Smoke signals., November 15, 2001, Page 8, Image 8

8 NOVEMBER 15, 2001
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Canadian Indian Guilty of Violating Eagle Protection Act
SEATTLE, WA. (AP) - A Cana
dian Indian who said he was acting
in his capacity as a medicine man
when he brought bald eagle feath
ers and parts into this country has
been convicted of violating the U.S.
law that protects the birds.
Terry Antoine, 47, of Duncan,
British Columbia, was found guilty
recently of four counts of violating
the Bald and Golden Eagle Protec
tion Act and one count of illegal im
portation. Antoine, who is scheduled to be
sentenced in January of 2002, faces
a maximum 12 years in prison and
$600,000 in fines.
Antoine's Lawyer, Michael
Filipovic, said he plans to appeal to
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap
peals. He said he was disappointed
by the verdict.
Prosecutors applauded the U.S.
District Court jury for convicting
Antoine on all counts. "The Bald
and Golden Eagle Protection Act is
an extremely important part of the
federal wildlife protection scheme,"
said Lawrence Lincoln, U.S.
Attorney's Office spokesman. "We
hope this verdict reminds the pub
lic of the continuing need to protect
these magnificent birds."
Prosecutors had argued that
Antoine smuggled eagle remains
across the U.S. border without a
permit, then sold or bartered them
for cash, beadwork and other goods
in Washington state, Montana and
Arizona as part of a black-market
scheme.
Antoine did not deny that he
brought the eagle feathers over the
border. However, he said he was
acting as an Indian medicine man
when he traded eagle parts to other
Indians, who use the parts in reli
gious ceremonies.
"This case is, in large part, about
an effort to impose the laws and
values and views of a majority cul
ture and apply it to an individual
in a minority culture," said Filipovic.
Prosecutors said Antoine knew he
was breaking the law.
"Mr. Antoine would sell openly his
beadwork," said Assistant U.S. At
torney Helen Brunner. "What he
didn't sell openly was eagle parts.
That was done behind closed doors."
Brunner also countered a defense
claim that Antoine gave away eagle
feathers, wings, tails and bones as
gifts.
"Mr. Antoine set the price. These
transactions were not gifts," said
Brunner. "Tfie only one who char
acterized these transactions as gifts
was Mr. Antoine, the man with the
most to lose." Brunner cited witness
testimony and records of the
defendant's border crossings and
visits to a U.S. storage facility,
where parts from nearly 30 eagles
were found.
Antoine testified that he brought
the items across the border because
Tribal Elders had given him the
rare power to purify the sacred birds
for ceremonial use.
Antoine said gift giving within
Tribes is a cherished practice that
can't be equated with the capitalist
concept of a sale.
Prosecutors told jurors a sale is a
sale.
"Just think of how our system of
justice would work if everyone had
the ability to interpret the law to
their own liking," said Peter Murtha,
a Prosecutor with the U.S. Depart
ment of Justice's wildlife section
who assisted with the case. "That's
what the defendant is asking you
to do in this case."
Eagle feathers are used by Tribes
throughout North America to make
masks, whistles and medicine bundles
used in coming-of-age ceremonies,
name-giving rituals, funeral rites and
other special occasions.
Once endangered, bald eagles are
now listed as threatened in the
lower 48 states. They're protected
by law in the United States and in
Canada.
In this country, only religious
practitioners in federally recognized
U.S. Tribes can legally obtain eagles
or eagle parts, and the wait can be
as long as three years. A similar
permit system exists in Canada,
where waiting lists are much shorter.
During the trial, prosecutors dis
played pictures of various eagle
parts confiscated from a storage
locker Antoine rented in Fife, south
of Seattle. U.S. Fish and Wildlife
forensic ornithologist Pepper Trail
said at least 29 bald eagles and a
golden eagle had been stored there.
Parts from more than 100 eagle
carcasses were discovered at"
Antoine's home in Canada, where
he faces similar charges. Antoine
is a member of the Cowichan band
of the Salish Tribe. He was not ac
cused of killing any eagles.
Tribe, Water District Near Deal On Power Plant
LAS VEGAS, NV. (AP) - After a
year of negotiations, the Las Vegas
Valley Water District 'and the
Moapa Band of Paiute Indians say
they are about to strike a deal to
bring a $600 million power plant to
the Paiute reservation.
The deal could allow the Moapa
Paiutes to sell water from beneath
their reservation to cool a natural
gas-fired plant on Tribal homelands
45 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
The Paiutes in exchange would drop
a long-standing claim to the waters
of the Muddy River, which the wa
ter district wants to use to supply
Las Vegas' urban expansion.
Tribal and water district officials
say they expect to sign the arrange
ment within weeks.
The plant would assure new elec
tric power for more than 140,000
Nevadans.
San Jose, California-based Cal-
pine Corp. is confident plant con
struction will start by June of 2002,
company officials said. The facility
should begin operating by the sum
mer of 2004.
"We have what we hope is a deal,"
Water District Deputy General
Manager David Donnelly said.
"There's still a few details to work
out, but we're very optimistic."
But federal agencies remain wor
ried about the project's effect on lo
cal groundwater supplies and air
quality. And Calpine officials cau
tioned that they are far from cer
tain that their plant will provide
any guaranteed output to Nevada
users, as sought by the water dis
trict. "It's under discussion with the
water district. We haven't agreed
to the terms and conditions of it
yet," Project Development Manager
John Doyle said.
Tribal officials have said that the
company has agreed to pay more
than $200 million over the plant's
expected 45-year life span to the
Tribe, which has been largely left
out of southern Nevada's economic
boom. The Tribe is known to most
Las Vegans for its small fireworks
and cigarette shop on Interstate 15.
Tribal attorney Steve Chestnut
called the $200 million figure a "low
projection," saying the "Tribe will
make significantly more than that."
"I think they've made a very good
deal, and I think it would change
in a favorable way the economic
condition of the Tribe," he said.
The money would be a payment
for allowing the company to use res
ervation land close to interstate gas
and electric transmission lines.
Calpine also hopes to lease ground
water from the Tribe water for
which the Paiutes have yet to se
cure the rights to cool the plant.
Water-cooling would allow the
facility to operate as much as 10
percent more efficiently than a
competing air-cooled plant, particu
larly during the summer months of
peak electricity demands.
But tha pumping cannot begin
before Nevada's state engineer
grants the Tribe rights to the wa
ter flowing beneath its reservation.
Nevada water is considered the
property of the state. The engineer
can grant the right to use it to any
person or corporation that can put
the water to an economically produc
tive use. But the state engineer can
deny water applications if it is proved
that they would draw down supplies
in a way affecting those with exist
ing water rights.
Chestnut said he expects the state
engineer to conduct a hearing on the
Tribe's water rights early next year.
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Grand Ronde Elementary School students watch as an Alaskan bald eagle named
Chinook steps off of her perch and on to trainer Shannon Lamonica's gloved hand.
Chinook and several other hunting birds were at the school as part of the Oregon
Zoo's traveling "Birds of Prey" exhibit. The exhibit is sponsored by a grant from the
Grand Ronde Tribe's Spirit Mountain Community Fund.
"Wow! Did You See That?
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Trainer Cathi Wright
holds a red-tailed
hawk named
Sundance while
explaining the bird's
hunting habits to
the children in the
audience.
Sundance is part of
the exhibit that
reaches 40 rural
schools a year
educating children.
Photos by
Peta Tinda