Stalemate puts Snoqualmie Tribe at risk of federal takeover
June 5, 2012
Seattle Times staff reporter
The terms of office have expired for most members of the Snoqualmie Tribal Council, and an enrollment audit still in the works has revealed the chairman of the tribe and two members of its council aren’t qualified under the tribe’s constitution to hold office or vote. Read more
Don’t be alarmed by explosions May 17
May 11, 2012
Snoqualmie Fireworks Supply will be hosting a fireworks vendor product demonstration around 7:45 p.m. May 17 near the Snoqualmie Casino, according to a press release from Jaime Martin with the Snoqualmie Tribe. Read more
Snoqualmie Tribe plans to invest in a casino operation in Fiji
December 23, 2011
By Lynda Mapes, Seattle Times staff reporter
In its latest business venture the Snoqualmie Tribe is looking all the way to Fiji.
The Fijian government announced Tuesday its decision to grant the nation’s first-ever exclusive gambling license to One Hundred Sands, which has announced plans to build a $290 million, five-star luxury casino resort on Denarau Island, in a partnership with the Snoqualmie Tribe.
“One Hundred Sands has taken care to strategically partner with the Snoqualmie Tribe from Washington State and Seventh Generation LLC, a Native American company with demonstrated excellence establishing new casinos,” said Larry Claunch, chairman of One Hundred Sands, in a news release issued by the prime minister’s office.
Snoqualmie Casino’s credit rating gets a boost from Standard & Poor’s
October 21, 2011
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its credit rating of Snoqualmie Entertainment Authority, which manages Snoqualmie Casino, from B- to B. The ratings agency announced the change Oct. 21.
Snoqualmie Entertainment Authority is owned by the Snoqualmie Tribe.
The casino’s credit rating is still relatively low.
Puget Sound Energy’s restoration project at Snoqualmie Falls reaches halfway point
September 22, 2011
 Construction workers dismantle a Puget Sound Energy building at Snoqualmie Falls as part of ongoing renovations. (Photo by Puget Sound Energy) |
Work on the upper part of Snoqualmie Falls Park is nearly finished, two years after Puget Sound begin the restoration project. The design work for the redevelopment of the lower park is almost finished but that phase of the project has not started yet.
More work is underway that isn’t as apparent to visitors to the 268-foot waterfall. All parts of the $240 million project are still on track to wrap up by 2013, according to PSE spokesman Roger Thompson.
PSE is also restoring a former train depot and carpenter shop on the river’s west bank south of the falls. The utility company is also in the process of overhauling the heart of its operations at Snoqualmie Falls — two hydroelectric power plants that will generate about 54 megawatts of energy. That is a 20 percent increase over its existing production, which relies on turbines that are more than a century old.
Foes delay showdown with tribal council
July 20, 2011
A move by opponents of the sitting Snoqualmie Tribal Council to hold new elections stalled after a key organizer called for the group to stand down.
About 40 tribal members voted June 18 for a resolution to oust the current council, which they say is trying to illegally hold onto power.
The meeting had been called by the tribe’s head chief, Jerry Enick. Before the resolution could be presented to the Tribal Council, Enick delayed the impending showdown in an email sent on his behalf to fellow opposition members. The email said that he wanted broader support before moving on the council.
Enick declined to comment.
Tribal Council members and the tribal administration say that the government is acting legally and that many members of the opposition have been disenrolled or kicked out of the tribe, which has more than 300 adult members.
In response, the council is considering suspending or removing Enick as tribal chief, and has asked him to appear at its July 21 meeting. He was requested to appear at an earlier meeting, which he missed.
Enick called the June 18 meeting after the Tribal Council postponed the Snoqualmies’ annual general membership meeting in May, when new elections are typically held.
Snoqualmie Tribe chief apologizes for gag resolution legalizing marijuana
July 15, 2011
Snoqualmie Tribal Chief Jerry Enick publicly apologized Wednesday on behalf of the tribe for a gag resolution legalizing marijuana on the tribe’s reservation passed last week by the Tribal Council.
The council passed the resolution in a 4-2 vote as a joke for an upcoming show by country singer and marijuana legalization advocate Willie Nelson at Snoqualmie Casino, which the tribe owns.
In a public statement, Enick criticized the council for using a resolution as a joke. He apologized “to all Native Americans everywhere, and to the public at large for the behavior of this current sitting Snoqualmie Tribal Council…”
Snoqualmie Tribal woodcarver applies finishing touches to canoe
June 30, 2011
 John Mullen, Snoqualmie Tribe woodcarver, drops a white-hot lava rock into a new dugout cedar canoe. (Photo by Dan Catchpole) |
John Mullen begins stoking the fire Sunday night. He and fellow Snoqualmie Tribe members add thick logs to the blaze outside the tribe’s woodcarving workshop. Once the fire is roaring, he adds lava stones. They sit in the flames until they are glowing hot.
It’s Monday morning by the time the stones are ready to come out.
Mullen digs a shovel into the fire and pulls out a stone the size of a bread loaf. Carrying it with the shovel, he walks 10 feet to a freshly carved cedar dugout canoe that sits waist high and is full of water.
He dumps the stone in. Steam rises in the air, and the water hisses.
Snoqualmie Tribal woodcarver applies finishing touches to canoe
June 30, 2011
Snoqualmie Tribe woodcarver puts finishing touches on canoe
Many voices pray with one message
June 22, 2011
Tribe honors ancestors, calls for protection of Snoqualmie Falls
Members of the Snoqualmie Tribe pray beneath a big cedar tree above Snoqualmie Falls. The falls is the tribe’s most sacred site. By Dan Catchpole
Fifteen members of the Snoqualmie Tribe and supporters gathered in prayer and protest above Snoqualmie Falls early June 21.
They joined other American Indians across the country calling for protection of their sacred sites.
