Tulalip News

Keith Harper, Cobell Lawyer, Bundled at Least $500,000 for Obama’s Re-Election

Keith Harper. Courtesy Flickr/Center for American Progress Action Fund/Ralph Alswang

Rob Capriccioso, Indian Country Today Media Network

Keith Harper, one of the principal lawyers who negotiated the $3.4 billion Cobell settlement with the Obama administration, has been listed by the Obama-Biden campaign as one of the top voluntary campaign finance bundlers for the president’s successful re-election in 2012.

Harper is part of a list of what the Center for Responsive Politics calls “758 elites” who directed “at least copy80,100,000 for Obama’s re-election efforts—money that has gone into the coffers of his campaign as well as the Democratic National Committee,” according to opensecrets.org.

Harper is listed as a bundler of “$500,000 or more.” The donations he collected are largely believed to have come from wealthy tribal donors, as he oversaw multiple Indian donor events during the 2012 election season, while also working for Indian interests in the Cobell settlement with the federal government, which was first announced in December 2009 and became final after appeals from four Indians drew to a close late last year.

Harper’s bundling effort matched the contributions of such notables as actor Will Smith, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, actress Eva Longoria, filmmaker Tyler Perry, singer Gwen Stefani, and producer Harvey Weinstein.

The Center for Responsive Politics also indicates that Harper personally contributed $2,500.

Obama’s re-election campaign voluntarily released its latest batch of bundler data in early March. The campaign for failed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has not disclosed its complete list of bundlers, and has not said it will.

Harper is a partner with Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. Beyond the Cobell case, the firm has also represented several tribes in separate multi-million dollar trust settlements with the Obama administration.

The Cherokee lawyer has been a principal in the ongoing Cobell litigation since he worked for the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) in the 1990s. Harper left NARF in 2006 to work for Kilpatrick Stockton.

As the Cobell settlement payment process to individual Indians continues to take place over this year, lawyers with NARF are currently battling Kilpatrick Stockton and other lawyers involved in the case for a share of the approximately copy00 million designated for lawyers involved with the litigation. A hearing on the lawyers’ fees is scheduled to take place March 18 in Judge Thomas Hogan’s U.S. district courtroom in Washington, D.C.

March 1 was the deadline for Indian class members to have submitted their applications to receive the second payments of the Cobell settlement, the trust administration class payments. Most Indian beneficiaries in the case will receive less than $2,000.

Wolf comeback spurs hunt for nonlethal controls

Robert Millage shows his rifle with a wolf he shot Sept. 1, 2009, on the first day of wolf hunting season along the Lochsa River in northern Idaho. Photo: Associated Press

Oregon may serve as a model for limiting livestock losses without having to kill wolves.

By Jeff Barnard, Associated Press

GRANTS PASS, Ore. — As long as wolves have been making their comeback, biologists and ranchers have had a decidedly Old West option for dealing with those that develop a taste for beef: Shoot to kill. But for the past year, Oregon has been a “wolf-safe” zone, with ranchers turning to more modern, nonlethal ways to protect livestock.

While the number of wolves roaming the state has gone up, livestock kills haven’t — and now conservation groups are hoping Oregon can serve as a model for other Western states working to return the predator to the wild.

“Once the easy option of killing wolves is taken off the table, we’ve seen reluctant but responsible ranchers stepping up,” said Rob Klavins of the advocacy group Oregon Wild. “Conflict is going down. And wolf recovery has got back on track.”

The no-kill ban has been in place since September 2011. That’s when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it planned to kill two members of the Imnaha wolf pack in northeastern Wallowa County for taking livestock. Conservation groups sued, arguing that rules allowing wolves to be killed to reduce livestock attacks did not comply with the state Endangered Species Act. The Oregon Court of Appeals stepped in, prohibiting wolf kills while the two sides work to settle, although ranchers who catch wolves in the act of killing livestock may still shoot them.

At the end of 2012, wolf numbers in the state had risen to 46 from 29 in 2011, according to state fish and wildlife officials. Meantime, four cows and eight sheep were killed last year by two separate packs, while 13 cows were killed by one pack in 2011.

Wallowa County cattle rancher Karl Patton started giving nonlethal methods a try in 2010, after he fired off his pistol to chase off a pack of wolves in a pasture filled with cows and newborn calves. State wildlife officials provided him with an alarm that erupts with bright lights and the sound of gunshots when a wolf bearing a radio-tracking collar treads near. He also staked out fladry at calving time. The long strings of red plastic flags flutter in the wind to scare away wolves. The flags fly from an electrically charged wire that gives off a jolt to predators that dare touch it.

The rancher put 7,000 miles on his ATV spending more time with his herd, and cleaned up old carcasses that put the scent of meat on the wind. And state wildlife officials text him nightly, advising whether a wolf with a satellite GPS tracking collar is nearby.

“None of this stuff is a sure cure,” said Patton, who worries the fladry will lose its effectiveness once wolves become accustomed to it. Such measures also can’t be used in open range.

Seen as a scourge on the landscape, wolves were nearly wiped out across the Lower 48 by the 1930s. In 1995, the federal government sponsored the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho. They eventually spread to Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington and California.

With wolf numbers approaching 1,800, the federal government dropped Endangered Species Act protection in 2011 in the Northern Rockies, eastern Oregon and eastern Washington, and turned over recovery management to the states.

While ranchers are not happy with the wolf comeback, the wider public is. A 2011 survey for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife found 74.5 percent of Washington residents believe it acceptable for wolves to recolonize their state.

Wolf advocates hope the Oregon experiment can spread elsewhere, especially Idaho, which had 746 wolves in 2011. In 2012, hunters and wildlife agents killed 422 wolves, compared with 296 for 2011. Sheep and cattle kills, meantime, went up from 192 in 2011 to 341 in 2012.

Idaho Fish and Game biologist Craig White said it “raised eyebrows” on both sides of the wolf debate when the livestock kills rose even as more wolves were killed. Previously the trend had been for livestock kills to go down as wolf kills went up. The state plans to continue killing wolves until elk herds — their primary prey and a popular game animal — start increasing, he said.

The Idaho numbers show “you can’t manage wolves using conventional wisdom and assumption,” said Suzanne Stone of Defenders of Wildlife in Idaho. “Using these old archaic methods of managing predators by just killing them is not working.”

In “no-kill” Oregon, ranchers disagree. Wallowa rancher Dennis Sheehy puts bells on his cattle to help scare away wolves. He also spends more time with his herd, and cleans up old bone piles. Nevertheless, he believes a kill option should always be on the table for wolves that prey on livestock. The 2011 ban, he said, “really upset people around here.”

Patton has never lost a cow while using the fladry and alarms. But two were killed on the open range and one in a large pasture where such protection measures are impractical. He has also found tracks showing wolves crossed the fladry and walked among his cows without, for some reason, attacking them.

He still believes the only way to deal with wolves that attack cattle is to kill the whole pack.

“It’s frustrating, more than anything, because we have our hands tied,” he said. “You can kill a man (who) comes into your house to rob you. Wolves are more protected than people.”

4 in Congress back bill to halt removal of wilderness lookout

A bill in Congress would overturn a court order to remove the historic Green Mountain lookout.

By Gale Fiege, Herald Net

DARRINGTON — Lawmakers are pushing to protect the Green Mountain forest fire lookout and establish federal wild-and-scenic status for Illabot Creek, both in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

Four members of Washington state’s congressional delegation — Democratic U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Democratic Reps. Suzan DelBene and Rick Larsen — introduced legislation this past week.

In the case of Green Mountain Lookout, the aim is to protect the lookout, located in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. The legislation comes after a Montana-based group filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service for using a helicopter and machinery to repair the lookout, in violation of the federal Wilderness Act.

The Forest Service maintained that the lookout’s historical significance made it an allowable project. As a result of the lawsuit, the U.S. District Court in Seattle ordered the Forest Service to remove the lookout from the 6,500-foot mountain.

George Nickas, director of Wilderness Watch, the group that sued, says the proposed legislation picks away at the Wilderness Act.

Federal wild-and-scenic status for Illabot Creek would protect it as an important habitat for threatened wild chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout and other wildlife, while maintaining recreational opportunities such as hunting and fishing, said Murray’s staff in a joint press release from the four law makers.

Martha Rasmussen, the head of the volunteer group Darrington Area Friends for Public Use, said she has a mixed reaction to the proposed legislation.

Rasmussen and many people in Snohomish County support the protection of the Green Mountain lookout, one of few surviving fire lookouts in the West, she said.

“It’s a shame that those who want it torn down pit history and heritage against wilderness. The effort to save the lookout failed in court because of the language presented. It needs to be challenged,” Rasmussen said.

Illabot Creek is actually in the Skagit County part of the forest, but it always has been a destination from Darrington, she said.

“The thing I worry about with the wild-and-scenic designation is that repairs to access roads may be too expensive or not be allowed in the protected area, so we stand eventually to lose Illabot as a destination,” Rasmussen said. “I don’t want the designation.”

Green Mountain’s lookout was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Along with its use as a key fire lookout in the logging heyday, Green Mountain also was an early warning station for aerial attacks during World War II. The lookout is on national and state registers of historic places.

Illabot Creek flows into the Skagit River watershed, which includes parts of northeast Snohomish County. The watershed supports one of the largest concentrations of wintering bald eagles in the country.

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by Congress in 1968. It prohibits dams and other water projects that impair the free-flowing nature of listed rivers and establishes a protected corridor on both sides of the river.

The proposed laws are the same as those that were presented last year, according to Larsen’s office. The bills expired at the end of the past congressional session and had to be re-introduced. Green Mountain and Illabot Creek now are in DelBene’s 1st Congressional District, redrawn last year and removed from Larsen’s 2nd district.

Health secretary to step down after nearly 15 years at helm

Washington State Department of Health

Washington State Secretary of Health Mary Selecky has announced plans to retire from state service and return to her longtime home in Colville.

Selecky has served three governors since first being appointed “acting secretary” in October 1998. Her nearly 15 years as Washington’s secretary of health make her one of the longest serving state health leaders in the country. Selecky had been the administrator for the Northeast Tri County Health District in our state for nearly 20 years before taking the state job. She marks 38 years in public service this year.

“Public health affects every person in our state. I’m especially proud of the great progress we’ve made lowering smoking rates and getting more kids vaccinated. We’ll have a healthier future because of it,” said Secretary Selecky. “It has truly been an honor to serve the people of Washington and to work with such dedicated state, local, and tribal public health professionals.”

Under Selecky’s leadership, Washington’s adult smoking rate has dropped 30 percent, and youth smoking rates are down by half; childhood vaccination rates are the highest in years.

“Thanks to Mary, Washington is a healthier place to live and raise a family,” said Gov. Jay Inslee. “I thank her for her valuable service to the people of our state and wish her all the best as she returns to the beautiful town of Colville.”

Secretary Selecky has committed to continuing to lead the Department of Health until a successor is found.

New state plan focuses on health inequities

Washington State Department of Health

Good health is not shared equally in our state or the nation. Native American men in Washington die seven years before their white neighbors, and babies of black mothers are twice as likely to die before their first birthday compared to the babies of white mothers.

These are just two examples of health inequities faced by racial and ethnic minorities in our state. These so-called health disparities happen because different conditions and resources shape our health. Communities of color tend to have lower incomes and less education, for example. Lower income and less education lead to less access to health care, nutritious food, and safe and healthy environments. The unequal distribution of social and economic resources isn’t the only factor that contributes to health disparities – these inequities show up even when factors such as education and income are taken into account. The added stress of how society treats people of color also contributes to the many factors that lead to inequities in health.

For several years, the Governor’s Interagency Council on Health Disparities (a group of state agency leaders) has been working to address this issue. The council strives to make sure that programs and services offered through the state are culturally and racially appropriate, work to break down barriers, and improve the conditions facing our state’s many diverse ethnic and minority populations. You can learn more about the council’s work and its new top priorities on its website.

While some of the factors that influence health are out of the control of individual people, each of us can take important steps to be as healthy as we can be and to support the healthiness of the places we work, play, and live.

Salmonella outbreak is a serious reminder to handle and cook poultry properly

Washington State Department of Health

An outbreak of Salmonella illnesses linked to chicken in Washington and other states points out that all poultry products carry the risk of contamination. Thorough cooking and proper preparation and handling can make poultry safe to eat.

Since last June, at least 56 people in Washington got sick from a specific strain of bacteria known as Salmonella Heidelberg. The disease investigation linked that genetic pattern of Salmonella to Foster Farms plants in Washington and California. None of the Washington patients died; 15 were hospitalized.

Salmonella is a common cause of foodborne illness, accounting for 600-800 reported cases in Washington each year. Poultry is common among the many sources of Salmonella bacteria. Salmonella in raw chicken is not limited to any one brand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture allows the sale of raw poultry that contains Salmonella, so the bacteria may be in all brands. In most cases of Salmonella illness, a source is not identified.

Symptoms of Salmonella illness usually include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. The symptoms usually begin one to three days after exposure, and the illness usually lasts four to seven days.

Proper poultry handling, preparation, and cooking can help prevent foodborne illness. Raw poultry should be kept separate from other foods; it should always be thawed before cooking to avoid undercooking. Cook poultry to 165 degrees F. Always wash your hands after handling poultry and thoroughly clean utensils and surfaces after preparing poultry.

Celebrating the Historic Ties of Native Americans to the Bison

Posted by Wildlife Conservation Society on March 1, 2013

By John Calvelli

[Note: This is the third in a series of blogs by Calvelli celebrating the history and conservation of the American Bison.]

Native American groups joined with bison producers and conservation organizations in 2012 to initiate a campaign called Vote Bison. The campaign, which grew to include 35 coalition members across the nation, had a simple goal: to urge all members of the U.S. Congress to support the National Bison Legacy Act, which would designate the American bison as our country’s National Mammal.

The Vote Bison campaign continues in 2013 and is currently working with Congressional champions in the 113^th Congress.The participation of Native American tribes derives from cultural and spiritual connections to the American bison, or buffalo, spanning many centuries – one that is richly reflected in Native American historical and religious narratives.

Read the rest of the article here.

A pair of American Bison at the Bronx Zoo. (Julie Larsen Maher/WCS)

The Garage in Everett is indoor haven for skaters

Professional skateboarder Jordan Sanchez clears out a stack old skateboards in his downtown Everett indoor skatepark on Thursday. The Garage will open this Saturday after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Photo: Annie Mulligan / For The Herald

By Julie Muhlstein, Herald Columnist

Sunny spring days are just about here, but Jordan Sanchez doesn’t mind rainstorms. He’s about to open an indoor skateboarding venue, The Garage.

He and his wife, Anah, will hold an open house at their downtown Everett business Saturday, giving skaters a chance to check out the new facility. The 3,500-square-foot space is at 2927 Rucker Ave.

Skateboarders will find a long, narrow venue, with a high ceiling and concrete floors. Sanchez, 27, said they are leasing the site from Rick Lapinski, who owns multiple properties in downtown Everett.

The Garage is filled with features, including movable ramps, designed to lure skaters in out of the rain. At one end are quarter-pipe ramps. Wall rides, ledges, hand rails and a surface covered with faux brick called a “sketchy bank,” offer skateboarders the sorts of places they would find at outdoor skate parks or on property that’s officially off-limits.

Jordan and Anah Sanchez also run a coffee stand, the Mocha Station, at Frontier Village in Lake Stevens. To open The Garage, they had a lot of help — more than 100 donors.

In late December, they launched a fundraising drive on the Kickstarter website. Kickstarter, started in 2009, is a platform for people to make a pitch for funding for creative projects. Creators set funding goals and deadlines, then spread the word through friends and social media.

It’s an all-or-nothing deal in which donors make online pledges to projects, which are described on a Kickstarter page. If those pledges reach the creator’s financial goal, donors’ credit cards are charged. If the deadline arrives and pledges fall short, no one is charged and the project isn’t funded.

Kickstarter makes its money by taking a cut. Through his “Open The Garage” page on Kickstarter, Sanchez said, $17,031 was raised by Jan. 27, far surpassing the $15,000 goal. “We ended up with $15,300,” he said, adding that donations ranged from $1 into the thousands.

In his online pitch, Sanchez wrote: “My wife and I are seeking $15,000 to pay for wood, screws, paint, steel, sheet metal and labor to construct a one-of-a-kind indoor skateboarding facility.”

Dan Eyler worked with Sanchez on ramp construction. “They’re all hand-built, with plywood, two-by-four construction, and masonite,” Sanchez said. His brother, Brian Sanchez, and Kyle Schuman painted murals. The place has a couch, music and a soda machine.

Posted on the Kickstarter page is a link to a YouTube video called “Vic’s Market,” which shows Sanchez’s friends skateboarding on Everett streets, in parking lots, at a school and other public places, and on private property around the city. In one shot on the video, an adult is shown telling a skater, “You need to take it someplace else.”

That need — for places skateboarders are welcome to do what they love without breaking the law — motivated Sanchez to open the indoor facility. A skateboarder for 16 years, Sanchez said he is sponsored by Manik Skateboards and BLVD, another skateboard brand.

“This is an alternative to skating in parking lots and other places, which are completely illegal. And it’s rain or shine,” he said.

Skaters will be charged $8 per day at The Garage, or $5 a day with an annual $150 membership. Sanchez said pads and helmets will be provided. Skaters under 18 will be required to have parents sign waivers. The state issued The Garage a business license Jan. 6, and Sanchez said they also have a specialty business license from the city.

The Garage will be available for private parties, and Sanchez said summer camps are planned. A taco truck and free ice cream will be part of Saturday’s opening.

“This was a big group effort,” said Anah Sanchez, 26.

Does she skate?

“No,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t afford to get hurt.” – See more at: http://heraldnet.com/article/20130301/NEWS01/703019919/-1/News#The-Garage

Captain’s Weekend prepares boaters for season

Source: HeraldNet

Before you take your boat on the water this season, spiff up your safety skills and get your craft in shipshape condition with the Everett Sail and Power Squadron.

Squadron representatives are offering a Captain’s Weekend Saturday and Sunday at Cabela’s in Tulalip to help prepare people for boating season.

Visitors can learn about boating safety for adults and children and can sign up for a free vessel safety check. There will be information about boating educational courses and seminars offered locally, such as America’s Boating Course, Seamanship, Piloting and Navigation.

The Everett Sail and Power Squadron is a nonprofit public service organization that promotes boating safety and education.

“Captain’s Weekend” is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Cabela’s, 9810 Quil Ceda Blvd., Tulalip. For more information about the event contact James D. Ferguson 360-387-5456. For more information about the Everett Sail and Power Squadron go to www.usps.org/everett.

See more at: http://heraldnet.com/article/20130302/LIVING/703029995/0/SEARCH#sthash.d4jUNB5E.dpuf

Charges filed in stabbing death of Marysville man, 82

Diana Hefley, Herald Writer

MARYSVILLE — Prosecutors don’t believe the killing of a Marysville man was motivated by his criminal past.

Instead, evidence indicates that Arthur Schroeder, 82, was stabbed to death in his trailer during a robbery.

Prosecutors on Friday charged two people with second-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 24 killing.

They say the suspects, Delaney Henry and Robert Kennedy, admitted to several people that they killed Schroeder inside his small trailer. They also reportedly told people that they robbed Schroeder of about $200 and the key to a safety deposit box they believed held $20,000.

Henry, 28, allegedly told some people that she killed Schroeder because he raped her. She later told detectives that Schroeder propositioned her for sex in the past, but she denied that he ever sexually assaulted her, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Andrew Alsdorf wrote.

Schroeder was a convicted sex offender, but “there is no evidence that his prior convictions had any connection to his murder,” court papers said.

Prosecutors also noted, however, that Schroeder enjoyed the company of “much younger adult women, to whom he would provide cash or prescription pills in exchange for sexual favors.”

Henry was Schroeder’s neighbor at the Brookside Mobile Home Park on State Avenue. She allegedly told detectives that she visited his trailer every other weekend.

Phone records indicate that Henry called Schroeder twice the day he was killed. The records also show that she called Kennedy. Video surveillance shows the suspects together on a bus the afternoon before the slaying. Henry was wearing a scarf similar to the one detectives found at the crime scene.

Schroeder’s grandson told police he discovered his grandfather’s body around 11 p.m. He said he’d gone there to borrow some money or alcohol. Once inside, he found the elderly man lying bloodied and unconscious on the floor. He didn’t call 911 right away. Instead, he and a friend walked to a convenience store and later smoked some marijuana, Alsdorf wrote. He called police about four hours later after he brought his mother to the trailer, court papers said.

Schroeder had been stabbed four times. His heart had been pierced and his throat had been slashed.

His tidy trailer had been ransacked. His cell phone, wallet and a jewelry box were missing. Schroeder’s truck was gone.

The pickup truck was discovered the next day abandoned in Arlington. Someone had torched it.

Detectives eventually heard from witnesses who reported that Henry had confessed to killing Schroeder, court papers said. Another witness told investigators that Henry and Kennedy showed up together the night of the slaying. They allegedly had blood on their clothes and were in possession of three bloodied knives. They also reportedly were sorting through some paperwork.

Police have since recovered the safety deposit box key and confirmed that it opens a box at a local bank. There wasn’t $20,000 inside.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court. If convicted, Kennedy, 26, is facing a mandatory life sentence under the state’s persistent offender act. He has prior convictions for robbery and attempted robbery. Henry faces up to 20 years if she is convicted.

Detectives continue to investigate Schroeder’s death. Earlier this week, police arrested a Tulalip man who allegedly gave Henry a ride on the evening of a fatal stabbing. He allegedly threatened someone, warning the person not to talk to police about the homicide.

See more at: http://heraldnet.com/article/20130302/NEWS01/703029936#Charges-filed-in-stabbing-death-of-Marysville-man-82%0A