THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506230137
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
As a half-Indian friend once asked: ``Who killed the last wooly mammoth and the last giant armadillo?'' Indians, of course.
On the other hand, I believe the Indian showed a greater respect for all life than the white man. It was usual for the Indian to say a prayer for the deer he was about to kill with a bow and arrow, a custom recognizing that all life was linked in a web fashioned by the Creator.
It is interesting to wonder what this country would be like if white settlers had been driven from the North American continent - with an Indian culture dominating to the present.
We got a glimpse of what that America might resemble months ago, when Tilingit Indians in the State of Washington made an unusual request to a Snohomish County judge presiding over the trial of two tribal teenagers.
The teenagers, both 18, had been found guilty of a brutal robbery. They pleaded guilty in the 1993 attack on a pizza delivery man, snatching $40, the pizza, and a beeper as the victim lay on the ground with a fractured skull.
The Tlingit Indians asked Judge James Allendorfer to allow them to administer tribal punishment which included banishment to a pair of Alaskan Islands and compensation for the victim - Tim Whittlesey.
Shocking many, the judge went along with their request.
A thousand miles to the north of their home near Everett, Washington, the teenagers have spent the past eight months on separate islands foraging berries and firewood in the forest, searching beaches for edible shellfish and carving wooden halibut hooks which will be sold to benefit their victim.
Tribal elders believe the island isolation will give both teens time to reflect on their crime. And, it is hoped, learn something about honor and their tribal traditions. Each was allowed only two books during banishment: the Bible and a treatise on Tlingit culture.
Since the teens' conviction, a small army of Tlingits has been donating time and money toward restitution for Whittlesey. Relatives of the two 18-year-olds have donated $5,000. And the tribe says the work will not be over until enough money is raised to buy Whittlesey a home in Everett.
The Tlingits believe Anglo Saxon justice doesn't work for Indians. And there is reason to believe, with our crowded prisons and the high numbers of repeat offenders, that it doesn't work, period.
The linking of the the two teens directly with their victim by requiring them to do work with their own hands to benefit him shows a psychological understanding rarely matched in the Anglo Saxon's penal punishment.
Interestingly, Whittlesey's parents have become staunch supporters of the Tlingit banishment effort.
``Of course what happened is a tragedy,'' Tim Whittlesey's father said. ``And I'm not saying we haven't screamed to God and asked, `Why?!' We'd just like to see these boys come out totally reformed.''
There is little doubt among the Tlingits that they will be. by CNB