Lower Elwha Tribe should be the priority

Thank you for the excellent article about the Elwha funding never reaching the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe [“Tribe seeks drained lake with sacred creation site,” page one, Aug. 11].

The administrative assistant to Rep. Norm Dicks is completely accurate when he says, “A lot of things are authorized in this country that are never appropriated.” But this seems to happen especially to Native Americans. One does not need to be Native to know the long history of things promised to tribes by the U.S. government that were never delivered.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe should have been one of the highest priorities, not just because of the past injustices, but because they have been there longer than anyone else, and they have the best track record for stewardship of their land.

— Peter Gruenbaum, Seattle