More on the March 24 Confrontation at Big Mountain
Anna Rondon came in yesterday to talk to Patterson Joe. They
went over the whole confrontation, drawing out diagrams. Anna
called me about noon yesterday. She is still in pain and her
doctors think she has "soft tissue damage." They are advising a
CAT scan, and have her on pain pills. Anna says the pills aren't
doin much good. On the phone she even sounded like someone who was
hurting.
First a couple corrections. Ms. Horseherder is Ruth
Benally's, not Alice Benally's daughter. She is about 50, a
relocatee who has moved back onto the HPL, more or less. There was
only one person in Earl Tulley's truck when it was struck, not
three as I had thought. That person was Anna Rondon.
Marley Shebala wrote two stories in yesterday's Navajo Times.
In her account, she arrived on the scene when the Hopi BIA ranger
was calling for backup. The officer, Selanhangva MacDonald, was
also yelling at the truck driver to get out of there. Meanwhile at
least five Dine' were blocking the BIA truck and yelling at Officer
MacDonald to arrest the driver for damaging Mr. Tulley's vehicle.
Anna Rondon is reported by Shebala as telling Officer
MacDonald that "as she sat in the truck, and saw the (BIA) driver
moving towards her, she started waving her arms and yelled at him
to stop. She said that he (the driver) tried to move Tulley's
truck with the BIA vehicle."
The Associated Press and Gallup Independent carried stories
earlier. They were at some variance with what I have been told by
eyewitnesses. The press was there because a meeting had been
scheduled between the Big Mountain Dine' and a representative from
Peabody Coal Co. Earl Tulley and Anna Rondon are involved with
Dine' CARE, the environmental organization which was led by Leroy
Jackson until his mysterious death. Peabody never showed up, but
the BIA did.
According to Anna Rondon, the other two reporters, including
Mary Wicoff of the Gallup Independent, did not arrive until the
confrontation was over, so did not witness it themselves.
Incident Under Investigation
The BIA has sent a Navajo-speaking officer from its Criminal
Investigation Unit to talk to the people involved. Wilbert Goy
called in yesterday and said this man had been out at Violet
Ashike's house, and probably had been to other people's homes as
well. No one wants to talk to him because he is a BIA cop and Dan
Jackson has threatened to put people in jail on federal charges.
So far, there has been no FBI involvement that we know about.
Patterson Joe wants President Zah to meet with U.S. Attorney
Janet Napolitano about this investigation. At this time, with
everyone on edge, an aggressive investigation or worse yet federal
arrests would be like throwing gasoline on the fire. Needless to
say , we are very disappointed with the U.S. government.
Especially disappointing was Interior Solicitor's Office Attorney
Dan Jackson's threats of federal prosecution. He is calling for
the arrest and jailing of people he is supposed to be negotiating
a settlement with.
No Red Alert
I got a call from Helen Henry who said that some support
people are putting out a "red alert" about this situation. As of
today, nothing really unusual was taking place, except for that one
BIA cop going around asking questions. The BIA is still going out
every day to seize livestock, but that is nothing new.
A few support people are rolling in - next week is the
horseback ride from Tsaile to Big Mountain, so there will be plenty
of witnesses around in case the feds DO move in. I would be
sticking around if I thought there was going to be trouble over the
easter weekend, but I don't and I'm not. Be back Tuesday. Wilbert
Goy is supposed to be going around every day, talking to people and
getting them any help they need. Patterson will be here today and
Monday. Like all the other times, it should be OK in the end.
Hopi Present their Modified Lease Proposal
Patterson told me that Judge McCue had met with the Hopis and
had been given the modified lease proposal. We have not yet seen
it, but it may be available today. I'll write up the details soon
as I can.
Hay Fever
Meanwhile, it has warmed up and everyone is getting hay fever.
Betty Tso told me she gets it a little, Patterson had to take a day
off. Going to meetings, half the people there are messed up. Me
too, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. I went to Wal-mart in
Gallup, went over to the anti-histamine rack. It was crammed with
Dine', mostly men with red eyes, swollen noses, and funny-sounding
voices. We were all laughing and comparing notes ... I went down
the line and bought one of each kind of pill they had. The little
white ones help.
They say it's juniper pollen that is the killer. Well next
there are these tiny little purple flowers all over the place, they
smell like Cilantro, after that the pine pollen. Then it's OK
until the fall desert plants, rabbitbrush, snakeweed, sage, etc.
start coming on. Everyone suffers. Every year its the same. You
never heard anyone sneeze in Dances with Wolves. Maybe the Lakota
are immune.
jon norstog