ACTION ALERT
The construction of telescopes on Mount Graham (Dzil nchaa si an),
Arizona, by the University of Arizona is an act of desecration of an
Apache mountain. One particular project name, Columbus, intensifies the
insult.
The telescopes are so environmentally destructive that the
project collaborators have attempted to lobby their exemption from
all environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act.
We ask that readers contact the following people:
Dr. E. Seaquist U. of Toronto Astronomy Dept.
(416)-884-2672
Prof. Manuel Pacheco (602)-621-5511
Papal Ambassador Archbishop Cacciazillian (202)-333-7121
NEWS RELEASE:
The Apache Survival Coalition P.O. Box 11814 Tucson, AZ
85734
The Apache Survival Coalition, an organiation led by Apache medicine
men and women and their supporters, has file a lawsuit against the
U.S. Forest Service, in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. According to
the papers filed this morning, the lawsuit has resulted from "...the
the actions and omissions of the U.S. Forest Service in planning and
approving a telescope project on Dzil nchaa si an, otherwise known as
Mt. Graham, in the Pinaleno Mountains of southern Arizona. The Action
alleges that the Forest Service granted a Special Use Permit to the
Arizona Board of Regents and the University of Arizona to construct
three telescopes atop Mt. Graham....in violation of the United States
Constitution and various Federal statutes."
The laws violated include the American Indian Religious Freedom Act,
the First and Third Amendments to the Constitution, the National
Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act and
the National Forest Management Act.
Partners with the Regents and the University of Arizona in the
proposed project include the Vatican, the Max Planck Institute of
Germany, the Arcetri Observatory of Italy and Ohio State University of
the U.S.A.. The University of Toronto intends to join the consortium
shortly.
The lawsuit reads, "Mt. Graham is a sacred mountain which is sacred to
the religious and cultural practices of the San Carlos Apache, an
Indian Tribe whose members live in and around the vicinity of the
Pinaleno Mountains. Currently, members of the San Carlos Apache engage
in religious and cultural activities on and atop Mt. Graham in
accordance with traditional rules, customs and beliefs as they have
for centuries."
"The Great Spirit sends the Mountain Spirit to our people by way of
Dzil nchaa si an", according to Apache medicine man, Franklin Stanley.
"He comes to teach the Apache men and women to sing special spiritual
words that help them acquire the power to become medicine men and
women." The Mountain Spirit teaches medicine men and women how to heal
the sick through song and prayer and to gather special waters, herbs
and plants from Mt. Graham. "This is our religion, these are our
traditions. We Apache must retain Mt. Graham as a sacred mountain in
order to follow our religion".
Apache Survival Coalition Chairperson Ola Cassadore Davis adds, "Most
of what was once ours has been taken from us. The telescopes will
destroy what little we Apache have left. They heve broken the laws
that were promised to protect us. We come to the Court to stop the Mt.
Graham telescopes which threaten our cultural survival."