Translating the Good Book: Couple's passion is in Ute and Bolivian work

By Caleb Soptelean Journal Staff Writer

Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012

Janice Lang Gallegos, 58, has been helping translate the Bible into the Ute language since 1986. 

One can call it a family affair 26 years in the making.

Her late mother, Elizabeth Marsh, and brother, Neal Lang, previously helped with the project. 

Gallegos’ brother, Wayne Marsh, 54, said he got involved because of his mother and grandfather, John Hammond Marsh, whom he described as “a strong Christian man who used to have a Bible in his hand wherever he went.”

Jack and Nola Shoemaker, 82 and 81 respectively, have facilitated the translations since 1986. The project has evolved over the years, starting with cassette tapes and DVDs, and has progressed to include video. 

“We’ve handed out a couple hundred copies of Luke and Genesis” on Ute reservations in Fort Duchesne and White Mesa, Utah, along with Ignacio and Towaoc, Jack Shoemaker said. So far they’ve translated the gospels of Mark, Luke, and John, the Acts of the Apostles, Galatians, James, Revelation, and the first three chapters of Genesis. 

A similar project was conducted in South America.

“We did the same type of work before in Bolivia,” he added, noting the Shoemakers first moved there in 1958. They started translating the Bible into native languages two years later. 

The Shoemakers, who volunteer for Wycliffe Bible Translators, worked with 15 native tribes in Bolivia. The experience had a lasting impact.

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“I still dream in that language,” Jack said, referring to “Ese ejja.” He remembers all the words. 

The Ute translation project is a time-consuming effort.

Approximately once a week, the Ute translations are done at the Shoemakers’ home 13 miles north of Durango in the Baker’s Bridge area. 

Jack noted that Nola grew up in Granada, located in southeast Colorado. She attended Cook Indian School of the Bible in Phoenix for several years. 

One of the keys to the project is knowing the language.

“She speaks Ute fluently,” Jack said. “Nola’s an amazing lady. She writes as fast in Ute as she does in English.” 

The couple travels to Towaoc each Sunday morning for worship. It’s a long drive but one worth the effort.

“They want us to come,” Jack said. 

On a recent Saturday in the Shoemakers’ home surrounded by pine trees, Towaoc residents Beverly Cuthair, her daughter Arlene and son-in-law Phillip Laner Jr. showed up to help with the voice-over video recordings, as did Ernie Price Jr. Floyd and Helena Morris usually help too, but weren’t there this day. 

Cuthair is a lay preacher at the Ute Mountain Presbyterian Church in Towaoc. She speaks at the bilingual Ute/English service once a month. 

Cuthair enjoyed her nieces and nephews while they played, while Nola served green tomato pie with ice cream and coffee. 

With joy, Jack described the Ute translation for “Holy Spirit” as “the supernatural good power which enters into those who walk with the Shepherd.” 

He’s still enthusiastic about the project.

“Learning these new ways of expression, I get more excited about it as time goes by,” he said. 

Jack, who was raised in Durango, reflects back on his time in Bolivia, where he did “pacification work” with jungle tribes. It was a study in patience and filled with adventure.

“I very slowly tried to win their confidence. It took 12 years to make peaceful contact (with one tribe).”

He recalled traveling in a canoe on the Beni River to meet a reclusive tribe, when the Sonene chief Pedro Machuque met him going the other way. The chief wanted to be taught how to read and write, and learn about medicine and the Creator. “He wanted his people to be delivered from fear, alcohol and anger,” said Jack, who converted the chief to Christianity, along with most of the tribe. 

“We’re a missionary family,” Jack said. “Our four sons were raised in the jungles of Bolivia (in the Amazon Basin).” 

After taking a break for an interview, Gallegos, Marsh and John Byrd from Wycliffe Bible Translators went back to work.

https://the-journal.com/articles/9087-translating-the-good-book

Speaker rallies packed house: 'We know there's a fight coming'

January 13, 2011 | CALEB SOPTELEAN/Daily Inter Lake

A standing-room-only crowd came to hear former Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin speak Tuesday night.

The Outlaw Inn event, sponsored by the Flathead Liberty Bell group, was the first public speech Baldwin has made since moving to the Flathead Valley from Pensacola, Fla., late last year.

Baldwin, 58, told attendees why he believes Montana is “the tip of the spear” when it comes to fighting for constitutionally protected freedoms.

“The people here have a hunger and thirst for freedom unlike anywhere else in the United States,” he said.

Baldwin spoke and answered questions from the audience for 80 minutes.

“We are on the precipice of history being changed,” he said. “Our days in which we live today are tantamount to the days of 1775 and 1776. These are history-changing days. You don’t have to be a prophet to see the handwriting on the wall. If you’re over 35 or 40 years of age and don’t see that something’s wrong and something’s got to change ... then you shouldn’t be walking around,” he said.

Baldwin referred to the recent shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others in Tucson, Ariz., with a veiled reference to the Second Amendment’s “right to bear arms” as a means of self-defense:

“I pity the poor fool who would come here in this audience tonight and try that,” he said.

Baldwin pastored a Bapist church in Florida but gave that up along with a radio show to move his family to the Treasure State. “I am absolutely convinced that God is doing something special in Montana,” he said.

“We know there’s a fight coming. We know there’s a line being drawn in the sand. We want to be on good ground. It’s right here in Montana.”

Noting he “escaped” Florida, Baldwin added, “There’s a lot of people who are looking to escape the tyranny and despotism where they are.”

Sounding a theme he repeated throughout his speech, Baldwin said the states have the ability to fight back against federal encroachment and protect their people.

Baldwin lauded Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s signing of an anti-illegal immigration bill last year.

“We need a governor who will do what Jan Brewer did, but take it the next step and say, ‘We don’t care what the Supreme Court of the United States says. We are going to do what we believe is best for the people of Montana.’

“That’s what states have the power to do,” Baldwin said. “They have the power under God, and that’s why I say Montana’s the tip of the spear.”

Baldwin cited Thomas Jefferson and called the United States a confederation of states. He believes the individual governors are more important than the president.

“The genius of the American form of government is the fact that there is a check and balance outside of Washington, D.C.,” he said. “Federalism is a system of government unlike the world has ever known before. ‘Jurisdiction’ makes us unique. We live in the land of dual jurisdiction. The federal government has jurisdiction. So do the states. According to the Declaration of Independence, the states are declared to be free and independent. Every state is a jurisdiction unto itself. It has the right to protect its citizens, even if that means protecting its citizens from Washington, D.C.”

Baldwin criticized fellow Christian pastors in part for the nation’s troubles.

“As a 35-year tenured pastor, I understand the church problem,” he said. “Let’s be honest. If the pastors were proclaiming the principles of freedom to their congregations, we would not be where we are. They’ve allowed the Internal Revenue Service to silence them. They’ve become the ‘sheepy’ slaves of the state.”

“Some of our biggest enemies call themselves Christians,” he said. “And some of our biggest allies do not call themselves Christians and do not go to church. I learned over the past couple years: Do not put people in boxes.”

Baldwin noted he’s starting a new congregation. The first service of Liberty Fellowship will meet at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Red Lion conference room. He emphasized that it’s not a 501(c)3 organization, and donations are not tax-deductible. Thus he has the freedom to speak his mind without fear of financial or political consequences.

Noting he’s been asked, “From whence comes our greatest threat?” — Baldwin quoted Daniel Webster, “There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow.”

Ultimately, he said, “We have more to fear from Washington, D.C., than we do Baghdad or Tehran. This battle is for the survival of the freedoms of our children. If we do not engage the enemy, our children and grandchildren will grow up and curse our memory.

“I believe this is the state — head and shoulders above every other state in the country — where people still yearn to live free. God bless Montana.”

At the beginning of his speech, Baldwin said he came to Montana to visit shortly after the 2008 election. He was driving west of Kalispell and turned onto Lost Prairie Road. “We drove and drove and drove and drove ... and nothing,” he said. It was raining, and a pickup truck pulled up near an intersection of two dirt roads. A man got out and came to Baldwin’s vehicle. After Baldwin introduced himself, the man, Trapper Chowning, recognized him. “You’re Chuck Baldwin! Holy (expletive)!” Baldwin related.

Chowning, who came on stage with Baldwin at that point, later said he told Baldwin he would’ve voted for him, but Chowning no longer votes. (As a matter of record, Baldwin was not on the ballot in Montana because the state Constitution Party submitted Ron Paul’s name instead.)

Baldwin noted that, like Chowning, some have given up and stopped voting.

Several from the audience asked Baldwin if he would run for governor. “I have to give that serious consideration,” he said. “I’m not a wealthy man. I do not have any funds to throw into the fray.

“If God has a future for freedom in this country, God will always have a remnant. I believe God is calling a remnant to come to Montana to fight for freedom,” he said.

Baldwin cited the Biblical reference to Mordecai and Queen Esther, “Who knows whether we are come here for such a time as this?”

Prior to Baldwin’s speech, the Liberty Bell presented awards to Columbia Falls High School student Demari DeReu and her attorney Sean Frampton. Frontier Guns of Evergreen gave DeReu a Savage Arms .308 rifle. DeReu was suspended late last year after she unwittingly left a rifle in the trunk of her car after a hunting trip and took it to school.

“Without the public pressure, Demari would’ve not gotten the right thing done,” Frampton said. Other students had similar incidents happen last year and got stiffer punishment, he said. DeReu ultimately was not expelled from school.

“The school systems in Montana are being dictated to by the National Education Association in Washington, D.C.,” Baldwin said.

He noted that one of his sons works as a plumber in Pensacola. “You can’t even flush your toilet without asking Uncle Sam how much. So many states are going along without resistance, without a second thought.”

Baldwin said he’s seen places in the United States “where people have traded the principles of freedom for socialism ... and even fascism. But what [that trade] takes from you is more than what it gives you,” he said.

http://www.dailyinterlake.com/archive/article-31bb0b30-1eaa-11e0-9fbb-001cc4c03286.html

Labor of love PHS graduate writes song promoting Polson

POLSON — A recent Polson High graduate is promoting the hometown that she loves.

Kelsey Lyn, 19, a 2016 PHS graduate, recently recorded her first music video with the help of local videographer David W. King. 

The video — which was released Saturday evening Jan. 13 at the Polson Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet at KwaTaqNuk — includes a song that Lyn wrote, “Mountain Tops.” 

Lyn, who plays guitar and sings in the 5-minute recording, was joined by her mother, sister, nieces, nephews and friends in the video. 

King came up with the idea. He previously made two music videos for the chamber derived from famous songs written by Randy Newman and John Mellencamp: “I love LA” was changed to “I love Polson” and “Small Town” was changed to “Small Town Polson.”

This time he wanted to do something different. 

“Why don’t we stop being derivative?” he asked himself. “Why don’t we do something original?”

So he called Lyn last February and asked if she would write an original song. 

“I got quite inspired and started writing it right after I got off the phone,” she said. 

In addition to fresh video recordings of the town and a number of local businesses, King also included some file footage of northwest Montana that he’s taken over the past six years. 

King and his wife, Jessica, watched Lyn’s self-made video that she texted them on her iPhone, which was basically just of her hands playing the guitar while she sang, and they got “really excited.” 

When he heard Lyn’s original opening lyrics, “These mountain tops raised me,” he got chills. 

Lyn ended up changing those lyrics to: “We were raised by these mountain tops.” She said that even those who moved to Polson later in life as adults are still being “raised,” as it were, whether emotionally, spiritually or physically by the mountains that surround Polson.

“I dug into a lot of my memories growing up here” while writing the song, she said. “I definitely put a lot of my heart into it.”

Kyle Daugherty, whom she called a great family friend, encouraged her along the way, she said. 

King, a Riverton, Wyoming native who worked in Hollywood as a film and TV producer from 1979 until he moved to Polson in 2012, said the video “is one of those watershed moments in your life where you’re very privileged to have been involved in it.”

He noted that Jessica also helped with the video, which he said celebrates Polson, family, life and growing up.

“It was a lot of fun shooting,” Lyn said. 

The video includes clips of a live recording in front of an audience in July at the Lake Bar, along with other businesses and people paddleboarding and canoeing on Flathead Lake, among other scenes. 

The video can be found online at polsonchamber.com and davidwking.com, by searching for “David W. King” or “Kelsey Lyn Music” on Facebook and “Kelsey Lyn” on YouTube.com. http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/19023/Labor-of-love

Man suspected of arson gets six-year suspended sentence for theft

POLSON — A 23-year-old Searcy, Arkansas man received a six-year suspended sentence last week for theft. 

Shane Thomas Northweather was sentenced by Judge Kim Christopher, who ordered him to pay $10,000 in restitution for cash that was missing following the Nov. 20, 2016 fire of a home in the 39100 block of Shelter Bay Lane in Rollins. 

Northweather was given credit for 197 days in jail. 

Charges of attempted deliberate homicide, arson and aggravated burglary were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. 

Northweather was released on his own recognizance following an Oct. 5, 2017 hearing before Christopher. Deputy County Attorney Ben Anciaux previously said that officials could not prove how the fire started. 

According to a court document, an 84-year-old man who lived in the home was awakened by an alarm and got out shortly after 11 p.m.

Northweather, who had been staying at a guest house on the property the night of the fire with the cleaning lady’s daughter, moved to Arkansas a few days later, a court document states. 

Cash that had been laid out to dry on a counter in the home the day of the fire had gone missing. The cleaning lady said she had helped the owner count the money. 

Northweather claimed that he got the funds to move after his grandfather wired him the money at Walmart, according to a court document. However, Det. Rick Lenz checked at Walmart and was unable to corroborate Northweather’s story. 

The cleaning lady said that Northweather went into the man’s home twice on the day of the fire to get firewood for the guest house.

 http://www.valleyjournal.net/article/19033/Man-suspected-of-arson-gets-six-year-suspended-sentence-for-theft

Rural route carriers suspected of meth trafficking

POLSON — Two U.S. Postal Service contractors face charges of intent to distribute dangerous drugs after police say they found a suspicious package at the home of Anthony Friscia, 62, and Mary Friscia, 47, in Polson last week. 

According to a Jan. 12 press release from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Friscias — who had been rural route drivers — were using the U.S. Postal Service to traffic methamphetamine from out of state. 

The package had not been delivered to the address marked on the parcel, the press release states. 

Using a search warrant, officers found almost a half-pound of meth along with $1,000 in cash and 10 firearms at the Friscias’ home. 

The Friscias were booked and released because there wasn’t room for them in the jail, Sheriff Don Bell said. 

The U.S. Marshals Service and a postal inspector assisted in the investigation. 

Chief Deputy County Attorney James Lapotka said the couple were arrested on Thursday, Jan. 11, and issued a citation. They were given an initial appearance date with Justice of the Peace Randal Owens. Lapotka did not know the date but said it is usually within a week or two. Following their initial appearance, the county attorney's office has 30 days to officially charge them or dismiss the case, Lapotka said, adding he expects them to be in district court within a month or so. 

The maximum sentence for a conviction of criminal possession with intent to distribute is 20 years and a fine of $50,000.

Democrat congressional candidate says he likes to stand up to bullies

POLSON — John Heenan said he stands up to bullies for a living, and that’s why he decided to run for Congress.

Heenan, the first of six Democrats to announce a run for their party’s nomination next June, said he decided to run for the seat right after this year’s special election that resulted in Montanans electing Greg Gianforte of Bozeman to replace U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke. 

Heenan, a 40-year-old attorney from Billings, came to Polson last week and talked to about 25 people at Blodgett Creamery Coffee Saloon. 

He said that Gianforte bankrolling much of his campaign victory over GOP primary opponents and then Democrat Rob Quist reminds him of Montana’s mining barons, i.e. the Copper Kings. 

He referred to the Republican Party’s economic idea of income tax rate cuts as “trickle-down non-sense,” and said he believes in a living wage for all and Medicare for all. 

Heenan also said he’s passionate about fighting “dark money,” and wants to lead the fight to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that supported rights of corporate entities to contribute to political campaigns. He acknowledged the Herculean effort it would take to do this, i.e. a Constitutional amendment, but nonetheless is undaunted. 

He cited a movie, Dark Money, set to come out in the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah next month. 

“In the (Democratic) primary, you’ll be given a choice on whether you want someone who will not back down,” he said. 

Heenan called Gianforte “the wealthiest member of Congress,” and said he will not accept money from political action committees. 

Republicans will not be able to make attacks against him like they made against Quist for questionable business dealings, Heenan said, noting he and his wife, Meagen, own Local Kitchen & Bar, a restaurant in Billings that sells locally-grown food and employs 13. 

“I’ve got street cred on that stuff,” Heenan said. “I’m more like small business owners in Montana than Greg Gianforte.”

A man in the audience pointed out that three of Heenan’s Democrat competitors are or were state legislators and wondered why Heenan hadn’t started in politics by running for a lower office. Heenan said that legislative experience is not a “magic formula” to winning elections. “I really feel like there’s a bully (Gianforte), and I’m someone who knows how to beat bullies and take them on.”

“If it wasn’t Greg Gianforte, I wouldn’t be running,” he said, adding that he has deposed and prosecuted “people like this. I’ve prosecuted Mr. Gianforte’s friends.” He specifically noted Art Wittich, a former state representative from Bozeman whom he helped successfully prosecute for campaign finance violations. 

When asked about his willingness to compromise, Heenan said he compromises and negotiates for a living, but added that “there’s more candidates that have more reach across the aisle than I do. We can’t always be negotiating and asking, ‘Pretty please?’” 

Heenan said he’s taken a position on any issue when asked to do so, but didn’t have answers about some issues. These include whether to legalize marijuana and what to do about climate change, for example. 

When a woman asked about regulating guns, Heenan said he doesn’t want to expand gun rights and doesn’t want to take away people’s guns. When pressed further on the issue, Heenan said his platform does not include adding regulations or taking away regulations in regard to guns. 

“I’m used to fighting big banks,” he said. “Those folks have unfettered control over what’s happening in Washington.”

After the meeting, Heenan said his heroes are Franklin Delano Roosevelt, former Congressman Pat Williams, Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk and “a little bit of Teddy Roosevelt.” 

Heenan graduated from the University of Montana with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and worked as an over-the-road truck driver and forklift operator for two years before going back to U of M to earn a law degree. 

He has been practicing law for 14 years and notes that his wife is a former teacher and now a stay-at-home mother of their four children. 

Heenan said he has been campaigning full-time since August. 

His Democratic opponents include: former state Sen. Lynda Moss of Billings, former state Rep. Kathleen Williams of Bozeman, state Rep. Tom Woods of Bozeman, Grant Kier, a former well-site geologist and executive director of the Missoula-based Five Valleys Land Trust, and Jared Pettinato, a Whitefish native who worked as an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. from 2008-2017 and comes from a railroading family. 

Man found not guilty for theft of $5K in silver coins

POLSON – A Missoula man was found not guilty of the theft of some
$5,500 in silver coins last week following a Dec. 11 jury trial.
Deputy county attorney Ben Anciaux had charged David Fitzwilliams,
30, with theft from the home of the owner of the Mountain Meadows
Resort at Lake Mary Ronan.
Fitzwilliams had been building a deck and working as a handyman at
the resort earlier this year, Anciaux said.
The owner of the resort and Fitzwilliams had discussed the owner’s
two boxes of silver coins and Fitzwilliams was allowed to sort the
coins, a court document states.
When the owner took one box of non-rare coins to the bank, he
received $5,500 for them. A second box that contained rare coins
was left on a chair on May 19 for Fitzwilliams to sort, the document
states. When the owner and his wife returned from the bank, the
second box of coins was missing along with Fitzwilliams.
Anciaux said there were issues with being able to prove Fitzwilliams
was the only one who could’ve taken the coins and with determining
the value of the missing coins. He said $5,500 was an estimate
based on the value of the first box of coins.
“It’s a difficult thing to identify coins that have been stolen because
they’re not marked,” he said, responding to a question about what
would happen if they’re found.
Fitzwilliams was arrested Aug. 24 and released on his own
recognizance on Aug. 31, Anciaux said.
Since Fitzwilliams was found not guilty, he cannot be retried for that
alleged crime, Anciaux said.