NAVAJO-HOPI "LAND DISPUTE" UPDATE: JANUARY 21, 1994
MEETINGS ON THE LAND AT TEESTO AND COAL MINE MESA
Yesterday (1/20) I went to Teesto for a Dine' Bikeya Committee
meeting. Had to knock out some paper in the morning, didn't make
it there until noon. It's 100 miles. The meeting, held at Teesto
Chapter House, was for Lee Phillips to brief the members of the
community on the last mediation session, and to go over maps and
documents relating to religious and sacred sites. Lee was going
pretty good by the time I got there.
It was a pretty light turnout, only 14 or 15 resisters there.
President (Alvin) Clinton was running the meeting as usual. Percy
Deal, former Hardrock Council delegate and now interpreter and
sometime spokesman for the resisters, was sitting up front between
Mr. Clinton and Elmer Clark.
Lee reported in brief on what occurred in the mediation (see
the UPDATE for 1/13/94). He said that he feels continued mediation
is the best alternative for the people on the land BECAUSE: If
mediation ends we go back into court (U.S. 9th Circt. Ct. of
Appeals) and (a) we lose and the government then proceed with
forced relocation, or (b) we win and the 9th remands the case to
the same U.S. District Court Judge (Earl Carroll, Phoenix) who
threw the case out before. In that case, Judge Carroll will have
to consider the religious freedom issue. If he can figure out how,
he will most likely make some bad law in order to vindicate his
original ruling dismissing MANYBEADS v. UNITED STATES. Or maybe we
will win in District Court, the Hopis will appeal to the 9th, etc.
Of course during all this time, the U.S. and the Hopi Tribe will be
free to impound livestock, prevent construction or maintenance of
homes, and generally harass the Dine'.
That is the reason Lee feels that the best thing is to
continue mediation. The problem with the mediation is that the
Hopi Tribe has been successful in blocking any kind of settlement
which would be acceptable to the Big Mountain and Teesto Dine'
communities. It is possible that some kind of treaty or agreement
between Dine' and Hopi would work as well as the land exchanges
most of Big Mountain and Teesto are holding out for, BUT I doubt
the Hopi Tribal Council will be able to move that far from their
position. Not in 60 days.
The Hopi Tribe recently got a letter from Sand Springs which
was put together by Velva Begay, a Hopi married into that
community. It indicates that Sand Springs community is willing to
consider the Hopi lease with "minor changes". I saw an original of
that letter, it is real and has over twenty signatures. Lee is
afraid that the Hopis will use it to "prove" that the Dine' WILL
accept the Hopi lease. From talking with them, I think Sand
Springs wants more than just "minor" changes in the lease, but
according to Lee the Hopi attorney is saying the letter proves lots
of Dine' will accept the lease.
Grace Smith was at the Dine' Bikeya meeting, along with a
white woman whose name I didn't get. She brought along a three-
page letter from one of the support groups trashing her, even
accusing her of being a CIA spy, etc. etc. We have not always seen
things the same way as she does, but this letter was meant to
discredit and destroy someone who has put in many hard years
working for the Dine' families living on the land. There is a VERY
strong, ruthless opponent who goes to great lengths to destroy our
credibility. We should not help them.
Over in one corner of the Teesto Chapter House was a big
cardboard box. After the meeting I walked by it, and looked in. It
had old clothes, shoes, donated stuff. There were two pairs of
nice spike-heel shoes one pair black and one pair white. Just the
thing to wear herding sheep!
Today's (1/21/) meeting was at Jack Hatathlie's place in Coal
Mine Mesa, 140 miles from here. The Hatathlies live about 1/2 mile
off of the paved road and less than a mile from the fence between
the Hopi Partitioned Land and the 1934 Navajo Reservation. Mr.
Hatathlie told me he has a permit for 6 sheep but has 30 extra. He
keeps them at a corral and sheep camp in the 1934 area. There used
to be a gate in the fence, but the BIA closed it. Now he has to
drive about five miles to get to his sheep, tho' they are less than
a mile away. We sent letters requesting the gate be reopened, but
the BIA refused. Here is a man who is trying to reduce his stock
on HPL and the Hopis and BIA are making it as hard for him as they
can.
The meeting was held in Mr. Hatathlie's ceremonial hogan. It
is beautiful, about 20 ft. diameter and made of big cedar logs.
The logs are fairly new, all kind of cream colored and the roof
logs are cribbed in 14 layers. Looking up the roof is like looking
at a many-pointed star getting smaller and smaller up to the smoke
hole. Outside, it is covered with red mud so it looks like a big
loaf of bread, or a small, steep hill.
Mr. Hatathlie said how his great-grandmother had been born in
Coal Mine Canyon a few miles north, near where Anna Begay lives
now. She went on the "long walk" in 1864, then came back in 1868,
She was the person who passed down the knowledge about how to pray,
and where to her daughter, who taught Jack Hatathlie. "The white
man's fence is only temporary," Mr. Hatathlie said, "these are the
things that will always be here." He said he had lived at this site
43 years and had 44 children and grandchildren. Only one out of
the 44 has relocated in the 20 years relocation has been going on.
His son Freddie Hatathlie took a shovel of coals out of the
stove in the hogan. Jack Hatathlie gave Mike Keyaani a deerskin
bag of cedar, he made some smoke and prayed. He said the smoke let
the Holy Beings know that "there is life down there, someone is
asking for help."
WEEKEND MEETINGS POSTPONED
Lee Phillips decided to postpone the meetings scheduled for
this weekend at Mosquito Springs and Big Mountain. The new dates
are, Mosquito Springs 2/5 and Big Mountain 1/29. It was late
Friday afternoon when the decision was made so Larry Nez dashed off
to Tuba City to fax a notice to Window Rock. Window Rock put it
out on KTNN.
FIREWOOD CONFISCATIONS
It was Louise Begay's husband, Betoney Bahe, who got the
citation for cutting green wood, not their son Larry. The Navajo-
Hopi Legal Services is going to defend them in Hopi Court. Colbert
Dayzie, the director there, met with Mrs. Begay this week and also
got a continuance from the Hopi Court. Even if we lose this case,
it will put the Hopi Rangers on notice that they have to go by the
book.
LIVESTOCK IMPOUNDMENTS
I saw three horses in the corral at Keams Canyon when I drove
by Friday. They may be Hopi stock as the Hopi tribe is really
going after unbranded horses. A lot of Hopi "own" horses they have
never even seen, except maybe their rumps as they run away in a
cloud of dust. When these horses are rounded up by BIA, a lot of
them are never claimed and end up being sold for dog food. Dine'
tend to have really good horses, blood stock if they can get them.
They will usually get their horses out first thing, if they are
impounded. The livestock trailers were all parked Friday, it has
gotten to be a pattern. The BIA (not Hopi) rangers take Friday off
and go out to impound on Saturday or Sunday when all the Dine' are
in town on errands.
The threat of impoundment has caused a lot of economic
hardship. Families have been keeping their livestock penned as much
as they can, feeding them hay. Hay prices are pretty high now and
some families are running out of money.
DINE' - HOPI RELATIONS
Jack Hatathlie has a Hopi neighbor who has a shack and keeps
livestock over the hill from him. They get along pretty well, the
Hatathlies help with branding and look out for the Hopi stock on
weekdays when the Hopi men are away. The Hopi guy's horses come
over to Hatathlie's place every night, for company and to forage in
the trash.
Anna Begay said two Hopi rangers came down into Coal Mine
Canyon a couple weeks ago when it was muddy. She warned them they
would get stuck, but they didn't believe her. When they didn't
come back her way in a few hours she went looking for them and
found them, sure enough, their 4-wheel drive vehicle stuck in the
mud. She sad she got them out. I asked her how. She said she
used her muscles and her brains! Sounds like she dug them out, she
is NOT very big.
The meetings will continue for the next few weeks. The Hopi
election is coming up and will be Ivan Sidney & Philip Quochwytewa
vs. Ferrell Sekacucu & Wayne Taylor. The Hopi Tribe has a whole
new Council also, so this is a new deal. I hope they are more
flexible than the last group. We will see.
Jon Norstog