Duwamish get it: r-e-s-p-e-c-t

That must have been some cat, people joked.

But before anyone knew what they were, the bones found in a crawl space at the Pike Place Market Clinic Wednesday were simply, mysteriously, remains. Someone at the construction site called state Sen. Joe McDermott's office, which was more than happy to call the media and start spinning. McDermott, D-Seattle, is sponsoring a bill that would address how to proceed when human remains are found in the state, which is steeped in Native American history. This was validation.

McDermott's office immediately called the Duwamish Tribe to say that human remains had been found on what was once their sacred ground.

So a group of Duwamish hurried over to do an honor ceremony over the bones.

Then the King County Medical Examiner's Office showed up to take a look. This was no Indian ancestor, a representative said. This was ... a cat. And some shells.

Everybody got a good chuckle — the cops, the media. Everybody but the Duwamish. Members said they would have donned their traditional dress and done it all over again.

"We believed they were human remains, and if that were true, there's a high probability they were Duwamish," said Tom Speer, who serves on the board of directors of the nonprofit Duwamish Tribal Services and was one of the people who went down to the site on Wednesday.

"We did what we did thinking they were human, and we would do the same thing next time, because that's tradition, and that's respect for the dead."

Responding to and honoring remains is also one way for the tribe to keep its tradition alive.

In 2001, the Bush administration rescinded the Duwamish's federal recognition. That means, in part, the government isn't required to turn over disinterred remains found within the Duwamish homeland — which includes the Pike Place Market area.

"How would you like it if they dug up your grandma and you had no say over what was done?" Speer asked.

I wouldn't like it one bit. Same for her cat, if she had owned one, God rest her soul.

McDermott's office isn't sorry it called in the tribe, either.

"This has been a controversial subject because in the Northwest, Native remains have been dug up and it's very unsettling and unnerving to them," said the McDermott staffer who tipped the media.

What of the fact that the bones were less than ancestral?

"I thought, 'There goes our story,' " she said.

So an attempt to validate McDermott's bill turned out to be a punchline. The spot still has deep meaning for the Duwamish. They could honor every corner of the place.

"We're not mad," Speer said. "The tribe is the first people of Chief Seattle."

Chief Seattle's daughter, Princess Angeline, lived down by the Market until her death, Speer said.

"We're going to do it because it's the honorable thing," Speer said. "People can say what they want."

One last fact about Princess Angeline: She owned a cat.

Nicole Brodeur's column appears Tuesday and Friday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

She raises a J&B to dear Meme.