News Archives - Page 196 of 447

Mescalero women honored in documentary

A former Mescalero president and a first lady among women featured in film

By Dianne Stallings, Ruidoso News

Selena and Mark Chino are featured in the "A Thousand Voices" documentary for their involvement with domestic violence victims and their encouragement of the empowerment of Native American women. (Courtesy) — Selena and Mark Chino are featured in the “A Thousand Voices” documentary for their involvement with domestic violence victims and their encouragement of the empowerment of Native American women. (Courtesy)

A former Mescalero Apache president and a first lady of the tribe will be featured in a documentary.”A Thousand Voices,” filmed by Silver Bullet Productions.

Sandra Platero served as president after the resignation of Fred Chino and before the election of current Mescalero President Danny Breuninger. Previously, she served as vice president and on the tribal council. Attempts to reach Platero for an interview were unsuccessful.

Selena Chino is the wife of Mark Chino, who served as Mescalero president three times. She was a victims’ advocate and tribal liaison with the Nest, Lincoln County’s only domestic violence shelter, and she served as a state tourism commissioner.

Selena and Mark attended a rough cut screening of the documentary on June 5, and the film is slated for a final version screening July 21, free at Buffalo Thunder (Resort and Casino) in Santa Fe. Check the Silver Bullet website for the time. Silver Bullet films also usually screen at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and air on the Public Broadcasting System, a company spokesman said.

“I’m extremely proud of Selena,” Mark said. “She and her efforts to help domestic violence victims came to Pamela Pierce’s attention in mid-2013, and Selena was asked to appear in the film. She was recognized purely through her own efforts, as I already had left office.”

Pierce is chief executive officer of Silver Bullet Productions, a nonprofit founded in 2004, and based in Santa Fe. The organization with staff and volunteers stages cultural workshops with the aim of empowering Native American youths by raising their educational aspirations and by cultivating young filmmakers. The organization has produced 31 projects with the help of sponsors and recently received the Yawa’ Award for special projects, given to nonprofits that put actions to their words. The company’s “Canes of Power” also won four regional Emmys.

Silver Bullet was formed because of concerns by members of Native American groups over the loss of language, cultural and community, according to Pierce.

“A Thousand Voices” is the story of the inherent power of tribal women in New Mexico, and was filmed partly through funding with the San Manuel Board of Mission Indians. Besides the screenings and possible PBS airing, the film will be presented to students, who will participate in writing the curriculum and discussion guide that will accompany the documentary, following a pattern for all of Silver Bullet’s films, Pierce wrote in a memorandum to participants before the rough cut was screened.

“The production of this film has been a wonderful journey,” Pierce wrote. “Each of our participants has been revealing in ways that educate and shatter stereotypes.”

“A Thousand Voices” looks at the traditional roles of tribal women and poses the questions of how stereotypes from the media and literature altered the reality of tribal women, what are the universal lessons to be learned from the traditional values and the current status of Native American woman; and what are the threats to native communities, if women do not continue to play their crucial roles?

Selection process

As a domestic violence survivor and victims’ advocate, former first lady of the Mescalero, a state tourism commissioner, a store manager, and since May, a front desk manager and concierge for the tribe’s Inn of the Mountain Gods, Selena Chino was a natural choice for inclusion in “A Thousand Voices.”

A panel of tribal advisors from a variety of tribes, and representatives from Silver Bullet looked at the candidates.

“You can be a wonderful person, but you may not always come off as being able to state what your beliefs are and have the courage to state them,” Pierce said. “It’s not enough to stand for something, you have to be able to say it in a way that other men and women can relate to you. That certainly was true for Selena, Mark and Sandra.”

“The theme of the film is about the inherent strength of tribal woman and how that strength diminished or changed because of the white invasion from Spain, Mexico and the United States, and then return again to the strength of women that goes back to the beginning of time, and still is there despite the challenges,” Pierce said during a telephone interview Wednesday. “That strength is there in our modern current New Mexico tribal women. The reason Selena and her husband were selected was because they represent that strength. Selena represents it in two ways. She is married to a previous president of an Apache tribe and that takes strength to be married to a leader, no matter what your gender, and to be involved in a political family. And also because of her commitment to empowering women who have been victims of domestic violence. It was important to include that voice, not just from women. Selena and Mark together represent a belief in the hope for tribal women to survive domestic violence. It was obvious from the first time I spoke with her that she was somebody I really felt would enhance the message of the film.”

For Sandra Platero, “It was the strength of being a woman leader among other tribes that do not have women leaders,” Pierce said. “She certainly was a spokesperson for her language and her leadership.

“I think both women and their families deserve praise. It takes a lot of courage and determination and they showed that.”

Selena Chino

“I received a phone call in September from Pamela Pierce with Silver Bullet,” Selena said. “She mentioned there was a big meeting and they were kicking around who they would want to interview. She didn’t say who suggested my name. I had to go up to Santa Fe anyway during the Indian Market, We arranged time to talk. She came to Buffalo Thunder and we sat down. Thee project focuses on Indian women of power and how they have juggled their involvement with government, plus tribal culture and being a mother, how they keep culture and traditions alive while still doing all these empowerment things.”

Initially Pierce was looking for ideas for the project, Selena said.

“I mentioned that from 2008 to 2010, I worked as outreach coordinator at The Nest,” Selena said. “I was an advocate on Wednesdays, and that’s where my domestic violence and sexual assault training came from, helping residents. Then I became liaison between the tribe and Nest. (Pierce) began focusing, because I mentioned that domestic violence is the number one killer of Native American women nationwide. We started talking about that. She said she would really like to interview me. About that time Mark walked by and I introduced them, and she dragged him in. He was involved with the Nest too, being the president and volunteering. He spoke about how his view had changed from (his years in) law enforcement and what he learned from me being involved with the Nest. She wanted to interview him too.”

After seeing the raw cut of the film earlier this month, “It blows our minds to be involved with something like this, to be on PBS, in schools with workbooks,” Selena said.

Although the couple no longer has a daily involvement with the Nest, Selena said it is part of their lives.

“I still help as much as I can,” she said. “I still have people calling my cell phone just because they need help. I have people who stop me and ask questions, because they know me. So I still help out people even though I am not directly involved with the Nest anymore. People know I’m here (at the Inn) and ask how did you do this facing this situation and who can I call and who can I talk to.”

Selena can empathize with those exposed to domestic violence, because she dealt with the behavior in her first marriage.

“My life is very complicated story,” she said. “My mother went to school at Pasadena City College. She was not raised on the reservation, because of a program of relocation of kids on the Hopi reservation. There was a grant in the 1950s that helped send a student to a family, who helped support them and put them through college while they took care of their kids and helped around the house. That’s how she ended up in Pasadena. She also was a runner up for queen in the Rose Bowl Parade. She would have been first Native American queen had she won. She always encouraged me to go further, not to stay on the reservation, to get involved in a lot of interests.”

Selena’s father died in 2002 and her mother in 2006. “She was very beautiful inside and out,” Selena said of her mother. “She met my father when her family lived in Winslow, Ariz. He was the boy next door and the parents were friends, They were college sweethearts, They got married, then they got divorced, they remarried and divorced again. And at very end were living together, because they got along better when they were not married. I was her maid of honor the second time. We lived in Grants at that time. I wasn’t raised on the reservation. I moved back here in 1978.”

Selena said she was married for five years to a “very abusive man,” and went through the experience of having her self esteem and confidence constantly assaulted, then pulling herself up and moving forward. “It’s been a long road,” she said. “I’ve been where they’ve been at the Nest.

“Then I met Mark, who is very patient, thank God, because I have all this baggage with me. But with confidence from him and his support, I know what a healthy relationship is with him. It’s loving, it’s supportive. Everything that he’s given me.”

The couple celebrated their 20th anniversary on April 30, which Selena said, “Is an accomplishment right there. We’re totally opposite. He’s so quiet and reserved. On the other side, I talk to everybody, have conversations with people I don’t even know.”

While Mark was in office, Selena often accompanied him on trips, including the nation’s capitol, developing personal relationships with dignitaries and elected officials such as (New Mexico former attorney general) Patricia Madrid, Gov. Susana Martinez and Secretary of State Dianna Duran.

“As a former tourism commissioner, former first lady, the facets of my life are so complicated,” Selena said. “I don’t think I’m really involved in a lot of stuff. I do it, because I enjoy it. I just do it to help people, not add things to my resume.”

Those interviewed for the film were Georgene Louis, Acoma attorney and state legislator; Richard Luarkie and family, Laguna governor; Lela Kaskalla, past governor of Nambe; Sandra Platero and husband Paul; Selena Chino and husband Mark; Christy Bird, 16-year-old singer from Santa Domingo, who performed on a commercial for the Super Bowl; Rose B. Simpson, Santa Clara artist; Patricia Michaels, award winning designer on Project Runway from Taos Pueblo; Veronica Tiller, Jicarilla Apache historian and author; Navajo woman weavers from Two Grey Hills and Toadlena Trading Post; Luci Tapahonso, Navajo poet lureate; Matthew Martinez, historian and grandson of Esther Martinez of Ohkay Owingeh; and Liana Sanchez and family, owner of Avanyu LLC Construction company, San Ildefonso.

Kill the Land, Kill the People: There Are 532 Superfund Sites in Indian Country!

by Terri Hansen, Intercontinental Cry

Of a total of 1,322 Superfund sites as of June 5, 2014, nearly 25 percent of them are in Indian country. Manufacturing, mining and extractive industries are responsible for our list of some of the most environmentally devastated places in Indian country, as specified under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the official name of the Superfund law enacted by Congress on December 11, 1980.

Most of these sites are not cleaned up, though not all of the ones listed below are still active. Some sites are capped, sealing up toxics that persist in the environment. In cases like the Navajo, the Akwesasne Mohawk and the Quapaw Tribe, the human health impacts are known because some doctors and scientists took enough interest to do studies in their regions. Some of those impacts may persist through generations given the involvement, as in the case of the Mohawk, of endocrine disrupters. Read on.

1. Salt Chuck Mine, Organized Village of Kasaan, Alaska

The Salt Chuck Mine Superfund site in southeast Alaska operated as a copper-palladium-gold-silver mine from 1916 to 1941. Members of the Organized Village of Kasaan, a federally recognized tribe, traditionally harvested fish, clams, cockles, crab and shrimp from the waters in and around Salt Chuck, unaware for decades that areas of impact were saturated with tailings from the former mine. As if that weren’t enough, Pure Nickel Inc. holds rights to mining leases in the area and began active exploration to do even more mining in summer 2012, according to Ground Truth Trekking.

2. Sulfur Bank Mine, Elem Band of Pomo Indians, California

The Elem Band of Pomo Indians, whose colony was built on top of the waste of what would become California’s Sulfur Bank Mine Superfund site in 1970, have elevated levels of mercury in their bodies, and now fear for their health. According to an NBC News investigation, nearby Clear Lake is the most mercury-polluted lake in the world, despite the EPA’s spending about $40 million over two decades trying to keep mercury contamination out of the water. Although the EPA cleaned soil from beneath Pomo homes and roads, pollution still seeps beneath the earthen dam built by the former mine operator, Bradley Mining Co. For years, Bradley Mining has fought the government’s efforts to recoup cleanup costs.

3. Leviathan Mine, Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California

The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California requested EPA involvement in the cleanup of an abandoned open pit sulfur mine on the eastern slope of California’s Sierra Nevada that became the Leviathan Mine Superfund site. The Washoe Tribe had become concerned that contaminated waters were affecting their lands downstream, causing impacts to culture and health, environmental damage, remediation, monitoring and testing, posting of health advisories, drinking water, effects on pregnancy, and cancer. Aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, iron, manganese, nickel and thallium have been detected in surface water and sediment downstream from the mine. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that exposures could result in cancerous and non-cancerous health effects.

4. Eastern Michaud Flats, Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Idaho

The abandoned FMC phosphorus facility occupies more than 1,000 acres of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho, and lies within Eastern Michaud Flats Superfund site. The primary contaminants of concern at the site are arsenic, elemental phosphorous and gamma radiation. FMC left a legacy of contamination in the air, groundwater, soil and the nearby Portneuf River, which threatened plants, wildlife and human health on the reservation and in surrounding communities. The Shoshone-Bannock have long asked for a cleanup of contaminated soils, but instead the EPA’s 2012 interim remedy is to cap and fill, including areas containing gamma radiation and radionuclides.

5. Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex, Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Idaho

The Bunker Hill Mining and Metallurgical Complex Superfund site, located in the Coeur d’Alene River Basin, is one of the largest environmental and human health cleanup efforts in the country.

Its contamination, the result of decades of mining, milling and smelting, affected more than 150 miles of the river, lake and its tributaries. The area, listed a Superfund site in 1983, is one of the “largest and most complex” in the country, according to the EPA. Studies revealed that three quarters of children living in the area in the 1970s had unhealthy levels of lead in their bloodstream. The United States, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the state of Idaho settled with the Hecla Mining Co. in June 2011 for $263.4 million to resolve claims stemming from releases of wastes from its mining operations, an agreement that will protect people’s health by ensuring the cleanup of areas heavily polluted with lead, cadmium, arsenic and other contaminants.

6. Rio Tinto Copper Mine, Shoshone Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley, Nevada

The Shoshone Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley and the state of Nevada will oversee cleanup of the abandoned Rio Tinto Copper Mine Superfund site with $25 million paid by the Atlantic Richfield Co., DuPont and Co., the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. and Teck American Inc., all corporate successors to companies that operated the copper mine between 1932 and 1976. The agreement was worked out last year by the EPA, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. The cleanup will remove mine tailings from Mill Creek, make the creek habitable for redband trout and improve the water quality of Mill Creek and the East Fork Owyhee River.

7. Alcoa Superfund Site, Akwesasne and Saint Regis Mohawk, New York

The Alcoa Superfund aluminum manufacturing facility in Massena, New York, released hazardous substances including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) onto property and into the Grasse River, contaminating sediments in the river system to approximately seven miles downstream, a traditional area of the Akwesasne Mohawk. Analysis of fish in the Grasse River revealed high levels of PCB contamination. PCBs are linked to cancer, low birth weight and thyroid disease, as well as learning, memory and immune system disorders. When in April 2012 the EPA finalized a cleanup plan that requires dredging and capping of contaminated sediment in a 7.2 mile stretch of the river in April 2012, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe were not satisfied with the capping solution.

8. General Motors Massena, Akwesasne Mohawk

Some 4,000 Saint Regis Mohawks live adjacent to the General Motors Massena Superfund site in Massena, New York, which while in operation used PCBs, plus generated and disposed of various industrial wastes onsite. PCBs have been found in the groundwater, on- and off-site soils and sediments in the St. Lawrence and Raquette Rivers, Turtle Cove and Turtle Creek. PCBs are probable human carcinogens that can also affect the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems, as well as cause other health effects. Groundwater was also found to be contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are potentially harmful substances that easily evaporate in the air. Phenols have been detected in lagoons left behind.

Under an August 2010 EPA order, Motors Liquidation Co., formerly GM, and then RACER Trust became responsible for additional sampling, decontamination of the building and contents, demolition of the building, removal of PCB-contaminated soil beneath the building and restoration of the area. A controversial landfill of capped contamination will be moved 150 feet from the tribal border in 2014, EPA regional administrator Judith Enck told the Associated Press in 2012.

The bodies of young Akwesasne Mohawk adults contain twice the levels of PCBs as the national average, compared to those studied by the CDC. Researchers have already established that PCBs have altered thyroid gland function in the Akwesasne community. Prior studies found lower testosterone levels and established links to autoimmune disorders.

“Endocrine disruption seems to be the effect which is most far reaching, because other effects on the reproductive system may be well tied into that,” said Lawrence Schell, a professor at the State University of New York (SUNY at Albany) and director of its Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities who was involved in an exposure research study at the St. Regis Mohawk Nation.

9. Onondaga Lake, Onondaga Nation, New York

Onondaga Lake is a sacred place. The Great Peacemaker formed the Haudenosaunee, known as the Iroquois Confederacy, on its shores.

That the 4.5 square mile lake in Syracuse, New York is spoiled is a painful thing. Sewage overflows contaminated the lake over the years, as did industrial pollutants and heavy metals such as PCBs, pesticides, benzene, toluene, xylene, creosotes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), lead, cobalt, and mercury. The Onondaga Lake Superfund site, listed in 1994, consists of the lake itself and seven major and minor tributaries. Completion of the dredging work is being performed by Honeywell International with oversight by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the EPA and the New York State Department of Health, and capping is expected in 2016. The Onondaga Nation states the Honeywell cleanup plan does not effectively contain toxic chemicals and heavy metals that will be left beneath caps in the lake-bottom sediments.

“Caps are not a reliable form of containment—they will fail, and whether it is in 10 years or 110 years, it is only a matter of time,” the Onondaga said in a statement. “And when that happens, the chemicals will be re-released into the ecosystem.”

Nor does the plan set any goals for making the lake ‘swimmable’ or ‘fishable’ they say—a requirement under the Clean Water Act, the Onondaga added.

10. Tar Creek, Quapaw Tribe

Picher, Oklahoma, part of the Quapaw’s tribal jurisdictional area, was home to productive zinc and lead mining until 1967, when mining companies abandoned 14,000 mine shafts, 70 million tons of lead-laced tailings, 36 million tons of mill sand and sludge and contaminated water, leaving residents with high lead levels in blood and tissues. The area was declared the Tar Creek Superfund site in 1983, but Picher was deemed too toxic to clean up after a 1993 study found that 34 percent of the children tested in Picher had blood lead levels exceeding the point at which there is a risk of brain or nervous system damage. Cancers skyrocketed. A federal buyout paid people to leave. The Quapaw Tribe has cleaned up part of the Tar Creek Superfund site known as the Catholic Forty and has signed agreements to clean up two other sections of the contamination. Their goal is to make the land productive again.

11. Midnite Mine, Spokane Indian Reservation, Washington

The 350-acre Midnite Mine Superfund site on the Spokane Indian Reservation in eastern Washington is centered around a former open pit uranium mine that poses a threat to human health due to elevated levels of radioactivity and the presence of heavy metals. Years of digging for uranium from 1954 to 1964, and again from 1969 to 1981, have disturbed 350 acres, left two open mine pits and piles of toxic rock on the landscape. Under a September 2011 agreement, Newmont USA Limited and Dawn Mining Company LLC would design, construct and implement the cleanup plan for the site that EPA selected in 2006. They will also reimburse EPA’s costs for overseeing the work. The United States will contribute a share of the cleanup costs. EPA will oversee the cleanup work in coordination with the Spokane Tribe. Cleanup is expected to cost $193 million.

12-532. Uranium Mining, Navajo Nation

The legacy of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation is radioactive uranium contamination from 521 abandoned Superfund mine sites spread over 27,000 acres of Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona in the Four Corners area, leaving many homes and drinking water sources on the reservation with elevated levels of radiation. The health effects to Navajo citizens include lung cancer from inhalation of radioactive particles, bone cancer and impaired kidney function from exposure to radionuclides in drinking water. The EPA has completed on-the-ground screening of the mine sites, and with the Navajo EPA is determining the order of site cleanup. Cleanup of some sites has begun while the US EPA continues to research and identify Potentially Responsible Parties under Superfund laws to contribute to cleanup costs.

First Nations leaders urge natives and non-natives to unite against Northern Gateway

A Protest sign hangs from a building in the town of Kitimat, British Columbia, April 12, 2014. Residents of the town voted against the Northern Gateway pipeline project in a blow to Enbridge Inc’s efforts to expedite the flow of crude from Canada’s landlocked oil sands to high-paying markets in Asia. Photo taken April 12, 2014.

Globe and Mail Jun. 17 2014

The federal government’s decision to go ahead with the Northern Gateway pipeline brought chiefs and elders to tears when news reached them at a scientific conference on ocean health in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Shaking with anger, their voices trembling with emotion, native leaders brought the conference to a standstill Tuesday as they spoke of their dismay over the decision – and of their commitment to fight to stop the project from ever getting built.

“Pretty shocking … it’s a tough, tough piece of news,” said Wigvilhba Wakas, a hereditary chief of the Heiltsuk Nation.

“We see this all over the world, where corporate interests are overriding the interests of the people,” said Guujaaw, past president of the Council of Haida Nation and one of the top political leaders among native people in B.C.

“It’s way out of control and it’s probably going to take decisions like this for people to stand up [together]. I think this is a test of humanity now to stand up and fight back,” he said.

Wickaninish, former president of the Nuu-Chah-nulth Tribal Coucil, said the federal government had made “an ominous decision” that he hoped would unite native and non-native people in a common cause, as the battle over Clayoquot Sound did in his traditional territory on Vancouver Island, where mass arrests stopped logging near Tofino.

“This is not just an Indian fight … it’s all the people,” he said.

Wahmeesh, vice-President of the Nuu-Chah-nulth, said he felt an emotional blow when he heard the decision, which spread around the conference as participants read the news bulletins on their smartphones.

“My heart kind of sank, like I’d lost somebody. Like a death in the family,” he said.

Wahmeesh said he was going to return to the Nuu-Chah-nulth, a large collection of 14 tribes on the west coast of Vancouver Island, for an urgent meeting on the pipeline project. And he promised that the chiefs would be united in pledging support to those tribes along the pipeline route across Northern B.C.

“This is probably the biggest decision this government will ever make in my lifetime [affecting First Nations],” he said, struggling to find a way to describe the magnitude of the decision.

Wahmeesh echoed those who urged a coalition between native and non-native people to fight the pipeline.

“We’ll stand together as Canadians,” he said.

Margaret Edgars, an elder from the Haida Nation, was in tears as she spoke to the gathering of scientists and native leaders from Alaska, B.C., Washington, Oregon and California who had gathered for a conference to discuss the resurgence of sea otters on the West Coast.

“I was hurt a bit when I heard it,” she said of the news of Ottawa’s support for the project. “But with everyone speaking out about it here I’m feeling a little stronger. … I think we’ve had enough of what they’re doing. It’s time to stand together united. … We have to continue with the fight.”

After Alaskan delegates had reminded the gathering of the long, enduring impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Ms. Edgars said tankers pose too great a risk to coastal B.C.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/first-nations-leaders-urge-natives-and-non-natives-to-unite-against-northern-gateway/article19214189/?cmpid=rss1

State asks courts to grant restraining orders in Rolling Hills dispute

A Tribal Police force took up positions around Rolling Hills Casino in Corning June 9 and remained in a standoff with casino security guards for a week before leaving the grounds on Monday. (DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO)

Calls situation imminent threat to the public health and safety

By Rich Green, Red Bluff Daily News

SACRAMENTO >> The California Attorney General’s Office asked the federal court system Tuesday to grant a temporary restraining order and other protection orders in the tribal dispute over Rolling Hills Casino.

The complaint for injunctive and declaratory relief was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California and also asks for a finding that the tribe has breached its gaming license contract.

The complaint says the state of California is seeking emergency and other appropriate injunctive relief to prevent an imminent threat to public health and safety resulting from opposing tribal factions of the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians dueling claims to control of Rolling Hills Casino.

Among the relief requested is for a temporary restraining order providing any tribal faction and hired officers, agents and employees to attempt to take control of the casino and a ban of armed personnel of any nature within 100 yards of the casino or on tribal properties.

The complaint also asks the court to find the tribe has materially breached its compact with the state to operate a class III gaming casino.

The complaint says that compact was and is currently being breached because the safety of patrons and employees has not been ensured.

The complaint quotes email exchanges from government officials and attorneys advising of the unfolding situation of the ousted Tribal leadership attempting to gain control of the casino through force.

An armed “Tribal Police” left the casino grounds Monday, after a week-long standoff with casino security.

Tehama County Sheriff’s deputies have stayed at the casino since June 9.

The standoff reached its peak June 11 when the four ousted members of the Tribal Council attempted to enter the casino and were kept out by casino security and about 100 tribal members aligned with Andrew Freeman.

Casino operations have continued despite a cease and desist letter sent by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that recognized the four ousted members as part of the last uncontested Tribal Council.

The remaining tribe has filed an appeal of that decision.

Children can’t be what they can’t see

Speakers encourage and honor students at annual graduation banquet

Graduates at the Tulalip Graduation banquet received a print designed by James Madison in recognition of their accomplishment. *Photo: Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News*

By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News

TULALIP – The Tulalip Tribes honored all tribal members that graduated this year, as well as all other Native students who graduated from the Marysville School District, on June 13 at the Tulalip Resort. Ninety nine students graduated from high school and post-secondary education. Tribal leaders recognized the academic achievement of the students, and former Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission, Tracie Stevens, gave an inspirational keynote speech. Student speakers expressed gratitude for many years of support, telling of their struggles and achievements.

Leticia Bumatay of the Shool Home Partnership Program (SHOPP) said, “Seven years ago, I couldn’t see myself standing here. I say seven years because that was when I lost my mom. I was bounced around with beda?chelh, so I am 21 years old getting my high school diploma today. The one thing I have to tell everybody is to never give up. Never give up on what your dreams are, never give up on your hope, and never give up on your faith. My grandma taught me that.”

Tulalip Treasurer Glen Gobin encouraged graduates to go out and see the world without the fear of losing their roots.

“You graduates here today, your whole world is out there. You can get an education or you can go to work. But one thing I just want to encourage you all, because it’s the one things that has kept us who we are today, is stay grounded in your culture, stay grounded in who you are, stay grounded and come back and help your tribe, because that what our past people have done,” he said.

Keynote speaker Tracie Stevens took the stage, introducing herself in a traditional manner. She highlighted the importance of education, and what that empowers students to accomplish for their tribe and for themselves.

“I didn’t understand what the purpose of education was, and what it would do for me later in life. I was the first person in my immediate family to graduate high school and began a 21 year journey to get a four-year degree. I worked for Tulalip from 1995 to 2009. I just decided to finish school one day. I figured out that if I went to school, at night, full time, I could finish in one year what I had been trying to for the last 20 years. I was the first in my family to get a four-year degree. The lack of a question I had when I was younger, about what education would do for me; I found later that education would expand my universe, a great deal. Which eventually led to my passion, this policy nerd that I am, which is helping my people, in any way that I could.”

Education is a journey for finding passion. In high school, some students dare to move on to college to chase their life’s passion. Others find their passion in jobs or job training. It’s all about doing what you love in the long run.

Mekalani Echevarria of Marysville Getchell High School said, “Find a passion and go with it. Life without passion is utterly boring. But don’t forget where you come from. Remember your teachings from elders and use them in daily life. Stay humble, respectful, and honest.”

Tulalip graduates were recognized for the example they are for their people.

“What kind of auntie would I be if I didn’t graduate. I had to be an example for my nieces and nephews. Not only for them, for the next generation,” said Tulalip Heritage High School graduate Santana Shopbell.

That need to be an example continues on long after graduation. Stevens talked about how she struggled with the choice of accepting the nomination to chair the National Indian Gaming Comission, knowing it would extend her time away from home.

“A woman I worked with, Rene Stone, told me, ‘How will all those Indian boys and girls, that are growing up now, ever know that they can come this far and do this kind of work if they don’t see you out front leading? Children can’t be what they can’t see,’” Stevens recalled. “You all have reached an important benchmark, and with that you are breaking a cycle of an old failed Indian Education policy that was meant to take the Indian out of you. We can do more than just survive, we can thrive and prosper. You’ll use your education, your knowledge, to pass that on to the next generation, to change the history of Indian Education so that we control our own destiny. Be the example, be the change, and be the one that passes that on.”

Girl and Boy Students of the year, mekyla Fryberg and Jaren Muir Johnson — Girl and Boy Students of the year, Mekyla Fryberg and Jaren Muir Johnson. *Photo: Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News*

Ninety nine graduates this year. Ninety nine examples of hard work and dedication. Ninety nine examples of success and achievement, overcoming adversity in so many ways. Congratulation to all graduates of 2014.

Andrew Gobin is a staff reporter with the Tulalip News See-Yaht-Sub, a publication of the Tulalip Tribes Communications Department.
Email: agobin@tulalipnews.com
Phone: (360) 716.4188

Traditional Cooking, the Salish Way

By: Dina Gilio, Indian Country Today

The Pacific Northwest is known by indigenous peoples for its natural bounty, spanning from the rich mountain forests and salmon-filled rivers to the vast abundance of seafoods provided by Mother Ocean. Such a wide nutritional variety paves the way for a cuisine that is distinctly Salish, showcased in the recently released second edition of an ebook called Salish Country Cookbook: Traditional Foods & Medicines from the Pacific Northwest. Written by Rudolph C. Rÿser (Taidnapam Cowlitz) originally in 2004 and published by Daykeeper Press, the updated version includes new dessert recipes, expanded information about ingredients (in their Latin and Native names), and additional full color photos. The author draws on his experience growing up eating traditionally gathered and hunted foods such as deer, elk, bear, duck and beaver.

The 146-page volume features recipes for everything from appetizers to salad dressings, and main dishes to sweet treats. There is also a section for teas and juices. As a holistic project, however, it also includes sections dedicated to traditional Salish cooking knowledge, the basic Salish pantry, the importance of Oolichan oil, the cultural aspects of Salish cooking, and the dangers of modern contamination. The book wouldn’t be complete without a compendium of commonly used plants in Salish country, with details about harvesting techniques and culinary and medicinal uses.

With a forward written by Leslie Korn, Ph.d., MPH, author of Rhythms of Recovery: Trauma, Nature, and the Body and director of the Center for Traditional Medicine in Olympia, Washington, the central organizing theme of the book is restoring Native health and community through a return to traditional foods. Recognizing the connection between escalating rates of modern illnesses like diabetes and heart disease and the loss of traditional foods, the book emphasizes the destructive force of many modern ingredients. As Korn writes: “We have tried to maintain the integrity of each dish by using foods that do not raise the glycemic level or use gluten-based products, both sugar and gluten being harmful to most indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere (as well as peoples from other parts of the world including Europe).”

Food gathering and preparation is a central aspect of traditional knowledge, as Rÿser writes. For example, being in the right frame of mind is imperative for the life-giving force of traditional foods to ensure that food is infused with happiness and calmness. Cooking methods further contribute to the health-imparting benefits of traditional foods. Microwave ovens and high temperature cooking, for instance, should be avoided in favor of slower, lower temperature cooking to protect food’s nutritional integrity.

Adapting traditional foods in a contemporary context is also a creative process and is reflected in the recipes offered in the book. You won’t find fry bread here, but you will find healthy ingredients such as stevia and berry juices (instead of refined sugar), rice or cattail flour (instead of processed white flour), and coconut or olive oil (instead of conventional vegetable oils).

Salish Country Cookbook can be purchased for $9.99 through the Center for Traditional Medicine at www.centerfortraditionalmedicine.org.

Foster child adoption halted over tribal ties

by ELISA HAHN / KING 5 News

LYNDEN, Wash. — Her photos are still up on the refrigerator door. Three-year-old “Elle” was Pete and Laura Lupo’s foster child, but she was much more than that to them.

“Every day when I walked through the door she would run to the door and squeeze my leg,” said foster father Pete Lupo.

“She would be just rough and tumble, but then she also like to have her nails painted and she liked pink,” said Laura Lupo, her foster mother.

In December, they say their dream came true. DSHS designated the Lupos to be her adoptive parents. “Elle’s” biological mother lost her parental rights. Her biological father, Scott Vaughn, who was serving time for assault with a deadly weapon, was about to lose his when the Lupos say he enrolled in the Cherokee tribe.

It sent into motion a legal nightmare for the family, ending with DSHS removing “Elle” from her home two weeks ago.

“So on June 5, they came and got her. And we haven’t heard anything on how she’s doing,” said Laura Lupo, crying.

DSHS declined to comment stating the confidentiality of child welfare records, but the Lupos’ attorney says the department cited the Indian Child Welfare Act and state law, which says “any adoptive or other permanent placement of an Indian child, preference shall be given to…extended family members” first. A Skagit county court commissioner made the decision final on Tuesday.

“We have offered to enroll her, we have offered to go to Oklahoma, we have offered to meet with tribal members. It didn’t matter, none of it mattered,” said Laura Lupo.

“Elle” was placed with an uncle and aunt who she had met twice as an infant, and had a few arranged visits with in recent months. The Lupos say the heritage that “Elle” should have been taught to honor and cherish was used to rip her from her home and her family.

With tears in his eyes, Pete Lupo remembers saying goodbye to her.

“She gave me a kiss back and she said ‘I love you, Daddy.’ And I had to walk away,” he said.

A KING 5 investigation helped lead to a new state law allowing foster children to have their own attorney to give them a voice over life changing decisions, such as where they will live. The Lupos are hoping that law will help “Elle” get what is best for her. A Facebook page is dedicated to help bring “Elle” home.

State of Emergency on Navajo Nation as Assayii Lake Fire Exceeds 13,000 Acres

Donovan Quintero/APThis June 17, 2014 handout photo provided by the Navajo Times shows the Asaayii Lake Fire raging out of control at the ridge of the Chuska Mountains, west of Naschitti, N.M. Tribal agriculture officials say depending on the fire's intesity, it could be a while before sheepherders and cattle ranchers get to return to the hills outside of Naschitti and Sheep Springs. — Donovan Quintero/AP
This June 17, 2014 handout photo provided by the Navajo Times shows the Asaayii Lake Fire raging out of control at the ridge of the Chuska Mountains, west of Naschitti, N.M. Tribal agriculture officials say depending on the fire’s intesity, it could be a while before sheepherders and cattle ranchers get to return to the hills outside of Naschitti and Sheep Springs.

Indian Country Today

The Navajo Nation has declared a state of emergency regarding the Assayii Lake fire, which has burgeoned to 13,250 acres and growing.

It is zero percent contained, according to InciWeb.

On June 16, the Navajo Nation Commission on Emergency Management passed CEM 14-06-16, a resolution declaring a state of emergency for the Assayii Lake Fire, the Nation said in a statement. President Ben Shelly ordered tribal resources to assist with efforts to contain and extinguish the fire.

“I direct all Navajo divisions, departments and programs to commit resources to the Assayii Lake Fire. We need to do all we can to stop the fire from spreading further,” Shelly said in a statement.

As of Wednesday June 18, winds were still high at 18-22 mph and gusting at 32 mph throughout the day, according to InciWeb.

“With warming and drying, we anticipate another day of extreme fire behavior,” InciWeb said, adding that about 50 residences were threatened and an estimated four structures had been destroyed. “However, that is not a firm count. Personnel continue to assess the damages at this time.”

Hotshot crews from Arizona have joined the Navajo Scouts to battle the blaze, the Navajo Nation said.

The human-caused fire has been raging since Friday June 13.

Federal Salmon Plan Heads Back To The Courtroom

By Courtney Flatt, Northwest Public Radion

It’s back to court for the federal government and salmon advocates. Conservationists Tuesday once again challenged the government’s plan to manage dams on the Columbia River to protect endangered salmon and steelhead.

In January, officials released a finalized plan, known as a biological opinion or BiOp, that guides dam operations. It’s been subject to more than 20 years of legal conflict between people who want to protect salmon and people who want to produce hydroelectricity and maintain shipping channels.

“Welcome to Groundhog Day,” said Todd True, lead attorney for the challengers and Earthjustice.

True said the latest plan is far too similar to previous plans already struck down by the courts.

“We will not let the government slow-walk our wild salmon into extinction and trample our environmental laws, just because they don’t want to change the way they run the Columbia River hydro system,” True said.

Fish advocates said the most recent plan also lessens the amount of water spilled over dams to help juvenile salmon migrate out to sea.

The groups are asking the court to require an environmental impact statement, which would require public comments for a new biological opinion.

“The best way to pursue a real solution for salmon would be to have a collaborative process,” said Sara Patton, executive director for NW Energy Coalition, a clean energy advocacy group.

In 2011, U.S. District Judge James A. Redden rejected the plan and asked the Obama administration to consider more ways to recover the endangered fish.

Redden’s suggestions included spilling more water over the dams to help juvenile salmon safely make it downriver to the ocean, changing reservoirs to help fish passage, and removing the lower Snake River dams altogether.

The case has been transferred to Judge Michael H. Simon. This most recent challenge is a continuation of a lawsuit filed in 2001.

Supporters of the 2014 plan called it the most comprehensive restoration plan in the country. Terry Flores’ group Northwest RiverPartners represents commerce and industry groups that defend dams on the Columbia and lower Snake rivers. For her part, Flores said the challenge is more of the same from conservation groups.

She said recent high salmon returns show that the current plan is working.

“Litigation doesn’t do anything for fish on the ground. It just drags time and energy away from those kinds of efforts that actually benefit fish and puts us all back into the courtroom,” Flores said.

U.S. patent office cancels Redskins trademark registration, says name is disparaging

BY THERESA VARGAS | June 18 at 9:56 AM

The Washington Post

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has canceled the Washington Redskins trademark registration, calling the football team’s name “disparaging to Native Americans.”

The landmark case, which appeared before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, was filed on behalf of five Native Americans. It was the second time such a case was filed.

“This victory was a long time coming and reflects the hard work of many attorneys at our firm,” said lead attorney Jesse Witten, of Drinker Biddle & Reath.

Federal trademark law does not permit registration of trademarks that “may disparage” individuals or groups or “bring them into contempt or disrepute.” The ruling pertains to six different trademarks associated with the team, each containing the word “Redskin.”

“We are extraordinarily gratified to have prevailed in this case,” Alfred Putnam Jr., the chairman of Drinker Biddle & Reath, said. “The dedication and professionalism of our attorneys and the determination of our clients have resulted in a milestone victory that will serve as an historic precedent.”

The ruling does not mean that the Redskins have to change the name of the team. It does affect whether the team and the NFL can make money from merchandising because it limits the team’s legal options when others use the logos and the name on T shirts, sweatshirts, beer glasses and license plate holders.

In addition, Native Americans have won at this stage before, in 1999. But the team and the NFL won an appeal to federal court in 2009. The court did not rule on the merits of the case, however, but threw it out, saying that the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to file it. The team is likely to make the same appeal this time. Team officials are expected to make a statement this morning.

The current lawsuit was brought eight years ago by Amanda Blackhorse, Phillip Glover, Marcus Briggs-Cloud, Jillian Pappan and Courtney Tsotigh.

“It is a great victory for Native Americans and for all Americans,” Blackhorse said in a statement. “I hope this ruling brings us a step closer to that inevitable day when the name of the Washington football team will be changed.”

The Redskins name change controversy has been gathering steam over the past few years. U.S. senators, former and current NFL players and others all have called for team owner Dan Snyder to change the name.

Snyder has steadfastly refused to consider a name change, saying the name and logo honor Native Americans.

Snyder declined to comment as he left the practice field at Redskins Park, the team’s training facility in Ashburn, following a morning practice Wednesday at an offseason minicamp. Snyder did not verbally acknowledge a reporter’s question on the the ruling, instead waving his hand and continuing to walk.

Team officials said there would be a statement on the ruling later in the day.

Bruce Allen, the team’s president and general manager, said as he walked off the practice field Wednesday: “When the statement comes out, you’ll get it.”

Asked whether the Redskins believe they can continue to use their team name under the circumstances, Allen said: “Did you read it?… We’re fine. We’re fine.”

Staff writer Mark Maske contributed to this story.