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Tulalip mother pleads guilty to murder, mistreatment

Family photoNineteen-month-old Chantel Craig died Oct. 8, 2012. Her mother has pleaded guilty to a murder charge. — Family photo
Nineteen-month-old Chantel Craig died Oct. 8, 2012. Her mother has pleaded guilty to a murder charge.

By Chris Winters, The Herald

SEATTLE — A Tulalip woman charged with killing one daughter and neglecting another pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to one count of murder and another of criminal mistreatment.

Christina Carlson, 37, will likely receive eight to 13 years in prison when she is sentenced. That’s scheduled for July.

Had she been found guilty at trial, Carlson could have received a life sentence.

Carlson previously pleaded not guilty to the charges and was scheduled for a pre-trial hearing later this month.

Some of Carlson’s family members left the courtroom in tears as assistant U.S. attorney Tate London described the condition that Carlson’s daughters were found in.

Carlson showed no emotion and only answered “yes” when Magistrate Judge James Donohue asked whether she understood the charges and the plea agreement.

She was charged with second-degree murder in the death of her 19-month-old daughter, Chantel Craig. The toddler and her older sister, 3, were all but abandoned in a car on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in October 2012.

The toddlers were buckled in their car seats for hours. They had sores all over their bodies and were covered in feces, lice and maggots. Investigators believe they likely had gone days without food or water.

Chantel wasn’t breathing when paramedics reached her. An autopsy determined that she suffered from severe malnutrition. Her sister was treated for dehydration and skin sores from prolonged exposure to feces and urine.

The investigation into Chantel’s death includes more than 3,000 pages of reports and numerous video and audio files.

Prosecutors allege that Carlson withheld basic necessities of life from her children. In the hours before Chantel died, Carlson allegedly was sending text messages, attempting to buy drugs, court papers said. Witnesses reported seeing Carlson smoking heroin days earlier in the car while the girls were in the back seat.

Tests conducted on the older girl’s hair showed evidence that the child had been exposed to opiates.

Carlson and the girls had for months been the focus of on-again, off-again searches by state and tribal child welfare workers. Their grandmother called Child Protective Services in December 2011 with concerns that the girls were being neglected.

Carlson had lost custody of at least three other children because of her drug use and neglect, court papers said.

In a terrible coincidence, state social workers closed the investigation hours before Chantel died. They hadn’t been able to find her or Carlson. The woman and her daughters had for weeks been living in her car down a dirt road on the reservation.

Carlson is scheduled to be sentenced July 21.

Developer To Preserve Ancient Tequesta Village In Heart Of Miami

img_2518_wide-0a14a42b8393a1e89c7a9959afb3580fe51c5b31-s4-c85 — A series of postholes sit on a site that some call a major archeological find, once home to a Tequesta village. A developer wants to build on the site, but agreed to preserve the village.
Greg Allen/NPR

by Greg Allen

April 08, 2014 NPR.org

In downtown Miami, amidst the office buildings, shops and high-rise condos, visitors will soon be able to see a site historians are calling Miami’s birthplace.

The spot where the Miami River meets Biscayne Bay used to be home to the Tequesta tribe, which is where Spanish explorers who first arrived in Florida in the early 1500s encountered them. Today, that spot is the heart of downtown Miami.

A developer began making plans last year to build on one of the last pieces of undeveloped land there. When the company called in archaeologist Bob Carr to first conduct a survey, he found what may be the oldest prehistoric town in the eastern United States.

When the topsoil was cleared away, Carr found a series of postholes bored into the limestone bedrock. The postholes form the outline of six circular structures: buildings that once were part of a major Tequesta village.

“The Tequesta were the native people of southeastern Florida,” Carr says. “They were certainly here when the Europeans arrived. They probably encountered Ponce de León, who apparently did land somewhere near the Miami River.”

The discovery of the village was a major archaeological find, one that rivals the discovery of a related site 15 years ago on the other side of the Miami River. Development there uncovered a much larger ceremonial site dubbed the Miami Circle. Preservationists raised money to save it, but little has been done since then to improve that site or interpret it for visitors.

The developer of the new site, MDM Development Group, recently reached an agreement with historic preservationists that will preserve the village and also interpret some of the most important elements.

MDM plans to build a retail, hotel and office complex on the site but as part of the agreement, the building’s lobby has been redesigned. It will now include a museum gallery with glass walls and flooring to showcase some of the Tequesta circles for visitors.

Architect and preservationist Richard Heisenbottle says that visitors will “be able to see the circle and the archaeological dig through a glass floor. And, at that same time, there will be a video that explains the history of the site.”

A second Tequesta circle will also be visible from the sidewalk and showcased in an area planned for a restaurant in another part of the complex.

Most of the rest of the prehistoric Tequesta village will be preserved under the building and accessible to researchers and archaeologists through a crawlspace.

It’s not all preservationists hoped for, but it is pretty close. Along with the Tequesta village, the site also contains elements from its later uses, when it was a military fort and then Miami’s first resort hotel. Those layers of history will also be preserved and explained to visitors.

“It does explain very clearly to everyone as we look at this, ‘This is where Miami came from,’ ” Heisenbottle says. “Miami’s earliest days are right there.”

Along with a movie theater and restaurants, the complex will now also have a history museum and interactive displays for visitors.

“If you go through Europe and you see how they’ve been able to marry the relationships between commerce and history, that’s what is proposed here,” says Eugene Stearns, who represents the developer.

Miami is one of America’s youngest cities, just a little more than a century old. This new archaeological find is a reminder that Florida is also home to some of the oldest settlements in North America.

“This will give you the opportunity to see both sides of the story, that we’re one of the oldest human habitation sites and we’re the youngest major metropolitan area,” says historian Arva Moore Parks.

Parks is hopeful that the planned museum and Tequesta village display could help bring new attention and money to the city’s other important prehistoric site — the Miami Circle

Event honors role of Native Americans in war

Times Daily
Posted: Tuesday, April 8, 2014 1:00 am

By Bobby Bozeman, Staff Writer

War history and the American South often lead to thoughts of gray and blue uniforms and the brother versus brother imagery of the Civil War.

Native Americans representing a variety of tribes will provide educational insight into their participation in the War of 1812 during a three-day event at Natchez Trace Parkway. Photo: Times Daily — Native Americans representing a variety of tribes will provide educational insight into their participation in the War of 1812 during a three-day event at Natchez Trace Parkway. *Photo: Times Daily*

But war in the South was more than just Confederates fighting Union forces. The British Empire also fought United States forces in the South in the War of 1812. Those skirmishes often involved Native American tribes.

Susanne Hamlin, executive director of Colbert County Tourism, said the role of Native Americans in the War of 1812 will be commemorated Thursday through Saturday at Colbert Ferry Park on the Natchez Trace Parkway, north of Cherokee.

The Trace was one of the key supply lines during fighting in the South.

“We’re really excited about it,” Hamlin said. “It’s the bicentennial of the Natchez Trace Parkway, which started last year.”

Hamlin said about 1,000 students will take part in the living history events Thursday and Friday. The event will be open to the public Saturday.

“There will be stations where everyone who attends will be able to see the various American Indian tribes,” Hamlin said. “They will be portraying the chieftans and telling how they worked with or against Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812.”

Hamlin said the event will be a learning opportunity for adults and students who didn’t realize Alabama had an involvement in the War of 1812.

“Most people don’t realize that since we weren’t a state, we had much involvement,” she said. “Andrew Jackson traveled down the Trace where American Indians were located.”

On Saturday, vendors will display and sell handmade arts and crafts from that period. Food vendors will be on hand, with several serving traditional period food.

At 7 p.m. Friday, a banquet will feature representatives of the Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw nations at the Round House at the Tuscumbia Depot in Tuscumbia.

Tickets to the banquet are $20 and available at Colbert County Tourism office and Cold Water Books, both in Tuscumbia, and the Florence-Lauderdale Tourism office in Florence.

“This is the first time we’ve had an opportunity to do this on a site as close as possible to where it would have happened,” Hamlin said.

Bobby Bozeman can be reached at 256-740-5722 or bobby.bozeman@TimesDaily.com. Follow on Twitter@TD_ BobbyBozeman.

Want to Go?

What: Native Americans Role in War of 1812 commemoration

When: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday

Where: Colbert Ferry on the Natchez Trace Parkway, mile marker 327.3.

Cost: Free

Details: 256-383-0783 or colbertcountytourism.com

Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014): Leonard Peltier and In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

by Colin Penter

April 7th, 2014 The Stringer Independent News

‘Whatever the nature and degree of his participation at Oglala, the ruthless persecution of Leonard Peltier had less to do with his own actions than with underlying issues of history, racism, and economics, in particular Indian sovereignty claims and growing opposition to massive energy development on treaty lands and dwindling reservations.’

Peter Matthiessen

Author, writer, environmentalist and political activist Peter Matthiessen has died, aged 86, after a short illness. Pieces written is his memory are here, here, here, here and here.

Matthiessen is best known for his fiction work, his writings on the natural world and his writing and activism on environmental causes.

However, it is his non-fiction books that I value the most. These include In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, which chronicles the story of Native Indian political activist Leonard Peltier and the FBI and US Government’s war on the American Indian Movement and his book about the legendary farm worker, union organizer and activist Ceser Chavez.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse is one of the finest examples of a book that exposed historical and political injustice and gave force to a political campaign that continues to this day.

In In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Matthiessen documents the massive number of crimes committed against Native American people and the genocidal nature of the US authorities in their destruction of Native cultures and people. He documents a long string of historical injustices, ranging from mass slaughter to the takeover and reapportionment of sacred or Native lands, including the forced appropriation of Indian lands for mining use.

The key figure in Matthiessen’s book is Leonard Peltier, who has spent 37 years in American prisons for the alleged murder of 2 FBI agents on the the Pine Ridge Indian Reserve in South Dakota in 1975.

Peltier, an Ojibwa-Lakota from Turtle Mountain, North Dakota, was one of the three young Indians involved in a shoot-out with the FBI at Oglala on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation in June 1975, which resulted in the death of 3 men, including 2 FBI agents and an Indian. Pelteir and 3 others were later charged with the murder of the two FBI agents.

Peltier and two of the young Indian men indicted were members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) a group fiercely opposed to the sale of Reservation land and mining rights to non-Indian interests.

Mathiessen shows how the fire fight was the result of a planned military assault on the Reservation by FBI agents and local Police, working in conjunction with an Indian para-military group (The GOONS), who were linked to Indian tribal figures keen to sell Indian land to white corporate interests wanting to exploit its mineral wealth.

Those same Indian leaders, with the support of Federal authorities, had armed the GOONS (Guardians of the Oglala Nation), who had been terrorizing Indians on the reservation who opposed the sell off. In the 2 years leading up to the shoot out, the GOONS reign of terror had resulted in between 200-300 deaths.

Matthiessen’s book documents how Peltier’s conviction and subsequent life imprisonment were based on Government fraud and misconduct and highly disputed evidence.

Matthiessen’s book was so controversial its publication was delayed for decades due to legal challenges by the US authorities and the FBI, which cost Matthiessen and his publisher $2 million in legal fees.

In 1969 Matthiessen also wrote a book length profile of Ceser Chavez the legendary union organizer for farm workers in the US. The book was titled Escape if You Can: Cesar Chavez and the New American Revolution.

Matthiesson continued to write about Chavez, quoting him in this profile article:

When we are really honest with ourselves, we must admit that our lives are all that really belongs to us. So it is how we use our lives that determines what kind of men we are. It is my deepest belief that only by giving our lives do we find life. I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for justice. To be a man is to suffer for others. God help us be men.”

Lawsuit Threatens Steelhead Recovery

Apr 7th, 2014

Both hatchery and wild fish are needed for steelhead and salmon recovery in western Washington, says Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.

“There’s no way we can do it without both,” said Frank, responding to a lawsuit against the state of Washington by a group claiming that state hatchery steelhead releases are undermining recovery of ESA-listed wild steelhead, chinook and bull trout in Puget Sound.

The Wild Fish Conservancy wants the program halted and is seeking an injunction to stop the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife from releasing nearly 1 million hatchery steelhead this spring. WDFW has said it will not release the fish unless or until it can reach an agreement with the group.

Science guides the operation of hatcheries in western Washington, Frank said. Hatcheries are carefully managed to protect the genetic health of wild fish. Without hatcheries and the fish they produce, there would be no fishing at all.

“It’s important to remember why we have hatcheries in the first place,” he said. “They were built to make up for lost natural steelhead and salmon production that has been nearly destroyed by habitat loss and damage. They have been an important part of salmon management in Washington for more than 100 years.”

Indian and non-Indian fishermen, their families, businesses and many others depend on the salmon and steelhead that hatcheries provide, Frank said. Because wild fish populations have continued to decline along with their habitat, hatcheries are critical to providing fish for harvest.

Hatchery fish are also essential to fulfilling tribal treaty-reserved fishing rights, which depend on fish being available for harvest. Properly managed hatcheries can be a valuable tool for wild fish restoration by supplementing natural spawning and increasing natural-origin fish abundance, Frank said.

“But we must also stop the loss and damage of steelhead and salmon habitat in our watersheds,” Frank said. “The reasons that hatcheries were built in the first place have not changed, and have only gotten worse. We are losing salmon habitat faster than it can be restored and protected, and that trend is not improving.”

That is why lawsuits like the one filed by the Wild Fish Conservancy are so disappointing, Frank said.

Once a hatchery salmon is released, it has the same habitat needs as wild fish. Those needs include clean, cold water; access to and from the sea; and good spawning habitat.

“Lost and damaged habitat, not hatcheries or harvest, is what’s driving wild steelhead and salmon populations toward extinction,” Frank said. “The focus needs to be on fixing and protecting habitat, not fighting over hatcheries and the fish they produce. Climate change and exploding population growth are only making our habitat problems worse, which in turn makes hatcheries even more important for wild fish and all of us.”

If the state ultimately does not release the fish, both Indian and non-Indian fishermen and local economies will feel the effects quickly and for a long time, Frank said. “The tribes and state learned a long time ago that our money, time and energy are better spent working together for the benefit of the resource than fighting each other in court. We need cooperation, not litigation, to achieve salmon and steelhead recovery.”

For more information: Tony Meyer, NWIFC, (360-438-1180) tmeyer@nwifc.org; or Emmett O’Connell (360- 438-1180) eoconnell@nwifc.org.

Interior Announces First Transfer to Cobell Education Fund for Native Students

Christina RoseJazmine Good Iron (Standing Rock), left, and Adonica Little (Ogalala), right, sit in front of Oglala Lakota College in Rapid City, South Dakota. — Christina Rose
Jazmine Good Iron (Standing Rock), left, and Adonica Little (Ogalala), right, sit in front of Oglala Lakota College in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Vincent Schilling, ICTMN

On April 2 the Department of the Interior announced that quarterly transfers of nearly $580,000 are set to begin this week to the American Indian College Fund. The Cobell Education Fund is part of the historic Cobell Settlement fund of 2012, which will provide financial assistance to American Indian and Alaska Native students wishing to pursue post-secondary education and training.

“The Scholarship Fund is an important tool to help students across Indian country pursue higher education opportunities imperative to their success in the workplace and to the creation of the next generation of Indian leaders,” said Interior Solicitor Hilary Tompkins in a press release. Tompkins helped negotiate the Cobell Settlement on behalf of the Department of the Interior.

“While there was much debate in the settlement negotiations, there was no debate among the parties that we must do something to support Indian students in their aspirations and dreams,” she said.

According to the Interior, the scholarship fund is financed in part by the Land Buy-Back Program for Tribal Nations. The program was created by the Cobell Settlement, which provided copy.9 billion to purchase fractionated interests in trust or restricted land from willing landowners. As an incentive to participate in the land consolidation program, a percentage of each purchase is donated to the Cobell Education Scholarship Fund.

The American Indian College Fund in Denver, Colorado will be in charge of administering the scholarship fund monies to eligible students interested in enrolling or currently enrolled in tribal colleges, technical and vocational programs and undergraduate and graduate programs.

Eligible students must be enrolled in an accredited, non-profit, U.S. institution that awards graduating students either bachelor’s degrees or career and technical certificates, or students that are pursuing post-baccalaureate graduate or professional degree as a full-time degree-seeking student at an accredited institution in the U.S. Online degrees are covered as long as they meet the above requirements.

In accordance with the programs guidelines, 20 percent of the funds will be allocated to support graduate students through the American Indian Graduate Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

According to Cheryl Crazy Bull, President and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, the organization is currently only able to provide scholarships to 75 percent of its current applicants, so the disbursement is a welcomed asset.

“We are thrilled to be able to remember and implement the vision of Elouise Cobell so that the Cobell Scholarship Fund can lift up tribal students and their families, and also know that we have a long way to go,” she told Indian Country Today Media Network.

“Current U.S. Department of Education data shows that less than 13 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives earn a college degree compared to 28 percent of other racial groups,” she continued. “No doubt this is due to economic disparity, especially in reservation communities, as well as education disparity. We believe these scholarships will be a good start in providing Native people with a post-secondary education, which we see as the solution to ending poverty and its problems.

“We know there are many tribal students who have yet to access available scholarships so the need for scholarships will continue to rise.”

Crazy Bull also said that though the scholarships will help, the $580,000 is not a guaranteed amount per quarter as the Department of the Interior will contribute up to $60 million over the course of the Land Buy-Back Program. “Payments may vary each quarter depending on land sales and the value of those lands sold,” she said.

Currently the College Fund is still working to meet its goal of 60 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives having earned a higher education by 2025 and will still relentlessly continue to pursue fundraising goals.

“If we were to fully fund tribal college students, 20,000 students at an average cost of copy6,000 a year, we would need $32 million a year for scholarships,” Crazy Bull said. “There are at least another 160,000 American Indian and Alaska Native students attending college across the U.S. The vast majority of them have great need for financial support.

“Tribal people have a right to access education in whatever manner works for them and wherever they choose to go to school.”

“While the Cobell Scholarship Fund has criteria like all scholarships generally do, the funds will make a difference with access and we hope that the funds can serve as a resource for students to stay in school. Our student persistence and graduation rates are a focus of tribal educators and we know one of the most significant barriers is adequate financial support,” Crazy Bull said.

Students interested in applying for the American Indian College Fund Scholarships should visit the College Fund website.

First Nations Save First Foods: Northwest Tribes Seek to Restore Historic Fish Runs

Jack McNeelGrand Coulee Dam, the so-called granddaddy of all impediments to fish migration, as seen from the hillside above the reservoir. — Jack McNeel
Grand Coulee Dam, the so-called granddaddy of all impediments to fish migration, as seen from the hillside above the reservoir.

Jack McNeel, Indian Country Today Media Network

Salmon and other migratory fish attempting to return to their spawning grounds in the Pacific Northwest face no fewer than 400 man-made barriers in the Columbia River Basin, the earliest dating back to 1885—and there may be as many as 100 more constructed illegally on private property, tribal fish biologists estimate.

The impediments to fish migration posed by such monolithic barriers as the 551-foot-high Grand Coulee Dam are well documented, but anadromous fish face a myriad of other obstacles as well. In the 129 years since that first dam was built in Spokane, Washington, fish passage has been restricted, if not totally eliminated, in many areas, tribal experts said at a recent workshop addressing the issues. And it’s not just the Columbia River.

“The tributaries and main stem Snake River habitat are probably in worse shape than on the Columbia,” said Dave Johnson, program manager for the Nez Perce Department of Fisheries. “The main stem is a mess. All the Snake River salmon and steelhead populations are listed under the endangered species act or have been extirpated. Idaho Power Company is trying to relicense those facilities right now, and there are things they need to fix as part of that, things that are caused only by those dams being there such as the mercury issue, such as temperature problems.”

Biologists with the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) have documented most of these obstructions on a massive map of the basin. They gathered at a workshop in mid-March to review their individual projects ahead of the CRITFC’s Future of Our Salmon conference to be held in Oregon on April 23 and 24. The goal is to restore historic fishing runs. Eliminating such obstructions is essential not only from a food-security standpoint, the experts said, but also culturally and spiritually—though all are different facets of the same thing.

“The deal we made with the Creator is that if we take care of our first foods, the first foods will take care of us,” said Paul Lumley, executive director of the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), which held the workshop. “Salmon are the first of the first foods.”

By 1980, river flows had been reduced by 50 percent, causing migration time to increase from weeks to months and decreasing survival, said Sheri Sears of the Colville Tribes. The granddaddy of all these barriers is Grand Coulee Dam, completed in 1942, which completely blocked upstream migration all the way into the headwaters in western British Columbia. But there’s more—much, much more. The Brownlee, Hells Canyon and Oxbow dams on the Snake River totally block fish migration across western and southern Idaho nearly to the Wyoming border as well, for instance.

Moreover, these are all high dams. Besides Grand Coulee there is the Brownlee, soaring 420 feet. Others are only slightly lower. Their construction, and lack of any means to transport fish beyond them, has changed the culture of Northwestern tribes, whose members once depended on these fish for food.

Ever since the first dams were built, biologists from tribes and governmental agencies have sought ways to get fish over, around, and through these barriers: large and small dams, culverts and even waterfalls. Currents and water temperatures have changed over the years, as well.

The issue stretches all the way up into Canada, with nonexistent fish passage at the Keenleyside, Brilliant, and Waneta dams. Sockeye were once abundant there.

“None of these facilities provide fish passage,” Canadian biologist Will Warnack told workshop attendees.

Different locations reported various problems and possible solutions. One practice that has proven effective is the use of pit tags to compare survival rates between dams. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries biologist Ritchie Graves pointed out that it was relatively cheap, no handling was required, fish were from a known source, and it was an easy estimate to understand. In addition, he said, everyone using this technique sends their findings in, making for highly accurate reporting statistics.

New technology sometimes replaces old, as cited by James Bartlett, fisheries biologist with Portland General Electric. For instance, Round Butte Dam once had a 2.8-mile fish ladder. That was discontinued a few years later, and they now use a truck and haul method for both juveniles and adults. A pipe releases the fish 20 feet below the surface to prevent thermal shock.

Cracking down on the roughly 100 mostly illegal dams in central Washington would be a good starting point for restoring the fish runs, Sears said. The smaller dams and barriers notwithstanding, the single overriding problem continues to be moving fish past the major hydroelectric dams. Solutions are possible, but funding is key, which is one hope for the outcome of the renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty, which is nearly complete.

Perhaps the most unique option for boosting fish over large dams is being developed by Whooshh Innovations, a company that is testing a flexible sleeve that rapidly moves fish using a pressure differential. The first tests will move fish 200 feet with a 50-foot rise, but the company is already thinking of much larger numbers, a minimum of 1,000 feet with a 236-foot rise.

“Our model indicates it would take a fish 25 seconds to make that rise,” said Deligan. “Do we want to go over something like Chief Joseph Dam? Absolutely.”

Just one visit to Grand Coulee Dam put the money needs in perspective. Over the next 10 years, $400 million will be spent for turbine retrofits at Grand Coulee. Each year, $70 million goes toward operations and maintenance. Fish-passage solutions pale in comparison.

“These huge outlays of money make one realize that installing fish passage facilities is not a financial impossibility,” noted Lumley, who emerged from the workshop optimistic about the April conference.

“This workshop exceeded my expectations in terms of identifying real solutions to restoring fish passage,” Lumley said. “It was mostly technical, but also [yielded] some really helpful suggestions for us on the funding side of it, and also in asking our leadership to reconsider some of the bad historical decisions that have been made and to right those wrongs.”

Facing Off: Man in Redface Goes Toe-to-Toe With AIM Member

Simon Moya-Smith, Indian Country Today Media Network

A Cleveland Indians fan, painted in redface and donned in a faux Native American headdress, justified his brazen actions Friday afternoon by stating his attire was not racist – just “Cleveland Pride.”

According to Deadspin, the man, who goes only by the name “Rodriguez,” approached Cleveland American Indian Movement member Robert Roche of the Apache Nation just before the season opener at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio.

The man allegedly proceeded to taunt Roche and the protesters by stating that Chief Wahoo is not offensive and that “it’s Cleveland pride,” Deadspin reported.

Photos posted on Clevescene.com show Roche and other protesters outside the stadium with banners that read, “People Not Mascots,” “WE ARE NOT HONORED” and “Little RED SAMBO Must Go!”

The photos also show Rodriguez and other Cleveland Indians fans approaching the protesters.

One of the photos was posted on Twitter by user @ClevelandFrowns, a Cleveland-based blogger and attorney. Social media users immediately retweeted the image and posted it to Facebook with the expected response of both disgust and approbation.

Michael Baldwin, a journalist at Cleveland’s ABC affiliate News Channel 5, simply tweeted “that is awful,” whereas Twitter user @killertech216 responded with “dude fuck the native [sic] Americans. Chief wahoo and the name the Indians stay.”

Along with Rodriguez’s comments and actions, protesters also faced piercing diatribes from fans making their way into the stadium from nearby bars.

Deadspin reported that fans hurled insults at the protesters. They flipped off the group, shouted “(expletive) off!” and “go back to the reservation.”

ESPN reported Wednesday that some fans were expected to arrive at the game sans the image of Chief Wahoo on their jerseys and hats.

A campaign to remove the image of Chief Wahoo, aptly titled “DeChiefing,” has gained momentum again as the 2014 season launched across the nation.

On March 11, Dennis Brown of Columbus, Ohio, tweeted an image of his Cleveland Indians jersey without the Chief Wahoo logo on its left sleeve. Brown allegedly removed it in protest of the mascot.

“It wasn’t easy but I de-chiefed my @Indians road jersey,” he wrote. Four hours later, Brown tweeted: “Overwhelmed by response to this picture, mostly negative, but I’m comfortable with my decision and position.”

There were no reports of any arrests or assaults following the confrontation Friday.

Sen. Begich Presses VAWA Protections for Alaska Natives

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) discusses his pending Safe Families and Villages legislation, as well as a clean Carcieri legislative fix.

Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

Having just chaired a portion of a recent hearing of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Sen. Mark Begich spoke to Indian Country Today Media Network for an interview focused on his pending Safe Families and Villages legislation, as well as the recently introduced clean Carcieri legislative fix.

Thank you for doing another interview, senator. The last time we talked, you mentioned the need for a hearing focused on strengthening the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to include jurisdictional provisions for Alaska Native tribes. That hearing, which you co-chaired April 2, highlighted yours and Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) Safe Families and Villages legislation, and your desire to repeal Section 910 of VAWA, which excludes Alaska Natives from the VAWA jurisdiction provisions granted by Congress last year to tribes in the lower 48 states. Please explain your desire to repeal Section 910.

What 910 really does is prevent the Alaska Native community from having full criminal prosecution regarding any crimes that may occur within what we consider tribal land. It also does not allow us to have equal type of law enforcement that reservation tribes do. When someone comes onto reservation land [in the lower 48 states], and they commit a crime on that land as a Native or non-Native, they can still go through a prosecution process. With us, that can’t happen. It really is a problem. We have tribal courts that exist with cooperation and agreement from the state, but they have very limited capacity.

The VAWA with the increased jurisdiction provisions for tribes in the lower 48 just passed Congress just last year with 910 in there. Why was 910 included in that legislation at all?

We attempted to try to get it out, but we did not have agreement, honestly, within our [federal] delegation on this. I’m a very strong supporter of tribal rights and tribal responsibility and self-determination. I’ve always been that way—it’s not a newfound belief since coming to the Senate. I think in a lot of ways I couldn’t get agreement. I knew if it was put in there the way it was written, Section 910, that we would see a backlash from within our Alaska Native communities. And that is what is happening. I wish we could have taken it out, but we also had the state of Alaska being totally against taking that section out of there. They wanted that section. I know they lobbied members of the [Senate Committee on Indian Affairs] when the bill was being reviewed, and they were able to prevail on the idea that 910 was needed so as not to interfere with states’ rights. I wasn’t on the committee at that time. If I was on the committee at that time, I would have done everything I could to prevent that section from being added in there.

Is Sen. Murkowski, part of your Alaska delegation, on board with getting rid of 910?

Yes. She’s agreed to that. We had a lot of discussion after the bill passed. She felt the conversation from the Alaska Native community really moved her to accept this as an important piece.

How about Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) on the House side—has he weighed in on the idea of repealing 910?

He has not to me. That does not mean that his staff and my staff aren’t talking. But I haven’t heard a problem here yet.

Beyond repealing 910, it’s clear that Alaska Native tribal advocates want amendments added to your bill that would increase and enhance Alaska Native tribal jurisdiction over non-tribal offenders. You were supportive during the hearing of adding those kinds of amendments, but is that going to be easy?

It’s not going to be easy, but I will tell you, the Alaska Federation of Natives and a group called the Tanana Chiefs Conference have created a tribal law project that encourages jurisdiction for tribes to implement tribal law and order issues. We know that non-tribal member perpetrators are a problem for tribes in Alaska, yet tribes have no jurisdiction. I’m not sure how far we will get with this. The good news is there are more folks getting aware of this issue. Sen. [Heidi] Heitkamp [D-N.D.], as you heard during the hearing, was not aware, really, of what was going on in Alaska on these issues. And now she is willing to work with us in any way she can to make our legislation have the same impact as the increased tribal jurisdiction in the lower 48.

Tribal judge Natasha Singh testified in favor of a tribal law project-inspired amendment at the hearing. What are the political realities in your state of getting that project implemented?

This would deal with curbing child abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and other issues among tribal members and non-members, yet the state is not supporting it at this point. In order to make it work, I want to put it inside the Safe Families and Villages Act, so we have more tools to fight these incredibly big problems. The politics of it—the state will more than likely oppose it. But I hope they are supportive of the people of Alaska.

Is there tribal consensus in your state that this tribal law project amendment is the way to go?

Yes. There is no question. We have received enormous support from individual tribes, groups, the Alaska Federation of Natives—everywhere across the state.

Your legislation currently encourages the state to enter into intergovernmental agreements with tribes related to the enforcement of certain state laws by the tribes. You made it clear at the hearing that this provision isn’t enough. But why not? Why wouldn’t that be a good start, and then you try to do more later on?

Here’s the challenge. Years ago, when the Tribal Law and Order Act passed, I sat with state of Alaska officials, the federal delegation, and others, and I said back then that I wanted these better provisions for Alaska Natives. And they said, ‘Oh no, let’s pass the Tribal Law and Order Act, and it will all get resolved.’ Now here we are several years later with the same story, the same talk, and no results. My view is that the state would like the Alaska Native people to be subservient to them. That is not acceptable when we have outrageous crime statistics facing Alaska Native communities.

Are there a lot of Congress members who would take a stand against allowing tribes in Alaska to be treated the same as tribes in the lower 48 on these matters?

I don’t think so, but you never know. On this one, I think we can make the case.

If state officials don’t agree with repealing 910 and adding the other amendments, is that really going to make this bill tougher to pass?

It may be tougher, but I feel confident that at the end of the day we can prevail. The state’s current administration does not recognize tribes. I think that is apparent to a lot of senators, and as I lay that out more, I think they will be shocked. It’s the same administration that wanted to strip away voting protection rights for our tribes and the same administration that has battled against tribal subsistence. They just don’t support tribes.

I have to ask you about Carcieri again and the controversial 2009 Supreme Court decision that affected the Department of the Interior’s ability to place lands into trust for tribes. Since we last talked, you have cosponsored a clean Carcieri legislative fix that would recognize Interior’s ability to take lands into trust for all tribes, no matter when they came under federal jurisdiction. Give opposition to a clean fix by some Democrats including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), it seems clear that Republican support is going to be needed for it to pass. How likely is that?

Any time you can get a bipartisan bill, it’s a good thing. This is a complex issue. It needs to be a clean fix. I think if we can get some Republicans, it would be very positive. We need to resolve this and get it settled. For us to continue to leave this lingering, it is harming tribes throughout the country. I know Sen. Tester is going to work it to see what he can get.

Have you been surprised that Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, has been rather quiet on Carcieri?

It’s a little bit surprising, but I do think that now that the bill is out there, he knows that this is coming to a hearing, so he’s going to have commentary on it. That will help create the discussion we need. I think he has to figure out if there are other Republicans who will support this if he does. I don’t know what his thinking is, but as the vice-chair, I would expect him to have some commentary on it.

Do you work with Sen. Barrasso on various issues?

I do. I have worked with him on issues surrounding oil and gas. We just had a bill that I sponsored with him.

So you will be encouraging him to support a clean Carcieri fix?

Oh yes.

Finally, how did it feel to have that gavel in our hand when you co-chaired the recent hearing?

(laughs) It’s always a good feeling when you can manage the conversation on issues that you care a great deal about.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Pollution Is Not The Top Priority At Oso Landslide Site, But It Is A Concern

Propane tanks floated to the surface of the massive landslide debris field that engulfed 42 homes near Oso, Washington. | credit: Ashley Ahearn

By Ashley Ahearn, KUOW

OSO, Wash. — An orange backhoe beeps in the background as cleanup workers and search dogs slog through the gray-blue clay of the Oso landslide zone. In the distance a muddy American flag waves over hummocks of exposed roots, broken trees and the remnants of the 42 homes that used to line this stretch of highway in the Cascade Mountains northeast of Seattle.

The death toll stands at 30 with 13 people still missing. Dozens of homes were destroyed.

As the search-and-rescue-effort shifts gears into cleanup mode, officials are beginning to assess potential environmental and public health risks.

“Personnel, even canines, when they come off the site they’re going to get decontaminated,” said Maj. William Pola with the Army National Guard. Behind him workers pressure wash massive trucks with hot water and mild detergent as they leave the landslide zone.

Other responders somberly wash off their boots nearby. It’s a standard precautionary measure, said Dick Walker, a spills expert with the Washington State Department of Ecology.

“This really is just mud,” Walker said. “There’s really nothing terribly bad in here. The chemical hazards are very, very small.”

But there is a lot of mud here – enough to fill Safeco Field three times.

The mud engulfed dozens homes. Propane tanks floated to the surface of the liquid debris field. Septic tanks, cars and household chemicals remain buried.

“But really that’s very minimal with the volume of soil that has been dumped on that and spread around and some of this is extremely deep and some of that material we may never recover,” Walker said.

Along a trail by the Stillaguamish River a child’s soccer ball sits in the rain.

When the slide hit, families were going about their usual Saturday mornings -– kids playing in the woods, parents mowing lawns.

Most of the dead have now been removed, though there are still people missing.

“We have a potential exposure for blood and body fluids but whatever we had was diluted in over a million cubic yards of dirt so the risk to the individual rescuer going in is really quite small,” said Dr. Richard Bradley, a physician with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on a recent visit to the disaster zone.

Rescue workers are more likely to injure themselves clambering around the debris field, he added, than through exposure to any hazardous materials or organic material.

The mud tumbled 600 feet down the mountainside and blocked the Stillaguamish River. Then it continued south, burying the neighborhood on the other side.

“It pushed everything away from the river,” Walker explained. “So most of the hazardous waste items are back away from the water’s edge, vehicles, too and because of the slope of the land we don’t believe that anything’s going to get into the river from the chemical perspective.”

Walker added that Ecology has taken some water samples downstream from the slide zone and has not found evidence of chemical contamination. More sampling will be done in the coming months.

The river looks different. Springtime in the Northwest means blue-green rivers, frothing with snowmelt. Right now the Stillaguamish is a morose gray, littered with broken trees.

All that muck and debris will harm the salmon and steelhead that spawn in this stretch of river. But fish experts says it’s too soon to say how much those populations will suffer.

For now, the focus remains on the overwhelming loss of human life along this ravaged stretch of the Stillaguamish.