And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: NOTE: Over the past several years there has been a steady albeit trickling migration of white supremacy groups to the Northwest Pacific area which have settled in the mountainous regions of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington State and Oregon. The successful whale hunt in an ages old tradition of the Makah has been met with spiritual awe by the people of the nation, and as an opportunity to target any Indian by others....Ish xxxxxxxxx Pride, sorrow emerge from kill http://www.tribnet.com/news/quick_scan/0519a11.html Whale butchered as Makahs receive threats Hector Castro; The News Tribune ; Staff writers Stacey Burns, Cheryl Reid and Beth Silver contributed to this report NEAH BAY - For many in the Makah Tribe, the bloody whale skeleton resting on their beach Tuesday was a source of pride. "The first one in 70 years," said Arnie Hunter, vice president of the Makah Whaling Commission. "It's going in the museum." For those who had opposed the tribe's whale hunt, the skeleton signified anger and sorrow. "Everyone is just very depressed," said Margaret Owens, who took part in several protests before and during the hunt that ended Monday with the killing of the 32-foot female whale. The Makahs, meanwhile, were dealing with the whale's remains, death threats and an attack on the tribe's Web page. "There are a lot of angry people," said Kenny Clark of the anti-whaling Sea Defense Alliance. Spokesmen for the whaling foes denied the attacks on the tribe. But the anger, and the way it has been expressed, caused tribal chairman Ben Johnson to flare up at a news conference Tuesday. When asked to respond to criticism about the behavior of some after the whale's death, including someone who did a back flip off the carcass. Johnson ordered the reporter to leave the room. "I get really ticked off about this," Johnson said. The Makah hunters killed the whale Monday after harpooning it from a canoe in the waters off the Olympic Peninsula. The hunters also shot at the whale four times with a .50-caliber rifle. The animal suffered two gunshot wounds, said Joe Scordino of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The first smashed into bone above the head, most likely stunning the animal. A second shot penetrated the brain, killing the whale, he said. The whale was at least 3 years old, Scordino said, and could have been much older. Once the whale was pulled onto the beach at Neah Bay, work on the carcass began and continued into Tuesday. During the butchering, people continued to eat pieces of the blubber, a white, thick substance stuck fast to the gray skin. No two people described the taste of the hard, almost rubbery flesh in quite the same way, though oysters, seal and lamb were offered as comparisons. "You can pickle it, boil it and eat it raw," said Catherine Williams, adding that growing up in Alaska, she ate whale often as a child. By 4 p.m., all meat had been stripped off. The meat and the whale's blubber were moved to freezers. The animal's tail was sawed and separated from the rest of the body before the skeleton was loaded onto the back of a large truck. The Makahs then placed the skeleton in a gill net and lowered it into the waters of Neah Bay so crabs and sand fleas could pick at the remaining flesh. After that, the skeleton is to be reconstructed in the Makah Museum. A celebration Saturday is expected to bring members of tribes nationwide to Neah Bay. "The tribes will probably start rolling in Thursday," Hunter said. "People's houses will be filled. It'll be like Makah Days." But Saturday could also bring another protest just outside reservation boundaries as whaling foes continued to criticize the tribe. Tribal chairman Johnson said that between noon and 2 p.m. Tuesday, he had received 32 phone messages. "And none were nice," he said. More obscene messages were sent by e-mail. "It's very upsetting the way they're treating the Makah people," Johnson said. In Pierce County, the Chief Leschi School was evacuated and students sent home Tuesday after someone telephoned a local television station about 2 p.m. to say the school would be bombed in retaliation for the Puyallups' support of the Makah hunt, a tribal spokeswoman said. Bomb search teams from McChord Air Force Base and the Pierce County Sheriff's Department swept the area and found no devices. School will resume today. "Regardless of what somebody thinks about whaling, the threatening of children's lives is not appropriate," said Kari-Lynn Frank, spokeswoman for the Puyallup Tribe. "It's a little out of line: One whale versus a school full of children." And on the Internet, a hacker changed the links on the Makahs' original Web site to reflect the views of many anti-whaling activists. The headline to the Makah question-and-answer page dripped blood. Parts of the site referred to Neah Bay as "Death Bay" and asked readers to boycott the Makah Museum by calling or sending letters. Museum director Janine Bowechop said they had received dozens of correspondence from supporters and foes. She said she was disappointed to hear of the vandalized site. "This has brought out the racists of the Northwest," said Bowechop, a Makah tribal member. "It's an emotional issue. This makes us see the full scope of the sentiment toward Indians or at the least the Makah." Among others criticizing the hunt Tuesday was U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.). "This gruesome event, documented on live television, has rightly offended the great majority of Americans," Gorton said. "The Makah do have the right to hunt whales under their treaty and through the International Whaling Commission," he said. "Their choice to exercise this right, however, was both extraordinarily foolish and an affront to the sensibilities of tens of millions of their fellow Americans." Asked about the hunt at his daily press conference, Gov. Gary Locke said he caught the whale hunt on the news Monday night. "I very much respect the right of the Makah to exercise their ... treaty rights," Locke said. "On a personal note, I was saddened to see a whale killed." After all the controversy over the first hunt, Hunter, of the Makah Whaling Commission, said he did not know when a second hunt might take place. "This first whale, we'll see how far it goes," he said. "If we need more, we'll take another one." The hunts can be done by so-called whale families, chosen because they can trace their genealogy to families that traditionally conducted hunts, or a hunt can be done by the community, in which experienced members of several families can participate. At least three whaling families have expressed interest in doing a hunt, tribal leaders said. But they would have undergo arduous preparation that would include both physical and spiritual elements, Hunter said. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society made one brief visit to Neah Bay on Tuesday, then left the area. Two members, their vessels confiscated by the U.S. Coast Guard when the activists tried to prevent a hunt Saturday, remained in the area Tuesday, but both planned to leave. The group might join Saturday's protest. "It's never too late to save the next one," Clark said. - - - Staff writers Stacey Burns, Cheryl Reid and Beth Silver contributed to this report. - - - * Staff writer Hector Castro covers Pierce County crime and safety. Reach him 253-597-8258 or by e-mail at [EMAIL PROTECTED] © The News Tribune May 19, 1999 Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
