Yesteryears - Feb. 1, 2025

Yesteryears

2020 - Chachalu Tribal Museum & Cultural Center staff launched a program called AV Club to share the Tribe’s history with community members and employees by showing videos and photos from the archives. Staff also encouraged people to bring in their old VHS tapes, DVDs and photographs of Tribal activities to be copied.

2015 – Tribal members were going to vote in an election to decide whether the Bureau of Indian Affairs should continue to administer Tribal constitutional elections, and whether to impose term limits for Tribal Council members.

2010 – The Grand Ronde Tribal Council donated $5,000 from the Tribe and $5,000 from Spirit Mountain Casino to Mercy Corps, the Portland-based nonprofit that works to alleviate suffering and poverty throughout the world. The donations were intended for relief efforts in Haiti, following a massive earthquake that leveled the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, killing an estimated 200,000 people, injuring 250,000 and leaving 1.5 million people homeless.

2005 – Tribal Elder and former Tribal Council member Dean Mercier was featured in an extensive article about his life and service on the Tribal Council before and during Restoration.

2000 – “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno performed two back-to-back shows at Spirit Mountain Casino, and afterward agreed to an interview with Smoke Signals staff writer Brent Merrill.

1995 – Construction was proceeding on the Tribe’s new gaming center. Spirit Mountain Development Company had begun ordering slot machines and searching for a marketing director.

1990 – No edition available.

1985 – No edition available.

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