Maidu leader seeks stronger tribe Patsy Seek fights for culture, unity

Patsy Seek and teepee

photo by Jennifer MacDonald

Konkow Maidu leader Patsy Seek shows one of the traditional huts she’s built out of tree bark along the Feather River in Oroville.

by Jennifer MacDonald

Patsy Seek combed the banks of Northern California’s Feather River, scoured the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and made house calls in Oroville searching for Native American children skipping school.

“I’d drag ’em out of bed,” she says. “They’d hide in the mountains and I’d go find them.”

Seek could relate to the troubled students. Herself a Maidu woman, Seek dropped out of high school during her first year.

In Oroville and surrounding Butte County, the Native American population is mostly Maidu. The Maidu were among the largest of the California tribes, occupying large parts of Northern and Central California before white settlers came.  read more

Cabral enfrentará juicio por cargos criminales

Reny and Torrie at Enloe Rehabilitation Center

por Leslie Layton

Temprano una mañana de invierno, en una celda de aislamiento de la cárcel del condado de Glenn, Reynaldo “Reny” Cabral se puso en posición de velocista, una posición que había tomado frecuentemente cuando jugaba para el equipo de fútbol americano de la escuela preparatoria de Orland. Luego se abalanzó, chocando su cabeza contra una capa de hule que cubre la pared de la llamada “celda de seguridad” en la cárcel.

Ahora recuerda el sentimiento de sorpresa que tuvo mientras estaba tirado en el piso de la celda al darse cuenta que estaba paralizado. En un esfuerzo desesperado de liberarse de su prisión — No solamente de la celda de 5 por 8 pies, pero además de la prisión creada por sus alucinaciones y su temor de ser nuevamente lastimado por los policías que ya habían usado contra él dardos “Taser” — había roto su cuello. read more

Failure to address mental health proves costly Cabral Reflects on Mental Illness

photo by Leslie LaytonReny and Torrie at Enloe Rehabilitation Center

photo by Leslie Layton

Reny and Torrie at Enloe Rehabilitation Center

by Leslie Layton

Five months after his arrest in connection with the choking of his girlfriend, an Orland man said that psychosis drove him to ram his head into the wall of a Glenn County Jail cell.

Reynaldo “Reny” Cabral, 23, described himself as disoriented and desperate when he rammed his head in his isolation cell Jan. 8, breaking his neck and becoming paralyzed from the chest down. He is now a quadriplegic, and both Glenn County and MediCal have been billed hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs. read more

Breakdown: How the System Failed Reny Cabral

Reny Cabral
Reny at Enloe Rehabilitation Center

 by Leslie Layton

Reynaldo “Reny” Cabral looked like he wanted to brush away the tears. But it’s easy to forget that he has little use of his arms, and though a shoulder twitched, the tears ran freely on this recent March afternoon in a hospital lobby.

It’s hard for most people to think of Reny as a quadriplegic, and he too is just getting used to the idea. On Jan. 8, Reny broke his neck in the Glenn County Jail, ending up paralyzed from the chest down.

Surrounded by friends and family, Reny quickly composed himself as 30 people posed with him for pictures. Camera shutters were clicking: Reny in his athletic shorts and jersey and plastic neck brace, his legs wrapped in Ace bandages to help circulation. Reny, a former high-school football lineman, now wheelchair-bound, accused of trying to murder his former girlfriend. read more

Joven de Orland sale de la cárcel de Willows paralítico

por Leslie Layton

Arturo y Rosa Cabral, residentes de Orland por mucho tiempo, tienen mucho que lamentar, pero poco tiempo para pensar en sus penas.

Al final del año pasado, su segundo hijo Reynaldo “Reny” Cabral llegó a ser prisionero de su mente; su enfermedad mental dejó a su familia con pocas opciones para ayudarle. La familia Cabral se siente traicionada por las instituciones locales que no apoyaron a su hijo cuando lo necesitaba.

Atrapado por su enfermedad mental, Reny llegó a ser también prisionero del sistema de justicia contra criminales del condado de Glenn, encerrado en la cárcel de Willows. Reny fue arrestado el 6 de enero acusado de asaltar a su novia Torrie Gonzales –dos días después de que le había confiado a sus familiares que escuchaba voces en su cabeza y que necesitaba “sacrificar” a alguien en su cumpleaños. read more