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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016
SCHOOLS WITH AMERICAN INDIAN MASCOTS
Amity High School: Warriors
Banks High School: Braves
Lebanon High School: Warriors
Mohawk High School: Indians
Molalla High School: Indians
North Douglas High School: Warriors
Oakridge High School: Warriors
Philomath High School: Warriors
Reedsport High School: Braves
Rogue River High School: Chieftains
Roseburg High School: Indians
Scappoose High School: Indians
Siletz Valley School: Warriors
The Dalles-Wahtonka High School: Eagle
Indians
Warrenton High School: Warriors
Mascot: Ban is due to
take effect in July 2017
Continued from Page 1A
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Jessica Smith is led into the Clatsop County Courthouse for a hearing Thursday. Judge
Cindee Matyas ordered her to undergo more mental health evaluations.
Smith: Status hearing over
results is set for late March
Legislature wanted
exception
Continued from Page 1A
Smith, 42, is accused of
drugging and drowning her
toddler and attempting to kill
her teenager in Cannon Beach
in July 2014. She recently
told the state-hired psycholo-
gist she had “little to no mem-
ory of the events of July 31,
2014.”
Matyas said in court last
week she would prefer to have
Smith evaluated by a psychi-
atrist or psychologist already
involved in the case, or agreed
upon by both parties. She will
also research having Smith
evaluated locally, if resources
are available in the county.
Smith’s defense lawyers
William Falls and Lynne Mor-
gan raised concerns in a court
¿ling earlier this month about
Smith’s ability to aid and as-
sist in her defense. The law-
yers said Smith suffers from
a mental disease and is un¿t
to move forward. They asked
the court for a competency ex-
amination of Smith and then a
determination of Smith’s ¿t-
ness to proceed.
“Our ¿rst concern is for
Ms. Smith to get the help we
feel she really needs,” Mor-
gan said in court Thursday.
“That’s our ¿rst concern.”
District Attorney Josh
Marquis responded in a mo-
tion by pointing out that the
defense counsel has repre-
sented Smith for almost 18
months, yet has never raised
an issue of their client’s com-
petency to proceed until now.
Both parties agreed that
previous talks about a settle-
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Jessica Smith is led into the Clatsop County Courthouse
for a hearing regarding her competency to assist in her
own defense Thursday.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Jessica Smith is led into the Clatsop County Courthouse
for a hearing Thursday.
ment conference will be put
on hold until Smith is evalu-
ated.
A status hearing to address
the results of Smith’s evalua-
tion was set for late March.
Harkless: ‘We just can’t
picture the world without Kyle’
Legislation in 2014 forced
the Board of Education to de-
velop rules by January 2017
providing for an exception to
the ban but still gave the board
authority to reject individual
native mascots. The board’s
decision Thursday puts the de-
cision into the hands of tribes.
“Putting this decision back
in the hands of the tribes to
work on these issues and to
move through these exceptions
when it makes sense may be
the most respectful act we can
make as a board,” said Charles
Martinez Jr., the school board’s
co-vice chairman.
In the past, the board had
been resistant to relaxing the
ban in light of research that
suggested the mascots have
a negative effect on native
students’ self-esteem. Board
members’ reluctance was ev-
ident Thursday, and some still
strongly opposed the change.
Vice Chairman Angela
Bowen, an American Indian,
said the Legislature has “bul-
lied” the board into acting
against their consciences.
“Honestly, I am offended
at this point that we would be
reduced to cartoon characters,”
Bowen said. “I’m very unhap-
py about the fact the Legisla-
ture has pressured this board to
make rules the board obviously
in the past has not agreed with.”
But support for the excep-
tion from the Confederated
Tribes of the Grand Ronde,
which represents 27 tribes,
tipped the scales.
School board members
voted 4-2 to pass the excep-
tion Thursday with Bowen and
board member Anthony Veliz
opposing the measure.
Worthy symbols
Miranda
Summer,
the
Paris Achen/EO Media Group
Se-ah-dom Edmo, president of the Oregon Indian Associ-
ation, speaks to the Oregon Board of Education Thursday
to oppose an exception to the board’s ban on American
Indian mascots. The board approved the exception 4-2.
board chairwoman, and Veliz
met with the Grand Ronde trib-
al council earlier this month to
discuss the issue.
Many of the Indians, war-
riors, braves and chiefs from
history “are worthy of being
honored as high school sym-
bols of respect and integrity,”
said Jack Giffen Jr., vice chair-
man of the Grand Ronde tribal
council.
The Grand Ronde have
used discussions with schools
that want to keep their native
mascots as a vehicle to intro-
duce curriculum on Oregon’s
tribes to some schools.
Mollala River School Dis-
trict, for instance, adopted a
fourth-grade curriculum creat-
ed by the tribe.
The development begins
to reverse a trend of schools
ignoring or poorly describing
native history and culture, Giff-
en said.
“The proposed rule allows
the tribes to have the determi-
nation when a mascot is cul-
turally signi¿cant to the tribe,”
Giffen said. “The Confederat-
ed Tribes of the Grand Ronde,
along with other Oregon tribes,
support this solution because it
allows the schools to keep their
native mascots if they collabo-
rate with the tribe on positive
portrayals of native symbols
and integrate native studies in
school curriculum to combat
stereotypes.”
Some Indians fought
exception
The Grand Ronde’s position
on the exception clashed with
the Oregon Indian Education
Association and some Ameri-
can Indian organizations, such
as the National Congress of
American Indians, that have
focused energy to abolishing
native mascots.
Se-ah-dom Edmo, presi-
dent of Oregon Indian Educa-
tion Association, said research
indicates that native mascot
promote discrimination.
“Since 2012 what else has
happened around the country?”
Edmo said. “Well, we’ve also
seen, and this is out of Ala-
bama, a local school that had
an Indian mascot and their ri-
vals created a 20-foot banner,
which said, ‘Hey Indians, get
ready to leave on a Trail of
Tears Round 2,’ so again, acts
of discrimination happening
within a school.”
Edmo said the loophole the
education board approved sent
a message “that we are OK
with the notion of negotiating
acceptable levels of objecti¿-
cation of native people in gen-
eral.”
She said American Indians
who don’t belong to one of
the federally recognized tribes
have no of¿cial representation
before the education board but
that their voices should be con-
sidered.
She called the exception “a
mistake” and said the Board
of Education “would become
complicit” in acts of objec-
ti¿cation and discrimination
against native students.
The new rule requires the
local school boards to hold a
public hearing on the mascot
and accept oral and written
comments. A tribe also has the
authority to revoke an agree-
ment prior to its expiration
date.
Edward Stratton of The
Daily Astorian contributed to
this report.
A Huge
Continued from Page 1A
‘He was an Astorian’
Thank You
Harkless was building his
life in Warrenton. He married
his high school sweetheart,
Amanda, last June, and they
had just moved into their new
home in Warrenton. The couple
was busy raising Logan and
their 18-month-old daughter,
McKenzie.
Harkless was an Astoria
native who graduated from As-
toria High School in 2007. He
was the sole provider for his
family, working construction
with his father, Duane Hark-
less.
“He was more than just a
man in Warrenton,” Jordan
said. “He was a very special
person and well loved and
liked. He was an Astorian.”
to these contributors for the
Coast Rehab Residents Party; Dec. 15, 2015
Miracle baby
Jordan recalls the joy Kyle
Harkless brought the family
when he was born. He was con-
sidered a “miracle baby” be-
cause he was born prematurely
at just over 2 pounds. He even-
tually grew to over 6 feet tall.
As he grew, Jordan watched
Harkless become a young man
with great character and work
ethic.
Jordan points to a time earli-
er this year when Harkless and
his father helped her move into
a new apartment in Astoria. Not
only did they move the belong-
ings, but they took pictures of
everything in the old apartment
so it all could be set up the same
Superintendent Mark Jef-
fery, who traveled to Salem for
the Board of Education’s vote,
said the district still needs to
review the proposed agreement
with Grand Ronde and gath-
er public input, adding it will
be several months before any
agreement would be brought
to the Warrenton-Hammond
School Board.
The mascot ban, enacted in
2012, is due to take effect in
July 2017.
Submitted Photo
Kyle Harkless was a proud father to his son, Logan, 7, and
his daughter, McKenzie, 18 months.
way in the new place, making it
immediately feel like home for
Jordan.
She could not believe how
they went above and beyond to
help her.
The family has shared sim-
ilar stories about Harkless this
week. Not only was he all about
family, his mother said, but he
was all about his dirt bikes and
his Toyota truck. Anytime he
could get in the mud, he would.
“We just can’t picture the
world without Kyle,” Jordan
said.
Astoria Mini Mart
Astoria Warehousing
Astoria-Warrenton
Chamber of Commerce
Bridgewater Bistro
Cash & Carry
COSTCO
Englund Marine
Fred Meyer
Lower Columbia Bowl
Main Street Market
Safeway
Silver Salmon Grille
Sundial Travel
Walgreens
Bill Hunsinger
Dave Bue & Neil
Dick Landwehr
Jerry Petersen
Moose Lodge 408
Moose poker players
Women of the Moose
Chapter 422
Girl Scout & Brownie
Troop 10086
Will Chapman
Dan Reed
Santa Claus
We couldn’t have done it without your support!
Jon Hissner & Trish Walters
Co-Chairman