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During breaks between proceedings in the case against seven village caribou hunters accused of wasting meat, Alaska Superior Court Judge Richard Erlich joked that the real news is the court's ability to hold trials in Point Hope via cell phone. When the land line in the makeshift courtroom set up in the village's community hall failed to work, the judge dialed up one of the defendant's lawyers on a mobile speaker phone and leaned over his desk with an outstretched arm to beam the voice of the Anchorage attorney into the room.

Far from leaving judicial protocol behind, holding court in Point Hope simply required adaptation -- snow pants beneath the black robe, lunch at the school, and elevated voices to ensure elders could hear the proceedings. Before the hearings began, the judge had turned a white board used for bingo games toward the wall.

While no games were held during the first part of the week, less than four hours after the judge handed down his guilty verdict and many of the hearing's main players had caught flights home, the white board was repositioned, the scoreboard turned on, and bingo was back.

Although it was the first-ever trial held in the village, the community hall, called the Qalgi Center, is no stranger to unique gatherings. People are drawn there to exchange ideas, culture and information, measure justice and have fun. One night during the trial, a delegation of marine mammal hunters and scientists from Russia stopped by to talk about their changing world across the border. Walrus haul-outs are shifting, drawing polar bears closer to communities, and hunters have started a series of polar bear patrols and grassroots deterrence tactics -- information they wanted to share with Alaska and the people of Point Hope in the hope alliances might be forged with their neighbors to the east. They answered questions, sang songs, and shared in the community's dances and prayers.

"Nature is severe," one of the Russian hunters told the crowd, "but people are nice and warm and kind."

Even after the fierce philosophical faceoff in court between the state and the hunters, that ethic seemed to ring true. Troopers who investigated the case and testified against the men, and the prosecutor who brought them to trial, shook hands with the defendants and commended them on a job well done. In turn, the young hunters -- who had just been found guilty -- thanked the state's team for treating the elders well on the stand.

Hours after the parties separated, the pulse at the Qalgi Center still had pull. The phone started ringing. Women began hauling in boxes and arranging tables. Game cards were laid out. Money was counted, and bingo was in the house.

One elder seated in the back spoke about the caribou cases as he stamped his squares. He said he thought the judge made a good decision. The world of his youth is a world much different than the one today, and as long as lessons are learned on all sides, even if aspects of the case remain unsettling, then something has been gained from the caribou trials, he said.

The weekly bingo night is a popular activity in Point Hope. And this week, perhaps, it was a sign that despite all the angst, passion, determination and grit the case caused, life in Point Hope goes on.

Contact Jill Burke at jill(at)alaskadispatch.com