Things I Ve Heard

My name is Dave Hatch (Roll Number 387), my father is Ken Hatch and my son is Peter Hatch. My grandparents are Nick Hatch and Hattie Martin. My family is from the Siuslaw River and we are all proud members of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.

I first served on Tribal Council in 1981 with Art Bensell, Dolly Fisher, Lindsey John, Jo Anne Miller, Mary Alice Munsee, Pauline Ricks, Stanley Strong and Bill Towner, who each in their own way taught me to listen to help make careful decisions considerate of all of our people. They taught me to love our council form of government. Over the years I served on Tribal Council for two more terms while working full time, which was challenging.

Last year I retired from a thirty-three year career teaching civil engineering at Oregon State University and working as an engineer for the City of Portland. I am now confident that I could serve effectively as a Tribal Council Representative if elected.

Today I serve as a Councilman of the Howard Vollum American Indian Scholarship Fund at the Oregon Community Foundation, as the Chairman of the Siletz Tribal Arts and Heritage Society and as the Secretary of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Each is a part time volunteer activity and would be compatible with Tribal Council service.

Each of our families experienced great loss with the atrocities of removal, theand degradation of our Wwestern Oregon lands and waters, and termination. We achievexperienced ed restoration and today we all participate in restoring our cultures, sovereignty and wellbeing. To continue our progress we must maintain our good relationships with our tribal, federal, state, county and local partners, expand our resources by continuing to increase our land base and the growth of our casino and tribal businesses, support our students all the way through higher education and create new partnerships as we build our Siletz Tribal Cultural Center.

I began on Tribal Council in our old doublewide trailer and I am so proud of all our progress. I will always do what I can to continue our progress. I would be honored to serve as your representative to our Tribal Council.