Don't get me wrong, I am very happy for the Puyallup Tribe and the opportunity that they have built into a great business. Hopefully other tribes will follow suit. But as I said earlier, times have changed.

In most cases, the treaties that give Native Americans the special hunting the fishing rights were written and signed over 100 years ago. Don't you think that our natual resources have significantly changed since then?

I am not blaming the native people for these changes. In fact, it has been the careless treatment of our resources (over-fishing, dams, and development in the name of progress) by all of us that has resulted in the predicament that we are facing. We can blame all of this on ourselves.

My point is that the treaties are out-dated in our current environment. The United States has historically backed out of treaties when they no longer have merit in this ever-changing world. In fact, we are about to back out of a weapons-ban treaty in order to develop a national missile defense system (and pissing off a lot of countries by doing so).

Now that we are finally getting strict on commercial and sport fishermen to help protect this resource, don't you think that it is time to take a hard look at these treaty rights?

Certainly there must be a balance. What the Puyallup Tribe is doing is a great example. Maybe help the tribes develop other businesses and opportunities in trade for tighter restrictions on their fishing and hunting rights.

I don't have the answers. But I do think that there needs to be some changes made.