Media Archives - Page 8 of 19

Trends in Indian Gaming: What’s Ahead?

“Good design can provide the environment that makes people want to stay and play, and the more unique the design the greater the distance people will travel to see it.” —Thalden Boyd Emery Architects

Lee Allen, Indian Country Today Media Network

This may not be the true dawning of a new age, but Indian casinos are poised on the precipice of change —one foot anchored in time-honored methods of success, the other embracing modernity.

The move toward innovation includes a transition to progressive design with contemporary and green aesthetics, as well as finding creative ways to reach a younger audience keen on social media.

Casino owners need to straddle the chasm of traditional ways and new, understanding the social aspects of both segments of the market to keep the current crowd happy while attracting the next generation of gamers.

“We can’t see the future clearly yet, but we know change is inevitable,” said architect Nick Schoenfeldt, vice president at Thalden Boyd Emery Architects. “We need to continue serving today’s gaming public in the existing first generation of gaming facilities built in the late 1980s even as we design and build new attractions for tomorrow.”

Comments by architects, designers, contractors, owners and operators resonated at the 6th annual Native Nation Events Tribal Casino & Hotel Development Conference, February 21-22, at the Pascua Yaqui-owned Casino del Sol Resort Hotel in Tucson, Arizona. The conversational buzz was heightened by a rare occurrence—a snow storm that turned desert cacti into a winter wonderland.

Panel moderator Ronn Lansky, the business development director for the Detroit-based PENTA Building Group, noted that over the past several decades, the design of casino floors hadn’t changed strikingly. Then he cited the current trend of “building landmark buildings that will affect generations to come.”

Other attendees echoed a major voice of the industry, Casino Design magazine, which emphasized in an April 2010 article, The Brave New World of Design and Construction: An Industry Round Table, that casinos need to look “clean, edgy, contemporary”—the predominant visual appeal. The magazine quoted another design and construction expert who said, “We must dazzle the eye and soothe the senses.”

Panelists at the February conference specifically cited the advent of smaller slot banks and wider aisles at newer casinos intended to provide a more intimate sense of gaming—the same aura as that of a lounge.

“Casino floors are evolving to be more social and community-focused and you need to understand your market and design the floor with customer segments in mind,” said Janet Beronio, general manager of Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort.

“We used to have long, long banks of machines—essentially a slot warehouse, but change in machine spacing is now evident,” Beronio said. “We once dedicated 20-to-25-square feet to a bank of eight slots; now we’re seeing 30-square feet in a zone format anchored by carousels and dedicated pathways. The casino floor still has compelling content, but the feeling is now more community and social.”

The cost to create that feeling is not cheap, according to C.J. Graham, general manager of 2,500 employees at the Lincoln, California-based Thunder Valley Casino, which recently underwent a $700 million facelift (while continuing operations with minimal incremental disruption). “At the end of the day, you still need to show a profit,” he said.

Graham has a base demographic of age 50-plus customers, but also a growing following in the 21-to-30-year-old group. “We still have folks who love the old Red, White and Blue reels, but there’s a tech-savvy element coming along that we can ping on their cell phones and make the younger visitor special offers as they come through the door. The generational change won’t happen overnight, it will take decades, but it’s already underway.

“Even with the modern side of technology emerging, we won’t lose the energy that allows casino floors to be successful,” adds Beronio. “Brick and mortar sites still have the energy of community, people cheering for each other, and that will still appeal to multi-tasking tech-savvy youth.”

Other panelists like Osage Nation Chief John Red Eagle know that casino floor designs and technologies are forever adapting and need to stay relevant. Tribes need to capitalize on up-to-date technology like energy-saving geo-thermal capabilities. “We want the best possible development we can produce with the money we have,” he said.

Fellow panelist Jamie Fullmer (Yavapai Apache), chairman and CEO of Blue Stone Strategy Group, which advises tribes in making strategic decisions for financial growth and sustainability, summed up the challenge many tribes will face when desires meet feasibility and financing: “Here’s our dream balanced with a pocketbook reality.”

Those realities range from incorporating complex and still developing technology to making changes like widening aisles and adding more restaurants for a diverse clientele.

“Regardless of the renovation, addition, or new build,” said Graham, “you can’t diminish the guest experience…you can’t just send guests home…so you need to minimize the disruption and adjust on the fly while building a better casino for tomorrow.”

Lincoln’s Birthday Special to Treaty Tribes

“Being Frank”

By Billy Frank Jr., Chairman, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

OLYMPIA – We’ve been hearing a lot about Abraham Lincoln in recent months after the release of the movie about how he abolished slavery by pushing the 13^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution through Congress.

Not many people know it, but Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12 also holds a special place in the hearts of the treaty Indian tribes in western Washington.

It was on that day in 1974 that federal Judge George Boldt handed down his landmark ruling in U.S. v. Washington that upheld our treaty-reserved fishing rights and established us as co-managers of the salmon resource.

Although he was ready to rule sooner, Judge Boldt purposely delayed the court proceedings so that he could deliver his decision on the birthday of one of the greatest presidents we’ve ever had, a president who upheld the basic human rights of all people. And that’s what Judge Boldt did. He upheld our rights, and for that we will always be grateful.

It’s been 39 years now since Boldt’s decision, and things have changed a lot since then.

More than 1 million people have moved into western Washington, making a big impact on our natural resources.
Herring populations in Puget Sound – an important food for salmon – have shrunk to a small fraction of former levels.
Our floods and droughts have gotten worse because of climate change and changes we’ve made to our landscape.
We’ve lost nearly all of our old-growth forests, native prairies and salt marshes.
We’ve also lost most of our salmon harvest. Ongoing damage and destruction to salmon habitat have led to tribal harvest levels that are lower than they were in 1974, and this trend isn’t showing signs of improvement.

Nonetheless, we are hopeful as we begin planning for the 40^th anniversary of the Boldt decision next year.

As part of the celebration, a pair of movies that focus on the treaty fishing rights struggle were recently released by our friends at Salmon Defense, a non-profit organization working to turn the tide for salmon.

The first is “As Long as the Rivers Run,” the fundamental documentary about the Fish Wars of the 1960s and 70s by Carol Burns and Hank Adams. They generously donated the film to Salmon Defense so that it can be preserved and shared. The second movie is “Back to the River,” which was produced by Salmon Defense to provide additional perspectives on treaty rights and the natural resources management challenges we face today.

Both of these movies are available for free by contacting Salmon Defense at salmondefense.org or by calling (360) 528-4308.

Tyonek People in Alaska Set Month of March to Be Friendly: It’s Time for the Ida’ina Gathering

Children are all smiles at the Ida'ina Gathering in 2012. All photos by Becky Pertrovich. — Children are all smiles at the Ida’ina Gathering in 2012. All photos by Becky Pertrovich.

Tish Leizens, Indian Country Today Media Network

What started two years ago in Anchorage, Alaska as a gathering of friends has become a major yearly event for the Tebughna, the Beach People, and it is drawing popular Native entertainers like Redbone and thousands of guests.

The Tebughna Foundation, the sponsor, has set the Ida’ina Gathering for March 29 to 31, at the Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center (for details, click here). The three-day family affair is packed with activities and serves as the main attraction, with several events leading up to it.

“We started this gathering in March 2011. Ida’ina means friends—friendship,” said Emil McCord, executive director of the foundation, adding that they invite all tribes from Alaska and those who just want to enjoy the festivities.

The Tebughna Foundation is supported by Anchorage-based defense manufacturing company Tyonek Native Corporation. Tebughna is the name given to the Tyonek people, who live in Anchorage and in the Village of Tyonek, 40 air miles away.

The first pow wow was an immediate hit, said McCord. “The first year, we got lots of feedback after the gathering. They love the entertainment and atmosphere.”

“We attract about 6,000 people in three days. People come from South Dakota, Wisconsin, Tennessee, North Carolina and Canada,” he said.

“This year, we expect a little more because we have popular groups coming,” said McCord referring to Rebone and the Barrow Dancers, whose members are Inupiaq. In all, he said, there are 40 group dancers performing.

Among the performers on the list are drums featuring Alaska Nativedancers: Tyonek Traditional Dancers, Ida’Ina Dance Group, Cordova Ikumat Aluttiq Dancers and Ahtna Heritage Dance Group.

Drum groups Namawochi Tribe from North Carolina and Braveheart from South Dakota will also perform as well as a hoop dancer still to be determined.

Headlining the Benefit Concert on the second day is Redbone, a Native American rock group that hit the music charts with the single “Come and Get Your Love,” in 1974, and Medicine Dream, an intertribal First Nations group that perform contemporary Native American music.

Chief Lil Wolf, also known as DJ Braun, 17, who set up his own recording studio in his bedroom and writes his own music will also perform live before his home crowd for the first time.

The run-up to the pow wow are crowd pleasers on their own. On February 8 a sponsor mixer was held where the entertainers and sponsors meet and greet in a food and dance gathering.

On March 12 to 16 the first annual Ida’ina basketball tournament will be be held at the Wendler Middle School. Some 18 adult teams are competing in the tournament.

For the teens, the competition to be Miss Ida’ina ends on March 15, the deadline for Alaska Natives, ages 16 to 25, to write an essay on how they’ve helped their communities and why they should be the next Miss Ida’Ina. The winner gets a $500 scholarship.

Returning this year is the Native Style Runway, where talented artists are given a chance at the Gathering to show their individually designed regalias.

McCord said there is an effort to bring the dates closer. “We started the basketball tournament this year, but the city of Anchorage did not have gym space available close in time to the Gathering. Next year, we want to have it leading up to the Gathering so that visiting teams can attend the Gathering if they chose to.”

Native Lacrosse Players Among Early Contenders for 2013 Tewaaraton Award

Miles Thompson, Onondaga Nation, and his brother Lyle and cousin Ty and are all on the 2013 Tewaaraton Award men’s watch list. Photo: University of Albany

Indian Country Today Media Network Staff

Tewaaraton Foundation has announced the 2013 Tewaaraton Award men’s and women’s watch lists. The lists include the top players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse and highlight the early contenders for the 2013 Tewaaraton Award.

The Tewaaraton Award annually honors the top male and top female college lacrosse player in the United States. The selection committees are made up of top collegiate coaches and are appointed annually by The Tewaaraton Foundation. Committees will make additions to these lists as the season progresses and athletes earn a spot along side these elite players. Both lists will be narrowed to 25 men’s and women’s nominees in late April. In mid-May, five men’s and five women’s finalists will be announced. These finalists will be invited to Washington, D.C. for the 13th annual Tewaaraton Award Ceremony, May 30 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Each year, the Tewaaraton Award celebrates one of the six tribal nations of the Iroquois Confederacy : the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora. While 2013 is The Year of the Mohawk, the men’s watch list includes three members of the Onondaga Nation in Lyle, Miles and Ty Thompson from Albany. Lyle and Miles are brothers, and Ty is their cousin. All three Thompsons are attackmen for the University of Albany. On February 17 the Thompson Trio led the Great Danes to an upset of mighty Syracuse, taking the match, which went to double overtime, 16-15. Watch this savvy goal scored by Miles:

Navajo Nation Thawing Out From Devastating Winter

Anne Minard, Indian Country Today Media Network

The Navajo Nation is finally emerging from Operation Winter Freeze, an unprecedented weather-related state of emergency in which more than 3,000 homes lost water due to frozen and broken pipes.

The disaster stemmed from a run in late December and January when nighttime temperatures hovered at around 20 below and daytime temperatures stayed below freezing. “It’s not unusual for temperatures to drop into the negative 20s,” said Erny Zah, spokesman for Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly. “What’s unusual is that it happened for nearly three weeks consecutively. It got to the point where some of us were talking about 15 degrees being warm.”

As a result, the ground froze to a lower depth than it normally does and froze buried water pipes, which started a cascade of breaks—as soon as workers would get a section of pipe thawed, the water would rush to the next frozen section and cause a break there. The freeze reached all the way up to the ends of the lines, freezing hundreds of meters at homes. The bursts and leaks drained millions of gallons from water tanks, depleting pressure system-wide in some cases and threatening the closure of some essential facilities, including a hospital in Fort Defiance, Arizona. The disaster struck far and wide across the Navajo Nation, from Tuba City, Arizona and southern Utah’s Navajo Mountain in the west to Window Rock and Crownpoint, New Mexico in the east.

The governors in both Arizona and New Mexico declared states of emergency due to problems created by the extreme temperatures. More than 3,500 homes reported water outages, and by the third week in February water had been restored to two thirds of those. The crisis wiped out $780,000 in the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority’s (NTUA) rate-derived contingency fund, and Shelly is seeking $2.8 million more to cover ongoing work by both authority crews and those visiting from other agencies on and off the reservation.

In addition to asking for funds from its tribal council and a hodgepodge of tribal, state and county agencies, the Navajo Nation has a new source of support in the federal government. The tribe is working on its own emergency declaration, made possible when President Obama amended the Stafford Act on January 29 to allow federally recognized tribes to seek a federal emergency or major disaster declaration directly from the president. “A lot of tribes are watching us to see how we handle this,” Zah said. “It’s a brand-new process. It’s something that has never been done in U.S. history.”

Tribal personnel have been working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to quantify disaster-related costs, and they expect to appeal to the president in late February for funds.

Rex Kontz, deputy general manager for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, said that although many of the frozen pipes were installed in the 1950s, the freak weather was much more to blame than any engineering shortfalls. For starters, most of the pipes are buried at a safe depth of three to four feet beneath the surface. “We’ve discovered some pipes that are shallow, from people who have regraded roads or from erosion,” he said. “But we had some pipes at normal depth that were freezing, big control valves that just completely split and cracked. In the 26 years I’ve been at [the authority], I’ve never seen a main line freeze at that depth.”
Kontz said pipes installed before the 1960s were laid by the Navajo Nation or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and after that, Indian Health Service took over. He worked with the Indian Health Service in the 1980s, and at that time they were using PVC pipes, which withstand freezing better than older, galvanized iron pipes that underlie most of the reservation—including the tribal office complex.

To some extent, he said, the pipes that were likely to be problematic have now been revealed—that is, busted. To revamp all the old, at-risk piping could cost close to copy billion. “It’s something we’re going to have to scale over years,” Kontz said.

Meanwhile, 15 Navajo utility crews, plus eight from the Navajo Engineering and Construction Authority and two from the Salt River Project in Phoenix, have been fixing pipes; and most remaining jobs are in the most remote areas. The freezing temperatures and snow of weeks past have given way to much warmer days, so getting work equipment stuck in mud has become a regular challenge. Often it takes a crew an entire day to restore water to a single home.

Lydia A. Lee, an elder in the eastern Navajo community of Red Gap, waited two weeks for a crew to fix the broken pipe outside her home. She had to buy bottled water for drinking 30 miles away in Fort Defiance, and needed a donation of wash water from her church. On the bright side, her pipes might be more reliable than before, said NTUA engineer Jason Corral.

As for the crews slogging through the mud to restore water to Navajo Nation residents, they seem more than willing to help. Zah noted that federal safety regulations limit workers to 75 hours a week, and up to 15 hours a day. “They’re hard workers,” he said. “They’d work more if they could.”

Their sacrifice and dedication can be seen in Rico Burbank, a young Navajo utility pipe-layer who has a newborn at home with his wife in Chinle, Arizona. He said it has been hard to be away from his 3-month-old son, but he seems resigned to answering the call of duty. “I see him once a week,” he said. “Every Friday I go home, see him and come back to work again.”

Keith Harper, Cobell Lawyer, Bundled at Least $500,000 for Obama’s Re-Election

Keith Harper. Courtesy Flickr/Center for American Progress Action Fund/Ralph Alswang

Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

Keith Harper, one of the principal lawyers who negotiated the $3.4 billion Cobell settlement with the Obama administration, has been listed by the Obama-Biden campaign as one of the top voluntary campaign finance bundlers for the president’s successful re-election in 2012.

Harper is part of a list of what the Center for Responsive Politics calls “758 elites” who directed “at least copy80,100,000 for Obama’s re-election efforts—money that has gone into the coffers of his campaign as well as the Democratic National Committee,” according to opensecrets.org.

Harper is listed as a bundler of “$500,000 or more.” The donations he collected are largely believed to have come from wealthy tribal donors, as he oversaw multiple Indian donor events during the 2012 election season, while also working for Indian interests in the Cobell settlement with the federal government, which was first announced in December 2009 and became final after appeals from four Indians drew to a close late last year.

Harper’s bundling effort matched the contributions of such notables as actor Will Smith, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, actress Eva Longoria, filmmaker Tyler Perry, singer Gwen Stefani, and producer Harvey Weinstein.

The Center for Responsive Politics also indicates that Harper personally contributed $2,500.

Obama’s re-election campaign voluntarily released its latest batch of bundler data in early March. The campaign for failed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has not disclosed its complete list of bundlers, and has not said it will.

Harper is a partner with Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. Beyond the Cobell case, the firm has also represented several tribes in separate multi-million dollar trust settlements with the Obama administration.

The Cherokee lawyer has been a principal in the ongoing Cobell litigation since he worked for the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) in the 1990s. Harper left NARF in 2006 to work for Kilpatrick Stockton.

As the Cobell settlement payment process to individual Indians continues to take place over this year, lawyers with NARF are currently battling Kilpatrick Stockton and other lawyers involved in the case for a share of the approximately copy00 million designated for lawyers involved with the litigation. A hearing on the lawyers’ fees is scheduled to take place March 18 in Judge Thomas Hogan’s U.S. district courtroom in Washington, D.C.

March 1 was the deadline for Indian class members to have submitted their applications to receive the second payments of the Cobell settlement, the trust administration class payments. Most Indian beneficiaries in the case will receive less than $2,000.

Wolf comeback spurs hunt for nonlethal controls

Robert Millage shows his rifle with a wolf he shot Sept. 1, 2009, on the first day of wolf hunting season along the Lochsa River in northern Idaho. Photo: Associated Press

Oregon may serve as a model for limiting livestock losses without having to kill wolves.

By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — As long as wolves have been making their comeback, biologists and ranchers have had a decidedly Old West option for dealing with those that develop a taste for beef: Shoot to kill. But for the past year, Oregon has been a “wolf-safe” zone, with ranchers turning to more modern, nonlethal ways to protect livestock.

While the number of wolves roaming the state has gone up, livestock kills haven’t — and now conservation groups are hoping Oregon can serve as a model for other Western states working to return the predator to the wild.

“Once the easy option of killing wolves is taken off the table, we’ve seen reluctant but responsible ranchers stepping up,” said Rob Klavins of the advocacy group Oregon Wild. “Conflict is going down. And wolf recovery has got back on track.”

The no-kill ban has been in place since September 2011. That’s when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it planned to kill two members of the Imnaha wolf pack in northeastern Wallowa County for taking livestock. Conservation groups sued, arguing that rules allowing wolves to be killed to reduce livestock attacks did not comply with the state Endangered Species Act. The Oregon Court of Appeals stepped in, prohibiting wolf kills while the two sides work to settle, although ranchers who catch wolves in the act of killing livestock may still shoot them.

At the end of 2012, wolf numbers in the state had risen to 46 from 29 in 2011, according to state fish and wildlife officials. Meantime, four cows and eight sheep were killed last year by two separate packs, while 13 cows were killed by one pack in 2011.

Wallowa County cattle rancher Karl Patton started giving nonlethal methods a try in 2010, after he fired off his pistol to chase off a pack of wolves in a pasture filled with cows and newborn calves. State wildlife officials provided him with an alarm that erupts with bright lights and the sound of gunshots when a wolf bearing a radio-tracking collar treads near. He also staked out fladry at calving time. The long strings of red plastic flags flutter in the wind to scare away wolves. The flags fly from an electrically charged wire that gives off a jolt to predators that dare touch it.

The rancher put 7,000 miles on his ATV spending more time with his herd, and cleaned up old carcasses that put the scent of meat on the wind. And state wildlife officials text him nightly, advising whether a wolf with a satellite GPS tracking collar is nearby.

“None of this stuff is a sure cure,” said Patton, who worries the fladry will lose its effectiveness once wolves become accustomed to it. Such measures also can’t be used in open range.

Seen as a scourge on the landscape, wolves were nearly wiped out across the Lower 48 by the 1930s. In 1995, the federal government sponsored the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho. They eventually spread to Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington and California.

With wolf numbers approaching 1,800, the federal government dropped Endangered Species Act protection in 2011 in the Northern Rockies, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington, and turned over recovery management to the states.

While ranchers are not happy with the wolf comeback, the wider public is. A 2011 survey for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife found 74.5 percent of Washington residents believe it acceptable for wolves to recolonize their state.

Wolf advocates hope the Oregon experiment can spread elsewhere, especially Idaho, which had 746 wolves in 2011. In 2012, hunters and wildlife agents killed 422 wolves, compared with 296 for 2011. Sheep and cattle kills, meantime, went up from 192 in 2011 to 341 in 2012.

Idaho Fish and Game biologist Craig White said it “raised eyebrows” on both sides of the wolf debate when the livestock kills rose even as more wolves were killed. Previously the trend had been for livestock kills to go down as wolf kills went up. The state plans to continue killing wolves until elk herds — their primary prey and a popular game animal — start increasing, he said.

The Idaho numbers show “you can’t manage wolves using conventional wisdom and assumption,” said Suzanne Stone of Defenders of Wildlife in Idaho. “Using these old archaic methods of managing predators by just killing them is not working.”

In “no-kill” Oregon, ranchers disagree. Wallowa rancher Dennis Sheehy puts bells on his cattle to help scare away wolves. He also spends more time with his herd, and cleans up old bone piles. Nevertheless, he believes a kill option should always be on the table for wolves that prey on livestock. The 2011 ban, he said, “really upset people around here.”

Patton has never lost a cow while using the fladry and alarms. But two were killed on the open range and one in a large pasture where such protection measures are impractical. He has also found tracks showing wolves crossed the fladry and walked among his cows without, for some reason, attacking them.

He still believes the only way to deal with wolves that attack cattle is to kill the whole pack.

“It’s frustrating, more than anything, because we have our hands tied,” he said. “You can kill a man (who) comes into your house to rob you. Wolves are more protected than people.”

4 in Congress back bill to halt removal of wilderness lookout

A bill in Congress would overturn a court order to remove the historic Green Mountain lookout.

By Gale Fiege, Herald Net

DARRINGTON — Lawmakers are pushing to protect the Green Mountain forest fire lookout and establish federal wild-and-scenic status for Illabot Creek, both in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Four members of Washington state’s congressional delegation — Democratic U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Democratic Reps. Suzan DelBene and Rick Larsen — introduced legislation this past week.

In the case of Green Mountain Lookout, the aim is to protect the lookout, located in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. The legislation comes after a Montana-based group filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service for using a helicopter and machinery to repair the lookout, in violation of the federal Wilderness Act.

The Forest Service maintained that the lookout’s historical significance made it an allowable project. As a result of the lawsuit, the U.S. District Court in Seattle ordered the Forest Service to remove the lookout from the 6,500-foot mountain.

George Nickas, director of Wilderness Watch, the group that sued, says the proposed legislation picks away at the Wilderness Act.

Federal wild-and-scenic status for Illabot Creek would protect it as an important habitat for threatened wild chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout and other wildlife, while maintaining recreational opportunities such as hunting and fishing, said Murray’s staff in a joint press release from the four law makers.

Martha Rasmussen, the head of the volunteer group Darrington Area Friends for Public Use, said she has a mixed reaction to the proposed legislation.

Rasmussen and many people in Snohomish County support the protection of the Green Mountain lookout, one of few surviving fire lookouts in the West, she said.

“It’s a shame that those who want it torn down pit history and heritage against wilderness. The effort to save the lookout failed in court because of the language presented. It needs to be challenged,” Rasmussen said.

Illabot Creek is actually in the Skagit County part of the forest, but it always has been a destination from Darrington, she said.

“The thing I worry about with the wild-and-scenic designation is that repairs to access roads may be too expensive or not be allowed in the protected area, so we stand eventually to lose Illabot as a destination,” Rasmussen said. “I don’t want the designation.”

Green Mountain’s lookout was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Along with its use as a key fire lookout in the logging heyday, Green Mountain also was an early warning station for aerial attacks during World War II. The lookout is on national and state registers of historic places.

Illabot Creek flows into the Skagit River watershed, which includes parts of northeast Snohomish County. The watershed supports one of the largest concentrations of wintering bald eagles in the country.

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by Congress in 1968. It prohibits dams and other water projects that impair the free-flowing nature of listed rivers and establishes a protected corridor on both sides of the river.

The proposed laws are the same as those that were presented last year, according to Larsen’s office. The bills expired at the end of the past congressional session and had to be re-introduced. Green Mountain and Illabot Creek now are in DelBene’s 1st Congressional District, redrawn last year and removed from Larsen’s 2nd district.

Charges filed in stabbing death of Marysville man, 82

Diana Hefley, Herald Writer

MARYSVILLE — Prosecutors don’t believe the killing of a Marysville man was motivated by his criminal past.

Instead, evidence indicates that Arthur Schroeder, 82, was stabbed to death in his trailer during a robbery.

Prosecutors on Friday charged two people with second-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 24 killing.

They say the suspects, Delaney Henry and Robert Kennedy, admitted to several people that they killed Schroeder inside his small trailer. They also reportedly told people that they robbed Schroeder of about $200 and the key to a safety deposit box they believed held $20,000.

Henry, 28, allegedly told some people that she killed Schroeder because he raped her. She later told detectives that Schroeder propositioned her for sex in the past, but she denied that he ever sexually assaulted her, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Andrew Alsdorf wrote.

Schroeder was a convicted sex offender, but “there is no evidence that his prior convictions had any connection to his murder,” court papers said.

Prosecutors also noted, however, that Schroeder enjoyed the company of “much younger adult women, to whom he would provide cash or prescription pills in exchange for sexual favors.”

Henry was Schroeder’s neighbor at the Brookside Mobile Home Park on State Avenue. She allegedly told detectives that she visited his trailer every other weekend.

Phone records indicate that Henry called Schroeder twice the day he was killed. The records also show that she called Kennedy. Video surveillance shows the suspects together on a bus the afternoon before the slaying. Henry was wearing a scarf similar to the one detectives found at the crime scene.

Schroeder’s grandson told police he discovered his grandfather’s body around 11 p.m. He said he’d gone there to borrow some money or alcohol. Once inside, he found the elderly man lying bloodied and unconscious on the floor. He didn’t call 911 right away. Instead, he and a friend walked to a convenience store and later smoked some marijuana, Alsdorf wrote. He called police about four hours later after he brought his mother to the trailer, court papers said.

Schroeder had been stabbed four times. His heart had been pierced and his throat had been slashed.

His tidy trailer had been ransacked. His cell phone, wallet and a jewelry box were missing. Schroeder’s truck was gone.

The pickup truck was discovered the next day abandoned in Arlington. Someone had torched it.

Detectives eventually heard from witnesses who reported that Henry had confessed to killing Schroeder, court papers said. Another witness told investigators that Henry and Kennedy showed up together the night of the slaying. They allegedly had blood on their clothes and were in possession of three bloodied knives. They also reportedly were sorting through some paperwork.

Police have since recovered the safety deposit box key and confirmed that it opens a box at a local bank. There wasn’t $20,000 inside.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court. If convicted, Kennedy, 26, is facing a mandatory life sentence under the state’s persistent offender act. He has prior convictions for robbery and attempted robbery. Henry faces up to 20 years if she is convicted.

Detectives continue to investigate Schroeder’s death. Earlier this week, police arrested a Tulalip man who allegedly gave Henry a ride on the evening of a fatal stabbing. He allegedly threatened someone, warning the person not to talk to police about the homicide.

See more at: http://heraldnet.com/article/20130302/NEWS01/703029936#Charges-filed-in-stabbing-death-of-Marysville-man-82%0A

Saving the Dance: Hopi/Winnebago Dancer Louis Mofsie Is Striving to Preserve Pow Wow Tradition

Photos by Robert MastrianniLouis Mofsie, second from right, with dancers from the group Thunderbird American Indian Dancers — Photos by Robert Mastrianni
Louis Mofsie, second from right, with dancers from the group Thunderbird American Indian Dancers

Tish Leizens, Indian Country Today Media Network

At the age of 76, Louis Mofsie, Hopi/Winnebago, an accomplished dancer, choreographer, educator and artistic director of the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, which he founded 50 years ago, is as busy as ever.

Forget about retirement. From January 25 to February 3 he led his Native dance group to perform its Annual Dance Concert and Pow Wow at the Theater for the New City in New York City.

The concert was a theater presentation where the troupe performs dances from the Inuit of Alaska, the Iroquois of New York, the Hopi and Yaqui of the Southwest and the Plains Indians of the Great Plains. Plans are also underway for their annual Queens County Farm Museum Pow Wow at the end of July and their 50th anniversary pow wow at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York on April 20. There are also a number of school workshops and appearances lined up around the metropolitan area throughout the year.

Brooklyn-born Mofise is well loved in his home state. In 1984, he was awarded the New York City Indian of the Year. His leadership was recognized with a New York City Leadership Award by the Law Department and Mayors Office in 1991.

His choreography credits in New York include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Mercer Arts Center; Operation Sidewinders, Lincoln Center Repertory Company; Three Masked Dances, La Mama ETC.; and The Only Good Indian, Theater for the New City.

At a time when pow wows are evolving to be mega events with huge prize money, Mofsie looks back to the time when it was all about bringing people together and enjoying each other’s company through song and dance. He still believes in the pow wow tradition and has made it part of his mission to preserve Native dances that are no longer performed.

ICTMN caught up with Mofsie before his big concert at the Theater for the New City as he reflected on his 50th year of entertaining and educating the audience about Native culture.

What are your thoughts on the 50th year of the founding of your dance troupe, Thunderbird American Indian Dancers?

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of our dance company is overwhelming. I guess 50 years ago when we first organized our group no one would have thought we would last that many years, least of all me. It’s a credit to all those who have worked so hard over the years to help make it a reality.

Why did you start it? What is your recollection of when you started to form the group?

Before we became the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers we were called the Little Eagles. The Little Eagles were made up of a group of teenagers who grew up in Brooklyn. We had learned a great deal from our parents about their tribal backgrounds including dance and music. I think most of us grew up dancing and singing. So it only seemed natural that we would form a small group to continue our interests. We also branched out to learn the music and dance from other tribes.

Photo by Robert Mastianni

You are an MC, choreographer, dancer . . . what is it you enjoy doing most?

The most enjoyment I get out of what I do is to make contact with the people in the audience and the people I’m working with. I try to make the experience an enjoyable one, as well as an educational one. I find that most people want to learn more about something they thought they knew something about and I think people learn far better when the experience is enjoyable rather than a chore.

Why is educating non-Natives about Native culture important to you?

Educating non-Natives about our culture has been a primary part of the mission statement of our group. Addressing stereotypes and explaining the disrespect they reflect on native people, as well as, other misunderstood cultures is vitally important. We do many school residencies here in the metropolitan area and reaching children at a young age is the best time to influence their perceptions.

What else is in your mission statement?

Part of our mission statement is also to preserve and perpetuate the songs and dances of various tribes. In some instances some of the dances we do are no longer performed. If we can preserve these dances and songs we feel we are helping to keep the culture alive. All of our material is social music and dance. We do not do any dances or songs that have any ceremonial or religious significance.

What do you think is your major accomplishment in life?

I think my major accomplishment in life has been to feel proud of my Native heritage and to able to share what I have learned with both Native and non-Native people. Since I have been a classroom teacher for 35 years my emphasis has been on education. Helping people get a greater understanding of the richness and beauty of the Native people through music and dance.

What was the biggest obstacle in your life?

Like most people the general run of obstacles have affected me—lack of sufficient time and money to do what you would like to do at the time you feel it is most important. Living here in New York also presents it’s own set of problems. I think keeping calm and being patient have been a blessing for me since it seems, given enough time, most problems will solve themselves.

What else do you want to accomplish at this stage in your life?

I would like to stay as healthy as I can and continue to do the work we are doing. Between fulfilling the obligations we have here and traveling—we are on the go most of the year. I’m hopeful there will be someone who will carry on the work we have begun. There are so many people yet to meet and teach about our culture and it is our responsibility to get the work done.

Photo by Robert Mastianni