Caribou carnage: Alaska wildlife troopers investigate mass killing near Point Hope
Published Tuesday, July 29, 2008
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FAIRBANKS -- Alaska State Wildlife Troopers have identified five suspects in what they are calling perhaps the worst case of wanton waste ever in Alaska.
At least 60 caribou were either fully or partially wasted after being shot by local hunters near the North Slope village of Point Hope earlier this month.
The wasted caribou were among approximately 120 caribou carcasses wildlife troopers found during a several-day search about a week ago. Wildlife troopers in Kotzebue received a report of the illegal caribou killings on July 16 and visited the village a few days later to investigate.
Troopers originally estimated about 40 animals had been wasted but upped that number to 60 in a press release issued late Monday. The number is probably even higher than that, according to Lt. Lantz Dahlke, commander at the Fairbanks wildlife trooper detachment.
“We can’t tell for sure because of bear and wolf predation,” Dahlke said.
Dahlke, a hunter who has lived in Alaska for 33 years and has worked as a trooper for 22, said it’s the worst case of poaching he has ever seen.
The illegal killings have created a wave of unrest in Point Hope, the largely subsistence-dependent Bush community of about 700 people 330 miles southwest of Barrow.
“This kind of stuff will not be tolerated,” Point Hope mayor Steve Oomittuk told the Anchorage Daily News. “We still live a subsistence way of life and we need to make sure it’s protected, and our young people need to understand it.”
The five suspects identified by troopers range in age from 17 to 25, said trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen. There is a good chance more suspects will be identified as troopers continue to investigate, she said.
“We think that there were several hunting parties involved in this,” Ipsen said.
Charges against the five known suspects will be forwarded to the District Attorney’s office, as will charges against any other people identified in the widespread waste. The identities of the suspects have not been released because no charges have been filed.
The caribou, part of the massive Western Arctic Caribou Herd, which is Alaska’s largest caribou herd and numbers about 377,000, were killed about 25-35 miles outside Point Hope. Troopers believe the caribou were killed between July 4-8 as the herd migrated through the area.
While killing the caribou wasn’t necessarily illegal — the hunting season is open in the area and resident hunters are allowed to take five caribou a day — the fact that all the edible meat wasn’t salvaged from at least half the animals qualifies as wanton waste.
The caribou were widely scattered along a 40-mile trails system. Some were found in groups, while others were found as singles or pairs. All of the animals were located a short distance from the trail. The investigation indicates the caribou were killed by local hunters. There were no transporters or air taxis working in the area, and almost all the antlers were left in the field. Antlers are not fully developed at this time of year and are of no trophy value.
Troopers met with several elders in the community on July 22 to discuss the case and show them photos of rotting caribou carcasses. Some of the photos showed calves still alive and trying to suckle from their dead mothers, according to the trooper press release.
There is virtually no chance any of the calves will survive without their mothers at this young age, Dahlke said.
“I’m sure a lot of those calves perished from predation alone,” he said.
Sgt. Scott Quist with wildlife troopers in Fairbanks is leading the investigation. He said elders in Point Hope were “appalled” by what they saw in the photos.
“We truly believe that the widespread waste of caribou meat is contrary to acceptable practices and against their tradition of a subsistence lifestyle,” Quist said. “We appealed to (the elders) to become involved in the process of identifying those responsible.”
Oomittuk, the Point Hope mayor, confirmed Quist’s assessment and said those responsible need to be held accountable.
“We were taught to respect our animals,” he told the Daily News. “We don’t like it when something like this happens.”
Anybody with information regarding the wanton waste of the caribou is asked to call wildlife troopers in Kotzebue (442-3222) or to contact the Alaska Wildlife Safeguard hot line at 800-478-3377.
Community Discussion
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whats sad is the people who did this will walk, maybe get a slap on the hand otherwise they will walk, now let your average john doe go out and shoot one moose for meat and bring all home, he gets jail time, fined, rifles and rigs taken, and hunting rights taken away, but go out and shoot 60 and your good to go cause of where ya live
I hope the troopers catch the people involved in this massacre. Here people are against oil developement on their land because they are worried about what may happen to their subsistence resources and this happens. Someone knows who did and I hope they do the right thing and turn them in.
How sad to see the calves trying to nurse from their dead mommas. The elders and others need to find these people and turn them over to the law and not just the tribal law! Hold them accountable for this massacre and waste. Each allowed 5 caribou during this open season, come on F&G it needs to be per household not person......
Put them in jail and feed them bread & water. In a year or so they will see the importance of meat. Then let them "rot" in jail a little longer.
This isn't subsistence, and you know it. Something went terribly wrong here -- someone up there is very messed up. And if alcohol wasn't involved, I will be shocked. Of course they must be punished to the fullest extent -- just not crucified. Someone is covering for the culprit(s) -- their family members of course. But let's recognize that this is an extreme case, and not act like this happens every day. Next thing you know, someone will call it an act of terror and send the idiots who did it down to Guantanamo.
This is a problem that native leadership needs to help address by changing local mindsets. Dead zones exist around most villages and are growing larger w/time. It's sad and you combine this w/the strange urge many urban Alaskans have for unrestrained building of roads, mines, towns and drilling for oil our generation is going to be responsible for making Alaska just like anywhere USA.
I think they are making a big deal outta this. With Indians, you get all ya can when ya can, spread it around, drop one off at everybodys cabin; they use to just move on when game was depleted then came land ownership, taxes, control. Heck game management is nature's dominion anyway not man's by the way Indians I know figure. I don't see the local Indians wasting anything or giving a hoot about game laws; and it doesn't bother me. I just wish we didn't get hammered with outside the area hunters; now they really drop game populations when too many show up.
Something might have went wrong here in this instance; why they couldn't go back recover the meat. I've seen Indians get caribou outta season, then somebody outside the village calls F&G for reward money or whatever reason; Indians can't recover meat when law's ready to bust them for living off what land & river provides like they always have.
This is an isolated incident of wanton waste; anybody who has lived around or hunted with Indians know they don't waste fresh meat very often.
I hunted for years with a family in Minto. THIS does not happen routinely in Minto, James. In fact, they eat literally everything from the nose to the backside (I know, I've had it). There are plenty of violations, many (**not all**) of them by hunters from town who travel upriver, over Murphy Dome, or right through the village to the bank of the river. My wife is from Atqasuk, and my three brothers-in-law all hunt and fish to make up the bulk of what they feed their families. So, when you post something like "subsistence... yeah, right" I think it is imperative that everyone understand there are many (most) rural people (white, native, and other) who do rely on subsistence. This was a case of kids doing something incredibly stupid and harmful, both to the welfare of the people of Point Hope, but to their own reputation - as already demonstrated here in this public forum. I think it a bit premature, also, to say that nothing will happen to these people.
Absolutely sickening. Put these killers in jail and throw away the key!
It is just a shame. This is an example of a few ruining it for the masses.
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This act was obviously done by sick people. Hopefully the Point Hope community will identify the individuals and identify the problems that led the individual's decision to kill their relatives.
State laws don't recognize the sickness that was behind these acts and state law will not bring justice to the caribou. I agree these
individuals must be prosecuted by the state however I encourage
the Point Hope community to address this issue further. The only thing that will prevent such atrocious crimes in the future is to teach the young people the traditional ways of knowing about the universe. The lives of the caribou will not totally be wasted if the community and the state will put effort into this kind of healing. My heart hurts for the caribou, for the Point Hope community who lost their relatives, and for those responsible for the acts. I encourage those responsible to step-up so that healing can begin as soon as possible.
The defendants are not hunters - they are crimal animal killers. A true hunter understands that once a caribou is down they have 4-5 hours of work ahead of them to properly salvage the meat. Let's use the correct wording, 'Crimial Animal Killers' since the term 'hunter' does not apply to this situation in any way, shape, or form.
With 60-120 confirmed dead - how many were hit and are still alive? How many are currently slowly suffering from infected wounds? There could be 200+ wounded amnimals still walking - just not dead yet.
This situation has potential for a knee jerk reaction to create a bevy of new hunting restrictions. This is a signifigant amount of shooting - consider the fact most hunters do not bring that amount of ammunition even to the range. I know some hunters proud of the fact they are still on the same box purchased 10 years ago. Future Alaskan hunters could see caliber restrictions, magazine size restrictions, restrictions on the amount of ammunition allowed in the field, and restrictions where only approved rifle designs are allowed in game hunting areas.
I do not know about the rest of you - but I sure do not want the Legislature telling me what caliber of gun and number of rounds I can carry when encountering a grizzly. The only way to prevent this is to fully prosecute these offenders to the full extent of the law.
polarislizard and jimmy aren't prejudiced at all, lol
definitively NOT native and therefore know exactly NADA when it comes to native people, give it up boys you may as well be in the clan looking at the way you write.
Several years ago my husband was issued a ticket for a game violation, it was an unintentual and stupid mistake. Long story short, the troopers confiscated his caribou and fined him. I will be very interested to know just what punishment will be given for these Alaskan Native "hunters" actions. By the way, my husband is a native of the State of Alaska!
oooo so it would therefore be IMPOSSIBLE for you to be wrong then wouldn't it? So because your husband is Native that gives YOU permission to cast judgment?
PLEASE DON'T MAKE THIS ARTICLE AN EXCUSE TO BASH NATIVES.
I dont need an excuse! If white or other race people were involved the Alaskan Natives would be screaming for justice. So why can't we?
Facts stand for themselves many times over, about what happens or DOESN'T happen to natives! And nothing will happen in this case if it is natives! Watch and read, nothing will happen!
So when will the aerial wolf hunting resume to repopulate these caribou?
Joking.
But yea, this is a waste.
NONE of you are psychic, NONE of you KNOW what is going to happen.
Your comments are simply racist and make you sound like braying asses, give it up.
there is no mention of the ethnicity of the accused. the article is written to subtly point in a particular direction but does not state it openly. and yes, don't bash natives on a dime. it's not open season yet "moose"....hope your stupidity doesn't get you shot down.
this makes me sick. something like this happening in the village where i'm from (huslia) is unheard of. this is very embarrassing to read for me and will only make things tougher out there for us. this paints a very bad picture for rural residents. many non-rural people who allready do not want to look at us in any form of positive light are gonna be all over this.
At least 60 caribou were either fully or partially wasted after being shot by local hunters near the North Slope village of Point Hope earlier this month.
This could mean local hunters of Fairbanks, hunting near the North Slope Village. Should have been stated if it was people from North Slope as such... "Local hunters Of Point Hope have shot 60 caribou" ... yadda yadda yadda.
I'm really glad this is getting covered, because maybe then, murdered natives in Fairbanks and or the villages can get a little more coverage too rather than a bit line or two. I don't know, weighing in the value of a whole lot of human lives (that I know of which haven't been solved or had minimal investigations) over 60 caribous lives of this news coverage just got me thinking.
Fish and Game wardens do a very good job investigating wildlife animal violations. If only the state troopers would follow their lead and do the same wonderful thorough investigations as the Fish and Game officers do. Just dont send the trooper that I've been hearing Michael Dukes talk about.
Remember: We don’t need new hunting restrictions! We Need New NATIVE Hunting restrictions! There is nothing new about this story. The “Old-Timers” knows what I’m talking about! Trouble is, they are not speaking up. For you “Newbie’s; it’s called “Shoot into the herd of caribous” and go after the one’s “Dead on the ground. They are a Sure-thing.
The ones that are hit and runs off, you let them go because “It takes time to track them down. Also, it cost more money (Ammo) to shoot them again. Why do it when you have a “Sure-Thing” dead on the ground.
Yeah, they cover that "shoot into the herd" thing every time a kid gets old enough to hunt in the village. I know it's true, because I heard an "Old Timer" from downtown Fairbanks talking about it over a cup of starbucks by the Princess tour bus. They know a lot - wow, how else could they have gotten to be "Old Timers"? Let's hurry up and get this investigation on the way, so we can work on those "NATIVE" hunting restrictions, too. The Trent Lott Foundation will fund some troopers for each village. Jesus, should have seen this ignorant thread coming. What's right is right, what's wrong is wrong. I think moose's irrational and paranoid excitability will peter out once they catch these criminals, same as any other. But then again, he "doesn't need and excuse!" That mindset continues until death.
fstmmm: You said ......
I know it's true, because I heard an "Old Timer" from downtown Fairbanks talking about it over a cup of starbucks by the Princess tour bus. They know a lot - wow, how else could they have gotten to be "Old Timers"?
REPLY: If You have been hanging out at the starbucks by the Princess tour bus, to hear ALL of this, You Really should try to reframe from spending your Free-Time there and get out and See Alaska! There are really 2 Alaska’s. One is for the tourist that rides the Princess Bus. The second one is places that the Old-timers know about. You are require to be here at least 50 years here in Alaska, to be an Old-Timer.
P.S. the Old-Timer that you talked about at Star-bucks, Fooled you ! Old-Timers don’t hang out there.
I only hope they are punished to full extent of the law regarding this crime. (if they are guilty of course) Either way, this is ammo for the anti-hunter/anti-gunners in our society. I don't want to see any more restrictions put on us because of a half dozen dummies in the bush.
Oh you have got to be kidding me. Ok, glock, I'll keep this real simple. I was being facetious, but wouldn't expect you to catch it. In fact, I'm pretty sure there isn't a starbucks downtown, as I recall it from the days when I would have lunch with other members of the AIP while we tried to figure out why Cartoon Fred shot Joe.
I don't need to 'reframe' my time - I may not have seen all of Alaska - I've only spent time in Russian Mission, Bethel, Barrow, Atqasuk, Nanwalek, Minto, and any number of road accessible places. But I've gotten out and hunted and seen a good deal of my Alaska. And in any of those spots I have never seen or heard of your "Sure Thing" or spray-lead-into-the-herd method.
I'm also fairly familiar with plenty of your "Old Timers." However, as long as I've been here, I've never seen the literature with the 50-year requirement stipulation. I must have missed it when they issued my papers (there's that facetiousness again). I said it before; I'll say it again: ignorant thread.
glocksod- you know absolutely NOTHING about anything,the REAL "old-timers" in this state ARE the natives.
The way people are writing on here you would think there was twice as many eye witnesses as there were perpetrators of the crime, of course NONE of the people commenting here were actually present at the time of the ALLEGED "slaughter" and all these negative comments about natives are probably coming from people descended from the same ones that slaughtered buffalo for just the hide and tongue or just to sight in their new Sharps repeater and are just JEALOUS that Alaska Natives get to hunt whenever they need to, or want to, so what? if you're so concerned about those caribou then join the wildlife troopers and go enforce the law instead of hiding behind an anonymous name saying stereotypical and slanderous remarks about something that is too big for you.
I dare polarislizard and james or anybody else that wants to say something negative about Natives to actually go to THEIR villages and talk that crap in the middle of the open, never gonna happen. Best you boys just stay here in town where it's safe.
LostAlaskan99712-check your gauges................your running dangerously low on brain pressure. These boneheads have asked for what is coming to them, no matter how "great" thier ancestors may have been ;)
olyhopper- what are you talking about? brain pressure? gauges? ancestors? you don't sound any smarter or wiser than the rednecks mentioned above, you like EVERYBODY else commenting here do not know ANYTHING about what happened near Point Hope and are just using this as an excuse to release some racial hatred, ANONYMOUSLY of course, so go to point hope and demand some answers or stay in town and keep your business where it belongs, in town!
You guys spend a couple weeks in the bush and act like you were born there.
Skinz907 says it right.
As usual...
Who is freaking out and "release[ing] racial hatred..."?
And making threats besides? (See two above).
lol, tell me where my threat is and I'll acknowledge that you didn't waste your time in posting your comment corinne, people stand up for Natives or any other minority and they get attacked for it, typical...sigh.
Lets not kid ourselves about the race of the offenders. Kivalina is 96% native, Pt. Hope 86%.
Let's not kid ourselves about the fact that everyone in a village of 377 (kivalina) or 747 (Pt. Hope) knows exactly who was involved and what they did.
All that being true, I am saddened and angered as an Alaskan that Alaskans acted like this. I could care less if they were Inupiaq or not. They are Alaskan and they should have known better than to shoot so many caribou at once. There was no way that anyone could have salvaged that meat. It was a wanton waste situation from the beginning.
They may not have shot into the herd but they sure as heck shot a lot of animals. You will likely find it was with .223 and the rifles were mini-14s. They do the trick in a vital area but they also allow gut shot animals to run off and get scattered over 40 miles.
There were unusually hot temperatures on the 7th and 8th. Sorry it got into the 70's on the 7th and spoiled all the meat but you should have thought of that before you shot 120 caribou including cows with calves! You were cowards for not getting all the help you could to salvage this meat. Yes you would have had to self-report the overharvest but better that then what you did.
I won't pretend to know all the cultural issues involved but it is completely disrespectful to these animals to act like that. It is racist to think that you would somehow intuitively know this. It is sad to know that you were never taught.
It is equally disrespectful to help hide it. Every household in these little villages knows who was involved and they need to come clean even if it means telling on a relative.
I appreciate the troopers trying to insure cooperation by initially keeping this quiet but it now is looking like a cover-up and they need to stop.
This isn't an Eskimo issue or a subsistence issue or a game priority issue. It isn't a hunting issue. This is an Alaska issue and a poaching issue. No Alaskan should ever think they can get away with this scale of poaching. We need to bring these people to justice, make our amends with the resource and move on.
96% and 86% is not 100%, besides I don't think anybody really disputed that it wasn't some local Native punks that did the 'wasting of food'.
If they're hurting anybody they're hurting themselves cause it's gonna be a long winter as always.
Nope - "The investigation indicates the caribou were killed by local hunters. There were no transporters or air taxis working in the area, and almost all the antlers were left in the field. Antlers are not fully developed at this time of year and are of no trophy value."
These idiots...are village idiots.
We all down talk but what about the Animal and how about the starving calves. what we as humans should do now that humans(regardless of race) HUMANS killed there mothers now lets protect theses babies UAF will take them we can nurse them untill they can be on there own. they will die as well if we dont help them, then we can all take part of the blame.
The calves are dead. They will not starve. They will be eaten by predators and returned to the soil. We do not need to airlift them out. They are not endangered (as a group) and are part of a several hundred thousand strong herd.
Who said UAF would take dozens of orphaned calves and rehab them? Where is there a budget for this? Do you realize you are talking about personnel and money that no one has. At a minimum, you are talking about finding, darting and airlifting dozens of animals 75K including a charter cargo plane and then 5-6 trained personnel to hand feed them, wean them, house them, etc. Then there is feed and relocation fees next year. This is million dollar unbudgeted expense.
Sad yes, just more of the tragedy of what these idiots did.
LostAlaskan99712
Good postings. These bone heads are hopeless. I couldn't follow olypopper either, maybe too much OLY Popping. These type of people just wait for an excuse to Native bash. Everyone agrees this was wrong but wrong isn't exclusively done by Alaska Natives.
I think they are sick people that did this , but not idiots. yes they deserve to rot in jail as did these Animals. and these calve are not dead they are trying to eat from there dead mothers. we dont have the budget I know this. you act as if you dont care anyway( oh well its just a few of a several hundred thousand strong herd. so why pick on the native people. I dont remember them ever saying race.you cant just assume i have many white friends in villages.
Fstmmm : Said…
He had never seen or heard of A "Sure Thing" or spray-lead-into-the-herd method “In All His Travels in Alaska”
REPLY :
OK, I’m going to try to make this Guy “Happy” by saying “No One Sprayed-Bullets” into the herd of Caribou that Killed at Least 140 of them (And Still finding more Dead-Ones). What really happened was “The Kennedy’s Magic Bullet Theory! Only One Bullet was Fired, and it kelp going around and around and Hitting the Caribou, till all 140 of them were dead !
Now Fstmmm can Sleep well tonight because We Now Know it was the “Kennedy-Magic Bullet Theory” and Not people Spraying Bullets into the Herd that Killed 140 of them !
P.S. “Sleep Well Fstmmm!
I sleep ok. Lostalaskan had it right. You won't make me "happy," glockmod23. You are talking out the wrong end, and make little sense. You know what I said, and I never said these animals didn't get killed, or did not get killed by someone spraying bullets into a bunch of caribou. I took issue with some of the generalized lessons your "old timers" were trying to give you. You need to go back and really read the posts. Doubt it will help.
P.S. Sleep well yourself
I'll admit, I'm still undecided if this is evil or idiocy. I'm leaning toward idiocy at the moment only because they did try to harvest some meat - it looks like they completely underestimated their capacity to salvage the meat rather than just shot up a herd for kicks. I also admit i childishly like the term "village idiot."
I care on a level about the calves. The story of them suckling on their mothers' corpses is really really sad. Remember this happened 20 days ago. I really can't imagine that many of these calves are still alive. Those that are are weak and headed for the food chain.
Tens of thousands of caribou calves die in this state every year. Thousands of bear cubs and wolf pups and voles and ravens depend on it.
Not picking on natives at all, like i said, this is no more a native issue than its a hunting issue. Its about Alaskans and poachers. All that being said, the reality from the article is that these are locals. Kivalina has 15 non-native residents, Pt. Hope about 100. The mayor talked about the cultural significance of respect for animals and how "our young people need to understand it." Looks like these were native kids.
Just as it's rcist to demonize natives, it's racist to deify them. Natives are no more natural stewards of the resources than they are natural horseback riders. They must be taught that like anyone else and someone really screwed up on the learning here.
"They must be taught that like anyone else and someone really screwed up on the learning here"- huh?
Face it folks, if you're not native then you don't know anything about being native, weather you married one or not.
Nobody disputed that natives did it but they deserve a day in court just like any other person (they are U.S. citizens now if any of you did.nt know) and it is not fair to categorize every Native person just because a few punks messed up, quit grabbing at things and bad mouthing people just because you don't like Natives.
Lost
I know what it is to be Alaskan and every Alaskan I know who is a contientious careful hunter learned it from someone, usually a male relative. Everyone who turned out to be a slob hunter seemed to have figured it out on their own. Either no one taught these guys how to hunt or they taught them wrong. Based on the people I know and have worked with in pt hope I'm thinking that the poachers are men who didn't listen.
Sorry - these guys are guilty at a minimum of wanton waste. They shot animals and didn't harvest the meat. No excuse for that. They either shot too many and got caught by the heat or they went batsh** crazy and shot the hell out of the herd with no intention of salvaging the meat. They also shot cows with calves a non-legal caribou.
My ancestry includes some native american indian blood, guess the hate still exists,how many of us remember the buffalo that used to roam the great plains of America and sustained countless generations of indians? As a native alaskan 50% and some mixed irish/native, and subsistence hunter, I feel we are headed in the same direction. Time and money changes people, and we as natives have all changed, too far to turn back and wondering what the future will become, I myself and no longer certain that our way of life will go on. Lost generations of natives is what we are and it sucks...
take the gun ,the 4 wheeler away & give them a spear!!!
I'll be honest here, my first thought was 4th of July, alcohol, guns and stupidy/youth. Because of the location, I too figured native youth. We will have to wait and see.
I hope that Lost will make himself found and eat his harsh words if he is in fact incorrect. The more I read of Lost's comments, the more I became angry. I too believe that if they are in fact Native, they will not receive the same punishment compared to that of another race. The reason is because society as a whole is so scared of being accused of racism. Let me elaborate a bit here. All over Fairbanks, I see stickers in vehicle windows that say "Native Pride". If I were to have a sticker that said "White Pride" or "Black Pride", I would be considered racist.
Ever drive on Cushman Street heading downtown Fairbanks? Notice all the drunken people wondering around, urinating where they please, fighting in the parks, and harassing businesses and people for money. The majority are Native. Why you say? Well one reason is because the others (drunks who are races other than Native) have all been put in jail for public intoxication. But it seems that if a Native is picked up for this crime, racism occurs, thus Police are afraid to touch them.
I respect the Native culture and their subsistence lifestyles. They live in harsh conditions merely trying to hold on to their heritage. I would bet that any Tribal Elder would shun upon this sort of abuse.
I know that this has digressed from the issue at hand, but Lost has turned this into a racism issue. If you want equal treatment, expect equal punishment.
This is so extremely awful!!! In this day and age all of our villages are having a hard time harvesting our subsistence food!!! Not to mention how expensive everything is!!! I really really hope they catch the people who did this and punish them to the fullest extent!!! This is just sad!
Its not surprising that this thread has degenerated into the same old white vs. native argument...blah, blah, blah, its all very predictable...Humanity, sadly, has not progressed very much in this area...
We, as people, cannot condemn an entire race of people due to the actions of a few...
Unfortunately, these caribou were killed illegally and the perpetrators must be held accountable, so lets allow the troopers to investigate before jumping to conclusions...
The News Miner stated these caribou were shot by "local hunters". Are they sure these people were "hunting"!! Hunting to me is aquiring meat for food while respecting nature. I can't believe these people fall into the catagory of "hunters". "Criminals" are more like it!!!
to "not_lost_in_AK"
You DO NOT understand much less "respect" Native culture, my comments were no worse than any of the other comments that blatantly degraded every native in the country much less Alaska, yet you say NOTHING about that.
Natives are NOT the ONLY people committing crimes downtown, and I would not have typed a word on this specific blog had OTHERS not turned it into a racial issue first, yet again you say nothing to them.
Thats what they call HYPOCRISY.
btw- what words would I have to eat? I'm not the one jumping to a guilty verdict already or have ever said the killers are anybody but (I suspect) stupid teens doing what teens do, except these teens had near immediate access to a herd of over 300,000 caribou, that doesn't mean every Native in the State needs to be SLANDERED and DEGRADED on this forum.
WAKE UP, move out of the 60's and get a life.
I hope SEVERAL of you will have to eat YOUR HARSH WORDS. But I do not really have to "hope", prejudiced people aren't very smart anyway.
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