New Coquille Indian chief announced

Nov. 2, 2011

Coquille Tribe installs new leaders

The Coquille Indian Tribe has a new chief and a new secretary-treasurer after recent elections.

Chief Jason Younker, a University of Oregon faculty member, was sworn in on Oct. 29. Jackie Chambers, who previously managed the tribe’s community grants program, was sworn in as secretary-treasurer.

Younker replaces Chief Don Ivy, who died in July. As chief, Younker will hold one of seven seats on the Coquille Tribal Council, while serving as the tribe’s cultural and spiritual leader and voice.

Younker grew up on the shores of Coos Bay’s South Slough. He holds three graduate degrees, including a doctorate in cultural anthropology. He is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Oregon, where he also is an assistant vice president and assistant to the president for tribal sovereignty and government-to-government relations.

He chairs the board of Oregon’s Chemawa Indian school and is past president of the Association of Indigenous Archaeologists.

Chambers, a lifelong Coos County resident, is devoted to serving and strengthening local communities. Before her election to the Tribal Council, she served the tribe as administrator of the Coquille Tribal Community Fund, which awards hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants each year.

She also is a co-founder and president of Charleston Fishing Families, a nonprofit that helps commercial fishing families in times of need. She graduated from the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Coos program in 2020.

She replaces former Secretary-Treasurer Linda Mecum, who retired after seven years on the Tribal Council.

Along with Chambers and Younker, two Tribal Council incumbents were sworn in for new terms. Chairman Brenda Meade and Rep. Laurabeth Barton both retained their seats in recent elections.

Vets group receives tribal grant

The World newspaper

Coquille Indian Tribe Offers Grants

Aug. 24, 2021

NORTH BEND – After focusing on pandemic-related projects in 2021, the Coquille Tribal Community Fund will return to supporting a broad range of community programs in 2022.

“We felt the need to assist the local COVID-19 response last time,” said tribal Chairman Brenda Meade. “In our new grant cycle, we’ll still consider COVID-related projects, but we also want to serve a variety of community needs.”

The tribe shared $266,107 with more than 60 community organizations and projects in southwestern Oregon in 2021. All the 2021 grants targeted pandemic-related expenses of local and regional organizations. 

The grant recipients included food pantries, homeless programs, museums, community centers, veterans groups, services for children and even a couple of music programs.

“It’s a huge privilege to be able to help so many outstanding organizations and projects,” Meade said.

Master Gardener Marrie Caldiero of Coos Bay washes her hands while volunteering at the Coos Bay Farmers Market. The Coquille Tribal Community Fund provided $3,640 for the market to rent six mobile hand-washing stations – a requirement for staying open during the pandemic. ‘Basically we couldn’t have the market without the hand-washing stations,’ said Market Manager Melissa Hasart. The market was one of 60-plus community organizations that shared more than a quarter-million dollars in grants this year.

The biggest share of the money, about $97,000, went to Coos County organizations. Lane County groups received about $52,000, Jackson County $44,000, Douglas County $33,000, and Curry County $33,000.

The five counties make up the Coquille Tribe’s congressionally designated service area, based on significant populations of tribal members living in each county. The grants are funded by a share of annual revenue from The Mill Casino-Hotel & RV Park in North Bend.

The tribal fund is one of southwestern Oregon’s leading sources of community grants, distributing more than $7 million over the past two decades.

The fund will accept letters of inquiry for its upcoming grant cycle during September and October from organizations in all five counties. As in years past, the 2022 grants will focus on seven categories: education, public safety, arts and culture, environment, historic preservation, health and gaming addiction.

“We give big grants and little ones,” said Jackie Chambers, the fund’s administrator. “We encourage all kinds of projects and programs to apply.”

Letters of inquiry for the 2022 grants are due Oct. 31. Organizations whose letters are accepted will be invited to submit formal applications by Nov. 30. Grants will be announced in late February or early March.

For more information, visit the tribal fund website at www.coquilletribalfund.org, or contact Chambers at [email protected] or (541) 756-0904, ext. 1201.

Click here to see a list of all 2021 grants.

Tribe Plans Prayer Ceremony in Response to Tragedy

June 22, 2021

The Coquille Indian Tribe joins the community in grieving last week’s tragic events in North Bend. The circumstances are especially painful to the tribe because some of the deaths took place on tribal lands.

The tribe plans to hold a ceremonial prayer fire at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 22, at The Mill Casino-Hotel’s fire pit, located at the south end of the property.

This ceremony will be open to all community members who have been affected by this horrific event. We plan to offer prayers in our ancestral tradition, but people of all faiths are welcome to join us in praying or meditating as your own beliefs prescribe.

“Please join us in offering prayers for family members, friends and community, and help us to begin our process of healing,” said tribal Chairman Brenda Meade.

We ask the media and the public to please respect the privacy of the victims’ families as they mourn the loss of their loved ones. Those who attend are asked to refrain from photographing or recording the ceremony.

Parking will not be available in the hotel parking lot. If you plan to attend, please park in the open area just south of The Mill RV Park. A shuttle will take you to the ceremony.

Couple aided young players for 20 years

May 14, 2021

A Coquille Tribal couple’s 20-year mission to inspire young golfers has come to an end.

Since 2001, Ed and Jane Metcalf have poured their passion into the Southwestern Oregon Youth Golf Program, with help from the Coquille Indian Tribe, a volunteer committee and generous local golfers. Over the years the Metcalfs have collected and distributed about $200,000 for college scholarships, golf camps and clinics, and high school golf teams.

“Way back when, Ed and I golfed a lot, and we wanted to see the youth of Coos County have access to golf activities,” Jane Metcalf said. “We just had a passion for golf for the youth.”

But even passion can’t hold back time. Jane Metcalf is 73, her husband 75.

“We’re getting to the age where it’s getting really hard,” Ed Metcalf said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed another obstacle. The program’s main fundraising event, a popular annual tournament for adult golfers, has had to be scrubbed the past two years.

So the Metcalfs have closed down the program and closed out the books. At a farewell ceremony on Friday, May 14, they distributed checks for the program’s remaining bank balance – $22,262. The money will go to a scholarship fund, two youth golf programs, and a fitness program for kids on the Coquille Tribe’s Charleston-area reservation.

The Metcalfs’ project has been closely associated with the Coquille Tribe since the beginning. Ed Metcalf is the tribe’s retired chairman, and his wife formerly directed the tribe’s community center. The youth golf program evolved from tournaments previously sponsored by The Mill Casino-Hotel & RV Park, and the tribe has been a consistent sponsor.

The program’s annual fundraising tournament paid for golf clinics that welcomed as many as 125 kids each year. Multiple $1,000 college scholarships were awarded each year to tribal students and other southwestern Oregon youth. The program also sent promising young players to golf camps at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, the former Coos Country Club (now Coos Golf Club), and throughout Oregon.

Though the program has ended, the Metcalfs and their team leave a community legacy, in the form of a generation of young golfers who benefited from their efforts.

“Our community and tribe has benefitted so much from the dedication, passion and hard work of both Ed and Jane,” said Tribal Chairman Brenda Meade. “The work they have done over these many years has supported so many people throughout our community. It is my hope that they know how important their work has been in the lives of so many of us, and for that I thank them!”

The Metcalfs want to hand out some thanks of their own. They’re grateful to:

• Sponsors including the Coquille Indian Tribe, The Mill Casino-Hotel & RV Park, Nike, Aristocrat Technologies, IGT, AGS LLC, Bain Insurance, Bay Appliance, Bandon Dunes and the Y Marina
• Twenty years of “fabulous volunteers,” including the program’s final crop of committee members: Miling Laygui, Terry Springer, Terri Porcaro, Mark Hubbard, Lonnie Simpson, Larry Simpson, Gregory Duerfeldt and Trudy Groth   
• Bandon Dunes, Coos Golf Club and Kentuck Golf Course for hosting events
• Bandon Dunes golf pro Scott Millhouser, who helped plan and organize clinics and camps at the resort

See media coverage of this story here: 

Coos Bay World Newspaper

Tribal member Simpson will lead casino

NORTH BEND, Ore. – The Coquille Indian Tribe has appointed Margaret Simpson as the first female tribal member to become chief executive officer of The Mill Casino-Hotel & RV Park. 

Simpson began her career at The Mill in 2000 and has worked through roles in food and beverage, players club, marketing and hotel operations. She has served as the assistant general manager and currently holds the general manager position.

She proudly oversaw creation of a tribal member development program, and she was integral in the property’s response to one of its most challenging years, when it closed for three months and restructured due to the coronavirus pandemic.

She accomplished all of this while graduating from college and earning a master’s degree in hospitality from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, America’s top-ranked hospitality and gaming program.

“It is something to celebrate in Indian Country when you see tribal members work their way up,” said tribal Chairman Brenda Meade.

Simpson’s role as CEO puts her in an elite group of young Native Americans who are challenging the dominance of non-Indians in the gaming industry.

“Strong Native people becoming gaming experts is an essential way to advance tribal gaming within the industry,” Simpson said.

Simpson earned enthusiastic backing from the Coquille Tribal Council as well as the board of The Mill’s parent company, the Coquille Economic Development Corp. Board member Eric Smileuske, a longtime gaming industry executive in New York, Washington, Oregon and Arizona and currently an industry consultant, described Simpson as a rare asset for a tribe.

“The opportunities are few and far between to hire a member of their own tribe to be their CEO,” he said.

Smileuske said the board told Simpson, “We didn’t give you this job – you earned it.” He said Simpson offers all the qualifications the tribe could have found in a nationwide talent search.

“I don’t think we compromised by promoting Margaret,” he said. “She is very qualified, she is unassuming, she is capable of leading, she has great gut instincts.”

Simpson will replace her mentor, Terri Porcaro, as CEO. Porcaro, who plans to retire Dec. 31, said she has never met anyone as focused and dedicated as Simpson.

 “She just amazes me every day,” she said. “She cares a lot about her tribe. She wants to see the tribe grow, and she wants to be part of it.”

Simpson said she was “humbled and inspired” by the support she received from the Tribal Council and the CEDCO board. She praised Porcaro, The Mill’s executive team, and CEDCO’s “exceptionally talented” board.

 “Operating the business that provides vital economic resources for my tribe is a huge responsibility that I take very seriously,” she said. “My motivation and desire to honor my ancestors and contribute to a brighter future for the next generations will continue to be the cornerstone of my work.”