Crews with SWCA Environmental Consultants dig in a field east of Northwest 253rd Avenue in search of Native American remains or remnants of the historic Methodist Meeting House. The contract is now significantly more expensive, according to city officials (Andrew Theen/The Oregonian)
Hillsboro’s ongoing search for human remains and historic sites in a field and along a gravel road earmarked for development has thus far turned up “two indistinguishable pieces of metal” and nearly $140,000 in unforeseen costs, according to public works officials.
The city hired SWCA Environmental Consultants to use ground-penetrating radar along Northwest 253rd Avenue in May to survey for historic sites. The initial contract was for $38,215. The new contract estimate is $177,813, according to a staff report presented to the Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
Local historians and some nearby residents believe one of Washington County’s oldest buildings, the Methodist Meeting House, used to be in that area. Descendants of Joseph and Virginia Meek, the famous Oregon frontiersman and his Nez Perce wife, are believed to have been buried near the meeting house too.
The ground-penetrating radar survey identified more than 600 anomalies that necessitated excavation to determine their historical significance, according to a staff report. So far crews haven’t started to analyze the anomalies deemed of “highest interest,” due to permitting delays. That’s where the additional costs come into play.
“So far, we haven’t found anything,” Bob Sanders, assistant public works director, said on Tuesday. “But we still have to go through that process.”
That process, Sanders said, has been frustrating.
It will also likely push back Hillsboro’s schedule for widening and paving 253rd Avenue, a road that city officials call key to opening up the 330-acre North Industrial Areafor development.
The road, Sanders said, also has a more immediate need, as an escape route for residents on nearby Northwest Meek Road, who will lose access to Northwest Brookwood Parkway once a $45 million interchange project is scheduled to begin later this fall. Hillsboro initially hopes to break ground on the road project this summer, using $6.3 million from the interchange project and another $1.8 million in traffic impact fees to fund the road work.
Beyond analyzing the cultural resources along Northwest 253rd, which includes an 1890Queen Anne-style home built by John W. Shute, the city is going through a concurrent natural resources permitting process related to two creek crossings on the rural property.
Sanders said he’s now planning for a situation where the entirety of 253rd can’t move forward in time for Meek residents. He said the city is looking at another options, the extension of Northwest Huffman Street from 253rd east to Brookwood, as another route for Meek Road residents.
Revenues from gambling at Native American gaming centers across the nation hit a new record in 2012, bringing in nearly $28 billion dollars, a 2.7 percent increase over 2011.
The two fastest growing regions in the country were in Oklahoma. The Tulsa Region, which includes parts of Kansas and eastern Oklahoma, had the greatest revenue growth, increasing 6.6 percent.
The Oklahoma City Region, including Texas and the western parts of Oklahoma, were in second place with gambling revenue growing 5.8 percent in 2012 as compared to the year before.
The annual report from the National Indian Gaming Commission shows those two areas outpaced all others in the country in 2012. The Tulsa area showed gross gaming revenue of $1.9 billion. The Oklahoma City Region came in at $1.8 billion.
“In 2012, the Indian gaming industry saw its largest gross gaming revenues ever,” Tracie Stevens, chairwoman of the commission, said. “For those who judge casino spending as an indicator of increased discretionary spending and economic recovery, 2012 revenues certainly display economic encouragement.”
The Tulsa and Oklahoma City regions top the nation in the growth of Native American gambling revenues in 2012. Credit National Indian Gaming Commission
PLUMMER, Idaho – Peggy Mahoney always wanted to open a regalia store.
She spent hours stitching intricate beadwork on the outfits that her husband and kids wore for powwows and other special occasions, and she knew plenty of other Native American families crafting heirloom-quality clothing that would patronize a local supplier.
Porcupine teeth and claws are among the variety of natural and manmade items for sale in the Four Shells store. Jesse Tinsley photo
Four Shells Regalia Supply started out as a small selection of beads tucked into a corner of War Path Tribal Corp., a convenience store, gas station and gift shop that Mahoney, her husband, Pete, and their children run on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation.
Three years ago, the shop expanded into the regalia store that Mahoney had dreamed about. The shop attracts both native and non-native customers, who can spend an hour or more browsing through the inventory and talking about their current projects.
Four Shells Regalia stocks items that don’t appear in chain craft stores.
There are stacks of brain-tanned buckskin, deer and elk rawhide, and otter, mink and beaver furs. The display case features elk teeth, porcupine quills, cowrie and dentalium shells. And there are hanks of dyed horsehair, packets of face paint and geometric Indian prints in cotton, fleece and wool.
Four Shell’s biggest draw, however, is the three walls devoted to glittering glass beads, which gives the store a rainbow appearance. The beads are imported from the Czech Republic and end up in the intricate beadwork decorating moccasins, jewelry, chokers and other clothing and accessories.
Allyssa Haynes, left, shows Peggy Mahoney her beaded medallion at the Four Shells store in Plummer, Idaho, on Monday. Haynes works at the store, which is run by Mahoney’s family. It is one of the few places where Native American crafters can find almost any material needed for Indian regalia worn at traditional gatherings. Jesse Tinsley photo
Mahoney, who is Lakota, grew up watching female relatives doing beadwork. “When you are making the items, you put a lot of prayer into them,” she said. “And it’s a way to pass on tradition and culture.”
She said she’s seen a revival of interest in handcrafted regalia in recent years, particularly among the younger generation. One of Four Shell’s clerks, Allyssa Haynes, is already an expert bead worker at 17. Haynes, who will be a high school senior next year, frequently doodles, and her doodles turn into original designs.
Four Shells attracts regular customers from as far as British Columbia, Montana, Oregon and Wyoming.
“They come this way every year or so, and this is one of their main stops,” said Mona Gonzales, another of Four Shell’s clerks.
Vivian and Pete Williams, of Creston, B.C., were browsing in the shop this week.
Both do beadwork – Pete uses a loom – and they make the 2 ½-hour drive to patronize the store because of its large bead selection, Vivian Williams said.
Jeanne Sijohn Gravatt was also shopping for beads. Gravatt, who lives on the Spokane Reservation, has five orders pending for handcrafted gifts, including cradleboards.
Gravatt said that finding a local bead supplier was one of her top priorities after moving to the area from South Dakota. A friend told her about Four Shells.
Gravatt’s husband, Mark, knows not to interrupt her when she’s lost in thought in the store. Her creative wheels are spinning over color combinations and designs.
Four Shells will be busy with tourist traffic through October. But it’s December through February when the most dedicated customers stroll the aisles. They’ll be busy sewing and beading outfits and accessories for the next powwow season.
“It makes you feel pretty good,” Mahoney said of the store’s popularity. “It wasn’t just my hair-brained idea.”
Baker Lake sockeye anglers are scratching a little harder for fish so far this season than in 2012, and that probably means predictions for a somewhat smaller run are proving accurate.
“Historically, about half the run has been counted at the (Baker Dam) trap by July 19,” said Kevin John at Holiday Sports in Burlington. “The count at that point this year was a little over 9,000 fish, and if you double that, you’re getting close to the prediction of 21,000 fish.”
That would be down from last season’s total trap count of 28,410 sockeye, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t fish to be taken.
“It has actually been fairly good,” John said. “The numbers seem to be holding true, so it’s going to be a little tougher, but that only means moving around, watching for ‘showing’ fish, using a sounder, spending a little more time on the water.”
John said salmon are scattered, mostly above the bend, and at different water depths as well. Heavy morning fog recently delayed the morning bite, he said, and fishing didn’t really pick up until more light was on the water.
He recommends starting early in the day and dropping your gear to 20 or perhaps 30 feet to start, going down later to as deep as 55 feet or so. Rig with a big ring “0” dodger, eight to 18 inches of leader, bare red or black hooks, or a 11/2-inch pink hoochie. Add a small piece of raw or cured shrimp or a sand shrimp tail, and douse the works with shrimp oil.
The hoochie can be UV pink, John said, maybe dressed up with a smile blade or a red or pink size 8 or 10 Spin N Glo. John likes dodgers in UV white, UV purple haze, or 50-50.
The dam counts as of July 19 were 9,032 trappoed, and 4,620 transported to the lake. Check out the current trap counts at http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/sockeye/baker_river.html.
Pinks
The big run of odd-year humpies continues to work its way down the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but it’s not here in any numbers yet. State creel checks at the Washington Park public ramp west of Anacortes on Saturday showed 59 anglers with 11 chinook, one coho and 38 pinks. On Sunday, it was 38 anglers with 21 pinks. Those are Fraser and/or Skagit fish which tend to be a little earlier than those headed for Puget Sound tributaries in this area.
Sunday’s count at the Port of Everett ramp was 10 pinks for 390 anglers, most of which were caught incidentally to the ongoing chinook fishery. Weekend checks at Olson’s Resort in Sekiu showed outstanding salmon fishing: 206 anglers with 130 chinook, 10 coho, and 61 pinks.
Local chinook
Gary Krein, owner of All Star Charters in Everett, said that after a very hot couple of opening days, fishing for clipped-fin kings in the Port Townsend area dropped off precipitously, and that Possession Bar remained fairly slow. He said a few fish are being picked up a lot of places — Pilot Point, Point No Point, Possession, Kingston, and Richmond Beach among several others — but that there has been no local hot spot.
State check numbers, however, indicate at least decent local fishing. On July 16, opening day, some 212 anglers at the Port of Everett ramp had 96 kings, 11 coho and three pinks. And last Sunday, it was 390 fishermen with 39 chinook, 10 coho and 10 pinks — still not too bad.
But how long has it been since you’ve seen success rates on adult kings better than a fish per rod? Check this out: On July 16, opening day of the area 9-10 selective chinook fishery, 169 fishermen at the Port Townsend Boat Haven ramp were contacted with 194 chinook. And that’s about as good as it gets around here.
Krein said the scattering of pinks caught already on Possession Bar is encouraging for this early in the season, particularly as they were mostly taken on spoons worked by chinook fishermen. Good-sized humpies, too, he said, some in the 7- to 8-pound range.
Westport open seven days
Marine Area 2 opened July 19 to salmon fishing seven days a week, joining the three other coastal areas already open daily. Angler effort and catch rates are building slowly, but creel checks have not yet broken the one-per-rod figure, according to Wendy Beeghley, creel sample coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The latest Westport numbers showed about one-third chinook and one-half coho per person, Beeghley said.
“That may improve in the next couple of weeks,” Beeghley said. “They’re doing better up north, on fish moving down the coast, and trollers are also reporting more fish.”
Waterfowl outlook
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released its report on 2013 duck breeding populations, and while predictions are for a slightly lower total North American duck population, the numbers remain strong and well above the long-term averages. The report said its survey showed an estimated 45.6 million breeding ducks in the heart of the most important areas in the U.S. and Canada, a six-percent decrease from last year’s estimate but 33 percent above the 1955-2012 average.
Of the 10 species surveyed, seven were similar to last year’s estimates, including mallards. Scaup and blue-winged teal were significantly below last year’s estimates. American wigeon were 23 percent above last year, and mallards are 36 percent above the long-term average.
Neah Bay strong
Best coastal salmon results recently have been at Neah Bay, where anglers are averaging about one fish per rod, equally split between chinook and coho. They have been killing the pinks there, however, and when humpy numbers are added, Neah Bay anglers are scoring at a 1.6-fish-per-person clip.
Cowlitz River
Pretty good steelhead fishing on tap between the hatcheries, where 74 boat anglers last week were checked with 43 fish.
Buoy 10
The lower end of the Columbia opens to chinook and hatchery coho on Aug. 1 but, as usual, fishing probably won’t be close to hot on the opener. Joe Hymer, state biologist in the Vancouver office, said there are a few chinook in the area, but warm water temperatures and a lack of big tides early in the Buoy 10 season will probably tend to keep an improved coho run off the coast.
Hymer looks for fishig to improve, however, over the next few weeks and said the coho numbers look good this year.
The post office has been moving toward curbside and cluster box delivery in new housing areas since the 1970s.
Associated Press
July 25, 2013
WASHINGTON — Americans for generations have come to depend on door-to-door mail delivery. It’s about as American as apple pie.
But with the Postal Service facing billions of dollars in annual losses, the delivery service could be virtually phased out by 2022 under a proposal a House panel was considering Wednesday. Curbside delivery, which includes deliveries to mailboxes at the end of driveways, and cluster box delivery would replace letter carriers slipping mail into front-door boxes.
Letter carrier Diosdado Gabnat moves boxes of mail into his truck at a post office in Seattle.
The proposal is part of broader legislation by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, designed to cut costs at the cash-strapped agency by up to $4.5 billion a year. The Postal Service had a $16 billion loss last year.
The agency has been moving toward curbside and cluster box delivery in new residential developments since the 1970s. The Postal Service in April began deciding whether to provide such delivery for people moving into newly built homes rather than letting the developers decide.
“A balanced approach to saving the Postal Service means allowing USPS to adapt to America’s changing use of mail,” Issa said. “Done right, these reforms can improve the customer experience through a more efficient Postal Service.”
About one in three mail customers has door-to-door delivery, Issa said. The shift would include safe and secure cluster box delivery areas, he said, especially for elderly customers who receive Social Security checks and prescriptions through the mail.
About 30 million residential addresses receive delivery to boxes at the door or a mail slot. Another 87 million residential addresses receive curbside or cluster box delivery.
The cost differences are clear. Curbside delivery costs average $224 per year for each address, while cluster box delivery averages $160. Door-to-door delivery costs the agency about $350 per year, on average.
Sue Brennan, a Postal Service spokeswoman, said, “While converting delivery away from the door to curb or centralized delivery would allow the Postal Service to deliver mail to more addresses in less time, doing so is not included in our five-year plan.”
Brennan said the agency’s five-year plan does call for shifting 20 percent of business address deliveries from door-to-door to curbside and cluster box delivery through 2016.
Rep. Steve Lynch, D-Mass., said the plan to move some 30 million residential addresses from to-the-door to curbside and cluster box service would be virtually impossible in dense urban areas such as his hometown of South Boston crowded with triple-deckers — three apartments stacked on top of each other.
“You’d have to knock houses down in my neighborhood to build cluster boxes,” Lynch said. “This will not work.”
It might work in places like Manhattan with big apartment buildings, he said.
“Look, there’s no availability for cluster boxes in many communities around the country,” Lynch said.
Issa’s plan allows for people with physical hardships to get waivers allowing them to keep door delivery. There’s also a provision giving people the option to keep door delivery by paying a special fee to cover the additional cost.
Issa’s bill also allows the Postal Service to take into account factors such as poverty rates and population density in deciding which areas would be allowed to keep door delivery.
The financially beleaguered Postal Service, an independent agency, gets no tax dollars for its day-to-day operations, but is subject to congressional control.
The Postal Service is pursuing a major restructuring throughout its retail, delivery and mail processing operations. Since 2006, it has reduced annual costs by about $15 billion, cut its workforce by 193,000 or 28 percent, and consolidated more than 200 mail-processing locations.
The service’s losses are largely due to a decline in mail volume and a congressional requirement that it make advance payments to cover expected health care costs for future retirees. About $11.1 billion of last year’s losses were due to payments for future retiree health costs.
The volume of mail handled by the Postal Service has decreased steadily as the popularity of email, Facebook and other electronic services has grown. Total mail volume handled by the agency fell to 160 billion pieces last year from its all-time high, 213.1 billion in 2006. Revenue fell to $65.2 billion last budget year, from a high of $74.9 billion in 2008.
The Postal Service is considering several options to fix its finances, including negotiations with unions to reduce labor costs and another possible increase in prices.
The service earlier this year backpedaled on its plan to end Saturday mail delivery after running into opposition in Congress. It has tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully over the past several years to persuade Congress to approve ending Saturday mail delivery and to free the service from the advance health payments.
By KIRK BOXLEITNER
Marysville Globe Reporter
JULY 24, 2013 · 10:03 AM
EVERETT — Another summer marks another set of complaints about the odors allegedly emanating from Cedar Grove Composting’s Smith Island facility, which was cited for two odor violations on June 6 and another two on June 25 by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.
PSCAA spokesperson Joanne Todd explained that this makes 13 citations in the past five years for Cedar Grove at Smith Island, in addition to four written warnings within that time, although she also noted that the Smith Island composting plant had not received any citations for 2013 until the month of June.
Susan Thoman, director of public affairs for Cedar Grove, added that these PSCAA notices of violation were the first for the Smith Island plant in three years, and reported that their on-site electronic odor monitoring data for June 6 “clearly contradicts” the PSCAA’s findings, by showing no detectable odors leaving the plant during the times cited by those notices.
“We understand the community’s frustrations, and we care deeply about talking to people about them,” Thoman said. “We’ve begun a review of these findings and our data with Puget Sound Clean Air Agency officials, to try and resolve any disagreements.”
As of Monday, July 22, Cedar Grove had yet to receive the two PSCAA violation notices for June 25, and thus, Thoman declined to comment upon them specifically.
Todd acknowledged that Cedar Grove might not necessarily be subject to disciplinary action as a result of the PSCAA notices, especially since the company can choose to appeal them, but she also clarified that the odor complaints are independent from the agency’s ongoing odor study employing “e-noses” from Odotech similar to those already installed by Cedar Grove at Smith Island.
“With complaints, the public calls in bad odors, and our inspectors work to trace those smells back from those residences to their sources,” Todd said. “The Odotech e-noses have nothing to do with those notices of violation. Cedar Grove owns their own e-noses, and we’ve installed a number of e-noses in other locations to help scientifically identify the source of the odor that so many people in Marysville and North Everett have smelled, but we’re not using them for compliance.”
Todd elaborated that the data from those 10 e-noses will be combined with observations from trained area residents, meteorological factors and other information after the study wraps up, which Todd expects will occur around November of this year.
“It’s going to give us a ton of data, which will take a lot longer than a month to go through,” Todd said.
In the meantime, Thoman relayed the number of positive comments she’s received from the community about Cedar Grove’s composting work, while urging the public to consider the other potential sources of the odor, and Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring reiterated his concerns about the PSCAA study.
“We were always opposed to the e-noses,” Nehring said. “Cedar Grove had a contract with Odotech before the study started, so we believed they would be a bit biased, and our Public Works Director Kevin Nielsen pointed out that the e-noses are not qualified to deal with compost because they can only pick up very defined odors. We don’t have any illusions that the e-noses will say that Cedar Grove is the culprit behind the odor, but without even saying for certain where the odor is coming from, we just want it to away, and we think Cedar Grove could help out with that.”
If enough people give Matika Wilbur’s newly released recent TEDx talk the thumbs-up on YouTube, TED will feature it on the main TED site. Mainframing Matika. Check it out and see if you want to support.
IDABEL, OK — The FBI is investigating the death and possible sexual assault of a 2-year-old on tribal land in McCurtain County, authorities said Wednesday.
The toddler, whose name was not released, died about noon Tuesday near Idabel, FBI Special Agent Rick Rains said. Because the death occurred on land in trust for a tribe, the FBI has jurisdiction in the case, Rains said.
No arrests have been made and no charges have been filed, but authorities are questioning a potential suspect who was being held on unrelated charges, Rains said.
PEMBROKE, NC – The Lumbee Tribal Council is threatening to shut down its government if the administration continues refusing to share financial information with the council.
The council last week requested a ledger of all checks written since fiscal 2012 after discovering that Chairman Paul Brooks had purchased land beside a Lumberton golf course.
Brooks refused to hand over the ledger identifying the names of who the checks were made out, sending a letter to the council saying it would break the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
The council met again Tuesday to discuss the matter and the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, and it once again met with resistance from the administration in requests for financial information.
Councilwoman Louise Mitchell said the council was entitled by law to itemized information, including the breakdown of employees’ salaries by job title, equipment and furniture to be purchased, travel expenditures, and legal and consultant services.
Mitchell said the information should have been provided before the meeting, but was not.
Councilwoman Danita Locklear made a motion that the council adjourn budget discussions until all requested financial information has been revealed to the council.
If not done in a timely manner, Locklear said, the council should contact the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which allocates nearly 90 percent, or about $12 million, of the tribe’s annual budget.
Mitchell’s motion received unanimous support.
“Why are we wasting our time?” Councilman Terry Campbell said. “I say, ‘No ledger. No budget.’ I don’t intend to come to another meeting and ask questions that people already have the answers to.”
Tribal administrator Tony Hunt told the council that the land at Pine Crest Village, which, according to deed records, was purchased for $36,000 by Lumbee Land Development, was not purchased with funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, but rather with money from a separate economic development venture.
It was further revealed during the meeting that Brooks submitted the tribe’s Indian Housing Plan, a pre-budget of sorts, to HUD without its approval or authorization.
Hunt, who is tasked with day-to-day operations of the tribe, said the plan had to be submitted by July 18, or the tribe risked jeopardizing its nearly $12 million allocation for the ensuing fiscal year.
Councilwoman Mitchell said the council has to pass a resolution authorizing Brooks to send the plan, which never happened.
Hunt said Brooks has the authority to submit it himself.
In the plan, Brooks requests HUD’s approval for an expenditure of $800,000 for a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, Hunt said after being questioned by the council. The center is to be managed by Brooks’ brother.
Council members said last week that Brooks had asked the council to approve the expenditure in the current year’s budget. They denied the request.
The council also questioned Hunt about the personal use of tribal vehicles. Hunt said he, Brooks and a member of the maintenance staff drive vehicles home. Hunt said he used his own car for personal use.
Tribal Councilmen Larry Chavis said he has seen Brooks driving his tribal vehicle “anywhere and everywhere.”
“The chairman is using this as his personal piggy bank,” said McDuffie Cummings, the council’s finance committee chairman. “It’s got to stop. If we don’t get that ledger, we will not fund this Indian Housing Plan.”
Although there was no opposition to getting the requested information, not all council members were on board with the idea of closing the Turtle, as the tribe is known.
“I would never go along with shutting this tribe down,” Councilman Terry Hunt said. “That wouldn’t hurt us or the administration. That hurts our people.”
As a mixed-race indigenous woman, I’ve had to dispel quite a few myths about what it means to be Native American in this day and age. Many of these myths are used to either insult me, my community, and my family, whether knowingly or unknowingly; or exoticize me (really, I am not amused when you say I look like Pocahontas). My mother has been asked if she was an American citizen — because apparently you cannot be part of a tribe and a U.S. citizen simultaneously? — and has even been told that there are no “full-blooded” or even “half” native people left in the United States, despite the fact my mother was proof that very statement was false. Many young natives I know have also been made uncomfortable over incessant questions regarding everything from sweat lodges to scalping, headdresses, peyote, and why so many natives have “Mexican” last names (answer: missionaries).
I know that there’s a great deal of misinformation about indigenous American culture, that often leads to a number of assumptions. Indigenous people, I promise, are not like what you see on television or in the movies. While there are a number of extremely detrimental stereotypes surrounding indigenous people in the U.S. (see also:The Lone Ranger), here are the three I have encountered most often.
Myth: American Indians get college, medical care, and everything for free.
Reality: This is at the top of the list because there are so many things incredibly wrong with the above statement. I usually hear this coupled with statements about how I have it so much better than middle-class white kids because I was born brown, but this is incredibly untrue. The only native people in the U.S. who really benefit from any sort of educational or medical aid (at least at the federal level, because there are state-level programs that help impoverished indigenous communities) are federally recognized, meaning they are an acknowledged tribe by the U.S. government and have a government-to-government relationship. Tribes that are not recognized federally — despite the existence of treaties entered into by the government and tribal leaders — do not benefit from many of these social programs. Federal recognition is “earned” by meeting several standards which prove continued existence as a tribe and continued governance over the collective group. However, with a history of violence, forced assimilation, Indian boarding schools, and racial injustice, many tribes cannot meet such standards.
This isn’t just about social programs, though — that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s about the fact that people are being told outright that their community has either never existed in the first place, or that if they did, they are now extinct. As someone who is part of a tribe unrecognized by the federal government , there is nothing more discouraging then looking through pages and pages of financial aid for American Indian students and seeing that you do not qualify for any solely because the U.S. government has continually failed to honor the people it displaced. But then again, I guess we can only expect as much from a country founded on the systematic destruction of an entire people.
Myth: All indigenous people practice the same religion, have the same culture, and speak the same language.
Reality: Most Americans seem only to be familiar with Southwestern indigenous culture and fail to recognize the diversity that exists within native communities. My family’s roots are in the Pacific Northwest, so our traditional diet consisted of fish, berries, and other vegetation. We were a whaling community, our clothes look quite different because of the natural shift in climate and geography, we did not wear the headdresses or war bonnets that people so often associate with indigenous people, and we did not live in teepees or hunt bison. Our music is deeper in tone, and our dances our different. The culture of the Southwest is beautiful, but it just isn’t mine — modern Seattle is different from Little Rock, so what makes you think they would have been the same 300 years ago?
Myth: Indigenous people were historically peaceful and tribes tended to get along.
Reality: Um…no. People are people, and tribal governments are still governments. There was still war, there was still bloodshed, and there was and remains a great deal of animosity between certain tribal groups.When we buy into these stereotypes and misconceptions, we actually fail to recognize the complexity of intertribal relationships. I’m not sure why people seem to think that indigenous people lived in an alternative universe of hippie-free-love, nonviolence, and socialism, but I’ve rolled my eyes so many times at this caricature, that I’m pretty sure they’re stuck in the back of my skull.
It’s important to recognize and dispel these myths because their continuation only creates a static image of a community that is anything but uniform. The indigenous community within the U.S. is incredibly complex, with its own political structure in relation to the federal and state governments, as well as varied culturally. Recognizing the intricacies of an oftentimes ignored community is important to support and appreciate all that indigenous people can and do offer to their country.
Brooks refused to hand over the ledger identifying the names of who the checks were made out, sending a letter to the council saying it would break the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
