PORT ANGELES — A group of intoxicated people attending a conference in Port Angeles apparently poured beer into tribal canoes parked at Hollywood Beach late Wednesday night, police said.
The vandalism occurred just hours after 13 canoes arrived from Jamestown as part of the 2002 Paddle Journey.
One of the main purposes of the journey is to promote drug- and alcohol-free living among young tribal members.
Lower Elwha Klallam tribal members who are hosting the Port Angeles stop said community members were upset and offended that people would desecrate the canoes.
“Although it was a terrible thing to happen, it showed our youth what the actions of someone using alcohol are,” Lower Elwha Tribal Chairman Dennis Sullivan said Thursday.
“This display of behavior helps support our cause of a drug- and alcohol-free journey.”
A group of 30 to 40 people attending a conference at the Red Lion Hotel near Hollywood Beach allegedly defiled the canoes just before midnight, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Police Chief Mike Lasnier said Thursday.
The group apparently built a bonfire on the beach using wood belonging to the tribes in a fire pit reserved for the paddle journey, he said.
They allegedly threw beer bottles and cans into the pit, then poured some of the beer into a couple of the canoes on their way back to their hotel rooms, he said.
“They were drunk off their butts,” Lasnier said.
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