Tulalip woman hopes it’s not too late

TULALIP, Wash. – By the time you read this, Rita Matta will probably be
behind bars, as will her husband. She will have been banished from living
on the Tulalip reservation for five years and will have lost the home she
was 14 months from paying off.

But Matta pledged to go to prison clean and sober – and to help turn the
tide of substance abuse by spreading the word about treatment.

Matta, 53, was arrested in her Tulalip home Jan. 1 after she sold crack to
an undercover officer. She was arrested in a sweep by Tulalip tribal police
and federal agents; eight homes, including one meth lab, were busted.

In federal court, Matta and her husband, Dana, asked for treatment. Rita
was admitted into a 60-day program, Dana a 28-day program. She admits
having used cocaine for 14 years and being treated five times for crack.
She was clean for two weeks, two years ago.

“I knew if I didn’t get into a treatment program, I would be dead,” she
said of her latest effort to stay clean. “During treatment, I thought it
was a nightmare. I kept screaming for people to wake me up.”

While in treatment, she came to terms with pain that she blames partly for
her addiction. She went into treatment Jan. 13, on the anniversary of her
son’s death 24 years earlier. She left treatment on her late sister’s
birthday.

“It had a very strong message for me: ‘Forgive yourself now,’” she said.
“The other message was, ‘You will die.’”

Matta started a Narcotics Anonymous group on the Tulalip Reservation; it
was featured in a news story in the Everett Herald on July 24.

And she and her husband sought forgiveness. The tribal council told the
Mattas that, because they had been convicted of drug-related crimes, they
had to be out of their home by July 29.

Stan Jones Sr., Tulalip Tribes chairman and Matta’s second cousin, said he
sympathized with Matta but the rules are clear.

Jones said Matta visited him at his home about her case. “I felt sorry for
her, but what can we do? A lot of people [on the reservation] have died
from drugs. We go to the funerals.”

Jones said tribal members that ask for help will get help, not punishment.
But once you’re busted for a drug offense, the tribal penalty can be harsh:
Banishment from the reservation for five years.

If a tribal member asks for help, Tulalip will pay for drug and alcohol
treatment, Jones said. “One tribal member was sent five times. She’s
finally been clean for a year or two and is taking care of her family.”

Some tribal members subjected to banishment have been allowed to remain on
the reservation in exchange for a pledge to remain clean and sober. But
it’s probationary: Get caught with drugs and you’re banned from the
reservation for five years.

“It works,” Jones said. “We’ve done that eight times and so far each one
has been pretty darn clean.”

There’s also an Alcoholics Anonymous chapter on the reservation and a
program through the local Church of God.

Despite Tulalip’s proactive stance on substance abuse treatment, Matta said
many tribal members don’t know that if they ask for help, they can get it.

Jones said he drank when he was younger and working with his father as a
logger. Then he went into the military, got married and decided to change
his ways. “I decided I was not going to let my children see me drunk. That
was in 1952 or ’53. I quit drinking. I quit smoking. I even quit [using]
Copenhagen.”

POLICE ARE CRACKING DOWN

Since the banishment policy was established five years ago, eight people
have been banished, Jones said. He expects six more to be considered soon
for banishment.

The Tulalip Police Department was founded in November 2001. Tulalip police
arrested 60 drunken drivers during their first year, and 95 in 2003. They
made 44 drug-related arrests in 2001, 291 in 2003.

On July 30, more arrests were made; Gary and Donna Chambers were arrested
after someone called the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force tip line. The
Chambers are charged in federal court with selling Somas, Oxycontin,
Vicodin, Percocet and marijuana from the reservation and in Marysville.

PLENTY OF WORK

Lack of work is not a contributor to Tulalip’s drug woes. Jones estimates
Tulalip has 3,800 members, of which two thirds live on the reservation.

Tulalip owns several business enterprises, including Quil Ceda Village
Business Park, Tulalip Casino and Quil Ceda Village. In addition, Tulalip
is building 124 upscale outlet stores.

“We are going to need 250 more employees,” Jones said. “Whoever wants to
work, we will train them and we will have a job for them.”

WHEN DOES THE PAIN END?

The Mattas have four children, ages 27, 25, 19 and 15. In an interview
shortly before she was to be sentenced to prison, Rita Matta worried about
her youngest daughter who, plagued by bad dreams after the drug bust, ran
away from home.

Matta’s oldest child, a son, is considered disabled and is blind in one
eye. Jones said the tribe would care for her son.

Looking ahead two years, Matta is worried about being able to pay rent
outside of the reservation. For her home on the reservation, Matta paid
$175 a month. When she gets out, if she has to live outside the reservation
she expects to pay $975 to $1,475 a month for rent.

But mostly, she’s concentrating on staying clean and helping people get off
of drugs.

“There are a lot of people who are hurting. A lot of people are going
through the same thing. When does it end? Are we going to have an empty
reservation?”

Richard Walker is a correspondent reporting from San Juan Island, Wash.
Contact him at (360) 378-6289 or irishmex2000@yahoo.com.