FEBRUARY 15, 2001
Smoke Signals 5
Hearing on Indian Whaling Report Draws Intense Clashes
SEATTLE, WA. (AP) Battle
lines over the Makah whale hunt are
as sharp and divisive as ever.
The Makah consider their centuries-old
whaling tradition a central
part of their identity.
"We will not wake up one morning
and our minds will be different. Our
minds are set," said Gordon Smith,
Vice Chairman of the Makah Tribal
Council. He called on opponents to
set their emotions aside.
Anti-whaling activists consider
whaling a barbaric attack on sentient
creatures.
"I cannot and will not stifle my feel
ings. You are set and so am I," said
opponent Kay Farrell.
They were among scores of people
who spoke recently at a hearing on
the National Marine Fisheries
Service's (NMFS) environmental as
sessment of the impact of the Tribe's
bid to resume whaling.
Using a canoe, a traditional har
poon and more modern guns and
chase boats, the Makah killed a gray
whale in May 1999, their first in more
than 70 years.
The assessment, the second pre
pared by the agency, was ordered
last summer by the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals, which found the
agency violated the National Envi
ronmental Policy Act when it ap
proved a hunt management plan
before completing an impact study.
The process had been challenged in
a lawsuit filed by former Rep. Jack
The no-hunt option
would be "putting an
end to these people's
songs, to their dances,
to their gatherings...
to theirpride."
Dennis Miller
An Aleut from Alaska
Metcalf (R-Wash.), operators of
whale-watching boats and others.
The Makah suspended hunting
after the decision, and the manage
ment plan was scrapped while NMFS
weighed four alternatives ranging
from no hunt at all to an unrestricted
hunt with a five-whale annual limit.
The agency concluded Makah whal
ing would not threaten the gray
whale population.
The agency's final environmental
assessment, including a preferred
alternative from among the four op
tions, is expected this spring.
Some opponents of the whale hunt
resorted to ridicule and profanity.
The report was rife with "poor sci
ence, incomplete and inaccurate re
porting," said marine mammal Biolo
gist Toni Frohoff of the Humane So
ciety of the United States.
Some activists contend the gray
whale population, estimated by the
fisheries service at a potential all
time high of 26,000, is actually
"We blame you and all
your bosses for this mess. "
Margaret Owens of Peninsula
Citizens for the Protection of
Whales told NMFS officials,
contending the controversy had
"turned our community
into ground zero for
racial disharmony."
threatened with extinction.
Some complained that the hearing
was held in Seattle on a weeknight,
when many working people in
Clallam County, where the Makah
Reservation is located, were unable
to attend. Those who did make the
five-hour trip argued for consideration
of the impact on their communities.
"It just doesn't stop ... the stress over
whether it's going to happen," said
Margaret Owens of Peninsula Citi
zens for the Protection of Whales.
"We blame you and all your bosses
for this mess," Owens told NMFS of
ficials, contending the controversy
had "turned our community into
ground zero for racial disharmony."
Anti-whaling activists came from as
far away as Hawaii Jeff Panahoff
of the Whale Man Foundation and
Toronto Julie Woodyard of the
World Whale Police.
While most simply backed the no
hunt option, Andrew Christie of the
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society,
whose ships prowled the waters off
Neah Bay for months in hopes of pre
venting a kill, suggested a trade-off
return of traditional Makah lands now
held by the National Park Service.
The Makah are the only U.S. Tribe
with a treaty that guarantees whal
ing rights.
"They knew what was important
to their people," said Billy Frank, Jr.,
a Nisqually Indian and head of the
Northwest Indian Fisheries Commis
sion. All five Makah Tribal Council mem
bers, plus several carloads and a
charter bus of Neah Bay residents,
attended the hearing. They also re
ceived support from Aleut, Navajo,
Sioux, Haida, Chippewa, Cheyenne
and other Tribes around the nation
and from civil-rights and some envi
ronmental activists.
'It's very important to our people,
and that's why so many of them are
here," said Tribal Chairman Greig
Arnold.
The no-hunt option would be "put
ting an end to these people's songs,
to their dances, to their gatherings...
to their pride," said Dennis Miller, an
Aleut from Alaska.
The Makah stopped hunting
whales early in the 20th century af
ter commercial whaling reduced the
population to dangerously low lev
els. The Tribe moved to revive its
tradition after gray whales were
taken off the Endangered Species
List in 1994.
Indian Affairs Council Backs Erasing 'Squaw' from Idaho Maps
BOISE, ID. (AP) The Indian Af
fairs Council recently voted unani
mously to endorse the initiative of all
six Indian Tribes to erase the word
"squaw" from geographic locations
throughout the state.
The council, which includes repre
sentatives of the Tribes, legislature
and the governor's office, forwarded
the resolution to the Senate State
Affairs Committee, where initial in
dications were that it would be ap
proved. Sen. Moon Wheeler, the American
Falls Republican who heads the
council, called the word vile and dis
gusting, agreeing with Tribal mem
bers that changing the offensive geo
graphic name is more than an exer
cise in political correctness.
"I can understand the sensitivity
of Native Americans," Wheeler said.
If approved by both houses, the
resolution directs the State Depart
ment of Lands and the Idaho Hu
man Rights Commission to form a
committee with the Tribes to identify
geographic locations with "squaw" in
the name and recommend new
names. The ultimate authority to
change the names lies with the U.S.
Board of Geographic Names.
"We can find beautiful names for
those places," said Coeur d'Alene
Tribal Chairman Ernie Stensgar.
The Coeur d'Alenes are working
with the Nez Perce, Kootenai,
Shoshone-Bannock, Shoshone
Paiute and Northwest Band of the
Shoshoni Nation. Indian leaders said
the word is a vulgar racial or sexual
insult. In Maine's Passammaquoddy
Tribe, it translates roughly to "whore."
In Iroquois it is derived from the word
for female genitalia.
"We all understand when we are
insulted," Stensgar said. "If there
were only five Indians who lived in
this state and are offended by it, it is
our responsibility to address the issue."
The word appears on more than
1,000 geographic features nation
wide, primarily in the West and Mid
west, according to the U.S. Geologi
cal Survey. The states of Montana,
Maine, Oklahoma and Minnesota
already have taken action through
their legislatures, and British Colum
bia has eliminated the word as a
place name.
Advocates said joining those juris
dictions would underscore Idaho's
opposition to racial and ethnic preju
dice. "We have a blight in Idaho not of
our own choosing because certain
people chose to move to Idaho and
claim their race is dominant,"
Stensgar said. "We're proud of who
we are and where we live. We're
proud of our people, and we're proud
of our state."
Lummi Indian Tribe Breaks Ground on New Casino, Replaces Old One
BELLINGHAM, WA. (AP) -Lummi
Nation officials have broken
ground for a new Tribal casino, four
years after the closure of the old one.
Tribal officials hope the $15 million
casino will bring more jobs to the res
ervation, where unemployment hov
ers between 30 and 50 percent.
The 25,000-square-foot casino will
feature more than 300 video slot ma
chines, a dozen game tables and a
restaurant. It's being financed by
The Merit Management Group of
Chicago and is scheduled to open by
November of this year.
At the recent groundbreaking cer
emony, Lummi and Merit officials
predicted the coinless slot machines
will make the difference this time.
"No question it's what got the
Tribe interested in gaming again,"
said Gordon Adams, a Lummi Indian
Business Council member. ' "All up and
down the coast, they were having a
huge impact on gaming."
The casino will create 150 new jobs
and training will begin as soon as
August, said Merit CEO Joe Canfora.
"Everyone who is willing to work, we
are going to put to work from construc
tion all the way through," he said.
Isabelle Revey, a gaming supervi
sor at another area casino, served
drinks at the old Lummi Casino be
fore leaving in 1994.
Tt was great. We were the only
game in town then," she said. "But
then tips went from an average of
$250 a day to $80."
But, Revey said she wants to work
at the new Lummi casino when it
opens.
The new casino will be closer to In
terstate 5 than the old one and the
new slot machines should be an ad
vantage, said Business Council Chair
man Willie Jones. Tribal casino op
erators across the state say the new
machines have helped the weaken
ing industry.
Gaming revenues are slowly re
building after a 1997 decline that
came when British Columbia allowed
slot machines and expanded gaming
operations. That slump led to the clo
sure of the previous Lummi Casino.
Now one of the biggest questions is
whether alcohol will be served at the
new casino. The former casino didn't
serve alcohol until profits started go
ing down. Business Council member
Darrell Hillaire said he didn't know if
the new casino would serve alcohol
or not.
'There's a strong sentiment toward
no alcohol in this community," he said.
"The council will have to come to
gether to answer that."
But Merle Jefferson, another Busi
ness Council member, hinted alcohol
probably would be allowed.