Tulalip News

Berg takes helm at school district

Kirk BoxleitnerTerri Kaltenbach, left, speaks at the June 18 Marysville School District strategic leadership transitioning meeting also attended by incoming Superintendent Dr. Becky Berg, right. — Kirk Boxleitner
Terri Kaltenbach, left, speaks at the June 18 Marysville School District strategic leadership transitioning meeting also attended by incoming Superintendent Dr. Becky Berg, right.

Kirk Boxleitner, Marysville Globe

MARYSVILLE — Incoming Superintendent Dr. Becky Berg wound up being one of nine Marysville School District staff members to be introduced, or in some cases reintroduced, to the community during the Marysville School Board’s June 17 meeting, and she would continue to introduce herself to the community through the following evening, during the district’s third strategic leadership transitioning meeting on June 18.

Berg preferred to listen during the brainstorming sessions at the Tulalip Resort on June 18, which were complimented with a review of the two prior community engagement events on May 14 and 16, and spent most of her time during the June 17 Board meeting introducing her team, which includes a few familiar faces in new roles.

“It’s not just me who’s coming on board, but a number of new staff members,” said Berg, who’s retained Ray Houser, former executive director of teaching and learning, as her assistant superintendent. “I don’t have anywhere near the energy level of Ray,” she added, before introducing Cinco Delgado, former principal of Ridgecrest Elementary in the Shoreline School District, as the new executive director of teaching and learning in Houser’s stead.

Former Newport School District Superintendent Jason Thompson is stepping in as executive director of human resources for the Marysville School District, while Liberty Elementary Principal Scott Irwin is stepping up as the district’s categorical programs director.

“Donneta Spath has created CTE programs that have served multiple schools, so she’s a perfect fit for her new role,” Houser said of Spath, who moves from being executive director of the Northwest Career & Technical Academy to being the Marysville School District’s Career and Technical Education Director. “It’s been a brisk year for retirements,” he laughed.

Outgoing Assistant Superintendent Gail Miller and remaining Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Dr. Kyle Kinoshita noted that Sonja Machovina and Gloria Henderson are no newcomers to the Marysville School District, having both started out as teachers at Tulalip Elementary. Machovina will serve as the new assistant principal at Totem Middle School, while Henderson succeeds Irwin as the new principal of Liberty Elementary.

“I’ve been in Sonja’s classes, and her energy and innovation are amazing,” Miller said. “She relates to kids very calmly and effectively.”

“When we heard Gloria was available, we couldn’t resist bringing her back,” Kinoshita said. “And Lynn has got a solid background in instruction.”

Lynn Heimsoth, formerly a teacher in the South Kitsap School District, will serve as principal of Shoultes Elementary.

As of June 24, Berg still has a voicemail box at the Deer Park School District, but she’s already sought to engage with the Marysville community through events such at the June 17 and 18 meetings, not only to keep her previously stated pledge to “hit the ground running, listening and learning,” but also to ensure she’s up to speed when she officially starts her new job on July 1.

“I’m open to meeting with as many constituents and community groups as possible, so that I can learn as much as possible during those golden hours when I’m still new to the school district,” Berg said. “I have no agenda other than continuing the great work that’s already been done in the district, and understanding its future needs.”

During the June 17 Board meeting, Board President Chris Nation reiterated that Berg’s selection was the result of the district’s commitment to soliciting extensive community input, and offered a few final words of tribute to his friend, outgoing Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland.

“We heard all the voices,” Nation said. “That was what Dr. Nyland was all about, was a focus on student achievement, and everyone coming to the table to talk about it together. Our partnership with the Tulalip Tribes is an example of that.”

“I’m delighted with the work that’s been done, especially in partnership with the Tribes,” Nyland said. “Our staff throughout the district have done a great job.”

Carnival comes to Smokey Point

The carnival is coming to town!

Jun 25, 2013

by Beckye Randall in North County Outlook
The Arlington-Smokey Point Chamber of Commerce has contracted with Butler Amusements, the folks behind the carnival at the Evergreen State Fair, to bring their rides and games to Smokey Point for a four-day event. The carnival will be set up at the corner of 172nd St. NE and 51st Avenue NE, near the Arlington Airport, June 27 through 30.

There’s no admission charge, and a $20 wristband is good for rides all day long. Individual ride tickets will also be available.

The wristbands are available in advance at the Smokey Point Walmart, and at Coastal Community Bank at 16419 Smokey Point Blvd.

“There will be a midway with games and some concessions,” said chamber manager Mary Jane Harmon, “and we’ll have some food vendors as well.”

And the rides? Butler is bringing some of the most popular carnival rides, including the Zipper, the Scrambler, the Cyclone and the Tilt-a-Whirl. Kids’ rides include Goofyville, a crawl-through maze, the Galaxy Swing and, of course, a giant slide.

“Butler Amusements has an excellent safety record,” said Harmon. “They have rides for all ages.”

For more information, visit www.arlington-smokeypointchamber.com

Thanks to this Spanish town, your car could one day run on poop

Original image by Mark in DetroitFill ‘er up! — Original image by Mark in Detroit
Fill ‘er up!

Holly Richmond, Grist

Poop is good for a lot of things: throwing at your sister, lighting your neighborhood park, and powering everything from your house and spaceship to your nearest sewage plant and margarita machine (how that last one is different from a blender, I don’t know). And now Southwest Spain town Chiclana de la Frontera is adding “fueling your car” to that list.

It’s not as simple or quaint as just cramming crap into your fuel tank. Essentially, poopy water plus sunlight equals algae, which is the basis of the biofuel that actually runs your car. According to Reuters:

The project in Chiclana, called All-gas to sound like “algas” or seaweed in Spanish, seeks to … [become] the first municipal wastewater plant using cultivated algae as a source for biofuel.

While industries such as breweries or paper mills have produced biogas from wastewater for their own energy needs, All-gas is the first to grow algae from sewage in a systematic way to produce a net export of bioenergy, including vehicle biofuel.

Adds Inhabitat:

[O]nce out of the pilot phase, the plant should be able to produce enough fuel to run 200 cars annually. On top of creating clean fuel, the plant is also cheaper than a conventional sewage plant, making it doubly good for the town.

In order to create the fuel, the plant requires a lot of land — about 10 football fields when all is said and done — and a lot of sunshine. Chiclana de la Frontera fits the bill perfectly because of its sunny location and abundant land. Other cities in southern Spain have their eye on the project, and at least 300 other small towns have been identified that would also be ideal sites for a plant.

Does this mean even poop is a cleaner energy source than coal? Because that’s pretty awesome.

The biggest oversight in Obama’s climate plan — and it’s a doozy

By David Roberts, Grist

I’ve mostly been offering modest praise for Obama’s climate plan, but there are some notable oversights. While it addresses U.S. coal-fired plants through EPA regulations, it neglects another, equally large aspect of the coal problem. Specifically, I’m talking about coal mining, leasing, transport, and export in the U.S. Northwest. There’s a bad situation there and it’s getting worse.

The Powder River Basin stretches across southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming. It is rich with high-sulfur (dirty) coal. Most of that coal is on public land, owned by you and me. What you and I are doing at the moment, via the Bureau of Land Management in the Department of the Interior, is leasing the mineral rights on those public lands to coal companies for pennies on the dollar.

Domestic demand for coal is declining (and will decline further once EPA regulations are in place), so what these coal companies want to do is start shipping the coal by rail to the West Coast and from there exporting it to China and other coal-hungry developing countries, where it sells for prices up to seven times higher than in the U.S.

It’s a sweet deal for the coal companies: buy low, sell high. But it’s a raw deal for everyone else and a disaster for the climate.

Joe Smyth has a great post about the rotten coal-leasing program here, and I wrote about the push for coal-export terminals here. There’s lots of background in those posts if you want it. In this post, I’ll mostly focus on the topic at hand, which is what Obama can and should do about it.

First, the coal-leasing program. A recent report from the Inspector General at Interior revealed that the program is (or rather, remains, after decades of corruption [PDF]) terribly run, with spotty enforcement, very little competitive bidding, disregard of rising exports, and prices that fall well below going market rates. Overall, writes The New York Times, the program’s failures “deprived taxpayers of almost $30 billion over the previous 30 years.”

The BLM says it has a “task force” looking into it, for whatever that’s worth. Obama should make it a priority to finally clean up that cesspool.

But he should go farther than that. The problem is not just that the public is leasing coal at below-market rates, it’s that market rates are too low. Coal markets do not currently internalize the costs imposed by carbon pollution (the “social cost of carbon”). Obama should insist that the social cost of carbon be integrated into the leasing program. That would more fairly balance the public’s interest in revenue from leases with its interest in a livable climate. Such a move would substantially reduce the the amount of coal leased on public land — as it should.

Second, coal exports. “Turning Cascadia into a conveyor belt for coal,” as KC Golden puts it, flies in the face of the region’s character as a nature-rich tourist destination and as a high-skill, high-tech hub. Dozens of new coal trains a day would thunder through the region’s small towns (and my beloved Seattle as well), making noise, clogging traffic, and spewing toxic dust. The coal would then be loaded on to giant, polluting ships in giant, polluting ports, turning the bucolic coastal towns where they are located into loud, dirty industrial hubs. All to ship coal the American public got scammed out of to China, where it will be burned and accelerate climate change.

It’s insane. And it’s running into resistance that may prove fatal. Three of the six proposed coal export terminals have been scrapped and the others face serious problems. Delay alone could kill the remaining ports, as there are signs that China’s demand for coal may fall short of expectations. News of slowing Chinese growth is part of what sent coal stocks tumbling the other day.

What’s needed is a comprehensive environmental assessment of the whole network of coal leases, trains, and ports, an assessment that includes the effects on carbon emissions. (Preliminary analysis shows that — shocker — exporting the coal would raise carbon emissions [PDF].) Only the feds can do that kind of analysis. The governors of both Washington and Oregon have asked the feds for one, as have mayors, members of Congress, and activists. But just the other day, the Army Corps of Engineers refused (again). That’s Obama’s corps. He should kick their asses into gear and get a comprehensive assessment underway.

Remember what Obama said about Keystone: “Our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.” How does turning over one of the world’s biggest dirty coal fields to private companies for cheap not exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution?

Of course it does. Digging up and burning that Powder River Basin coal will put enough carbon in the atmosphere to undo all of Obama’s other climate work.

If Obama really believes, as he proclaimed on Tuesday, that increasing climate pollution is not in the nation’s interests, then he needs to get serious about stopping coal leasing and coal exports in the Northwest.

Biomass energy: The bad apple in Obama’s renewable energy barrel

Source: Partnership for Policy Integrity

At last, President Obama has tackled climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a major speech. Recognizing that power plants are a huge source of unchecked CO₂, the President is directing EPA to complete CO₂ emission standards for new and existing power plants. Given that reducing emissions will require replacing a significant amount of fossil-fueled power generation with carbon neutral renewable power, clean energy advocates wonder what the Administration’s plans mean for biomass energy, the combustion of biological materials in power plants, instead of fossil fuels.

We already know what EPA is considering as a standard for new fossil fueled power plants – 1,000 pounds of CO₂ per megawatt-hour (MWh), a standard that is difficult if not impossible for a coal plant to meet. What about biomass energy? Start with the simple fact that a biomass power plant emits about 3,000 lb of CO₂ per MWh, far more than even a coal plant. Beyond that, the biomass power plants being built in the US are primarily wood-burners, with a typical 50 MW facility (tiny by coal plant standards) burning the equivalent of millions of trees per year. Cutting forests for fuel degrades forest carbon uptake, and transporting wood fuel takes hundreds of trucks per week, driven thousands of miles, belching more CO₂ and pollution. Claims that stack emissions from burning biomass don’t matter – that the CO₂ is eventually neutralized by forest regrowth, or that “waste” wood burned as fuel would have eventually decomposed and emitted the CO₂ anyway – are nothing more than assumptions, and unrealistic ones at that, considering that last summer the US got a taste of the climate-to-come, experiencing record-breaking temperatures, extreme weather events and massive forest fires.

Even under the best case scenario, where forests are left alone to regrow for decades after being cut for biomass fuel, current modeling and science shows that it takes several decades to neutralize the extra CO₂ emitted a biomass power plant. No serious climate scientist believes we can afford to wait decades to reduce emissions, and no serious policy-maker should promote investing billions of dollars into biomass energy infrastructure, with its deferred and hypothetical benefits of carbon reductions that are decades off, alongside wind and solar, where the reduction in CO₂ emissions occurs right away.

Massachusetts recognized that biomass power plants increase emissions instead of reducing them, and took low-efficiency biomass energy out of the State’s renewable portfolio. The fact that wood-burning power plants are still considered “renewable” energy sources in the rest of the country is a testimony to the biomass industry’s lobbying clout. With CO₂ emissions standards for power plants finally on the Administration’s radar, however, claims that biomass energy benefits the climate may finally bump up against reality.

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PTSD Awareness Day: Resources for Native Vets

Indian Country Today Media Network

In order to bring greater awareness to the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the United States Senate designated June 27 as National PTSD Awareness Day. In addition, June has been designated as PTSD Awareness Month by the National Center for PTSD.

According to the PTSD Foundation of America, one in three service members returning from deployment will suffer from severe post-traumatic stress. Fewer than forty percent will seek help. The overall lack of understanding, awareness and available treatment options in this country is a national disgrace.

Following trauma, including combat service, most people experience stress reactions but many do not develop PTSD. Mental health experts are not sure why some people develop PTSD and others do not. However, if stress reactions do not improve over time and they disrupt everyday life, help should be sought to determine if PTSD is a factor.

The purpose of PTSD Awareness Day and Month is to encourage everyone to raise public awareness of PTSD and its effective treatments so that everyone can help people affected by PTSD.

National Center for PTSD

All veterans and their family members should visit the National Center’s website, P tsd .va.gov. The abundant resources on the site can tell you about PTSD, where to get help and how to help someone who may suffer from the disorder.

Veterans Health Administration AboutFace

Learn about PTSD from Veterans who live with it every day. Hear their stories. Find out how treatment turned their lives around, go to AboutFace www.ptsd.va.gov/AboutFace. Also see the PTSD video playlist to hear veterans share their stories of recovery and growth and g>et answers from professionals about PTSD treatments that can help. For the YouTube video playlist click here.

Center for Health Reporting

Read the study War leaves PTSD scars on Native American vets

ABC News on Tohono O’odham Nation’s Harrowing Mexican-Border War

Indian Country Today Media Network

As the immigration debate heats up in Congress, the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona is caught in the crossfire. The tribe’s reservation borders Mexico but has one of the least-policed barriers on the entire imaginary line that separates Mexico from its northern neighbor.

With newer measures to keep out undocumented immigrants being augmented along other parts of the border, the attention of drug smugglers, human traffickers and would-be immigrants themselves is becoming more focused on this relatively unprotected stretch. ABC’s Nightline edition at 12:35 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Friday June 28 profiles the border that “has made life a daily hell for a tribe of Native Americans,” as ABC News reports. The

“While border-crossing apprehensions in Arizona are down 43 percent from two years ago, it is a different, more complicated story on the Tohono O’odham Nation,” ABC News says. “Drug seizures on the reservation are steadily climbing—nearly 500,000 pounds of marijuana was seized last year, a number that has nearly doubled since 2010. Recently, Tohono O’odham police seized copy million worth of marijuana in just one week.”

Watch the full report on ABC, or catch it online.

Read In Efforts to Secure US-Mexico Border, Ariz. Native Americans Feel Caught in the Middle at ABC News.com.

Two American Indians Named to US Census National Advisory Committee

Native News Network Staff

WASHINGTON – The US Census Bureau Wednesday announced 10 new members of its National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations. Among the ten were two American Indians who were named to the Committee. They are Desi Small Rodriguez, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Timothy Harjo from the Fort Sill-Chiricahua Apache Tribe.

Desi Small Rodriguez – Northern Cheyenne Tribe

Small-Rodriguez was raised on the reservation in Lame Deer, Mont. Her Cheyenne name is Muksheha, Bear-Mint-Woman. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degree from Stanford University and has extensive local, regional and international experience with demography and economic policy in indigenous and rural contexts. Before returning home to serve her tribe, Small-Rodriguez served as a tribal researcher for the Waikato-Tainui Maori Tribe and as a senior policy analyst at the Ministry of Maori Development on developing tribal census and stewarding population measurement projects. Small-Rodriguez is committed to using data to strengthen tribal sovereignty and empower indigenous communities. She serves as a consultant to indigenous tribes in the United States and internationally on tribal data and policy development. Additionally, she has developed work for the National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center related to research regulation in tribal contexts that informed the creation of a document titled, -Developing a Community-Based Research Orientation in Tribal Contexts.-

Over the last 10 years, Harjo has worked for many tribal governments, law firms, courts, nonprofits and businesses on behalf of American Indian clients and or policy matters. During the 2010 Census, he served as a partnership team leader in the Los Angeles Regional Office, where he developed and supervised large American Indian outreach initiatives. His work required great knowledge of tribal government interests and required a good working relationship with local tribal offices.

The National Advisory Committee advises the Census Bureau on a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau’s programs and surveys, including the once a decade census. The committee, which is comprised of 32 members from multiple disciplines, advises the Census Bureau on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation issues.

“The committee has helped us meet emerging challenges the Census Bureau faces in producing high quality statistics about our diverse nation,”

said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director.

“By helping us better understand a variety of issues that affect statistical measurement, this committee ensures that the Census Bureau continues to provide relevant and timely statistics used by federal, state and local governments as well as business and industry in an increasingly technologically oriented society.”

The National Advisory Committee members, who serve at the discretion of the Census Bureau director, are chosen to serve based on their expertise and knowledge of the cultural patterns, issues and/or statistical needs of “hard to count” populations. The new members will be seated on August 1.

posted June 27, 2013 9:50 am edt

Eric Eugene Lindhorst

Eric Eugene Lindhorst was born on November 21, 1969 in Santa Barbara, California and went home to be with his Lord on June 22, 2013. Eric was a loving and caring man remembered for his quick wit and sense of humor. He was most always found with a fishing pole in his hand or on the back of a dirt bike.
Eric leaves behind his mother and father, Carrol and Wayne Lindhorst; his daughter, Makena “Alexxus” Compoc; his sons, Andrew, Eric and Christian Lindhorst and Anthony Fryberg. He leaves behind his sister, Niki Lindhorst; and brothers, Tony Perry (Lori) and Shawn (Noelle) and Britt (Jeannie) Lindhorst. He also leaves behind to mourn his passing, Leonie Lindhorst, Karri Curtis and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Ross and Margaret Lindhorst and Clarence and Evelyn Moser.
Services were held at Tulalip Church of God (Little Red Church) on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 at 10 a.m.
Services entrusted by Schaefer-Shipman Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Tulalip Cedar Taskforce in memory of Erik Lindhorst, 6406 Marine Dr., Tulalip, WA 98271.

Director of Ecology talks water quality, toxic cleanups

Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Maia Bellon, director of the Washington State Department of Ecology, addresses the Tribal Habitat Conference in Port Angeles, discussing the state’s role in toxic cleanups, water quality and human health indicators among other issues.

Maia Bellon addresses Tribal Habitat Conference from NW Indian Fisheries Commission on Vimeo.