Yesteryears -- Sept. 15, 2016

2011 – Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bureau of Land Management and The Nature Conservancy at Lower Table Rock near Medford that will ensure the Tribe has involvement in the future management of the sacred area. “It is the Creator’s intention that we again be visible in this area,” she said.

2006 – Spirit Mountain Casino opened The Peak, a $17 million redesign of the former bingo hall and concert venue. “It’s to improve the air quality,” said casino General Manager Randy Dugger. “If it works, we’ll carry it through the rest of the casino in the next few years.” The room holds most of the 500 new slot machines agreed to in a Tribal-State Compact renegotiation completed in March.

2001 – Tribal voters elected Bob Haller, Ed Larsen and Val Grout to Tribal Council and then Tribal Council members elected Cheryle A. Kennedy as the Tribal Council chair.

1996 – The first annual Spirit Mountain Stampede and Rodeo was held. The Stampede marked the end of a weeklong festival at Spirit Mountain Casino that included two Waylon Jennings’ concerts, Western dance at the casino and a down-home barbecue.

1991 – Ray McKnight, Candy Robertson and Merle Holmes were elected to three-year terms on Tribal Council with vote totals of 118, 105 and 72, respectively.

1986 – Tribal Council thanked Tribal member Travis Stewart, a young aspiring artist, for donating two Indian pencil sketches. In addition, Tribal Council thanked Tribal member Chuck Quenelle who donated two works of art on deer skin and elk skin leathers. The donations were on display in the Tribal Office.

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