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... and to provide extensive new employment opportunities for Douglas County residents. Other goals are to bring increased tourism and new business to the area.Cow Creek Tribe supporters attack county commissioners over county denial of Tribal trust status for Tribal land.
By John Sowell
A top official with the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians on Wednesday forcefully accused Douglas County Commissioners Dan Van Slyke and Marilyn Kittelman of trying to inflame public sentiment against the tribe.
Before a standing-room audience that packed the weekly Board of Commissioners meeting, Wayne Shammel, the tribe’s attorney, denounced the two commissioners for “tribe bashing.” He said Van Slyke and Kittelman had unfairly criticized the tribe for seeking tax-exempt status for its parcels of land bought for a planned convention center in downtown Roseburg.
About 100 people, a large number of them tribal supporters, crowded into the board’s meeting room to hear the heated exchange, which lasted about an hour. One man stormed out of the room after shouting at Van Slyke and accusing him of making comments about Nazi Germany that were offensive to his Jewish heritage. Van Slyke was explaining remarks he had made on a radio show concerning the tribe.
Shammel told the commissioners that tribal development of the former Douglas County Farmer’s Co-Op and the Surplus Center would bring in additional business and revitalize the downtown area in an amount that would far exceed the $16,000 lost annually in property tax receipts.
“Our expressed intent in this project has been to spend millions of dollars to entice further development and redevelop downtown Roseburg,” Shammel said. “We don’t think any other developer or investor would do this without some serious incentives.”
Last week, Van Slyke and Kittelman voted to send a letter to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs expressing concern over the tribe’s request to take 1.5 acres of land occupied by the Surplus Center and the Holiday Motel off the tax rolls and into tribal trust. Commissioner Doug Robertson voted against sending the letter and refused to sign it.
Last year, Robertson, Van Slyke and former Commissioner Joyce Morgan sent a similar letter to the BIA expressing concerns about another portion of the convention center property being added to tribal trust. Robertson said the letter approved last week went too far in criticizing the tribe’s plans for the property and unfairly made it appear other taxing districts opposed the plan, which they don’t, he said.
Van Slyke and Kittelman said last week they didn’t think it was fair that other taxing districts should lose money from the move. Although the county only receives about $900 a year from the parcels, the city of Roseburg would lose $7,514 annually and the Roseburg School District $3,646.
However, neither of those entities oppose the project, nor do any of several other smaller districts that also currently receive property tax revenue from the properties.
Van Slyke and Kittelman said they resented Shammel’s contention that they were waging some kind of a publicity campaign against the tribe. They said they have legitimate concerns about the loss of the property tax revenue and how the city and county could be affected by the convention center project.
Kittelman said the tribe enjoys an advantage over private businesses because of its tax status. She noted that the tribe has bought up a number of struggling businesses and made them successful. Part of her objection to the tribe placing the properties into trust, she said, was over a sense of fairness and objections from business owners she has talked with.
“People need to know this isn’t a discrimination issue. It’s not a tribal issue. To me, personally this is about creating divisiveness in our community and creating a situation where they’re not competing on an equal footing with our other businesses,” Kittelman said.
Recognized tribes are considered sovereign nations under federal law. Land holdings brought into tribal trust have the same tax-exempt status as property held by the federal government, counties, cities, school districts and other public bodies.
The Cow Creeks have more than 4,000 acres of land in Douglas County that have been placed in trust.
Shammel said the divisiveness generated has come not from the tribe but from Van Slyke and Kittelman.
“You’re just mixing things up, hoping for some kind of bandwagon reaction,” Shammel said. “We’ve created a lot more jobs — and will keep doing so — than either of you two have or will.”
Van Slyke said he has offered numerous times to sit down with tribal leaders and discuss his concerns about the amount of land that has been removed from the tax rolls. However, the tribe has refused to meet with him, he said.
“That’s because you didn’t choose to work with us. You chose to attack us out of the chute. We don’t trust you,” Shammel said. “We’d rather sit with someone we trust, at least to frame the dialogue. You have to earn our trust.”
Kittelman replied, “That works both ways.”
Shammel said much of the tribe’s animosity toward Van Slyke came as a result of comments the commissioner made on a local radio program several months ago. He said Van Slyke compared the tribe to Nazi Germany.
Van Slyke on Wednesday apologized for the remarks, which he said were “poorly chosen words on my part.”
He said he had tried that day to use an analogy when asked whether the good things done by the tribe as a result of the 6 percent of casino profits in Canyonville that were given to area schools and charitable groups — several million dollars a year — negated the effect of lost property tax revenues from land in trust.
“I think it was a poor example when I said you can look back and even the Nazi regime did good things. But you had to look at the entire effects,” Van Slyke said.
That statement angered Chuck Spindel, who resigned earlier this week as Canyonville mayor and who supports the tribe and its efforts in that South County town. He rose from his seat in the audience and challenged Van Slyke.
“As a Jewish person, I resent that,” Spindel yelled, pointing at Van Slyke. “What did they do that was positive?”
“I’m saying it was bad. You could look back and say just because they created a job didn’t make them good. No, they were bad in their entirety,” Van Slyke said. “Where it was bad, though, was to try and compare it to this relationship with the tribe.”
Floyd West, who co-owned the Pioneer Super Save Market in Canyonville for 33 years before selling it earlier this year, said the tribe and its casino operation had a positive effect on his store. The number of people employed by the casino negated the losses he suffered from the downturn of the timber industry and the closing of the Hanna Nickel Mine outside Riddle.
“They created that volume for me. They not only bought from me, they employed enough people in that town to keep that store viable,” said West, who was named Canyonville’s man of the year earlier this year.
“They will do the same for Roseburg. They will flat do it. All you have to do is trust and work with them and you’ll get tenfold what you lost on that small piece.”
Dave Gilbert, who owns Horizon Honda Mazda and several other area businesses, said other developers would be hard pressed to construct a convention center in downtown Roseburg and make it work. The idea had been talked about for more than 20 years but nothing had been done before the tribe stepped in.
“I could not see personally putting the kind of money into this type of project that they’re willing to do and get the return,” said Gilbert, who owns several adjoining pieces of property to the convention center site. “I think the unique position they’re in does allow that and I think there is some trickle-down.”
Oakland resident Dancer Davis told the commissioners she believes much of the tribe’s hurt feelings came about not so much from the concerns expressed but the manner in which they were presented.
She urged both sides to get together and work out their differences.
“I would ask that we all express our concerns and our dialogue in a more respectful manner and refrain from all of the name-calling,”
Davis said. “And that doesn’t just include issues with regards to the tribe, but many issues in the community could be addressed with a more respectful attitude all around.”
• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@newsreview.info.
Caption for photo of Wayne Shammel
Tribe attorney: Wayne Shammel, attorney for the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, addresses the county commissioners and around 100 people attending their Wednesday meeting.
MICHELLE ALAIMO / News-Review staff photo
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