Roadkill politics

Is there a religious and cultural right to roadkill?

In the Roundhouse tradition, the bones and feathers of dead birds and animals are sued to make ceremonial costumes. The tradition has been passed down through the Miwok people, a hunter-gatherer tribe that believes the coyote was its creator. Now, the Calaveras County Fish and Game Commission is asking the state authorities to issue permits to Roundhouse practitioners - so they can salvage roadkill and other dead wildlife. The Stockton Record picks up the story of Fred Velasquez:

"Followers of the Roundhouse tradition are not allowed to kill any creature to use its parts in a ceremony, Velasquez said. They depend on finding birds and animals that have died naturally or in accidents. Roadkill is now a common source for costume parts.

"So in December, when Velasquez saw a dead red-tail hawk next to Highway 12, he stopped, picked up the bird and began a prayer, promising it would once again feel wind pass through its feathers during ceremonies.

"A California Department of Fish and Game warden was watching Velasquez through binoculars. She gave him a ticket and took the bird. The ticket said he could be jailed for a year or fined $1,000, Velasquez said."

It doesn't seem like this would be a problem in Arkansas.

Native Americans seem to be a special case - worthy of exceptions. This hit me a few years back when the state Legislature was debating whether to allow a freeway offramp near a casino. It was being opposed on environmental grounds, which seemed sort of laughable considering how much the California environment had been destroyed since Indians were pushed aside.

This year, the debate is over more slot machines for a select group of tribes that have launched a $20 million PR campaign to pressure the Assembly to approve gaming compacts. When asked by columnist George Skelton whether this campaign amounts to "bullying," Morongo tribe representative Patrick Dorinson replied: "To accuse Indian tribes of 'bullying' after a couple hundred years of genocide is a little outrageous."