PGST Foundation: Helping to foster understanding | Noo-Kayet, Our Village

Over the past decade, there have been a lot of milestones for the Port Gamble S’Klallam. We built the first Longhouse on our Tribe’s land in more than a century. We began to take steps to resurrect our ancestral language. We published our Tribe’s first history book.

By JEROMY SULLIVAN
Kingston Community News Columnist
June 6, 2013 · 3:49 PM

All of these projects would not have been possible without the hard work of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Foundation. This nonprofit’s mission is to “improve the quality of life for Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribal members while increasing the understanding of the Tribe’s rich cultural heritage with people who reside in the Puget Sound area and visitors from far and wide.”

The foundation’s successes serve as a snapshot of what our Tribe has done to strengthen community bonds while staying true to our values, including those relating to education, cultural awareness and environmental stewardship.

For example, one of the foundation’s early projects was the capital campaign behind the House of Knowledge project — completed in 2007 — which includes the Longhouse, Career and Education building, Elders Center, and Little Boston Library.

This February, we celebrated the release of “The Strong People: A History of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe,” the first book we feel accurately reflects our Tribe’s ancestral roots. Not only did the foundation oversee work on the book — mostly by volunteers — but they’ve also been in charge of making sure books are distributed to the community, especially to our elders.

The foundation has played an integral role in raising awareness of Port Gamble S’Klallam language and art. They’ve found opportunities to showcase our Tribal artisans, including hosting several art auctions and playing an integral role in the Tribal art showcased at The Point Casino after its remodel. The foundation also works closely with our cultural resources department to help encourage the teaching of the S’Klallam language. At one point, our ancestral language was all but a thing of the past; because of so-called “Indian schools,” few spoke even basic words. Today, the S’Klallam language is being taught in our preschool.

Recently, we opened a new preschool building. It features a living roof, rain gardens, and an old-growth cedar tree stump as the centerpiece between two classrooms. The next stage of that project is a playground and the foundation is selling $100 tiles to help with funding. Support within the Tribal community has been strong; Foundation Director Laurie Mattson told me a story of one man who said he couldn’t afford to buy a tile, but gave the $6 out of his pocket.

The foundation has also been put in charge of the restoration efforts at Heronswood. When we purchased Heronswood last year — while still a beautiful place — it was clear that some time and energy would need to be put toward revitalizing the gardens. Through the hard work of some very dedicated volunteers, Tribal and non-Tribal alike, who have been working almost weekly since late last year, the garden has been cleaned up and is ready for a fresh start.

In addition to helping coordinate volunteer efforts with the Port Gamble Development Authority, the foundation has been responsible for creating events that help open the garden back up to the community. By the time you read this, Heronswood would have had its first Garden Open & Plant Sale in more than a decade. Additional Garden Open & Plant Sale events are scheduled for July 6 and Sept. 7.

The foundation is also setting up opportunities for charter memberships and lecture events. You can find out more at Heronswood.com.

We are very proud of the work being done by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Foundation. They have done a lot to support our Tribal community and now, with projects like Heronswood, are working to create something positive that will touch people throughout the county, throughout the region, and beyond.

You can find more information about the Port Gamble S’Klallam Foundation at www.pgst.nsn.us/tribal-entities/sklallam-foundation.

Sauk-Suiattle tribal members murderer pleads guilty, agrees to serve up to 27 years

Nooksack ax murderer pleads guilty, agrees to serve up to 27 years

June 6, 2013

By CALEB HUTTON — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

LUMMI RESERVATION – A Nooksack tribal member admitted guilt Thursday morning, June 6, to the ax murder of a 68-year-old man on the Lummi Reservation last year.

Kenneth L. Joseph
Kenneth L. Joseph

Levi Eugene Charles, 26, entered the plea in exchange for a recommended sentence of 22 to 27 years in prison for second-degree murder. But a federal judge could give him up to a life sentence at his next court hearing on Aug. 2.

Charles figured Kenneth L. Joseph, a Sauk-Suiattle tribe member, would be asleep when he broke into his house on the night of Oct. 23, 2012. Court records show Charles meant to steal valuables so he could pawn them for cash.

He found a miniature baseball bat outside the home at 4667 Lake Terrell Road. He grabbed it and walked inside, making enough noise that Joseph – who slept with a respirator – woke up. Joseph saw Charles and confronted him.

But Joseph, a much older man in poor health, couldn’t fend off the burglar. Charles bludgeoned him with the bat, according to the plea agreement. To finish the job, Charles grabbed an ax that was by the front door and struck Joseph again and again in the head and face with it.

Afterward, Charles covered the body with a blanket. He shrouded the windows with more blankets. He put the ax back where he found it, near the front door, and left the baseball bat in the woods behind the house. He stole Joseph’s wallet and television. But he abandoned the TV near the end of the driveway.

A few hours later, he used Joseph’s debit card to withdraw $420 from an ATM. He turned himself in to police for an unrelated warrant a few days later. Soon afterward, investigators named him as a murder suspect.

Nobody else has been charged in connection to the murder.

Joseph worked as a math tutor and a fisheries enforcement officer. In an obituary, his family recalled his love for fishing, hunting and riding motorcycles.

Under the terms of the plea, Charles must cover the funeral costs.

Charles had a history of crimes fueled by substance abuse: forging painkiller prescriptions and breaking into a minimart, for example. Once, he stole his grandmother’s debit card to buy $102.80 in minutes for his phone. But he had no past convictions for violent crime.

Reach Caleb Hutton at 360-715-2276 or caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com. Read his dispatcher blog at blogs.bellinghamherald.com/dispatcher or follow him on Twitter at @bhamcrime.

Misdirected Indian Education

Indian Country Today Media Network

About two and a half centuries ago, Northeastern Indian leaders chided American colonial educators for wasting their young men’s time in giving them a European education. The young men who attended colonial schools returned with no relevant skills to hunt. They could not run or take care of themselves in the wilderness. They did not fit into tribal communities. They tended to break down into depression and drink. As a result, the Indian leaders refused to send them to such schools any longer. Instead, they suggested that the colonists send some of their young European men to be educated among Indians.

Some 250 years later, that defiant gesture is still relevant.

In general, education as it is promulgated by those who swept over this country from Europe has been, and continues to be, grossly misdirected for Indian nations and individuals. Its emphasis has almost always been on individual achievement, higher personal income, and jobs and economic opportunity within the non-Indian national market. In other words, it’s all about individual assimilation.

That’s tragic, because education has long been a high priority topic for many Indian communities. There is considerable published research about educating Indian students. However, most of that research focuses on personal success, getting a job, moving out of poverty, and entering the middle class. Those goals are not bad in and of themselves. In many ways, in fact, they may even be commendable. But their problem is that they foster intellectual and economic goals that do not center on tribal communities or their economic and political futures.

As is well known by now, public schools simply do not teach Indian students about tribal nations, Indian policy, or the history of tribal peoples in North America. Even Bureau of Indian Affairs schools do not offer curricula or course content about the organization and operations of tribal government or the meaning of tribal sovereignty. Nor do public and bureau schools train students in local history, the meaning of land, the future issues and problems confronting tribal nations and myriad other subjects.

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that if schools set themselves the task of turning out workers for the American job market by creating national citizens, then they are not doing much in the way of creating tribal citizens. It doesn’t take a genius to realize, either, that a population of thoroughly American citizens and workers will not uphold or sustain tribal goals, culture and self-government.

So where can we look for hope if misdirected Indian education is failing to produce generations of students who are willing and able to serve tribal communities and cultures through a shared appreciation of collective tribal goals and values? We can’t simply rely on elders and tribal knowledge, neither of which are accorded a primary role in the teaching of Indian students. Nor can we afford to wait and cross our fingers that things will get better. With every day that passes, Indian students are not taught sufficiently, and they get one step nearer to graduation with few usable skills to serve them as adults.

There is no alternative. Appropriate education simply must be a key element in Indian nation renewal. Students must be taught to support the values and goals of tribal communities, and at the same time develop the skills that will enable tribal communities and individuals to compete in present-day national and world markets. It is up to American Indian communities to regain control over the education of their children, and schools are obliged to serve the national renewal projects of tribal nations and cultures.

The stakes are too great. Not training students to participate and contribute to tribal nations undercuts tribal efforts for sustained and broad tribal renewal and continuity. A new Indian education system should aim at fostering highly instructed Indian students who are deeply grounded in tribal culture understanding and who are equipped to meet and overcome the challenges that tribal nations will have to reach their goals of cultural, political and economic sustainability.

 

Read more at https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/06/05/misdirected-indian-education-149521

Veterans Helping Veterans ride for Hearts Toward Home International June 8

Marysville Globe

SMOKEY POINT — The third annual Veterans Helping Veterans Spring Run will start at Sound Harley-Davidson in Smokey Point and end at the Angel of the Winds Casino in Arlington on Saturday, June 8.

The pre-ride briefing is slated to start at 10:45 a.m., in time for the motorcycles to go out by 11 a.m. The casino will greet riders with a slot tournament, as well as a raffle and silent auction in its banquet room.

“We strongly believe that our community is not just where we live, but is the place we have chosen to make a home for our families,” said Tracy “Chainz” Rowe, president of the Washington State Chapter B of the Warrior Brotherhood Veterans Motorcycle Club. “For this reason, we want to strengthen our ties within our community, and in doing so, provide assistance to the military community, veterans and their families.”

The club is a nonprofit veterans organization, and the annual spring run’s proceeds go to benefit Hearts Toward Home International.

“We have more than 60 items, valued in excess of $5,000, for the raffle and silent auction,” Rowe said. “The more folks we get to attend, the more money we can raise for Dr. Bridget Cantrell, who was appointed the 2004 and 2008 Outstanding Female Non-Veteran, for her service to veterans, by the Governor’s Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee and the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.”

Cantrell is the founder and CEO of Hearts Toward Home International, a charitable nonprofit organization dedicated to the recovery and reintegration of trauma survivors. Since 2008, Hearts Toward Home International has been received the Best of Bellingham Award, in the Nonprofit Charitable Organization category, by the U.S. Local Business Association for three years.

Construction Workers Unearth Native American Burial Ground

by Rowena Shaddox
Fox 40 June 6, 2013

IONE, CA-

Caltrans workers, widening and repaving a portion of Highway 88 in Ione, unearthed a Native American burial ground.

“They have a monitor come in, and they have to be there to make sure if they find anything, they have to stop,” Amber Guerra, who is married to a Miwok tribe member.

A Caltrans investigator confirmed today, that a monitor from the tribe was already on hand at the construction site, just in case any more remains or artifacts are uncovered.

Out of respect for the tribe, a Caltrans spokeswoman declined comment.

And while the Miwok tribe wouldn’t say specifically where the remains were found, in order to protect the site from vandals, they did say, “The Ione Band of Miwok Indians does everything within its power to make sure all of our Burial Sites, Cultural Sites and Sacred Sites are as protected.”

“It’s just like anyone else. You don’t want someone messing with your ancestors remains. So they do, they take it very seriously,” Guerra said.

Those who live near sacred burial sites, say finding remains isn`t unusual for this area.

“It’s peaceful. It’s a common feeling, especially if you know the background of the culture,” said Amber, an Ione resident who lives near a Miwok burial site.

A culture Amber Guerra has become a part of, married to a tribal member.

“Different times of the season, they walk from here to the Ione reservation, to Plymouth, to Pioneer. all over. So you’ll find all kinds of stuff, everywhere,” Guerra said.

“It’s mainly just the tribal people that are in control of everything that goes on with the reservation. Any type of remains of any sort, they take care of it. We don’t have any access. It’s very sacred,” resident Amber added.

Watch the news coverage here.

Native American 40 Under 40 nominations being accepted

6/6/2013 8:16:09 AM

BY CHEROKEE PHEONIX STAFF REPORTS

 MESA, Ariz. – The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development is accepting nominations for this year’s Native American 40 Under 40 Awards.

The awards recognize 40 emerging American Indian leaders less than 40 years of age who have demonstrated leadership, initiative and dedication to achieve significant contributions in their businesses, communities and Indian Country.

 The awards will be presented at the 38th annual Indian Progress in Business Awards 2013, which will be a part of the Fall Regional Reservation Economic Summit Arizona to be held in October.

 Highlights of INPRO also include the presentation of other business awards such as the Jay Silverheels Achievement Award, the First American Corporate Leadership Award and the First American Entrepreneurship Award.

 NCAIED is also accepting applications for the American Indian Fellowship in Business Scholarship Awards, which is presented annually to several deserving American Indian undergraduate or graduate students majoring in business. The scholarships are awarded to recipients who have demonstrated a commitment to pursuing excellence in academics and giving back to the American Indian community. The scholarship awards will be presented at RES Arizona.

 

The deadline for nomination submissions is Aug. 2. For more information or to download a nomination form, visit www.ncaied.org

Water dispute clouds future for Whatcom County farms, factories

By JOHN STARK — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Everyone involved in Whatcom County’s water rights disputes seems to agree that a local settlement would be a good idea, but representatives of Lummi Nation have made it clear they will not sacrifice Nooksack River salmon to benefit farms, industries or cities.

Speaking at a May 30-31 water supply symposium at the Hampton Inn in Bellingham, Lummi Nation attorney Diana Bob said the facts were clear.

Dan Kruse, left, and Robert Teton of the Lummi Natural Resources Department, use a net to try to catch juvenile salmon to count on Feb. 15, 2012 at Marine Park in Bellingham. The department counts juvenile salmon around Bellingham Bay about once every two weeks. The Lummi and Nooksack tribes have asked federal agencies to file a lawsuit on their behalf to help determine the amount of water they should be guaranteed to bolster Nooksack River salmon stock.COLIN DILTZ — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
Dan Kruse, left, and Robert Teton of the Lummi Natural Resources Department, use a net to try to catch juvenile salmon to count on Feb. 15, 2012 at Marine Park in Bellingham. The department counts juvenile salmon around Bellingham Bay about once every two weeks. The Lummi and Nooksack tribes have asked federal agencies to file a lawsuit on their behalf to help determine the amount of water they should be guaranteed to bolster Nooksack River salmon stock.
COLIN DILTZ — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

“We have fish dying in the Nooksack River because we do not have sufficient flows,” Bob said. “That is an unacceptable proposition to Lummi.”

The flow of water in the Nooksack and its tributaries is reduced by withdrawals of water for the city of Bellingham and Cherry Point industries, but Whatcom County farms withdraw even more to irrigate raspberries and blueberries. River water is also used to irrigate cow pastures in dry months.

Both the Lummi and the Nooksack Indian Tribe have a federally recognized right to catch Nooksack River salmon. The tribes have asked federal agencies to file a lawsuit on their behalf to force the state to take steps to define the amount of water that they should be guaranteed, to bolster the flow of water in the river and its tributaries. That likely would mean curbing the amount of water that other users are allowed to withdraw.

The tribes asked the feds to file the lawsuit more than a year ago, and so far there has been no word of a response.

Farmers admit that more than half the water they withdraw is not authorized by state law. Farm groups’ attempts to negotiate a deal with tribes have broken down, as have negotiations between the tribes and city of Bellingham. The city diverts water from the middle fork of the Nooksack River to replenish its direct water source, Lake Whatcom.

While the city has reduced its take of river water and could likely cut it even more, berry growers could be badly squeezed.

Marty Maberry, a prominent fourth-generation berry grower, said he too wanted to see salmon populations increase. He suggested that if farmers can get enough water to stay in business, they could help bolster the amount of water in streams by drilling new wells to spill into streams. He said underground water supplies are abundant in the county.

In many cases, pumping from wells also can reduce the flow of water in nearby streams, making solutions complex. But cutting off the water supply to Whatcom County farms is a poor response, Maberry said.

“The production of food and the care of the land that we farm runs as deep red in my blood … as it does in tribal members about fish,” Maberry said. “They were here first, but we were here second or third.”

He questioned the logic of taking Whatcom County fields out of production.”

We’re in the most natural place to grow food that you can find anywhere in the United States,” Maberry said, adding that putting farmers out of business because of tribal water and fishing rights would embitter the community.

Lummi representative Randy Kinley said the tribes don’t want to put farmers out of business, but they are not afraid of stirring up resentment if that’s what it takes to guarantee their rights.

“We’ve been there and I’m not afraid to go back there,” Kinley said, referring to the 1974 federal court ruling that recognized treaty fishing rights and forced dramatic reductions in salmon harvests by non-Indians.

“That’s not saying we won’t sit at the table,” Kinley said. “We want to be community members. … We hope we can keep the community together, but the community has to understand where we’re coming from. … We don’t want to put anybody out of business, but you have to understand the predicament you got yourselves into.”

Kinley and others noted that withdrawal of Nooksack water for agriculture has increased rapidly in recent years with little oversight by the state or Whatcom County.

Whatcom County’s Cherry Point is home to two oil refineries and an aluminum smelter that provide hundreds of high-wage jobs. They also use significant amounts of Nooksack River water, supplied by Whatcom County Public Utility District.

The proposed Gateway Pacific Terminal coal export pier also would use river water from the PUD. PUD spokeswoman Rebecca Schlotterback said Gateway Pacific has already lined up its water supply via a PUD contract that extends to 2042.

While the PUD has a legal right to Nooksack water to cover its industrial customers, that right (and every other Nooksack River water right) is considered “junior” to the tribes’ water rights, since they were here first. Attorney Jay Manning, former chief of staff to Gov. Chris Gregoire and former director of the Washington Department of Ecology, said the PUD’s right to its water supply is not ironclad in that situation. Other water users also may be ahead of the PUD in the water line, if the available supply of water is cut back by a court order that allocates a larger share of water to the tribes for salmon populations.

“It’s going to be a function of math,” Manning said. “Where is the PUD’s right in that chain of priority? … Will there be enough water for the PUD to honor that (Gateway Pacific) contract? We don’t know that.”

Manning urged the crowd not to despair. He said workable solutions can be developed at the local level.

Perry Eskridge, government affairs director for the Whatcom County Association of Realtors, said local solutions would be best.

“If we don’t figure this thing out on our own, it is going to be figured out for us,” Eskridge said. “Somebody with a little bit more authority is going to shove it down our throats and we are not going to like that.”

Several speakers urged people to continue to work for a local agreement. Two of those speakers suggested that the tribes still may be motivated to make a deal, because there is no guarantee that the federal government will agree to take the state to court, and no guarantee such a court action would give the tribes all the water they want for salmon.

Michael Mirande, adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law, said legal uncertainty has spurred out-of-court settlements of thorny water rights cases elsewhere.

Jim Bucknell, northern regional manager for RH2 Engineering, agreed.”

If any one person was absolutely certain they would prevail in a lawsuit, they would have sued long ago,” Bucknell said.

Bucknell also observed that no settlement will be painless.

“If you think there’s a solution that everyone in this basin is going to love, you’re delusional,” Bucknell said.

Reach John Stark at 360-715-2274 or john.stark@bellinghamherald.com. Read his Politics blog at blogs.bellinghamherald.com/politics or follow him on Twitter at @bhamheraldpolitics.

Native teen tale The Lesser Blessed

Richard Van Camp’s coming-of-age novel adapted for the screen

CBC News
Posted: Jun 4, 2013 12:27 PM ET

A film adaptation of Richard Van Camp’s Northern-set debut novel The Lesser Blessed, a coming-of-age tale about a First Nations teen, is hitting theatres across the country.

Shot in Sudbury, Ont. (standing in for the book’s Northwest Territories setting), the drama opens in Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Ottawa on Friday. It opened in Toronto last weekend.

larry-lesser-blessedRussian-born Canadian filmmaker Anita Doron directed the film, with young newcomer Joel Evans starring as the teen outsider protagonist. He becomes involved in an unlikely triangle when he becomes smitten with the prettiest girl at school and also befriends a cool new student.

“The story is as familiar as Rebel Without a Cause or even West Side Story — this idea growing up and having issues with other factions or other cliques inside your high school and this journey of self-exploration,” said American actor Benjamin Bratt, who appears in The Lesser Blessed in the role of Jed.

While attending the Toronto International Film Festival last September, Bratt — best known for his turn on TV’s Law and Order — talked to CBC News about why he agreed to take part in a small Canadian indie film.

Bratt, the son of a Peruvian-born Quechua Indian, said he felt it was important to take the role of a native person who shatters stereotypes by teaching a volatile teen about balance. The actor is interested in the social problems among First Nations people and lauds Doron for creating a film that shows a young native person up against the same dilemmas that all teens face.

 

Trails along water in Everett offer views of wildlife

A weasel pokes its heads out of the rocks along the boat launch parking lot.
A weasel pokes its heads out of the rocks along the boat launch parking lot.

Mike Benbow, The Herald

You typically don’t associate wildlife and the outdoors with business and industry, but the Port of Everett wishes you would.

It’s no secret that people want access to the waterfront; they’ve told port officials that quite frequently.

So through the years, the port has partnered with the city of Everett to create a system of trails for hikers, runners and bicyclists. On both ends of the trail are postage stamp parks

But with a few notable exceptions, like the summer ferry to the beach on the port’s manmade Jetty Island, public access along the waterfront isn’t well known and is certainly under used.

“A lot of people, somewhat surprisingly, still don’t know there are all these walking trails,” said Lisa Lefeber, the port’s public affairs administrator.

She’s talking about a system of trails developed in 2009 called the Marina District Waterfront Loop. It combines walkways along the port’s north and south marinas with those along W. Marine View Drive to provide a variety of opportunities for exercise coupled with a chance to see lots of wildlife.

“You have a better quality of life when you have a walkable waterfront,” Lefeber said.

And while many people don’t know what’s available, the wildlife have.

For example, the mudflats on the north end of the port once teemed with logs waiting to be shipped to Asia. The logs are mostly gone now, but the pilings used to tether them have been taken over by osprey.

On a short walk along W. Marine View Drive where the city has established two small view parks, Southview and Northview, there are five or six active osprey nests.

Depending on the state of the tides, it’s not unusual to see osprey or eagles soaring overhead looking for a meal. Ospreys also often dive to the tideflats to snatch a stick to add to their nests.

And, of course, where else would you expect harbor seals than around the harbor? On the opening weekend of boating season earlier this month, those walking behind Anthony’s Homeport restaurant were treated to seals looking for a quick meal around a net pen used to rear salmon. They didn’t appear to find one.

On my walks, I always try to include a trip along the parking area for the 10th Street Boat Launch because that’s probably the closest view of some of the osprey nests. They’re a ways off, so you may want to bring binoculars.

On a recent visit I saw something flash in the corner of my eye and looked down on the riprap to see a weasel dashing back into the rocks. But weasels are curious critters, and it wasn’t long before he poked his head out to have another look at me.

Probably the most popular access to the waterfront begins on July 5 with the opening of the Jetty Island ferry. It’s a short trip across the boating channel to a beach popular with families and with kite boarders.

Most people like the island for its shallow, sandy beach. But the area is teeming with wildlife and well worth the visit to see it.

Even though the ferry isn’t running yet, kite boarders are going there now using a variety of their own tiny watercraft: everything from paddle boards to canoes and inflatable kayaks.

You can too, but don’t forget your life vest and whistle for safety.

If you don’t have a boat, you can still get to a beach right now at one of the port’s least known areas: Pigeon Creek Beach and Viewpoint. It’s at the south end of the trail system and skirts the area where the port unloads and stores cargo from incoming ships.

To get there, you park at the end of Bond Street near the old train depot, walk across the railroad tracks, and walk or bike less than a mile.

First timers may be a little leery of the trip because it has all the charm of a prison exercise yard. You walk on an asphalt path between two chain-link fences; one keeps you off the railroad tracks and the other, topped with barbed wire, keeps you away from the cargo.

The walk is thankfully short, however, and the payoff is worth it.

Pigeon Creek is a gem of a park with a couple tables for picnics, and some logs and rocks for sitting. When the tide is out, there’s a nice beach and the water is pretty shallow. The view is stellar.

Walking/biking map

For more Information on port waterfront access, visit bit.ly/12ML7k5bit.