Billy Frank Jr. featured on state poster

Billy Frank Jr. featured on state poster
By Richard Walker, Today correspondent

Story Published: Feb 19, 2010

Story Updated: Feb 19, 2010

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Billy Frank Jr., chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, is featured on a Washington State Library poster that promotes reading.

The poster is part of the state library’s “Washington Reads” poster series. Other posters have featured NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant, and fans of “Twilight.”

In his poster, Frank is backdropped by a Coast Salish salmon design and is holding the book, “Messages from Frank’s Landing: A Story of Salmon, Treaties, and the Indian Way,” by Charles Wilkinson.

In past years, “Washington Reads” posters were made available for free to libraries and schools. Because of budget constraints, the poster has been published online and is available for a free download or online purchase. You can download the Billy Frank Jr. poster at www.sos.wa.gov/library/wa_reads/BillyFrankJr.aspx. Download sizes are 8 1/2 by 11 inches or 11 by 17 inches.

Frank, Nisqually, is the longtime chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and is commissioner of the Medicine Creek Treaty Area. He is a longtime trustee of the Washington State Historical Society. Among the awards he has received: The 1991 Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism and the 2004 Indian Country Today Inaugural American Visionary Award.

Richard Walker is a correspondent reporting from San Juan Island, Wash. Contact him at rmwalker@rockisland.com.