Convoy Protests Amphitheater

Sat., Nov. 29, 1997

Compiled From Wire Services

Nearly three dozen tractors joined pickup trucks and horse trailers Friday in a traffic-based protest against construction of a Muckleshoot Indian amphitheater.

The slow-moving tractors bearing signs against the project tied up traffic on Washington 164 near Enumclaw.

State troopers and King County police had to detour traffic around the protest, the State Patrol said.

One of the complaints that neighbors have had about the project is that it would disrupt traffic.

Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., wrote to President Clinton this week, asking that he step in and order a federal environmental review of construction of the planned 20,000-seat outdoor theater.

Dunn said construction was proceeding “despite an alarming lack of environmental review.”

Tribal leaders maintain their sovereign immunity allows them to construct the facility on lands that were deemed theirs under treaties with the U.S. government.

And a tribal spokesman said the tribe is cooperating with federal agencies in plans to build an environmentally sound amphitheater.

“The Muckleshoot Tribe is working with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Army Corps of Engineers and a half-dozen county departments in addition to our own environmental experts to be sure this project is carried out in an environmentally sound manner and addresses all legitimate concerns,” spokesman John Loftus said Wednesday.

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