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Good to know. It was outlined last week by Superintendent of La Conner schools. The Swinomish contribute significantly. However, there is a caveat. In collecting what was formerly tax revenues used by Skagit County (and other entities) and allocating those funds to satisfy the Tribal agenda, there remains an inequality of taxation. Tax rates are still artificially distorted. Non-tribal persons are paying for the Tribal agenda. That is not a fair use of funds formerly designated for the needs of all the citizens of Skagit County. Please end the...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community invited the general public to the grand opening ceremony for its didgwálič Wellness Center in Anacortes Nov. 15. Welcoming the larger community in was much more than symbolic: the didgwálič center’s treatment program is open to all. Well over half the clients will be non-tribal members. John Stephens, the center’s chief executive officer emphasized that point: “The Tribe is committed to the betterment of the broader community and this is a huge investment to make sure this happens....
If only the candidates vote in this year’s town council election, they will win. Running unopposed are incumbents John Leaver, Council Position 2, Bill Stokes, Council Position 3 and Mary Lee Chamberlain, Council Position 4. Once the La Conner School District directors vote, they, too, win. Running without opposition are Brad Smith, Director District 3, Lynette Cram, Director District 4 and John Thulen, Director District 5. The same is true for Fire District 12 and 13 commissioner positions. Doug Peterson is running unopposed for C...
Hunger often goes unnoticed. Some ration their food to make it last. For others, it could just be another day without eating. People in this predicament benefit from donated groceries and other household items. Brenda Williams is a Swinomish tribal member who knows that more food will benefit her community. She has developed a long-term project that will help provide a solution to hunger on her Reservation. Following in her mother’s, and community leader, Susan Wilbur’s footsteps, Williams organ...
As the seasons change, many are already thinking of winter. Recall the bitter cold last winter. Being prepared for the wet and cold is critical, even though it’s hard to shift gears with all the beautiful sunshine that we have had this summer. Regardless, as seasons change, some are unable to provide enough warm clothing or even find shelter from the cold for themselves or their families. However, one local family is not only getting themselves ready, but they want to help others who are less fo...
Swinomish Tribal Member, Cassandra Gonzales made sure her eight-year-old daughter Aaliyah Gonzales had the proper ISO approved glasses to watch the historic Solar Eclipse. Aaliyah was the very first participant to show up at the John K. Bob baseball field at 7:30 a.m. on the Swinomish Reservation. Swinomish Elder Ray Mitchell and his wife Jennie, along with nearly 60 other people, mostly Tribal employees, their families and various community members joined Aaliyah throughout the morning....
Wow! What great coverage of the Swinomish Pow Wow last week. Nearly the entire front page. It was unfortunate that we couldn’t have had just a fraction of that coverage pre-event the week before. Perhaps a public invitation from the Tribe describing the event could have been made. More of us might have attended had we known what was going on. It’s particularly unfortunate that the Tribe did not extend a personal invitation to the Shelter Bay Community (Maybe via the monthly newsletter?). We are, after all, their reservation neighbors and Lea...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (SITC) invited Native American and First Nation people, their family, friends, and those wanting to learn more about Indigenous culture to their Reservation for the 4th Annual Swinomish Days, August 11-13. Indigenous people have traveled and gathered together during different seasons to socialize and compete for decades. This is a chance to see family and friends, especially if absences were long. The summer season gives many a chance to be outdoors where...
The road to the NBA for Derek Willis included a side trip to La Conner this week. The 6’-9” University of Kentucky product held a two-day camp August 7 and 8 for local youth at Landy James Gym, showcasing the skillset that endeared him to legendary Wildcats coach John Calipari the past four years. Willis, who recently inked a deal with the Detroit Pistons, served as headliner for an event coordinated by La Conner High alum Greg Edwards of the Swinomish Youth Center. Boys and girls from kin...
Special to La Conner Weekly News The United States Department of the Interior on Friday approved the constitutional amendments voted on and passed in May by members of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. While the changes in the tribe’s constitution are mostly aimed to reduce the paternalistic federal oversight of the tribe’s day-to-day operations, the wording in one of the amendments – dealing with territory and jurisdiction – sparked an outcry from landowners and farmers as well as Anacortes and Skagit County government officia...
A federal judge has ruled that it is legal for public agencies to collect taxes from non-Indians who lease tribal land. For three years, this newspaper has been following a lawsuit in the U.S. Central District Court of California brought by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians against Riverside County. That case closed last week when U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled in favor of the county and a local water agency that joined the suit as a defendant. “The county is pleased that the court carefully balanced the issues and determined t...
Records now open for public viewing on the U.S. Department of Interior’s website show that the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community obtained 243 acres of land that was allotted to individual tribal members generations ago. Under the Land Buy Back Program for Tribal Nations, the federal government paid nearly $3.2 million for the land, which had 171 individual owners. The land now goes back into federal trust for the benefit of the entire tribe. The Buy-Back Program allocated $1.9 billion in federal funding for tribes to consolidate land within r...
Swinomish Indian Tribal Community members approved the 29 proposed amendments to the tribal constitution, last week. While tribal elections are private and generally do not stir controversy outside the reservation community, provisions pertaining to territory and jurisdiction in the amended constitution have inspired a flood of letters to the U.S. Department of Interior, which has until July to approve the document. County officials, landowners, the agricultural community and taxpayers worried about what appears to be a move to extend the...
Controversial author and orator Elaine Willman held a workshop at Tequila Azteca Restaurant in Sedro-Woolley on Saturday, drawing about 80 people, mostly senior citizens, and a throng of protesters Willman, whose mother was an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, led a four-hour discussion on how she feels the political power and wealth of Native American tribes has grown to a point that is infringing on the rights of non-tribal members. The workshop was sponsored by the Skagit County...
The Swinomish Tribe’s fishing fleet is clearly in no shortage of blessings, well-wishes and community respect, as displayed in the tribe’s traditional annual “blessing of the fleet ceremony” on Thursday. The event kicked off with a luncheon in the jam-packed Swinomish Youth and Community Center, where guests feasted on watermelon, salmon and fresh, locally-caught seafood. There were about 550 people who were seated for lunch, Laura Dunn, from the Swinomish Fisheries Department estimat...
Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland has expressed its concerns regarding wording in Swinomish Tribe’s proposed Constitution. Members of the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community are scheduled to vote on the tribe’s new governing document next week. Interest in tribal elections doesn’t usually extend beyond reservation boundaries, but this one has residents, land owners, county officials and now a farm group worried that the impacts could extend well beyond land held in trust for the tribe by the federal government. A May 11 letter to the feder...
Skagit County’s Board of Commissioners and the Tesoro refinery’s company headquarters in Texas both sent letters to the federal government in bids to shield private property from tribal expansion. The county’s letter mailed Thursday was to affirm on record a response from the Bureau of Indian Affairs which stated that the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community cannot expand its boundaries without action by the United States Congress and that its jurisdiction off reservation is limited to tribal members exercising their hunting and fishing right...
An attorney with the Skagit County Prosecutor’s Office sent a letter to an attorney for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community seeking clarification on jurisdiction the tribe claims in proposed changes to its tribal constitution. An amendment to the Swinomish constitution states that the tribe will have jurisdiction “over all persons, subjects, property and activities occurring within … the Tribe’s usual and accustomed fishing grounds and stations and all open and unclaimed lands…” In other words, not just on the Swinomish Reserva...
The comment period on the proposed Tesoro Anacortes Refinery “Clean Products Upgrade Project” environmental review ends Monday and the Town of La Conner has made itself an official party of interest. Councilwoman MaryLee Chamberlain first brought the issue up early in April and garnered a consensus of support from her colleagues on the dais to study the project. At the last meeting the council voted unanimously to send its comments on the project’s environmental impact statement in the form of a resolution. Tesoro proposes to upgrade its refin...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s contention that its reservation is actually a third larger than its boundaries indicate and includes thousands of acres of private property has about 350 landowners very worried, Skagit County Commissioners have said. In a letter to Swinomish Chairman Brian Cladoosby, the commissioners asked to have the matter settled in federal court for, “a binding decision on this matter.” That probably won’t happen, however. Essentially tribal governments don’t go to court unless they agree to go to court – t...
The Summit Park Grange in Anacortes was the place to be last Wednesday night for people with a stake in the land disputes that have put the Swinomish tribe at odds with some property owners and leaders from the Samish tribe, City of Anacortes and Skagit County. A panel of seven representing the city, county and Samish sat onstage, facing a room so crowded that people without seats leaned against the walls and spilled out the back door. Organizers counted 220 attendees. Landowners are worried the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community could assert...
Earlier this month, this newspaper documented a pair of closed meetings held by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. I want to make it clear to our readers that this newspaper stands behind those stories. We granted space for a lengthy letter by Swinomish tribal attorney Stephen LeCuyer to express their version of the truth. Our stories provided another example of how Swinomish and other tribes are given a venue to manipulate public policy that affects all of us by holding closed meetings with public agencies funded by taxpayers. As we...
Ian Foster died at age 63 on February 5, 2017, in the care of his family at home in Bow, Washington. Ian was born in Rowayton, Connecticut on January 25, 1954, the only son of David W. and Nancy A. Foster. He had a deep love of the East Coast but made his way to the West Coast in the 1980s, and eventually settled in La Conner. A fisherman since his child-hood, Ian became a successful commercial fisherman in the waters of Puget Sound and the Strait of the Juan de Fuca. A dedicated father, his...
Skagit Co. Sheriff’s Office Monday Feb 27 11:53 a.m.: Creeper – A report of a prowler in La Conner. 7:27 p.m.: Bad parking spot – Deputies responded after a car-owner was planning to leave their car for a few hours at theLa Conner Whitney Road roundabout after it got a flat tire. Tuesday Feb 28 8:32 p.m.: Off-leash – Two dogs were spotted running free in front of the La Conner library onMorris Street. Deputies didn’t find them. Wednesday March 1 10:54 a.m.: Oops! – An accidental911 call from a business onMorris Str...
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community excluded members of the press and local government representatives from two recent meetings it hosted on topics that could impact taxpayers. Swinomish has proposed to amend its tribal constitution in accordance with the tribe’s belief that its reservation should include thousands of acres occupied by two refineries, two car dealerships, many businesses and private homes. Press was specifically excluded from an event the tribe hosted last Tuesday for property owners in the disputed area. At the same time, t...
