Yesteryears -- Dec. 15, 2011

2006 - Tribal member Steve Bobb Jr. and his father, Tribal Elder Steve Bobb Sr., made signs for the Tribal Elder foster care lodges - Black Bear, Cougar and Elk. In all, they made three signs and installed them in early December.

2001 - The Tribe received a check for $2.6 million from Richard Sass, who received a $2.5 million loan two years earlier to invest in a startup company called Micro Helix. The company's Initial Public Offering in September raised $12 million from interested investors, which allowed Sass to pay back the loan from the Tribe. "My extreme thanks and gratitude to the Tribe," he said. "I am really pleased to be able to pay you back."

1996 - Tribal Public Works Division Manager John Mercier reviewed projects that had occurred in 1996, including phase one of the manufactured housing park located across from the Tribal cemetery, construction of the Health and Wellness Center, construction of a new Natural Resources office complex and preliminary designs of a new administration building.

1991 - Tribal member Willie Mercier started a regular section in Smoke Signals focusing on youth news and information. Willie was a student at Willamina High School and working with the Tribal newspaper was part of the Cooperative Work Experience Program. He said his interests included playing baseball and collecting comic books and baseball and basketball cards.

1986 - The National Congress of American Indians Fund was conducting a new program, Indian and Native Veterans Outreach, to provide help to Native veterans in gaining employment and provide technical assistance to those who wished to start a business. Don Hudson was the Tribal contact for the new program.

Yesteryears is a look back at Tribal history in five-year increments through the pages of Smoke Signals.