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First National Indian Country training on investigation and prosecution of non-fatal strangulation offenses

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Monday, February 4, 2013

The Department of Justice’s National Indian Country Training Initiative (NICTI) partnered with the National Strangulation Training Institute to deliver the first-ever national Indian Country training on the investigation and prosecution of non-fatal strangulation and suffocation offenses. The training, held from Jan. 29 – Feb. 1, 2013, drew attendance from over 50 federal and tribal participants, representing 17 tribes, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Students included prosecutors, law enforcement, advocates, paramedics and sexual assault nurse examiners.

The training, held at the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, S.C., provided an in-depth examination of the mechanics of strangulation and suffocation from a medical, legal and law enforcement perspective. In addition to substantive information on strangulation and suffocation, students received information on how to effectively train others in their community about the investigation and prosecution of strangulation crimes and how to serve as an expert witness on the issue in court.

“Strangulation has been identified as one of the most lethal forms of domestic violence and sexual assault. Expert training in this area is critical as external signs of strangulation are absent in over half of all victims. Death can occur without any external marks at all,” said Leslie A. Hagen, National Indian Country Training Coordinator.

“If we can prevent even one homicide by early prosecution of an abuser when he strangles his partner and she survives, all our work will be worth it,” said Gael Strack, the Project Director of the National Strangulation Training Institute and CEO of the National Family Justice Center Alliance.

“When men choke women, those men might as well be raising their right hand and saying ‘I am a killer’ to everyone that is paying attention,” said Casey Gwinn, President of the National Family Justice Center Alliance and faculty at this week’s training. “After 20 years of research and practice, it is clear that men who choke women are the same men who are likely to later kill those women, kill children, and kill police officers.”

Facts about strangulation:

Strangulation is more common than professionals have realized. Recent studies have now shown that 34 percent of abused pregnant women report being “choked” (Bullock, 2006); 47 percent of female domestic violence victims reported being “choked” (Block, 2000) and most experts believe the rate is higher given the minimization by victims and the lack of education.
Victims of multiple strangulation “who had experienced more than one strangulation attack, on separate occasions, by the same abuser, reported neck and throat injuries, neurologic disorders and psychological disorders with increased frequency”. (Smith, 2001)
Almost half of all domestic violence homicide victims had experienced at least one episode of non-fatal strangulation prior to a lethal violent incident (Glass, Sage, 2008). Victims of prior non-fatal strangulation are 800 percent more likely of later becoming a homicide victim. (Glass, et al, 2008).
Strangulation is more serious than professionals have realized. Loss of consciousness can occur within 5 to 10 seconds and death within 4 to 5 minutes. (Watch, 2009; Hawley, McClane, 2001). The seriousness of the internal injuries may take a few hours to be appreciated and delayed death can occur days later. (Hawley, McClane, 2001).

Because most strangulation victims do not have visible injuries, strangulation cases may be minimized or trivialized by law enforcement, medical and mental health professionals.

Must job hunters reveal Facebook password?

The Washington state Legislature is considering a bill to prohibit companies from asking job applicants for passwords to social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Debates over social media in the workplace are taking place across the country.

By Brian M. Rosenthal, Seattle Times Olympia bureau

OLYMPIA — Anyone who has hunted for a job recently has heard the warning: Don’t let your Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest accounts ruin your chances with a potential boss.

The sites are now commonly incorporated into the job-application process by HR departments searching for pictures, status updates and messages that may expose candidates’ true colors — or momentary lack of judgment.

But how much leeway should companies have to examine online photos and posts purposely hidden from general public view?

The Legislature may soon attempt to answer that question, one of many that employers and employees are grappling with as social media blurslong-sacred lines between personal and professional life.

“It’s a privacy issue,” state Sen. Steve Hobbs said. “Companies want to know who they’re hiring, but applicants have a right to express themselves on these sites.”

Hobbs is the prime sponsor of a bill to prohibit companies from directly or indirectly demanding a password to a social-networking site as a condition of hiring or continued employment. Senate Bill 5211 would not bar companies from looking at publicly available pages.

Six states have approved similar laws in response to complaints, most recently in California. Congress is also weighing its own version.

Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, said he doesn’t know how much of an issue it really is here, but he says lawmakers should “nip this in the bud.”

The bill’s prospects are unclear.

A spokeswoman for the Association of Washington Business said the group has not taken a position. But the state director for the National Federation of Independent Business said his group is concerned that the way the bill is worded could end up affecting managers’ ability to monitor company social-media pages run by employees.

The California bill passed last year with little opposition, said sponsor Nora Campos, a San Jose Democrat and Assembly speaker pro tempore.

Few opponents have materialized on the national level either, officials said.

“I think a lot of people agree that this seems intrusive and unwarranted,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a former attorney general who said he introduced the Senate bill after hearing complaints.

Privacy concerns are not the only social-media issues being debated across the country — so, too, are questions about worker rights.

In December, the National Labor Relations Board declared in response to a lawsuit filed in New York state that workers have a right to discuss work conditions with their colleagues on social-media pages, just as they would in the break room.

The board found that such communication is protected under the National Labor Relations Act, which allows for workplace organizing.

“Employees have always had the right to discuss working conditions at the workplace,” said Ron Hooks, the Seattle-based regional director of the NLRB. “We are applying the law to these new technologies.”

New Jersey human-rights attorney Lewis Maltby said the impact of the NLRB decision was limited because it applied only to discussions between employees about work.

Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute, said bosses have essentially unchecked power and are using it inappropriately because they don’t understand social media and are afraid of it.

Bills like Hobbs’ are needed, he said, because companies are arbitrarily weeding out job applicants based on social-media posts that have nothing to do with the candidate’s ability to do the job.

“Unfortunately, at this time my advice is, don’t say anything that anybody could possibly disagree with,” he said. “You have to choose between your right to express yourself and your ability to get a job. You can’t have both.”

Patrick Connor, the National Federation of Independent Business state director, agreed there should be some limits on what candidates must provide during the job-application process. He said more discussions are needed about how to maintain a clear line between private social-networking pages and pages that affect the company.

Ryan Calo couldn’t agree more.

Calo, a University of Washington law professor, said that social-media-related tension between employees and bosses is likely to grow because the stakes are higher than in the past.

“Employees have always had the ability to embarrass the company,” he said. “But most of them have had limited access to public channels of communication.”

Ban on shrimp fishing enacted for inland waters

A large brown spot shrimp and a predatory sea star. Photo: Ed Bowlby, NOAA/Olympic Coast NMS

By Gale Fiege, Herald Writer, http://www.heraldnet.com

EVERETT — Kevin Nihart made a living by fishing for spot shrimp in the waters of Possession Sound and selling his harvest off the dock near Anthony’s HomePort restaurant.

He won’t be able to do it this year, however.

The state Fish and Wildlife Commission decided in December to ban commercial shrimpers in the inland marine waters south from Deception Pass and Port Townsend, including all of Puget Sound. The idea is aimed to boost sport fishing in more urban areas of the state. Spot shrimp is a prawnlike shellfish found from California to Alaska.

For Nihart, it’s a tough loss for his business and he says it’s a sad loss for his many faithful customers, who bought from him off the docks in Everett, Mukilteo and Edmonds.

Now Nihart, who lives in Anacortes, can commercially fish for spot shrimp only in the marine waters around the San Juan Islands and in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the availability in the San Juans is limited.

“Fishing near Everett was how I made my living,” Nihart said. “I can’t afford to run my boat from the straits to the dock in Everett or even truck my shrimp in for the Everett Farmers Market. A lot of people I sold to are going to be disappointed. I feel bad for my customers.”

Only a small group of people actually shrimp commercially in the waters off Washington. The state licensed just 18 commercial shrimp fishermen last season and only two, including Nihart, harvested spot shrimp in Puget Sound, said department biologist Mark O’Toole.

It used to be that the Port Susan, Possession Sound and Puget Sound spot shrimp harvest was divided, 60 percent to recreational fishermen and 40 percent to commercial boats. The spot shrimp season begins in late spring. Nihart is a long-line fisherman who uses shrimp traps on his lines. Recreational shrimp fishermen use traps similar to crab pots.

Nihart sold spot shrimp at the Everett Farmers Market for the past four years and for the past six years on the dock below Anthony’s HomePort restaurant off Marine View Drive.

Joe Verdoes, president of the Puget Sound Shrimp Association, testified in September before the state Fish and Wildlife Commission, asking that commercial fishing of spot shrimp be allowed to continue in the Puget Sound region.

“This change makes it very difficult for guys like Kevin,” Verdoes said.

The state is encouraging commercial fishing in the strait because it is more of a sustainable resource there, O’Toole said.

“This is particularly hard on Kevin, and we know people in Everett, Mukilteo and Edmonds are going to miss being able to buy fresh prawns from him off the dock,” O’Toole said.

Stillaguamish Tribe sponsors salmon habitat restoration on Cherokee Creek

Coho salmon swim in newly restored habitat in Cherokee Creek.

Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, http://nwifc.org

The Stillaguamish Tribe recently partnered with the state Department of Natural Resources Family Forest Fish Passage Program to restore access to Cherokee Creek, near Darrington.

Cherokee Creek provides spawning, rearing and refuge for coho and other species of Pacific salmon, as well as cutthroat and bull trout. However, the creek also was home to a deteriorating metal culvert that had been poorly installed and was too small to withstand floods.

“The culvert had created an artificial waterfall that was too high for salmon to swim or jump past on their way upstream,” said Scott Rockwell, Forest and Fish biologist for the tribe. “It was also interfering with natural stream ecology, interrupting the downstream movement of water, fallen trees and gravel.”

The Family Forest Fish Passage Program replaced the culvert with a steel bridge and an 80-foot-long section of stream channel that restored fish access to more than a mile of productive spawning habitat. The state program helps small forest landowners comply with forest practice rules by covering 75-100 percent of the cost of eliminating stream barriers.

At a fall event celebrating the project’s completion, many coho salmon swam through the restored area.

“Their genetic compasses guided them back to habitat that had not been accessible for years,” said Washington State Forester Aaron Everett, who worked on the project.

As a project sponsor, the Stillaguamish Tribe conducted landowner outreach, collected habitat data, provided matching project funds, and managed project design, construction oversight, permitting and billing.

Cherokee Creek is a spawner index stream for coho salmon. For the past 12 years, Stillaguamish natural resources staff have documented the number and location of spawning adults and redds (egg nests) to help forecast the size of future coho runs.

For more information about the state’s Small Forest Landowner Office, visit www.dnr.wa.gov/sflo.

Sound Publishing to purchase Everett Herald

Sound Publishing, Inc. announced today that it has signed an agreement with the Washington Post Company to acquire the Everett Daily Herald, a 46,000 circulation daily and Sunday newspaper and its other print and online products. The transaction is expected to close in early March.

The Herald has been owned by the Washington Post Company (WPO:NYSE) for 35 years and is a leading provider of local news and information for the Snohomish County area.

“We are thrilled to have The Daily Herald join our growing family of newspapers,” said Gloria Fletcher, President of Sound Publishing. “The Herald is a very well respected newspaper and it is a great fit with our print and digital products serving the greater Seattle area.”

Sound Publishing is the largest community media organization in Washington, with 39 newspaper and digital titles, including The Arlington Times and The Marysville Globe, with a combined circulation of over 730,000. Sound is a subsidiary of Black Press, Ltd. Black Press publishes more than 170 newspapers and other publications in British Columbia, Alberta and Washington, as well as the Honolulu (Hawaii) Star-Advertiser and the Akron (Ohio) Beacon-Journal daily newspapers.

Reward at $20,500 for information in eagle deaths

By Rikki King, Herald writer, http://www.heraldnet.com

GRANITE FALLS — Authorities still are asking for help finding the person responsible for the deaths of four bald eagles last month near Granite Falls.

A recent donation brought the reward money for information leading to an arrest and conviction up to $20,250, wildlife officials said Monday.

The last $6,500 was donated by The Campbell Group, a Portland, Ore.-based timber company that owns property near where the eagles were found Jan. 9, said Sgt. Jennifer Maurstad with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We are shocked and offended by this crime, and support the efforts of state authorities to investigate and prosecute this case,” Campbell Group spokeswoman Liz Fuller said in an email Monday.

The eagles’ bodies were floating in a lake east of town. Investigators aren’t disclosing the exact location.

They believe the eagles, three of them grown and one a juvenile, were shot with a small-caliber rifle.

Investigators are waiting on forensic results, including possible ballistics, Maurstad said Monday.

They’ve gotten a few tips but nothing has panned out, she said.

“It’s just important to do the right thing,” Maurstad said. “This was such an egregious act, that if somebody has information, they shouldn’t hang onto it. They should do what’s right, and I’m hoping that $20,000 will give somebody the initiative to do so.”

Killing an eagle is a misdemeanor under federal law. It is also a state crime with a maximum penalty of $1,000 and 90 days in jail. Also, under state law, there’s a $2,000 fine per eagle.

There are about 850 nesting pairs of bald eagles in Washington.

Anyone with information should call 1-877-933-9847 or email reportpoaching@dfw.wa.gov.

Reward money also was donated by the Stillaguamish Tribe, state Fish and Wildlife, the Humane Society of the United States and Conservation Northwest.

Changes in ocean put shellfish business in jeopardy

Penn Cove Shellfish workers on Wednesday harvest mussels, clams and oysters. Photo: Dan Bates, The Herald

By Bill Sheets, Herald writer, http://www.heraldnet.com

EVERETT — Between 2005 and 2009, billions of oyster larvae began dying at hatcheries around the state before anyone knew what was going on or could do anything about it.The state’s $270 million shellfish industry, which employs about 3,200 people, is in danger.

One oyster farm, Goose Point Oysters in Willapa Bay, has begun raising oyster larvae in Hawaii because it can no longer grow them here.

The reason, scientists say, is ocean acidification.

“The problem’s not going away,” said Ian Jefferds, general manager and co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish in Coupeville.

On top of pollution and loss of habitat, rising acidity in Washington waters is the latest hazard faced by marine life, including the lucrative shellfish and fishing industries.

Acidification of marine waters is caused primarily by the ocean’s absorption of carbon emissions, scientists say. Other human activities, such as agricultural runoff, contribute. The oceans are rapidly becoming more acidic after thousands of years of stability, scientists say.

The Northwest is particularly vulnerable to the problem because it receives naturally upwelling carbon-laden water from deep in the Pacific Ocean.

Terry Williams, commissioner of fisheries and natural resources for the Tulalip Tribes, was concerned enough about the phenomenon to be one of several people to approach former Gov. Chris Gregoire in 2011 to form a panel to study the problem.

The 28-member panel, called the Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification, included scientists, representatives of environmental groups, tribes and the business community, and current and former government officials.

Reducing the effect of human activities is one place to start, the panel concluded. Carbon emissions represent a much broader and tougher challenge.

The problem of ocean acidification "is not going away," said Ian Jeffereds, general manager and co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish. — The problem of ocean acidification “is not going away,” said Ian Jeffereds, general manager and co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish.

Still, work has to begin now, experts say.

“Godzilla is still small. Let’s not wait until he’s big,” said Brad Warren, director of the Global Ocean Health Program, a Seattle-based group formed to address ocean acidification and its effect on fisheries.

Warren, a member of the state panel, spoke at an informational meeting on the topic in Everett last Thursday.

About 120 people attended. Panel members have been conducting the meetings around the state by request of local officials.

The committee made several recommendations, including reducing agricultural runoff into local waters; investigating water treatment methods to control the problem in targeted areas, and ultimately, finding ways to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels.

Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, served on the state panel. She’s convinced ocean acidification is a legitimate threat and is concerned for Penn Cove shellfish.

Still, she would have liked more effort to involve the agricultural community before recommending that farm waste be reduced.

“You have to look at this holistically,” Smith said. “We need to recognize that we need both; we need aquaculture and we need agriculture.”

Smith said the panel’s call for stricter regulations on pollutants, while not yet specific, are getting ahead of the game.

“That’s backwards,” she said. “You build solid models, you create a solid scientific foundation, then you move forward with the regulatory practices that are warranted.”

Some people still look at ocean acidification with the same skeptical eye as they do at climate change, Warren said. While both conditions are caused by carbon emissions, they’re not the same thing, said Terrie Klinger, an associate professor in the school of marine and environmental affairs at the University of Washington, a member of the study panel who spoke at the Everett meeting.

Scientists are just scratching the surface about ocean acidification, but a few facts have been established, according to scientists on the panel.

About 30 percent of carbon emitted into the atmosphere from human activity is absorbed by the oceans, Klinger said.

High acidity reduces calcium carbonate levels in the water, preventing mollusks from properly forming their shells.

Acidification is known to affect pteropods — tiny, plankton-size snails — along with krill and some types of prawns that are staple foods for fish, whales and other sea life.

“These species are known to be sensitive to acidity and they’re a large part of local food webs,” said Shallin Busch, a research ecologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. She’s also a member of the study panel.

The ocean’s surface pH level — which measures the acidity or alkalinity of an environment — was about 8.1 for millennia, as far back as carbon dating tells us, Klinger said. The lower the number, the greater the acidity.

Just since 1850 it’s fallen to 8.0, and at the current rate will hit 7.8 by 2094, she said.

When it comes to acidity in the water, one-tenth of a point is a big difference, Klinger said.

“It’s dropping like a rock,” she said.

In measurements taken at Tatoosh Island on the Washington coast in 2000, the level was 7.5, Klinger said.

There are some unknowns as well. Some species, such as the Suminoe oyster native to Asia, are comparatively immune to the effects of acidification, Busch said.

In inland marine waters such as those in Western Washington, it’s difficult to measure acidity with consistent accuracy because of the influx of river water and substances in runoff, experts say.

“We need more sophisticated instruments,” Klinger said.

Penn Cove Shellfish grows mussels near Coupeville and at another site on the Hood Canal.

“We’ve seen some incidents in our Quilcene Bay site and at Penn Cove that we don’t have an explanation for,” Jefferds said.

Specifically, some of the mussels have been having trouble clinging to the mesh socks on which they’re grown. The company has enlisted NOAA to study the problem.

Tulalip tribal fishermen have been noticing a decline in fish and shellfish populations for more than a decade, Williams said.

It’s hard to tell, though, how much of the decline is caused by pollution and loss of habitat and how much it might be because of ocean acidification.

That’s why the tribes plan to hire scientists to do detailed studies of local waterways to try to learn more, Williams said.

One thing everyone seems to agree on is that getting started working on solutions is important.

“This is the first state in the country to launch a comprehensive attack on this problem,” Warren said.

Learn more

Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification: http://tinyurl.com/78vejjk

NOAA Ocean Acidification Program: www.oceanacidification.noaa.gov

Two Cherokee tribes seeking state recognition

By Chelyen Davis, http://news.fredericksburg.com

RICHMOND—On Friday, the Senate Rules Committee approved resolutions to grant state recognition to two different bands of Cherokee Indians in Virginia.

But no one on the committee, including the resolutions’ sponsors, could really explain how the two bands are different and distinct. No one spoke up to avow that the tribes met all the stringent criteria that used to be required for state recognition.

No one knew those things, in part, because there is no longer a Virginia Council on Indians to vet tribes’ applications for state recognition. That’s why the two Cherokee tribes are going through the General Assembly for recognition.
A resolution from Sen. Steve Newman, R–Lynchburg, grants state recognition to the United Cherokee Indian Tribe of

Virginia, known more commonly—according to his resolution—as the Buffalo Ridge Band of Cherokee.
Now based around Amherst, that tribe traces their roots back to Northumberland County on the Northern Neck. A House version of Newman’s bill was also approved by a committee on Thursday.

The other resolution comes from Sens. Jill Vogel, R–Winchester, and Kenny Alexander, D–Norfolk. It would grant state recognition to the Appalachian Cherokee Nation of Virginia—a tribe long based in the mountains of western and Southwest Virginia.

While the resolutions provide an outline of each tribe’s claims to state recognition, neither resolution could contain all the background documentation the council used to require. And both resolutions are careful to state that the “Commonwealth, by this resolution, does not address the question of whether the tribe has been continuously in existence since 1776,” which once was one of the many requirements for state recognition through the council.
The council had been responsible for vetting other tribes’ recognition efforts since 1983, when the General Assembly granted state recognition to eight tribes—a status that can offer tribes access to grants or standing to protest when, for example, their burial grounds are threatened.
The state then assigned to those tribes, through the Virginia Council on Indians, the task of vetting other tribes that wanted state recognition. Since then, just two tribes have won recognition through the council—the last in 1989.
Three years ago, aided by the star power of singer Wayne Newton, the General Assembly granted state recognition to the Stafford-based Patawomeck Indian Tribe as well as two others. All three tribes had applied to the council for recognition, only to be turned down for not meeting the strict criteria.
Tribes had to prove that their tribe existed in Virginia at the time Europeans made contact; that it has existed in some form ever since; and that it is a distinct group, among other requirements.
Such proof can be difficult for a tribe to gather, in part because racist state policies regarding Indians in the early 20th century led some to hide their heritage. For years, Indians could not identify themselves as such on vital records, like birth certificates—the state required them to declare themselves white or “colored.”
The Patawomecks had applied to the council for state recognition and been denied. Frustrated at what they felt was stonewalling, they turned to their delegate, House Speaker Bill Howell, R–Stafford, who filed a bill in 2010 to grant them state recognition.
In General Assembly hearings that year, the already-recognized tribes protested, saying a rigorous vetting process for state recognition of tribes was necessary.
But lawmakers were frustrated by the council’s reluctance to accept new tribes, and passed the resolutions anyway.
At the time, lawmakers warned the council that it needed to revamp its vetting process for new tribes.
Instead, the VCI essentially went defunct. Minutes from meetings after that year show that over and over, no business was done because there weren’t enough tribe representatives there.
Finally, the state disbanded the council entirely.
“They weren’t a functioning commission, so we eliminated them,” said Sen. Steve Newman, R–Lynchburg, who has proposed one of the Cherokee resolutions.
Newman said the council was too tied to preserving the status quo, protecting the tribes it liked and refusing to consider others.
“They would be dismissive of the people who would come before them,” he said.
But the council’s dissolution leaves Virginia with nobody in charge of determining how tribes can qualify for state recognition.
Some senators on the Senate Rules committee expressed concern with how the two Cherokee bands are different. Newman promised to get that question resolved before the resolution—now combining both Cherokee groups—gets to the full Senate next week.
Newman said he is satisfied with the Buffalo Ridge Cherokees’ claim. “I saw a lot of documentation” going back to the 1500s, he said.
But Newman also said that granting state recognition simply through legislative action is “not the best way to do it.”
He said the state needs to develop a policy and a set of rules for recognition.
If he and Vogel and Alexander can’t sort out the differences between the two Cherokee groups seeking recognition, their resolution may turn into a requirement for a more standardized policy to be developed over the next year.
“These things are so emotional. These people are very passionate about their history,” Newman said. “But no legislator has the time to delve into this.”

Allocation is not Conservation

“Being Frank” By Billy Frank, Jr., Chairman, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

OLYMPIA – Allocation is being confused with conservation as the states of Oregon and Washington move to restrict non-Indian commercial gillnet fisheries on the lower Columbia River.

The states’ plan to move gillnetters off the main stem and prioritize sport fishing by reallocating their wild chinook salmon harvest impacts to anglers. Of course the states can allocate their share of the salmon resource however they like, but true conservation doesn’t happen just by reallocating salmon harvest between commercial and sport fisheries.

The decline of salmon across our region has nothing to do with how we catch them, whether with a net or rod and reel. Salmon are in trouble because of lost and damaged habitat. The key to recovery is to restore and protect that habitat, combined with conservative harvest and careful use of hatcheries.

All types of fishing – including mark-selective sport fisheries targeting fin-clipped hatchery salmon – kill non-targeted fish . Harvest is managed on the basis of fishery impacts from all fishing methods, both sport and commercial. Reallocating these impacts from commercial to sport fisheries does nothing to rebuild the resource.

Allocation is not conservation. Conservation must come first. We need to focus on restoring salmon populations to abundance – mostly by restoring and protecting their habitat – instead of fighting battles over who gets to catch how many fish. Imagine if all of that time, energy and money was spent on true salmon conservation instead.

Whether sport or commercial, most fishermen are conservationists at heart. Neither group is more conservation-minded than the other, and neither wants to catch the last salmon.

The debate between sport and commercial fisheries allocation on the lower Columbia now appears to be headed to the courts, and that’s too bad, because this fight distracts us from the real work at hand – restoring salmon populations to abundant levels. In the end, these allocation battles are self-defeating because they undermine the broad-based cooperation that we need to recover salmon.

After decades of hard work, cooperative salmon restoration efforts in the Columbia basin have started to make a difference. Spring and fall chinook, sockeye and coho populations are growing. That kind of success doesn’t happen on its own. It comes from a shared willingness of many people to work together with common interest toward a shared goal of conserving, protecting and restoring salmon populations on the Columbia and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Note: A more comprehensive history of the Coastal Conservation Association is available at: http://go.nwifc.org/history

USDA Proposes Standards to Provide Healthy Food Options in Schools

Release No. 0019.13
Contact:
Office of Communications (202) 720-4623

New “Smart Snacks in School” proposal to ensure vending machines, snack bars include healthy choices

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2013 – USDA today announced the public comment period has opened on proposed new standards to ensure that children have access to healthy food options in school.

“Parents and teachers work hard to instill healthy eating habits in our kids, and these efforts should be supported when kids walk through the schoolhouse door,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Good nutrition lays the groundwork for good health and academic success. Providing healthy options throughout school cafeterias, vending machines, and snack bars will complement the gains made with the new, healthy standards for school breakfast and lunch so the healthy choice is the easy choice for our kids.”

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 requires USDA to establish nutrition standards for all foods sold in schools — beyond the federally-supported school meals programs. The “Smart Snacks in School” proposed rule, to be published soon in the Federal Register, is the first step in the process to create national standards. The new proposed standards draw on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, existing voluntary standards already implemented by thousands of schools around the country, and healthy food and beverage offerings already available in the marketplace.

Highlights of USDA’s proposal include:

More of the foods we should encourage. Promoting availability of healthy snack foods with whole grains, low fat dairy, fruits, vegetables or protein foods as their main ingredients.
Less of the foods we should avoid. Ensuring that snack food items are lower in fat, sugar, and sodium and provide more of the nutrients kids need.
Targeted standards. Allowing variation by age group for factors such as beverage portion size and caffeine content.
Flexibility for important traditions. Preserving the ability for parents to send in bagged lunches of their choosing or treats for activities such as birthday parties, holidays, and other celebrations; and allowing schools to continue traditions like occasional fundraisers and bake sales.
Reasonable limitations on when and where the standards apply. Ensuring that standards only affect foods that are sold on school campus during the school day. Foods sold at an afterschool sporting event or other activity will not be subject to these requirements.
Flexibility for state and local communities. Allowing significant local and regional autonomy by only establishing minimum requirements for schools. States and schools that have stronger standards than what is being proposed will be able to maintain their own policies.
Significant transition period for schools and industry. The standards will not go into effect until at least one full school year after public comment is considered and an implementing rule is published to ensure that schools and vendors have adequate time to adapt.

The public is encouraged to review the proposal and to provide comments and information for consideration by USDA. The text of the proposed rule is available at http://www.fns.usda.gov/cga/020113-snacks.pdf . Once the rule is published in the Federal Register, which is expected next week, the public will be able to provide feedback through http://www.regulations.gov/. USDA will seek public comment on the proposal for 60 days.

Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report that analyzed state policies for food and beverages served outside the school lunch line which noted that 39 states already have a state law, regulation or policy in place related to the sale or availability of snack foods and beverages in schools. In many cases, local level (district and school) policies and practices exceeded state requirements or recommendations. USDA’s proposal would establish a national baseline of these standards, with the overall goal of improving the health and nutrition of our kids.

These proposed standards are part of a bi-partisan package of changes passed by Congress in 2010 designed to ensure that students have healthy options in school. Other parts of that package include updated nutrition standards for federally-subsidized school meals that provide children more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; additional funding for schools to support improved meals; and guidance on stronger local wellness policies.

Collectively these policies will help combat child hunger and obesity and improve the health and nutrition of the nation’s children; a top priority for the Obama Administration. The proposed rule announced today is an important component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to combat the challenge of childhood obesity.

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service administers America’s nutrition assistance programs including the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs, the Summer Food Service Program, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Together these programs make up the federal nutrition safety net.

For more information on the proposed rule, visit: http://www.fns.usda.gov/cga/020113-qas.pdf

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).