Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip community holds surprise homecoming for victim of MP shooting
By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
TULALIP – Amid chants of welcome home, 14-year-old Nate Hatch received a surprise homecoming from more than 200 friends and family in the Tulalip community when he arrived home to the Tulalip Indian Reservation on November 6. That morning Hatch was released from Harborview Medical Center, where he had been hospitalized after receiving a gunshot wound to the jaw during the October 24, Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting.
One of five students hit when fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg opened fire during lunch inside the MP cafeteria. Hatch is the only survivor of four who were hospitalized. Gia Soriano, Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, and Andrew Fryberg died from their injuries after being hospitalized. Zoe Galasso died at the scene along with Jaylen, who died from a self-inflicted wound.
Barely visible inside a black Tulalip Police vehicle, Nate Hatch waves to well-wishers on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014 on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Over 200 community members lined the corner of 27th Ave Ne and Marine Drive to chant welcome home as he was driven past. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Hatch was barely visible inside a black Tulalip Police vehicle shortly before 1:00 p.m. when he drove pass greeters who lined the corner of 27th Ave NE and Marine Drive. Supporters braved gusts of wind and rain for more than an hour to make sure they were there to welcome him home. Students and staff from the Marysville Tulalip Campus, which is the site of Heritage High School and Quil Ceda Elementary School, were also on-site to welcome him.
Managing a slight smile and wave as he past greeters, Hatch took to social media later that evening to tweet, “It’s good to be home.”
In a statement issued by the family following his release, a request for privacy and condolences were issued.
“We appreciate all the amazing support we have received from the community. We are grateful for the top-notch care Nate received from the team at Harborview Medical Center. Our hearts and prayers go out to all the families who have been affected by this horrific tragedy. Please allow us the privacy we need to continue on the road of recovery. Thank you.”
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip tribal member Zee Jimicum, Native American liaison with the Marysville School District, was among the 200 supporters who welcomed Nate home. Jimicum’s son, a freshman at MP, described how as a mother she understood the pain Nate’s family is going through.
“The grief is overwhelming and as a mother my heart has ached from the moment I heard the news. I gladly participated in Nate’s homecoming as another way to help support our community. As the anticipation built with every update we got about Nate’s arrival, I found my emotions welling up inside me. I was excited for Nate, excited that he was stable enough to leave the hospital. As great as that is, I know being home is just a baby step towards the spiritual, physical, emotional and physiological healing he will need. Participating in Nate’s homecoming was more than being just another person lining Marive Drive, I felt blessed to be a part of it all because it was part of the healing process for me,” said Jimicum.
Nate continues to recover from his wounds and since his return home uses social media to express his grief over the incident and thanks for community support.
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
Marysville Pilchuck High School staff are working to get back on track with regular class schedules following the tragic shooting on October 24. While grief counselors are still on hand to help students cope with the aftermath, they are turning to the community for help in ensuring students feel comfortable at the school. Family and community members are encouraged to pay a visit to the campus, whether it is to talk or just be a safe, adult presence.
“We are in need of parent, family and community member volunteers to be on campus, to help out in the lunchroom and front offices where the counseling continues. It’s good for the students to see familiar faces, even to just come eat lunch with them,” said Matt Remle, Native American liaison for MPHS.
“Some kids may be angry or depressed, or both. Staff understands that everyone grieves differently. It’s going to take time and I don’t think you can put a timeline on grieving.”
Remle goes on to explain that while increased adult presence is helpful during a crisis, it’s valued all year long. “It’s always good to have community members and tribal members and leaders visit the school, to bring a bit of Tulalip to the campus.”
If you’d like to volunteer, volunteer packets can be picked up at the MPHS front office. For more information on the Marysville School District, visit www.msvl.k12.wa.us.
An arial view of a coal mine on public land near Gillette, Wyoming. The state has made efforts to promote coal exports and sway opponents near potential export sites Oregon and Washington. | credit: Katie Campbell
The Wyoming Governor invited 25 members of eight Northwest tribes on an all-expenses paid tour of coal operations.
The tour happened last week, and only one tribe participated.
The Wyoming government hosted three visitors from the Pacific Northwest, according to the Casper Star-Tribune: Alice Dietz of the Cowlitz Economic Development Council, Gary Archer of the Kelso, Washington, City Council and Gary MacWilliams of the Nooksack Tribe.
The tour was the latest in the Wyoming government’s efforts to promote coal as good for the economy and not as environmentally dirty as its critics in the Northwest might think. The governor and representatives of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority have also visited proposed sites for coal export facilities in the Northwest.
With more coal in the ground than the U.S. needs or wants, particularly in light of new clean air regulations that phase out coal plants, the future of the Powder River Basin’s coal industry depends on exports. Several projects have been proposed in Oregon and Washington to receive coal from Montana and Wyoming by rail, transfer it to ships and send it to Asia.
Most tribes in Oregon and Washington oppose coal exports, in part because of concerns about what coal dust and marine shipping would mean for their tribal fishing grounds. Tribes’ treaty fishing rights give them unique power to halt coal export projects.
Most refused the offer, and the tour itself didn’t appear to change any minds. Those who attended were either already in favor of coal exports or remained unswayed. But it was impressive to some. Here’s a quote from the Star-Tribune article:
“We had a prime rib dinner last night,” marveled Gary Archer, a city councilman from Kelso, Washington, a town neighboring one of the proposed ports. “These guys got it made up here. They got everything they need, except public perception.”
Coincidentally, the tour happened the same week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its starkest warning yet, essentially saying if we’re going to have a shot at curbing climate change, the fossil fuels currently in the ground need to stay there.
The Makah Nation’s new commercial fishing dock is 120 feet long, has two lanes, five offloading terminals, and an ice machine capable of holding 110 tons of ice, and is designed to withstand a 9.0 earthquake and a 15-foot tsunami wave.
“It’s going to be a huge plus to have all the catch come in at one dock,” dock manager Michael Lawrence said on the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission website. “We’ve invited a flotilla of boats to tie up at the new facility as part of the celebration.”
The Makah Nation celebrated the opening of the $3.8 million dock with a blessing and ribbon cutting on October 10. The old dock had become unstable, and the Nation expedited its replacement – obtaining permits, demolishing the old dock and completing the new dock in less than a year.
“It is estimated more than 50 percent of the Makah Nation relies on income from fishing in some way and the dock construction has meant not only some jobs during construction, but a lasting improvement to the community that will pay for itself rapidly,” the NWIFC website reported.
Makah contributed $10.5 million toward the project.
A $1.1 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant will assist with the second phase of the project: an oil spill prevention and response dock that will extend beyond the current structure. Emergency response is critical in this area, where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets the Pacific Ocean.
Every year, oil tankers, fuel barges and large commercial cargo, fish-processing and passenger vessels make about 3,000 transits into the Strait bound for Washington ports. From 1999-2014, an emergency tug stationed at Neah Bay assisted 49 ships either completely disabled or with reduced maneuvering ability.
Having a specific structure for the oil spill response vessels, including the emergency tug, will allow all the response vessels to be located in one place and will expedite their deployment, NWIFC reported. A crane on the completed dock is already allocated for industrial lifting to assist in oil spill equipment deployment.
“The crane can lift 10 tons and it was mostly with oil spill response in mind,” Lawrence said.
By Kara Briggs-Campbell, Tulalip News Guest Writer
Weeks and months after the tragic events of Oct. 24, many Tulalip youth are likely to still be grappling with deep feelings and complex emotions associated with grief, experts say.
The key for adults and even peers will be keeping a lifeline of connection with tribal youth as they move from feelings of shock and trauma to grief and loss.
“The hardest part with teens is that their developmental task in normal times is to push away from their parents,” said Alison Bowen, Family Healing Program Coordinator for the Tulalip Tribes. “It’s like, ‘Love you, mom. Gotta go.’ Yet even as they are pushing you away, the challenge is how to reconnect with them in this time of trauma.”
Sudden behavioral changes are one of the signs that an adolescent or teen is struggling emotionally. These shifts can include examples such as, a youth, who usually rises early to get ready for school, suddenly doesn’t care; An outgoing kid isolates herself or himself; A teen detaches from his or her friends.
“If all of sudden any kind of big change happens that is what you want to watch for,” Bowen said.
The people most likely to notice such changes are friends of the same age group. That’s why specialists say the best thing now is to let the kids be together, whether they are playing basketball, making art, talking or even sitting still together.
A major concern is if a youth is thinking a lot about death, or meditating on a past hurt, or unable to think about anything but the recent losses of life.
“It is important to listen and do what you can to encourage the person to get help,” said Dr. Richard McKeon, Branch Chief of the Center for Mental Health Services.
For the very most vulnerable, the concern is preventing youth suicide—knowing that among American Indians aged 10 to 24 suicide rates are higher than in the same age group among other races.
“It is important not to be frightened to ask the question whether someone is thinking about suicide,” he said. “The research shows that if you ask a youth and they say no, they aren’t going to start thinking about suicide because you asked.”
“But if someone appears to be depressed or hopeless, it is important to ask the question and not to panic if the answer is yes,” McKeon said. “For a person who is in trauma and potentially thinking about suicide it is essential that make a connection with someone.”
One way a teen could support a friend is by helping them to make contact with a trusted adult. Sometimes that adult is a parent or a favorite aunt, uncle or grandparent. Other times it may be the Native liaison at school or a staffer at the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club. Ultimately the youth might need mental health counseling, but in the immediate term, a trusted adult can make all the difference in the world.
“We know in the days ahead we are going to have more kids dealing with grief and anger and more kids who are anxious and scared,” Bowen said.
The best ways a friend can help now are to be available, to listen respectfully as the person who is sad or in trauma pour out their feelings, or sit quietly if they just want company.
“It’s hard that we’re asking people to take care of the youth when everyone’s hearts are so heavy,” Bowen said. “That’s why it can’t only be a family looking after their own kids, it has to be all of us pitching in to help.”
Where can I call for help?
To report an emergency dial 911
National Suicide Prevention Line: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)
Snohomish County Crisis Line: 1-800-584-3578
Crisis TEXT Line: Text “Listen” to 741-741
24 Hour Crisis Line: 1-866-427-4747
TEENLINK: 1-866-833-6546
Tulalip Tribes Behavioral Health Family Services: 360-716-4400
Tulalip Tribes Mental Wellness Director Sherry Guzman: 360-716-4305
A letter of hope to Tulalip tribal youth from a survivor from the Red Lake Nation
Justin Jourdain was a ninth grader when he witnessed the school shooting at Red Lake High School. A Red Lake tribal member, Justin was friends with classmates who died and others who were injured. Now a Red Lake Nation police officer with a family of his own, Justin wanted to travel to Tulalip to meet with and encourage tribal youth in person, but his work schedule got in the way. So Justin has written an open letter to Tulalip youth and provided it to the See-Yaht-Sub.
Justin Jourdain and son. Photo courtesy of Justin Jourdain
Boozhoo! This is the way we greet each other in my tribe, the Red Lake Nation in Northern Minnesota.
You may not realize it right now, but everything will get better with time.
If you witnessed this tragic event or you were at school that day, you will always remember, as I do those terrifying moments. But in a few weeks and then a few months, it will get easier. You will gain perspective from having lived through this traumatic time in your Tribe’s history. Believe me, surviving can change your life for the better, if you let it.
In the days after the Red Lake School shooting, survivors from Columbine High School met with my classmates and me. The contact with the others who had the same experience gave me the courage to hope again for the future, though I lived with the memory very strongly until 2008 when I graduated from high school, and that helped me to find closure.
I know firsthand how important it is to meet people who share this still unusual experience. That inspired me to go to reach out to other students at schools where this has happened. I feel that it helps just to meet and spend time with someone who knows what this experience felt like. It is important to the healing process to feel that someone knows what it was like. In time, you may have the opportunity to help someone else heal, though it is always my hope that nothing like this ever happen again.
Healing will be a long process, but you will get better. You will remember for the rest of your life. For me nine year later, I can still remember that day as if it were yesterday. But I’ve learned to deal with the pain and continue living. You will learn to cope as I have.
Today I am married and I have a six-year-old son. For the last four years I have worked in law enforcement for my tribal police. I am 25 years old.
In 2005, I was freshman in high school and I couldn’t conceive of all the good things ahead. But stick in the back of your mind that the rest of your life is waiting for you to live it. Believe that things will get better as you let go of the pain and move forward in your life.
An oceanography institute announced today (Monday) that trace amounts of radioactivity from Fukushima have been detected off the West Coast. This stems from the 2011 nuclear plant accident in Japan.
Radiation experts say the very low levels of radioactivity measured do not pose a health threat here.
The post-earthquake and tsunami nuke plant accident spilled a large amount of radioactive contamination into the Pacific three years ago. Oceanographers projected that it would take until this year for highly diluted traces to reach the West Coast of North America. And a recent research cruise from Dutch Harbor, Alaska to Eureka, California detected the front edge of the plume multiple times between 100 and 1,000 miles offshore. Ken Buesseler is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
“The levels offshore still are quite low. So by that I mean they are a couple units of these Becquerels per cubic meter, something that is about a thousand times less than a drinking water standard,” he said.
Buesseler said he is reluctant to “trivialize” any amount of radiation, but says he personally has no concerns about swimming, boating or eating fish from local waters.
Since the start of this year, Buesseler’s lab has also tested about 50 seawater samples collected at the shore by concerned coastal residents from California to Alaska. All of those results have come up negative. This sampling was paid for through crowdfunding as part of an ongoing “citizen science” monitoring project initiated by Buesseler.
A parallel but independent monitoring effort run through the radiation health lab at Oregon State University found no detectable traces of Fukushima radiation in seawater samples collected earlier this year in near shore waters along the Pacific Northwest coast.
Scientists tracking the plume from Japan look for a short-lived cesium isotope, cesium-134, that serves as the “fingerprint” of Fukushima contamination.
For context, radioecologist Delvan Neville at OSU said it helps to know that the cesium-134 levels reported by the Woods Hole researcher are “much less than the natural background radiation in seawater.” In an interview, Neville was certain the low levels of Fukushima-derived isotopes detected in the northeastern Pacific do not pose an environmental or human health radiological threat.
Buesseler is scheduled to present his findings Thursday during the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry in Vancouver, Canada.
The results Buesseler reported corroborate detections of cesium-134 in seawater far offshore from Vancouver Island starting last year. Scientists from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Health Canada and the University of Victoria are collaborating on a monitoring effort that also includes fish sampling.
Sensor fish are helping researchers figure out what it’s like for juvenile salmon to pass through dams. After the newest version of the mechanical devices runs a test through a dam, it lights up so that researchers can find it in the water.
It’s hard to know exactly what happens to young salmon as they swim out to sea – what sort of wild, sometimes fatal ride they experience when they plunge through a dam’s turbine.
A few robotic fish are helping researchers find answers.
They may lack fins, gills, and scales, but these fish are equipped with sensors that can detect pressure changes, water temperature, and the direction they’re facing.
Major pressure changes can make fish experience something akin to the bends in divers. Fish can also get whipped around by turbine blades.
Back then, researcher Tom Carlson said it’s important to downsize the mechanical fish so that they can test what it’s like at dams smaller than those on the mainstem Columbia River.
“Everybody tries to imagine what it might be like to be a fish. I don’t think any of us do it very well,” said Carlson, who is now retired. “The experience of the fish may be quite different … They may not have the same sensation of water flow that we might imagine as humans when we’re swimming.”
This newest generation is even smaller than the models used two years ago, when testing found the sensors still worked well after facing up to 600 times the force of gravity – definitely something that’s hard to imagine.
The newest sensor fish are the same size as the juvenile salmon they’ll be sometimes be “swimming” alongside: about 3.5 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. (Researchers are developing other models to mimic more types of fish.)
“The earlier sensor fish design helped us understand how intense pressure changes can harm fish as they pass through dam turbines,” said scientist Daniel Deng, now in charge of the sensor fish project.
“And the newly improved sensor fish will allow us to more accurately measure the forces that fish feel as they pass by turbines and other structures in both conventional dams and other hydro power facilities. As we’re increasingly turning to renewable energy, these measurements can help further reduce the environmental impact of hydropower,” Deng said.
The new devices will be tested at three small hydro projects in the U.S., two conventional hydroelectric dams in the U.S., irrigation structures in Australia and a dam on the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. They can be used with several types of turbines and pumped storage plants.
MARYSVILLE – Tulalip Heritage Hawks took the field at Quil Ceda Stadium today in their last regular game of the season against the Clallam Bay Bruins, 82-60.
Taking the field for the first time since the October 24, Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting, the Hawks returned to their home field, which is shared with MP’s Tomahawks, to end their season with an amazing display of skill and sportsmanship.
Andrew Fryberg, a 15-year-old Marysville student who was critically injured after another student opened fire inside a high school cafeteria two weeks ago, died Friday from his injuries, Harborview Medical Center officials said.
“Unfortunately, Andrew Fryberg, 15, passed away this evening, November 7, at Harborview Medical Center,” Harborview officials said in a released statement.
Harborview shared the following statement by the Fryberg family:
“We express our thanks for the amazing support from the community, as well as from everyone around the world that have been praying for us all through this tragic event.
We also want to say a special thank you to all the amazing staff that have cared for our son and brother here in the pediatric intensive care unit at Harborview.
Our family is overwhelmed with the love and care that has been provided to our loved one during this time and you all will forever hold a special place in our hearts.
But we also ask that you respect our privacy at this time of our deep loss.”
Fryberg’s passing brings the death toll in the Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting to five. Gia Soriano, 14, and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, died after suffering critical head injuries in the shooting. Zoe Galasso, 14, died at the school after she was shot in the head.
The shooter, Jaylen Fryberg, died at the scene of a self-inflicted wound.
Nate Hatch, 14, who was shot in the jaw, was released from Harborview Medical Center Thursday after undergoing a series of surgeries for his injuries. After Harborview announced Andrew Fryberg’s death, Hatch tweeted “I love you brother” along with a screen shot of a lengthy message:
“R.I.P. Andrew Martin lee fryberg I hope you like it up there and we well some day reunite. You were my other half you were my brother we were suppose to conquer this life together I can’t even begin to imagine life with out you I love you so much and I well live every day thinking about you. You’ll be watching over me and you’ll always be in my heart nothing seems to make sense at this time the worst things always happen to the best people but now you’re somewhere where no one can hurt you. You have impacted so many peoples lives and you well be forever missed I well never forget you I love you rest in paradise”
