In Gale Courey Toensing;s article, ''Micmac-Maliseet sovereignty case filed in Supreme Court'' [Vol. 27, Iss. 19], it should be noted that not all tribes have asked for amendments to the Settlement Act(s) of 1980. The Aroostook Band of Micmacs, which won congressional recognition in 1991 (11 years after their sisters and brethren won their ''federal recognition''), did not sign the Maine Implementing Act, knowing that to do so would have placed them at the mercy of the state of Maine, and they would have given up any sovereignty they held. As a result of the Watertown Treaty and the Falmouth Treaty, the Micmac Tribe is not subject to Maine state law and still retains its sovereign right to hunt, fish and trap as in old times. No $80 million carrot would have been enough to make us give up the graves of our ancestors.

- Richard Dyer

Monticello, Maine