Communities of Color for Climate Justice

Photo by Aiko Schaefer
Photo by Aiko Schaefer

 

By Daryl Williams, Tulalip Tribes Natural Resources

Tulalip was invited by the Communities of Color for Climate Justice Organization to meet with Governor Jay Inslee on April 10th to discuss climate change issues affecting air quality, clean energy and transportation.

The Governor talked about his Cap & Trade bill which would limit the amount of carbon air emissions that could be released into the atmosphere within this state.  The bill has broad popular support, but the Governor is struggling to get it through the legislature.

He has introduced legislation to help encourage development of clean energy projects that would allow the State to shut down the last remaining coal energy facility within the State of Washington.

He has introduced bills to encourage the use of electric vehicles to help reduce automotive emissions and to set a low carbon fuel standard.

He admits that all of the bills need work to address the issues in a way that they can be agreed to by the state legislature and meet the needs of the people in the State of Washington.

People of color are hit harder than the rest of the population from the impacts of climate change, especially air quality.  We have areas in the  state with a high prevalence of asthma to air quality issues related to carbon emissions.  The Governor used an area along the Duwamish River as an example.

Some of the people in the room were asking for a new State Environmental Justice Advisory Board to be created like several other states have done.  The advisory board could review issues concerning air quality, transportation and other environmental issues and their effects on economically disadvantaged communities.  The Governor did not seem to be very open to the idea due to the State trying to reduce the number of advisory boards and commissions the state has, but thought that the duties may be wrapped into an existing advisory board.

Some of the other people in the room would also like to make voter registration easier.  One state automatically registers people to vote when they obtain their drivers licenses.

Even though the meeting was on climate change issues, we also talked for a few minutes about the states proposed new water quality standards based on higher fish consumption rates, but increasing the cancer risk rate at the same time.  The Governor thinks that increasing the cancer risk rate can be mitigated by his bill for reducing the amount of toxics released in to the environment.  The water quality standards do not include many toxins that are released through various industrial processes and used in manufacturing.  The governors bill would have helped to reduce the usage or eliminate their uses altogether.  But there are hundreds of such chemicals in existence today with more developed every year and the bill would have only address a few each year.  The bill failed to pass the legislature this session.

 

 

Heritage Hawks basketball awards banquet

 by Micheal Rios, Tulalip News 

Heritage_Banquet_2
Members of the Heritage Hawks basketball team.
Photo/Micheal Rios

 

Members of the Heritage Hawks basketball team.Photo/Micheal Rios
Members of the Heritage Lady Hawks basketball team.
Photo/Micheal Rios

 

On Thursday, April 2, the annual awards banquet was held to recognize the Heritage Hawks basketball players. This year’s banquet took place at Alfy’s Pizza in Marysville. All the Hawks and Lady Hawks players attended, accompanied by their family and friends who cheered them on throughout the basketball season.

Each player from both the Hawks and Lady Hawks teams received a participation award congratulating them for playing varsity basketball. A second award was given to each player that was specifically personalized to commemorate something special they did on the court or brought to the team.

Cyrus “Bubba” Fryberg, Lady Hawks coach, opened up the girls’ awards ceremony by thanking each and every one of his players for making the best out of their season, “First of all I’d like to thank everyone for being here and taking the time to come and finish up the season. The girls worked really hard and played really hard and we had fun. Practices were really fun and I thought we really gave the effort I expected. Early in the season there really weren’t many girls playing. We only had five Lady Hawks for our first several games, so we had to really start recruiting girls to come out and play. After we did that, then we had a full team and really started to play. It took a few week to build up that sense of team with all the new girls, but they all played hard. I really want to thank my girls for all their hard work, especially the seniors.

“Going into next year, for the girls coming back, we are going to keep working hard and to continue focusing on improving as a team. We have six girls coming back and we expect to add more girls onto the team. I just want to thank you all for doing what I asked on the floor and off the floor and for making this season a fun one for the players and the coaches. I really appreciated all the hard work we put in to improving and we’ll continue to work on doing better things next year.”

The following list is the name of each personalized award handed out to the Lady Hawks and the player who received the award.

 

Awards: 

Rookie of the Year: Larissa Menser

Most Coachable: Shaelynn Sanchey

Most Dedicated: Cyena Fryberg

Most Inspirational: Mikaylee Pablo

Best Defender: Jaylin Rivera

Most Rebounds: Nina Fryberg

Captain’s Award & Miss Hustle: Myrna Red Leaf

Captain’s Award, Best Offensive Player & Most Outstanding Player: Michelle Iukes

 

Marlin Fryberg, Hawks coach, opened up the boys’ awards ceremony by saying, “I want to thank all the families who are here to support your children, and I want to say thank you to all the high school faculty staff who are here for our kids. To my players, I hope you all recognize that the time and work you have put into this game together has created a friendship and bond between you all that will last the rest of your lives.

“This season was a mediocre one. We all know that it could have been better, that we could have been better. We’ll use this season and learn from it so that we can continue to develop the team for next year.”

The following list is the name of each personalized award handed out to the Hawks and the player who received the award.

 

Awards: 

Rookie of the Year: Nashone Whitebear

Most Improved: Anthony McLean

Most Rebounds: Willy Enick

Mr. Hustle: Dontae Jones

Captain’s Award: Jessie Louie

Captain’s Award & Best Offensive Player: Robert Miles, Jr.

 

Newly elected board members sworn in

By Mike Sarich, Tulalip News 

 

BOD2015-Oath

 

 

Newly elected board members, Marlin Fryberg Jr. and Mel Sheldon Jr. were sworn in to begin their three-year terms today at the Tulalip Tribes Administration Building.

Tulalip tribal members selected Mel Sheldon as Chairman and Glen Gobin will serve as Vice-Chairman. Les Parks is Tulalip’s new Treasurer and Marie Zackuse will resume her office as Board Secretary.

 

Mel-Deb

 

During the meeting, Mel Sheldon thanked Deborah Parker for her service and commitment to the Tulalip people, as well as all of those in Indian country.