We Nantucketers respectfully request forthwith your personal attention and review of the David Place ivory smuggling case. David is an honorable shopkeeper of long-standing in our community. Any cursory review of his case can only lead one to conclude that there has indeed been a gross miscarriage of justice. David Place has been unjustly found guilty for being part of a conspiracy to import whale's teeth: he bought large antique teeth which are supposed to be EXEMPT from endangered species laws and furthermore, NOAA lied about the true status of the world population of sperm whales. Not only are they NOT endangered, with a possible population of up to 1,500,000 animals worldwide, they are not even threatened according to NOAA's status report on Sperm Whale recovery published Dec.10, 2010 AFTER NOAA took him to court: they state clearly the world population of sperm whales is just about what it was BEFORE 18th and 19th century whaling commenced. Even crazier: the Endangered Species Form he supposedly should have filed has not been filed by anyone else it seems since neither the agent from Fish and Game, nor the agent from NOAA were familiar or had even ever SEEN the form yet both have been on the job for over a decade. This is all one political witchhunt to try and stop the scrimshaw and ivory business. Secondly, David was found guilty of SMUGGLING Narwhal Tusks even though: A)Narwhal Tusks are appendix II products and LEGAL to import into the USA B)The paperwork introduced by the GOVERNMENT in this regard shows all three shipments David received came from Newport, Atlanta, and Maine: ALL WITHIN THE USA. So how does he smuggle something that is LEGAL and from within the country? This is insane people and he should not be spending a single day in prison. Help us have this overturned and get him released from Federal Prison. Nota bene: Television interview with Mr. Place, youtube.com/genogeng.