Tulalip News

Agribusiness: More millions to fight I-522

By Joe Connlley, Seattle PI

Major agribusiness companies and grocery chains appear set on a “Shock and Awe” approach to defeating Initiative 522 on Washington’s November ballot, and have poured nearly $9 million into the cause over the last two days.

The latest big bucks include $3.2 million from Dupont, on top of $171,281 previously given; a $562,000 pledge from Dow Agrisciences and a $500,000 pledge from BASF Plant Science. Montsanto made the biggest investment earlier in the week with a $4.5 million contribution to the No-on-522 campaign.

I-522 would put labeling requirements on genetically manufactured foods and seeds offered for sale in Washington State. A similar ballot measure in California set off a massive advertising blitz: Major grocery chains and agribusiness interests spent $46 million and narrowly defeated it.

Supporters of the initiative have put together a $3.5 million war chest. About $19 million was spent on behalf of the California measure.

Shelby Scates: A memorable election night argument.

The No-on-522 campaign has retained services of Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Winner & Mandabach, the nation’s most experienced consulting firm at promoting and fighting initiatives. Winner & Mandabach worked in 2012 for opponents of the California labeling measure.

Winner & Mandabach was formerly Winner Wagner & Mandabach, and gained initial fame (or infamy if you were on the opposite side) in the 1980′s for successful strategies that defeated anti-nuclear power initiatives in Western states.

Its first setback came in Washington with the so-called “WPPSS initiative.” I-394, put on the ballot in 1981, was aimed at curbing soaring costs of the Washington Public Power Supply System’s nuclear program, which eventually left four abandoned, partially built reactors and caused the biggest municipal bond default in American history.

I-394 required utilities to get voter approval before issuing new bonds to pay for WPPSS’ nuclear plants, whose total costs had reached $23.9 billion.

Major brokerage firms and nuclear contractors spent $1.2 million to beat it, compared to just $200,000 for supporters. But backers aired radio ads produced by famous New York adman Tony Schwartz, creator of the famous “Daisy” ad that implied that Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater might set off a nuclear war.

I-394 rolled up 58 percent of the vote, although courts later threw it out. Election night featured a memorable, not-entirely-friendly encounter at “No” headquarters between firm principal Chuck Winner and Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Shelby Scates.

The cost to corporations of ballot campaigns has since gone up. The American Beverage Assn., in 2010, spent $16.9 million to persuade Washington voters to roll back a modest soda pop tax, enacted by the Legislature to fund education. Costco topped that with its successful campaign to end the state’s monopoly on retail liquor sales.

With its latest influx of cash — and nearly two months until election day — the No-on-522 campaign may challenge previous spending records.

Sequestration Strains Mental Health Services to Natives

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Mental health services for Native Americans took a 5 percent cut due to federal sequestration, and the reduction has cost tribes essential staff and programs, reports NPR.

Native teens and 20-somethings are killing themselves at an alarming pace. For those 15 to 24, the rate is 3.5 times that of other Americans and rising, according to the Indian Health Service (IHS). Tribes have declared states of emergency and set up crisis-intervention teams.

“People are overwhelmed. Sometimes they’ll say, I just can’t go to another funeral,” says Diane Garreau, a child-welfare official on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, in South Dakota.

But many of these mental health and suicide prevention programs are either being forced to scale back due to a lack of funding, or stunted and unable to expand to meet their community’s needs.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, for one, is now unable to hire two additional mental health service providers, Cathy Abramson, chairwoman of the National Indian Health Board, told NPR.

“Since the beginning of the year, there have been 100 suicide attempts in 110 days on Pine Ridge,” Abramson said at a Senate committee hearing in Washington last spring. “We can’t take any more cuts. We just can’t.”

FINDING HELP
• 1-800-273-TALK is a free, confidential 24/7 hot line for anyone who is in crisis about any issue and wants to talk to a trained counselor. You can also call if you know someone in crisis and want advice about what to do.
• The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) administers youth-suicide prevention funds provided by the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act, named for a senator’s son who killed himself in 2003. The agency hopes that going forward more tribes will apply for them, says Richard McKeon, chief of SAMHSA’s suicide-prevention branch.
• SAMHSA offers technical assistance, on grant-writing and more, through its Native Aspirations program (NativeAspirations.org) and publishes a prevention guide, To Live to See the Great Day That Dawns, available online. The agency also maintains a registry of evidence-based (scientifically tested) suicide-prevention practices.
• For Indian Health Service resources, check the agency’s website.
• Two nonprofits, the One Sky Center and the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, offer much helpful information.

Marysville students return to school

Kirk Boxleitner, The Marysville Globe

Watch the slideshow here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marysvilleglobe/9713212416/

MARYSVILLE — No matter how many years of first days of school students, parents and teachers have experienced before, it can still be an adjustment, as families found at both Marysville Middle School and Liberty Elementary this year.“It’s all new stuff,” laughed Angela Courier, as she and her husband Richard got their daughter Kailye checked into sixth grade at Marysville Middle School on Wednesday, Sept. 4. “It’s completely different from elementary school. There’s all different school supplies. You need to make sure you’ve got your information together beforehand.”While fellow moms such as Meridith Rosevelt reviewed their own children’s paperwork in the packed main office of Marysville Middle School, Rosemarie Running Water of Tulalip filled out forms to transfer her daughter, Maeliha Matta, to Totem Middle School to be with her friends.

For at least two families at Liberty Elementary, barely more than a block west of Marysville Middle School, this year marked a particularly unique transition.

Art Noriel Castillo entered fifth grade at Liberty Elementary this year, but his father, Arturo Castillo, had to show up early to complete all his paperwork since they just recently moved to the area from Saipan.

“We came here because the schools here are very good,” said Arturo Castillo, as Art Noriel Castillo deemed math his favorite subject.

Monika Little has taught second grade at Liberty Elementary for 19 years, while her husband Richard has taught fourth- and fifth-grade classes at Liberty for 16 years, but this year marked their daughter Maya’s entry into first grade at the school.

“This school already has such a community feel for us,” Monika Little said. “The only difference now is, at various school functions, we’ll be doing double-duty as parents and teachers.”

“We’ve really embraced the culture of this school,” Richard Little said. “What better way to do so than to bring our daughter here?”

Maya Little confidently asserted that she had “no worries” about starting first grade, and like Art Noriel Castillo, she looked forward to studying math in class.

Since the first day of school was the same day for elementary schools and middle schools in Marysville this year, Tammy Hildebrand had already dropped off one child at middle school that morning before introducing her daughter to her second-grade teacher and her son to his fifth-grade teacher at Liberty Elementary barely an hour later.

“I’ve had lots of coffee today,” Hildebrand laughed.

“I still get excited jitters on the first day of school, and I’ve been through 10 principals here,” laughed Karen Wright, a third-grade teacher who’s been at Liberty Elementary since 1984. “I was one of the younger teachers here when I started out, and I stayed here because I love this school and I love our families. I’ve got second-generation students now, whose parents were children in my class, and they’ve heard all the stories. Even the high school kids will come back and remember the places where they sat in my room.”

While third-graders don’t have nearly the amount of nervousness that younger kids do about the first day, Wright still needs to guide them back into the groove of studying, as they’re united with friends they might not have seen all summer long. Wright herself spent her summer studying the Common Core State Standards and acquiring new texts for her students.

“The curriculum has gotten more challenging over the years, and the expectations of state testing are more demanding now, but the kids are basically the same as they’ve always been,” said Wright, who praised the support of her fellow teachers and school staff members. “The kids are just great. I never wanted to become a principal, because being a teacher here is just great. Except for one year in England, I’ve taught in Marysville my whole career, and of those years, I’ve taught at Liberty for all but my first year, when I was at Shoultes. I love it here.”

For Liberty Elementary first-grade teacher Karen Robinson, this year served as a first day of school in more ways than one, since it was also her first day of teaching a class of her own.

“I was a substitute teacher for three years before this,” said Robinson, who credited her own fourth-grade teacher with inspiring her to enter education. “I thought she was so cool, and I knew that’s what I wanted to do when I grew up.”

Robinson’s biggest challenge in preparing her own classroom was figuring out how it should be laid out, since she was accustomed to coming in as a substitute and working within other teachers’ setups for their classrooms.

“In the end, I went with openness,” Robinson said. “I wanted to be able to see all the kids, and to see them learning.”

While Lucas Walker, one of Robinson’s first-grade students, had already attended Liberty Elementary for the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, his first day was still a bit difficult for his mom.

“I let him walk to school by himself, because he’s a big boy now,” Shelly Walker said. “It’s sad that he’s growing up so fast. He’s not my baby anymore.”

Watch the slideshow here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marysvilleglobe/9713212416/

Stop Smoking Program at Tulalip

Stay healthy for your family and stop smoking. Tulalip Family Haven provides free supplies and support

Contact” Ashley at 360.716.5719

Biking is the best way to get somewhere fast while getting in shape

By Sarah Laskow, Grist

One of the fringe benefits of living car-free is that you end up exercising more, as a matter of course, as you bike to work or sprint to the bus stop as you see the last, late bus coming around the bend. But say you wanted to up your game, burning the most calories possible while getting around. What mode should you choose? Should you bike? Walk? Run?

If the New York Times is to be believed, you probably should just be running everywhere:

According to broad calculations from the American College of Sports Medicine, someone weighing 150 pounds who runs at a brisk seven minutes per mile will incinerate about 1,000 calories per hour. That same person pedaling at a steady 16 to 19 miles per hour will burn about 850 calories. Meanwhile, walking requires far fewer calories, only about 360 per hour at a 4-mile-per-hour pace.

But, as Noah Davis reported a while back for Outside, running everywhere isn’t really feasible:

There are definite advantages, but huge disadvantages, too. Mostly, they involve showing up everywhere dripping with sweat.

Biking will probably get you there faster, too. Also, the New York Times says, it’s better for your knees.

Bears are using the special, pretty overpasses built for them

Holly Richmond, Grist

Bear bridges aren’t just beautiful — they work! That’s what you learn when, instead of sunning yourself and running through the sprinkler, you spend three summers working on your collection of bear fur:

For three years, researchers from Montana State University spent their summers collecting bear hair. The samples, collected on both sides of the 50 mile stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway that cuts through Banff National Park, prove what the researchers had suspected: wildlife underpasses and bridges were helping enough bears move back and forth across the highway to keep the populations healthy.

Not only does this mean the researchers can make a slew of bear-fur scarves, hats, and finger puppets, but that animals are using the paths specifically created to enable their boneage. About 10 percent of the bear population would need to cross the highway in order for its size not to dwindle; the three-year study showed nearly 20 percent of area grizzlies and black bears were using special crossings. Woohoo! Since drivers hit a million vertebrates every day, it’s vital that bears and other animals have an alternative to dodging cars:

Underpasses provide the cover cougars and many small mammals need, while the bridges and overpasses let moose and elk traverse in their preferred open-sky habitats. Cameras at each of the passageways have recorded hundreds of thousands of crossings for many different species, including bears, wolves, lynx, deer, elk and moose.

Like a bridge over troubled traffic, this will ease bears’ minds.

Affordable Care Act Community Training, Sept 18

Affordable Care Act enrollment begins October 1st – Learn about eligibility, requirements and more.

September 18, Tulalip Administration Building, Room 162. Dinner 5pm; Meeting 5:30pm

House Members Howling Over WH Plan to Cheat Tribes on Health Costs

By Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

U.S. House members across the aisles are reacting harshly to a plan by the Obama administration to cut contract support cost (CSC) reimbursements to tribes in the federal budget’s continuing resolution currently being considered by Congress.

“If the administration has its way, tribes would lose their ability to obtain the legitimate contract support cost funds that Indian Health Service has failed to pay,” Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Indian Affairs, told Indian Country Today Media Network in reaction to a White House budget proposal shared with some Congress members late this summer that would allow the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to limit how much each tribe would be paid for CSC.

Tribes would be left to pay for any CSC funding not appropriated by Congress. President Barack Obama’s 2014 budget request falls copy40 million short of what is required to honor all tribal contracts with the IHS, and copy2 million short of what is required to honor all BIA contracts, according to testimony provided to Congress in April.

“I’m extremely disappointed in the administration for even suggesting this,” Young said. “Fully funding contract support costs is the right thing to do. Providing healthcare services is a critical component of the federal government’s trust responsibility to tribes, and imposing a ‘hard cap’ that limits tribes’ compensation for healthcare services that they provided on behalf of the government would undermine our sacred trust obligation.”

Young promised “to fight to make sure the administration’s proposed continuing resolution language, which would harm healthcare delivery throughout Indian country, is not included in the House version.”

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a Chickasaw Nation citizen who sits on the House Appropriations and Budget Committees, told ICTMN that the administration’s plan is “outrageous.”

“The record from this administration on Indian affairs has been pretty good, but this as an area it has not been,” Cole said.

Cole added that as of early September 10 he had not seen the final text of the House’s continuing resolution bill, so he did not know if the Republican leadership had included the administration’s proposal.

“I hope and I expect – but I don’t want to tell you I got it for sure – that this is going to be fixed, that we will be offering a continuing resolution that does not cap these payments,” Cole said. “I know the Appropriations Committee has forwarded this matter to leadership. I’m assuming word got through to the guys who put together the final draft of the whole thing.”

Democratic tribal allies in the House also say they are concerned by the administration’s proposal, and they do not want to see the Republican House leadership include it in its continuing resolution.

“We have yet to see the text of the continuing resolution from the Republican leadership in the House, however, any proposal of this nature would be concerning, and the impact on tribal communities would need to be closely reviewed,” Rep. Ben Luján (D-N.M.) told ICTMN.

“The United States has a trust responsibility that must be upheld, and it is critical that tribal leaders and members of Congress work together to ensure we are meeting the funding needs of Indian country,” Luján said. “A key component is undoing the failed experiment of sequestration that I have opposed every step of the way, in part because of the negative effect it is having on Native American communities.”

Late September 10, the House-proposed continuing resolution was filed. It did not include any CSC caps, though it left funding at the 2013 sequestered level.

In the Senate, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has vowed to do whatever she can to quash consideration of the proposal, but Democrats control that chamber, so it remains to be seen if Democratic Senate leaders are willing to counter the Democratic administration’s plan. From the House, Young said he would “continue to work with the Alaska delegation to prevent the harmful language from being included on the Senate side.”

Lloyd Miller, an Indian affairs lawyer with Sonosky Chambers involved in several tribal contract support disputes with the federal government, suggested that tribal officials reach out to Sen. Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), chairman of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, who will have input on this funding proposal in the Senate.

“Sen. Reed will be very important as this plays out in short order,” Miller said, noting that he would like to see the senator to attend a meeting of the National Conference of the American Indians in Washington on September 11.

Congress is scheduled to be in session for only nine days in September. It must pass a continuing resolution by October 1 to avoid a partial government shutdown. If the administration’s language is included in the continuing resolution, tribes would likely lose out on millions of dollars.

The administration’s request comes after a June 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said the federal government must pay for the full CSC incurred by tribes while providing healthcare and other governmental services for their tribal citizens through Indian Self-Determination Act contract agreements. It was a rare tribal victory at the Supreme Court, which is one reason why the current White House position has alarmed tribal leaders.

Forty-five tribes and tribal organizations shared a letter with Reed and his subcommittee September 3, expressing their outrage at the administration’s proposal.

Cole predicted legal consequences if the administration’s plan were to pass Congress. “Do you really think this won’t be challenged in court?” he asked. “I suspect it will.”

Rosebud Sioux Tribe banishes non-Indian for domestic crime

Source: Indianz.com

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe of South Dakota has banished a non-Indian man for a domestic violence incident. Steven Nichols was convicted in federal court in June 2011 for assaulting his girlfriend, who is a tribal member. The tribe’s court issued a banishment order and the tribal council voted to exclude him that same month but he was just arrested last week for coming back to the reservation. This is the fourth time he’s been arrested for violating the banishment order. In March, Nichols pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of criminal trespass, the U.S. Attorney for South Dakota said in a press release. Nichols, who lives in Illinois, was sentenced to 30 days and one year of probation and was again ordered not to re-enter the reservation.

Get the Story: Man banished from Rosebud Reservation refuses to leave (The Sioux Falls Argus-Leader 9/10)

Revenge on the Rez: Roseanne Supernault of ‘Rhymes for Young Ghouls’

Photo by Thosh Collins; source: Facebook

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Roseanne Supernault is an award-winning Metis Cree actress whose recent work includes the acclaimed series Blackstone — and with Rhymes for Young Girls, she’s again featured in a gritty drama set on a First Nations reserve. Yet Rhymes for Young Ghouls, a revenge-fantasy story that tackles the legacy of residential schools and takes place on the fictional Red Crow Mi’kmaq Reserve in 1976, is quite different. On the website of the Toronto International Film Festival, where Rhymes for Young Ghouls had its premiere on September 9, the film is described as “an S.E. Hinton novel … re-imagined as a righteously furious, surreal thriller.” Supernault shared her thoughts on the film with ICTMN.

Can you describe your character in Rhymes for Young Ghouls?

I play Anna in the film — the mother of the main character Aila. I’m an artist, I am very in love with Aila’s father Joseph, and I am very sad at the state of our life on the rez. Through most the film I am present in a haunting capacity.

Did you grow up knowing anyone like Anna growing up?

I was inspired by many women, but specifically my sister, who raised me for most my life. She’s one of the strongest women I know. Anna has rules for Aila, on surviving the rez, and I’m pretty sure my sister could write that very same book.

What elements of this film will resonate with a Native audience?

The climax of this film is quite extraordinary. After reading the script I was reminded of a quote by actress Melanie Laurent about Inglourious Basterds. She said how important it was for her as a Jewish woman to be a part of that movie for the sake of her family, because of the fantastical revenge that the main characters get. Relatives of mine whom I love very much went to residential school and I can’t help but feel a sense of redemption and empowerment by being a part of this story. I imagine it will resonate with most Native people who watch it. They’re also going to see more humorous characters and a very powerful heroine, Aila, played by Kawennahere Devery Jacobs, who is a remarkable up-and-coming actress.

Do you think it will appeal to the larger filmgoing public?

[Filmmaker] Jeff Barnaby’s story and vision will appeal to a mainstream audience as well, simply for the fact that it’s just good film. If you take away the contextualization of reservation life, Jeff has really done a terrific job of basing this story on universal elements that you can relate to as a human being. It’s raw, it’s gritty, and it’s beautiful.

There are certain common elements between Rhymes for Young Ghouls and the TV series Blackstone. Both deal with a dark side of rez life; with corruption and crime. How deep do the similarities run, and where do they end?

They’re both strong stories set on a reservation and have elements of corruption, but otherwise, the similarities end there. Jeff looks at reserve life with a different set of eyes. When have we ever really seen what it was like to have Indian Agents breathing down our necks — day in and day out — on the rez? And especially to execute it with this unique ghoulish motif! Every once in a while when reading the script, I would think: “Did he just say that?! Did he just do that?! This is amazing! I have to be a part of this.” And I’m so glad I am! I think the world’s about to find out that Natives are some of the most powerful storytellers on earth. It’s in our blood.

How do you respond to criticism that entertainment like Blackstone and Rhymes for Young Ghouls can be bad for the image of Natives?

What’s important here is that we be patient with our storytellers. Contrasting and challenging Hollywood’s hundred-year depiction of Natives is going to take some time. I carry the same message straight across for all audiences: we can’t base the perceived vision of Native People on ONE Film or TV show about Native People, and then make judgements. Please be patient with us. I’ve never met such a hard-working generation of people! We’re really on our way.

Director Jeff Barnaby is one of the most interesting young filmmakers (Native or otherwise) in Canada today. Were you previously familiar with his work?

He’s definitely going to be doing big things and I would love nothing more than to work with him again. I watched “File Under Miscellaneous” before meeting him, and was instantly a fan. He also showed Devery and me “The Colony” during pre-production. I think we both knew then that we were in safe hands.

What it was like working with him on Rhymes for Young Girls?

Jeff is a visionary. And what’s great is that his Nativeness is still very much intact. He doesn’t have that phoney telephone voice many of us have adapted as a sort of as a survival mechanism. He’s Native through and through. He’s real, he’s talented, and he’s got a crazy awesome sense of humor!

Rhymes for Young Ghouls – clip #1 from Prospector Films on Vimeo.