IN CHARACTER
Leading an evolution
The sharp pencil and sharper eye
of Cow Creek chairman Sue Shaffer is transforming her
tribe.
By Robin Doussard
She strides ahead of you at full steam as she whisks through
the Cow Creek tribe’s Roseburg headquarters. You try to
be polite and rush to open the next door. After all, she is a
tribal leader and approaching 85. Forget it. She reaches the
door first, swings it open and you follow at a fast clip,
learning quickly, like everyone around her, to swim fast or get
to shore.
To meet Sue Shaffer, a quiet, dignified woman made just a
little taller than her five feet by the trademark steel gray
hair bundled atop her head, is to also know this: She might be
small, she might be a grandmother, and she might indeed be
“the old girl” she calls herself, but she is all
business. Shaffer calls herself a tight-fisted child of the
Great Depression and it was that fist that famously set the
tribe on its path to becoming the powerful economic engine that
it is today: Douglas County’s third-largest employer with
1,600 jobs and a payroll of about $40 million.
It’s a bootstrap story suitable for framing. For most of
the past 30 years, “the only thing this tribe had was my
husband’s pocketbook and my determination,” Shaffer
says, describing how little the Cow Creeks had when they began
their journey in 1954 to win back status as a federally
recognized tribe.
“This tribe for 125 years received nothing,” she
says. “We had to sink or swim on our own. But it made us
stronger.”
With Shaffer’s determined leadership, the tribe received
federal recognition in 1982, then sought compensation for the
lands it held under its 1853 treaty. In 1988, the federal
government paid the tribe $1.5 million. As chairman, Shaffer
rejected doling out money to individual tribal members —
Indian welfare to her — and instead took the money and,
in Depression-era terms, put it in a coffee can. The interest
off that principal was used to seed the tribe’s economic
future.
“Everyone wondered if the tribe could really do it.
Well, they are really
doing it,” says Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat who has known
Shaffer for 20 years. “She’s brought a sharp pencil
to how the tribe does its business. The economic importance of
the tribe is huge, with a capital H.”
The tribe provides health services, education programs and
childcare to its 1,400 tribal members, and donates about $1
million per year through its casino-funded Cow Creek Foundation
to local organizations and nonprofits. Its business ventures
include the Seven Feathers Hotel & Casino (the
state’s first bingo hall, opened in 1992), Umpqua Indian
Foods, Seven Feathers Truck & Travel Center, Rio
Communications, a ranch, a media group and the newly opened
Seven Feathers RV Resort.
“The new RV park is a little slice of heaven,”
says Norm Gershon, president of Umpqua Training and Employment
in Roseburg. “They could have slapped down a good looking
RV park and made a few bucks. But they built a resort and
facility that will be to RV’ers what Bandon Dunes is to
golfers.”
The business strategy is simple. “They don’t do
anything half-assed. When they do something, they put all their
vision behind it and they build it forever,” says
Gershon, who has known Shaffer for two decades. “Sue
provides that vision and energy. She is tireless. Her vision is
the tribe will last forever, and its people will be
secure.”
A descendant of the Thomason branch of the tribe, Shaffer has
been prominent in national Indian affairs, sat on the board of
Umpqua Community College for 17 years, received the Eleanor
Roosevelt Award from the Democratic Party, and has been honored
by the Oregon Commission for Women for her advocacy of
women and racial equality. To her, though, her life achievement
has been “raising two good citizens.”
“It was so
important that we weren’t stupid kids,” says
Shaffer’s daughter, Sherri, who has been CEO of the tribe
for 20 years.
“I’ve never seen another Sue Shaffer in my
life,” says Gloria McGinnis. “She’s always
one step ahead of everyone around her.” McGinnis has had
a bird’s eye view of the tribe for decades as the former
mayor of Canyonville and in her current seat on the foundation.
“She’ll out-work you and she’ll out-walk you.
She doesn’t believe in welfare and gives scholarships to
every high school in Douglas County. She keeps this county
moving.”
Which is why, McGinnis says, “The Kittelman Thing
particularly stung Sue.”
Douglas County Commissioner Marilyn Kittelman’s
opposition to tax-exempt status for tribal lands has created
quite a squall in the community. The first-term commissioner
opposed the tribe’s plans to build a downtown Roseburg
convention center, which would have removed that land from the
tax rolls. Kittelman also aligned herself with One Nation
United, a group that is opposed to tribal tax exemption and one
that Shaffer calls a “national Indian hate
group.” It earned Kittelman little affection among
the tribe and its supporters and helped spark a recall election
in September that she survived by 127 votes.
Even though it has stalled the convention center plans, The
Kittelman Thing is a popsicle in the path of the iceberg cutter
that is the SS
Shaffer. “The tribe is going to do what the tribe
is going to do,” Shaffer says calmly, and dismissively,
adding that she will continue to focus on children’s
welfare — all children, not just the tribe’s
— and keep working to solve hunger, improve education
with scholarships and provide jobs.
As the Cow Creeks look forward to the 25th anniversary of
their federal recognition next year, Shaffer also is looking
ahead. Her plans include creating more businesses, expanding
Umpqua Indian Foods and upgrading the casino. Both she and her
CEO point-blank refuse to be specific because, frankly, they
just don’t want anyone to know. Her plans do not include
retirement. “I can’t think of anything more
boring,” says the grandmother of two who still works
seven days a week.
Shaffer never learned to drive and depends on husband George,
who is 92, to take the wheel. So if you happen to see the old
girl and her old man out and about, perhaps heading to their
Sunday bingo game, take a good, long look. It’s the only
time you are likely to see the leader of the Cow Creek Band of
Umpqua Tribe of Indians taking the passenger seat.
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