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 Letters NOT signed will not
be published.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.
Money vs. Wasteland
Hello, my name is Water Williams from Nespelem,
Washington. I have a few things to say about the proposed
mining project at Mt. Tolman.
We need to think about what it will do to the reservation and
the effects it will have on wildlife, natural resources, and
our future generations. The land will never be the same as it
was before the mining. The wildlife will be scattered across
the reservation which will make it even harder on hunters to
find during our hunting season. The natural resources will be
depleted, the water will get poisoned and more noxious weeds
will spread on range land units there. Those range units
cannot be used until the mining is completed. Even then, would
you want to put your cattle back on poisonous ground? They
could have stillborn calves or two-headed calves; you never
know what could happen.
Our future generations will not have such beauty as we do now.
All they will see is an old, run down mine pit, which shut
down because there was nothing left to mine. When it is done
and over with, how are they going to get rid of the toxic
waste? Are they going to put it back in the ground without us
even knowing it? Yes, that is what will happen, or they might
transport it across the ferry to another reservation. That is
all they see the reservations as, just one big wasteland, to
store their toxic waste. Out of sight, out of mind is how they
see Indian people.
Why do we need more money? We already get enough with our
181-D, Wells Dam settlements and our per capita monies. This
is enough money to get an education or learn a trade to better
ourselves so that we can help our Tribe out.
You people who want to see this through are the one’s hurting
the Tribe by asking for handouts all the time or wanting free
money from someone else. You don’t want to earn it like
everyone else. How is this mining going to help our Tribe out?
All it is going to do is rip apart our land and leave a big
mess because you know that the mining industries will not
clean it up. They will come in and get what they want and
leave.
There would be some jobs, but who on this reservation knows
how to do mining or run the equipment? You know it will all be
contracted out to non-members that know nothing about our land
and the respect that we have for it. This is why we should
stand-up and say NO! to the proposed mining project at Mt.
Tolman.
Thank You,
Walter William
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Referendum is planned for
February
Tribal Membership:
Thought I’d let you know a referendum is planned for February,
2006 for a vote on Mt. Tolman (after 4 district meetings in
January of 2006).
Without the education process in which Don Aubertin was paid
$100,000 of tribal money on June 30, 2005.
Without a new E.I.S. (as the old one is nearly 25 years old
and is obsolete).
Without even one article about the contract between the tribe
and Don Aubertin (the education process that was supposed to
happen nearly 5 months ago).
Without disclosing to the membership the type of bedrock &
tectonic data so important (as to geologic hazards that
warrant land use planning & educations).
We have information that shows Mt. Tolman has quartz porphyry
– in which could be acid mine generating (not only from
exposure, but from the waste rock & tailings, “the hydrologic
cycle”).
In crystalline rocks such as quartz most of the groundwater is
transmitted through fissures & fractures, very little water
moves through the rock body itself. There are earthquake
faults all around the area of Mt. Tolman, a Manila Creek
fault, a Keller Butte fault that runs up into Kettle country.
According to the 25 year old E.I.S. on Mt. Tolman the waste
rock & tailings were to be put in Meadow Creek & Manila Creek
(as alternate source).
This U.S. Geologic Survey was completed in 1991 – 10 years
after the 1981 E.I.S. was completed. (We will bring this to
meetings.)
There needs to be taken into consideration the 439 residents
who live in the San Poil Valley, the ground water, surface
water, underground streams, springs, the aquifers. That we do
not sell them down the river, (as equal shareholders in the
reservation).
As equal shareholders in the reservation & assets, equal
rights which are guaranteed them by our Constitution &
by-laws, code of federal regulations, U.S. Constitution which
applies to everyone, as citizens of the U.S. (the right to
protect, preserve & enhance ones own natural resources &
homeland, Not to destroy it).
Gerry Gabriel
Sec. Treas. C.I.E.P.A.
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My agenda
Tribal Members:
I intend to run for the Colville Tribal Council for the
Nespelem District. My intention for the next six months is to
let the Tribal Membership know what my agenda is if I am
elected. I am going to help the Tribe in what I have interest
in and what I received my college degree in.
I received my degree in Law & Justice with an emphasis on
juvenile delinquency. The strong point that I do have is my
knowledge about the Tribe’s legal system and the supporting
tribal programs.
In the next six months I will put in the Tribal Tribune about
the legal services such as the Office of Reservation Attorneys
(ORA), Legal Services, Tribal Prosecutor and Public Defender
and Probation Department. The Tribal Court and Police
Department will be discussed. The supportive programs such as
the Alcohol/Drug, Mental Health, BIA DSHS, Children Protective
Services (CPS), TANF and Employment & Training Program will be
discussed. Then the Correctional Facility program needs to be
discussed. These are programs that offer services that are
supposed to be for the benefit of all Tribal Members.
In my past letters I mentioned the Chapter 1-5, Colville Civil
Rights Act and you have to know that a lot of the time your
civil rights as a Colville Tribal Member has been abused. The
term “sovereignty” has been abused as though that it belongs
to the Tribal Council and Administration. It is us tribal
members that sovereignty belongs to.
What I will relate on these programs is how they affect us as
Tribal Members. I have been told that these programs are
sometimes very rude and it feels like if we want to get
services, we are treated like we are wasting their time. We
are the reason that they have a job and you, as Tribal
Members, are the real sovereign bosses.
Lem-lem,
Eldon Wilson
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Recognition to veterans,
officers
To the Editor:
I am a retired police officer. In September, 1997, I retired
at age 60 from a small town in Idaho. I spent a third of my
life as a police officer.
It was about 1953 at the age of 16, when I was in my first
powwow. And for many years I danced in powwows in several
states including California, Oklahoma, Montana, Washington and
South Dakota. But, since I had never served in the military, I
did not go into the circle with the veterans.
To my knowledge, most powwows do not recognize retired police
officers as “veterans”. And I’ve never disputed that.
After having been “retired” for 8 years, I continue to have
vivid memories and possibly what some would call “flashbacks”
of the hundreds of “domestics” that we responded to. Couples
and families being engaged in violence. Yes, and in all
various stratas of the community. From the poor over in the
trailer court(s) to the PhD folks in the so-called “better
section” of the town. It made no difference. The ‘educated’
and ‘uneducated’ pulling kitchen knives and guns on one
another, little children bleeding and bruised. Wives, (and
yes, some husbands) having been battered by their spouse or
“significant other”. I saw people at their very best and very
worst!
The many suicides also haunt me. The young and old. I can
still see their faces, only the names have left my memory.
Working with detectives, one of my assignments was check
forgery and credit card frauds. Trusted people who were in
charge of caring for the elderly would steal their money,
valuables, credit cards and checkbooks and go out for a “good
time” at the elder’s expense.
Twenty one years; in 1997, a third of my life at that time. At
my “retirement” party, even the ACLU representative wrote a
beautiful letter of my career. And you know, even though I
made many arrests and wrote hundreds of traffic citations and
thousands of parking tickets, I did not leave with one enemy
that I know of. However, I’ve met some folks in these past
years who would like to ‘hang’ me. Not because they know me.
But, when I mention that had been a police officer, they lump
me with all the bad and crooked ‘cops’ they have been
mistreated by, they label me as “one of them”.
I also want to give a “thank you” to Soy Redthunder for giving
recognition to veterans and this “retired police officer” in
the long house a few years ago. Thank you, Soy. It seems to
me, that in America, it’s in the American Indian community
where there is acceptance and recognition for those men and
women who put on a uniform as warriors to defend our country.
Regardless whether people agree with a particular war or not,
it’s the American Indian community that honors them more than
any other segment of the American society. That is a giant
step toward healing of lives and memories.
And my hat is off to the men and women at home who truly serve
the People as police officers. And to the ‘public’, go easy on
“old cops” who had a good reputation.
Respectfully,
John GrosVenor
Nespelem
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My heart felt words
Way, my fellow Tribal Members:
I once again put pen to paper with a heavy and sad heart. I
have finally made it home after earning a B.S. in Social
Sciences and a Secondary Teaching Endorsement.
A college education has taught me that it is okay to
reorganize our Tribal Corporation for the betterment of all
the Tribal Members. We as a business corporation need to
operate just as the private sector does, not as a family as we
currently do.
Please don’t get me wrong, I have not given up my ethics
Grandma Modesta Abraham and Grandpa Bill Zacherle, Sr. taught
me as I was growing up. Those two past elders held the old
ancient way close to their hearts; they so blessed me with
their teachings.
I beg of my fellow humble human beings that we be 1) open, 2)
honest, 3) sincere, 4) caring, 5) forgiving, 6) listen with
our hearts and ears.
Let us not judge one another, let’s raise our children as a
community. Let us be drug informants for crack cocaine and
methamphetamine; the two drugs that is killing our Tribal
members left and right. We need to regain our communities back
from the drug dealers.
Lim lim, for listening and possibly heeding my heart felt
words.
Cindi Reyes
Inchelium
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From a Mother’s Heart
I am writing this letter to the Tribal Tribune and I hope
there are some caring people out there that will read this. I
have lived at 3rd HUD housing for twenty-two years; this is my
home and my community. I know everyone there and my children &
grandchildren live there also.
I was driving down the road one day bringing my grandkids to
the store when a car passed me around a turn going about 70
miles an hour (I thanked God there was no one else coming or
that car would of hit them head on (someone could of DIED) and
the next week the same thing and the next week the same thing
and so on. I also see people drive by in front of my house
some times going about 50 miles an hour and then flipping
brodies.
I have ten grandchildren and I have eight that live out here
and play outside riding their bikes. When these people drive
by fast I thank God they don’t get hit by them. One day this
car was driving through the HUDs going about 50 miles an hour
and about 10 minutes later all the children got off the bus. I
thank God he never hit one of them because (someone could of
DIED).
I lost a daughter when she was eighteen years old (Josie
Isabelle Watt) she was killed twenty minutes after she left
our house. My last words to the one that was driving was to
“drive careful, the roads are bad”. Well, he didn’t listen,
they said he was driving about 80 miles an hour. I don’t want
to lose any more of my children or grandchildren so “I’m
begging you as a mother from my heart” to drive careful when
you come out to our community.
Today it happened again, I was driving my son to school when a
car was coming straight towards me on my side of the road
going about 70 miles an hour. I had to pull over into the
ditch not to get hit head on, so please slow down. This time
it is a warning. Next time I will call the police, because I
don’t want you on the road when I’m driving down the road with
my grandkids.
Limm-Limpt
(From my heart)
Loretta Watt
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Heartfelt Thank you
Thank You Virgil!
I would like to take this opportunity to give a heartfelt
“Thank you” to a person, whom I called in the evening, at
home, recently the loss of his mother, “Walking His Talk”.
Our family needed some help during a health emergency on the
8th of November. This person took care of it the next morning!
Making sure all the aspects of the request were taken care of,
fax, phone calls, etc. I don’t think it was an easy task…
“Thank You” goes out to the people who supported him in this
request also.
“Thank you” Father Obersinner for your visits and prayers.
“Thank you” Jennifer, who is my granddaughter and an RN at
Sacred Heart Hospital, for your visits and concerns, and to
family members who made the trips to Spokane during this time,
and kept family members up to date.
As a Tribal member and Senior, and on behalf of the Frey
family, I know we have been rejuvenated by your empathy for
your people!! Virgil Seymour – in a time of need, you were all
there – It works…
Until We Meet,
Lucetta Stafford
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Let’s not wait
To The Colville Business Council:
I would respectfully request the full Colville Business
Council, their forestry personnel and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs to schedule a meeting inviting any and all interested
to meet at the logging tract north of the Bridge Creek Road
behind my residence located at 2557 Bridge Creek Road in the
Inchelium District. This unit is being logged utilizing a
giant mechanical machine. The devastation in unbelievable.
It’s unsightly and waste is totally shocking!
The logging has completely destroyed quality wildlife habitat.
I selected my home site because I wanted the wilderness and
wildlife near. It has been decimated and clean-up would cost
thousands and thousands of dollars. The tribal members must
become aware of the damage and destruction done by this type
of logging. Please let’s stop it before our reservation lands
are totally desecrated! ONLY AFTER OUR LAST TREE IS GONE AND
THE LAST WATERS POLLUTED WILL WE FIND WE CAN’T EAT AND DRINK
MONEY. Let’s not wait.
Respectfully,
Jude C. Stensgar
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My opinion on mining
After reading the letters to the editor, I felt compelled to
express my opinion on mining. I personally do not support
mining because of the financial situation of the Tribe.
Decisions should not be made based upon financial gain alone.
From my stand point, I don’t like the idea that Meadow Creek,
where my family owns good quality land, including an artesian
well, should be inundated for the sake of financial gain for
others. If you put waste water over the top of good land, even
under the best circumstances, there will be negative effects.
Additionally, you can take out any “what ifs”, with CTEC’s
involvement. CTEC seems to have the ability to turn any
opportunity for financial gain into a dying dog (except for
their top executives, who will reap the rewards, while the
rest suffer the consequences). Consider CTSC, they have built
several buildings on this reservation (and elsewhere) and
their work quality definitely leaves something to be desired.
The Day Care in Nespelem was not operational for years after
it was built. The Law & Justice Building just plain looks
gross from the staining from past leakage. I’m sure that
everyone who reads this can think of a building that has
problems thanks to CTSC. The answer we get from CTEC is that
they are putting Tribal members to work.
Mining is not going to sustain the Tribes forever. Nespelem
was a boom town in about 1900 because of mining, but there is
nothing here to show for it now. Continually, the Tribes go
off on some hairbrained idea without planning for the future.
Anyone remember CIPH (Precision Homes)? Look at CIPV! It was
going bankrupt, we knew it, and bought it anyway. Tribal
dollars being wasted left and right! So again I will say, it
isn’t about “what if’s” it is about when. When CTEC destroys
the water quality, when CTEC figures out how to keep the
mining dollars for themselves and when CTEC leaves us holding
the bill for whatever damage they have caused. Our
grandchildren will probably be living on the land formerly
known as the Colville Indian Reservation talking about what
bungling fools we were.
We, as Tribal Members must consider all aspects of the mining
proposition and make an educated decision about whether mining
makes sense for us. Consider those who will be directly
impacted like members of my family whom have hay growing in
Meadow Creek where my great-great grandfather lived out his
life as a medicine man. Consider the environmental impacts,
the influx of people on our surrounding communities, CTEC’s
past management and work practices, increase in crime, and
other possible impacts on us.
Thank you,
Jonnie L. Bray
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