Siletz news /, March 01, 2014, Page 19, Image 19

To the editor:
Help Needed
We at the Mill Creek Correctional Institution have just recently built our Native
sweat lodge, but we are struggling with finding volunteers who can come into the
prison to help facilitate our sweats.
We currently only have one volunteer who is busy working with three other insti-
tutions besides ours. This can be overwhelming for him.
We are just getting our sweats and other activities going for the first time here
and we are having problems getting ceremonial medicines for our ceremonies and
volunteers to help with beading, arts and crafts, talking circles, history and stories, etc.
We are trying to better ourselves through our cultures to return to our families,
friends and communities as productive and positive influences. We are working on
getting an account set up so we can help ourselves, but our numbers are small and
until that happens, we need to seek outside help.
Our circle needs volunteers and help so that we can help ourselves become bet-
ter men. If you would like to help us or know someone who would, please contact
Chaplain Bowen by phone or email at (office) 503-373-1673, (cell) 503-798-0645 or
larry.d.bowen@doc.state.or.us.
For more information, please contact Chaplain Larry Bowen, Mill Creek
Correctional Institution, Oregon State Penitentiary Religious Services Coordinator,
2605 State St., Salem, OR 97310.
Thank you.
Shay Charley (Yurok-Siletz)
Brent Yunghans (Wyandot)
Carl Priest (Paiute)
John Garfield (Dakota)
Jade Chandler (Lakota)
John Gottschalk (Navajo)
Phil Lossing (Paiute-Shoshone)
Richard Denny (Warm Springs)
Thomas Reyes (Choctaw)
Josh Corter (Grand Ronde)
Jess Watts (Rogue River)
Raymond Ketchem (Lakota)
Justin Walkingstick (Cherokee-Choctaw)
Dear Tribal members:
Thank you for the confidence you have shown in me by electing me to council.
Thank you all for participating in Tribal government through the right to vote.
What a wonderful day, what an honor to be elected as a member of the Tribal
Council of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Many dedicated people have
worked to make our Tribe successful and it is an honor to be the newest member of
their legacy.
Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Gloria Ingle
To the editor:
Our Tribe, Our Future
I would like to thank all of the mem-
bers who supported me in this last elec-
tion. Your support is the foundation from
which I will build my future of Tribal
service. I will look within our member-
ship for purpose and direction for it is
your voice that needs to be loud and strong
if our elected officials are to effect the
appropriate transformation necessary for
us to achieve our goals.
We have an ancient and legal right
to inhabit and do business as we see
proper on our reservation. Right now,
right this very minute, that reservation
consists of trust parcels, timberland and
the 11-county service area as defined by
the CTSI and the United States Congress.
Umatilla among first three Tribes to implement special
domestic violence criminal jurisdiction under VAwA 2013
Pilot projects allow
Tribal prosecution of
non-Indian abusers
WASHINGTON – Three American
Indian tribes – the Umatilla Tribes of
Oregon, the Tulalip Tribes of Washington
and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona –
will be the first in the nation to exercise
special criminal jurisdiction over certain
crimes of domestic and dating violence,
regardless of the defendant’s Indian or
non-Indian status, under a pilot project
authorized by the Violence Against
Women Reauthorization Act of 2013
(VAWA 2013).
“This is just the latest step forward
in this administration’s historic efforts to
address the public safety crisis in Indian
Country,” said Attorney General Eric
Holder. “Every day, we’re working hard
to strengthen partnerships with Tribal
leaders and confront shared challenges –
particularly when it comes to protecting
Indian women and girls from the shocking
and unacceptably high rates of violence
they too often face. With the important
new tools provided by the Violence
Against Women Reauthorization Act of
2013, these critical pilot projects will
facilitate the first Tribal prosecutions of
non-Indian perpetrators in recent times.
This represents a significant victory for
public safety and the rule of law, and a
momentous step forward for Tribal sov-
ereignty and self-determination.”
Although the provisions authorizing
the special jurisdiction take effect gener-
ally in March 2015, the law also gives
the attorney general discretion to grant a
Tribe’s request to exercise the jurisdiction
earlier through a voluntary pilot project.
The authority to approve such requests
has been delegated to Associate Attorney
General Tony West, who congratulated
Tribal leaders on this historic achievement
in letters to the three Tribes.
Since the Supreme Court’s 1978
opinion in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian
Tribe, Tribes have been prohibited from
exercising criminal jurisdiction over
non-Indian defendants. This included
domestic violence and dating violence
committed by non-Indian abusers against
their Indian spouses, intimate partners
and dating partners. Even a violent crime
committed by a non-Indian husband
against his Indian wife, in the presence
of her Indian children, in their home on
the Indian reservation, could not be pros-
ecuted by the Tribe.
In granting the pilot project requests
of the Umatilla, Tulalip and Pascua Yaqui
Tribes, the United States is recognizing
and affirming the Tribes’ inherent power
to exercise “special domestic violence
criminal jurisdiction” (SDVCJ) over all
persons, regardless of their Indian or non-
Indian status, for crimes committed on or
after Feb. 20, 2014.
As described in the Department
of Justice’s Final Notice on the pilot
project, these decisions are based on a
diligent, detailed review of application
questionnaires submitted by the Tribes in
December 2013, along with excerpts of
Tribal laws, rules and policies, and other
relevant information.
That review, conducted in close
coordination with the Department of the
Interior and after formal consultation with
affected Indian Tribes, led the Justice
Department to determine that the criminal
justice systems of the Umatilla, Tulalip
and Pascua Yaqui Tribes have adequate
safeguards in place to fully protect defen-
dants’ rights under the Indian Civil Rights
Act of 1968, as amended by VAWA 2013.
The Department of Justice has posted
notices of the pilot project designation
on the Tribal Justice and Safety website
(justice.gov/tribal/) and in the Federal
Register.
In addition, each Tribe’s application
questionnaire and related Tribal laws,
rules and policies have been posted on
the website. These materials will serve
as a resource for those Tribes that may
also wish to participate in the pilot project
or to commence exercising SDVCJ in
March 2015 or later, after the pilot project
has concluded.
For more information on VAWA
2013, please visit justice.gov/tribal/vawa-
tribal.html.
We also must have total access to the
sea and its bounties as we as a Tribe never
ceded one of our Tribe’s oldest and finest
sources of sustenance, the Pacific Ocean.
Access to this and to the tax revenues of
the approximate 2.8 million people who
currently inhabit our 11-county reserva-
tion/service area is vital to maintain and
expand the services needed for the future
of an ever-increasing member base.
We as a people can no longer operate
a Tribal corporation (STBC) and proceed
with business as usual and abide by the
inequitable Indian Commerce Act or its
companion law, the Indian Intercourse
Acts, as these two federal provisions
handcuff our business activities to the
discretion of one source, that of the fed-
eral government. That has proven to be an
unfavorable way to do business.
The future of Siletz business lies at
the door of Indian Tribes, the Pacific Rim
nations and beyond! Think now of trade
and commerce and the possibility of pro-
viding a cargo port of the future for our
people right here on our coast that would
provide an opportunity well into the latter
parts of this century and beyond for our
people to finally be able to share in the
commerce of the world.
I will run for council in the next elec-
tion with the full and unwavering belief
that the 11-county service area is now
and forever our reservation. I will also not
waver in my belief that the original Coast
Reservation formed by the un-ratified
treaty of 1855 also is our reservation and
that we should combine the two reserva-
tions into one and create the tax jurisdic-
tion rightfully our due. Then and only
then can we share fairly and equally with
the United States, Oregon State and local
governments in the tax revenues generated
on and from our reservation.
This is the future. This is our Tribe.
This is our time!
John M Johnson
Siletz News Letters Policy
Siletz News, a publication of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, is
published once a month. Our editorial policy encourages input from readers about
stories printed in Siletz News and other tribal issues.
All letters must include the author’s signature, address, and phone number in
order to be considered for publication. Siletz News reserves the right to edit any
letter for clarity and length, and to refuse publication of any letter or any part of
a letter that may contain profane language, libelous statements, personal attacks,
or unsubstantiated statements.
Not all letters are guaranteed publication upon submission. Published let-
ters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Siletz News, Tribal employees, or
Tribal Council.
Please type or write legibly. Letters longer than 450 words may be edited for
length as approved by Tribal Council Resolution #96-142.
Please note: The general manager
of the Siletz Tribe is the editor-in-chief
of Siletz News.
Editor-in-Chief: Brenda Bremner
March 2014
Editor: Diane Rodriquez
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