Dick,


You are certainly correct about the lack of foresight and fish run damaging affects of dams and commercial netting that your forfathers did. Where you are very incorrect is to package and target all present day people with white skin for blame. I'm a white caucasion whose ancestors came over to this country after Indian treaties were signed and were farmers who had nothing to do with dams (they got their water from nearby creeks in eastern Montana). Even though your forefathers apparently were involved and to blame (are you sure about that?), you should not be held responsible and blame yourself for what they did before you existed! You should consider what can be done now! For example, since you prefer to catagorise people by skin color, there are many white people attempting to correct the wrongs of your forefathers with a strong movement to get the government to remove dams, starting with 4 Snake R. dams and the tradgic one on the Elwa. Even though you are not responsible for the past wrongs, perhaps if you get involved in those causes you can exponge the unfortunate strong guilt that you wrongfully carry within your heart. More importantly you can help correct things now, instead of uselessly dwelling on the past!!! You have come very close to being the fool I warned about in my previous post. And you can see what other people think about that in reply posts! ..... Potter, I have read many of your posts and get the impression that your ancestors were Native American? I don't care. What I do care about is the fairness and goodness that I sense about you from your second reply post. Perhaps you prefer to appropriately live in today's world? If so, you have the opportunity to help correct some of the wrongs stated above about unfair fish take by present day Indians. Let's all live within today's conditions and work together to correct wrongs and inequities.


[This message has been edited by Fishtick (edited 06-03-2000).]