Yesteryears -- May 1, 2017

2012 – Approximately 250 federal and Tribal leaders and staff members attended the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10 Tribal Leaders’ Summit held April 30 through May 4 at Spirit Mountain Casino. It was the first EPA summit hosted by the Grand Ronde Tribe.

2007 – A marathon community meeting held at the Embassy Suites Hotel at the Portland Airport discussed Tribal efforts to amend enrollment requirements. The meeting lasted so long that hotel employees shut off the lights in the conference room to remind Tribal members that their rental time had expired.

2002 – Chief Justice Don Owen Costello, Robert Miller and David Thompson comprised the new Tribal Court of Appeals that was established by Tribal Council in June 2001. “With more cases, with more laws, it’s important to know we’re making the right decisions,” Tribal Court Administrator Angela Fasana said. “It’s important to have more than one person solidifying those laws and setting precedents.”

1997 – Spirit Mountain Casino was advertising to hire a hotel general manager who would be “directly involved in the planning, design and development of a 100-room hotel to be completed by fall 1997.”

1992 – The grand opening of the Tribal Community Center held on April 15 was hailed as a “fine example of leadership” by Oregon Sen. Mark Hatfield. About 150 people helped celebrate and bless the new Tribal facility. Since its opening, it has been booked for classes, Tribal and public meetings, church services and exercise classes.

1987 – Tribal General Manager Jim Willis said that creation of the proposed Grand Ronde Reservation would generate $1.2 million annually in timber revenues and create many jobs in the West Valley area of Sheridan, Willamina and Grand Ronde. He added that the estimated Tribal revenue would actually have a $2.4 million effect on the local economy.

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