While it’s certainly cold enough to snow, forecasters say the only real chance may show up in a flurry.
KING-5 Meteorologist Rich Marriott says no significant accumulations are expected. As the system moves south over the Olympic Peninsula and down to Northern California, another surge of cold air will move in from Canada.
Temperatures are expected to dip even lower as the new system moves in, which will bring with it gusty winds for the Northern counties and foothills. Gusts could reach 45 miles per hour Friday morning.
The cold snap isn’t expected to end until Monday when a system from the south rolls in. In the meanwhile, the lowest temps of the week are expected on Saturday morning when forecasters say the mercury may reach the teens and single digits across inland locations. We could even break a record low at Sea-Tac.
As the temperatures warm up and precipitation moves in, forecasters say we may see snow or freezing rain in some locations.
Beyond Tuesday, Marriott says we should be back to normal Western Washington weather with rain in the lowlands and snow in mountains.
Members of a Congressionally-created panel that blasted the state’s justice system for Alaska Native villages arrived in Anchorage on Wednesday, where they took on a top state official and publicly pushed for reform to give Alaska tribes more local authority over criminal matters.
“It’s clear to us Alaska remains on the wrong track,” said Troy Eid, chairman of the Indian Law and Order Commission (ILOC), which issued its scathing report last month. “The problems tribes face in the Lower 48 are magnified in Alaska, which still relies on a colonial model (of justice) that results in more violent crime.”
Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty on Tuesday fired off a letter to Eid, taking issue with aspects of the report and acknowledging some of the problems in the state’s justice system. He said Alaska must work with tribes to improve public safety, and highlighted steps taken under Gov. Sean Parnell to make villages safer.
Ultimately, Geraghty opposed the report’s recommendation that Indian Country be created in Alaska as it is in the Lower 48, where tribes own land. That status means Lower 48 tribes enjoy rights not afforded Alaska Native tribes.
” … The state believes the commission was wide of the mark in recommending a return to Indian country as a means for solving the admittedly serious public safety issues facing our Native peoples,” reads the letter.
More than 200 Alaska Native villages suffer some of the nation’s highest rates of domestic violence, sexual assault, suicide and other problems.
Meanwhile, scores of villages lack police and quick access to courts and other basic services. Often, victims must wait for Alaska State Troopers based in other communities to fly in before crimes can be investigated, a process that can take days in stormy weather.
“We are fighting for our lives here. We have the highest rates of almost all deplorable conditions known to mankind,” said Mary Ann Mills, tribal council chairperson for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe, in a question-and-answer session following presentations by Eid and the other ILOC commissioners at the Dena’ina Convention Center in Anchorage Wednesday morning. Mills was just one of several tribal representatives from around the state who came to listen to the commission’s findings, and who overwhelmingly expressed support for tribal sovereignty.
“The current system is broken,” said Eid. “You have 75 communities with no policing at all. And then you have 100 VPSOs (village public safety officers) who don’t carry firearms and can’t provide the full range of services that a state sworn officer can provide.”
The nine-person commission sunsets in January. Commissioners came to Alaska last year to conduct interviews for the report. Eid and two others returned this week to speak at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ rural providers conference in Anchorage. Eid also planned to meet with Geraghty on Wednesday afternoon.
‘Not just an Alaska problem’
“This is not just an Alaska problem. But I know injustice when I see it,” Eid said at the conference.
“We’re not a bunch of radicals. We are not bomb throwers. We just think that self government should be the rule in Alaska,” he said, noting that he’s a lifelong Republican and was appointed by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. His point? The commissioners come from varied political backgrounds, yet they unanimously came to the same conclusion about the abysmal safety conditions in rural Alaska.
At the conference, commissioners and Alaskans renewed their calls for the creation of Indian Country in Alaska. The courts decided long ago that unlike the Lower 48, virtually no tribal lands existed in Alaska.
The distinction has limited the federal benefits that flow to Alaska tribes. A stark example of that disparity came earlier this year with the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act that granted new criminal jurisdiction to Lower 48 tribes, including the ability to issue civil protective orders to arrest and detain any person. Alaska tribes did not receive such powers.
On Tuesday, Geraghty had his letter delivered to Eid’s room at the Captain Cook Hotel, so Eid could understand the state’s views before the two met. Hotel staff placed the letter on Eid’s pillow for him to read when he arrived, “without the mint,” Eid joked.
Geraghty said the commission’s urgent challenge resonates with him. “The state of Alaska can, and should, be doing more to work collaboratively with local tribes to improve public safety,” he said.
He noted the Department of Law has drafted a plan that would allow tribes to address certain domestic violence, alcohol-related or misdemeanor offenses. The accused could choose civil remedies in tribal court instead of facing state criminal charges.
The state has also adopted a template memorandum of understanding for villages that have banned alcohol. A local council would issue “restorative justice remedies in lieu of citation for alcohol possession,” said Geraghty. He conceded that illegal possession “is an offense which is rarely prosecuted in small rural communities.”
Alaska’s rural police force doubled in size
Geraghty also noted that the state’s rural force of public safety officers has roughly doubled in recent years, to more than 100. Draft regulations to allow public safety officers to carry firearms is in a public-comment period. Arming officers was something another ILOC commissioner, Ted Quasala, said was as basic as it gets.
“There is no other law enforcement agency anywhere, outside of here, where you have unarmed officers who respond to very violent and volatile situations. There is no way you are going to send an unarmed officer to those situations alone, by themselves (in the rest of America),” said Quasala, who has law enforcement experience. He has previously worked as a tribal police chief and as director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Law Enforcement Services.
In his letter, Geraghty also noted that Parnell has started annual marches to raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault in 160 communities.
“The fact is we will not solve this problem solely through arrest and prosecution — though that is obviously an important component. Instead we must also raise awareness and educate our kids,” the letter said.
But Geraghty’s letter also took issue with aspects of the report. The report had blasted the state’s support for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, despite the disparity it upheld for Alaska tribes. The report called the state’s support “unconscionable.”
Geraghty called that language “inappropriate. We have admittedly a long way to go to solve this problem but I think the commission does a disservice to the state when it paints with such a broad brush,” he said.
Eid said he was encouraged to see Geraghty express support for the report’s findings, but he added that establishing Indian Country in Alaska isn’t the only solution.
In fact, the report spells out numerous ways to improve rural justice, he said, including that the president, through executive order, allow the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide funding for tribal police in Alaska, a benefit enjoyed by Lower 48 tribes, but not those in Alaska.
Tribes don’t actually have to own land to have more authority, Eid noted. One thing the state can do now is define boundaries where tribes can have increased criminal jurisdiction, even though they don’t own the land.
“We all agree the situation in Alaska is a problem, and that Alaska is out of step with the U.S.,” Eid said. “The way to address the problem is more local control and local decision making.”
WASHINGTON – The creation of a national Native American veterans memorial moved closer to reality Wednesday, with the House Natural Resources Committee’s approval of enabling legislation.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., now goes to the full House of Representatives for consideration.
“Oklahoma has been blessed with countless Native American veterans, including my grandfather Kenneth Morris,” said Mullin, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. “It is important that we properly honor these brave soldiers and tell their story for generations to come. This memorial to our Native American veterans will serve as a small measure of thanks for their service and sacrifice to this great nation.”
A Native American veterans memorial was authorized in 1994 as part of the National Museum of the American Indian. Mullin’s bill allows the memorial to be erected outside rather than inside the museum, as specified in the 1994 act. An outdoor memorial is considered more feasible.
The memorial is to be built with private contributions.
Brandon Jones looks to make a pass Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News
Heritage Boys set the bar high with season opener win
Article and photos by Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News
Tulalip − From warm up to the last point, Tulalip Heritage Hawks could not be stopped at the Northwest 1B season opener against Cedar Park Christian/Mountlake Terrace Lions, winning 64-50.
The Hawks flew into action, scoring first and maintaining a solid five point lead throughout the game, never slowing down, executing each play with precision. On the rebound or steal, the Hawks led the charge up and down the court.
Head coach Marlin Fryberg Jr. said, “This is a great start to the season. We played against this team last year three times and they beat us each time. In practice, the emphasis was to open the season real strong and show them and the other teams how Tulalip will play this year.
A steal with a smile, Dontae Jones regains the ball for Tulalip. Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News
Dontae Jones, known for his quick feet, moved low and fast dodging many Lions players, flashing a smile as he breezed by. Brandon Jones and Shawn Sanchey with the rebound wasted no time getting to the hoop. All players proved to be strong shooters, with Payton Comenote sinking three pointers throughout the game.
The MVP of the evening, though, was sophomore Robert Miles Jr. He scored 24 points for the Hawks, with 16 rebounds and four steals.
Robert Miles Jr. with the rebound Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News
Fryberg said, “All of our boys played a great game, but Robert was outstanding. As a sophomore, he plays basketball the way you would hope a senior would play.”
According to Fryberg, the goal this year is to return to the state championships, and to win.
Courtesy of UNC Libraries Archival Service The “Fightin’ Whites” printed shirts that read “The Fightin’ Whities” after an error in a Mirror article added an “i” to the team’s name.
Last week Americans celebrated Thanksgiving. It’s widely taught in elementary school the first Thanksgiving lent a table to newfound peace between the Native Americans and the settlers.
The story we’re told is revealed by white Americans, who have a vested interest in the narrative. As such, our understanding is certainly somewhat skewed, and has indirectly resulted in the use of Native American images as team mascots.
The movement to remove Native American mascots began in the late 1970s, but very few changes have actually been made to date.
Many, including the Washington football team’s owner Dan Snyder, argue against changing the mascots because of the identity it has created for former players and community revolving around the team.
But supporters of a wide-sweeping change opine that Native Americans are marginalized by the nicknames. Many tribes are categorized together simply as “Native American,” based on social structure centered around white culture.
One intramural basketball team set out to flip the tables in 2002 when the Fightin’ Whites formed at UNC after the Coloradans Against Ethnic Stereotyping in Colorado Schools (CAESCS) tried to get Eaton High School to change its mascot.
CAESCS was started at the University of Northern Colorado by former doctoral candidate Dan Ninham and current professor of special education Francie Murry in an attempt to get rid of racially-based mascots, beginning with Eaton’s. The attempt failed but former Native American Student Services director Solomon Little Owl and former students formed the Fightin’ Whites intramural basketball team.
“The message is, let’s do something that will let people see the other side of what it’s like to be a mascot,” said Little Owl of the topic to the Greeley Tribune in 2002. “I am really offended by this mascot issue, and I hope the people that support the Eaton mascot will get offended by this.”
The team quickly became a national story with various news sources across the country taking the story to the viewers, and Lynn Klyde-Silverstein, assistant professor of journalism and mass communications, found the public had three
general reactions to the team after the media coverage was split in three different directions.
The main response was that people found satire in the idea, leading to Fightin’ Whites T-shirt purchases with the proceeds going to a scholarship at UNC. The other two findings were less favorable for the group. Some saw the team name as a waste of time and a third group saw it as an expression of white pride.
“One thing I’ve noticed and in my research I’ve found this too, is that whites don’t understand their privilege, a lot of whites,” Klyde-Silverstein said. “Because what happens is there were a lot of letters to the editor that said, ‘Well, I’m white and I think it’s great that we finally have a mascot.’ They don’t understand that when you’re a minority that it’s different, it feels different.”
A wide-spread counterpoint against changing the Native American mascots is that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish nickname doesn’t spark the same controversy.
Supporters of the Native American monikers ask what the difference is between the types of nicknames. Why don’t Irish-Americans react with vitriol to the Notre Dame leprechaun mascot?
Mark Shuey, an adjunct professor of sociology at UNC, said the power structure of American society dictates an important difference between Native American and Irish mascots and offered regarding the Fightin’ Whites’ inability to gain much traction outside of the area.
“The Fightin’ Whites cannot diminish the white group collectively because (whites) still have the power,” Shuey said. “It’s the same with the Fighting Irish. Initially the Irish were excluded, relegated to the lower realms of society, like Native Americans and Negroes.
Through generations they were absorbed into the dominant group, no one’s going to suggest the Fighting Irish isn’t insensitive because they’re part of the power structure; they’re part of the dominant group.”
There have been two examples in Colorado that show change-based thought on the issue, but no action has occurred since the early 1990s when General William J. Palmer High School in Colorado Springs changed its mascot from a Native American to an Eagle, keeping the mascot name of Terrors because of pressure from the community. Loveland High School said it was willing to change its Indian mascot, but no change has been made in the 11 years since the school first agreed to remove its Native American mascot.
So how do changes actually happen? Various attempts have been made, even at UNC when the 2001-2002 Faculty Senate voted 11-7 with five abstentions to encourage the athletic department to avoid competition against teams using racial mascots.
Still, the Big Sky accepted UNC’s former North Central Conference foe North Dakota in 2012 and last season the football team opened its season against Utah, nicknamed the Utes.
When North Dakota joined the Big Sky Conference last season, The Mirror was instructed by the sports information department not to use the school’s mascot and other publications refuse to use the racially-driven mascots.
“What I teach my students is, if you’re perpetuating a stereotype, then that’s bad,” Klyde-Silverstein said. “If you’re using the word ‘Redskin’, isn’t the perpetuating it?
“People may say that’s advocacy, but isn’t it advocating for stereotypes if you’re using the term ‘Redskin?’ To use the Chief Wahoo (Cleveland Indians logo) picture, isn’t that perpetuating a stereotype? I think by not doing anything you’re still doing something.”
It’s been nearly 30 years since movements began to change the mascots, but the change remains relatively localized. Perhaps the biggest possible change would be a total change of course by Snyder in renaming his football team. The pressure on the NFL and Snyder has increased recently, but he remains resolute.
Klyde-Silverstein said she wants her students to avoid racial monikers as well.
Courtesy of UNC Libraries Archival Service
The “Fightin’ Whites” printed shirts that read “The Fightin’ Whities” after an error in a Mirror article added an “i” to the team’s name.
Two Four Corners start-up businesses are getting international attention, and they haven’t even opened their doors.
Chief on a board the Ignacio Colorado startup company is hoping to break into the longboard business.
The company combines their Southern Ute culture with the growing demand for becoming active.
They hope their line longboards motivate people to get moving.
“We want to get a generation of kids off the couch playing video games to go outside and go enjoy some fresh air,” said Co-owner Diamond Morgan.
Their designs are inspired by their Native American background.
They hope to create a positive image of their culture.
“Some native Americans designs are misleading and therefore we want to capitalize on that we are still here we want to move forward,” said Anthony Porambo.
Chief on a board and another Farmington based company, Rincón brewery— just one a local competition at the Four Corners Startup Weekend.
“I think we have a good quality product I’m an award winning home brewer and everybody like my beer,” said Steve Haney of Rincon Brewery.
Now both teams will compete in worldwide competition online called the Global Startup Battle.
Even if the teams don’t win the global startup, they’ll both still get a boost.
They’ll get their own space like this one rent free at San Juan College for six months.
In order for the two teams to get to the second round, they have to get enough votes. To vote for the teams, head over to the Four Corners Economic Development page and a link is under the team’s pictures.
Chair Troy Eid, right, addresses the audience as fellow commissioners Ted Quasula, left, and Carole Goldberg of the Indian Law and Order Commission review a section of their report at the 23rd Annual BIA Tribal Providers Conference on Wednesday, December 4, 2013, at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center. ERIK HILL — Anchorage Daily New
In the three weeks since the U.S. Indian Law & Order Commission chastised Alaska for opposing Natives who want their own village cops and courts, chairman Troy Eid says he’s been called a radical and an outsider who shouldn’t be sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.
Eid swept aside such criticism Wednesday when the commission officially presented its report in Anchorage. He declared that Alaska “was on the wrong track” and that public safety and security were so bad in rural Alaska, especially for women and children, that it had become a national disgrace.
“I don’t claim to be an Alaskan,” said Eid, the former U.S. Attorney for Colorado, “but I know injustice when I see it.”
Speaking to a crowded room of mainly Alaska tribal officials and Native rights advocates at the 23rd annual Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Providers Conference, Eid was interrupted by applause almost every time he called on the state to acknowledge sovereignty here.
“There ought to be a recognition of tribal sovereignty as THE force that will keep people safer — and why not?” Eid said. “It’s what we do everywhere else in the United States. We recognize local people should be able to govern themselves, make their own decisions, that they should not be fighting with their states.”
A life-long Republican, Eid said it wasn’t a matter of politics, though opponents of the report have tried to portray it that way. “I would hold my conservative credentials to (Attorney General Mike Geraghty’s) or the governor’s anytime,” he said.
The nine-member Indian Law & Order Commission was established by Congress in 2010 and directed to report back to Congress and the President on its findings after holding hearings and meetings around the country, including Alaska.
The report, released Nov. 12, was mainly about the successes and failures of reservation justice programs and recommendations on new policies and laws.
But the panel singled out Alaska in a special 30-page chapter. It accused the state of falling behind the rest of the country in providing a secure environment in Bush villages.
“What’s so shocking about Alaska is that you have the most rural state in the country and you have the most centralized law enforcement in terms of how the state provides — and fails to provide — services,” Eid said. “We cling to this model because we know it and because there’s a lot of perverse pleasure taken in controlling the lives of other people … The colonial model, which is alive and well in Alaska, does not work.”
Eid and panel members Carole Goldberg of the UCLA School of Law and Ted Quasula, a former BIA police officer from Arizona, said Alaska should recognize tribal authority, not fight it.
Tribal courts exist in Alaska, but they mainly handle adoption and other family matters. The state recognizes their jurisdiction over village members, but recently challenged a decision by the Minto tribal court that stripped a convicted wife beater of his parental rights, arguing that the court exceeded its authority because the man was enrolled in another village.
Eid and Goldberg had sharp criticism for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, the law that paved the way for the trans-Alaska pipeline by settling Native land claims and establishing regional and village corporations in place of reservations. While supporters of the act, like the late Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, have described it as forward-looking legislation designed to integrate Alaska Natives into the dominant economy and culture, Goldberg said it was the “last gasp of termination policy” designed to separate Natives from their traditional lands.
Laws passed since then have recognized Native American tribal authority, though often, as in the Violence Against Women Act, Alaska was written out of the legislation, they said.
“Alaska has been left behind because of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act,” Goldberg said.
Eid said he has heard the law described in almost reverential terms, as if it had been “set in stone” and handed down like tablets.
In fact, he said, the law has been amended 35 times since passage, and it should be changed again to bring “Indian country” — and Native sovereignty — to the thousands of acres of land owned by Alaska Natives, villages and other Native entities.
“Attitudes change, people can change, people can learn,” he said.
Eid said that when he arrived at his room in the Hotel Captain Cook Tuesday night, there was a six-page letter in an envelope on his pillow. It wasn’t a love note, but a hand-delivered defense of Alaska’s position by Geraghty, the state Attorney General.
Eid noted that Geraghty acknowledged that public safety was deficient in Alaska’s villages, but opinions diverged after that. Geraghty said that increasing the power of tribal courts and police, using the reservation model, would subject non-Natives to a justice system they had no power to affect democratically.
“The report does not explain how non-Native residents in these communities will participate in … tribal self-governance given that they have no right to vote on tribal laws or participate in electing tribal leaders,” Geraghty wrote. Since ANCSA’s passage, he said, “Alaskans have been free to reside in any Alaska community and expect to be governed by a uniform system of criminal laws.”
But Eid said that was no more relevant than he, as a voting resident of Colorado, being subject to Alaska criminal law while visiting here. If he broke the law, he said, he would expect Alaska courts to be fair to him even though he can’t vote here, just as he would expect tribal courts to fair with non-Natives in their villages.
Geraghty also referenced the Parnell administration’s secret plan to bring a measure of self-determination to some villages. As outlined by Gov. Sean Parnell to the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in October, the proposal would allow tribal courts to hear misdemeanors as civil, not criminal cases, with culturally attuned punishment or rehabilitation — but only if the defendant agreed.
Geraghty said in an November interview that he couldn’t provide a copy of the proposal he had given the Tanana Chiefs Conference because it was subject to negotiations.
“Has anyone seen this thing?” Eid asked the room Wednesday. No one had. He and Goldberg said the negotiations were doomed if the state didn’t treat the Interior villages as sovereign governments.
When the Yankees signed Johnny Damon away from the Boston Red Sox in 2006 — two years after he helped them beat the Yankees and win the World Series — it was a coup. Damon provided the Yankees with speed on the bases and home run power from the left side of the plate, and he helped them win a championship in 2009.
Seven years later, the Yankees are hoping to follow the same script by bringing in another gifted former Red Sox center fielder. On Tuesday night, they were close to signing Jacoby Ellsbury, who helped Boston win its third World Series title in 10 years this October and second since he joined the team, to a seven-year, $153 million deal.
Ellsbury was flying to New York from Phoenix on Tuesday night to take a physical, according to two people involved in the discussions who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter.
He would play center field, and Brett Gardner would move to a corner spot or possibly be used in a trade.
With the addition of Ellsbury, who turned 30 on Sept. 11, the Yankees would still have money to bring back Robinson Cano and stay under their stated goal of $189 million for their payroll. However, Cano would have to accept the club’s current price of seven years and about $170 million to $175 million. The Yankees offered Cano seven years for about $160 million and seemed unfazed Tuesday by reports that he was talking to the Seattle Mariners, who have been trying for years to add offense.
Ellsbury was only one component of a dizzying few days in baseball. Several trades, free-agent deals and general hot-stove buzz made it seem as if next week’s winter meetings had already begun.
The Red Sox also came to terms on a one-year deal for catcher A. J. Pierzynski, who is just the type of antagonizing player who could stoke the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.
The Yankees are also talking to the free-agent outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who, like Ellsbury and Damon, is represented by Scott Boras, but their preference was Ellsbury.
Last month, the Yankees signed the free-agent catcher Brian McCann, who agreed to a five-year, $85 million deal Nov. 23.
The Mariners are also interested in Carlos Beltran, according to a National League executive who has spoken to the team about its plans. Seattle may be willing to offer Beltran four years, but he was in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, visiting with the Royals, his first team, and could also end up in Boston or Texas on a three-year deal.
The Yankees have interest in Beltran, too, but do not want to give him three years, and two years will probably not be enough to get him.
Limiting the number of years on free-agent contracts has been a priority for the Yankees and many other teams, too. The burden of Alex Rodriguez’s 10-year contract and the evidence of long-term mistakes with Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder have made teams wary of committing similar costly blunders.
If the Yankees bring back Cano, it could mean they will not have enough money to add a free-agent pitcher other than Hiroki Kuroda, who is deciding whether to come back to the Yankees.
Kuroda was concerned last year, amid the talk about the Yankees trying to keep their payroll less than $189 million for luxury tax purposes, that the team might not be competitive in 2014, but their aggressive pursuit of McCann and Ellsbury demonstrates their resolve.
Ellsbury was a key figure during his seven years in Boston, playing center field and batting leadoff since he came up as a rookie in 2007, hitting .353 in 33 regular-season games and .438 in his first World Series.
A career .297 hitter with a .353 on-base percentage, Ellsbury is one of the more dynamic players in baseball, combining speed and power. His wins above replacement, a statistic designed to show a players value over a typical replacement player, was 5.8 last year and 8.1 in 2011, perhaps his finest season.
He finished second to Justin Verlander in the American League Most Valuable Player award voting in 2011 after he hit .321 with 364 total bases, 32 homers, 105 runs batted in, 119 runs, 46 doubles and 39 stolen bases — a breathtaking display of all-around productivity. Injuries have been a problem at times, with rib cage and shoulder problems limiting him to 18 games in 2010 and 74 in 2012. But even at the ages of 29 and 30 in 2013, he still managed to lead the A.L. in stolen bases with 52, the third time he topped that category. He also led the league with 10 triples in 2009.
In 38 postseason games, he has batted .301, including .325 in 10 World Series games with a .386 O.B.P.
Other than in 2011, he never hit more than nine home runs, but the Yankees envision his power numbers rising with the short porch in right field, always inviting to left-handed hitters like Ellsbury and McCann.
With Curtis Granderson all but gone, the Yankees needed to shore up their outfield. What better way to do it than to take a good player away from the Red Sox? It’s worked before, and more than once.
General managers, agents and players are not waiting idly for the big industry convention in Florida next week. In the last few days, the off-season action heated up significantly, with teams making trades and offering contracts to free agents at a dizzying pace.
Word filtered out Monday that the Detroit Tigers had traded starting pitcher Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals for three players in a deal that had many general managers scratching their heads.
On Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Rays added a relief pitcher and a catcher by acquiring closer Heath Bell from the Arizona Diamondbacks and catcher Ryan Hanigan from the Cincinnati Reds in a three-team deal. The Houston Astros picked up center fielder Dexter Fowler from the Colorado Rockies for the right-handed pitcher Jordan Lyles and outfielder Brandon Barnes.
The Oakland Athletics announced that they had traded outfielder Seth Smith to the San Diego Padres for the right-handed pitcher Luke Gregerson.
The free-agent market, stirred up first by the Yankees, was percolating, too. Closer Joe Nathan was said to be nearing a deal with the Tigers, which may explain why they needed to trade Fister, to shed the money to sign Nathan. Detroit has been desperate to add a closer.
Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia was closing in on a three-year deal with the Miami Marlins after his successful tenure with the Red Sox.
5:00pm to 10:00 pm All Ages
Dec. 5th-8th, 12th-15th, 18th-23rd, 26th-29th Tulalip night Dec. 23rd. Be sure to bring your Tribal ID www.warmbeach.com/lights-of-christmas
Ryan Conway grew up across the street from the Indian Willard Cemetery in Puyallup, visiting ancestral graves and living in what was then called the “Blue House.”
Today, the Blue House is Blue Sky Landscape Services and Conway, for the past six years, has been the caretaker in that cemetery, which dates back more than 200 years.
“I tell people I treat each grave as if it were your mother’s,” Conway said. “That way anyone who comes to visit a family member can see every grave site has been treated the same, with respect.”
Early last month, Conway was working and found, between the cemetery fence and Valley Avenue, a flurry of red-flagged stakes.
“It was the first I knew that there was work scheduled,” Conway said.
It was also the first the Puyallup Tribe had heard of the city’s plan to trench the road for new sewer and water lines for two new businesses across Valley Avenue.
Why did that horrify tribe elders and others?
“We don’t know the boundaries of the cemetery, because it dates back to the early 1800s, maybe earlier,” tribe archaeologist Brandon Reynon said. “We do know it extends well beyond the fenced area.”
Fearing ancestral remains might be disturbed, the tribe notified the city, pointing out laws and agreements that required Puyallup to notify the tribe before beginning any onsite construction. City planners were stunned.
“The city was aware of the tribal cemetery but we were unaware until two weeks ago of contention that the area of the cemetery included a larger area outside the fence,” said Tom Utterback, the city director of development services.
A stop order was issued for all work in front of the cemetery.
“That cemetery is sacred to us, it’s where our families are,” tribal Police Chief Joe Duenas said. “I remember visiting it as a boy. It’s an active cemetery – I buried my mother, Jody Wright, there last year.”
The first concern of the tribe, then the city and construction company, Trammell Crow, was not to disturb human remains.
“The developer has hired a Seattle archaeologist and he’s working out there,” Utterback said. “We heartily go along with this. We want to know the issues out there.”
Reynon, representing the tribe, will also be part of the cultural assessment of the dig.
One question raised by all this is how did the paved road, in the 1100 block of Valley Avenue, come to cross land that was part of the tribal graveyard? No one involved is certain.
Neither the city nor the tribe was sure whether the fence surrounding the 1.27-acre cemetery or the road came first. The road was built by Pierce County – Utterback believes that was in the 1930s or 1940s – and Puyallup annexed the land in the 1990s.
There are gravestones in the cemetery dating back to the mid-1800s, but that wasn’t when burials first occurred there.
“There are sites without stones, where families couldn’t afford one,” Conway said. “There are stones with entire family’s names on them, covering multiple sites. There’s no way to tell how many are buried within the fences.”
And no certainty on how far beyond those fences grave sites might exist.
It’s no surprise that history never recorded such information. Though the tribe simply calls it Willard Cemetery, it has been known on state and county records as the Firwood Cemetery, the Firwood Indian Cemetery and the Firwood (Willard) Cemetery.
The land is owned by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.
When the city was in the permitting process 18 months ago, Utterback said environmental reports were sent to two representatives of the tribe. Tribal attorney Lisa A. Brautigam said that was the critical mistake.
“Two individuals involved with water quality and fisheries did receive the state environmental checklist but they are in individual departments not even located at the Tribal Government Headquarters,” she said. “And they only deal with fisheries and water quality issues.”
Archaeologist Reynon shook his head.
“If we had known about the issue, we would have worked with them on alternatives,” he said. “And we should have known. Now, we’d like to go back to the beginning.”
Utterback does not disagree, but insists there was never an intent to keep the tribe in the dark.
“If we were doing it again, we’d do it differently,” Utterback said. “We didn’t realize we should have sent it to others. We thought it would be shared by those we did send it to.”
For now, work in front of the cemetery has halted, and the city and tribe will have meetings this week to discuss alternatives.
“We’re not obstructionists. This is a matter of respect,” said Tribal Council member Lawrence LaPointe. “These are our ancestors, our families.”
Larry LaRue: 253-597-8638 larry.larue@thenewstribune.com
