TULALIP, Wash. Attendees at the Tulalip Hibulb garden work party gathered together on Friday, March 22 to do some needed garden preparations. Gardeners and gardening volunteers worked together to prepare the garden for the growing season.
Pruning encourages fruit production, so Master Gardeners Frank Sargent and Rob and Richelle Taylor pruned fruit trees located in the orchard on the north side of the Hibulb Museum.
Master Gardeners Frank Sargent and Rob Taylor prune the fruit trees. Photo by Richelle Taylor
Community gardeners worked in the greenhouse, transplanting over 100 seedlings of cabbage and sowing new seeds. Seedlings are being started and kept warm in the heated greenhouse and soon the plant beds around the museum will be made ready for transplanting.
The community is invited to attend the garden work parties and the Gardening Together as Families events. Gardeners will help tend the beds throughout the season and enjoy the rewards at the end of season harvest. Gardeners will learn about the many aspects of gardening through hands-on experience, working side-by-side with master gardeners.
To learn more about the Hibulb Gardening events please contact Veronica Leahy at 360-716-5642 or vleahy@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov
Tribal member Malaki Hernandez transplanting a cabbage sprout.
Mytyl Hernandez and son Malaki with transplanted pansies. Photo by Richelle Taylor
Seedlings
Corn seedlings
Tribal member Marvin Jones and Master Gardener Veronica Leahy transplanting cabbage sprouts.
Family photo Nineteen-month-old Chantel Craig died Oct. 8. She and her sister were found in a car on the Tulalip Reservation. The girls were suffering from malnutrition and severe dehydration.
TULALIP — They were asked to inspect the net.
Maybe somehow 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.
It seems an insurmountable job — searching for all the potential gaps. How do you predict the unimaginable?
It happened in October down a dirt road on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Chantel Craig and her sister were left in a broken down car, going without food or water for days. The toddlers’ world was restricted to the car seats they were kept buckled into. Their bodies were covered with sores, feces and maggots.
Chantel wasn’t breathing. She had no pulse. She suffered, for how long no one can really say, and then her body gave out. Her sister, 3, fought to stay alive.
Chantel died from neglect, five months shy of her second birthday. Her mother, Christina Carlson, is charged with murder.
Last month, state social workers faced tough questions about their interaction with the girl’s family as a team of experts reviewed the circumstances surrounding Chantel’s death. The examination was required by state law. Findings were made public Thursday.
After six hours of discussion the team didn’t find what the state calls “critical errors” on the part of Children’s Administration employees.
Instead, the panelists made some findings and recommendations for the future, mainly focused on what child welfare workers do to locate families. There’s a need for experienced social workers to handle the cases governed by the Indian Child Welfare Act and consistent review by supervisors. And the girls’ case demonstrates the need to more clearly define the responsibilities of state and Tulalip tribal social workers when conducting joint investigations.
The six-member fatality review committee included a medical doctor, a Marysville police detective, a Snohomish County human services manager and three other professionals connected to social services. They asked questions of the state social worker and her two supervisors. Panelists agreed they were there because of a horrible tragedy. Their conversation, however, was tempered. They all work with families, often in crisis. They know others will slip through.
“These reviews are so important,” said Cammy Hart-Anderson, the division manager for Snohomish County Human Services Department. “I volunteer as a way to assist, offering my perspective from the alcohol and drug field.
“I also believe it’s a way to honor the child who died. We’re trying to do something so her death won’t be in vain.”
The law required the state Department of Social and Health Services to convene the search mission into Chantel’s death — to look for any gaps in a system that relies on cops, courts and social workers to save other people’s children and to help patch together families, many affected by generational poverty, addiction and violence.
The Children’s Administration, a division of DSHS, is tasked with completing a fatality review within six months after a child under state care or receiving state services dies unexpectedly, or nearly dies. The idea is to closely examine how state workers were involved with the child and family, and whether policies and practices can be changed to tighten the safety net.
“We would all love to have a system in place where we never have a child in these circumstances,” said Ronda Haun, a critical incident review specialist with the Children’s Administration.
The state invited a Herald reporter to observe the typically closed-door discussion. The reporter agreed not to attribute to individual participants any statements made during the process. The Herald also agreed not to report information about the child or her family that hadn’t already appeared in public records. The newspaper also delayed publishing a story until the review was completed and available to the public on the state’s website.
Tribal law prevented anyone from the tribes to formally participate in the review.
The committee was advised at the start that they weren’t being asked to conduct a forensic, criminal or personnel investigation. They also were reminded of the complex legal framework that limits the actions of state social workers.
The courts have called parental rights natural and sacred, said Sheila Huber, an assistant attorney general who represents the Children’s Administration.
“Parents have constitutional rights when it comes to the care, custody and control of their children,” Huber said.
There are restrictions on when the state can interfere with those rights, she added.
State and tribal social workers had been investigating allegations that Chantel and her sister were being neglected after receiving a call from their grandmother in December 2011.
Generally the law requires state social workers to close a Child Protective Services investigation within three months. In this case, the social worker kept the investigation open for 10 months, citing concerns because of the mother’s past and her lack of contact with her own family. By keeping it open, the state could offer voluntary services to the parents. In a terrible coincidence, state social workers closed the case hours before Chantel died because they hadn’t been able to find her or her mother.
The state social worker last saw the girls on Dec. 14, 2011. There was no evidence then that they were in imminent danger, which would have been necessary to remove them. There also were no signs of abuse or neglect. The social workers agreed to continue to try to assist the family.
About two weeks after the first visit, the tribal social worker learned that the parents weren’t seeking help for their alcohol and drug abuse problems, as they claimed they were.
The fatality review committee last month questioned the state social worker about the protocols followed to locate families. The team was concerned that there appeared to be a stretch of time that no attempts were made to find the children.
Social workers are allowed to check state databases, including the rolls for those receiving state benefits. Police generally aren’t asked to get involved unless there is concern that a child is a victim of a crime.
Relatives told social workers that Carlson likely was hiding from authorities. She had lost custody of at least three other children because of her drug use and neglect, court papers said.
It is unclear if the Tulalip authorities continued to search for the family.
The Tulalips declined to participate in last month’s child fatality review.
Tribal authorities sent a letter to the state, explaining that the Tribes’ own laws prevent anyone from the tribes from commenting on their social service investigations. That is done to protect children and avoid stigmatizing families, tribal officials told The Herald last year.
Tribal social workers are allowed to share sensitive information with state social workers to assist protecting children and to provide them and their families with services. However, tribal laws don’t contain provisions about information-sharing once a child has died. That conflict prevented the tribal social workers from participating in the review.
In the letter, the Tribes asked the panel to begin the review with a prayer, seeking guidance and healing. The daylong session opened with a moment of silence.
The committee acknowledged the challenge of fully understanding the history of the case without input from tribal social workers. They knew that they were only receiving part of the story and would be left with unanswered questions.
“They were asked to look at the state’s work. I think that objective was accomplished by the committee,” said Haun, who served as one of facilitators. “We are not in the position to review the work of the Tulalip Tribes. That is their responsibility.”
The Tulalips and DSHS have an agreement sharing responsibility for child welfare investigations and providing services to Tulalip children. The agreement is meant to define the role of the state and create cooperation between the two governments.
The role of tribal and state social workers varies depending on the local agreements with specific tribes. There are additional layers of complexity because of the state and federal Indian Child Welfare Acts. The laws govern how states should respond to cases involving Indian children and spell out the tribes’ jurisdiction over their children. The federal act was passed in 1978 in response to the disproportionate number of Indian children being removed from their homes and placed in non-Indian homes away from their tribes.
The Tulalips began assuming jurisdiction over dependency cases more than a decade ago. Their child welfare services program, beda?chelh, investigates all reports of child abuse and neglect. This includes any allegations that aren’t accepted for further investigation by the state.
Among the main recommendations, the panelists encouraged the state and the Tulalips to revisit their local agreement for handling child welfare cases. They concluded that state social workers need more clarification about their individual responsibilities.
For example, state workers have protocols to locate families, but aren’t allowed to seek out tribal families without permission from the tribes to be on the reservation.
The team also urged the state to provide more consistency and stability in the unit specifically assigned to investigate allegations involving tribal children. Social workers need to be familiar with the Indian Child Welfare Act. They should be seasoned workers. Increased stability in the unit would go a long way in building relationships with tribal social workers, the group said.
The team also recommended that if a supervisor leaves the unit, the cases should be reviewed by both the outgoing and incoming supervisor to make sure complex cases don’t get overlooked. The team pointed out that the Carlson case hadn’t been reviewed by a supervisor for months. They questioned whether that was because there had been a change in supervisors.
The panelists also concluded that DSHS should make it a priority to hire CPS social workers and supervisors.
Hart-Anderson said she also walked away from the review convinced that more needs to be done to offer drug and alcohol treatment resources to families.
The county used to partner with DSHS and stationed drug and alcohol counselors in local CPS offices. They were an immediate resource for parents. That program was cut about five years ago for lack of funding.
“Alcohol and drugs are so prevalent in so many CPS cases,” Hart-Anderson said.
In the Carlson neglect case, she is accused of leaving her girls alone for hours on Oct. 8 while she tried to contact a drug dealer. Witnesses told investigators that the 36-year-old mother smoked heroin in the car while the girls were in the backseat. Tests showed that the surviving child had been exposed to opiates.
It is hard to fathom a parent’s neglect for a child, Hart-Anderson said.
“Addiction is a very powerful disease, so powerful that some people are not capable of parenting, and their number one priority is their addiction,” she said.
Social workers have an overwhelming job, Hart-Anderson said.
“As a society we don’t appreciate that enough,” she added.
Dan Bates / The Herald (From left) Susan Marshall, Tanner Bellows and Karrington Jessup relax on a comfy white leather couch, just above the tide line, while they watch the house moving.
MISSION BEACH — Kippy Murphy brought tissues. Her brother, Mike Dutton, brought beer.
It was a sentimental occasion for the Everett siblings. The two-story gray house on the beach where they’d spent decades of summers was being moved across the Sound to Whidbey Island, where it would have a new family.
“I had to come out and have my last beer at the beach house,” Dutton, 53, said Tuesday as he stood on the flat white shore southeast of Tulalip Bay.
It marks the end of an era for generations of tenants of more than 20 homes on a quarter-mile stretch of beach owned by the Tulalip Tribes. The tenants owned the homes, but not the land, and the tribes want to restore it back to natural beaches for use by members.
Tenants had seven years notice to not only vacate the premises, but to take their homes with them. Most houses were stripped and demolished.
Murphy, 46, didn’t want to destroy her family’s summer getaway — a five-bedroom, 3,000 square-foot home built in 1993 to replace a rustic fishing cabin.
“My dad built it to be barged because he knew that eventually the leases would expire,” she said. “Our parents have passed, so it made us feel good to know that we saved the house.”
Murphy and her brother sold it for $1 through the house moving company, Nickel Bros.
“It’s sad,” she said, “but I’m happy that somebody is going to use it.”
The home’s new owners, an Issaquah couple with two young kids, couldn’t be happier.
“It was the perfect house for us,” said Annie Schinnerer. “I’m excited. I can’t wait.”
It cost about $60,000 to move their $1 vacation home to Mutiny Bay in Freeland, she said. “When it’s all said and done, it will be about $150,000, which is still $50 a square foot and a great deal.”
The two families chatted on the beach Tuesday evening as workers bustled around the jacked-up house for its daunting sprint to the nearby barge.
Spectators brought chairs, blankets, beer, dogs and grandkids to watch the work take over place over several hours Tuesday.
A crew of men in orange coveralls and hardhats put planking over the sand using what looked like giant Tinker Toys.
From there, the boxy home was hoisted onto a flatbed truck that had to pull a tight sharp turn away from a retaining wall. The crunch of wooden planks resounded from the home’s weight, stirring the crowd of onlookers armed with cameras at the ready.
The truck lurched forward, groaning. It slowly carried its oversized cargo up a skinny steel ramp tilted over the shore.
Silence prevailed at the precarious spectacle. Would the house topple?
A few people stepped back, just in case.
A cheer erupted when the house rolled onto the barge deck intact.
But it wasn’t smooth sailing from there. The barge got stuck in the sand and couldn’t leave until Wednesday morning.
By Kim Kalliber and Jeannie Briones; photos by Jeannie Briones
Students, instructors and Tulalip police officers celebrate the 21 radKIDS graduates.
Empowerment, self-esteem and safety skills – these are a few of the core values of the radKIDS program and 21 proud radKIDS graduates are now armed with these important life skills. Tulalip police officers, instructors and
Tribal member Nakoyia Fryberg and Tulalip Police Officer Mark Nelson.
students celebrated the graduation at Quil Ceda & Tulalip Elementary School on March 26.
RadKIDS, which has been in operation at Quil Ceda & Tulalip Elementary for two years, is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to providing effective lifesaving skills to children. Through this program, kids become empowered to recognize and avoid dangerous situations, and to replace the fear and confusion they may feel in these situations with confidence and self-defense skills.
“There is no other program like it for safety. Students benefit from learning about safety, like being safe from a bully, staying away from drugs and alcohol and keeping safe from someone who’s trying to harm them,” said Rochelle Lubbers, Tulalip Police Department Emergency Services Manager and radKIDS Instructor.
During the graduation, students received a certificate and got to demonstrate their newly acquired self-defense skills against the “redman.” Tulalip police officer Mark Nelson wore the padded red suit to protect himself from the kids slick moves like shin kicks, toe kicks and knee kicks.
This training includes kids and their parents creating a password. A password is a word that is used as a safety check should a parent need to send another adult to pick up a child from school, sports, etc. The purpose of the password is to protect your child from going with someone under false pretenses. When approached by a stranger, the child will ask for a password, if the stranger does not know the password, the child is then taught to run away or seek help.
“We can get away from who tries to take us. It feels good to be safe,” said Nakoyia Fryberg, radKIDS graduate and Tulalip tribal member.
To learn more about the radKIDS program visit www.radkids.org
The Marysville School Board has selected six people to be interviewed for the superintendent position.
By Gale Fiege, The Herald
MARYSVILLE — The search for the person to replace Marysville School District’s retiring Superintendent Larry Nyland continues Saturday with public interviews of the candidates.
The Marysville School Board has picked six people to move forward into the first round of preliminary interviews.
They are Edmonds Assistant Superintendent Tony Byrd, Lakewood Superintendent Dennis Haddock, Mount Vernon Superintendent Carl Bruner, Deer Park Superintendent Becky Berg, Orting Superintendent Michelle Curry and Lake Washington School District administrator Jon Holmen.
Preliminary interviews are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Saturday in the school district board room, 4220 80th St. NE, Marysville.
Interviews of the semifinalists are open to the public, but school board members plan to ask the questions. People who attend will be given an opportunity to provide written comments. Finalists are to be selected by the board following the interviews Saturday.
Interviews of the finalists are scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with one candidate each day. School faculty and staff, parents, students and other people who live in the district have the chance to meet the candidates in open forums that are scheduled at 11 a.m., 4:15 and 6:30 p.m. each of the three days, also in the district board room.
The superintendent candidates also plan to tour the school district, meet with principals, administrators and the Tulalip Tribes council.
For more information on the superintendent search, call Jodi Runyon, 360-653-0800.
Armed-forces training, experience recognized in legislation sent over to Senate
Clint Robbins, Legislative News, March 13, 2013
OLYMPIA — Here’s a definitive “no-brainer” we can all recognize: Men and women who have come out of the Armed Forces honorably should certainly receive respect and recognition for their service when they are pursuing a college education or professional licensing.
The House of Representatives today passed House Bill 1858 and House Bill 1859, sponsored by state Rep. John McCoy, to write this recognition into state policy.
“Colleges and universities should have a policy in place by December 31, 2014, to recognize and award academic credit for military-training courses or programs,” McCoy said of his HB 1858. “The policy must be submitted to the Prior Learning Assessment work group for evaluation. Schools must provide a copy of their policy to award academic credit for military training to enrolled students who have listed prior or present military service in their application.”
McCoy’s HB 1859 directs that military training and experience should satisfy requirements for professional licensing if the training or experience is documented and substantially equivalent to the requirements in state law.
“The Department of Defense is thrilled with the House passage of HB 1858,” said Mark B. San Souci, Northwest Regional State Liaison, Defense State Liaison Office, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Military Community and Family Policy.
“There has been good progress with the Washington State Prior Learning Assessment Group established in 2010 legislation,” San Souci added. “Passage of this measure continues that progress by requiring our college and universities to develop policies to provide earned academic credit for our new veterans when we have already paid for their training with our hard-earned federal-tax dollars. We are extremely grateful for Representative McCoy’s proactive approach to this issue to aid our new veterans and American heroes.”
“The Department of Defense is also thrilled with the passage of HB 1859 because it complements House Bill 1858 which has also already passed the House,” San Souci said. “This second bill leverages what Washington state regulatory agencies and boards are working hard to make possible — specifically, that newly separated military members should receive occupational-license credit, where deserved, for their military education and training. After all, this previous education and training has already been paid for by people’s federal tax dollars. If passed in the Senate and signed by the governor, Representative McCoy’s efforts on this issue and other, similar matters will greatly help our new veterans reach their academic goals — and then secure rewarding employment. We are extremely grateful for Representative McCoy’s proactive approach to this issue to make sure there are reasonable programs and policies for our new veterans and American heroes.”
Food handlers class is Thursday, March 21, 2013 at the Tulalip Tribes Administration off Marine Drive. Anyone preparing or serving food on the reservation is required to have a current food worker card. Upon completion of the class and a passing test score, a food worker card will be issued which will be valid for three years from the test date.
The Native American Career and Technical Education Program (NACTEP) construction training begins April 8th and runs through June 13th. Classes are Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
NACTEP classes are offered at no charge to Tulalip Tribal members, Tribal members enrolled in federally recognized tribes, spouses of enrolled Tulalip tribal members, and employees of the Tulalip Tribes.
Each student enrolled in the program will earn 18 college credits through Edmonds Community College. Students will learn how to read and draw blueprints, plan a personal project and design, use power tools properly, and other hands-on projects that are useful in the construction industry.
In addition to college credits students will receive: Flagging Certification, First AID/CPR Certification, and OSHA 10 hour Safety Card.
For more information about NACTEP, please contact Mark Newland, NACTEP instructor, at 425-268-9145 or contact William Burchett, Construction Training Site Supervisor, at 360-716-4761 or email: wburchett@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov
The many food donations recently received being boxed ready to go.
Volunteers at the Tulalip Church of God food bank are happy to say that they help feed families of Snohomish County. Food bank volunteer Tamara Morden says, “We help feed about 150 -200 families every two weeks, so about 400 a month”. The food bank receives regular donations from people in the community and local businesses such as Safeway, Winco, and Northwest Harvest. While they did very well with donations this last, they received extra donations from First Nation Ministry of Portland of 2,000 lbs. of potatoes and two palettes of juice. And they are always in need of more donations of non-perishable foods.
The food bank has been in operation for seventeen years and was started by Marge Williams in order to serve the community west of Interstate 5. Once the food bank began receiving donations from Northwest Harvest they became available to all residents of Snohomish County.
Tamara has lived on the Tulalip Reservation since she was born. She began attending the Church of God in her youth and eventually began volunteering her time at the food bank. With the help of volunteers Tamara manages to keep the food bank going and while working a full-time job.
Food Bank volunteers; Delores Williams, Frances Morden, W. Jake Price and Tamara Morden on the far right.
“Louie Pablo picks up supplies and I’m very, very grateful for him doing that,” Tamara says. W. Jake Price is her biggest help; Jake has been helping at the Food Bank since Marge ran it, “He’s always here every day of donations,” explains Tamara.
The food bank hands out donations on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month from 10:30am -4:00pm and receives the donations the day before they hand out the donations, the second and fourth Monday of every month. Volunteers are always welcome, currently more help is needed to pick up donations from local businesses for the food bank.
If you would like to help, stop by the Tulalip Church of God (the red church) on the second or fourth Mondays and Tuesdays of each month to volunteer.
Tulalip Church of God
1330 Marine Dr NE
Tulalip, WA 98271
(360) 653-7876
TULALIP, Wash.- “I never want to look at my granddaughter and say, sorry, there’s a one in three chance that you’ll be raped, sweetie,” exclaimed Theresa Pouley during the Lifting Our Sisters Up event held at the Hibulb Cultural Center on Feb 13th. Theresa Pouley is Chief Judge at Tulalip Tribal Court and a Colville tribal member; she was selected as one of the four witnesses asked to speak at the event.
It’s a shocking statistic when you realize it and if you turn to count the number of women in your own family; one in three of these women may have reported some type of sexual violence. Keep in mind though, 54 percent of sexual assaults are not reported to police. Until a remedial solution is found, Native woman will remain unprotected through current laws.
For Native women that are victims forging their way to become survivors, it is an uphill battle with the current laws in place today. The current ruling comes from a 1978 United States Supreme Court case, Oliphant v. Suquamish. The Supreme Court sided with Oliphant, stating that Indian Tribal courts do not have inherent criminal jurisdiction to try and convict non-Indians. The ruling ultimately left a loophole for offenders in which violence involving a non-Indian and an Indian on tribal land will result in the case being moved to federal court and since many cases don’t make it that far, and are unable to be prosecuted in tribal court offenders are able to walk free.
At the Lifting Our Sisters Up event Native woman gathered to share the painful truth of the peril that Native American woman are facing. Tulalip Vice Chairwoman, Deborah Parker opened the event by speaking encouraging words, “Today we are hoping to lift each other up, as sisters, as mothers, as aunties. Hopefully the words that are said here today will help you with your healing”.
The day of healing was filled with songs, prayers, and many tears. Women from Tulalip and surrounding tribes came forward to recount some of the most painful moments in their lives in order to break the silence and say, violence against Native women is more prevalent than you know, because it happened to them.
Tulalip Tribal member Carolyn Moses related memories of her youth growing up with domestic violence in her home life. She explained how her mother learned to be strong, and became a single mother who worked two jobs so that she could break the cycle of domestic violence and her children and her grandchildren would not have to endure it in their futures.
The Lifting our sisters Up event enabled women to speak out and tell the stories that are rarely shared in order to heal their spirit so that they may grow to be stronger women. The act of sharing personal hardships relieves some of the weight and to let go of the pain that can hold them down.
“Share your story, if someone can take what happened to you and use that. If someone is reaching out to you, help them, no matter if you get along with them or not,” urged witness and Tulalip tribal member Courtney Sheldon after recounting the injustices made against herself and her loved ones.
In order to overcome this hardship the laws in place need to change, whether it comes through VAWA or other means. Some may say they don’t understand the need for this type of rule adjustment and will even call it unconstitutional for non-Indians to be prosecuted in tribal courts. But, violations against Native women and some cases Native men need to be halted and the violators need to be held accountable for the life they ruin. What chance does a culture have to thrive when it is being torn down?
“We [Native Women] are an endangered species and what will happen to our tribal nations?” argued witness Cheryl Coan; who is from the Dine’ Nation and works at Tulalip’s Legacy of Healing.
To help spread the truth Canal Plus was invited to document these stories. Canal Plus, a French premium pay television channel that airs throughout Europe is similar to HBO in the U.S. Featured among many television selections, short documentary segments which focus on stories that are seldom told. Intrigued by the situation, Canal Plus traveled to Tulalip in order to document the stories of Native American women and the accounts of sexual assault and acts of violence which plague Indian Country.
