Mediation in Phoenix
On Monday, June 6, the MANYBEADS mediator, Judge McCue, will
convene all the parties in Phoenix to tell us what the counts are
on the "ratification forms" which were circulated last month. It
is looking "favorable for continued mediation", that's all the
Judge would let Roman say publicly. There will probably be a
schedule for continued meetings through the summer. I expect these
to be a repeat of last year's, with the Hopi Tribe meeting with
families in a community setting, Lee Phillips running the meetings,
and the U.S. representative and Navajo Nation staff observing.
I will try to report on this by tuesday or wednesday next
week.
More Harassment of Dine'
Hopi "field monitors" posted illegal construction notices on
two families recently. These are cease and desist orders which the
Hopi Tribe is authorized to issue under the september 26, 1988
injunction of the U.S. District Court in the "illegal construction
case." This was a lawsuit filed by the Hopi Tribe after Peter
MacDonald sent crews of "volunteers" out on HPL and the former
"Freeze" area to build a bunch of houses. The "volunteers" got 28
houses built before the Court shut them down. As a result, the
Hopi Tribe was given much wider authority to restrict construction
on the HPL. AT this time all construction on HPL with a value over
$250 requires Hopi permission. This permission is almost never
granted.
This case, known as Masayesva v. Zah at the time, was taken
under the MANYBEADS mediation shortly after the mediation started.
At that time the Hopi Tribe had a motion before the court which
would have ordered the Navajo Nation to remove about 50 of the
Dine' families from the land.
What happened recently was the field monitors posted two
notices. One was at Mr. Justin Lewis' home in the buttes near
Teesto. Patterson says the value of the construction there was
less than $250 and it should not have been posted.
The other notice went on Jack Hatathlie's place. He actually
had Hopi permission to rebuild one of his hogans which was flooding
where it was located. He took the hogan down, but got papered when
he tried to reconstruct it.
We are hoping that this is not an indication of what a future
under Hopi jurisdiction would be like for the Dine' families. They
are being asked to take a big chance on the futures of their
children, grandchildren and on down the many years. In a case like
this, the Agreement in Principle does not provide any avenue of
appeal beyond Hopi Tribal Court.
Treaty Day
The Navajo Nation is having a blowout at Fort Sumner in New
Mexico this year to mark the signing of the 1868 treaty. Half the
tribal government is over there, color guards, the band, Miss
Navajo Nation and a whole raft of other beauty queens, there will
be medicine people, speeches, a run, and they are going to put a
big red sandstone rock down over there. My neighbor Vivian says it
is a 30-ton rock. Larry Anderson and a bunch of other big, gnarly
guys are going to dress up as Dine' warriors, with the big shield,
spear and leather helmet.
June 1, 1868 was the day the treaty was signed between the U.S
and the Navajos. It ended the war and allowed the POW's to return
from the concentration camp at Fort Sumner. About half of the
Dine' were in captivity there, the rest being on the run and fair
game for the army or anyone else who wanted to kill, rob or rape.
People talk about that period like it was last week, it's in
everyone's mind, and they remember.
Jewelry
Frances Bahe's son Fidel Bahe came by about a week ago,
selling raffle tickets for his jewelry. A $5 ticket gets you a
chance on $3500 worth of his jewelry. He was hoping to sell 1,000
tickets. I looked at his portfolio, which he had with him. His
stuff is GOOD! He is not another guy knocking out squash blossoms
and bolos by the dozen. His designs are vigorous and original, and
they are not cheap. He judges arts and crafts for the Heard
Museum, he says has jewelry in museum collections all over the
southwest. He's that good.
If you are interested in really good Navajo jewelry - and this
is as good as it gets - you can contact Fidel Bahe at P.O. Box 306,
Winslow AZ 86047.
jon norstog