Marina has long been center of life here

By D. PARVAZ
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The place to be here -- in addition to the Tribal Center and the nearby long house, site of most public events -- is the marina.

Fishermen come and go silently, almost all of them with a far-off gaze. These guys aren't talkers. If it's conversation you're after, go to Slo-Joe's at the marina.

"You've got the fishin', you can come here to the restaurant and look out across the Bay," says Pete Hansen, 71, a Tulalip resident since 1964.

A native of Alaska, Hansen has been a bush pilot, an ivory carver and a fisherman in addition to running a cannery.

"It's changed a lot, all right. With the casino and all the housing, the people here now have an economy going. Not much fishing anymore," says Hansen, finishing up his cup of coffee. He leaves with a smile and tip of his white ball cap.

The cafe is run by LeRoy Joseph, who owns it with his wife, Judy. He has a strong handshake ("I have the grip of beachcomber!"), sharp eyes and a friendly way about him.

"The marina is the center of the whole tribe's life. The majority of the people used to be here. Now the majority of the people are up at the casino," he says, looking out over Tulalip Bay.

"The fish have dwindled, but still . . .everybody comes down here -- they used to come for the store," he says, pointing to the grocery store next door that has been closed for months.

Friends at Joseph's 30th-year high school reunion were surprised to learn that he was still in Tulalip.

"I'm thinking, 'Well, what do you mean do I still live around here? This is where I live. This is where I'm going to die. This is where I'm going to be forever. This is the Indian way of life.' "

Slo-Joe's, which opened a year and a half ago, is more than a cafe for Joseph. It keeps his family together (sons Rocky, 28, and Jason, 24, help out), teaches his boys traditional tribal values and makes him a positive example for Tulalip youth.

"I just want this to work so that these young guys will look at me and say, 'Look at him. If he can do it, I can do it,' " says Joseph, who has come by his can-do attitude the hard way: Experience.

His father died in a barroom brawl when Joseph was nine, leaving his mother to raise him and his five brothers and sisters.

"We were always hiding, afraid the social services would take us away from my mother," says Joseph. He says the tribe rallied around his family for years and kept things going.

Now he has made Slo-Joe's a part of the community -- everything from the local kids he hires to the old photos on the wall.

Items on the menu speak of his ties to Tulalip: the "Albert Young" Bacon Burger or the "Dolly Hill" Hot Turkey Sandwich -- named for tribal members lost at sea. It's his way of keeping the tribe's history alive.

"I want my kids to be Indian, and this is the thing to do -- stay here and practice all these traditions. It's tradition for families to stay together."