[IPSM] Chi-whi-tsen village protection in Port Angeles, Pacific Northwest of North America (fwd)

[Jaggi Singh]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 23:24:51 -0800
From: Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin <lindsey at riseup.net>
To: pga at lists.riseup.net
Subject: [pga] Chi-whi-tsen village protection in Port Angeles,
     Pacific Northwest of North America

Hello.

In my hometown, on the waterfront below the neighborhood in which I was
born, the Washington State Department of Transportation is building a
construction site on top of the remains of a Klallam village and
cemetery.  We have (finally) started mobilizing grassroots resistance to
the construction project.

I believe we will soon be directly challenging the "good old boys"
network that runs the city on the philosophy of economic growth at any
cost; the heirs of the early 20th-century boosters who bulldozed the
village in the 1910s to build a timber mill.

We are also building powerful native/non-native relationships, with
non-natives petitioning on behalf of Klallam self-determination
(possibly for the first time in this community).

If you have time, please send e-mails to the people indicated in the
text below.  Thank you.

cheers,
Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin
375 Westridge Road
Port Angeles
Pacific Northwest
North America
1 360 457 3342


Dear Friends,

This is an extremely important moment in the effort to protect the Lower
Elwha Tribe?s ancestral village site. Please take a moment to read this,
send an email, and pass this email along to others. Also, if you can
help with gathering petitions this weekend in Seattle, please contact
Keith Hunter at 360-645-3161, khunter at wildcatcdc.org, or come to the
Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S. Alaska Street, Seattle  For
directions and times see www.wildcatcdc.org/MakahBazaar/Location/

As you may know, the construction by the state highway department of a
?Graving Yard? to be used to build pontoon?s for the repair of the Hood
Canal Bridge is disrupting and desecrating the Lower Elwha Tribe?s
ancestral village and unearthing hundreds of human remains. Since
construction began on the project over 300 complete human remains, 700
isolates (fragments of human remains), 6 long houses, and over 10,000
artifacts have been uncovered.

The Lower Elwha Tribe on Friday, December 10, asked the Washington State
Department of Transportation to move the Graving Dock to another
location. The tribe had previously asked the Army Corps of Engineers on
December 8, to suspend their permit for construction at the site until
an environmental impact statement is completed. The Federal Highway
Administration is funding the project, so they need to hear our views as
well.

Although construction is not taking place this week and there have been
some promising quotes from state and federal officials in the newspaper,
there has not been a decision to halt the project.

Your voice is needed in support of the Lower Elwha Tribe.~~

Enough is Enough!!!

HERE?S HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please e-mail the following people:
Doug MacDonald at the Washington state Department of Transportation:
MacDonD at wsdot.wa.gov
Daniel Mathis at the Federal Highway Administration:
washington.fhwa at fhwa.dot.gov
Kathryn Stenberg at the Army Corps of Engineers PAOTeam at nws02.usace.army.mil

Please send copies to:
Suquamish Olalla Neighbors: olalla at soneighbors.org
Keith Hunter: khunter at wildcatcdc.org
Senator Maria Cantwell: Maria_Cantwell at Cantwell.Senate.Gov
Kyle Lucas at Governor Gary Locke?s office: kyletlucas at goia.wa.gov

  Please ask them to do the following:
1)      Support the Lower Elwha Tribe?s request that the Graving Dock be
moved elsewhere.
2)      Support the return of this land to the Lower Elwha Tribe so they
can use it for the appropriate reburial of their ancestors? remains and
for a memorial, museum, or other facilities that can protect the
artifacts and educate the public about this historic site.

SAMPLE EMAIL
Here is a sample email. It is always most effective if you customize it,
or simply write your own, but this can get you started:

Dear Secretary MacDonald,
I am writing to ask you to move the Graving Dock currently under
construction in Port Angeles to another site.

I am deeply concerned about the continued desecration and disruption of
human remains and the degrading of one of our state?s most important
archeological finds. I believe the land should be returned to the Lower
Elwha Tribe so they can appropriately rebury the human remains and
protect the archeological treasures at Tse-whit-zen Village.

I recognize the importance of repairing the Hood Canal Bridge, but I
believe another site can be found that will not be so profoundly damaging.

When I speak to friends and family about this site, it is clear that
there are many opposed to the continued construction. With the
possibility of lengthy legal and procedural delays, it may turn out to
be less expensive and time consuming to simply move the project elsewhere.

But even if it is more expensive, the value of preserving this site for
generations of Native and non-Native people is beyond estimation.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

SIGN YOUR NAME
IF YOU REPRESENT OR ARE PART OF AN ORGANIZATION, TRIBE, AND/OR FAITH
GROUP, CONSIDER INCLUDING THAT INFORMATION HERE.

~
LINKS AND MORE INFORMATION: The Lower Elwha Tribe?s new website on
Tse-whit-zen Village news can be found at
http://tse-whit-zen.elwha.nsn.us/index.html
~
You can find updates on the Campaign and other developments from the
Friends of Chi-whi-tsen, a Port Angeles Group that is supporting the
Lower Elwha Tribe, at www.wildcatcdc.org.
~
Friends of Chi-whi-tsen has launched a news listserve for updates on
actions in Port Angeles. ~To subscribe to this news list, send an email
to chi-whitsen-subscribe at lists.riseup.net.
~
For those in the Seattle area ? you can find a petition and current
information at the MakahBazaar December 18, 2004 from 10 am to 6 p.m. at
the Rainier Valley Cultural Center at 3515 S. Alaska Street, Seattle.~
Contact Keith Hunter at khunter at wildcatcdc.org, or call (360) 645-3161,
or see www.wildcatcdc.org/MakahBazaar for more details or directions.

Thank you for your support,
Ted George, co-chair, Suquamish Olalla Neighbors
Sarah van Gelder, co-chair, Suquamish Olalla Neighbors
Mary Ann Dow, secretary, Suquamish Olalla Neighbors
Keith Hunter, Wildcat Community Development
Tom Speer, Duwamish Tribal Services Board of Directors, Pioneer &
Duwamish Descendants Committee, Longhouse Heritage Foundation
(affiliations  listed for identification purposes only)