PORT ANGELES — The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe’s lawsuit over burials at Tse-whit-zen shouldn’t aggravate its relations with Port Angeles political leaders, two City Council members said Sunday.
Rather than criticizing the tribe, Larry G. Williams and Karen Rogers assailed state transportation officials for leaving the city out of the loop — again.
“This should not inflame things further,” said Williams, referring to the tribe’s action against the state that was filed Friday in Olympia.
The suit seeks the return of human remains the tribe says were dumped along with dirt from the site of the former Hood Canal Bridge graving yard.
The earth — 20,000 cubic yards, according to the tribe’s estimates — was trucked to the Fields Shotwell Recycling Facility west of Port Angeles. The Lower Elwha want it returned for sifting at the Tse-whit-zen site on Marine Drive.
“We never expected that the state would have this much trouble returning burials to a cemetery,” said Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles, explaining reasons for the lawsuit.
The Lower Elwha also contend the state no longer needs the 22.5 acres on the Port Angeles waterfront but has not decided what to do with the site, although its own Indian Graves and Records Act defines it as a dedicated cemetery.
Shouldn’t strain further
Williams said the suit shouldn’t further strain city-tribe relations already pulled taut by the graving yard controversy.
“This should not reflect on the relationship between the tribe and the citizens of the city that we have worked hard to keep amicable,” he said.
The graving yard fiasco, said Rogers, “unfairly put the city against the tribe, and it shouldn’t be that way.”
Rogers said she suspected discussions between the tribe and the state had soured when the state’s Tacoma-based negotiator, Tim Thompson, failed to confirm plans for a meeting next week with city officials.
Thompson could not be reached for comment Sunday.
