The big bursts of color light up a garden like a July 4th celebration.
And they stay lit until the first frost.
Dahlias are colossal flowers. Some are the size of pumpkins
Growers will show off their blooms at this weekend’s Snohomish County Dahlia Show in Everett. It is the club’s 104th consecutive year to have a show.
“We’ve had as many as 2,200 or 2,300 blooms,” said Hills Collins, show spokesman.
The judging is done before the doors open to the public.
“We have a head table with all the different winners,” Collins said. “The head table is judged to pick the best flower in the show. All different types are judged against each other, and one bloom is picked.”
Club members will be on hand to answer questions and talk about their blooms.
Longtime member Bernie Wilson, 68, a retired Snohomish firefighter, won the prestigious national Stanley Johnson Medal in 2012 for Lakeview Glow, an incurved cactus dahlia he originated.
The lake part is named after Blackmans Lake that is the backdrop to his 5-acre Snohomish property.
“The ‘glow’ came from if you stand up there by the house and look over the garden down it kind of glows up from all the rest of them,” he said.
His yard is aglow with about 100 varieties of dahlias.
“It’s just a fun hobby. It’s a challenge to show them. I enjoy being outside and in the garden, so it kind of comes natural,” he said.
He started growing dahlias in the 1970s after a neighbor gave him a tuber. Dahlia plants grow from tubers planted in the ground like potatoes.
From the ugly duckling roots come gorgeous blooms.
On show days, Wilson takes the best blooms he cuts to competitions and leaves the rest out for his neighbors to fill their vases. “Saturday morning they’re on the carport. And anybody who wants them can come get them,” he said.
Allison Richards also likes to spread the dahlia love around, in various forms.
“I give people at my work a bunch of tubers, and they just go nuts,” said Richards, 42, IT and general services manager at Maple Systems.
She started out growing a few dahlias and now has about 60 to 70 varieties and 200 plants.
“I threw myself into it; let’s put it that way,” she said. “I tie it in with my photography hobby. I put together a dahlia calendar for family and friends. The colors are so vibrant. There are so many different varieties and shapes and sizes.”
Dahlias are her tonic.
“I work with computers. Things break. Things don’t always go the way they should,” she said.
“I go home and go out there and there’re pretty flowers.”
See the show
The Snohomish County Dahlia Show is from 1 to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, at Floral Hall at Forest Park, 802 Mukilteo Blvd., Everett.
Snohomish County Dahlia Society meetings are 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of the month at Legion Park Hall, 145 Alverson Blvd., in Everett. The club has a tuber sale in April.
Caring for dahlias
In summer:
Remove old or spent flowers.
Water deeply every four or five days during the summer heat.
As the blooms develop, fertilize with a low or no nitrogen fertilizer, such as one labeled 0-20-20, to encourage flower and tuber development.
Control for slugs, snails and other pests.
Remove two side buds at each budding tip to encourage better blooms.
Digging dahlias:
Enjoy the flowers until the first frost kills the foliage.
If you have good drainage, leave the tubers in the ground, cut off any dead foliage, and cover with 3 to 4 inches of mulch. Clumps should be divided every third year for bigger, better flowers and stronger stems.
If you choose to dig the tubers, cut off the stalks to 3 or 4 inches above the ground and leave in the ground for a week or two to allow eyes to set before digging. Begin cutting down and digging by November even if no killing frost has taken place.
Dig around each tuber clump with a shovel or garden fork and lift gently. Hose off the dirt from the tuber, clip off the feeder roots with garden scissors and let dry overnight.
Dividing and storing:
Divide clumps in half by splitting with pruning shears.
Cut off tubers using hand pruners, garden scissors and a sharp knife. Wear protective gloves. Each tuber should have an eye you can see. The tuber eyes are located at the swell of the crown near the stem.
Soak tubers in a solution of 1 cup of bleach and 3 gallons of water for 15 or 20 minutes to kill bacteria. Allow tubers to dry several days on newspaper in a cool, dark place.
Label the tubers before storing with a permanent marker or no-blot pencil. If you don’t know the name, just list the flower color.
Store cut tubers in plastic bags with a few handfuls of vermiculite, wood shavings or potting soil. Another method is rolling tubers in a long strip of plastic wrap, making sure each tuber isn’t touching the others.
Keep tubers in a dark, cool place that does not freeze. A crawl space, root cellar or old refrigerator are good locations.
Three people in Whatcom County have become sickened by saltwater bacteria after eating undercooked or raw crab and oysters – part of a statewide surge totaling 44 probable or confirmed cases of the intestinal illness.
The number of cases of people sickened by vibrio bacteria is about twice what it was for this time last year; about 40 to 80 cases are reported annually.
“We seem to be in an active season,” said Rick Porso of the state Department of Health’s Office of Shellfish and Water Protection.
Most cases occur during summer.
The worst outbreak in recent years was in 2006, when Washington had 80 lab-confirmed vibrio cases, with 36 of them in King County, according to the King County Health Department.
Of the 44 confirmed or probable cases so far this year, King County has 21.
To avoid being sickened, health officials recommend cooking all shellfish during the summer to kill the bacteria.
“It is completely preventable with cooking, so that’s what we urge people to do this time of year,” Porso said.
Vibrio parahaemolyticus, the bacterium that causes the illness, occurs naturally in marine coastal waters.
In low numbers, vibrio doesn’t sicken people. But when water temperatures rise, the bacteria multiply rapidly – raising the risk of vibriosis illness among people who eat raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters.
Public health officials believe the warm summer and daytime low tides contributed to the recent illnesses, and expect more to occur in the coming weeks because current conditions are likely to continue.
Vibriosis causes flu-like symptoms that can include diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. Symptoms usually appear 12 to 24 hours after eating infected shellfish.
The illness is usually mild to moderate and lasts two to five days, but it can be life-threatening to people with weak immune systems or chronic liver disease. People who take antacids also can become very sick.
The three cases reported in Whatcom County were from recreational harvesters who fell ill after eating oysters and crab.
Here’s what people should do to kill the bacteria and avoid becoming sick:
– Cook shellfish to an internal temperature of 145 degrees for at least 15 seconds.
– Recreational harvesters should take extra precautions when gathering oysters during the summer, including putting them on ice or refrigerating them as soon as possible after collecting them.
– Harvest as soon as the tide recedes, avoiding oysters that may have been exposed for unknown periods of time.
– Don’t rinse cooked oysters with seawater.
– Before gathering shellfish, recreational harvesters should check safety information by calling the toll-free hotline at 1-800-562-5632.
The Department of Health has been sending notices to shellfish growers recommending extra precautions during low mid-day tides and warm weather.
Officials close a growing area when vibrio levels are high or when four or more people who eat shellfish from there are sickened within 30 days. As a result, Hammersley Inlet and several parts of Hood Canal, including Dabob Bay and Quilcene Bay, are closed because of high vibrio levels, while Oakland Bay and Totten Inlet growing areas are closed because of recent illnesses.
Federal authorities say a deceased man killed several people 11 people, including five during his time as an employee of the Makah Nation of Washington.
Israel Keyes allegedly admitted to the murders while he was being held in Alaska for the death of a young woman there. The FBI needs help identifying the victims.
“We’ve exhausted all our investigative leads,” FBI spokesperson Eric Gonzalez told The Peninsula Daily News. The FBI posted information about Keyes in hopes of drawing new leads.
Keyes worked for the tribe from 2001 through 2007. The first murder was committed while he lived on the reservation in 2001, the FBI said.
Makah Police Chief Charles Irving previously told The Seattle Weekly that Keyes didn’t draw attention to himself. He reportedly lived with a woman who bore his child.
“He had no run-ins with the police,” Irving told the Weekly back in January. “A lot of people were surprised because he was pretty well liked here.”
The woman and the child still live on the reservation, The Peninsula Daily News reported. Keyes was known as a good father, tribal judge Emma Dulik said.
“He never seemed to cause any problems,” Dulik told the paper.
It wasn’t reported whether the woman or the child are tribal members. Of the three known victims, including the one in Alaska, none have been identified as American Indian or Alaska Native.
“Out of the respect for the family of Mr. Israel Keyes, the Makah tribe will not be making any formal comment to the media related to Mr. Keyes’ time spent in Neah Bay,” the tribal council said in a statement to the Daily News
Keyes killed himself in December 2012 while being held for the murder of an 18-year-old woman in Alaska.
Community members work together, hauling in fishing nets. Photo/Niki Cleary
By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
“Let ‘er go!” a traditional fisherman’s call was heard from the beach as Glen Gobin sets his seine net at Spee-Bi-Dah, Saturday, August 10th.
For the eighth year, The Tulalip Tribes hosted the Spee-Bi-Dah community beach seine day. The annual event honors a time when families lived on the beach through the summer months to fish salmon, as well as teaches about traditional fishing methods and maintains Tulalip’s presence in the area. Today, Spee-Bi-Dah remains prime fishing grounds.
Tulalip tribal member Cecilia Gobin using a splash pole, a technique that drives fish into the net. Photo/Andrew Gobin
Gobin made six beach seine sets at Spee-Bi-Dah, along with his crew and those that eagerly jumped on the boat to help set the net. At the end of the day, five kings (Chinook salmon) were caught, ranging from 15lbs up to 24.5lbs. About 20 or so humpies (Pink salmon) were caught as well.
Beach seining is vital in keeping Tulalip’s history alive. Seining was one of many traditional fishing methods used by the tribes that comprise the present day Tulalip Tribes. The Spee-Bi-Dah beach seine event brings the community together, and those that know, teach others who want to learn about seining and our people’s history.
“I haven’t been here in years,” said tribal elder and former tribal fisherman, Phil Contraro, who spent the day watching each set, enjoying the company of old friends. “I really enjoyed the day.”
Tulalip Tribal member Tony Hatch cooks clams on the beach. Salmon and oysters were also on the menu. Photo/Mike Sarich
Many children were interested in the happenings, anxiously waiting to see what each set would bring in. The big-ticket item was getting to ride on the boat while making the set. There were a lot of new kids this year at Spee-Bi-Dah, though there were the regulars that couldn’t wait to get on the boat and try their hand using the splash pole, a technique that drives fish into the net.
The now annual gatherings originally were a three-day youth camp, first organized in 1998 by Don Hatch Jr. through the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club. Kids that attended camped on the beach, learning the history and having fun, but not actually fishing. Beach seining was included in 2003, which drew a greater interest in the camp in 2004.
“I remember camping on the beach, staying all weekend.” said Kyle Cullum, former employee at the Tulalip Boy and Girls Club. “But we didn’t fish until the last few years of camp.”
“I went to check out the camp and Penoke [Don Hatch] says to me, ‘we should have this be a community event,’” recalls former councilman Les Parks, who pushed to make it a community event in 2005. The vision for Tulalip to resume fishing at Spee-Bi-Dah had strong support from the tribal council. Today, he is proud to have championed the first community Spee-Bi-Dah event. “It’s vitally important for our community to come together like that, and just be together. To enjoy each other’s company and work together.
“As a child, I remember community clam bakes down below the long house. I’d like to see us come together at more community events.” said Parks, commenting on the lack of community events in recent years. “We have bingo, and Spee-Bi-Dah. Aside from those, there seems to be few other positive annual community events.”
Photo/Mike Sarich
Saturday’s event, along with the fishing, featured a seafood feast. Cy Fryberg Sr. cooked fish over a fire that morning at the beach. Oysters were grilled over the fire, and crab was boiled. Tony Hatch and his sons, Skyler and Drew, fired beach rocks to bake clams.
Every year, the Lushootseed Language Department and Youth Services offer activities to the kids, including face painting, water floaties, and beach toys. Great fun was had by all as people visited with friends and family, reminiscing of ‘the old days.’
Community members enjoyed a fun-filled day of fishing, face painting, playing, eating and visiting with family and friends. Photo/Niki Cleary
Arts organization now has long-sought-after Marysville center
Sean Ryan / The Herald Scott Randall, a board member for the Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts says a former lumber store has the space the foundation needs for its programs in Marysville.
By Gale Fiege, The Herald
MARYSVILLE — Where lumber once was stacked, the Red Curtain Foundation for the Arts hopes someday to store its theater sets.
The nonprofit foundation has a lease-purchase agreement with the owners of Dunn Lumber Co. for the company’s 10,000-square-foot commercial building at 1410 Grove St.
The Marysville-based arts education organization plans to transform the $1 million space into a hub for the performing arts, as well as provide room for fine art shows, classrooms, meetings and community gatherings.
Red Curtain, founded in 2009, hasn’t had a place to run its programs in Marysville. For example, most if its plays and the Hometown Hootenanny music series have been staged at the Historic Everett Theatre in downtown Everett.
“It’s always been our goal to serve the greater Marysville community and north Snohomish County,” said Scott Randall, a Red Curtain board member. “This is a project we will do in phases as we raise the money, but we already plan to present a Christmas play in the new space in December.”
The old lumber sales building has a lot going for it, Randall said. It has plenty of room for a box office, a lobby, a script lending library, a stage that can be re-configured within the space and a large backstage “green room.” The former loading dock could be transformed into a covered deck for outdoor concerts, and outdoor theater is possible in back of the building, Randall said.
Marysville is coming into its own with a cultural shift that includes on emphasis on the arts, he said.
“We’re not just about the Strawberry Festival anymore,” Randall said. “The Marysville Arts Coalition, the school district, the YMCA, the library and the Tulalip Tribes have made big strides.”
Jodi Hiatt, vice president of the Arts Coalition agrees.
“We are hearing a great response to the plans that Red Curtain has for the Dunn Lumber building,” she said. “People who appreciate the arts have always been here, but there haven’t always been many opportunities. The Arts Coalition looks forward to teaming up with Red Curtain, beginning with our November art show. Red Curtain will close the show with a free stage play.”
Next up for the Red Curtain board is the start of a fundraising and promotional campaign, Randall said.
“There is much work to be done and community support will be vital in this undertaking,” he said. “The best way to get something done is to just do it.”
Volunteers sought
For more information and to volunteer to help, go to www.redcurtainfoundation.org or contact Randall at randallrcf@gmail.com or 425-501-7604.
TULALIP — The Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce will roll out this year’s televised candidates’ forum series starting on Friday, Aug. 23, with an in-depth look at the race for Snohomish County Council District 1.
“Our goal is to present the candidates and the issues in a fair and impartial format that will aid citizens in their decision-making process when casting their ballots,” Chamber President and CEO Caldie Rogers said.
With Snohomish County expected to continue to grow, the Chamber will give the County Council candidates an opportunity to address questions such as where the county will fit housing for 200,000 to 300,000 incoming residents, what kind of roads county residents will be commuting on, how the county will balance expansion needs with environmental needs, and whether the county can build fiscal sustainability in the face of the many functions and services that it provides.
Sponsored by Walmart, the forum will feature Al Aldrich of Strategies 360 as the moderator, guiding the Council candidates through a series of eight questions. The program will include candidate rebuttals, and conclude with each candidate posing their own question to their opponent.
The forum is slated for Aug. 23 in the Tulalip Resort’s Canoes Cabaret Nightclub, located at 10200 Quil Ceda Blvd. Doors open at 7 a.m. for the program starting at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 9 a.m.
Please RSVP with the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce, by phone at 360-659-7700 or via e-mail to admin@MarysvilleTulalipChamber.com. Admission is $23 for pre-registered guests and $28 at the door.
Possession for medicinal use led to expulsion from reservation
Dan Bates / The Herald Dennis Boon says he feels connected to his tribe through Quilceda Creek, which flows through where he is staying in north Marysville, on its way to Tulalip reservation. Boon accepted a deal banning him from the reservation after the tribes found him guilty of marijuana possession. Boon says he uses marijuana medicinally, which is illegal on the reservation.
By Bill Sheets, The Herald
TULALIP — Dennis Boon was a healthy child, he says, until he was hit in the head with a 7-iron.
He was 14 years old when he and some other boys were hitting Wiffle golf balls in eighth-grade PE class. Boon’s ball rolled away, in front of another boy.
Boon saw the boy talking to someone else, so he thought it was safe to reach down and get his ball.
The boy turned around without looking and swung to hit his own ball, striking Boon in the head.
“It put a hole in my skull,” he said.
Soon afterward, Boon started having small epileptic seizures; years later, he began to have larger, violent ones. The episodes took over his life for the next decade, said Boon, now 47.
Conventional treatments didn’t help. He turned to marijuana as a remedy.
“The results were immediate,” Boon said.
A Tulalip tribal member, Boon cannot lawfully use his preferred medication on his home reservation.
While marijuana has been legalized both for medicinal users and others in Washington state, it’s still illegal under federal law. That’s the law to which most Indian tribes, including the Tulalips, subscribe.
Last month, Boon was banned from the Tulalip reservation for possession of 240 grams of cannabis — about 8 ½ ounces.
He’s currently staying with friends in Marysville. In a year, Boon can petition to return, but he’ll have to agree to give up using marijuana, a tribal spokeswoman said.
As a semi-sovereign nation under federal law, the tribes do not have to recognize state laws that conflict with those of the U.S. government, according to Robert Anderson, a law professor and director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington.
Marijuana is illegal on the Tulalip reservation without exception, said Niki Cleary, communications director for the tribes.
“We’re bound by tribal law and federal law; we’re not bound by state law,” she said. “Remember that our people have existed as a sovereign since long before the United States government existed, and our treaty with the U.S. government predates the creation of Washington as a state.
Tribes basically can choose their own course in the matter, Anderson said.
“They make their own laws just like any state or county government does on criminal matters or civil matters,” he said.
At least one tribe, the Puyallup Tribe in Pierce County, has chosen to follow state law regarding marijuana rather than the federal rules, according to a web page listing tribal laws. This includes recognition of medicinal pot.
At Tulalip and other reservations where federal law is followed, the only criminal jurisdiction the state has over tribal members is on land that’s been deeded to a non-Indian property owner and for traffic incidents on public roads, Anderson said.
The Tulalip Tribes oppose legalization of marijuana, Cleary said, “because we, the community as a whole as well as our governing leadership, do not see the drug as beneficial, but rather view it as a harmful substance.”
The tribes found Boon guilty of possession with intent to sell. This, Cleary said, “is the only time generally that somebody is excluded from the reservation. We understand that addiction is a disease and takes some choice away from people.”
Boon said he had no intention of selling the marijuana. Police found the cannabis at his home in January. He was stocking up after receiving his tribal dividend check over the holidays, he said.
State law allows medicinal marijuana patients to possess up to 24 ounces, or 15 plants — nearly three times the amount for which Boon was charged.
Boon’s home was searched after a police officer visited him investigating a report of stolen property. Boon was not charged in that case.
While talking to Boon in front of his home, the officer detected “the odor of burnt marijuana,” according to the charging papers. The officer did not search the home at the time.
Boon disputes that the smell would have been detectable outside his home.
Knowing he had someone coming over to install a carbon-monoxide detector, he took care to air out his place so as not to flaunt the marijuana or raise questions, he said
“My girlfriend was baking cinnamon rolls,” he said.
A few days later, armed with a search warrant, police came back and found the cannabis.
“The warrant was issued on state of Washington paperwork,” Boon noted.
He said he had the marijuana properly stored according to state guidelines, with his doctor’s recommendation prominently posted.
The crime, per tribal law, is a high-end misdemeanor. Boon faced a penalty of up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. He was offered a deal: a $100 fine and expulsion from the reservation. He accepted, he said, feeling he had little choice.
Boon had been living in tribal housing for people with disability status, for which the tribes receive federal funding — all the more reason that federal law be followed, according to the charging documents.
Boon points to an arrangement in which Tulalip police officers are cross-deputized in state law, which he says should require enforcement of those laws on the reservation.
“There’s an oath of office in place that specifically states that ‘I will follow all the laws of the state of Washington and protect the citizens within,’ ” he said.
Cleary said tribal officers are cross-deputized only so they can arrest non-tribal members if necessary.
“If there’s a beating happening or someone gets shot, the police officer needs to be able to respond,” she said.
Also, “it’s to assure non-tribal members that our officers are trained to the same level as any other peace officer in Washington state, that if an officer signals you to pull over, you need to pull over.”
The state law that authorizes the cross-deputization arrangement says the law does not supercede tribal sovereignty.
Boon’s disability is primarily from old injuries he suffered during his seizures, he said. Boon said he operated a commercial smokehouse business for a grocery store chain in the Midwest for a couple of years and had other supervisory restaurant jobs, but recently it’s been difficult.
“I’ve broken numerous bones, I’ve hyper-extended most of my appendages,” he said. “It’s hard for me to stand on my feet.”
Boon said he had been a precocious child and a good student until the 7-iron accident. He was living with his father in Minnesota at the time.
He had reconstructive surgery on his face, and to this day his left eye socket is made of Teflon, he said.
Later, while attending high school in Alaska, his teachers began to notice that he would seem to fade out for no reason.
They told his father that Boon “just stops in the middle of conversation and just stares,'” he recalled.
Tests determined that these episodes were petit mal seizures, and he was diagnosed with epilepsy, he said.
When he was 18, he was in a car wreck and hit his head again. Soon, he was having grand mal seizures with blackouts and convulsions, as many as seven per week.
“It’s like someone over your shoulder ready to hit you with a baseball bat,” he said. “You can’t see him, you can’t hear him, you never really know it’s coming. That constant anxiety takes a toll on your health.”
A neurologist referred him, on the sly, to a man who had controlled his own seizures by using marijuana.
When the man told Boon his story, he didn’t believe it.
He remembers his response.
” ‘I smoke pot and I still have seizures. That’s a load of crap,’ ” he said.
The man told Boon he had to treat it like medicine and regularly use small amounts to keep it in his system. He asked Boon if he could remember having any seizures while high.
Later, he and some family members pondered the question.
“We couldn’t really think of a single time, not a one,” he said. “From that point on, I started a different approach with the way I handled marijuana in my life.”
He had only a few seizures in the years afterward, he said, and those were mild in comparison to those he had before. Now, he says, he hasn’t had a full-blown seizure since early 2003.
“I couldn’t imagine years ago that I could go 10 days (without one),” Boon said.
Prior to using marijuana to treat his condition, Boon’s medical bills averaged $122,000 per year, according to his attorney, Jay Carey of Arlington. Since 1996, those annual costs have been about $6,000, Carey said.
Boon moved back to Tulalip permanently in 2004, partly because of the state’s medical marijuana law, he said.
Then, three years ago, he heard tribal officials making anti-drug statements at the fall tribal council meeting, a semi-annual gathering at which tribal members meet to discuss issues and elect officers.
Boon said he felt at that point that the tribal administration wouldn’t permit medicinal marijuana without pressure from tribal members at large.
“I knew that I was probably going to have to do something that I really didn’t want to do,” he said. “I was going to have to go in front of all of my people and say ‘I’m a medicinal marijuana patient’ and the reasons why, and I was going to have to put it to a vote. I was basically going to go out and put a target on my back.”
At the spring 2011 tribal council meeting, Boon made a motion to legalize medicinal marijuana on the reservation.
He said many others spoke in favor.
Some of the comments, according to Boon, were along the lines of, ” ‘You can’t go five gravestones (in the tribal cemetery) without passing somebody who died directly from alcohol, and we’re selling booze up here seven days a week like there’s no tomorrow. I haven’t heard of a single person ever, ever dying from marijuana, but we’ve got a graveyard full of people who died from booze,’ ” Boon recounted.
He felt the motion would pass, but it wasn’t voted upon.
“After some discussion, another member asked to have the motion tabled,” according to Cleary. “The motion to table carried.”
Alcohol, Cleary acknowledged, “is a dichotomy that our membership and leadership have wrestled with for years.” Other tribal members have brought up motions to have it banned and have been unsuccessful, she said.
Boon said he personally knows more than 40 other tribal members who use marijuana medicinally, but that most are afraid to make themselves known.
Boon believes police targeted him after he criticized tribal government at a council meeting two years ago.
“I firmly believe this has nothing to do with medical marijuana,” he said.
Cleary said the fact remains that Boon broke the law. “To the best of my knowledge, our laws are enforced equally across the board,” she said.
Boon’s ban from the reservation became effective in mid-July. It’ll be difficult, he said. For instance, he had been accompanying his mother as she sang at funerals.
On the property where Boon is staying with other tribal members, there is a sweat lodge. Made of willows tied together, it’s covered with blankets or other material, and fire-heated stones are brought in. Water is poured over them, creating a sweat-inducing steam that helps purify the body and spirit, according to many American Indian traditions.
“I consider myself an extremely spiritual person,” Boon said.
Cleary said Boon also can petition ahead of time to return to the reservation for cultural events and to fish or use other natural resources.
“I really do appreciate that Dennis has a dilemma,” she said. Cleary said she knows of least one other tribal medicinal marijuana patient who decided to live off the reservation.
“None of this would have been an issue if he had chosen to live in Marysville,” she said. “If you don’t want to abide by the laws of a municipality, then don’t live here.”
Tulalip Hibulb Cultural Center Temporary Exhibition
Opens August 10th, 2013 and runs through October 13th, 2013
“Ramp It Up” examines the role of indigenous peoples in skateboarding culture, its roots in ancient Hawaiian surfing and the visionary acheivements of contemporary Native skaters.
Skateboarding combines demanding physical exertion, design, graphic art, filmmaking and music to produce a unique and dynamic culture while illustrating how indigenous people and tribal communities have used skateboarding to express themselves and educate their youth.
Exhibit features
– Rare images and a video of Native skaters
– Contemporary artists
– Native skateboards
– Skate decks and more
“Skate culture is a great lens to learn about both traditional and contemporary Native American culture,” said Betsy Gordon, curator of “Ramp It Up.” “This exhibition not only showcases the Native skater, but also the Native elders, parents, government officials and community activists, who have encouraged their kids to skate.”
Smithsonian Connection
The exhibit was organized by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service.
“Ramp It Up: Skateboard Culture in America” was previously on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York as well as at the National Museum of American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Sean Ryan / The Herald Warren Lewis, a volunteer from Seattle, strokes Otto, a Belgian draft horse, at the All-Breed Equine Rez-Q center near Marysville during the center’s horse adoption and foster day last month.
By Eric Stevick, The Herald
MARYSVILLE — Many of the lodgers have come a long ways to get here.
They’re refugees towed north and east beginning their journeys along country roads and ribbons of highway in Idaho, Oklahoma and Oregon.
Others are homegrown, uprooted for whatever reason from pastures and farms around Snohomish County and Washington state.
Some are big, some are small. Some are old. Many have been neglected.
All needed a place to stay and they’ve found that spot on an 18-acre spread on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. All-Breed Equine Rez-Q operates on property west of the Tulalip outlet malls and Washington State Patrol district headquarters. The land is owned by the Marysville School District, which leases it to the non-profit horse rescue center.
“We focus on the need, not the breed,” said Dale Squeglia, Rez-Q’s president and executive director, repeating the slogan on her business card. “We don’t pick and choose.”
That much becomes apparent during a tour of the grounds which is now home to thoroughbreds, quarter horses, miniatures, ponies, a pack horse, a retired carriage horse and even a donkey.
Rez-Q is a sanctuary for homeless, abandoned, abused and donated horses. It also tries to help people learn more about being better horse owners.
Some of its horses are placed into foster care and eventually adopted. Equine Rez-Q is careful how it screens potential new owners and caretakers, Squeglia said.
“If the adoptions don’t work out, we will take them back,” she said.
Many of the horses were saved from other rescue operations that could no longer make it financially, said Jeanie Esajian, a California woman who often visits Snohomish County and likes to help out at Rez-Q.
Seven horses were brought from an Oregon farm last year when their owner died and her husband couldn’t care for them.
Two Rez-Q horses have notable bloodlines, said Sharon Peck, a retired teacher who volunteers there. They are great-great-great-grandchildren of Seabiscuit, the undersized, rags-to-riches champion racehorse from the 1930s whose story was told in an Academy Award-nominated film.
Rez-Q hosted an open house and bake sale late last month, giving dozens of people tours while answering questions about adoption, foster care and volunteer opportunities as well as how people can donate to an operation that gets by on a shoestring budget.
“I’m always wheeling and dealing and looking for help,” Squeglia said.
Typically there are between 18 and 22 horses there at any given time.
Many are expected to live out their remaining days on the grounds, including Blacky, a spunky 30-year-old miniature gelding who once was a birthday party pony. Blacky has become the rescue center’s mascot.
“He’s going to be here forever,” Squeglia said.
Over the years, volunteers from their teens to their 70s have helped out. Some initially were looking to fulfill community service requirements from school or brushes with the law; others just love being around horses.
Squeglia said she has seen some young socially awkward volunteers blossom as they gain more knowledge and skills taking care of horses.
“It’s extremely good therapy for any kid with troubles,” Squeglia said.
How to help
All Breed Equine Rez-Q, a horse rescue center west of Marysville, is looking for homes for some of the horses it has taken in. The non-profit organization, 2415 116th St. NE, Marysville, also needs volunteers and donations.
If you aren’t in the mood, don’t weave. It shows up in the work.” That’s one of the many things Quileute tribal member Cathy Salazar has learned after 16 years of basket weaving.
“The weave will get too tight or sloppy if you aren’t in the right frame of mind,” said Salazar.
Despite years of weaving, Salazar didn’t fully appreciate the traditional ways of preparing materials for some time because others provided the cedar and grasses ready to use in baskets. “It was all ready to go and Grandma Lillian Pullen or my other instructors would weave the basket bottoms for me to get the basket started,” said Salazar. Lillian was her first teacher and everyone called her “grandma.”
However, there came a time when the raw materials weren’t as easily available, so Salazar went out with a group of tribal members to strip cedar bark and learned all the days of hard work behind preparing it for weaving. “When people look at a basket and grumble about the price, they usually don’t’ understand that the weaving is the fastest part for accomplished basket-makers. The preparation takes the most time,” Salazar said.
Once the cedar bark is stripped from the tree, the outer bark must be separated from the inner bark. Then it is dried indoors to prevent mold. It is either stored or soaked in water if it will be used in the near future.
Salazar chuckles that her sister Anne Walker, who lives in Arizona, can have cedar harvested in May ready to use by July because of Arizona’s hot and dry climate. In the rainforest, “I’m probably not able to use it until November,” she said.
Properly preserved, the weaving materials can be stored for many years. “Some weavers have cedar that was their grandmother’s that they use in baskets,” Salazar said. “When folks are looking at baskets, they always comment they can smell the cedar when they are holding those old-growth baskets. The color is darker, too.”
Salazar’s sister, who is three years older, also pushed her to learn all the aspects of basket weaving. “She just wasn’t going to let me keep having others start baskets for me or fix my problems when I got stuck,” Salazar said, laughing.
Quileute Natural Resources now organizes collection of the cedar bark each year as part of a cooperative agreement with Rayonier. A unit is identified and natural resources employees mark the way to the grove for collection and provide transportation, if necessary. Cedar is also collected and distributed to those who aren’t able to collect it themselves. “I think we had the most requests that I can remember for materials this year,” Salazar said.
Salazar knows the value of the materials and gives prepared cedar to relatives and friends who weave as presents for birthdays and other holidays. “They appreciate it because they know how much work it takes to get it ready. For me, I would trade it ounce for ounce for gold.”
