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After once facing extinction and suffering termination as a Tribe, the Tribe now employs over 1,000 people and has a $29 million annual payroll, third largest in Douglas County.
By Stacy D. Stumbo
The last 150 years have been busy for the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians.
They've faced extermination and been denied services promised in a treaty. Some were even carted off to reservations.
They've been terminated, restored and had their very existence denied by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
But the tribe has bounced back. A $1.5 million settlement in the U.S. Court of Claims resulted in one of the largest property rights cases in Douglas County history. The tribe parlayed the award into a gaming gold mine, the Seven Feathers Hotel & Casino Resort in Canyonville.
"Business is business," Cow Creek Chairwoman Sue Shaffer, 79, said. "I have a lot of experience with business. You want to be successful. But, for me, the reward has been fulfilling my mother's mission, which focused on philanthropy."
Today, the tribe employs 1,041 people with a $29 million annual payroll, making it the third-largest employer in the county. Only Roseburg Forest Products and Douglas County have more.
The Cow Creeks currently own 13 businesses. Their portfolio ranges from beef jerky production to Internet provider.
This week will mark 20 years since the tribe won recognition from the U.S. government, and 10 years since it opened its casino.
The Cow Creeks will hold a birthday dinner in the Seven Feathers Umpqua Grand Ballroom for 400 invited guests. Politicians who were involved in the tribe's fight for recognition, descendants of people who figured prominently in their history and supporters are expected to attend the event, called "Our Past is Our Future."
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, said the tribe has provided "an economic bright spot in south (Douglas) county where there weren't a lot of bright spots before."
Shaffer said the tribe has focused on the self-sufficiency of its membership while aiding the community through education, economic diversification and creating new jobs.
BEGINNINGS OF GAMING
In the '80s, the Cow Creeks entered a partnership with British American Bingo, with the help of Mark Beckham, brother of scholar Stephen Dow Beckham. Five years later, the tribe opened a small bingo parlor in Canyonville.
The project wasn't always supported.
In 1991, tribal member Sharri Shaffer told The News-Review the bingo operation proposal had drawn criticism from some members of the tribe, but that extensive research showed gaming would be the best way to build revenue.
Former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts opposed plans to offer casino-style gaming at the bingo hall in 1992. Under Class III gaming statutes, tribes must negotiate a compact with the governor before they can offer anything other than bingo play. After nine months of negotiations, the U.S. Department of the Interior approved the compact.
In 1993, tenants of the Evergreen Trailer Park picketed in protest of their eviction, which made room for the expansion. After the tribe purchased the 28-acre park it became reservation land. The tribe was not required to give the state-mandated 365-day notice of eviction for trailer parks because of its sovereign status. It gave 30 days notice.
Cow Creek attorney Wayne Shammel's first involvement with the tribe was trying to get a foothold on financing to build Seven Feathers, he said.
He tackled municipal insurance bond financing, which is usually available only to cities. But because of the tribe's sovereign status as a nation within a nation, it was able to secure that type of funding.
"That was just in its infancy," Shammel said. "They had a good location, and a solid plan, but they were unproven."
Tribes are exempt from paying property tax on land the government has put in trust. Shaffer said critics of tribal sovereign status are overreacting.
"We've only reduced Douglas County's tax roll by $60,000," she said. "We give much more than that back through the (Cow Creek-Umpqua) Foundation."
The foundation gives in excess of $1 million annually to programs that assist children and encourage strong families. That amount is significantly higher than the 6 percent the tribe is required to give as a stipulation of their gaming compact, Shaffer said.
Canyonville Mayor Chuck Spindel said there are still nay-sayers who are concerned the casino lures an unwholesome element.
"That has never materialized," he said. "I know there are a lot of people who don't feel the way I do, but I think they've been a boon to our town. They draw an awful lot of business. They're here. They're going to stay here. They bring people in, and they can be a really good friend if you let them. Get used to it."
The tribe's assets include a truck and travel center, Umpqua Indian Foods, K-Bar Ranches, the Riverside Lodge and the Valley View Hotel in Canyonville.
The tribe's Internet company, Eugene-based Rio Communications, provides the Portland Trail Blazers with Internet and phone service, and its Nesika Health Group now offers its own health plan to Cow Creek employees.
"People are less skeptical (of the tribe's ability to succeed)," Shammel said. "The Cow Creeks' efforts have led to an economic base that can bring the community a real example of cooperation."
PLANS FOR FUTURE
Michael Rondeau, the tribe's government operations officer, said the Cow Creeks have tentative plans for the Douglas County Farmers Co-op on Washington Street, which they purchased in 2001.
"They're very tentative," he said, but they could include "some type of dinner house-lounge and a convention center."
Shaffer added the center would cater to Roseburg groups, because the tribe is aware the city has a need for meeting space. Additionally, a coffee house and computer chat cafe could be part of the project.
The future for the tribe's other property acquisitions around the county aren't yet certain. They own the former Starlite Drive-in movie theater and other parcels, but Shaffer said the process of getting lands into trust is lengthy, and the tribe is in no hurry.
The casino remains the tribe's biggest money-maker, attracting more than a million visitors annually. The business has proven so successful the tribe plans to expand the facility within the next two years.
"We're relocating some things, adding a sports bar and moving the gift shop to make room for nonsmoking gaming," Rondeau said.
Alterations include a roughly 10,000-square-foot addition that will include storage, administrative offices and a kitchen. Additionally, a gift gallery near the hotel entrance, a nonsmoking area that will feature slots and blackjack, a new poker room and sports bar are slated.
Shaffer said the tribe's interests aren't limited to property acquisition and business building.
"You could go crazy trying to keep up with everything," she said. "There's the business and the philanthropy and being a watchdog of Indian rights and what's going on in Washington, D.C."
After two decades of growth, Shaffer's not ready to rest on her laurels.
She said like most tribal leaders, she sometimes fears that "What Congress has given, Congress can take away," but she focuses on the future of her people.
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