equal opportunity provider.
Call Ambrose at 503-879-3663 or contact her at fambrose@marion-
polkfoodshare.org for more information or to volunteer. 
'Yay on Wells Fargo'
WELLS FARGO continued
from front page
galvanized Indian Country as the
Standing Rock Sioux Nation and
volunteer water protectors protest-
ed the installation of an oil pipeline
near the Sioux Reservation. Wells
Fargo provided investment funding
for Energy Transfer Partners, the
owner of the project.
Tribal Elder Tracie Meyer was
one of the most vocal proponents of
ending the Tribe’s relationship with
Wells Fargo, raising the issue at
many Tribal Council and General
Council meetings. She said she was
happy to hear the news during the
General Council meeting.
“Yay on Wells Fargo,” Meyer said.
Bank officials told Leno that the
problems Wells Fargo experienced
were on the retail side with per-
sonal accounts and that there was
not an overlap and that individu-
als responsible for those problems
were not involved with commercial
account oversight.
However, Leno said that although
the Tribe’s commercial accounts
were not affected, he was aware
that individual Tribal members
could have been affected by the
fraudulent practices. He said those
issues and the concerns about the
bank’s involvement in the pipeline
project were enough to prompt the
Tribe to ask important questions.
A bigger financial issue, however,
still is being decided as Spirit Moun-
tain Casino is currently reassessing
its banking relationships on its
regular four- to five-year schedule.
Spirit Mountain Casino General
Manager Stan Dillon said Wells
Fargo has been the casino’s bank-
ing partner since the day the casino
opened in 1995. 