(Reuters) – Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin on Wednesday stepped up pressure on the biological father of “Baby Veronica,” a 3-year-old Native American girl caught in a protracted adoption custody battle, warning him to cooperate with the girl’s adoptive parents or face charges for interfering.
After initially declining to sign an extradition warrant for biological father Dusten Brown to face felony charges in South Carolina, where the girl’s adoptive parents live, Fallin warned Brown that if he did not meet the adoptive parents, Matt and Melanie Capobianco, in Oklahoma, she might force him to go to South Carolina.
“Mr. and Mrs. Capobianco deserve an opportunity to meet with their adopted daughter. They also deserve the chance to meet with Mr. Brown and put an end to this conflict,” Fallin said on Wednesday. “If Mr. Brown is unwilling to cooperate with these reasonable expectations, then I will be forced to expedite his extradition request and let the issue be settled in court.”
The case has highlighted overlapping parental claims in two states and the clash between a Native American culture seeking to protect children from being adopted outside their tribes and U.S. legal safeguards for adoptive parents.
Veronica’s birth mother, who is not Native American, arranged the adoption with the Capobiancos before the girl was born. Veronica lived with them after her birth in 2009. Brown intervened in 2010 before the adoption process was final, and a South Carolina family court ordered that Veronica be turned over to Brown in December 2011.
Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation who was not married to the birth mother, argued that the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 allowed him to have Veronica, who is 3/256th Cherokee.
The law was intended to keep Native American children from being separated from their families.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the ruling, and the adoption was finalized in South Carolina in July.
But Brown refused to give up Veronica and was arrested on August 12 in Oklahoma on a charge of “custodial interference.”
South Carolina is seeking his extradition.
Veronica is believed to be staying with Brown’s relatives in Oklahoma.
The adoptive parents are in Oklahoma this week to try to visit Veronica and resolve the case. After the couple were denied the opportunity to see her, they called on Brown on Wednesday to meet with them and reach a compromise.
“I look forward to when we can restore our private life with Veronica,” Melanie Capobianco said at a news conference Wednesday in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “We want to ensure a lifelong relationship with her Oklahoma family as well. We want to see a resolution for Veronica.”
Cherokee Nation leaders said on Wednesday that Brown has the right to have his arguments heard in court hearings in Oklahoma and asked that he be allowed his “due process.” Brown is scheduled for a hearing September 12 to contest his warrant.
“We will continue to stand by Dusten and his biological daughter, Veronica, and for what is right,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker.
Troy Dunn, a lawyer who specializes in locating and reuniting birth families and adopted children, joined the Capobiancos in seeking a compromise.
“I think it may be possible to structure an arrangement to allow Veronica to be the most loved girl,” Dunn said. “A resolution can be sculpted if Dusten is willing to participate.”
(Additional reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, South Carolina; Editing by Karen Brooks and Ken Wills)
The Crow Tribe in Eastern Montana is gearing up to mint sets of copper, silver and gold coins it hopes will slowly replace the dollar as the reservation’s main currency.
Billings Gazette reporter Ed Kemmick has the full story on the “Scout”:
“We’re not looking to trade clams or wampum anymore,” Ceivert LaForge said. “We’re looking at trading gold and silver.”
LaForge, director of the tribe’s LLC Department, which helps people establish small businesses on the reservation, will join with other tribal leaders to introduce the new currency during the grand entry for the Crow Fair powwow Friday night at 7.
LaForge has been working on the project since March with Eddie Allen, director of Sovereign Economics, a Dallas-based business that helps “nations, states, communities and groups around the world” establish their own currencies, according to the company’s website.
The new currency will be introduced gradually, LaForge said, and could eventually be used to pay tribal employees.
Business that have contracts with the tribe could also be asked to accept partial payment in scouts, he said.
One obvious benefit of having a Crow currency would be to encourage tribal members to spend their money on the reservation, LaForge said, which could in turn prompt people to open more small businesses on the reservation.
Allen said the slogan of the Lakota Nation effort to use its own currency is “Keep it on the rez.”
Though the currency is designed to be used on the reservation, Allen said, it could be used by anyone anywhere who finds another person willing to accept it in return for wares or services.
To help finance the launching of the Crow currency, the tribe commissioned the minting of 1,000 silver medallions commemorating the Battle of the Little Bighorn and began selling them during Crow Native Days in June.
Those 1-ounce medallions are not considered currency and are being sold at $50 each, mainly to coin collectors or people with an interest in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Allen said.
SALLISAW, OKLAHOMA – It was one of those things that should have never happened. Here was an award-winning member of the Oklahoma National Guard who fought for the United States in Iraq getting a mug shot after his arrest for not complying with a South Carolina family court order to turn over his biological daughter, Veronica.
Dusten Brown after his arrest for being Veronica Brown’s father
Here was another American Indian father being penalized for wanting to raise his own child. History is full of American Indian children being taken away. So much so, the US Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978 to allow more tribal input into American Indian adoptions.
Somehow the US Supreme Court decided by a close vote – five to four – that the Indian Child Welfare Act was misapplied by the South Carolina Supreme Court. The US Supreme Court remanded the case back to the South Carolina high court, who basically punted it back to the South Carolina family court.
So, once again an American Indian parent loses in court. Go figure. No, it should have never come to this.
What is more incredible, a warrant was issued in South Carolina because Veronica was not turned over “immediately” as stipulated by the family court in South Carolina. Dusten Brown was at a mandatory training by the Oklahoma National Guard in Johnston, Iowa.
Most legal experts agree, according to Oklahoma state law, Brown has until August 23 to respond to the South Carolina family court.
So, no it should have never come to this – a soldier being arrested for wanting to raise his own daughter. It should have never come to this – another American Indian losing out on the ability to raise his own child.
The mug shot should have never been taken.
But, it was and we choose it as our Photo of the Week as a reminder American Indians still have a long way to go to gain parity in these United States.
The Native News Network’s prayers are with the Dusten Brown, Veronica, and his entire family.
ATLANTA – Heading back to school is an exciting time of year for students and families. As students go back to school, it is important that they eat healthy and stay active, are up to date on their immunizations, and know the signs of bullying for a healthier and safer school year.
Eat healthy and stay active – Our children spend the vast majority of their day at school, so it’s a place that can have a big impact in all aspects of their lives.
Schools can help students learn about the importance of eating healthier and being more physically active, which can lower the risk of becoming obese and developing related diseases.
Prevention works. The health of students – what they eat and how much physical activity they get – is linked to their academic success. Early research is also starting to show that healthy school lunches may help to lower obesity rates. Health and academics are linked – so time spent for health is also time spent for learning.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that children and adolescents limit their intake of solid fats, cholesterol, sodium, added sugars, and refined grains. Eating a healthy breakfast is associated with improved cognitive function. Young people aged 6-17 should participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. Research shows that physical activity can help cognitive skills, attitudes, concentration, attention and improve classroom behavior – so students are ready to learn.
Get vaccinated – Getting your children and teens ready to go back to school is the perfect time to make sure they are up-to-date with their immunizations. Vaccination protects students from diseases and keeps them healthy. The recommended immunizations for children birth through 6 years old can be found here, and the recommended immunizations for preteens and teens 7-18 years old can be found here.
If you don’t have health insurance, or if it does not cover vaccines, the Vaccines for Children program may be able to help.
Heads Up: Concussions – Each year, US emergency departments treat an estimated 173,285 sports – and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries or TBIs, including concussions, among children and teens, from birth to 19 years. A concussion is a type of TBI, caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head that can change the way your brain normally works. Concussions can also occur from a fall or a blow to the body that causes the head and brain to move quickly back and forth. Children and teens are more likely to get a concussion and take longer to recover than adults. Concussion symptoms may appear mild, but the injury can lead to problems affecting how a person thinks, learns, acts, and/or feels. Concussions can occur outside of sports or during any sport or recreation activity, so all parents need to learn the signs and know what to do if a concussion occurs with the ABC’s of concussions: Assess the situation, Be alert for signs and symptoms, and Contact a healthcare professional.
Bullying and Cyber-Bullying – Bullying is a form of youth violence and can result in physical injury and social and emotional distress. In 2011, 20 percent of high school students reported being bullied on school property and 16 percent reported being cyber-bullied electronically through technology, also known as electronic aggression (bullying that occurs through email, a chat room, instant messaging, a website, text messaging, or videos or pictures posted on websites or sent through cell phones) or cyber-bullying. Victimized youth are at increased risk for mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, psychosomatic complaints such as headaches, and poor school adjustment.
Youth who bully others are at increased risk for substance use, academic problems, and violence later in adolescence and adulthood. The ultimate goal is to stop bullying before it starts. Some school-based prevention methods include a whole school anti-bullying policy, promoting cooperation, improving supervision of students, and using school rules and behavior management techniques in the classroom and throughout the school to detect and address bullying and providing consequences for bulling.
Photos by Mike Benbow / For the Herald Pinks like to travel close to shore, so fishing for pink salmon is a great family sport.
They’re expecting 6.2 million pink salmon to enter Puget Sound this year.
If you or a member of your family have always wanted to catch a salmon, now is your best chance.
The sheer numbers of pinks will up your odds of success either in the Sound or in the local rivers.
“A bumper crop of pink salmon always generates a huge response from anglers,” said John Long, statewide salmon manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “You can catch them from a boat, you can catch them from the shore and you can catch them throughout most of Puget Sound. It’s a great fishery for kids and whole families.”
If you’d like to make catching a pink a family project this year, here’s some information that might help. Fishing should be good now and for the next few weeks.
Where to go
More than any other salmon, pinks like to travel close to shore while heading to their home rivers, so fishing from the beach is an effective way to catch them in salt water, especially if you don’t have a boat.
Whether in a boat, on a beach, or on a river bank, look for pinks jumping and rolling as a sign of where to cast your lure or fly.
Salt water with boat: Humpy Hollow (south of Mukilteo) or Kayak Point (south of Stanwood).
Beaches: Bush Point (Whidbey Island), Picnic Point (Edmonds), Kayak Point (south of Stanwood).
Rivers: Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Skykomish. Tip: the fish are in better eating condition if you fish closer to salt water.
The Snohomish/Skykomish system is already open for pink fishing. The North Fork of the Stillaguamish is closed to salmon fishing, and the main stem of the Stillaguamish doesn’t open for pinks until Sept. 1.
Keeping pink salmon
Pinks deteriorate quickly, but they are good table fare if cared for properly.
After catching a pink, remove the gills and let the blood drain out of the fish. You can filet them later. Put on ice right away. Eat the fish in the next day or so.
Cooking pinks
Pinks are an oily fish, so they work well on the smoker. But they also can be tasty on the grill.
Fillet the salmon and add some lemon juice, fresh cracked pepper and some butter.
Cook on the grill at about 375 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Much of the oil will drip off the salmon onto the grill, adding a smoky taste.
Serve with lemon basil aioli: In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup of mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil, 1 1/2 teaspoons of grated lemon zest, 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice, a small clove of minced garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt.
Pink marabou jig
I consider pink marabou jigs to be the most effective lure for pinks in both salt and fresh water. You fish them by jigging the rod up and down while reeling in your line, creating an erratic action that is often irresistible to fish.
You can buy them at most sporting goods stores, including John’s Sporting Goods, 1913 Broadway, Everett; Ted’s Sports Center, 15526 Highway 99, Lynnwood; and Cabelas, 9810 Quil Ceda Boulevard, Tulalip.
Jigs are also easy to make and the materials are available at the same locations. Here’s how:
Buy: 1/4-ounce lead-headed jigs, hot pink marabou feathers, hot pink thread, a thread bobbin, Sally Hansen’s Hard as Nails clear fingernail polish (available at any drug store).
You will also need a pair of sharp scissors and some sort of tying vise. Fly-tying vises are expensive, so you can use a regular woodworking vise in your workshop, pliers or vise grips if you’re just going to make a few.
1. Attach jig to vise.
2. Attach thread to jig collar by wrapping it over itself a few times.
3. Stroke tip of entire marabou feather and cut so it extends from the head of the jig to about 3/4 of an inch past bend of hook.
4. Tie cut end in at jig collar with several wraps of thread.
5. Repeat with two more feathers to cover entire collar of jig.
6. Wrap thread repeatedly over cut edge of feathers to produce a neat collar below jig head. Tie off thread with three half hitches and cut end with scissors.
7. Coat thread with nail polish and let dry.
Pink gear
Rods: Use a medium weight spinning rod or a 5- to – weight fly rod, either should be about 9 feet long.
Line: Line or leader material should be 8- to 12-pound test.
Lures: Pink Buzz Bombs, 2.5 inches long, or Rotators, or a 1/4-ounce pink marabou jig. Fly fishers can use pink clousers in the Sound and a pink woolley bugger in the river.
By the numbers
2 The lifespan in years of a pink salmon, which spawns in most Washington rivers in odd-numbered years.
3-5 The weight of a pink salmon in pounds. Pinks are the smallest of the five species of Pacific salmon.
18-24 The average length of pinks in inches.
409,700 The number of adult pinks expected to spawn in the Stillaguamish River this year based on a count of the young fry that left the river two years ago.
988,621 The number of pinks expected this year in the Snohomish River and its tributaries.
Steven Hackel and Catherine Gudis curated an unprecedented exhibit at the Huntington Library on Junipero Serra and the impact of California’s missions on Native Americans and the state.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A first-of-its-kind exhibition documenting the life of the Franciscan missionary who founded California’s mission system and the missions’ impact on California Indians and culture — curated by UC Riverside history professors Steven Hackel and Catherine Gudis — opens Saturday, Aug. 17, at the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino.
The exhibition — “Junípero Serra and the Legacies of the California Missions” — is unprecedented in its examination of the spiritual and intellectual influences on Junípero Serra’s life that led to his founding of the mission system in California; the transition for thousands of Indians from village to mission life and their responses to it; romantic notions of California born amid myrid myths of mission life; and responses of contemporary Indians, in art and recorded interviews, to the experience.
Hackel, whose research focuses on the history of early California and California Indians, and Gudis, director of UCR’s Public History Program, approached the Huntington Library three years ago with a proposal to develop a modest exhibition that would open this year, 300 years after Serra’s birth in Mallorca, Spain. Hackel also is the author of “Junípero Serra: California’s Founding Father” (Hill and Wang, September 2013).
The exhibition grew to 261 rare documents, artifacts and art from Spain, Mexico and California. Some of the items are on exhibit in the United States for the first time. The exhibition continues through Jan. 6, 2014.
“We wanted to create an exhibition that suggests the contours of his life, beginning in the place he came from,” Hackel explained. “People were starving while he was in Mallorca. How you made food determined who you were as a person in his eyes,” and that philosophy was reflected in the self-sufficient design of a mission system that stretched from San Diego to Monterey.
Serra was born Nov. 24, 1713, in Mallorca, Spain, and died Aug. 28, 1784, at Mission San Carlos Borromoéo del rio Carmelo, Carmel-by-the-Sea. He arrived in Mexico at age 36, and was 55 when he established the first of California’s 21 Spanish missions in 1769.
The exhibition features religious art, diaries and Bibles, letters, maps and reliquaries that provide the context for Serra’s early years as a Franciscan priest, his deployment to Mexico as missionary and agent of the Spanish Inquisition, and the work that occupied his final years: establishing the first nine of 21 Spanish missions in Alta California.
The experience of mission Indians figures prominently as well, with art that illustrates their treatment from the perspectives of Native Americans and Franciscan missionaries, including coercion that Hackel said was central to the experience of many mission Indians; examples of the craftsmanship of Indian carpenters, stone masons and basket weavers; and artifacts such as a 9,000-year-old textile fragment believed to be from a child’s sandal.
“We wanted to demonstrate that California Indians had a history and culture that were ancient and rich, long before the Spanish arrived,” Hackel said.
Vital records compiled by the Franciscans document the lives of 81,000 Indians who were baptized, married or buried at the missions. Those records form the basis of one display that projects the name of every Indian associated with a mission, and a video that documents the movement of individual Indians from villages to missions. The video project, funded by two digital humanities grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities totaling $75,000 and the UCR College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, used mapping software to document the transition of California Indians from village to mission life between 1769 and 1840.
Another video Hackel and Gudis wrote and produced, “Contemporary Voices,” records descendents of the mission Indians discussing the impact of the mission system on themselves and their culture.
The exhibition also documents the evolution of mission mythology that began in the late 19th century that romanticized the experience and prompted tourists to visit California. Entrepreneurs like Frank Miller capitalized on the public fascination with the mission period by building hotels like the Mission Inn in Riverside, giving birth to the mission revival style of architecture that persists in subdivisions today.
The name of every Indian recorded by Franciscan missionaries is projected on a wall at The Huntington Library.
“We see the branding of the missions as a source of commerce,” Gudis explained. “The birth of mass tourism is part of the story as Californians tried to determine what their past was. Do they focus on a Spanish past? Is it Americans following in their footsteps and civilizing an unruly land? Is it sentimentalizing Native Americans as having lived in the past, but not in the present?”
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is a collections-based research and educational institution serving scholars and the general public, located at 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. For information about hours and cost of admission go to www.huntington.org.
Springfield, Mo. – Crops grown like those sown by Native Americans 1,000 years ago are growing again at Smallin Civil War Cave just south of Springfield.
Staff archeologist Eric Fuller planted corn, sunflowers, squash and other plants from seeds that have not been manipulated since they were originally grown by the Osage tribes and others that inhabited the area.
The gardens are part of the cave’s mission to educate people about the natural wonders of the Missouri Ozarks and its fascinating Native American history. Not only will they help people better understand where foods came from and how they have changed over the years, patrons also will learn about the diet of the people who were here when Europeans arrived in the Americas, Fuller said.
The gardens will be a focal point of a new tour offered on the cave property titled “Forest of the Osage.” A hike through the forest will give people a new look at the trees and plants of the Ozarks; legends about the plants; and ways the Osage Native Americans used plants for construction, food and medicine.
Smallin Civil War Cave offers a variety of other tours and events, including tours of the cave itself; Civil War Tours in which patrons enjoy dinner around a campfire with guides dressed in Civil War-era costumes telling stories about the past; and Civil War Christmas tours featuring hot cocoa, a cave tour and holiday lights.
Cave tours teach lessons about the archeology, biology, geography, anthropology and history.
The cave is open year round and the paved cave trails are easily traversed by wheelchairs.
For more information about Smallin Civil War Cave, visit www.SmallinCave.com or call 417-551-4545. For information about other things to see and do in the Springfield area, visit www.SpringfieldAdventures.com or call the Convention & Visitors Bureau at 800-678-8767.
Dan Bates / The Herald Phil Flick (left) and Tom Goggin, both of Lynnwood, show four of their seven pink salmon, one shy of their limit, to Jeff Lowery of the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Department after pulling their boat out at Mukilteo last week.
EVERETT — Every odd-numbered year, visitors to local shorelines in late summer are often struck by the sight of an extraordinary number of small boats on the water.
They might also see people standing along the beach with fishing poles in their hands.
“Everyone hears the word ‘pink’ and they just want to come out and join the rat race,” fisherman Nigel Anders of Arlington said as he launched his boat in Mukilteo recently.
While some species of salmon and trout are struggling to survive — Puget Sound chinook and steelhead are both listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act — pink salmon and other species are thriving or holding steady.
Every major species of Pacific salmon and trout can still be found in Snohomish County waters — chinook, coho, chum, pink and sockeye salmon, along with rainbow and cutthroat trout. A species of char, called a bull trout, is found here as well.
There’s also a large sturgeon population that visits Port Susan, near Stanwood, according to state fish biologists.
These fish are all anadromous, meaning they travel into streams to spawn, and spend the bulk of their lives in saltwater. The salmon, trout and char are part of the salmonid family.
“We have a lot of fish here and a lot of water,” said Justin Spinelli, a biologist for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Each river, stream and lake has its own unique, colorful mix of fish. The Snohomish River, for example, is home to one of the largest coho populations on the West Coast, generally exceeded only by the Skagit River and the Columbia, said Mike Crewson, fisheries enhancement biologist for the Tulalip Tribes.
Sockeye salmon — a small, tasty variety — are best known in this area for their large runs in Lake Washington and its tributaries, some of which reach into Snohomish County. Baker Lake in the North Cascades has a large population, as well. But sockeye also are found, at least in small numbers, in most other local rivers, biologists say. A large population of landlocked sockeye, or kokanee, swim in Lake Stevens.
Sockeye turn bright red before spawning, earning them the nickname “red salmon.” Coho salmon are known as “silvers” for their clean, shiny look. Rainbow trout are aptly named, with their scales reflecting a multi-colored hue. Cutthroat trout are named for a red strip that runs along the underside of their heads behind their mouths.
Pink salmon are named for the color of their flesh. The smallest of the Pacific salmon, they’re also called “humpies” because their backs develop a prominent hump before spawning.
What pinks lack in size or flavor compared to other salmon species, they make up in numbers. More than 6 million humpies are forecast to return to rivers in the Puget Sound region this year. That’s well shy of the record of 9.8 million pinks set in 2009, but this year’s run is still on the high side, state wildlife officials say. State records go back to 1959.
Of those expected back this year, nearly 1 million pinks are forecast to head for the Snohomish River to spawn and 400,000 more are forecast to return to the Stillaguamish River. About 1.2 million are expected in the Skagit River
Pinks can be caught both in saltwater and in the rivers. Saltwater and the Snohomish River are open to pink salmon fishing now. The season opens in the Stillaguamish and remaining areas on Sept. 1.
Humpies have a shorter life cycle than other salmon, returning to spawn after two years. While most return in odd-numbered years, some do return in even-numbered, “off” years, Crewson said.
Pinks currently have a combination of advantages working for them over other salmon species, biologists say.
They can spawn in more places, do it more quickly, head straight for saltwater after hatching and spend less time there once they arrive.
This makes them less susceptible to the habitat destruction and changing ocean conditions that can push down survival rates of other species.
Humpies can spawn in the tiniest of streams, Crewson said.
“Pinks can go up anything that’s flowing,” he said.
Juvenile chinook and coho stay in fresh water and grow for up to a year and a half after they’re hatched before heading to sea. Pinks head out in a matter of days, biologists say. That helps pinks avoid the ravages of urban runoff, which can scour and pollute salmon-bearing streams.
In saltwater, the issues are more complex, but survival rates there have been on the decline, biologists say.
Fish depend on upwelling of plankton from the lower reaches of inland waters and the ocean. These organisms form the base of the food chain for salmon and trout.
These upwelling patterns have become more erratic, especially in the Puget Sound basin, biologists say, creating more of a hit-and-miss proposition for the fish.
The causes haven’t been nailed down, but climate change is believed to play a part, Crewson said. More rain and less snow falls in the mountains, creating more flooding. This can affect upwelling along with habitat, he said.
“Changes in stream-flow patterns can alter when plankton blooms happen and when fish go out,” Crewson said
Pink salmon have been hitting the plankton blooms better lately than the other fish, he said.
“An early outmigrating salmon has got an advantage,” Crewson said.
El Nino conditions, in which warmer water moves northward from the central Pacific, also can throw food chains out of whack, he said.
Seals and sea lions also are suspects in falling survival rates for salmon. Populations of the fish-eating mammals have been increasing in the Puget Sound area in recent years.
Trout, like larger salmon, require longer rearing periods in fresh water. Puget Sound-area steelhead — rainbow trout that go to sea — have been having trouble getting there, biologists say.
Some have been planted with electronic tags and can be counted when they run across any of several electronic beams sent across the water along Admiralty Inlet and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Many are disappearing before they get to these points, biologists say. That means the steelhead aren’t heading out to the Pacific Ocean.
“There’s something drastically wrong when you lose that many fish,” Crewson said. “Our steelhead numbers (in the Snohomish basin) have been way down.”
The other primary trout species in the area, cutthroats, are holding steady, said Brett Barkdull, a state fish biologist based in La Conner.
Some of these trout stay in rivers, while those that venture into saltwater, known as sea-run cutthroat, don’t go as far afield as steelhead, Barkdull said. They tend to stay in bays and estuaries.
The sea-run cutthroats, while smaller than steelhead, are prized by many serious anglers for their fighting ability. They once were overfished, Barkdull said. In 1990, strict limits were placed on their harvest. Those regulations have helped the fish recover, but still in many areas now they are allowed to be caught but not kept, or may be kept only if they’re above a certain size.
Because of those rules, cutthroat trout tend to be overlooked by casual anglers, said John Martinis, owner of John’s Sporting Goods on Broadway in Everett.
“They’re a very, very popular fish among the fly fishermen,” he said.
Fish populations in the Skagit River are generally healthier than in the rivers in Snohomish County and others in urbanized Puget Sound, Barkdull said.
“I think part of that has to do with the fact that a lot of the rearing habitat is protected,” he said.
In general, numbers for all the fish in the Puget Sound region are down from historic levels, Crewson said. Some, like the pinks, are bouncing back, and that’s good news for people who like to fish.
“It’s one of those opportunities where novice anglers as well as experienced anglers can do really, really well,” Martinis said.
Learn more
For more information, visit the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s information page on salmon and trout at http://tinyurl.com/ozu787a.
James Czywczynski, the current owner of the Wounded Knee site has told the Oglala Sioux Tribe they have until September 2 to purchase the land. If no one steps forward to purchase the land for the tribe, Czywczynski says he will hold a public auction for the land.
“I feel that I have given the tribe every opportunity to buy the land or for someone associated with them to do it. They say they have multiple buyers ready to purchase it for them, but they have not taken the steps to get it done,” he told Brandon Ecoffey, managing editor of Native Sun News. “When I met with President [Bryan] Brewer and the descendants I thought it went well and something would have come from it… but I have heard nothing.”
That meeting took place at the newspaper’s offices July 14 between the Horn family, Brewer and Czywczynski. It was then that Brewer asked Czywczynski if he would consider selling the site with the tribe’s blessing and donating half the proceeds to the Survivors of Wounded Knee organization.
At the close of the meeting, Czywczynski said he would consider the offer.
Shortly after the meeting in Rapid City Czywczynski told ICTMN he sent an email and packet to the tribe and Brewer asking them to pay the entire $4.9 million asking price if they wanted to obtain the land and the deed.
Czywczynski has also been telling ICTMN that he has had offers from several interested parties that want to donate the land to the tribe, but as of yet, none of those parties have been able to raise all of the money or make good on their promises to buy.
“I have put other potential buyers off while I entertained the groups working on behalf of the tribe, but I can’t wait any longer,” he told Native Sun News.
Brewer doesn’t believe Czywczynski will have any buyers with the arrangement not to donate half of the proceeds to benefit the site. He also says a deadline is nothing new.
“This isn’t the first time he has said this, he set a deadline and we watched and waited and he had no buyers. No buyers are going to purchase this land because they will never be able to use it,” Brewer said.
Brewer also has not received an email or a package from Czywczynski about any counter offer.
“I have received nothing. I have not heard from him other than the letter I received from him that thanked us for having the meeting in Rapid City. I have not received anything else yet,” he said.
Johnny Depp Sighted?
For over a month since his interview in the UK’s DailyMail in which Johnny Depp announced an interest in purchasing the site of Wounded Knee, there is still no word from Depp or his publicists about his comments to buy the land.
There was however a recent rumor about a sighting of Depp on Pine Ridge. President Brewer said it was only a rumor though.
“That was a crazy rumor. There were rumors going all over. There was no Johnny Depp, at least not that I know of. There were rumors he was with me. He wasn’t with me. Every girl on the reservation was calling me to say ‘please give him my telephone number.’ I don’t know who started those rumors, but it spread like wildfire. I have a whole list of numbers I am supposed to give to him,” Brewer said. “It really would be great if he could come to our reservation.”
Dan Bates / The Herald Veronica Oberst, who was 11 at the time, grooms Iris, a young female Jersey Wooly rabbit that she entered in competition at the 2012 Evergreen State Fair.
Source: The Herald
U.S. 2 heading into Monroe will start to clog up earlier in the day next week as the Evergreen State Fair gets rolling Thursday.
The fair begins at 10 a.m. Thursday and continues until through 7 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Monroe fairgrounds, 14405 179th Ave. SE, Monroe.
Admission is free until 1 p.m. on the first day of the fair.
After that, tickets are $10 general, $7 for senior citizens and youth and free to seniors 90 years and older and kids 5 years and under
Grandstand entertainment will include monster trucks, stock car races and music.
The music schedule includes The Oak Ridge Boys at 7 p.m. Aug. 26 (tickets are $22 to $32); Brantley Gilbert at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 27 ($32 to $55); 3 Doors Down at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 28 ($32 to $55); REO Speedwagon, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 29 ($32 to $55); and Mercyme, 7:30 p.m. Aug. 30 ($25 to $37).
The fair has always been the showcase for 4-H and FFA animal exhibitors, showing off cattle, dogs, rabbits, sheep and llamas. Kids will also exhibit their areas of expertise in photography, plant and soil science, veterinary science, home economics and herdsmanship.
This year the Monroe Chamber of Commerce has created Parade Central, on the grounds of Wagner Performing Arts Center, 639 West Main St., Monroe.
Parade Central is the new location for the judges’ reviewing stand, vendor booths, shaved ice, face painting, kettle corn and Monroe-based Hook-n-Ladder BBQ.
These vendors will be at Parade Central to serve the crowds who show up early to get a good seat for the parade.
The route begins at 11 a.m. at the intersection of West Main Street and 179th Avenue on Aug. 24 and ends at West Main Street and Blakely Avenue. For more parade information go to www.ChooseMonroe.com or call the Monroe Chamber at 360-794-5488 or stop by the office, 125 S Lewis S., Monroe.
Highlights of this year’s parade include the Seahawk Sea Gals cheerleaders, the SeaFair Pirates, drift and drag cars from the Evergreen Speedway, the Pirates of Treasure Island, Ixtapa Horses, local bands, drill teams, and tractor and motorcycle clubs, according to a chamber press release.
Bleachers are being brought into Parade Central to accommodate parade viewers and participants near the judges’ reviewing stand.
Butler Amusement will again provide the carnival rides.
