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The Roseburg News Review---July 27, 2006
Officials with the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians said they were pleased with the vote by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners to approve a joint county-tribal resolution on the land transfer issue.
By John Sowell
Officials with the Cow Creek Band of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians said Wednesday they were pleased with the vote by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners to approve a joint county-tribal resolution on the land transfer issue and to rescind a November advisory vote.
"I think it's all a positive," said Sue Shaffer, the tribe's chairwoman.
The resolution calls for the tribe to meet with officials of any taxing district that feel they may be harmed by the loss of property tax revenues caused by taking tribal lands off the tax rolls into trust.
That had been a bone of contention for the commissioners as the tribe sought trust status for the downtown properties where the Cow Creeks plan to build a convention center.
The advisory vote would have asked Douglas County residents on the Nov. 7 ballot whether there should be a limit on the amount of land the tribe could take into trust.
Currently, the tribe has more than 4,000 acres in trust, less than 2 percent of the tax-exempt property in the county.
Comparatively, the Warm Springs tribe in Central Oregon has 677,000 acres in trust and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have 173,000 acres in trust, according to figures from Commissioner Doug Robertson.
"We're proud of what these commissioners did (Wednesday), that they're interested in the health and welfare of Douglas County," said Michael Rondeau, tribal operations officer.
Shaffer said she was dismayed by the attacks waged against the tribe by Commissioners Dan Van Slyke and Marilyn Kittelman in opposing the land transfers in the past year.
The tribe and the county have a long history of working together and have been touted by federal officials, including those with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Sens. Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden, as a national model for cooperation, she said.
"It's the first time in my lifetime that we've had these personal attacks," Shaffer said.
She and Rondeau said the tribe would continue to support the county and other governmental and nonprofit entities.
"Our agenda is to move forward with the things we can do to help our community," Shaffer said.