(June, 2000 'WasteWatcher,' CAGW's official newsletter)
[Editor's note: the Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is a
watchdog group who monitors government spending and lets taxpayers know
when information is available on government waste. You may remember a
few years back when they informed the public about the outrageous prices
paid by our government for things like toilet seats, ashtrays, and nuts
& bolts. You can find their website at <www.cagw.org>]
Whether you are Tevye, the lead in the musical Fiddler
on the Roof, or a member of an American Indian tribe trying to resurrect
a long forgotten hunting custom, you have to know that some traditions
just aren�t worth keeping. Especially if they cost the taxpayers $5
million.
While cutting back on normal operations (such as
ticketing drunken boaters and arresting drug smugglers) due to
increasing oil prices, the Coast Guard is spending $11,550 an hour to
help the Makah Indian Tribe of Washington resurrect a �tradition.�
Ironically, Coast Guard spokesman John O�Dell has remarked, �If it is
not a life-threatening situation, we have to ask how much involvement
from the Coast Guard there should be.� Apparently the rules change if
the Clinton-Gore administration wants something.
In Neah Bay, Wash., the federal government has doled out
almost $5 million to help the Makah Indian Tribe resurrect the
�tradition� of hunting gray whales. But the Makah hunt is not a
tradition at all. Unlike 21st century Makah, earlier Makah did not wear
Nikes and Adidas and use automatic rifles on their hunts. The early
tribesmen certainly did not get government funding for their hunting.
Their sense of pride came from having conducted the hunt themselves.
The current situation no doubt has the Makah�s ancestors
rolling in their burial mounds. The federal government spent $200,000
just to obtain permission for the hunt from the International Whaling
Commission (IWC). Uncle Sam also spent $735,000 to show members of the
tribe how to kill and eat their prey. And then there are the Coast Guard
escorts who watched the �hunters� do cannonballs off the sides of their
canoe for three hours. All in order to restore a sense of �culture� in
the tribe�s children.
After the gray whale was taken off the Endangered
Species List in 1994, the Makah requested the government�s assistance in
resurrecting their �tradition.� The tribe made their appeal under an
1855 treaty in which the U.S. government agreed not to interfere with
Makah tradition. So far, no one has stopped to consider whether a
federal handout is, by its very definition, government interference and
a violation of the 145-year-old pact.
Further, the Makah accepted the wampum despite the fact
that the tribe had voluntarily given up whaling early in the 20th
century and, in the 1970s, a tribal council decided against resurrecting
the whaling tradition. Many of the tribe�s elders (including one woman
who was fired from her job after she spoke out against whaling) still
believe the hunt is unnecessary.
In order to kill the whales legally, the Makah first had
to gain permission from the IWC. And so a federal spending spree began
(despite the fact that 43 congressmen signed a petition against
sanctioning the hunt). The tribe received $200,000 for 15 tribesmen and
their lawyer to attend the 1997 IWC conference in Monaco. The IWC limits
whaling rights to cultures that depend on the whale for subsistence or
that have a long, unbroken whaling tradition. The Makah needed to
convince the IWC that they fell into one of these categories.
The Makah and their lawyers failed in this endeavor. The
Oct. 23, 1997, IWC decision, which supposedly allows the Makah tribe to
kill four whales per year, never mentions the tribe by name. The IWC
decision not to sanction the Makah hunt makes sense, since the tribe
does not depend on the whale for subsistence and their cultural
�tradition� was voluntarily abandoned twice. But the intrepid Makah
whalers had no need to worry � the pale faces in Washington would cook
up a deal.
The government struck an understanding, outside formal
IWC discussions, with Russian and American aboriginal tribes. (The
tribes� practices have long been sanctioned by the IWC because the whale
is the main source of food and income for these tribes.) In a deal with
these tribes, the Makah were given 4 of the 120 whales that the tribes
are allotted annually by the IWC. It is this agreement, and not the
language of the IWC decision, that gives the Makah the permission for
their hunt.
Spending on the Makah did not stop after the pow-wow in
Morocco. The government also gave the Makah:
* $300,000 for a grant to �prepare� for the hunt,
because the tribe had given up whaling almost a century earlier and
there was no one left in the tribe who actually knew how to hunt whales;
* $435,000 for a grant to teach the tribe how to eat the
whale meat;
* $335,000 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and the National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure that
domestic and international whaling laws are followed (although it
appears that the government has already skirted around the IWC law);
* $87,000 directly from the Bureau of Indian Affairs for
the hunt; and
* $13,910 from the U.S. Marshall�s Office for Operation
Harpoon.
Nor did the federal government�s spending spree cease
when the Makah entered the water, even though almost $1 million had
already been spent. The federal and local governments also dipped into
taxpayers� pockets to make sure the Makah were not disturbed by
protesters. Therefore:
* $751,295 was spent for the National Guard and FBI to
monitor anti-whalers at the 1998 Makah Days celebration (not one
anti-whaler showed up, so the federal delegation watched ceremonial
dances);
* Approximately $50,000, including a $10,000 grant from
the federal government, was used by the Clallam County Sheriff to
prepare for the whaling events and the phantom anti-whalers;
* $924,000 was used for Coast Guard escorts for the
spring 2000 hunt at $11,550 per hour (the fall 1998 and spring and fall
1999 hunts were also provided Coast Guard escorts; and
* $44,800 was spent on legal fees during Metcalf v.
Daley, which questioned the environmental impact of the hunt.
While the government was being so generous with
taxpayers� dollars, two Clallam County Prison workers, who also happen
to be Makah Indians, were arrested for using prison equipment to make
whaling tools. One female protester was run over on her jet ski while
the Coast Guard was patrolling the waters with the Makah.
The tribe, whose members do not pay taxes, is having a
whale of a time with federal tax dollars. They have hired a
Beltway-based public relations firm to help with the tribe�s �image.� It
shouldn�t be difficult for the Makah to find the means to pay for these
services since the government has already given them millions. The tribe
spent $100,000 of their government funds for a potlatch party to
celebrate their 1999 catch. Who would throw a $100,000 party for less
than 70 people? The same people who would spend $640 on a toilet seat:
the federal government.
As Tevye learned in Fiddler on the Roof, traditions
disappear. But in this particular case, it is our tax dollars that are
disappearing � far faster than any whaling tradition of the Makah.
Source: [email protected] (Dan Spomer)
Go on to Animal
Rights 2000 Program Schedule
Return to 18 June 2000 Issue
Return to Newsletters
** Fair Use Notice**
This document may contain copyrighted material, use of which has not been
specifically authorized by the copyright owners. I believe that this
not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the
copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your
own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner.
