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Native Presence Added to Commission on White House Fellowships

Rion Joaquin Ramirez, left, was named by President Barack Obama to the President's Commission on White House Fellowships on July 12. — Rion Joaquin Ramirez, left, was named by President Barack Obama to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships on July 12.

By Richard Walker, Indian Country Today Media Network

Rion Joaquin Ramirez is general counsel for the Suquamish Tribe’s Port Madison Enterprises, which has expanded the tribe’s economic diversity and made it one of the largest employers in Kitsap County, west of Seattle.

Ramirez is soon to take on another significant responsibility: Helping select men and women who work for a year as full-time, paid assistant to senior White House staff, the vice president, Cabinet secretaries and other top-ranking government officials.

Ramirez, Pascua Yaqui/Turtle Mountain Chippewa, was named by President Obama to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships July 12. He was not available for comment; technically, the president has only announced his intent to appoint Ramirez to the commission, so Ramirez can’t speak to the media until the appointment is official, which should be within two weeks, according to the White House Communications Office.

There are 27 commission members. Other current members include Keith Harper, Cherokee, who represented the plaintiff class of 500,000 individual Indians in Cobell v. Salazar and is Obama’s nominee for representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council; retired four-star Gen. Wesley Clark; Peabody and Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist John Hockenberry; eBay founder Pierre Omidyar; former U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland; and Brown University president Ruth J. Simmons.

Ramirez is the second presidential appointee associated with the Suquamish Tribe this year. In May, Obama appointed Suquamish Tribe Chairman Leonard Forsman to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

The president appoints members of hundreds of federal agencies and commissions, but each has considerable influence over its area of focus. For example, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation manages the federal historic preservation review process and promotes historic preservation as a means of promoting job creation, economic recovery, energy independence, sustainability, and resource stewardship. In March, it endorsed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, saying it was “an opportunity to promote better stewardship and protection of Native American historic properties and sacred sites and in doing so … ensure the survival of indigenous cultures.”

Speaking as chairman of the Suquamish Tribe, Forsman said Ramirez has helped formulate Indian policy on the federal level and helped develop the legal infrastructure needed for tribes to expand their economies. “He’s been a part of our growth for quite a long time,” Forsman said. “He’s interested in the community, in the social aspects of the tribe, and he’s very familiar with families here and from other tribes.”

Ramirez is the son of Larry Ramirez, an American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame inductee who pitched for Cal State Northridge’s 1970 NCAA Division II national championship team and was the first Native American to pitch a winning complete game in the College World Series.

The younger Ramirez earned a B.A. from the University of Washington and a J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law. He was an associate at Dorsey & Whitney LLP and Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, P.C., and served as counsel for the University of Washington’s Child Advocacy Clinic. He joined Port Madison Enterprises in 2004.

He is a past president of the Northwest Indian Bar Association and a former appellate court justice for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, where he is enrolled.

In 2012, Ramirez was a member of the Obama for America National Finance Committee and co-chairman of the Obama Native Outreach Group. He raised between $200,000 and $500,000 for Obama’s reelection campaign.

President Lyndon B. Johnson established the White House Fellows Program in October 1964, declaring that “a genuinely free society cannot be a spectator society.” His intent was to draw individuals of exceptionally high promise to Washington for one year of personal involvement in the process of government “and to increase their sense of participation in national affairs.” Fellows are expected to employ post-fellowship what they learned by “continuing to work as private citizens on their public agendas.”

Johnson hoped Fellows would contribute to the nation as future leaders. Indeed, most if not all have: Past Fellows include Tom Johnson, who later became publisher of the Los Angeles Times and chairman of CNN; Robert C. McFarlane, who served as national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan; Colin Powell, who became an Army general, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and U.S. Secretary of State; Timothy E. Wirth, who became U.S. senator from Colorado and an Under Secretary of State; and numerous authors, elected officials, journalists, military leaders, and assistant Cabinet secretaries.

The current class includes civic leaders, doctors, lawyers, military officers, public policy specialists, and a journalist.

According to the commission website, commissioners met in Washington, D.C. the first week of June and interviewed 30 White House Fellowship finalists. Commissioners will recommend 11-19 for appointment; fellows are paid at GS level 14, step 3 – currently $90,343 – and benefits, and cannot receive any other compensation during their Fellowship.

Science vs. Traditional Knowledge in Climate Change: Can’t We All Just Get Along?

M. Kalani Souza, Native Hawaiian, head of the nonprofit Olohana Foundation, played the guitar for attendees of the Rising Voices of Indigenous People in Weather and Climate Science Workshop July 1 – 2 at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. He is also with the Federal Emergency Management Agency , University of Hawaii, where he is national director of population centers, working on Native community capacity for climate change.

By Carol Berry, Indian Country Today Media Network

The hydrologist had carefully studied the scientific data and knew for a fact that water would be present if he drilled. So sure was he that he ignored a Hawaiian elder’s warning against drilling for water in that spot. The scientist did indeed hit water—but it was red, brackish and undrinkable.

He had drilled on a hill that had been named, millennia ago, Red Water. Nearby was another site that had carried the name Water for Man for thousands of years. That is where the drinkable water could be found, but it did not take a hydrologist with fancy instruments.

“We assume contemporary knowledge displaces that of the past, but it’s not true,” said Ramsay Taum, Native Hawaiian, board director of the Pasifika Foundation and on the faculty of the University of Hawaii, after giving this example of science’s potential to erroneously override indigenous knowledge.

Taum’s comments were among several themes aired in a workshop, Rising Voices of Indigenous Peoples in Weather and Climate Science, sponsored partly by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) on July 1–2 in Boulder, Colorado. Also backing it were the Intertribal Council On Utility Policy, South Dakota; the Olahana Foundation, Big Island, Hawai’i; the Indigenous Peoples Climate Change Working Group, and the Getches–Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment.

During the two-day conference, scholars and tribal college students grappled with the readiness issues noted in President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which he released on June 25. (Related: Obama: No Keystone XL if It Increases Carbon Emissions)

Taum’s anecdote was just one example of the myriad ways in which traditional knowledge can trump scientific knowledge, even as climate change creates yet another Trail of Tears in forcing the relocation of Native communities due to flooding, fire and other encroachments on their traditional territories. The reliance on science to the exclusion of millennia of careful observation is another way in which culture is being eroded, participants said.

“The fear of our elders is that knowledge is running faster than wisdom,” said Papalii (“Doc”) Failautusi Aveglio, a hereditary Samoan leader and a faculty member at the University of Hawaii’s school of business.

Culture is not just lost via relocation. It can result indirectly when, for example, water contamination stops people from eating locally caught fish. Tribes then require money to buy replacement food, and the loss of local food sources ultimately ends daily fishing by grandfathers and grandsons in which tradition was passed down, said Michael MacCracken, chief scientist for climate change programs, Climate Institute, Washington, D.C.

Because of such changes, Native communities are increasingly involved in addressing climate questions, workshop planners said.

Even as Native peoples become the first- and hardest-hit by climate change, their traditional ways of relating to the natural world are distorted and undervalued by Western science. On top of that lies the irony that those least affected by climate change likely had the most to do with creating the conditions that caused it, said Daniel Wildcat, Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation and a faculty member at Haskell Indian Nations University.

The harsh climate effects could mean a “whole new Trail of Tears,” Wildcat said.

Yet such clashes between traditional and scientific knowledge seemed destined to continue, if one scientist’s insight is any indication.

“I’m not interested in reconciling science and Native knowledge,” said panelist Roger Pulwarty, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “They mean different things.”

Pulwarty was concerned about who would represent tribal peoples in seeking climate-change solutions, since asking them to collect information would be asking them to divulge potentially confidential tribal history. Taum countered that indigenous knowledge could be presented in different ways, sometimes embodied in stories that had been passed down through generations.

“One of the things indigenous people bring to the table is a whole different concept of our place in the world,” said Wildcat in summing up the workshop’s main underlying theme. “We have been treating life around us like resources—they’re not resources, they’re relatives.”

Tribes in Western U.S. Use Water to Assert Sovereignty

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes in Montana stand to become the first tribes in the country to own a major hydroelectric dam. In Colorado, tribes are managing parts of hydro projects. All are examples of tribes regaining control of resources on their land. Aspen Public Radio’s Marci Krivonen reports.

Credit Marci KrivonenThe Kerr Dam in Northwest Montana was built in the 1930's on the Flathead Indian Reservation. It's been owned by non-tribal companies since it was built. — Credit Marci Krivonen
The Kerr Dam in Northwest Montana was built in the 1930’s on the Flathead Indian Reservation. It’s been owned by non-tribal companies since it was built.

By MARCI KRIVONEN

July 15, 2013

Aspen Public Radio

In Colorado’s southwest, the Ute Mountain Ute tribe co-manages part of the Dolores Water Project. And, near Durango, the Animas/La Plata project is partially managed by the state’s two tribes. Ernest House directs the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs.

“Not only do these water projects strengthen tribal sovereignty, but they also solidify a treaty obligation to the Utes here in Colorado. I think that by the tribe’s involvement in a lot of these projects, it provides a very important tool for future economic development, especially, specifically, water,” he says.

While the project is different, the goals are similar in Montana. When the tribes take over the dam there, they say, their sovereignty will be strengthened.

Jordan Thompson of Energy Keepers Inc. stands high above the Kerr Dam outside of Polson, Montana. The tribes in this area are preparing to take over the hydro project in 2015.

The massive Kerr Dam in Montana is near snowcapped mountains, close to ancient buffalo hunting grounds. Emerald green water violently sloshes over the lip of the dam and into the Flathead River. To say the area’s beautiful, is an understatement.

A 19th century treaty created the Flathead Indian Reservation, and later, white settlement brought agriculture. The massive dam was built on tribal land by a local power company in the 1930’s to quench the thirst of newly planted farms.

“This is a place of great spiritual significance for the tribes, and so when the dam was being built, they really resisted, they were trying to not have that dam built,” says Jordan Thompson.

Thompson’s with the tribally-run company that’s preparing to take over ownership of the dam. Despite tribal protests in the 30’s the dam was built and has been producing electricity ever since..

“There were just a bunch of people who built it, over 1200 people at one point. Ten tribal members were killed during the construction of it. It was built because the tribes were just powerless to do anything to stop it,” Thompson says.

Over the years, the dam supplied millions of dollars worth of power. The tribes received a small portion, as rent. Fish habitats were damaged, as the dam continued to generate electricity.

Now, the dam is about to change hands. A treaty signed in 1985 transfers ownership of the dam to the Salish and Kootenai.

“This is significant because it’s an assertion of the tribes sovereignty over the resources they’ve used for their entire existence,” says Sarah Bates with the University of Montana.

She studies water, natural resources and tribal lands. She says what the Salish and Kootenai are doing is a model for other tribes in the U.S.

“It’s happening around the country, this is something that tribes have the capacity to step up and play not just a stakeholder role, but actually an owner and management role. When they aren’t just participants in a process, but actually gain authority over those facilities, that’s a major step forward in asserting and realizing their sovereignty.”

Tribes in Oregon and New York state are now attempting to gain control of hydroelectric projects.

The 1000 foot boardwalk takes you to an overlook of the Kerr Dam, which stretches 540 feet across and 200 feet high.

The Kerr Dam is run by the company PPL Montana and the tribes are still negotiating the purchase price. PPL Montana values the dam at about $51 million, while the tribes say the number is closer to $16 million. Once the issue is resolved, tribal members plan to take over the dam in September of 2015.

This story is the result of an environmental fellowship put on by the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources.

Yakama Nation celebrate sockeye return to Cle Elum Lake for the first time in 100 years

By Thomas Boyd, The Oregonian

Yakama Nation biologists have released thousands of sockeye salmon into a Central Washington lake over the past four summers. The work, according to The Associated Press, is to restore fish runs that were decimated with the damming of area rivers and streams. Each fall, the just-released fish swam up the Cle Elum River to spawn and die. Their babies, meanwhile, spent a year in the lake before swimming to the ocean to grow into adulthood. Now, four years after the first release in 2009, those adult fish are returning to their birthplace to spawn, and tribal members are celebrating what they hope is the resurrection of a revered species to its native habitat. “You are part of a sacred ceremony to celebrate the return of an important ingredient to our body, our hearts, our life,” Yakama elder Russell Jim told the crowd gathered on the shore of Cle Elum Lake.

LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON - Jun. 13, 2013 - Tribal Council Member Gerald Lewis conduct a blessing ceremony before releasing sockeye salmon into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian — LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON – Jun. 13, 2013 – Tribal Council Member Gerald Lewis conduct a blessing ceremony before releasing sockeye salmon into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON - Jun. 13, 2013 - Tribal elder Russell Jim, left, and Tribal Council Member Gerald Lewis conduct a blessing ceremony before releasing sockeye salmon into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian — LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON – Jun. 13, 2013 – Tribal elder Russell Jim, left, and Tribal Council Member Gerald Lewis conduct a blessing ceremony before releasing sockeye salmon into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON - Jun. 13, 2013 - Tribal elder Russell Jim is helped in to the bed of the truck to release sockeye salmon into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian — LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON – Jun. 13, 2013 – Tribal elder Russell Jim is helped in to the bed of the truck to release sockeye salmon into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON - Jun. 13, 2013 - Tribal elder Russell Jim smiles after releasing pulling the lever that released sockeye salmon into the lake during a ceremony Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian — LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON – Jun. 13, 2013 – Tribal elder Russell Jim smiles after releasing pulling the lever that released sockeye salmon into the lake during a ceremony Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON - Jun. 13, 2013 - Sockeye salmon were released into the lake in a ceremony Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian — LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON – Jun. 13, 2013 – Sockeye salmon were released into the lake in a ceremony Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON - Jun. 13, 2013 - “We need all the help we can get to restore our environment. Everything has life,” tribal member Virginia Beavert told the crowd attending the ceremony. “We need to take care of it.” Sockeye salmon were released into the lake in a ceremony Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian — LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON – Jun. 13, 2013 – “We need all the help we can get to restore our environment. Everything has life,” tribal member Virginia Beavert told the crowd attending the ceremony. “We need to take care of it.” Sockeye salmon were released into the lake in a ceremony Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON - Jun. 13, 2013 - Tribal dancers Vivian Delarosa, Nia Peters and Katrina Blackwolf, left to right, sign the Lord's prayer before the meal after sockeye salmon were released into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian — LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON – Jun. 13, 2013 – Tribal dancers Vivian Delarosa, Nia Peters and Katrina Blackwolf, left to right, sign the Lord’s prayer before the meal after sockeye salmon were released into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON - Jun. 13, 2013 - Media and bystanders watch as sockeye salmon were released into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian — LAKE CLE ELUM, WASHINGTON – Jun. 13, 2013 – Media and bystanders watch as sockeye salmon were released into the lake, Wednesday, July 10, 2013, to mark the first return of sockeye salmon to Lake Cle Elum in 100 years. Sockeye salmon were reintroduced to the lake in 2009 by the Yakama Nation and the fish released today are the first of those salmon to return to the lake. Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian

Internet Poker Freedom Act Aims for Federal Regulation

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Late July 11, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) introduced legislation to license and regulate online poker—and not other forms of online gambling, reported TheHill.com.

While a 2011 Justice Department decision opened doors for states to permit online gambling within their borders, the Internet Poker Freedom Act would allow sites to operate nationally. The bill, which would give states the opportunity to opt out of the federal system, would require poker websites to be licensed, technology to bar underage players and programs to help compulsive gamblers.

The bill references the United States v. DiCristina ruling, which recognized poker as a game of skill, reported PokerNews.com.

The Act states: “There is uncertainty about the laws of the United States governing Internet poker, though not about laws governing Internet sports betting. In United States v. DiCristina a Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York held that poker is a game in which skill is the predominant factor in determining the outcome and that in passing the Illegal Gambling Businesses Act, Congress only intended to criminalize clear games of chance.

Birth Mother Speaks in Baby Veronica Case: Analysis

Suzette Brewer, Indian Country Today Media Network

After years of silence surrounding the failed attempt to put up her biological child for adoption, Christine Maldonado finally went public with an editorial on custodial placement in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl in Friday’s Washington Post. By rehashing outdated talking points, Maldonado has reanimated her position as the central figure in a case that has pitted Veronica’s biological father, Dusten Brown, against a pre-adoptive couple in an epic crucible over race, class, tribal membership and father’s rights.

Following the United States Supreme Court ruling last month, which held that a specific section of the Indian Child Welfare Act did not apply, but the rest of the Act remained intact and in force, attorneys for Dusten Brown in both Oklahoma and South Carolina moved swiftly and decisively to follow the directions and guidance of what the court did—and did not—elaborate on in their decision to remand the case back to the lower courts for further review.

Meanwhile, the Capobianco’s camp, continuing a pattern of behavior prior to the Supreme Court hearing, again released court records regarding the juvenile matter to Andrew Knapp, a reporter for the Charleston Post and Courier, though requests to release the same records to Indian Country Today Media Network were denied by the South Carolina Supreme Court because the case is sealed under state law.

But since the contents of the documents are now in the public sphere, it appears that events unfolded quickly after the Supreme Court issued its ruling on June 25. On July 1, Brown and his wife, Robin, jointly filed for custody, adoption and guardianship in Nowata County, Oklahoma. The following day, his parents, Tommy and Alice Brown also filed a motion with the District Court of the Cherokee Nation as a certified adoptive placement preference of their granddaughter, in the event that Brown’s parental rights are terminated.

Under the law, however, the Indian Child Welfare Act is still applicable in Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl and must be followed regarding adoptive placement preference with either family members or fellow tribal members in the event a parent is found unfit or their rights are terminated, according to Indian law experts.

Beating the Capobiancos to the punch, on Wednesday, July 3, Brown’s attorneys in South Carolina also filed a motion to remand the case back down to the family court in Charleston for a fulsome review and evaluation of all parties and current conditions. They argue that Veronica has been with her “fit and loving” biological father and her stepmother as part of an intact family for the last 18 months, therefore necessitating an updated determination of the “best interest” doctrine commonly used throughout the United States.

Also at issue is whether or not South Carolina should retain jurisdiction at this juncture in the case, considering that Veronica, her biological father and stepmother, her grandparents, siblings, cousins, friends, healthcare providers, et al, are domiciled in Oklahoma. The Capobiancos are the only parties in the case who live in South Carolina. Therefore, experts say it beggars belief that a South Carolina Court could even make a best interest custodial placement there, since the entire family and all the relevant experts reside in another jurisdiction, which would exact an enormous logistical and financial burden on all of the parties.

Bringing up the rear, the Capobiancos closed out the first week of July by filing a motion for immediate judgment with the South Carolina Supreme Court on Friday, July 5, which means in plain English that Dusten Brown’s rights would be immediately terminated, and Veronica would be transferred back to the pre-adoptive couple. In anticipation of such a ruling, the Capobiancos have offered a “transition plan” to the court in which they would move to Oklahoma to assist with Veronica’s transition back to South Carolina.

Legal experts, however, say that because the case has likely reverted back to a “best interest analysis,” it would be highly unusual that the court would strip Brown’s custody without a comprehensive and thorough review of all the evidence accrued since Veronica left South Carolina in December 2011.

Which brings the subject back to Maldonado’s editorial in Friday’s Washington Post. In her prose, she returned yet again to the infamous “text message” in which she claimed Dusten Brown “renounced” his parental rights, disregarding not only the fact that parental rights cannot be terminated via text message (even though Brown has repeatedly asserted that was never his intent), but also that that specific text message was ruled inadmissible.

Judge Deborah Malphrus refused to admit it into evidence unless the phone and the entire conversation was produced. Subsequently, the phone, which had been locked away in a safe, mysteriously went “missing” the next day at court. And along with it, the full transcript of what actually transpired between Maldonado and Brown.

Therefore, say family law experts, the “text message” that was used against Brown is without context and is therefore irrelevant to the current situation on the ground and further court proceedings that are no doubt getting ready to happen—whether they occur in South Carolina or are ceded to Oklahoma.

Additionally, it ignores the South Carolina’s Supreme Court’s written finding that both she and the Capobiancos twisted the facts and the strained the limits of truth to fit their legal strategy in attempting to terminate Dusten Brown’s parental rights to push the adoption through without his approval or consent. Finally, it is a miraculous recovery of her memory of events that she could not seem to recall, based on her own previous court-recorded testimony.

“The optics of this case are very clear,” says one legal scholar who asked not to be identified because the case is ongoing. “This is a mother who very early on decided that she did not want this child. So it strains the imagination that this entitles her to abrogate the father’s parental rights to his daughter simply because of her personal issues with him. At some point, this case has to be about what’s in Veronica’s best interest, and unfortunately, it’s become about winning.”

Lake Washington sockeye count nears 150,000

People flock to see returning sockeye at The Ballard Locks fish viewing window

Mark Yuasa, The Seattle Times

The Lake Washington sockeye counts remain steady, and show no sign of dropping for now.

The updated run size of 147,240 sockeye through Thursday, July 11, is now just a little less than 7,000 fish ahead of the 2006 run during this same time frame, which was the last time a sport fishery was held in the large urban watershed. The preseason forecast this summer was 96,866.

The peak return time is usually between July 4 and July 12.

Last summer’s return of 145,815 shattered the preseason forecast of 45,871, and more than 20-million fry were released into the lake earlier this spring.

State Fish and Wildlife met Thursday (July 11) via a conference call with Muckleshoot, Suquamish and Tulalip tribal fisheries managers to review the Lake Washington sockeye run. The plan is to discuss the sockeye situation very soon with state Fish and Wildlife director Phil Anderson.

The director will be briefed on the technical group’s new management objective, which calls for an escapement spawning goal as low as 200,000. The current spawning escapement goal is 350,000, which has been in place at least three or four decades.

Concerns at this point are the sockeye returns appear to be declining, and looks like it peaked a week ago, but that could still climb or continue in a downward trend. Others discussed the warm water once the sockeye cross over the Locks, and into the thermal barrier between Lake Union and Lake Washington that creates a dire situation for fish.

Once the director is briefed and the tribal managers also meet, then another co-manager discussion will likely occur at some point next week.

If a reduction is eventually approved, and if the run continues to move toward and above that 200,000, then a really small fishery could still be possible. State managers call this a step harvest rate approach.

The question is whether this new policy would be agreed for three or four years, and be a test drive to the change in management as well as working out sticky topics like mitigation and hatchery issues.

The earliest time frame to have a possible fishery would be later this month, and it is likely fisheries managers will not make any decisions for at least a week or so.

Based on the latest numbers – adjusted for tribal C&S fisheries below the locks – the final run will end up between 175,000 and 225,000.

Single-day counts have looked like this since counting began on June 12 it was 2,778; June 13, 2,424; June 14, 1,285; June 15, 2,430; June 16, 3,081; June 17, 3,603; June 18, 3,851; June 19, 4,638; June 20, 2,961; June 21, 3,296; June 22, 10,782; June 23, 12,936; June 24, 4,545; June 25, 6,021; June 26, 5,577; June 27, 4,641; June 28 5,314; June 29, 9,084; June 30, 9,182; July 1, 51,35; July 2, 5,194; July 3 5,185; July 4, 3,309; July 5, 3,257; July 6, 2,988; July 7, 6,543; July 8, 3,791; July 9, 4,532; July 10, 4,748; and Thursday, July 11, 4,130.

Just to compare, here are the cumulative totals of counting from past years:

2006: 247; 803; 1,217, 1,975; 2,606; 3,179; 4,656; 6,623; 9,660; 12,785; 16,162; 20,840; 24,030; 29,158; 33,407; 37,917; 44,168; 53,334; 60,808; 70,016; 75,996; 79,476; 81,368; 85,638; 89,605; 97,431; 109,226; 119,495; 129,342; and 140,723 (453,543 was the final season total).

2007: 412; 892; 1,343; 2,058; 2,907; 3,467; 4,302; 6,595; 8,390; 9,795; 11,048; 13,013; 15,484; 17,604; 20,824; 22,692; 24,033; 26,148; 27,196; 27, 769; 29,180; 31,516; 33,236; 34,761; 37,117; 39,459; 40,160; 42,551; 43,348; and 43,927 (69,271 was the final season total).

2008: 236; 570, 894; 1,411; 1,774; 2,173; 2,785; 3,653; 4,530; 5,437; 6,577; 8,439; 9,752; 11,068; 11,564; 13,558; 15,509; 16,781; 17,910; 19,012; 19,012; 20,275; 21,443; 22,810; 23,726; 24,223; 24,969; 25,568; 26,187; 27,073; and 27,915 (33,702 was the final season total).

2009: 299; 825; 1,322; 1,797; 2,425; 2,880; 3,520; 3,931; 4,394; 5,064; 6,190; 7,057; 7,686; 8,156; 8,702; 9,414; 10,279; 11,296; 12,124; 12,933; 13,606; 14,306; 14,839; 15,494; 16,182; 16,735; 17,447; 17,945; 18,242; and 18,434 (22,166 was the final season total).

2010: 625; 1,027; 1,673; 2,342; 3,296; 4,194; 5,531; 6,756; 8,119; 9,475; 12,679; 15,656; 18,094; 20,616; 22,433; 27,449; 32,012; 36,538; 40,00; 45,518; 48,535; 50,789; 57,555; 62,012; 72,169; 79,600; 82,425; 86,421; 89,801; and 95,758 (161,417 was the final season total).

2011: 304; 563; 866; 1,218; 1,866; 2,512; 3,134; 3,452; 4,177; 5,319; 6,297; 7,221; 9,175; 11,011; 12,531; 13,794; 14,659; 14,969; 15,217; 15,612; 16,016; 16,913; 20,463; 23,824; 25,599; 26,596; 27,460; 29,131; 30,507; and 31m354 (43,724 was the final season total).

2012: 1,633; 2,320; 2,852; 5,035; 8,097; 9,821; 11,337; 13,577; 19,999; 23,546; 25,385; 27,628; 31,368; 37,191; 38,971; 42,701; 47,781; 50,565; 57,094; 59,036; 63,575; 69,340; 78,940; 85,072; 93,563; 99,661; 103,639; 109,974; 113,556; and 118,918 (145,815 was the final season total).

The last time Lake Washington was open for sport sockeye fishing was 2006 for 18 days with a return of 458,005 fish, the longest since 1996 when it was open 25 days. Other dates a fishery was held included 2004, 2002, 2000 and 1996.

Mash-Ups Star in a Homage to American Indians

Jeffrey Gibson Injects Visual Pizazz Into Found Objects

“Freedom” uses tepee poles, rawhide lacing, artificial sinew, buffalo hide, acrylic paint, wool, glass and plastic beads, sterling silver and turquoise.

Karen Rosenberg, The New York Times

“Jeffrey Gibson: Said the Pigeon to the Squirrel” is the type of show that’s perking up the once-sleepy National Academy Museum. It inaugurates a new biennial program of solos by emerging artists, expanding on smaller efforts to highlight young, living artists (Phoebe Washburn’s spiraling nest of scrapwood in the rotunda, for example).

There are a few glitches with this one, however. One is that the Academy hasn’t yet figured out how to handle ultracontemporary art with the ease of a MoMA or a Whitney. (This show looks a lot like a commercial gallery exhibition, but its texts seem to be pitched at graduate students.) Another is that Mr. Gibson’s art, though promising, falls short of its potential.

Mr. Gibson, an abstract painter who often works on animal hides in homage to his American Indian heritage (he is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and is half Cherokee), is certainly an interesting choice. His work points to worlds of intensive, disciplined art making beyond the walls of this Academy, or any academy.

It also embodies two sweeping trends in contemporary art: feverishly bright geometric abstraction and the creative reuse of found objects. The animal hides are stretched over antique mirrors and ironing boards, and even wrapped around fluorescent light tubes in an obvious nod to Dan Flavin.

In his catalog essay the show’s curator, Marshall N. Price, describes Mr. Gibson’s work as a “mash-up” or “remix.” The show’s playful title, he says, imagines a “dialogue between two urban animals as characters in a contemporary creation myth.”

Nonetheless, the paintings and their supports don’t always interact in any way that generates sparks. “Freedom,” for example, simply carries forward the indigenous conventions of the parfleche and the travois. (The parfleche is a carrying case made of animal hide, often adorned with geometric designs; the travois is a frame of long tepee poles, used to transport the parfleche on horseback.) Mr. Gibson’s version is exuberantly decorative, with beaded fringe and a weblike pattern of painted triangles, but then so are objects made and shown in a more traditional tribal context. A show last year at the gallery Participant made this point neatly with collaborations between Mr. Gibson and more specialized American Indian artists.

Other works — especially the ones made with antique mirrors as supports — have plenty of visual pizazz but are weak conceptually. The painting-as-mirror conceit feels a bit stale, and they rely too heavily on the thrift shop eclecticism of the mirrors, with their different carved and cast frames, to offset a formulaic painterly vocabulary.

Also problematic are the fluorescent light sculptures, which cover the bulbs with colored gel and encase them in acrylic tubes that are then wrapped in deer hide. On a material level, Mr. Gibson is onto something here: the hide softens the light, making the sculptures look less like Flavins and more like ravers’ glowsticks. But they still read as pastiches, especially if you aren’t aware of Mr. Gibson’s interest in rave culture.

He is certainly capable of variety and invention, as his drawings series “Infinite Sampling” suggests; its 55 configurations of pencil, watercolor, thread and tape have a kind of shamanic flow and intensity.

Something of that magic makes its way into the “shield paintings,” executed on hide stretched over ironing boards, which are by far the best of the painted works here. Their sharply angular compositions allude to European early Modernist movements, like Orphism and Rayism, but the curved contours of the boards foster all sorts of other associations: the surf-inspired art of 1960s Los Angeles, or the early shaped canvases of Frank Stella, or, as the titles suggest, heraldic armor.

Also intriguing are the punching bags bedecked with sequins, beads and tin shingles, wrapped in pieces of “repurposed” paintings. They have the festive, performative appeal of Nick Cave’s “Soundsuits”; one, “She Walks Lightly,” is placed close to an air-conditioning vent so that its fringed skirt sways ever so gently.

In the catalog Mr. Gibson recalls his inspiration for the piece: a performance by the dancer Norma Red Cloud. “She moved gracefully,” he writes, “so that the jingles all moved in unison and made the most beautiful sound: even, continuous, confident.”

The sculpture conveys that powerful impression and more, and suggests that dance — or movement of some kind — may be the next step for this talented artist who hasn’t quite hit his stride.

“Jeffrey Gibson: Said the Pigeon to the Squirrel” runs through Sept. 8 at the National Academy Museum, 1083 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street; (212)369-4880, nationalacademy.org.

Schimmel Sisters to Attend ESPN’s ESPYs Award Show July 17th

Brent Cahwee, NDNSports.com

LOS ANGELES – Shoni Schimmel and younger sister Jude will be in attendance for the 2013 ESPN’s ESPYs Award show slated later this month on July 17th in Los Angeles, California.

Jude and Shoni Schimmel during the Sweet 16 round of the women’s NCAA basketball tournament. – photo by Rhonda LeValdo

The annual award show highlights many of the past year’s defining sports moments in which fan voting determines the award winners in each category. The University of Louisville Cardinal’s women’s basketball team is up for the “Best Upset” of the year award for the game in which they defeated, then number one and defending national champions Baylor Bears, in the Sweet 16 round of the women’s NCAA tournament. The game was highlighted by an acrobatic layup by Shoni in which she took on player of the year Brittney Griner in what became an ESPN top 10 highlight for the tournament.

Competing for the same award category will be Florida Gulf Coast University’s upset win over the Georgetown Hoya’s in the men’s NCAA tournament, Texas A&M over Alabama from college football, and the Pacquiao vs Marquez “Champion of the decade” fight in which Marquez was the victor.

Although the Lady Cardinal team was selected for this award, not all of the Cardinal squad will be an attendance. Current head coach Jeff Walz will attend along with Shoni & Jude, Sara Hammond, Bria Smith and Antonita Slaughter.

“It’s exciting to know that Shoni and Jude were able to play in a game of this status. I think it will be an upset that people reflect on for many years not only in Women’s basketball, but also in the sports world in general,”

said Rick Schimmel, the father of the Schimmel sisters.

“Louisville beating Baylor was as big an upset as anyone could ever imagine. It was a thrilling game to watch and it’s exciting to know that they are being nominated for an ESPY for their victory over the Player of the Year and the defending National Champion.”

This year’s host for the ESPY’s will be Jon Hamm who will be accompanied by the usual all-star lineup of top athletes and entertainers.

Voting for the ESPY’s will continue all the way up until the start of the award show and end at 9:00 pm eastern time. Anyone wishing to place a vote for the Schimmels and the Louisville Cardinals for the “Best Upset” of the year award can do so by visiting the ESPY’s voting website at espn.com/espys »

19 options for fun this weekend

Planes, kangaroos, music, theater, festivals and much more

Photo by Jay Koh"Chicago" is showing in Everett this weekend. — Photo by Jay Koh
“Chicago” is showing in Everett this weekend.

Source: The Herald

For dogs and their people: Poochapalooza is Saturday in Marysville. This party has music, flyball, exhibitions, contests and — new this year — wiener dog races. Read all about it here.

Live music: Everett Music Initiative has show tonight in Everett. Seattle’s blues rock duo My Goodness will play on the outside patio at Sol Food Bar & Grill. Also playing are Portland’s Tango Alpha Tango and Seattle’s Prism Tats. Tickets are $12 at the door and this show is all ages. Doors open at 8 p.m. with music starting around 9 p.m. More info here.

Musical: Our reviewer has glowing things to say about Village Theatre’s “Chicago.” It shows all weekend and various other days until July 28. Read more here.

Local movie: Check out the locally made movie “Imagination Thief” at a screening on Friday and Saturday at Historic Everett Theatre. Read more in our story here.

Waves: Pro wakeboarders will show off their skills from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at Lake Tye in Monroe.

Up in the sky: The Arlington Fly-In continues Friday and Saturday. There will be daily air shows, hot air balloons, vendors, bouncy house and exhibits. Get more info here.

Wine: Sunsets in Snohomish, a wine tasting event, is from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday. There will also be shopping and dining specials. Click here to buy tickets or for more details.

Roo to you: Meet a real live joey and learn about kangaroos at the Monroe Library from 2 to 3 p.m. on Saturday. Cameras are welcome. Quiet is required. Click here for more details.

Improv: A family-friendly improv show is Saturday in Duvall. The Cascade Community Theatre will put on a show at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. No two shows are the same because the audience helps direct the action. Get more information here.

A Shindig: The Sultan Shindig is Friday and Saturday in downtown Sultan. The event celebrates Sultan’s logging history and includes a carnival, food, crafts and live entertainment. A logging contest includes spar-pole climbing and ax throwing. There also is a parade. Click here for more info.

Music on the loop: The Mountain Loop Music Festival is noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday in Old School Park, 1026 Alvord St., Darrington. There will be local music, a barbecue and old-fashioned carnival games. For more information call 360-436-0308.

Ultimate flea market: Junk in Trunk is 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday at 1015 State Ave., Marysville. Shoppers can buy garage sale items, tools, vintage, antiques, collectibles, crafts and more from more than 60 vendors. Details are here.

Pinks are running: Get information from experts about fishing for humpies on Saturday and Sunday at the Tulalip Cabela’s. Learn more in Wayne Kruse’s column here.

Meow: Find a new friend at a Meow in Mukilteo from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Rosehill Community Center, 304 Lincoln Avenue. Cats from many shelters and rescue groups will be at the event. Get more information here.

Festival: The Mill Creek Festival and Street Fair is Saturday and Sunday. You’ll find live entertainment, Kids’ Korner, arts and crafts; main stage and a beer garden. A free shuttle is available from Jackson High School. Learn more here.

Art: Art by the Bay is Saturday and Sunday at the Stanwood-Camano Community Fairgrounds, 6431 Pioneer Highway. There will be concerts, fine arts, garden art. Parking and admission are both free. Get more information here.

Outdoor tunes: Ryan McKasson and Dave Bartley, who play traditional Scottish music on fiddle and guitar, will perform at the West Beach amphitheater at Deception Pass State Park at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The concert is free but you’ll need a Discover Pass to park. Get more info on this, and other park events, here.

Cannonball! A Cannonball and Belly Flop Contest is at 6 p.m. Friday at Yost Pool, 9535 Bowdoin Way, Edmonds; $5 entry fee. Learn more here.

Hoops: A 3-on-3 “Main Street Madness” Basketball Tournament is 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at 15720 Main St., Mill Creek. Youth divisions third through eighth grades play in morning and adult divisions play in afternoon.