Category: Local News

Fawn Sharp Re-Elected Quinault President: ‘We are Headed for Success’

Fawn Sharp: "Challenges, by definition, are obstacles that can be met and overcome."
Fawn Sharp: “Challenges, by definition, are obstacles that can be met and overcome.”

 

Indian Country Today

Many challenges still present for the Quinault Indian Nation. That was the message Fawn Sharp presented to tribal members on March 29 following her re-election to a fourth term as President of the Nation.

She spoke about federal funding cutbacks to the impacts of climate change and subsequent relocation needs. “But challenges, by definition, are obstacles that can be met and overcome, and as we do overcome them we will grow.”

The Quinault Nation of 3,000 people sits on more than 208,000 acres of land in the southwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state.

The Nation has been working tirelessly to stay in front of climate change. Sharp has continuously been among the most vocal voices in regards to Native communities, like her own, who are dealing with rising sea levels, loss of irrigation, and more.

RELATED: Climate Disruptions Hitting More and More Tribal Nations

“People should never think they live in some form of protected bubble, or that they can ignore the environment and get along just fine,” Sharp recently said in an interview with ICTMN following her appearance before the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee on March 24.

RELATED: Fawn Sharp Discusses Steps to Stemming the Tide of Climate Change

Her reelection capped the tribe’s annual two-day General Council Meeting that also saw Tyson Johnston, vice-president, Larry Ralston, treasurer, Latosha Underwood, secretary and Gina James, first council, winning their elections.

Sharp’s speech to the tribe was not all about obstacles ahead though. She highlighted a variety of assets, qualities and opportunities the tribe and its members possess. Among those assets were natural resources, courage and vision. “With courage and vision, we are headed for success. Why? Because we are Quinault,” she said.

Economic self-reliance was a highlight of her speech. She commended the tribe for its consistent move towards the goal of self-reliance from the tribal owned businesses to individual tribal free enterprise. Quinault Indian Nation is the largest employer in Grays Harbor County. With economic diversity that spans the Quinault Casino and Resort, tribal stores, wood chip manufacturing, dock services, gas stations, and tribal staff. Total employment sits around 3,000 people. Not to mention the various businesses owned by tribal members that is showing a steady increase as well, with the assistance of tribal training, licensing and natural resource management.

The Quinault Indian Nation has an eleven member governing body known as the Quinault Business Committee which Sharp presides over. Tribal members are democratically elected by the adult tribal membership, or general council, to serve three-year staggered terms.

Members of the QBC are seen as constitutional officers who hold the responsibility of making sure the service and performance of numerous tribal departments – social services, health care and education, road maintenance, natural resources management and emergency services – operates accordingly.

Sharp has a J.D. from the University of Washington, School of Law; advanced certificate in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Among her many roles, Sharp serves as President of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and Northwest Regional Vice President of the National Congress of American Indians.

She resides on the Quinault Indian Reservation at Lake Quinault with her husband Dan Malvini and sons Daniel, Aljah, and Jonas, and daughter, Chiara.

Johnston, previously the first council, will be serving in his first term as vice president. He says he hopes to follow through on issues of concern raised by the General Council and supporting President Sharp in overcoming the obstacles the nation faces.

Ralston will be serving his third term as tribal treasurer. He says he looks forward to the challenges ahead and community interactions.

James has held various positions on the council over the last 11 years and will be filling the remaining two years of the first council position. “I look forward to developing changes in our Education & TERO programs along with Treaty right protections,” she said

Underwood enters her third term as tribal secretary. She said, “The Quinault people spoke loud and clear on the direction they want to go and the improvements they want to see. Their voices were definitely heard and I will do my best to fulfill their wishes.”

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/04/18/fawn-sharp-re-elected-quinault-president-we-are-headed-success-160017

Art Talk: We Got Styles!

Conversations on Northwest Native Art

David Boxley. Photo davidboxley.com.
David Boxley.
Photo davidboxley.com.

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

Over the weekend of March 27-29, the University of Washington held ArtTalk: Conversations on Northwest Native Art. The event was free for all to attend and join leading scholars and Native American/First Nations artists as they presented and discussed current trends and recent research on the distinctive art traditions of our region. They examined the last fifty years of Northwest Coast art, as marked by the 50th anniversary volume of Bill Holm’s influential book, Northwest Coast Indian Art: Analysis of Form, and look forward to the next fifty years in an art form that is just as thriving and innovative as the cultures it stems from.

So what’s the point of studying all the northwest coast styles? Most objects were removed from their sources and were not well documented. They often reside in museum collections with little to no documentation, or documentation that is misleading or incorrect. The pure analysis of forms of objects that have been removed from their cultural context is precisely so that these objects can be reconnected with their cultures. By studying styles it’s possible to determine where on the coast an object originated. Sometimes being able to determine with some certainty who the artist was and what their names were even when documentation is missing or incorrect.

The symposium began on Friday, March 27 at 7:00 p.m. with a keynote program by Dr. Robin Wright and artists Qwalsius Shaun Peterson (Puyallup/Tulalip) and David R. Boxley (Tsimshian) discussing the past 50 years of Northwest Coast Native art, including the impact of Bill Holm’s influential book.

Boxley has spent his life researching and practicing northern Northwest Coast style, the Tsimshian language and dance, and in particular the subtleties and variations of the Tsimshian art style he has come to master. Boxley just returned from Juneau, Alaska where he and his father, David A. Boxley, have installed the first fully carved and painted Tsimshian house-front in modern time. It is one of the largest, if not the largest, carved-and-painted Tsimshian house front in the world.

“If the art is going to move forward then we have to get back to where it was when it got stuck,” says Boxley, referring to the period that Native American culture was banned when the missionaries and boarding schools took root. “Once we can understand, to the best of our abilities, how things went together before that era then whatever comes next will be the natural progression. So the art, this very visual thing that our people could grab onto and be proud of, is what led to the revival of our culture. Now that the art has reached the point where quality is really being pushed, maintaining a certain quality that the collections market pushed to create, we’ve really been able to bring a lot of our culture back.

“The thing for us now is to make sure it’s attached to what we are doing culturally. Because the art nearly preceded our modern cultural practices, we now have to assign meaning and the depth of it all into our everyday lives. It’s been a really long journey and something I am very honored to be a part of it. We all find reasons to do what we do. There’s the pride we feel in reclaiming what belongs to us, and then there’s the simple things like knowing if we work hard our ancestors will be proud of us.”

 

Shaun Peterson Photo nativex.com.
Shaun Peterson
Photo nativex.com.

 

Peterson is a Puyallup and Tulalip artist who carves, paints and works in many forms in digital media. Peterson is a pivotal figure in contemporary Coast Salish art traditions, and has major installations throughout the Northwest, ranging from works created in wood, glass and metal. Just last month Peterson was chosen by Seattle Office of Arts & Culture for the tribal commission on the new Seattle waterfront. Peterson is also a founding member of the Bill Holm Center’s advisory board and in 2014 published an essay titled Coast Salish Design: an anticipated southern analysis.

“I’ve studied Salish artwork very intently now for twenty years, and having these intense conversations with masters of their craft. It’s through those conversations, the oral tradition of our culture, looking at things and observing these things that have been so important in sustaining and advancing our culture,” Peterson says of stretching the limits of styles and breaking out of limitations and expectations while honoring our ancestors. “Our culture reflects and informs what we make. There are fewer examples of southern Northwest Coast work because for a very long time our art was strictly created for ceremony and inner-tribal use, not for collecting and public consumption. What’s changed in the last fifteen to twenty years is that our people are more free to create work in the public realm and as more artists master their craft the boundaries of what we know to be traditional guidelines will continue to be pushed.”

 

To see the stunning visual displays that these two well renowned Native American artists, please visit their websites:

Shaun Peterson, http://www.qwalsius.com/

David R. Boxley, http://davidrobertboxley.com/

 

Contact Micheal Rios, mrios@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov

Shaun Peterson, Puyallup, Tapped to Make Public Art on Seattle Waterfront

The 'Welcome Figure,' spuy'elepebS near Tollefson Plaza, Tacoma, Washington, created by Shaun Peterson.
The ‘Welcome Figure,’ spuy’elepebS near Tollefson Plaza, Tacoma, Washington, created by Shaun Peterson.

 

Indian Country Today

 

Shaun Peterson, Puyallup, has been selected for a commission on the Seattle Waterfront. Peterson’s art is a showcase of Coast Salish traditions for the modern world, and he’s experienced in creating public installations. After the announcement, he took to his blog at Qwalsius.com:

I wouldn’t have foreseen this coming if you had asked me but it is here and it is now. I hope to make the most of this opportunity and showcase that Coast Salish culture is alive and well. That it is deserving of the land on which it comes from and that it will, as all art does, adapt to the world around it and will continue to thrive as long as the people exist in its region. As Chief Sealth once said long, when people believe our people have vanished we will be among you… something like that, I’m paraphrasing of course but the gist is, my art and others of Coast Salish heritage are making public works that will continue to be standing long after we have gone, and there is something to say for that. Today, I am overjoyed with the task ahead of me.

Below are a video portrait of Peterson, examples of his public art, and the full press release from the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture:

Artist biography Qwalsius – Shaun Peterson from Shaun Peterson on Vimeo.

 

Salmon Continuum Bus Shelter, Tacoma Washington, by Shaun Peterson
Salmon Continuum Bus Shelter, Tacoma Washington, by Shaun Peterson

 

 

Welcome Figure, spuy'elepebS near Tollefson Plaza, Tacoma, Washington, by Shaun Peterson.
Welcome Figure, spuy’elepebS near Tollefson Plaza, Tacoma, Washington, by Shaun Peterson.

 

 

Welcome Figure (night), spuy'elepebS near Tollefson Plaza, Tacoma, Washington, by Shaun Peterson.
Welcome Figure (night), spuy’elepebS near Tollefson Plaza, Tacoma, Washington, by Shaun Peterson.

 

 

Killer Whale (Aluminum), Puyallup Tribal Health Authority, Tacoma, Washington, by Shaun Peterson.
Killer Whale (Aluminum), Puyallup Tribal Health Authority, Tacoma, Washington, by Shaun Peterson.

 

 

From the Natural World, Puyallup Tribe Elders Building, Tacoma, Washingto, by Shaun Peterson.
From the Natural World, Puyallup Tribe Elders Building, Tacoma, Washingto, by Shaun Peterson.

 

 

SEATTLE (March 25, 2015) — The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture is pleased to announce that artist Shaun Peterson, of Milton, WA, has been selected for a commission on the Seattle Waterfront. Peterson is a pivotal figure in contemporary Coast Salish art traditions, and is a member of the Puyallup tribe. He has major installations throughout the Northwest, ranging from works created in wood, glass and metal.

“This is an historic opportunity to have an artwork by a Native artist on our Waterfront,” says Mayor Murray. “Peterson’s artwork will be a tribute to the cultural significance of the waterfront to the Coast Salish first peoples and our city. The waterfront will finally reflect the origins of our vibrant City and also the many peoples who made this region what it is today—one of the fastest growing in the nation.”

This commission, undertaken in partnership with the Office of the Waterfront and Seattle Department of Transportation, sought an artist to create an artwork that recognizes the tribal peoples of this regionfor Seattle’s Central Waterfront project. Peterson will work with the city and its design team to develop a site-specific artwork or artist designed space that reflects the Coast Salish tribes that have a historic connection to this territory. The budget for the project, inclusive of artist fees, is $250,000.

“Seattle is named after our Coast Salish Chief, and in honor of that I hope that my work will demonstrate that Native art is not static,” says Peterson. “Our people are part of this land and its history, but most importantly we are part of the present. The art I create will aim to communicate that, and in the process, create space for dialogue.”

“Shaun’s work embraces new interpretations of traditional designs, and his facility in blending both the traditional tribal art forms along with contemporary elements and materials makes him the ideal artist to envision the Coast Salish presence on the waterfront,” says Ruri Yampolsky, Public Art Program Director. “We are incredibly excited to have Peterson create a permanent artwork that will be reflective of the Coast Salish peoples and the region.”

Waterfront Seattle is the large-scale project to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with 26 acres of new public space, streets, parks, and buildings. The public piers will be rebuilt as part of the Seawall Bond passed by voters in 2012. Peterson’s first major public installation was a 37 foot story pole for Chief Leschi School in 1996; it was quickly followed by commissions in Tacoma and Seattle, Washington.  He continues to explore the future possibilities of indigenous art traditions.

Peterson joins artists Cedric Bomford, Ann Hamilton, Norie Sato, Buster Simpson, Oscar Tuazon and Stephen Vitiello in creating a permanent artwork which will transform the waterfront. This roster of diverse artists will help to create a sense of place on the renewed waterfront that will act as an invitation to residents and visitors alike.

About Shaun Peterson
Shaun Peterson is a pivotal figure in the revival of Coast Salish art traditions. An enrolled member of the Puyallup tribe, and also affiliated with the Tulalip tribe, Peterson carries the name Qwalsius, originally carried by his great grandfather, Lawrence Williams. The name has been translated in two possible meanings as the Lushootseed language spoken by many Western Washington tribes has become scarce. The first translation is “Painted Face” and the second is “Traveling to the face of Enlightenment.”

Peterson is a Native American artist producing work that is a continuation of the ancient art of the Northwest Coast first peoples. While knowledgeable and invested in diverse tribal styles and applications, his focus and expertise is the art of the Southern regions that encompass the many tribes of Western Washington and Southern British Columbia known as Salish territory. Shaun’s artistic career began under the guidance of key mentors in the field of Northwest Coast art including master artists Steve Brown, Greg Colfax (Makah), George David (Nuu-chah-nulth), and Loren White.

Selection panel members and advisors:

Panelists
Tina Jackson, Cultural Activities Coordinator/ Kate Ahvakana, Suquamish Tribe
Barbara Brotherton, curator of Native American Art, Seattle Art Museum
Patti Gobin, Tulalip Tribes
Candice Hopkins, curator, University of New Mexico, Carcross/Tagish
Warren KingGeorge, historian, Muckleshoot Tribe
Cary Moon, urban designer
Eric Robertson, artist, Métis/Gitksan

Advisors
Heather Johnson-Jock, artist and Tribal Council Secretary, S’Klallam Tribe
Guy Michaelson, Berger Partnership
Steve Pearce, Office of the Waterfront
Tracy Rector, Seattle Art Commission
Denise Stiffarm, Urban Indians, Gros Ventre (A’aninin/White Clay)
Ken Workman, Duwamish Tribe
Nicole Willis, Tribal Relations Director, Office of Intergovernmental Relations

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Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/04/03/shaun-peterson-puyallup-tapped-make-public-art-seattle-waterfront-159871

Beavers Star in Tribes’ Fish, Water Conservation Project

Chris Thomas, Public News Service – WA, April 6, 2015

SEATTLE – Sometimes moving to a new neighborhood is the best choice for everyone. That’s the theory behind a research project by the Tulalip Tribes of Washington to relocate beaver families. The critters have become a nuisance in the lowlands but in higher elevations, their hard work can benefit the entire Snohomish watershed.

Ben Dittbrenner is a graduate student of University of Washington Environmental and Forestry Sciences and he’s working with the Tribes to trap and move beavers and study the effects of their dam-building. When less snow is predicted with a changing climate, he says a beaver dam is just the right type of eco-friendly barrier to moderate spring runoff.

“It will just flow right down to Puget Sound and it won’t stay in the system for more than a couple days,” says Dittbrenner. “But if we can trap it high up in the watershed, we can keep it there for months and hopefully continue to keep those systems healthier for a longer period of time.”

This will be the second year for the project. Dittbrenner says one family’s big dam in the pond that is its new home has raised the water level by four feet.

Jason Schilling, the Tribes’ wildlife biologist, says beaver dams are engineering marvels, holding back sediment and creating more complex stream systems and good habitat for fish feeding and spawning. In this part of Washington, he says that’s especially important.

“The Snohomish ecosystem is the second-largest salmon-producing system in Puget Sound and there are some limiting factors for salmon production, the biggest ones are water temperature and sedimentation,” says Schilling. “It just so happens that beavers are very good at fixing those problems.”

Relocation starts again in June. The goal is to trap and move at least ten families. Schilling explains beavers tend to stick together as family units and are more likely to settle into an area and get to work if they arrive together.

The project is one of 22 conservation projects across the country, among 13 Native American Tribes, to receive grant funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

 

Seals, Sea Lions Slowing Salmon Recovery

“Being Frank”

By Lorraine Loomis, Chair, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

A population explosion of harbor seals and sea lions along the Washington coast and in Puget Sound is interfering with recovery of weak salmon and steelhead stocks, threatening tribal treaty rights and posing increasing threats to public safety throughout our region.

At the root of the problem is the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972, a well-intentioned law that was needed at the time, but today has led to unintended consequences.

Tribes historically lived in balance with marine mammals, salmon and all other elements of the environment. But commercial hunting and state-directed control measures had driven down many West Coast marine mammal populations by the time the MMPA became law.

Today their populations are healthy and growing steadily. Since the 1950s, California sea lions have increased from about 10,000 to more than 300,000. Harbor seal populations along the Washington and Oregon coasts have grown from about 3,000 to 40,000. West Coast Steller sea lions numbered about 18,000 in 1979; today there are about 80,000.

But while harbor seal and sea lion populations have steadily increased over the past four decades, the opposite is true for many salmon and steelhead stocks in western Washington, which continue to steadily decline.

No one is claiming that the increase in harbor seals and California sea lions is the main reason for the loss of salmon and steelhead. We know that the cause is ongoing loss and destruction of salmon habitat.

Still, the increasing loss of salmon and steelhead to seals and sea lions sends ripples through the whole marine ecosystem. Harbor seals and sea lions can eat from about 10 to more than 100 pounds of fish every day. While they eat other fish too, their impacts can be significant to the weakest salmon and steelhead stocks we are trying to protect and restore.

That means there are fewer salmon and steelhead available for others species that depend on the ocean ecosystem. Threatened orcas, for example, must compete for salmon – their preferred food – with steadily growing seal and sea lion populations and steadily shrinking salmon populations.

As the salmon decline, the fishing rights of the Salmon People – the treaty Indian tribes in western Washington – are increasingly threatened. Our treaty-reserved rights depend on salmon being available for harvest.

As seal and sea lion populations increase, so do their encounters with humans, especially fishermen. Experts at stealing fish from nets and fishing lines, they have been seen taking fish right out of boats tied up to the dock. In many marinas, sea lions lay claim to docks, causing thousands in damage and lost revenue and threatening anyone who gets too close.

With each encounter they become less afraid of people and more aggressive, putting fishermen and everyone else at increased risk. Control measures – such as rubber bullets and firecrackers – just don’t work because seals and sea lions quickly learn to avoid or ignore them.

Federal government action is long overdue to address the problems being caused by the overpopulation of harbor seals and sea lions in Washington marine waters. One encouraging recent development is the Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act introduced by U.S. Reps. Jamie Herrera Beutler of Washington and Kurt Schrader of Oregon. The act would streamline the current lengthy process for state and tribal natural resources managers on the Columbia River to remove problem animals if attempts to chase them off are unsuccessful. That is a good step in the right direction. We must reduce the added pressure that these marine mammals are putting on these already diminished resources. We must focus our management efforts on the resources that need the most protection.

Harbor seal and sea lion populations must be brought back into balance with the reality of today’s ecosystems, which cannot support their steadily increasing numbers. We need to focus our efforts on protecting and restoring habitat to successfully recover salmon populations so we can have both sustainable strong runs of wild salmon and healthy marine mammal populations.

 

 

New VA Facility In Seattle Will Focus On Mental Health And Research

By PATRICIA MURPHY & LISA BROOKS, KUOW

 

deptvetaffairs

 

 

VA Puget Sound broke ground on a new mental health and research facility Wednesday.

It’s the first new structure on the VA’s Seattle campus since 1988.

At the groundbreaking, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said it’s an encouraging step toward serving the growing number of veterans who need care.

“Our country has fallen short of its solemn responsibility. But I am very proud that when this center opens, more of our veterans in Washington state will have access to the quality mental health care that they so deeply deserve,” Murray said.

Murray said 22,000 vets sought treatment locally for mental health issues last year. That’s an 8 percent increase from the year before.

The new structure is expected to be completed in 2017 and will hold several hundred staff members and researchers. That includes more doctors to see more patients.

Peaceful place helps keep MP shooting victim’s memory alive

Mark Mulligan / The HeraldGia Soriano's cousins, 11-year-old Gabby (left) and 14-year-old Titan (middle), with Gia's brother, 11-year-old Anthony Soriano, on a memorial bench Gia's grandmother, Elaine, had installed in Legion Park in Everett. Gia Soriano was killed in the shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School last year. The family will celebrate Gia's birthday at the park on March 31.
Mark Mulligan / The Herald
Gia Soriano’s cousins, 11-year-old Gabby (left) and 14-year-old Titan (middle), with Gia’s brother, 11-year-old Anthony Soriano, on a memorial bench Gia’s grandmother, Elaine, had installed in Legion Park in Everett. Gia Soriano was killed in the shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School last year. The family will celebrate Gia’s birthday at the park on March 31.

 

By Andrea Brown, The Herald

 

EVERETT — This Tuesday would have been Gia Soriano’s 15th birthday.

Her name should be on a learner’s permit. Instead, it’s on a memorial park bench.

Gia Christine Soriano was among the four students fatally shot by a classmate in the Marysville Pilchuck High School cafeteria on Oct. 24. She died two days later.

A bench was recently installed in her honor in Everett’s Legion Memorial Park, overlooking Port Gardner Bay.

It’s a place where her family, her friends and the community can come to remember the sweet girl with the radiant smile.

An intimate birthday gathering is planned March 31 at the bench, which sits about 100 feet from Gia’s paternal grandparents’ home bordering the park.

“When Gia died, I thought right away we are going to get a bench,” said grandmother Elaine Soriano, who led the project. “I know how much people enjoy coming for the view. I wanted it to be close to my house, so when I get old I can still get to the bench.”

She ordered the bench from Everett Parks and Recreation Department and paid the $3,500 herself. Donations reimbursed her the cost.

Many of Gia’s close relatives live in Everett, where the family has strong ties.

“I drive by here all the time on my way to work,” said Gia’s father, Bryan Soriano, a longshoreman like his father. “At first it was hard that it was here. You show up and it’s real. It just reminds you. Just like going to the cemetery is hard, too. It’s still fresh.”

Embedded in the concrete base of the bench is a tiny silver angel. A plaque has an inscription with Gia’s initials framing the sentence: “God’s Incredible Angel.”

The bench is a bittersweet monument.

 

Mark Mulligan / The HeraldElaine Soriano worked with Everett Parks & Recreation to install a memorial bench for her granddaughter Gia Soriano at Legion Memorial Park in Everett.
Mark Mulligan / The Herald
Elaine Soriano worked with Everett Parks & Recreation to install a memorial bench for her granddaughter Gia Soriano at Legion Memorial Park in Everett.

 

“It gives some solid ground to how we’re feeling,” said Gia’s mother, Susan Soriano. “It’s a statement and it’s here for life, where she isn’t.”

The park is a calm spot with a backdrop of sparkling waves and multicolored skies.

“A soft-spoken place for a soft-spoken girl,” her mom said. “Because that’s what she was, so I think it’s perfect.”

The bench looks festive, with big shiny bows and colorful flowers.

It contrasts with the aching void that family members face trying to cope with the loss of Gia and the violent way her life was taken from them.

“Everything is different now,” said Gia’s mom.

“Everything is hard,” said Gia’s aunt, Gay Soriano. “I was registering my son Titan for high school the other day and I just started bawling in a room full of people. You can’t get it out of your head. It’s turned everything and everybody upside down.”

“It ruined our family,” said Gay’s daughter, 11-year-old Gabby, who idolized Gia. “It made a gap and it did that to the other families, too. It makes me really angry and mad and sad.”

Gabby sees a grief counselor and speaks openly about her anguish and anger.

“The boys, on the other hand, I worry about,” Gay Soriano said. “Boys don’t say much. They’re thinking about it. They just don’t verbalize it like Gabby.”

After the photo session on the bench, Titan and Gia’s brother, Anthony, 11, raced around the park and climbed a tree.

Gabby soon joined them, wearing Gia’s gray “PINK” sweatshirt.

Gia’s gravesite is in Evergreen Cemetery.

“My daughter and I go to the cemetery a lot,” Gay Soriano said. “This is a better place for people in the community and her friends from school to gather and remember her. It’s more of a grounding place. Where it’s located and how the sun sets on it every day is kind of a special thing.”

 

Mark Mulligan / The HeraldEmbedded in the concrete base of the bench is a tiny silver angel. A plaque has an inscription with Gia's initials framing the sentence: “God's Incredible Angel.”
Mark Mulligan / The Herald
Embedded in the concrete base of the bench is a tiny silver angel. A plaque has an inscription with Gia’s initials framing the sentence: “God’s Incredible Angel.”

 

Elaine Soriano and her husband, John, a retired longshoreman, moved to the house adjacent to the park 25 years ago. They wanted a place for the generations to gather. It didn’t get better than having a park right outside the door to play and picnic.

Gia’s dad, Bryan, is the youngest of the couple’s six children. All graduated from Everett High School, as did Elaine and John.

“Giovanni” is John’s birth name, but he got it legally changed when he was 12 for something less Italian and more mainstream.

“All the kids think Giovanni was a neat great name,” Elaine Soriano said. “So Gia was going to be Giovanni if she was a boy.”

There are other memorial benches in the park, but Gia’s is closest to their home.

The grandmother picked the spot. “We’d have leaf fights and walk through the puddles over there, and just run around,” she said. “We had so much fun.”

Elaine Soriano laments it was supposed to be her name on the bench, not her granddaughter’s. “I always told my children I would like a bench in the park,” she said.

The park bench helps her carry on. “Gia would say, ‘Ohhh, this is neat.’”

It’s in plain view from her living room. She keeps tabs on who’s visiting the bench and freshens the flowers. When she’s not home, an angel statue faces out the window to keep watch.

“I’m going to get a little cute mailbox and let people leave a note for Anthony. Or Grandma Elaine,” she said. “A metal mailbox to hang on the side of the bench. I guess I have to ask the parks department first. I’ll tell them I’ll just tie it on with ribbon.”

The house is a shrine to Gia, with pillows and ribbons in purple, the teen’s favorite color, and numerous photos of her stages of life. A favorite is of Gia in her dress at the homecoming dance days before the shooting.

“We have 15 grandchildren,” Elaine Soriano said.

She includes Gia in the count.

Gia’s childhood drawings and Baptismal dress hang along the hallway. She is ever-present.

The park bench on Alverson Boulevard is about a mile from Providence Regional Medical Center Everett where Gia was rushed after the shooting that ended hers and the other young lives at the lunch table that day. Zoe Galasso, 14, Andrew Fryberg, 15, and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, also died, as did the shooter, 15-year-old Jaylen Fryberg, who killed himself. Nate Hatch, 15, is the only survivor. All the victims were shot in the head.

“There was nothing they could do. We knew that from day one. They gave it to us straight up,” Gia’s father said.

During their bedside vigil at Providence, her mother showed Everett neurosurgeon Dr. Sanford Wright Gia’s school homecoming photo.

“I wanted him to see what she looked like,” she said, “because she looked so different in the hospital.”

The parents praise the medical team.

“We couldn’t have been in a better place. I’m glad we didn’t end up down in Seattle,” Bryan Soriano said.

“The reason we kept her alive for a few more days was for her organs. We’re glad we donated the organs because we got a letter that was just beautiful. It told us where all her organs went. It didn’t say who, their names, it just said their gender and age and what they received. Her liver. Her kidney. Her lungs. A 10-year-old got her corneas, so he can see now.

“They couldn’t use her heart. That would have been the best thing to give somebody, was her heart.”

 

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.

 

 

Friends of Peace Scholarship

A scholarship at Everett High School has been established in memory of Gia Soriano and Zoe Galasso, two students killed Oct. 24 in the Marysville Pilchuck High School shootings.

The Friends of Peace Scholarship was created by friends and former teachers in honor of the students’ parents, Bryan and Susan Soriano and Michael and Michelle Galasso. The Sorianos and Michelle Galasso are alumni of Everett High.

The scholarship will be granted to an Everett High graduating senior who has overcome a traumatic life experience and who is interested in pursuing more education after high school.

The scholarship will be managed by the Everett Public Schools Foundations. Donations may be sent to Everett Public Schools Foundation, P.O. Box 3112, Everett, WA 98213 or online at epsfoundation.org, referencing the Friends of Peace Scholarship.

For more information, send email to jlevin@everettsd.org or call 425-385-4693.

Veterans Gather to Honor One Another in Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Celebration

 

Retiring of the flags is performed by veterans during the, Sunday, March 29, 2015, Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Celebration held at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Retiring of the flags is performed by veterans during the, Sunday, March 29, 2015, Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Celebration held at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)

By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

TULALIP – A celebration was held today at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club to mark the national ‘Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day.’

Due to the unpopularity of the conflict, veterans returning home were often forgotten and abused, suffering years of post stress disorder. In 2011, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution to provide Vietnam veterans a proper welcome home.  March 30, the day all U.S. troops and support-troops withdrew from Vietnam, was designated a national day of welcome. The resolution authored by North Carolina senator Richard Burr called the resolution, “a day to give our Vietnam veterans a warm, long-overdue welcome home.”

A friendship round dance is performed by attendees to the, Sunday, March 29, 2015, Welcome Home Vietnam Celebration held at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
A friendship round dance is performed by attendees to the, Sunday, March 29, 2015, Welcome Home Vietnam Celebration held at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)

On March 30, 1973, all U.S. troops withdrew from Vietnam under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. More than 58,000 members of the United States Armed Forces had lost their lives while more than 300,000 were wounded during the conflict.

Today veterans in the Tulalip community came together to celebrate all the veterans who returned home and to honor those who lost their lives serving their country.

Veterans of the Tulalip community perform a song for veterans during the, Sunday, March 29, 2015, Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Celebration held at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Veterans of the Tulalip community perform a song for veterans during the, Sunday, March 29, 2015, Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Celebration held at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)

The celebration was organized by Tulalip veteran Andy James who served in the Marines during the conflict. The event featured a potluck style meal and small pow wow.

Thank you to all those who have served. We honor your sacrifice and welcome you home.

 

Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com

Tulalip team sweeps through game tournament

Jay Miranda, Tulalip Boys & Girls Club games room director stands in front of the special display that houses the medals won in the March 7, 2015 Boys & Girls Club of Snohomish County Games Tournament. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Jay Miranda, Tulalip Boys & Girls Club games room director stands in front of the special display that houses the medals won in the March 7, 2015 Boys & Girls Club of Snohomish County Games Tournament. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)

By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

TULALIP – Tulalip Boys & Girls Club gaming team had an incredible performance at this year’s annual Snohomish County Boys & Girls Club Game Tournament on March 7. Players in the Tulalip team took home 12 medals including several first place spots, in a variety of game categories.

The annual event brings together club teams from around the county to compete in games such as bumper pool, checkers, pool, foosball, ping-pong and card games. This year the event was held at the Everett Boys & Girls Club.

The Tulalip team placed in the top three slots for each game category. Tulalip club members Gaylan Grey placed first in checkers and pool, and second in bumper pool. Terrance Phillips second in ping-pong, Mauricio Garcia first in foosball, Joshua Miranda third in pool, and Maximo Gonzalez third in checkers. Matthew Miranda placed first in ping-pong and second in foosball, while Marcella Gonzalez placed second in speed cards and Ayrik Miranda placed first in pool and third in bumper pool.

Tulalip Games Room Director Jay Miranda explains the tournament is more than just a bunch of kids playing games. Unlike other popular sport choices such as basketball and football, games in the tournament are played individually. They also help the kids develop skills that they can use later in life.

Medals won during the March 7, 2015 Boys & Girls Club of Snohomish County hang in a special display area inside the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Medals won during the March 7, 2015 Boys & Girls Club of Snohomish County hang in a special display area inside the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club.
(Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)

“These games teach the kids strategic thinking, along with critical thinking skills. Bumper pool and pool are games about angles which helps in math at school because they have to look at the angles before they make their move. They have to calculate before they shoot,” said Miranda, who has been the director for just under year and incorporates a philosophy of fair play and respect with players.

“I tell the kids, when you get older you will learn life isn’t fair, but as long as you keep trying you will overcome the things that seem unfair in life. I tell them to always play to win,” said Miranda.

Unlike other clubs in the Boys & Girls Club of America chain, the club at Tulalip is uniquely tailored to the population it serves, which has a large percentage of Native American youth.

“We teach more than just the rules of the games. We teach about having morals and standards for personal growth and we incorporate traditional cultural teachings in our club,” Miranda said. “If there was no games room it would impact the other departments in the club with an overflow of kids. The games room gives them a competitive outlet. If we lose the games room, the kids lose the feeling of accomplishment.”

“This year was a great accomplishment,” Miranda said. “In last year’s tournament we had only three players, but this year we had seven and they did great.”

 

Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com