Letters to the Editor, April 20, 2017

Running for Tribal Council?

Dear Editor,

This is a letter to all those vying for a position on the Tribal Council. You should do three things after becoming an elected representative.

First: Change the name of the reservation. REASON: Time has long since passed that we continue to call ourselves Colville Indians and understand that there never were any Colville Indians. That we must either change to our language name “Syilx People” or our dominant tribe “Okanogan” (no matter how you spell it!).

Second: Change the length of service for councilperson to four years. All you do now is find out where the bathrooms are and start running for council in 18 months. We have no way of knowing your beliefs or desires for tribal improvement. Remember, the Tribal attorneys are the ones that said we “could not change without a referendum vote.” You will be the governing body of the Confederation and if other tribes can do it why can’t you?

Third: Pass a resolution that allows the Okanagan Indians (Lakes if you prefer) to buy gas at our prices, hunt on our grounds and fish in our streams and lakes without fees. The Desautel decision should have awakened you to the fact that we are the Syilx People and not a bunch of separate tribes and languages.

These may be foreign to most of you running, but the rest of us know that the only thing keeping it from becoming so, is YOU. The only ones stopping anything that will unify our People is Y-O-U. Good Hunting!

An Okanagan Indian and member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation,

Arnie Marchand

Oroville

Opportunity to talk about issues

Dear Editor,

Represent Okanogan County will be having a community outreach meeting this coming Sunday, April 23 at the Okanogan Grange, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.. Commissioner Chris Branch will be our guest speaker.

This will be an excellent opportunity to get together with other folks from the county and hear about some of the latest issues. Following Commissioner Branch’s talk and a question and answer session, we will have ROC supporters gather to brainstorm and further flesh out ways we can keep our citizens engaged and educated on issues that affect our county. We welcome participants from all three districts, but want to emphasize that we are non-partisan.

We thought we should write a little more about this meeting due to the road closure situation on the Loup portion of Hwy 20. We are asking that people in the Methow meet to carpool from the Methow Valley Community Center at 11:30 a.m. to be able to arrive in time for the 1 p.m. start. As the commute may be lengthy for some people, there will be some snacks and refreshments offered, but if people wish, they can pack a sack lunch or bring their own snacks.

We are excited to continue to work towards a truly transparent, accountable and responsive county government. If you have any questions, please contact us via the email: rocon2016@gmail.com.

Karen Mulcahy

Winthrop