No injuries reported when Empire Builder derails in Everett
By Sharon Salyer, The Herald
Doug Ramsay / For the Herald Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Amtrak officials examine the last two coaches of the Chicago to Seattle Empire Builder that derailed just north of Howarth Park in Everett on Sunday morning. There were no injuries in the derailment and passengers from the derailed cars were moved to the front cars as the train continued to Seattle with the two derailed cars being left behind.
An Amtrak train traveling from Chicago to Seattle was hit by a mudslide near Howarth Park in Everett on Sunday morning, derailing the last three passengers cars, which tilted but remained upright.
No injuries were reported among the 86 passengers and 11 crew members, an Amtrak spokesman said.
Three rail cars remained blocking the tracks. The rest of the train was decoupled and continued on to Mukilteo to discharge passengers, Rick Robinson, fire marshal for the Everett Fire Department. Passengers were bused to Seattle.
Sound Transit announced Sunday on its website that Sounder service was cancelled for Monday and Tuesday. Amtrak also said its train service would be affected between Vancouver, B.C., and Portland, Ore., until after Tuesday, with passengers being taken by bus.
After earlier slides this winter passenger trains have been barred from the tracks for 48 hours after a slide.
The tracks between Seattle and Everett have been plagued with slides in recent months.
“We’ve had more than 200 slides this past winter and spring,” said Gus Melonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns the tracks.
The landslide occurred about 8:30 a.m., affecting two coach cars and the train’s dining car.
The slide was triggered about 100 feet up a 200-foot cliff, depositing a patch of dirt and debris 15 feet deep and 30 feet wide along the tracks a quarter-mile north of Howarth Park, Melonas said.
The force of the slide was enough to “tip the rails over, not the cars, just the rails,” Robinson said.
Two ladder trucks, three engine trucks and two medic units were dispatched to the scene.
About one-quarter mile of track needed to be realigned with the repairs expected to be completed by Monday morning, Melonas said. No estimate of the cost to repair the track was immediately available.
The slide affected the inner line of two main rail lines. However, freight train traffic was not disrupted and two freight trains moved through the area Sunday afternoon, Melonas said.
No greater sin than inflicting misery and pain on a child.
The darkness, when God seems silent, fell on Chantel Craig, a 19-month Tulalip girl and her 3-year-old sister. Chantel died, her sister survived. Last October, they sat strapped in their car seats like victims of a plane crash, abandoned by their drug-addled mother, festering in a derelict vehicle for days.
Agony has a face. Chantel was “severely malnourished” according to the postmortem. She was blanketed by lice, urine, bed bugs, feces and “a bleeding rash.” Her mom has been charged with murder.
Chantel’s death, according to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner, was neglect. And “neglect” is the operative word. Chantel and her sister fell away from social workers, social workers freighted by heavy case loads but laboring to do the right thing. They slipped through the latticework of state and tribal oversight.
Now the state and the Tulalip Tribes need to work in common cause, to address communication misfires, and to embrace solutions with teeth.
The Herald’s Diana Hefley served as an official observer of the Child Fatality Review, the investigation and report on Chantel’s death, conducted by the Department of Social and Health Services’ Children Administration. Her reporting crystallized the tragedy.
“They were asked to inspect the net,” Hefley writes. “Maybe it can be woven tighter so another little girl won’t fall through, dying before she learns to twirl on tiptoes or color inside the lines or dream of being a princess or a firefighter.”
The fatality review produced four findings and three recommendations that demand action. Priority one is to delineate specific social worker responsibilities in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Tulalip Tribes and DSHS Children’s Administration. Tribal and state employees navigate the MOU’s vague language like a United Nations compact. Elastic wording doesn’t help case workers who need to know their specific role.
The MOU is authorized by the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 to oversee the custody and care of Indian children. The act is a window on a tainted legacy, when the United States regularly removed Indian children from their homes and traditional culture.
The review’s second and third recommendations are manageable. Retaining and hiring more Child Protective Services workers is doable with additional funding from the Legislature. CPS workers are committed and professional. In Chantel’s case, they didn’t have the resources for critical follow-through, however.
As the second finding highlights, the committee was concerned about the “lack of documented attempts to locate the family” for six months, from December 2011 to May 2012.
Active cases require a monthly review by a supervisor. There is no documentation that any reviews occurred between May 7, 2012, and Oct. 8 the same year. Are revolving-door supervisors to blame? The Children’s Administration might consider an administrative bucket for overworked CPS workers to send follow-ups that can’t be met (with no penalty for acknowledging they simply don’t have time.) Another CPS worker would be assigned to help. The Catch-22 is this approach might disrupt continuity, a concern the committee underlined when supervisory coverage changes.
Bureaucracies are soulless, social workers are not. To make the Chantel Craig tragedy right presupposes that human nature, including the menace of drugs and child abuse, is tractable. It isn’t. So we begin changing what we can, starting with the fatality review’s recommendations. Chantel deserves as much.
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,”1969, 1987 by Eric Carle
Eric Carle’s picture books have been a fixture in bookstores and kids’ bedrooms for generations.
His “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” are must-reads for most preschoolers.
But there’s been a very busy, a very private side of Carle that the public hasn’t seen.
If you or your kids are Eric Carle fans you might want to head down to the Tacoma Art Museum when the artist unveils for the first time out of his hometown in Massachusetts his private collection of art in an exhibit called “Beyond Books: The Independent Art of Eric Carle.”
The exhibit kicks off with a chance to meet the author and illustrator during a book signing at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave., Tacoma.
If you don’t meet the artist Sunday, you’ll still have plenty of time to see his new exhibit, which is on view through July 7.
This exhibit unveils what Carle calls his “art/art” and consists of paintings, personal sketches, posters, linoleum cuts, abstract collages and caricature notes — funny and irreverent hand-drawn notes written to friends and colleagues, according to a press release.
Among the collection items are Carle’s unique 3-D pieces including metal sculptures and painted glass creations, as well as costume designs for opera.
But this exhibit will include both the private and public works of Carle. In fact, one of the museum’s galleries will highlight Carle’s picture book art and include images from “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse.”
The gallery will include a video about Carle’s work and, for the kids, interactive art activities.
A few other special events during the run of the exhibit include a walking tour of the exhibit with museum director Stephanie A. Stebich. That is at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Museum admission is $10 for adults, $8 for students, military and seniors, $25 for a family, and free for children 5 and younger.
There will also be a session where kids and parents can try to create Carle’s artwork themselves. “Books and Beyond: The Art of Collage,” will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 29 where guests can create a painting collage. The cost for this session is $35 ($25 for museum members), and covers one adult with or without a child. Cost of admission for each additional child is $10.
When your kids have had enough of the Eric Carle exhibit, take them to the Tacoma Art Museum’s free open art studio so they can explore their inner artist. Kids can either follow one of the studio’s four art stations or use the professional art supplies to make their own creations.
The Museum of Glass, the Washington State History Museum and Lemay — America’s Car Museum are all nearby. Go to tacomaartmuseum.org, museumofglass.org and lemaymuseum.org for more information and directions.
Hungry?
Here are some kid-friendly options not far from the museum:
•The Old Spaghetti Factory, 1735 Jefferson Ave. This restaurant serves dependable pasta dishes.
The Rock Wood Fired-Pizza & Spirits, 1920 Jefferson Ave. Casual dining with a variety of pizzas.
Frisco Freeze, 1201 Division Ave. This local landmark ’50s-era drive-in serves old-style burgers and fries.
The Fish House Cafe, 1814 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Inexpensive local favorite for Southern-style fish and chips, hush puppies, and mac and cheese using fresh local fare.
Staying over?
Family lodging options include the Hotel Murano, 1320 Broadway Plaza, featured on the Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers Choice list. This is a boutique hotel offering luxury accommodations and lots of, you guessed it, art. Glass art in particular, including Chihuly glass art.
Exercise through sport or dancing to stay healthy. (J. Morgan Edwards Photography)
Source: Indian Country Today Media Network
April 7, 2013 is World Health Day. As part of the movement to promote healthy living, what steps will you take to stay healthy and cancer-free?
The American Cancer Society has five easy suggestions that will help keep you healthier and reduce your risk of cancer at the same time.
Get off the couch and get on the treadmill. Or on the stair stepper. Or on the elliptical. Whatever the case, get active! Now that Spring is finally here, you don’t have an excuse. Grab a loved one and go for a nice evening walk outside. The American Cancer Society recommends a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise daily for adults, so get moving!
Eating fresh produce regularly may reduce your risk of cancer.
Avoid drinking in excess. If you drink, limit alcohol to one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men. The American Cancer Society has found that drinking damages body tissue and increases the risk of cancer. Is the extra drink really worth the risk?
Watch your waistband. Arlene St. John Black Bird, program director for the Breast & Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (BCCEDP) at Cheyenne River Health Center in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, offers some dietary advice: “Research shows that poor diet is strongly linked to cancer. To stay healthy, limit red meat and avoid processed meat. Instead, try lean proteins like chicken or turkey. Making small changes to your diet can actually make a big difference.”
Get regular cancer screenings. If you have a family history of cancer, you should talk to your doctor about getting screened at an early age. Statistics show that early detection saves lives.
Be tobacco free. Tobacco use accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths and 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. By smoking, you’re not only putting yourself at risk—you’re also jeopardizing your loved ones. Each year, about 3,400 non-smoking adults die of lung cancer as a result of breathing secondhand smoke. Quit today and keep yourself and your loved ones cancer-free.
Did you know that 2/3 of all cancers are preventable? That means following the American Cancer Society’s guidelines will reduce your risk of cancer and, potentially, save your life.
With statistics like that, it seems like a no-brainer: This World Health Day, commit to healthy living.
For more healthy living suggestions, contact the American Cancer Society at 1.800.227.2345 or www.cancer.org.
Nursing students at Everett Community College better be on their toes in their new Liberty Hall digs, a $37.5 million building that opened Monday.
They get training on how to respond to patients having heart attacks, strokes and delivering a baby.
The simulation mannequins the nursing students practice on, a man, pregnant woman and infant, cost a total of about $155,000.
The mannequins have features so sophisticated that they can register how much oxygen is being administered, detect when the wrong drug or wrong dose of a drug has been given and simulate the health problems it would trigger.
“Until you solve it, they get worse,” said Gail McLean, a nursing instructor.
The practice sessions can be videotaped so that students can learn from the simulation drills or they can be provided as a “live feed” to other students.
“We like to run them through a scenario,” McLean said. “Sometimes they make mistakes or think of other ways to do things. We run them through that same exact scenario and they get to do it correctly. When they leave here they know how to do it right.”
The simulation lab is just one part of the 72,000-square-foot building where about 500 students take classes each day.
The three-story building also houses a phlebotomy lab, where students are trained to draw blood samples.
Lecture rooms with a document camera can project images of tiny pieces of equipment onto a nearby screen so that all students can clearly see what’s being discussed.
A forensics lab, part of the college’s criminal justice program, helps students learn to read fingerprints and gather other crime scene material.
The building will be the new home later this year for Providence Everett Healthcare Clinic, now located across the street at 1001 N. Broadway. The clinic is open to anyone but targets uninsured, low-income and Medicare patients.
Planning for the new building began about three years ago and its construction spanned 15 months, said Elliot Stern, interim dean for health sciences and public safety.
A public open house will be scheduled in June.
The new brick building, which borders North Broadway, replaces two buildings that opened on the campus in 1968, Index and Liberty, which later expanded to four buildings and was later named Index Hall.
Liberty Hall is named after a mountain in the Cascade Range near Three Fingers Mountain.
In the past seven years, Everett Community College has completed almost $150 million in construction projects. They include:
•Liberty Hall: The $37.5 million, 72,000-square-foot building is home to the college’s nursing, medical assisting and phlebotomy programs and other health sciences training, plus the college’s criminal justice program. It also will be the new home of Providence Everett Healthcare Clinic, now located across Broadway. Opened Monday.
Corporate & Continuing Education Center: A $4 million renovation of the interior of the two-story structure, including an expansion to 12 classrooms, four technology classrooms, a conference room, student lounge and a meeting area for up to 100 people. The center provides professional development and career training for individuals and training for employers. Finished in December.
Henry M. Jackson Conference Center: A $3.3 million renovation that moved the college’s Enrollment Services and Cashiers Office to the Parks Student Union and remodeled the building for use as a conference and meeting space. Finished in May.
Parks Student Union, May 2011: A $5.3 million remodel and expansion that added 5,600 square feet, including a new cafe, remodeled the Russell Day Gallery and provided more study space for students. It was funded in part by student fees. Finished May 2011.
Fitness Center: The $19.5 million, 49,000-square-foot fitness center includes classrooms for physical education and health programs, a gym with retractable bleacher seating for 2,250, a cardio and free-weight training room, a climbing wall, running track, a multipurpose small gym and offices for faculty and staff. The center replaced the college’s 1958 gym. The building was funded in part through student fees and money from the sale of the college’s old gym to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett. Finished in January 2011.
Gray Wolf Hall: The 77,000-square-foot, $49 million building is home to classes in the humanities, social sciences and communications and the University Center of North Puget Sound, which offers more than 25 bachelor’s and master’s degree programs from eight colleges and universities. Opened in March 2009.
Whitehorse Hall: The 88,000-square-foot building is home to the college’s visual arts, physical sciences and journalism classes. The $27 million building was the first of four new buildings added to the Tower Street campus, which opened in 1958. Finished in January 2007.
For readers:Timothy Egan and Nancy Pearl will appear at a free event at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Everett Performing Arts Center. Egan will read from his latest book, “Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis,” and then will be interviewed by legendary librarian Nancy Pearl, the author of “Book Lust” and its sequels and a regular NPR commentator on books. Books and wine will be available for purchase. Find detailshere.
A very pirate weekend:The April Fools Shipwreck Weekend runs Friday through Sunday in Everett and includes bowling, karaoke, wine tasting and more. A Very Pirate Wine Tasting is 1:30-3:30 p.m. Saturday at Port Gardner Bay Winery, 2802 Rockefeller Ave. Cost is $20. A Shipwreck Ball is at 9 p.m. Saturday at The Anchor Pub, 1001 Hewitt Ave. See a full schedule and more details on the event’sFacebook page.
For gardeners: Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville has an event to benefit the Marysville Food Bank from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Ed Hume headlines and other speakers will be on hand, covering such topics as grafting, soil, vertical gardening and more. There also will be entertainment and food. Guests are requested to make a cash donation to the food bank and to consider growing fresh produce to donate this year. Free blueberry plants will be available while supplies last. Find the detailshere.
For parents: The Just Between Friends kids consignment sale runs through Sunday at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe. There will be clothing, playground equipment, movies, toy, games, books, strollers, furniture and more. The sale is 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. There is a $2 entrance free on Friday only. On Sunday, many items will be half-price. Find more info at www.everett.jbfsale.com.
Learn about bugs: Learn about nature’s pollinators, including plants that attract them, with master gardener Julie O’Donald at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Brier Library, 23303 Brier Road. More info: 425-483-0888.
For beer lovers: Foggy Noggin Brewing is releasing a very limited seasonal beer Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. at its tasting room, 22329 53rd Ave SE, Bothell. The brewery only brews this beer one day a year, on MLK Day in January. The brewery will first serve a regular version and then a smoked version. The beer is a German Alt. Find more info at www.foggynogginbrewing.com.
Go swimming: Two events are planned this weekend:
Mountlake Terrace’s water-safety event, April Pools Day, is from 9 a.m.-noon Saturday at the Recreation Pavilion pool, 5303 228th St. SW. Activities include swimming, a drawing for a life jacket, and safety tips. The free event will also feature an appearance by Margaret Hoelzer, Olympian and three-time medalist, from 10 to 11 a.m. More info: 425-776-9173.
A fun, interactive water safety day for the whole family is from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the Lynnwood Recreation Center. Free recreation swim included. Children 6 and younger must be accompanied by an adult in the water. The center is at 18900 44th Ave. W.
For spinners: The Whidbey Weavers Guild Spin-In is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday in Oak Harbor. You can learn new spinning skills, shop the market for yarn, fiber and more, and buy or sell used spinning tools. Find all the details here.
On the stage: Humor is hard. Tim Behrens makes it look easy. Behrens, an actor and miming master, channels the stories of humorist Patrick McManus, taking on the solo task of portraying more than a dozen zany characters — or a bear or a bicycle, whatever it takes — as he leads the audience on a side-splitting sojourn of favorite McManus tales. “Scrambled McManus: A One-Man Stage Show” will be presented at 8 p.m. Saturday at Historic Everett Theatre in Everett. Find all the details in our story here.
Also on the stage: “The Full Monty” opens at 7:30 Friday night at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley. This show is for adult audiences. Because, yes, there is foul language. And, yes, there is nudity. That might, in fact, be the point. Read about it here.
Live music: Everett Chorale’s concert, “Let There Be Peace,” begins at 3 p.m. Sunday at Everett Performing Arts Center. The performance explores the theme of peace through music. Read all about it in our story here.
Dancing dogs: The World Canine Freestyle Competition is 10 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday at Country Classic Kennels, 9332 99th Ave. NE, Arlington. You’ll see dogs and their people showing off their freestyle dance moves. The event is part of the Tulip Festival. Read more about it here.
Speaking of tulips: The tulips in Skagit County are just starting to bloom. Find out what’s going on in our story here.
Snohomish County Tomorrow is seeking nominations for a Citizen Representative to serve on its Steering Committee.
Snohomish County Tomorrow is a cooperative forum of representatives from Snohomish County and each of its cities as well as from the Tulalip Tribes. The group’s primary function is to oversee the Countywide Planning Policies – written policies on growth management from which the county’ and cities’ comprehensive plans are developed.
“Residential input is an important part of that decision making,” said Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon. “The Citizen Representative seat is integral to the goals of Snohomish County and its cities.”
Snohomish County Tomorrow is moving forward on its 2013 agenda following February’s selection of Steering Committee officers. Marysville Mayor Jon Nehring and Snohomish County Councilmember Brian Sullivan were selected to co-chair the committee. Snohomish Mayor Karen Guzak and County Councilwoman Stephanie Wright will share the Vice Chair responsibilities.
Any Snohomish County resident may apply by contacting Cynthia Pruitt, SCT Coordinator at 425-388-3185 for an application.
The mountain snowpack in Washington is 112 percent of normal and the best in the West, where the average for other states is about 75 percent, a water supply specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service said Friday.
Arizona is the lowest at 40 percent and the Southwest is in “tough shape” for its water outlook for the rest of the year, said Scott Pattee who works for the U.S. Department of Agriculture service in Mount Vernon.
The service compiled reports from measurements taken April 1 — usually the peak time for the mountain snowpack in the water year, which begins Oct. 1. The percent of normal figures are based on a 30-year average.
“The ‘so what’ on this story is that 70 to 80 percent of surface water in the Pacific Northwest comes from mountain snowmelt,” Pattee said.
The snowpack measurement tells utility managers how much power they can expect hydroelectric dams to generate, tells farmers how much irrigation water they can expect to pour on crops, tells fisheries managers whether migrating salmon will have sufficient stream flows. Snowpack information also is used in avalanche forecasts and by river-rafters planning their season.
In Washington, the snowpack is heaviest on the Olympics at 130 percent and lowest in the southeast corner of the state at 85 percent.
“I don’t think there’s going to be much concern,” Pattee said.
The Northwest received plenty of precipitation, especially in the October-December period.
“It just came in surges this year,” he said.
Other states don’t have as much water in the snow bank.
“Most of the Southwest is in pretty tough shape” with a poor stream flow outlook, Pattee said.
Snow measurements for the survey in Washington are taken by about 30 people with utilities, irrigation districts and agencies like the Bureau of Land Management. Data also comes from 70 automated SNOTEL stations in the state, Pattee said. The information goes through computer models for forecasts.
In Washington the snowpack peaked on March 24 and started slowly melting, he said.
The state snowpack averages, according to Natural Resources Conservation Service figures:
Alaska around 100 percent, Arizona 40, Northern California 61, Colorado 72, Idaho 80, Montana 92, Nevada 64, New Mexico 45, Oregon 84, Utah 66, Washington 112, Wyoming 82.
The service only measures Northern California and the state has its own system for the rest of California, Pattee said.
Some North Dakota counties that are not experiencing the oil boom and growth that have brought the state into the national limelight. These counties are now the target of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s StrikeForce initiative, which aims to stimulate economic growth.
DICKINSON, N.D. — The prosperity seen in North Dakota is unmatched anywhere else in the country. As of February, the state’s unemployment rate sat at 3.3 percent.
For some Americans, North Dakota is like Israel was to the Jews in the book of Exodus — a land flowing with milk and honey. Modern-day pilgrims come to North Dakota because it is flowing with oil and manufacturing jobs.
Pitted against this image are some North Dakota counties that are not experiencing the boom and growth that have brought the state into the national limelight. These counties are now the target of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s StrikeForce initiative, which aims to stimulate economic growth.
“We do have areas of consistently high poverty,” said Jasper Schneider, state director of USDA Rural Development for North Dakota. “Official unemployment rates in these counties are upwards of 15 percent. Unofficial unemployment is actually quite a bit higher than that.”
Before last week, six states — Georgia, Arkansas, Mississippi, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada — were part of the program. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s announcement expanded StrikeForce to include 10 more — the Dakotas, the Carolinas, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
In North Dakota the program will target Benson, Rolette and Sioux counties along with the tribal nations of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, Spirit Lake Tribe and Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.
“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” Schneider said. “With our resources, both on the state level and the federal level, we have an enormous opportunity to pick up all parts of the state — especially our lowest performing parts,” Schneider said.
The StrikeForce promotes existing USDA agencies and programs to encourage economic growth in impoverished counties — 90 percent of all poor counties are considered rural.
“We kind of throw our full weight at these areas of high poverty and see if we can’t move the needle,” Schneider said.
In Nevada, which was part of the second wave of states to use the StrikeForce initiative, USDA representatives first reached out to the tribes, which helped grow trust between them and the agency, said Bill Elder, assistant state conservationist for operations for Nevada Natural Resources Conservation Service and the StrikeForce state coordinator.
“We identified the Native American as the priority underserved community within Nevada,” he said from his Reno, Nev., office. “The leadership of the Rural Development, of FSA — the Farm Service Agency — and NRCS went to each one of these tribes and sat down with them and said, ‘Look, we’re here, and these are the programs and services that we offer.’ ”
Because StrikeForce is an umbrella program for all USDA agencies, it allows them to work together more efficiently to serve those eligible and identify individuals who may qualify for programs through other USDA agencies, Elder said.
“At the end of year one, what this had done for us was open pathways of communication that we otherwise wouldn’t have,” he said. “If we can articulate what it is we have to offer both in terms of programs and technical services so they can make an informed decision about what’s best for them, that’s the home run.”
In its second year, Nevada expanded the program to include outreach to small farmers by having a presence at pertinent events, such as agricultural shows.
“Geographically speaking, it’s fairly easy to do,” Elder said. “We gain visibility, we are able to have one-on-one contact with people, find out what their issues are, make them aware of program opportunities and services, and that’s really the key, is that one-on-one or the small-group contact.”
One of the first StrikeForce efforts in North Dakota will have USDA representatives at the Looking to the Future sustainable agriculture convention from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today at Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, said Aaron Krauter, state executive director for the USDA Farm Service Agency.
His agency plans to use the StrikeForce initiative to promote FSA programs and loans that could help farmers and ranchers succeed and grow, Krauter said.
“We also have real estate loans for individuals that are eligible if they want to purchase that pasture land or that quarter of crop ground,” he said.
USDA Rural Development released the Tribal Progress Report on Thursday, which highlights the USDA grants and loans the tribes of North Dakota have taken advantage of since 2009.
Many of those funds were used to improve the tribal colleges, Schneider said.
“I’m a firm believer that one of the best ways to combat persistently high poverty is through education,” Schneider said. “We made it a priority at USDA to partner with the tribal colleges, and they’ve really become first-class campuses and provide the opportunity of a real quality postsecondary education. They’re probably the best example of what’s going right in our tribal communities.”
The Washington, D.C., NFL team is not the only one facing questions about using the name Redskins. High schools across the country are debating whether to continue using the controversial mascot. Capital News Service has identified 62 high schools across the country that have the Redskins as their mascot. Reporter Kelyn Soong takes an in-depth look at the issue that’s roiling in the court of public opinion, the U.S. legal system and, now, the U.S. Congress. For much more, including an interactive map, charts and statistics, click here.
Neshaminy High School in Bucks County, PA, is one of 62 U.S. high schools with the nickname Redskins.
Six months after Wiscasset High School became the Wolverines, the varsity boys basketball team showed up for a home game wearing t–shirts featuring the school’s old mascot.
When the players walked into the gym wearing white t‐shirts emblazoned with the word Redskins, the crowd gave the team ‒ and the t-shirts ‒ a standing ovation.
The game in January 2012 provided the citizens of Wiscasset, a small town on the Maine coast, one last chance to cheer for a controversial mascot that many considered an important link to the community’s past.
After months of contentious debate, the regional school board voted in January 2011 to drop the name, siding with those in the community who considered the moniker a racist anachronism over the majority of Wiscasset residents who favored tradition.
“Some felt like it was the last piece of the past they were hanging onto,” said Wiscasset High School principal Deb Taylor, a 1989 graduate of the school. “The power of the desire to go back to the past is very strong.”
Though the school has been officially represented by a red and black wolverine for nearly two years, some in the community have refused to let go of the Redskins.
THE REDSKINS DEBATE
As the debate over changing the name of the Washington Redskins intensifies in the nation’s capital, similar debates are dividing Wiscasset and other towns where fans of local high schools cheer for their own version of the Redskins.
Some of the schools that use the controversial name have been pulled into the national debate by the Washington Redskins, as part of the team’s defense of its continued use of a name that is often considered to be a racial slur.
In February, the Washington Redskins posted a series of stories on the team website highlighting four high schools that have Redskins mascots. The team quoted principals, coaches and athletic directors at those schools who said they were proud of the name Redskins.
“We did a little research. Some people might not have been inclined to do this research, but we went to a site, MaxPreps.com. We figured out there are 70 different high schools in the United States, in 25 states, that use the name Redskins,” Larry Michael, the team’s senior vice president and executive producer of media, said on “Redskins Nation,” the show he hosts on Comcast SportsNet.
A Capital News Service analysis of the MaxPreps high school mascot data found that the Washington, D.C., NFL team likely overstated the number of schools that use the name Redskins. The MaxPreps database included schools that have stopped using the mascot, have closed or were listed twice.
Capital News Service confirmed that 62 high schools in 22 states currently use the Redskins name, while 28 high schools in 18 states have dropped the mascot over the last 25 years. (More information on our findings).
The four schools highlighted on the Washington Redskins’ website do not accurately represent the level of debate over the mascot in communities across the country where the name Redskins is used, Capital News Service found.
At more than 40 percent of the schools, superintendents, principals, athletic directors, administrative assistants or other school representatives said that there have been local efforts to change the name. Eight more schools could soon join the 28 that have already dropped it.
A school board in upstate New York voted in March to retire the name Redskins at Cooperstown Central School at the end of this school year. In Washington state, Port Townsend High School is actively considering dropping the name. And in Michigan, the state Department of Civil Rights has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education that could eventually force six Michigan schools called the Redskins to change their names.
At nearly 60 percent of schools that use the name, school representatives said there have been no local efforts to change it. Capital News Service also found three schools with a majority Native American student population that embrace the term Redskins, underscoring the divergent views held by Native Americans about the controversial name.
Tony Wyllie, a Washington Redskins senior vice president and the team’s chief spokesman, declined to comment on Capital News Service’s findings.
The decision to stop using Redskins happened with little controversy at some of the 28 schools that have dropped the name over the last 25 years. In others, it created bitter divisions.
At some schools, students pushed for the change, conflicting with older alumni who viewed abandoning Redskins as taking away a part of their history. At others, concerned citizens brought the issue to the attention of local officials.
‘PIECE OF THE PAST’
In Wiscasset, the push for the name change started with a protest from a local Native American group.
For decades, athletes at Wiscasset High School competed as the Redskins. In August 2010, the Maine Indian Tribal‐State Commission wrote to the local school board arguing it was time for a change.
“Essentially [the term Redskins] is a symbol of genocide. I can’t believe any school would want to have that association,” said John Dieffenbacher‐Krall, executive director of the commission.
After months of contentious debate, the school board voted in January 2011 to force Wiscasset High School to immediately stop using Redskins, leaving the school’s athletes without an identity.
As a result of the board’s decision to ban the name, students staged a walkout to show their support for keeping the name. Wiscasset alumni also forcefully opposed getting rid of the Redskins name.
“The decision was made [mid-school year] and the reaction was strong and very angry,” Taylor said.
Taylor said she was a proponent of the change, but did not make her opinion public because of her position as the school’s assistant principal at the time.
In March 2011, in response to community outcry, the school board voted to allow Wiscasset High School to use Redskins again through the end of the school year. The school adopted a new mascot ‒ a Wolverine ‒ to begin using at the start of the following school year.
But the controversy around the name change did not fade. Fans refused to chant “Go Wolverines” the way they used to chant “Go Redskins.” And the boys basketball team wore Redskins t‐shirts to a game, which Taylor said was one of several “sabotaging efforts… to reinvigorate the Redskins after it had been removed.”
And even now, some in the community are hoping to bring back the Redskins.
NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES
The debate over whether sports teams should use the name Redskins has simmered for decades. The Washington Redskins and many of the 62 high schools that use the name say that it is meant to honor Native Americans, not to disparage them.
But many Native Americans disagree. The National Congress of American Indians, the largest national organization of Native American tribes, has denounced the use of any “American Indian sports nicknames and imagery” and has stated that such use “perpetuates stereotypes of American Indians that are very harmful.”
Yet not all Native Americans oppose the term Redskins. Capital News Service identified three majority Native American high schools that use it proudly, including Red Mesa High School in Arizona.
“Being from Native American culture, [the term] is not derogatory,” said Tommie Yazzie, superintendent of the school district that oversees Red Mesa High School. He identified himself as a “full-blooded Navajo.”
Red Mesa High School is located on a Navajo reservation, and 99.3 percent of its students are Native American, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Yazzie said people on his reservation care about more pressing things than the use of the name Redskins.
“Education, public health ‒ those are the things we’re more concerned about, rather than whether a team name is appropriate,” he said.
Though he said it was acceptable for schools with majority Native American populations to use the name Redskins, he believes that non‐Native American schools should avoid using it.
“If you were to put this in an urban area where the population is basically white, unless there is a cultural connection, it would be inappropriate,” he said.
He was also troubled by the use of Native American war chants and gestures during sporting events, something that is common at other schools with Native American mascots.
“We don’t use those gestures and traditions. As Navajos we have respect for warfare. Warfare means taking a life. And when a young warrior goes out to battle, [the gestures and war chants] belong there,” he said. “When you come back into civilian life, you don’t take that back with you. You don’t use the same type of gestures and hollering and bring that back into a sporting event.”
‘HONORING THE INDIANS’
A Capital News Service analysis of National Center for Education Statistics data found that 50 of 62 schools that use the name Redskins are majority white, eight are majority Hispanic and one is majority black.
Thirty‒six schools told Capital News Service that the debate over the name has not reached their communities.
In Ohio, Indian Creek High School ‒ a majority white school – principal Steve Cowser said there has never been pressure to change the name Redskins, which the school adopted in 1993.
For him, the term represents honor and respect.
“I understand what happened in the past and why the word Redskins was given to them by the white man,” he said. “[But] in today’s society, when we use the name Redskins, we are honoring the Indians for their heroic efforts.”
At Ringgold High School, a majority black school in Louisiana, Principal Eric Carter said there has also been no community pressure to remove the name Redskins.
“If you show that your voice is in the majority then there would be some consideration,” Carter said, when asked how he would respond to a name change proposal.
PUSHING FOR A CHANGE
Though there are 62 high schools that use the name Redskins, the term has vanished from the collegiate landscape.
The last two colleges that used Redskins changed the name in the late 1990s. Miami University of Ohio changed from the Redskins to RedHawks in 1997 and the Southern Nazarene Crimson Storm dropped the name in 1999.
If the two universities had not changed their name by 2006, they would have been unable to play in the postseason under a NCAA policy adopted in 2005 that bans the use of Native American mascots by sports teams during its tournaments.
The postseason ban convinced colleges with mascots like Braves, Indians and Savages to become the Red Wolves, War Hawks, Mustangs or Savage Storm.
The policy made an exception for teams that have the consent of local Native American tribes like the Florida State University Seminoles.
At the high school level, there is no single national sports organization like the NCAA to pressure schools to abandon Native American mascots. But officials in a growing number of states are taking similar steps as the NCAA to force schools to change.
Wisconsin passed in 2010 the nation’s first state law banning public schools from using Native American names, mascots and logos. It left exceptions for schools that had the approval of local Native American tribes.
In 2012, the Oregon State Board of Education issued a ruling banning all Native American team names, mascots and logos. Affected schools must comply by 2017 or risk losing state funding.
Capital News Service was unable to find any teams that use the Redskins name in Wisconsin and Oregon. But six high schools in Michigan called the Redskins could soon be forced to change their names because of legal action by the state Department of Civil Rights.
The agency filed a complaint in February with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, asking the federal agency to issue an order prohibiting the use of “American Indian mascots, names, nicknames, slogans, chants and/or imagery” by the state’s schools.
The complaint named the six Michigan schools that use the Redskins along with 29 others that have Native American mascots. It also described the term Redskins as a “racial slur…[that] carries particularly negative connotations that accentuate the negative impact of associated stereotypes.”
The complaint stated that using Native American names and imagery, “creates a hostile environment and denies equal rights to all current and future American Indian students.”
There is little community support for dropping Redskins at Saranac High School, one of the six Michigan high schools with the name listed in the complaint, said Maury Geiger, superintendent of Saranac Community Schools.
“The [Michigan Department of Civil Rights] complaint was not filed because of a complaint from someone in Michigan,” he said. “That says something to me, that [the name Redskins] has been acceptable within our school and community.”
Over the last two decades, state education officials and state Native American commissions in Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Nebraska and Maryland have passed resolutions strongly encouraging high schools to drop Native American mascots.
Last year, the Washington State Board of Education approved a resolution that urged its school districts to discontinue the use of Native American mascots. The resolution cited a 2005 American Psychological Association study that found that the use of Native American mascots, symbols and images have a negative effect on students by perpetuating misconceptions about Native American culture.
The Washington state resolution does not force schools to drop the names, leaving it to local officials to make a decision on their own.
AN UPCOMING VOTE
Andrew Sheldon, a former Washington, D.C., resident, is trying to get his local high school in Port Townsend, Washington, to drop the name Redskins.
When he moved to the state in 1996, he was disheartened to learn that Port Townsend High School had the same mascot as the professional team in his former city.
“It’s pretty much a civil rights issue. I think the benefit of the doubt should go to [people] that are offended by the word,” Sheldon said.
Last year, Sheldon sent a letter asking the school board to ban the name, resurrecting an issue that has lingered in the community since the early 1990s. His request prompted the school board to form a committee to discuss the issue. It includes school board members, alumni and members of local Native American tribes. The committee does not include students.
T.J. Greene, the chairman of the nearby Makah Tribal Council, said the tribe does not have an official position on the issue. “As a whole we wouldn’t say the name needs to be changed,” he said.
The board will decide whether to change the name in June, based on recommendations from the committee. Sheldon said he would pull his children out of the school system if they vote to keep it.
The issue has been voted on three times in the last 20 years by Port Townsend High School students, with the most recent vote in 2000.
The students elected to keep the name all three times.
This year, the decision will not be put to students, although Port Townsend High School athletic director Patrick Kane said they are being consulted.
Putting it to a vote in 2000 “caused a lot of tension in the school… and a lot of anxiety, stress and pressure on those on the committee,” he said.
STUDENTS INITIATE CHANGE
At Port Townsend, students were instrumental in keeping in place a name that had represented the school since the 1920s.
But at Cooperstown Central School in New York it was a small group of high school students that led the charge to retire the name Redskins this year. In the early 1980s and again in 2001, the school considered changing the name, but decided to keep it.
The students voted to change the name in February, pushing the local school board to make a decision on whether or not to drop it. The board held public forums to discuss the issue.
Some Cooperstown alumni lobbied the school board to keep the name, pointing to the tradition and history the name evoked, superintendent C.J. Hebert said.
But the Oneida Indian Nation, located near Cooperstown, argued that the name is offensive. As a gesture of goodwill, they offered to help pay for new team jerseys.
“These wonderful kids decided to discontinue the offensive name to our people. We just thought it was a courageous decision,” said Oneida Indian Nation representative Ray Halbritter.
The school board voted in March to retire the name by the end of the school year, making this the last season Cooperstown athletes will take the field as the Redskins.
School officials said they do not yet know how they will a choose a new mascot to replace the one that has represented Cooperstown Central School since the 1920s.
AN EASY TRANSITION
It took Sanford High School in Maine a month to choose a new mascot ‒ the Spartans ‒ after deciding in May 2012 to drop the Redskins.
The school’s civil rights team ‒ which consists of a faculty advisor and a core of 10 to 15 students ‒ recommended to the school board in spring 2011 that the name be dropped. And just as it had in Wiscasset, the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission advocated for the change.
School leaders voted in May 2012 to officially retire the Redskins. But even before the vote, the school had already stopped using the Redskins logo on their jerseys, replacing it with an S for Sanford.
The students were anxious to adopt a mascot they could display proudly. “The joke was we were really just a big S,” principal Jed Petsinger said.
Students chose the Spartans over the Cardinals, Pride and Stampede.
“The transition has been really easy,” said junior Shae Horrigan, a school board student representative and a member of the cross country team. “It’s fun, [the new mascot] is everywhere now.”
Petsinger said he was impressed by how the community reached a consensus on the name change through civil discussion, in contrast to the events in Wiscasset.
“You can’t take away the history of the school… and [those in support of keeping the Redskins] knew it was time to have a [new] mascot for all the students to rally around,” he said.
A POTENTIAL RETURN
In Wiscasset, the debate over the Redskins has not subsided, even though a year has passed since the introduction of a new mascot. Opponents of the name change are still bitter about the decision to replace the name Redskins with Wolverines.
Wiscasset High School is in the process of withdrawing from the school district that forced the name change. School officials said they want to move because of a loss of school control over the curriculum and funding issues, not because of the name change.
But if the withdrawal is successful, principal Deb Taylor said there is a chance the Redskins mascot could return.
“There is speculation that if we were to withdraw, there would be grassroots efforts to restore the Redskins mascot,” she said. “It is very likely the issue arises again.”
Capital News Service reporters Sean Henderson, Angela Wong, Eric Morrow, Krystal Nancoo-Russell, Allison Goldstein and Rashee Raj Kumar contributed to this report.Capital News Service is a student-powered news organization run by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Learn more here.
