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Sacred ground for sale at Wounded Knee

The Oglala Sioux Tribe is interested in the land — if it’s fairly priced

Peter Harriman, (Sioux Falls, S.D.) Argus Leader

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A tragic piece of South Dakota history known worldwide is for sale.

Eighty acres of the Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark, the site where hundreds of Lakota Indians were massacred by U.S. soldiers on Dec. 29, 1890, is being offered up for $3.9 million.

It’s not the first time the land has been put on the market by owner James A. Czywczynski and his family, and the Oglala Sioux Tribe would like to acquire the property and possibly build a museum on the site. But the steep asking price makes the deal a virtual nonstarter for the tribe, one official said.

“Every year or two it comes up,” and the price escalates, said Craig Dillon, a member of the tribal council who serves on its lands and economic development committees.

When he first started on the council, the asking price for the Wounded Knee land was about $1.3 million, Dillon said.

“I believe the tribe would be interested in it if it was fairly priced,” he added. “There is some history there. We’ve discussed it more than once. I will not tell you it is off the table. But $3 million is a lot of money.”

The land offered for sale does not include the Sacred Heart Cemetery and Wounded Knee Memorial, where an estimated 150 of the more than 300 victims of the massacre are buried. Land on South Dakota reservations was given by the federal government to churches for their mission efforts. The cemetery at Wounded Knee falls into this category and exists in a no-man’s land of ownership. The tribe does not hold title to it, and the cemetery is maintained by the Wounded Knee Survivors Association, Dillon said.

But the land Czywczynski wants to sell would include the site of the former Wounded Knee trading post that figured in the 1973 occupation that focused worldwide attention on South Dakota, and it includes the low hills and the wide, shallow draws where the 1890 killings occurred.

The land resonates with Native American, South Dakota and national history because of the significance of both the massacre and the American Indian Movement occupation 83 years later.

The 1890 killings of more than 300 Minneconju and Hunkpapa Lakota who had traveled to the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota to spend the winter with the Oglalas marked the bloody end of tribal independence and traditional lifestyle.

The occupation, meanwhile, was a major driver in the renewal of tribal sovereignty and the rebirth of interest in traditional tribal culture.

The National Park Service named the 1890 Wounded Knee battlefield a national historic landmark in 1966.

For owner, ‘time for our family to sell’

Czywczynski, who lives in Rapid City, S.D., told the Native Sun News in a copyright story this week that “it is time for our family to sell the land. We would really like to see the land returned to the Lakota people, and that is why I am giving them an opportunity to purchase the land before I open it up to others for sale.”

But Czywczynski also made it known to the Native Sun News that he does have other interested buyers who are non-Native. “I could sell the property to someone from outside the tribe, but I really do not want to do that,” he said.

Dillon, meanwhile, said that in his 15 years on the council, he regularly has seen the Czywczynski family offer to sell the land to the tribe. According to Dillon, the tribe holds the upper hand in negotiations because it owns all the land around the Czywczynski property.

“It’s landlocked by tribal ground. It doesn’t mean anybody can just buy it and move in tomorrow,” Dillon said.

Czywczynski could not be reached for comment by the (Sioux Falls, S.D.) Argus Leader.

What’s history worth? Determining land values

The question embedded in the $3.9 million asking price for the Wounded Knee land and the tribe’s reluctance to pay it is this: What is history worth?

Aside from its historical significance, the land is mostly grassland, and that typically sells for far less than $48,750 an acre in Shannon County. That’s how much the tribe would pay per acre if officials agreed to Czywczynski’s price.

Susie Hayes is the Fall River County director of equalization, and her county performs the administrative work for Shannon County.

A ranch consisting of 3,238 acres of grassland and 500 acres of cropland went for $2.8 million. “That seems to be a fairly good sale, within the ballpark,” she said.

For its part, the tribe has set aside $1 million for land buys this year, Dillon said, and it could be persuaded to pay more than the market average to buy the Wounded Knee property.

“I don’t mind paying a little more because of the location,” he said. “I would love for us to get a state-of-the-art museum out there. It could be a real shot in the arm for the tribe and for the Wounded Knee District.”

The massacre was in large measure sparked because government officials feared that the emergence of tribal Ghost Dance ceremonies signaled a coming renewal of war between tribes and the United States. A Ghost Dance shirt from the era has been returned to the tribe, “and we have a lot of other artifacts that could go into a museum,” Dillon said.

Standoff in 1973 was catalyst for change

The 1973 occupation also is worthy of memorializing, said Clyde Bellecourt who, along with Dennis Banks, co-founded the American Indian Movement in 1968. Five years later, when members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe complained to AIM leaders in Minneapolis about a reign of terror at Pine Ridge conducted by the tribal government that was unchecked by federal officials, “we responded to that call. We said we will come out here and see what we can do,” Bellecourt said.

After two days of hearings at Pine Ridge and 1,500 complaints from residents, Bellecourt said, AIM activists formed a caravan and drove about 15 miles to Wounded Knee to seize it. Its trading post and Catholic church were potent symbols of government and societal subjugation of the tribes.

Federal and state law enforcement officials responded by surrounding Wounded Knee, and the 71-day siege that followed brought international attention to the rampant poverty on reservations. It also emboldened tribes to reassert their sovereign status and prompted tribal people to try to reclaim their cultural heritage.

For many, the massacre, the occupation and the national significance of the site are good reasons to safeguard it and to develop it for historical interpretation.

“If the opportunity came to buy it, the tribe would jump on that,” Dillon said of acquiring the Czywczynski property. But because the tribe controls access, it can ensure no unwanted development takes place, and part of the history between tribes such as the Oglalas and the dominant society is enduring the lengthy passage of time until good things are accomplished.

When it comes to adding to its land holdings at Wounded Knee, Dillon said, “we can play the waiting game as long as anybody can.”

US clergy victims make demands of new pope

By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press

Associated Press/Nick Ut - Ken Smolka, 70, who alleges he was molested in 1958 by a Jesuit priest, poses at his home Friday March 15, 2013 in Glendora, Calif. The election of a new pope could help heal the wounds left by a Roman Catholic sex abuse crisis that has savaged the church's reputation worldwide. For alleged victims, much depends on whether Pope Francis disciplines the priests and the hierarchy that protected them. (AP Photo/Nick Ut ) — Associated Press/Nick Ut – Ken Smolka, 70, who alleges he was molested in 1958 by a Jesuit priest, poses at his home Friday March 15, 2013 in Glendora, Calif. The election of a new pope could help heal the wounds left by a Roman Catholic sex abuse crisis that has savaged the church’s reputation worldwide. For alleged victims, much depends on whether Pope Francis disciplines the priests and the hierarchy that protected them. (AP Photo/Nick Ut )

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Most Roman Catholics are rejoicing at the election of Pope Francis, but alleged victims of clergy abuse in the U.S. are demanding swift and bold actions from the new Jesuit pontiff: Defrock all molester priests and the cardinals who covered up for them, formally apologize, and release all confidential church files.

Adding to their distrust are several multi-million dollar settlements the Jesuits paid out in recent years, including $166 million to more than 450 Native Alaskan and Native American abuse victims in 2011 for molestation at Jesuit-run schools across the Pacific Northwest. The settlement bankrupted the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus. The order also paid $14 million to settle nine California cases.

“I would like to see this pope stand up and say to those cardinals, ‘You need to square this away and change everything that was covered up,’ ” said Ken Smolka, a 70-year-old retired actor who claimed in a lawsuit he was abused as a teen by a Jesuit priest. “You need to get them on their knees, and let them spend the rest of their lives on their knees praying for the victims.”

Pope Francis, who has already set the tone for a new era of humility and compassion, is likely to be sensitive to the plight of clergy abuse victims and aware of the need to work with the worldwide church to prevent more abuse, said Christopher Ruddy, an associate professor at Catholic University of America. Meting out punishment to individual cardinals, however, is much less likely, Ruddy said.

“My sense is that if a bishop really wanted to dig in his heels, it would be very difficult to get him to resign. We have this idea that the pope says something, and everybody just leaps. It doesn’t really work that way,” Ruddy said. “The bishops themselves have certain rights under church law and they have authority, so that’s a hard thing to talk about.”

The new pontiff, who comes from Latin America where the clergy abuse scandal has been more muted, will likely lean on the American cardinals for advice when it comes to handling the crisis – particularly Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who was instrumental in setting up a meeting between alleged victims and Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.

O’Malley himself voiced confidence in Pope Francis’ willingness to address the clergy abuse crisis at a news conference in Rome.

“This is a man who has a great sense of mission, and he values transparency,” O’Malley said Thursday. “He will further the process of healing.”

Alleged victims said that while that is their hope, they will nonetheless scrutinize the new pontiff and his actions.

Elsie Boudreau, a Yup’ik Eskimo, was abused for nine years by a Jesuit priest in a tiny village in northern Alaska.

She settled her case in 2005 and now works as a social worker helping 300 other sex abuse victims in Alaska. She has since learned that Vatican officials had been aware of her alleged abuser since before she was born, she said.

“If Pope Francis were to defrock him and all the other perpetrator priests and all those who covered up the crimes and send a clear message to everybody else in the church I would be like, ‘Hmm, OK, there could be a change,”’ said Boudreau, 45, who now lives in Anchorage. “But I don’t believe that will ever happen. There’s no track record.”

Other alleged victims called on Pope Francis to order the release of all confidential records on pedophile priests to cleanse the church and make amends.

Some of those files have been made public through litigation and released under court order, including in Los Angeles where a judge ordered more than 10,000 pages of priest personnel files be made public in January after a five-year legal battle over privacy rights.

In many other dioceses, however, alleged victims still don’t know everything the church knew about their abusers.

“The pope has an opportunity to bring about true justice, change, and transformation in a church torn from scandal and the rape of children,” said Billy Kirchen, who is one of 550 plaintiffs fighting to see files from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. “Real change has to come from the pope.”

Other abuse victims said they were disgusted that cardinals who covered up abuse helped elect the next pope.

Michael Duran, a 40-year-old special education teacher from Los Angeles, said Pope Francis’ elevation is tainted because of their presence. Duran and three others settled with the Los Angeles archdiocese earlier this week for nearly $10 million over childhood abuse by the Rev. Michael Baker.

Recently released confidential files show Baker met privately with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony in 1986 and confessed to molesting children, but he was put back in the ministry for 14 years, where he abused again. Authorities believe Baker, who was convicted in 2007 and paroled in 2011, may have molested more than 20 children in his 26-year career.

If Pope Francis did take action against any U.S. cardinals, it would be a departure from the way his predecessors addressed the clergy abuse crisis.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II issued a decree saying all clergy abuse cases needed to be funneled through the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith – then headed by the future Pope Benedict XVI.

In 2002, in his strongest comments about the unfolding scandal, Pope John Paul II denounced U.S. bishops for the American clergy abuse crisis after summoning them to Rome for a special meeting. He said there was “no place in the priesthood … for those who would harm the young.”

In 2003 and 2004, he approved changes to canon law to allow the Vatican to quickly defrock abusive priests without cumbersome internal trials.

Given the progressive decline in his health, however, it is widely presumed that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – the future Pope Benedict XVI – was the architect of those measures in his role as head of the Vatican department that handled petitions to defrock abusive clergy.

Earlier this year, the Vatican’s new sex crimes prosecutor, quoting Benedict, said the church must recognize the “grave errors in judgment that were often committed by the church’s leadership.” He added that bishops must report abusive priests to police where the law requires it. The comments came days after the release of the Los Angeles confidential files.

Now, with a new pope, victims in the U.S. hope more change is coming.

“If it’s not this pope who will do it, maybe it will be another one,” said Molly Harding, of Spokane, Wash., who waited 40 years to come forward about her abuse at a San Gabriel, Calif., school.

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Associated Press writers contributing to this report include Nicole Winfield in Rome; Mike Warren in Buenos Aires; Donna Blankinship in Seattle; Matt Volz in Helena, Mont.; Jay Lindsay in Boston; Dinesh Ramde in Milwaukee, Wis.

Chaske Spencer: A Native Actor Who Left Addiction Behind

By Carol Berry, Indian Country Today Media Network

Chaske Spencer is known for his alpha wolf portrayal in The Twilight Saga, but many people aren’t aware that he’s also an activist speaking out against the addictions that almost took his life.

“I know a higher power led me to where I am now,” he said, describing the Red Road way of life as “the way I try to center myself” after years of drinking and abusing drugs. Temptation is also a fact of life in Hollywood, where “it’s crazy.”

Spencer gave an address January 30 on the urban campus of Metropolitan State University of Denver, Community College of Denver and the University of Colorado – Denver (UCD) under the sponsorship of UCD’ s Native American Student Organization.

Spencer is a spokesman for United Global Shift, an organization focusing on the environment, employment, entrepreneurship, health and education. Sensing a serious water shortage in the future, for example, he praised innovative programs around water recycling.

Chaske Spencer speaking in Denver on January 30. Photo by Carol Berry.

But although he often talks about the environment and empowering and creating sustainable Native communities, when addressing youth he sometimes focuses on substance abuse and the role it plays in the “horrific” violence, drugs, and alcoholism on some reservations.

Spencer, a member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, went to New York City to pursue photography, but began getting acting parts and took bartending and catering gigs between acting lessons and performances.

He had a part in the movie Skins before he developed an addiction to cocaine and heroin that finally led him to become a self-described crackhead, an addict who would “steal from you, would rob you” for drug money.

His career today, with the Twilight Saga’s success, is a far cry from the days when he’d show up to auditions drunk and high, and lose out. “The acting god smiled on me that [Twilight audition] day,” he said, adding he believes that getting the part was a “gift because I got sober.”

After treatment, which also involved healing from Indian country’s hurtful past, “I started to put myself into service,” he said. “I had a spirituality—when I got clean, I needed something. I got into Sun Dance; if you walk that Red Road it’s a very strict and humbling road and it’s a hard life,” requiring sacrifice to “try to be of service” and “love everybody.”

But he accepted the hardship, he said, as he recalls a medicine man telling him, “It’s all about love—it really is.”

Tribes plan for worst with looming budget cuts

When it comes to the automatic spending cuts that began taking effect this month, federal lawmakers spared programs that serve the nation’s most vulnerable – such as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ assistance – from hard hits.

By Felicia Fonseca, Seattle Times

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — When it comes to the automatic spending cuts that began taking effect this month, federal lawmakers spared programs that serve the nation’s most vulnerable – such as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ assistance – from hard hits.

That wasn’t the case with programs for American Indian reservations, where unemployment is far above the national average, women suffer disproportionately from sexual assaults, and school districts largely lack a tax base to make up for the cuts.

The federal Indian Health Service, which serves 2.1 million tribal members, says it would be forced to slash its number of patient visits by more than 800,000 per year. Tribal programs under the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs that fund human services, law enforcement, schools, economic development and natural resources stand to lose almost $130 million under the cuts, according to the National Congress of American Indians.

“We will see significant impacts almost immediately,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told The Associated Press, referring to the BIA. “We will have to furlough some employees. It will mean that there’s going to be a slowing down of the processing of applications and so there will be an impact on the work that the BIA does on behalf of Indian Country.”

The timing and magnitude of most of the cuts are uncertain as Congress looks for a way to keep the government operating beyond March 27 with no budget in place. In the meantime, tribes across the country are preparing for the worst.

Some are better-positioned than others.

In northwestern New Mexico’s McKinley County, where about a third of the population lives below the federal poverty level, the Gallup-McKinley County School District is facing a $2 million hit. The cuts could result in job losses and more crowded classrooms. The district that draws mostly Navajo students from reservation land not subject to state property taxes relies heavily on federal funding to pay its teachers and provide textbooks to students.

“To me, it seems very unfair that one of the poorest counties with one of highest Native enrollment in the country has to be impacted the most by sequestration,” said district superintendent Ray Arsenault. “We are very poor, we’re very rural, and it’s going to hurt us much more.”

The district faced enormous public pressure when it wanted to close schools on the Navajo Nation due to budget shortfalls, so it won’t go that route under looming cuts, Arsenault said. Instead, he would look to reduce his 1,800 employees by 200 – mostly teachers – and add a handful of students to each classroom.

The Red Lake Band Of Chippewa Indians in northern Minnesota expects 22 jobs, mostly in law enforcement, will be lost immediately. Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. said police already operate at a level considered unsafe by the BIA. Deeper cuts forecast for later this year will increase job losses to 39, and “public safety operations at Red Lake will collapse,” he said.

On the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota, a new $25 million, 67,500-square foot jail that was to provide cultural and spiritual wellness programs for tribal members charged with crimes sits empty. The annual operating budget of $5 million would be reduced to around $840,000 because of the automatic budget cuts, said jail administrator Melissa Eagle Bear.

“I don’t think this is intentional, but I do feel like it’s the government’s way of controlling things,” she said. “They definitely have control, and we’re going to keep going. … I know Indian people. We tend to survive off what resources we have.”

The National Indian Education Association said the cuts to federal impact aid will affect the operation of 710 schools that serve about 115,000 American Indian students. Those cuts would be immediate because the money is allocated in the same school year it is spent.

In Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation said it is well-poised to handle cuts to its diabetes, housing rehabilitation, Head Start and health care programs. The tribe put a freeze on nonessential hires and halted most travel and training for tribal employees. The tribe’s $600 million budget for services and programs comes largely from federal funds, but tribal businesses also post annual revenues in the same amount that have been used to fill in gaps, said Principal Chief Bill John Baker.

“What this really is going to boil down to mean is that there won’t be any new purchases, new equipment, and probably we’ll hold our programs but not be in a position to add new programs,” Baker said. “Luckily, we’re in pretty good shape.”

Baker and other tribal leaders have argued against the cuts, saying the federal government has a responsibility that dates back to the signing of treaties to protect American Indian people, their land and tribal sovereignty.

While food distribution, welfare programs and health care services that serve the needy are exempt from the cuts, similar services on reservations aren’t, said Amber Ebarb, a budget and policy analyst for the National Congress of American Indians.

“Tribes have too little political clout, too small numbers for those same protections to be applied,” she said. “I don’t think it’s the intent of any member of Congress. The ones we hear from, Republicans and Democrats who understand trust and treaty rights, think it’s outrageous that tribes are subject to these across-the-board cuts.”

Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona said he doesn’t believe Congress as a whole understands the potential impact to tribes and the duty that federal agencies have to meaningfully consult with them on major actions. He and Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska are urging their colleagues to spare those populations from automatic budget cuts, particularly when it comes to health care.

“It’s not about creating a niche for American Indians. It’s about addressing areas in which need is great,” Grijalva said.

Clara Pratte, director of the Navajo Nation’s Washington, D.C., office, said regardless of the outcome of the budget talks, tribal leaders should press Congress to make funding for Indian programs mandatory, not discretionary.

Nearly two-thirds of the Navajo Nation’s $456 million budget comes from federal sources that go to public safety, education, health and human services, roads and infrastructure. The tribe is facing up to $30 million in automatic budget cuts.

“A lot of these programs go to people that cannot lift themselves up by their bootstraps,” Pratte said. “I’m talking about grandmas, grandpas, kids under the age of 10. We can’t very well expect them to go to work.”

International Wildlife Trade Group Votes to Protect Hundreds of Species

Shawn Heinrichs for the Pew Environment GroupSharks are so coveted throughout Asia for their fins that a good 30 percent of the world's species are in danger of extinction.Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/14/international-wildlife-trade-group-votes-protect-hundreds-species-148190 — Shawn Heinrichs for the Pew Environment Group
Sharks are so coveted throughout Asia for their fins that a good 30 percent of the world’s species are in danger of extinction.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/03/14/international-wildlife-trade-group-votes-protect-hundreds-species-148190

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

In its final plenary vote, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) formalized the protection of hundreds of species, including manta rays and five species of shark, at its closing session in Bangkok on March 14.

It brings to eight the number of shark species that fall under CITES protection, The New York Times reported. Trade in two species of manta ray is also protected.

“This is a major win for some of the world’s most threatened shark species, with action now required to control the international trade in their fins,” said Susan Lieberman, director of international environment policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts in a statement. “This victory indicates that the global community will collaborate to address the plight of some of the most highly vulnerable sharks and manta ray species. Today was the most significant day for the ocean in the 40-year history of CITES.”

The Pew Charitable Trusts has dubbed 2013 the Year of the Shark to bring attention to the danger that these marine animals are in worldwide. Shark fins, meat, gill plates and aquarium animals are in high demand, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which has 143 shark species on its endangered list.

“The rising demand for shark fins, shark meat, gill plates, and aquarium animals is seriously threatening the survival of these species,” the IUCN said in a statement after the vote. “Up to 1.2 million oceanic whitetip sharks, which are fished for their large and distinctive fins, pass through the markets of Southeast Asia every year, and over 4,000 manta rays are harpooned for their gills.”

The manta rays are harvested for their gill rakers, which filter their food from the water and are used in an Asian health tonic, Pew said.

In all, hundreds of species were awarded protection, CITES said in a statement, among them rhinos and elephants, which have been hunted nearly to extinction by poachers. A U.S.–sponsored ban on trading polar bear parts was defeated, in a move that was lauded by Inuit peoples.

Two thirds of CITES’ 177 member governments and organizations voted in favor of the shark and ray protections. The international body meets every three years to discuss the preservation of 35,000 species, its delegates representing 178 governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations and indigenous groups, according to the Associated Press.

United Way Recognizes Winners of Community Caring Awards

Mayor Jon Nehring of Marysville, the incoming chair of the United Way campaign joins Bob Throckmorton and Joyce Eleanor, both of Community Transit. Eleanor, CEO of Community Transit, chaired the just completed 2012 Campaign. (Photo Credit: William Wright for United Way of Snohomish County)

Press Release, United Way

(Everett, WA) – On Wednesday, March 6 almost 600 representatives of Snohomish County companies, nonprofits, school districts and government agencies celebrated the close of the 2012 Community Caring Campaign at an awards dinner hosted by United Way of Snohomish County.

After three years of seeing revenues hold steady despite difficult economic times, this year’s campaign saw a slight increase in revenue. The United Way Community Caring campaign includes contributions to the various United Way campaigns, the Combined Federal Campaign and the Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound.

“We so appreciate that Snohomish County always works together as a community.” said Dr. Dennis Smith, the organization’s president and CEO. “It’s a testament to our County’s caring and can-do spirit.”

Although United Way is also raising money for its endowment, is actively seeking grants and works with policymakers to leverage state and federal dollars, the annual campaign through various worksites continues to be the group’s primary source of revenue. Final numbers for the year will be reported in July.

“United Way was able to help hundreds of thousands individuals in Snohomish County because the community is able to come together behind the goals of ensuring that our kids are ready to learn, that families have financial stability and our community as a whole is healthy,” said Joyce Eleanor, CEO of Community Transit and chair of the 2012 Campaign.

In addition to several of its own initiatives, United Way supports 102 programs through 39 local nonprofits touching the lives of 330,000 people each year.

The top organizational award of the evening, the President’s Award was a tie, given to Fluke Corporation and United Parcel Service. The top individual award, the Executives of the Year Awards, were given to Phil McConnell of Work Opportunities and Jerry Goodwin of Senior Aerospace AMT, Absolute Manufacturing and Damar AeroSystems

The largest contributions came from The Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound ($1.86 million) and The Boeing Company ($800,000) – co-winners of the Premier Partner Award.

With the close of the 2012 campaign year, the community thanked Joyce Eleanor for her leadership of the campaign welcomed Mayor Jon Nehring of Marysville as the 2013 Campaign Chair.

Event sponsors included The Boeing Company and AT&T; Union Bank; The Everett Clinic, Jamco America, Inc. and Providence Regional Medical Center Everett; Fluke Corporation and Puget Sound Energy; The Herald, Comcast and Stadium Flowers.

Here is a full list of award winners:

President’s Award

Fluke Corporation

United Parcel Service

Executive of the Year Award

Phil McConnell, Work Opportunities

Jerry Goodwin, Senior Aerospace AMT, Absolute Manufacturing and Damar AeroSystems

Premier Partner Award

The Boeing Company

Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound

Employee Campaign Manager of the Year Award

Tess Hernandez, Work Opportunities

Jessica Aldecoa and Gem Malone, B/E Aerospace

Nicole Allard and Laurie Ollestad-Adams, Aviation Technical Services, Inc.

Positive Change Award

Everett Public Schools

Jamco America, Inc.

Premera Blue Cross

Local Community Hero Award

Vine Dahlen PLLC

Target – Marysville

Tulalip Gaming Organization

Labor Partnership Award

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1576

IAM & AW Local 130

Best New Campaign

American Girl

United Way is a community impact organization serving Snohomish County for more than 70 years. In addition to funding 102 programs through 39 agencies with a special focus on local health and human services, United Way of Snohomish County supports a number of initiatives focusing on early learning and education, financial stability for families, a youth program, North Sound 211 and an emerging initiative in survival English.

A&T repair lab teaches computer skills

By Kirk Boxleitner, The Marysville Globe

Kirk BoxleitnerMarysville Arts & Technology High School junior Mason Totten examines the inner workings of a malfunctioning laptop during the school’s repair lab class. — Kirk Boxleitner
Marysville Arts & Technology High School junior Mason Totten examines the inner workings of a malfunctioning laptop during the school’s repair lab class.

MARYSVILLE — A project that began with six students two years ago now sprawls into three separate class periods of budding techies looking to test their skills while helping out others.

The computer repair lab at the Marysville Arts & Technology High School started up so near the end of the 2010-11 school year that it became a summer project, as students volunteered to fix up malfunctioning but ultimately serviceable machines for the One Laptop Per Child nonprofit charitable campaign, which provides affordable educational devices to the developing world.

Paul LaGrange, the computer applications teacher for the Marysville Arts & Technology High School, explained that his students’ work on behalf of OLPC soon expanded to providing low- and no-cost repair services to members of the local community, not only to give the students in-class opportunities for hands-on applications of what they’re learning about computers, but also to benefit their neighbors.

“This is a student leadership class,” LaGrange said. “They run everything. I exist so that they can have a room to work in. They’re learning how to build websites and program and do graphic design.”

John David Pressman, a junior in the class, explains how the repair lab works with an enthusiasm and exhaustive degree of detail that can only be described as relentless. While he appreciates being able to send computers to those in need in Ghana and Guatemala and Liberia through OLPC, he’s noticed one recurring fault in many of the malfunctioning OLPC machines that he’s needed to fix.

“Your computer’s clock runs off a separate power source, like a really big watch battery,” Pressman said. “Those clocks have to be fed that power all the time, or else they’ll reset to Jan. 1, 1970, which is the Linux default. The problem with that is that the computer can’t process any files whose dates are in the past or in the future, so when you turn it on, it says, ‘I’m dying here,’ and just hangs on the boot screen.”

The computers he’s received from the community offer a far broader diversity of challenges, although one memorable PC tower appeared not only to have been corroded, but also assembled in an entirely counterintuitive way.

“It wasn’t the user’s fault,” Pressman said. “The manufacturer had its insides not following any standard. They put the hard drive on top of the battery, which is the hottest part of the machine.”

While Pressman is thinking he’ll probably go into software programming instead after graduation, fellow juniors such as Christian Bakken and Joel Scott are already planning on studying applied electrical engineering and computer science in college.

“I’m always finding out something new here,” Scott said. “It broadens my knowledge base, and it feels good to give back to people.”

While Mason Totten, also a junior, suspects he’ll mainly pursue computer repair as a side-hobby as an adult, he expressed a similarly altruistic sentiment about his work.

“Everyone deserves to be able to access as much information as they can,” Totten said. “Hopefully, this will allow them to explore the Internet.”

At the same time, Scott and Bakken aren’t above relishing those occasions when computer owners donate their malfunctioning machines, rather than asking for them to be repaired and returned, because such computers become the subjects of their own experiments.

“Donated computers are as exciting as Christmas presents,” Bakken said. “We’ve even made a Frankenstein new computer entirely out of spare parts.”

While the students are happy to pitch in for the community, LaGrange pointed out that their work is not inexpensive, and welcomed members of the community to contact him at paul_lagrange@msvl.k12.wa.us about making donations of their own.

Forum looks at human trafficking

By Kirk Boxleitner, The Marysville Globe

Kirk BoxleitnerBrian Taylor, a detective with the SeaTac Police Department, urges parents at the Marysville-Pilchuck High School auditorium to monitor their children’s online activity to prevent them from being victimized. — Kirk Boxleitner
Brian Taylor, a detective with the SeaTac Police Department, urges parents at the Marysville-Pilchuck High School auditorium to monitor their children’s online activity to prevent them from being victimized.

MARYSVILLE — Soroptimist International of Marysville and the Marysville PTA Council again sought to make the Marysville community aware that sex trafficking exists not just overseas or in other parts of America, but also right here in the Puget Sound region.

Brian Taylor, a detective with the SeaTac Police Department, warned the parents attending the March 5 community forum, in the Marysville-Pilchuck High School auditorium, that pimps like to recruit girls into prostitution when they’re young and vulnerable.

“I guarantee these guys hang out around your schools, during sporting events and plays, trying to romance these young ladies,” Taylor said. “They’re generally older and they like to flash their cash. They’re psychopaths, but smart.”

Taylor described how one 29-year-old pimp first met a 14-year-old girl at the mall, and groomed her through months of successive visits, before finally provoking the girl’s father into a fight, and then making himself look like the victim of unprovoked violence from her father when she caught sight of the fight, to win her sympathies.

“He introduced her to three other girls and told her, ‘You can live with us,’” Taylor said. “He started beating her, and they traveled all around the country. He was finally indicted in Texas, and is serving 35 years in prison. These guys are smooth talkers who take their time.”

Taylor, who described himself as a strict father to a teenage daughter of his own, urged parents not to allow their children to have their computers in private areas, since pimps and other sexual predators use social media to prey upon vulnerable young girls.

“If these girls come from a home with no structure, they’ll welcome someone else’s structure, even if it’s abusive,” Taylor said. “It’s like Stockholm syndrome. It’s a trauma bond.”

Taylor was one of three police officers who founded the King County-based Genesis Project drop-in center for at-risk youth two years ago, and he proudly touted the fact that they’re about to be open 24 hours a day.

“King County has a number of nonprofits that work with at-risk youth,” said Elysa Hovard, outreach program supervisor for Cocoon House. “We’re the only one for 13- to 20-year-olds in Snohomish County.”

Lindsay Cortes, outreach worker for Cocoon House, listed a number of conditions that put youth at risk of sexual predation, including homelessness, lower socioeconomic standing, violence in the home, low self-esteem and an unstable living environment.

“These recurring compound traumas prevent them from bonding with people or feeling secure,” Cortes said. “They’ll often run to the first person who can give them some semblance of what they’re missing.”

Hovard explained the pimps’ tactics of changing the girls’ locations frequently, training them to distrust others and forcing them to take drugs, to make them physically and psychologically dependent. Cortes elaborated that the approach of agencies such as Cocoon House is to try and empower these victims, by providing a certain measure of confidentiality, promoting self-sufficiency and not treating them as perpetrators themselves for being recruited into prostitution.

“This is a huge issue, and we need to do more to address it,” Marysville Soroptimist Board member Elaine Hanson said at the conclusion of the community forum.

For more information, log onto www.cocoonhouse.org.

Indian Country Responds to the International Olympic Committee Putting Wrestling on the Chopping Block

By Vincent Shilling, Indian Country Today Media Network

Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Photo: AP/Paul Sancya

In February, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Switzerland announced that wrestling will likely be voted out of the Olympics. Wrestling has been a fixture of the Olympics since 708 B.C. and is considered by many to be the oldest competitive sport.

According to the Associated Press, the IOC reviewed the 26 sports listed on the current Olympic program and could eliminate wrestling–both freestyle and Greco-Roman–in a final vote later this year to make way for the inclusion of a new sport such as rugby or golf in the 2020 games. The IOC’s recent decision has drawn massive criticism in banning a sport that has long been connected to the Olympics and is even mentioned in the Bible.

“This is a process of renewing and renovating the program for the Olympics,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “In the view of the executive board, this was the best program for the Olympic Games in 2020. It’s not a case of what’s wrong with wrestling; it is what’s right with the 25 core sports.”

Wrestling was voted out from a final group that also included the modern pentathlon, taekwondo and field hockey. Wrestling now joins baseball, softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu (full contact Chinese martial arts) as candidates for the 26th and final spot. Though the IOC’s decision is based in part upon contemporary sports popularity, some in Indian country say there are consequences that the IOC committee may not have considered.

“When you are a basketball player you dream of the NBA, when you are a football player you dream of the NFL. When you are a wrestler, it is the Olympics, that is the pinnacle,” says Troy Heinert, the varsity wrestling coach for Todd County High School on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota and a South Dakota State Representative. “When you are taking that away, the ones I really feel bad about are the college wrestlers right now. They are going through tough college seasons looking forward to tryouts and maybe making the Olympic team once their college career is finished.

“I think this was a terrible decision by the IOC,” says Heinert. “This means for the 2016 Games that will be the end of wrestling. I cannot see why this is a logical choice especially when so many countries around the world participate in wrestling in the Olympics.”

South Dakota State Representative Troy Heinart will take the IOC to the legislative mat.

According to Heinert and Stephanie Murata, Osage and a former national women’s wrestling champion, the efforts to completely remove the sport from the Olympics have not as of yet been finalized, despite wrestling being voted out in the initial round of voting for 2020.

“Wrestling has not really been removed yet, it is just a recommendation as far as the different sports from which and will be removed,” says Murata. “There has not been a final decision yet, there are two more Olympic IOC meetings. One will be in St. Petersburg and the other, final decision, which is the one that is the most concerning, will be in Buenos Aires in September.”

Champion wrestler Stephanie Murata, Osage, thinks the IOC is making a bad decision.

Both Murata and Heinert say that the IOC’s decision is most likely based on a desire to embrace contemporary sports, but wrestling–with all of its tradition and history—should not be removed. For Murata, a woman wrestler feels an even greater desire to see the sport retained. Women’s wrestling wasn’t admitted into the Olympic program until 1996.

“All of this is ironic because women’s wrestling in relation to men’s wrestling just got into the Olympics. We as women, have been in this situation of wanting to be in the Olympics for a significant period of time and everyone still trained, because they wanted to be in the Olympics and they wanted to be ready once it was,” Murata said.

Regardless of the recent vote by the IOC, the international wrestling world is not going to go down without a fight.

“I know there has been a push by the wrestling community and governors from different states across the country and they are petitioning the IOC to reinstate wrestling,” says Heinert. “The talk I have heard is that the United States, Russia, Iran, China – the bigger countries that have competed in the Olympics and European countries are going to have to make that big push. Russia has former Olympic wrestlers in Parliament and they are working very hard and putting pressure on the IOC.”

Heinert is even taking the matter into the legislative system. “Our governor here in South Dakota signed onto a bill of legislation with other governors to ask for wrestling to be reinstated. South Dakota does have an Olympic gold medalist. I am a legislator in South Dakota and next year I will be bringing a resolution to both houses to be sent to the IOC,” he said. “This may flood [mixed martial arts] with potential Olympic wrestlers. You went to high school, you went through college… a lot of these guys have wrestled since they have been four years old, for the last 20 years, they have been training themselves to be a wrestler.

“Without the Olympics, what is your draw? When you see a trainer who is an Olympic gold medalist or an Olympic wrestler, that draws you to that camp instantly. You will see a decline in camp enrollment I think. “Wrestling is important to us, it goes back to when we were training for warfare. Not just in the Roman days but we as Lakotas,” says Heinert. “It has been here, since we have been here.

“A national title, and being All-American is something to be extremely proud of, it takes a lot of skill and a lot of hard work. But I cannot imagine there’s anything like holding a gold medal for your country,” said Heinert. “Hopefully the IOC will see the mistake it is making and reverse its decision.”

Michelle Williams Sports Controversial Indian Look on Cover of ‘AnOther Magazine’

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Actress Michelle Williams, who appears in the film Oz: The Great and Powerful, is featured on the cover of the Spring/Summer issue of AnOther Magazine dressed as an Indian — a styling choice that is not going over well in Indian country.

In the photo, Williams wears long braids, beads, feathers, and what Ruth Hopkins described at Jezebel.com as “a decidedly stoic expression.” But Wiliams’ outfit eschews regalia, consisting instead of flannel jeans, and a robe. “Are they endeavoring to capture the spirit of the American Indian Movement (AIM) circa 1973?” Hopkins, an ICTMN contributor, wondered. “Is this an ad for the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) or the American Indian College Fund (AICF)? Nope. It’s a 33 year old white actress hyping her latest Hollywood project by wearing a cheap costume designed to make her look like she’s the member of another race.”

Connecting some dots, Hopkins and others see an issue that goes beyond a single ill-advised photograph.

For starters, Williams’ current screen role is as Glinda, a witch in the fantasy world created by L. Frank Baum of Wonderful Wizard of Oz fame. (Note the tagline on the magazie cover: “There’s No Place Like Home”) It is a lesser-known fact — though better known among Indians than non-Indians — that Baum wrote two virulently anti-Indian editorials while he was editor of the Aberdeen, SD-based Saturday Pioneer. It is safe to say that Baum isn’t Indian country’s favorite children’s author. It’s a pity Williams didn’t know that, or keep it in mind, when she sat for an interview with the L.A. Times last week. “Quadlings, Tinkers and Munchkins didn’t mean much to me; it wasn’t my language,” Williams said, referring to various races depicted in Baum’s world. “But when I thought of them as Native Americans trying to inhabit their land or about women getting the right to vote, it made a lot more sense.”

That remark was the basis for the headline of Aura Bogado’s piece at TheNation.com: “Native Americans Are Not Munchkins: An Open Letter to Michelle Williams.” “I hope you’ll read through this letter and think twice before once again choosing to participate in actions that preserve deeply racist convictions in popular culture,” Bogado writes. “By wearing a braided wig and donning feathers, and calling that ‘Native American’ in a photo shoot, you’re perpetuating the lazy idea that Natives are all one and the same. Because you were born and spent your childhood in Montana, I expected more from you.”

The cover in question is one of a few that AnOther Magazine is featuring on its Spring/Summer issue. All were shot by Willy Vanderperre and can be seen at FashnBerry.