Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor are published at the discretion of the
Editor, as space permits. No letter which contains
defamatory or malicious statements will be published. Any
letter which contains questionable material will be sent to
the Office of Reservation Attorney for legal review. All
letters must contain the writer’s signature, address, and
telephone number (if available). Letters NOT signed will not
be published. Letters are limited to 450 words. Letters
exceeding 450 words may be published if space allows and the
Editor so chooses. The Editor reserves the right to edit any
letter for content, clarity, and length.
Views and opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor,
complimentary or critical, are those of the writer of the
letter. They are not endorsed by the Tribal Tribune staff,
Tribal Administration, Tribal Business Council, or the
Colville Confederated Tribes’ membership as a whole.
I know I did my job...
I want to tell you Tribal Members about what has been
happening to me personally since August, 2002. In 1999, I was
appointed as the Correctional Facility Program Manager for
which I helped write up the grants to Department of Justice
(DOJ) for $4.7 million and $2.5 in year 2000. In March, 2002
the Colville Business Council (CBC) passed a Resolution,
2002-167, that put the Correctional Facility staff under the
Tribal Police Department.
On August 12, 2002, I was terminated mainly because it was
said I was behind schedule. The CBC Chairman received a letter
from DOJ Grant Manager stating I was on schedule as of
8/31/02.
I went through the appeal process, Tribal Court and the Tribal
Appellate Court. I went to the Appellate Court on December 17,
2004 and have yet to receive a decision (12/13/05).
I filed my appeal to the Tribal Appellate Court under the
Colville Confederated Tribes Civil Rights Act, under “due
process”. I was never orientated into the Colville Tribal
Police Department’s Policy & Procedures Manual and was
terminated as a police officer although I was a
non-commissioned employee. These requirements are in the
Manual.
The Correctional Facility project was suppose to be finished
in September, 2003, but was finished in late 2004 or early
2005 and not open as of today. The plan from the federal
government was that DOJ would fund the building of
correctional facilities on Indian lands and that BIA would
fund the Operation & Maintenance (O&M). In FY2002 the estimate
for O&M was $2.3 million a year. As far as I know U.S.
Congress has never funded the Department of Interior (BIA) for
the Colville’s O&M or the other 13 tribes that got new
facilities.
I know I did my job, political termination?
Nothing in the world can bring back the last three and half
years. I want to thank all of my “friends” who stuck behind
me, especially helping me financially.
Lem-lem, Eldon L. Wilson
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Expressions of both hope
and sadness
Dear Editor:
I have been reading the letters to the editor over the months.
Most of the messages in these letters from our tribal members
present expressions of both hope and sadness.
Much of the subject matter in these letters is revealing about
the courage of our Peoples to share their deep pains and
anguish over their loss of family members due to drug abuse,
drug addiction, and or alcohol involvement and related violent
crime. These are the sad stories that seem to consume our
lives these days. These are memories created about our
children leaving us in large, unbelievable numbers, “before
their time.”
Biologically, we know they had a lot more years to live if
they were not poisoned with their loss of culture that opened
them up to abuse or addiction of drugs and or alcohol,
replacing their natural, ancient, traditional means to protect
themselves.
Spiritually, we can come with another conclusion. But who are
we to judge or know when it is someone’s time to leave us as
we are accustomed to know them? Regardless of a grand design,
or not, the mortal reality is that we reason these young
people are being wasted before our very eyes due to alcohol
and or drug related violence.
Our ancestors instructed us that these things may happen if we
squander their gifts of cultural wealth. Our Elders have
repeatedly told us this all would get worse and now it is up
to us to heed the warnings and the evidence and change our
course to stop these self-destructive activities that degrade
our communities and families of future generations.
It seems time that we overcome any shame or humiliation of
cultural losses due to over 500 years of ethnic cleansing
practices (including Black Robe abuses in the mission schools
and demonizing tribal spirituality) to wash away our “ways of
life.” We don’t need to be ashamed of this, it was not our
fault nor our ancestors asking that anti-Indian hatreds
happened and continue today.
Cultural preservation and restoration, many of us believe, is
key to success to overcome these self-destructive, life-taking
activities that have left us in a sea of grief, with little
time to heal as the next tragedy is laid on top of the last.
The soils, water, trees, animals and medicines are not ours to
destroy, that is not what our ancestors taught us. This
destruction, in part, is why our youth and children are
getting more and more confused because our leadership choices
are in conflict with our ancestors’ cultural wisdom. Our
cultural losses are creating more confusion that finds our
youth seeking self-destructive choices. These, sadly, are
“changes” for death, not for life, sovereignty or wellness.
Lou Stone
Inchelium
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PRAYER FOR MOTHER EARTH
O, Grandfather Great Spirit
Creator of all living things,
We honor your presence
And thank you
For your great smile that gave us birth
May we always remember you
From the first day to the last
Grandfather, Great Spirit,
We see your continuing smile
In the reflections of the sun and moon
And we know that you are near
May we never forget your presence
As your light is constant
Grandfather, Great Spirit of Love,
We thank you for enriching the earth, our Mother
With bountiful plant life, wild game,
And flowing waters
To nourish our bodies
So we can enjoy this path of Life
May we, who forget, be reminded
That these were meant to remain free and natural
O, grandfather, Great Spirit of Peace,
Do not let the body of our Mother, the earth,
Be tortured any longer,
Stop those who tear off her clothing, the grass,
To build their stadiums and subways,
Stop those who cut off her hair, the trees,
To build their concrete jungles,
Stop those who contaminate her blood, the waters,
With their motorboats and refuse,
Stop them soon, for now they’re probing for her heart
With lethal drills
Just for curiosity’s sake
Great Spirit of Love,
Blow away the haze of greed
From the eyes of your children
So they will stop mutilating the body
Of our mother, the earth,
In the name of power and money
by Yvonne Swan © 1974
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