Powerful Racially-motivated Alaskan Senator Indicted

While helping Alaskan Native corporations, Senator Ted Stevens has also attacked Indian tribes by arguing for reduction of federal funding that goes to Alaskan tribes. Even considering both the good and bad sides of this powerful Senator, he will probably be known most for the outrageous comment he made to the Alaskan media that tribes are a threat to the rest of the state because tribes are exerting their sovereignty:

"The road they're on now is the road to destruction of statehood, because the Native population's increasing at a much greater rate than the non-Native population. I don't know if you realize that. And they want to have total jurisdiction over anything that happened in a village without regard to state law and without regard to federal law.'' Statement by Senator Stevens to the media (October 2, 2003)(read transcript)

One commentary says: “Just what does the Native birth rate have to do with the question of sovereignty and tribal powers? The middle of the senator's statement could be heard as a racist echo warning against the Native hordes – ‘they're breeding faster than we are.'’”

Today, the Senator has been indicted for 8 counts of felony for concealing gifts made to him. Whether this is a blessing or a curse, it sure makes heads turn. I wonder how the Alaskan Natives are responding to this?

Sen. Ted Stevens Indicted in Alaska Corruption Probe
By Carrie Johnson and Paul Kane
Washington Post
July 29, 2008

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens (R) was charged with seven counts of making false statements on his financial disclosure forms in an indictment unsealed in federal court in the District this afternoon.

The indictment accuses Stevens, former chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, of concealing payments of more than $250,000 in goods and services he allegedly received from an oil company. The items include home improvements, autos and household items.

The Alaska oil firm, Veco, and its one-time leader Bill Allen, asked for help in return. Allen and another former Veco official pleaded guilty in May 2007 in connection with their role in the bribery of Alaskan public officials. Prosecutors said that in some but not all instances Stevens or his aides allegedly provided the help requested by Allen and Veco.

The indictment charges Stevens with violating the Ethics in Government Act between 2001 and 2006 by hiding payments from Allen, Veco and two other people. The law requires elected officials to disclose gifts and debts that exceed $10,000 during any point in the year.

In a statement issued late this afternoon, Stevens said, "I have proudly served this nation and Alaska for over 50 years. My public service began when I served in World War II. It saddens me to learn that these charges have been brought against me. I have never knowingly submitted a false disclosure form required by law as a U.S. Senator."

He said that in line with the Senate Republican rules, he was temporarily relinquishing his role as vice chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and as ranking minority member of two Senate subcommittees.

"The impact of these charges on my family disturbs me greatly," he said. "I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that."

Brendan V. Sullivan Jr., a defense attorney for Stevens, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

Stevens, a senator since 1968, "knowingly and willfully engaged in a scheme to conceal a material fact" according to the 28-page indictment.

Items Stevens received include the creation of a new first floor, garage, and a wraparound deck on a Girdwood, Alaska, property the lawmaker dubbed "the chalet," according to the court papers. He also received a professional Viking gas grill and a tool cabinet, prosecutors said.

In return, Allen and his company sought funding and help with international projects in Pakistan and Russia, as well as federal grant and contract requests, according to the charges. Veco officials also sought assistance to construct a natural gas pipeline on Alaska's north slope.

The news shook the Senate as members of the two parties were convening their weekly policy lunches. Republicans were at their political headquarters, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and most Democrats declined to comment.

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), Stevens' closest friend in the Senate, said he was "not surprised" by the indictment because the investigation has been going on so long, but said he still supports Stevens.

The Stevens case is part of a broad Justice Department investigation into corruption in Alaska that already has netted the two guilty pleas from Veco executives and two more from lobbyists in the state. Three former state representatives have been found guilty of corruption connected to Veco's efforts to win tax legislation in Juneau for its plan to build a natural gas pipeline in Alaska.

A state senator and a former representative are awaiting trial.

Stevens, 84, is a larger than life political figure in Alaska. The longest serving Republican in the history of the Senate--he's served nearly four decades-- Stevens has used his perch as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee to funnel billions of dollars to his home state. He is locked in a tight re-election battle with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D), who in recent polls had edged slightly ahead of Stevens.

Stevens is now the ranking Republican of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, with oversight of the telecommunications, fishing, airline and other industries.

Stevens and his son, former state senator Ben Stevens (R), have been figures in the Veco case since it became public on Aug. 31, 2006, when the FBI raided the offices of several Alaska legislators, including the younger Stevens. Last July, agents from the FBI and Internal Revenue Service raided Ted Stevens' home.

The home remodeling, which took place in 2000, involved putting the senator's one-story, A-frame house on stilts and building a new ground floor, making it two stories.

Allen testified in court last year that his employees worked on an expansive reconstruction of Stevens' home. He said he personally oversaw the rebuilding of Stevens's house near Anchorage, visiting the residence about once a month, and gave the senator furniture.

"I gave Ted some old furniture," Allen testified. "I don't think there was a lot of material. There was some labor."

Contractors previously told a federal grand jury that Veco executives supervised renovations at Stevens's house and that bills for the work went to Veco for Allen's approval. Allen had earlier pleaded guilty to bribing state lawmakers in Anchorage.

In a letter to a friend who is a former federal prosecutor, Stevens has said he paid more than $130,000 for the renovations, according to the Seattle Times, which reported on the document.

Stevens is among more than a dozen current and former members of Congress who have come under federal investigation in recent years because of their ties to lobbyists and corporate interests.

The Alaska investigation has centered on Allen's efforts to bribe lawmakers by handing out wads of hundred-dollar bills in an effort to win favorable tax legislation in Alaska for a natural gas pipeline long sought by the energy industry and leaders of both political parties there.

Veco has benefited from actions by the federal government. It has received more than $30 million in federal contracts since 2000, according to a search of the database of FedSpending.org, which tracks contracts given to private companies. The largest contracts were for logistical services provided to the National Science Foundation for work in Alaska.

In June 2007, Ted Stevens first publicly acknowledged he was the focus of the investigation, telling The Washington Post that federal investigators had given him a document-preservation request as part of the Veco probe. He added that "my son is also under investigation."

The inquiry has been run by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, overseeing a team of FBI agents and two assistant U.S. attorneys in Anchorage.

Shonto chapter obtains business leasing authority

This is very interesting. From the article, the Shonto chapter can now approve business site leases without going through the cumbersome typical business site leasing process. The leaders of the community say that several businesses are already in the plans: Sháá’tóhí Artist and Travel Plaza (at the junction of highways 160 and 98) and Sháá’tóhí Public Service and Housing Complex next to the Shonto School. This is the result of the Local Governance Act that gives the local chapters more control over local tribal matters. The LGA is also suppose to address chapter corruption. I always think that Shonto is somewhere in the remote areas of the northern reservation, but maybe we should start visiting Page more often to see how Shonto is growing.

Speaker Morgan commends Shonto Chapter for obtaining business site leasing authority
July 18, 2008

First Native American community in the U.S. to obtain such authority

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Honorable Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan congratulated the Economic Development Committee of the 21st Navajo Nation Council for helping the Shonto Chapter become the first Navajo Nation chapter and the first Native American community in the United States to obtain its own business site leasing authority on July 9.

The Economic Development Committee and the Shonto Chapter’s tenacious leadership is responsible for years of negotiations with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which has resulted in the chapter obtaining its own authority of managing its own business site leasing process to streamline its own local economic development and financial progress.

In 2006, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and BIA officials signed an historic agreement to remove the BIA from the Navajo business site leasing process with the guidance of the Economic Development Committee. This released the BIA’s grip on the Navajo Nation in matters related to business site leasing, allowing the Nation to reclaim its authority to self-determination and self-sufficiency.

For years, Navajo Nation officials have envisioned taking control of this process for local empowerment to give communities the tools it needs to build local self-sufficiency to create economic opportunities for its future.

On July 9, the Economic Development Committee of the 21st Navajo Nation Council met at the Shonto chapter house to consider the Business Site Leasing Administrative Management Plan for Shonto Chapter.

Shonto Council Delegate Jonathan Nez stated that “with approval of the business site leasing authority, the Shonto Chapter will take the next step toward economic and community empowerment.”

Tom LaPahe, who represents the chapters of Tachee/Blue Gap/Whippoorwill, explained that the document that the Economic Development Committee approved is something that the chapter has worked on for some time. This is what we want for the chapters and it is time that we approve it.”

Roy Dempsey, Oak Springs/St. Michaels, said that the leasing authority is a way to address disparity and to help the local governments earn income. We can stop going to Washington for money and help.”

The Economic Development Committee unanimously approved to accept the Shonto Chapter’s plan for business-site leasing, which was a vote for local control, autonomy and a way to strengthen local economies.

Lawrence R. Platero (Tohajiilee), chairman of the Economic Development Committee, explained that “the Shonto Chapter now has the responsibility to put the new authority to work and not let it be idle.”

Platero pledged to keep looking for ways to streamline the process to facilitate business on the Navajo Nation, a system that will make the process faster and easier for committees and chapters.

Nez said that he was very excited that the hard work of the Economic Development Committee and the Shonto Chapter finally paid off to make the Shonto Chapter the first Native American community in the U.S. to have its own business site leasing delegation. Shonto Chapter now has the ability to determine its own leasing authority, making existing business sites and planned developments move forward more efficiently.

Nez explained that Shonto can now concentrate on its immediate projects that includes the Sháá’tóhí Artist and Travel Plaza on a ten-acre site at the junction of highways 160 and 98. Other immediate projects include the Sháá’tóhí Public Service and Housing Complex that will be situated on an 18-acre site adjacent to the existing Shonto School. The Shonto Chapter will now begin developing business proposals and financial strategies for these key sites.

Since obtaining its Local Governance Act (LGA) certification in 1999, the Shonto Chapter reclaimed its governance rights.

Speaker Morgan explained that the Local Governance Act is a Navajo Nation law that was approved by the Navajo Nation Council in 1998. The LGA’s purpose is to define the legislative and executive functions of chapter officials and staff, to improve community decision-making, to recognize governance at the local level by granting local authority over local matters to the governance of certified chapters — all while requiring chapters to govern responsibly and accountably.

Nihaadaani woos Navajo farmers

Wow. This corporation is telling Navajo farmers that their ways are important and worth preserving. In an age where there's a unstable economy with high gas prices and closing banks, we should remind ourselves of our traditional Navajo values. It's a lot of hard work to live the traditional life, but considering the high gas prices, and the rat race of school, and work, it may be worth it to live the traditional life.

Diné farming and food production an economic development model
Navajo-Hopi Observer
S.J. Wilson
July 08, 2008

DINE, Inc holds first ‘From Vine to Market’ workshop

SEBA DALKAI, Ariz. - "Five hundred years ago - 25 grandmothers ago - the Diné people came to this area and lived here without white people helping you," said Kyril Calsoyas as part of his welcome to Navajo farmers and ranchers from across northern Arizona. "You are a people of strong culture and traditions. We brought complexity, roads and money - and you are all adjusting."

Calsoyas is non-Native, but has been a part of the Teestoh/Birdsprings community for a long time - he is married into the Walker family of Birdsprings, and is the father of two sons. Calsoyas has served as principal to Seba Dalkai, Tuba City High School and Greyhills Academy High School. He directs DINE (Developing Innovations in Navajo Education), Inc., which focuses on community development, education, farming, micro-enterprise, minority empowerment, nutrition, sustainable agriculture and more. DINE, Inc. was originally formed in 1997 to administer a multimillion dollar contract for a new elementary school - Seba Dalkai.

DINE, Inc. created the Navajo Southwestern Virtual Alliance, which equipped all 110 Chapter Houses on the Nation with wireless satellite Internet services. It is also involved in community food projects.

"I see two challenges for this community," Calsoyas said. "One is bringing in money locally, and the other is preserving the strength and beauty of the Navajo culture."

DINE, Inc. partnered with the Taos County Economic Development Corporation (TCEDC) and Wynette Arviso of JJ Clacs and Company to put on the first "From Vine to the Marketplace" workshop, designed to demonstrate the benefits of value-added production to Navajo communities.

"Working with value added foods (economically add value to an agricultural product by processing it into a product for sale to consumers) will allow Navajo farmers to have gardens to grow, and to preserve foods for your own family and to sell," Calsoyas said.

He described his own plans to start an industry in Teestoh

"I looked at Tooh Dineh Industries in Leupp," Calsoyas explained. "There are 50 cars in the parking lot and jobs for the community. I've also visited Eurofresh Farms, which has huge greenhouses in Snowflake and Wilcox - hundreds of acres of greenhouses. They have told me they have six million pounds out of 200 million pounds of tomatoes per year that they can sell at cost of 35 cents a pound. We might be able to start a corporation to deliver salsa around the country."

"The Diné people are experts in preserving food," Calsoyas asserted. "This kitchen is being set up as a test."

With this in mind, DINE, Inc. invited Pati L. Martinson and Terrie Bad Hand, the directors and founders of TCEDC, along with TCEDC Food Center Manager Elena Arguello to share their expertise at the workshop.

TCEDC has developed principles of community development that include involving the community, hiring the people one professes to empower, research and identify human and financial resources and maximizing public and private partnerships. TCEDC's Family Kinship Model of Community Development consists of harmony, unity, equity and opportunity.

The organization operates a 5,000 square foot commercial kitchen complete with equipment, services and support to assist community members in realizing their own food businesses.

Martinson is originally from the Pine Ridge reservation - she is Oglala and French on her mother's side and Yankton and French on her father's.

"Sometimes I wonder why I've been in Taos for 22 years," Martinson said. "Before that, I was in Denver, one of the major relocation centers after the Dawes Act. Terrie and I worked at the Indian Center there. We were invited by a family from Taos to do non-profit and community based programs."

Bad Hand is of Cherokee, Italian and French ancestry.

"We are excited to share with other nations what we've learned," Bad Hand said. "Value added food production is just a new term for what people have done forever. Our elders have told us that wherever you were put on the Earth, the Creator gave you what you needed to survive -and it is different wherever you are. Land-based peoples have deep relationships with the land."

Bad Hand and Martinson have worked with several different communities across the United States, and presented a slide show of that work. An historic photo showed a woman in traditional dress standing on a fish trap with a net suspended at the end of a long pole. She was from the Chickaloon Village in Alaska.

"In the past, the Chickaloon didn't do anything with the fish - they sold them by the boatload to the cannery," Bad Hand said. "People spent their whole lives providing fish to make money for others."

In the past, Bad Hand said, traditional people only harvested fish of the correct age - but as time passed economic hardship saw fishermen taking fish of all ages.

"The result was, their traditional food was disappearing," Bad Hand said. "Now Chickaloon is harvesting the fish, adding the value themselves, and sell only the surplus. They can protect the food source again. We are told that people and families have come back together. Food is a great connector."

Bad Hand explained their work with the Muscogee Creek Nation of Oklahoma, where elders decided to put on a traditional fish fry.

"In the past, all the people would wade out into the water and put a plant, similar to a nettle, into the water," Bad Hand said. "It would stun the fish, and they would float to the top. The needed fish would be chosen, and then cooked with traditional foods. Because they have checkerboard reservations in Oklahoma, they learned that everyone had to get fishing licenses. We used Oxfam funds to buy the fishing licenses."

At Tohono O'odham, TCEDC supported work with traditional desert foods such as tepary beans and cholla buds in battling diabetes, as well as preparing and packaging these foods for sale.

The Tsyunhehkwa, Oneida Nation, Wisconsin, has developed its own white corn and traditional medicines - and the three sisters - corn beans and squash.

"All around the country tribes are working to improve health and economic development," Bad Hand said.

TCEDC has become expert at what is needed to get food from the vine to market shelf. Arguello described the nuts and bolts as the steps to ensure safe products.

"Our grannies and aunties knew how to preserve food. Now we need to scale your product up. There are 200 products coming out of our kitchen in Taos - whatever you have as a product-a recipe that people like, you can market that product.

"People want food that is local, familiar to them. They want the convenience of opening a jar, but they want a delicious product," Arguello said.

"Bacteria are a reality of life," Arguello explained. "It's everywhere, and you must minimize its ability to grow. We use what nature provided - but how do you get the food to the consumer safely? If you are going to market your product, you can't use the home canner - and industrial pressure cookers are very expensive."

There are other ways to make a safe product - and salsa is an excellent model, Arguello said.

"We've done it at home by guessing, but now we want scientific assurance that our food is safe. It sounds complicated but it's not," Arguello said.

She joined Lechelle Gabriel in the kitchen for a hands-on, everyone involved demonstration of salsa production. There, Arguello led the group through the washing and peeling of vegetables, roasting them, sterilizing jars and rings, the hot fill and hold process of jarring the salsa - involving the proper heating of the product to kill bacteria, testing stability with a ph meter, and finally, allowing the jar to vacuum seal by cooling.

Arguello also led the group through labeling requirements, including nutritional values, eight, ingredients, and batch identification, as well as the process of certifying one's commercial kitchen.

Rose Mary Williams shared her experiences as a very successful farmer and rancher, as well as Navajo plant knowledge.

When Williams became a farmer, she met with resistance, but she persisted and experimented - even transferring dirt from Kerley Valley to her home near Rare Metals. She took care to immunize her cattle and to bring in new bulls when needed. She found that she was extremely successful - making more money than she had at previous jobs.

"No one can tell me that they can't do anything," Williams said. "If you teach your kids, they will know--be with your kids, garden with them, and you will know they aren't out behind the hills drugging out. I am always teaching my kids. I have them up on a chair making oatmeal. I tell them, 'What if I go tomorrow? What are you going to do? I am not going to be there to take care of you forever.'"

Tozhiindiigai

This bird is called Tozhiindiigai. In English, it's the egret. You can see them in the Tempe Town Lake in Phoenix.

Indian U.S. Attorney prosecuting Navajo bootleggers

Photo courtesy U.S. Attorney's Office -- Diane Humetewa, Hopi, U.S. attorney

Ms. Diane Humetewa, a Hopi United States Attorney, probably saved many Navajo lives by prosecuting bootleggers on the Navajo reservation. Thank you for helping keep our reservation roads and families safer Ms. Humetewa. (Read her interview).

Navajo Nation is focus of bootlegger probe
The Arizona Republic
July 20, 2008
by Felicia Fonseca
Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE - A tribal officer walking around the two-bedroom home in Many Farms on the Navajo Nation spotted 12 boxes of malt liquor stacked in the closet. In the living room, there were three empty boxes.

It's illegal to sell or drink alcohol on the reservation, but tribal officials say that doesn't stop bootleggers from setting up shop and selling alcohol at highly inflated prices to tribal members.

"I think a lot of them have been well established throughout the years, and they've been making money on the side as far as bootlegging goes," Navajo police Sgt. Wallace Billie said.

Billie estimates there are at least a hundred bootleggers on the reservation. A dozen suspects were arrested last week as part of a joint investigation by Navajo police, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona.

U.S. Attorney Diane Humetewa announced the arrests as part of a four-month investigation into bootlegging, which officials say fuels violent crimes on the reservation. The hope is that the investigation will help curb child-abuse, domestic-violence and homicide cases on the reservation, she said.

The Navajo Nation has limited resources to catch bootleggers or other criminals, with fewer than 375 officers covering the reservation's 27,000 square miles. Members of the tribe's Drug and Gang Unit took part in undercover operations to catch bootleggers.

Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. said there are 3,000 to 4,000 alcohol-related arrests on the reservation each year. Tribal officials have said that about 40 percent of adult Navajos have an alcohol problem.

"I'd like to believe one of these days we're going to be free of it," Shirley said.

Of the violent crimes referred to Humetewa's office by Arizona tribes, about 99 percent involve alcohol or drugs, she said.

Six of those accused of bootlegging over the weekend are women and six are men. They range in age from 32 to 69. Billie said the effort to catch bootleggers isn't over.

"There's more out there," he said. "There's a whole lot more."

Mount Taylor and Navajo leadership

The Navajo Vice-President gives a glimse of the importance of Mount Taylor to the Navajo. I'm glad that our leadership takes time to show what is important to Navajos so that those wanting to exploit the mountain understand their impact. I'm also glad that Navajo Nation is working with other tribes for the protection of what is important to them. Nizhoni!

Mount Taylor
Tsodzil is made of the sacred
and precious jewel, turquoise
By Helen Davis
Gallup Independent
July 8, 2008
Cibola County Bureau

PUEBLO OF ACOMA — On June 19, a few days after the Cultural Properties Review Committee again voted to list much of Mount Taylor in the State Register of Cultural Properties for one year, leaders from the five nominating tribes held a conference at the Sky City Hotel to commend the committee’s decision and to speak to the media about why the decision is important.

Each speaker, from Hopi, Zuni, Laguna, Acoma, and the Navajo Nation, spoke of the value of the mountain not only to their cultures but to all people in the Mount Taylor’s shadow. In upcoming days the Independent will run excerpts from each speaker.

Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly addressed the media with a look into the way the Navajo people regard the mountain and touched on the significance to all people, stressing the interconnectedness of nature and people.
Shelly began his address with a summary of the Navajo perspective.

“I would like to provide you with a glimpse into the Navajo world-view. This world-view is based on an understanding of the entire universe communicated in the Navajo language, containing important Navajo cultural values.” The speaker added that the values have been passed down through the generations.

The oral history of the Navajo says the ancestors came from the four underworlds into the fifth, glittering world, where the sacred homeland is bounded by four sacred mountains, Shelly said. He added that each mountain is bestowed with essential philosophical and traditional values. Mount Taylor, Tsodzil, is the mountain defining the southern border of the homeland.

“The mountain, its water sources and surrounding landscape are underlying parts of the larger Navajo world, inseparable living beings. Tsodzil is made of the sacred and precious jewel, dootl’izhii — turquoise — and is known as Dootl’izii Dziil — Turquoise/Blue Strength,” Shelly explained and added, “Dootl’izii represents the natural process of life; the capacity of our bodies to stay healthy from birth to old age. This is why the Navajo people value and wear turquoise.”

Shelly explained that soil, minerals, herbs and other substances that make up Dahndiilye’e’h/Dzil Leezh or mountain soil bundles used in Hozho’ ji’ or the Blessing Way Ceremony come from the four mountains. “Hozho’ ji’ is the foundation of all Navajo ceremonies and the Navajo way of life. Hozho’ ji’ restores an individual’s mental and physical well-being by restoring self-respect, harmony, balance and strength in the mind and body. While this ceremony is performed for a specific Navajo, the blessings restore the well-being of all people and the universe.”

Shelly finished his address saying, “This brief summary I have shared with you provides only a tiny glimpse of the essential and profound role of Tsodzil in the world-view of the Navajo people.” He shared one last Navajo with the press and the Pueblo people assembled — “Ahe’ hee’ “ or “thank you.”

Help protect Navajo intellectual property

Photo by S.J. Wilson/NHO
Shearing demonstrations by Leon Tsosie, weaving by Rita Perry, wool washing by Rebecca Allen, and carding and spining by Evelyn Simonson were among many featured demonstrations at the event. Pictured is Rachael Allen (right) demonstrating vegetable dying of the wool as Jessa Fisher from Flagstaff inspects a drying hank of yarn.

Pretty neat article that emphasizes how Navajo cultural knowledge is something that cannot be sold and must be protected. It is "intellectual property" meaning that there are rights to knowledge and cultural information. Former Chief Justice Robert Yazzie highlights some of the federal laws that protect Native Cultures. He urges Navajos to protect their cultural knowledge.

Protecting the integrity of Diné traditions
S.J. Wilson
Navajo-Hopi Observer
Tuesday, July 01, 2008

TUBA CITY, Ariz. - Previous to European contact, Native Americans had no notion of the abstract concept of intellectual property - songs and prayers for example - said Robert Yazzie, who served as the Chief Justice of the Navajo Nation from 1992 to 2003.

Yazzie spoke about the importance of protecting Navajo traditions and culture on June 21 as part of Diné bé iiná's Sheep is Life event at Greyhills Academy High School.

"Traditionally, our medicine people said that our songs and prayers are not for sale," Yazzie continued. "They were created for the benefit of people - they made no distinction here about what people. They said the 'five-fingered' people."


Photo by S.J. Wilson/NHO
Colleen Biakeddy discusses the benefits of wool skirting to the value of a fleece

Yazzie pointed out that a people's economic orientation affects a member's notion of property.

The traditional orientation, Yazzie said, includes a pastoral or agricultural background, a centric community and limited notions of private property. There is a free flow of information, art, technology and narratives. Traditional people view knowledge as something they must pass on to preserve the community or tribe's way of life, and there is a set procedure for the transfer of that knowledge.

In direct opposition, modern economics lead to a capitalistic viewpoint, Yazzie continued. This view is individual-oriented, with an expansive notion of private property and increasing domains of abstract property. There are emerging claims over "cultural" identities, such as Katsina dolls, and money is the only requirement for access to knowledge.

Yazzie touched on three areas where the federal government has established protection for cultural properties.

"The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) addressed prior concerns of researchers collecting funerary objects without permission, including funerary objects and other sacred objects," Yazzie said. "Museums must document objects and notify relevant tribes about human remains and funerary objects.

"The American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) of 1978 protects Native American spiritual elements such as sacred sites and religious objects," Yazzie continued. "The only intent I can perceive is to protect the American Indian from dying off. But specific protection for the songs and prayers are not in there."

Yazzie moved on to the United Nation's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - passed in September 2007. The Declaration is not legally binding under international law; however, it sets important standards for the treatment of the world's Indigenous people, numbered at 370 million.

"Article 11 of the Declaration was developed in conjunction with indigenous peoples, with respect to their cultural, intellectual, religious and spiritual property taken without their free, prior and informed consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs," Yazzie said.

Of the U.S. Supreme Court, Yazzie said that there are some fine, intelligent people sitting at the bar there.

"But the weather can be cold, and the weather can be hot," Yazzie continued. "The last few years, the Court has been very cold regarding Indian issues. With the passage of the Declaration, I hear the United States saying, 'we take care of our people,' - it is something that has that potential."

Yazzie presented examples where Native American tribes attempted to protect intellectual property - including the use of H.R. Voth photographs of Hopi sacred ceremonies and the use of the Zia sun symbol on the New Mexico state flag.

Then-Chairman Vernon Masayesva sought a moratorium on the use of Voth's pictures in 1994 - an effort that failed, but was successful in creating more sensitivity for intellectual properties, Yazzie said.

In 1925, Dr. Harry Mera of Santa Fe entered a contest for the New Mexico state flag design held by the Daughters of the American Revolution, suggesting the sun symbol he'd seen on a Zia ceremonial pot in his city's Museum of Fine Arts. The state legislature approved his suggestion. The Zia Pueblo claimed that the pot had been stolen - because it was marked with the sun symbol, it was clearly a ceremonial pot and as such, would not have been allowed to leave the pueblo.

Zia Pueblo sought $1 million for each year the state displayed it on the flag, demanding $76 million in all. Representatives of the tribe acknowledged that they did not expect to collect - the attempt had been symbolic, and what the Zia really sought was respect and an apology.

Yazzie concluded that the aforementioned acts have provided limited protection for historic indigenous culture and tradition.

Another issue is the potential for in-fighting between tribes regarding who actually owns certain properties - case in point, the making of Katsina dolls by Navajo people.

"This may dramatically alter how spiritual knowledge is transferred internally," Yazzie said.

Again citing the United Nations' declaration, Yazzie touched on the idea of biopiracy - and an odd result of the passage of intellectual property law. Private companies have taken and sometimes altered genetic materials such as plants and seeds and have claimed them as their intellectual property. This practice is a threat to the survival and food security of Indigenous peoples.

"Article 24 of the Declaration states that Indigenous people have all rights to their traditional medicines and to maintain their health practices, including the conservation of the vital medicinal plants, animals and materials," Yazzie said.

"What do we do to distinguish western concepts of property from those of the traditional Navajo?" Yazzie said. "We can identify conceptual differences - 'everything on the rez is ours,' but I know that once we say that, it will be challenged. But we must take the step to assert our power. We must promulgate comprehensive Navajo Nation legislation with clear intent. We have a treaty, and are recognized as a sovereign nation by a point of law. We must declare our right to regulate and protect our own traditional knowledge and cultural resources. We must assert protective measures toward collective traditional knowledge of cultural heritage - in other words, our beliefs, practices, arts and crafts, stories and our traditional land."

The Nation has taken steps to do just this, Yazzie pointed out - including statutory recognition and adoption of Navajo customary regulations. The Navajo tribe has joined other tribes in establishing protocols for research and publication, and must enforce sanctions for violations according to established Navajo laws.

"Education is needed," Yazzie said. "When we talk to the elders [on the topic of intellectual properties], they know what we are talking about. This must be explained to younger generations."

Roy Kady, with Diné bé iiná, said that the selling of songs, stories and other intellectual property by some is a matter of economics.

"A lot of people are poor," Kady said. "The only way they can make money is selling their knowledge."

"Anytime intellectual property is discussed, it's the wealthy that benefit," Yazzie replied. "This brings the question, 'What about poor people?' I'm saying there are things that are unprotected. There are some things that the Navajo People should decide as a whole [as to whether it should be sold, not just an individual]."

There are things that should be preserved for future generations - like weaving, Yazzie said, and explained that his mother never depended on food stamps or welfare.

"She would take a rug to the trading post and we went back home wearing black tennis shoes, Wranglers, a Wrangler shirt. Yazzie summarized the spirit of Navajo weavers and indeed, all artisans.

"I can feed my kids with what I do - this is not the end of the story, this is my identity, this is what I will pass on. I have a plan, have a prayer, I have a song. Many Americans don't have that."

Horned Woman

Asdzaah Adee'e was named for her Hopi hairstyle.

Adelzadeh a model for Navajo youth

Inderkum High School sophomore Kristina Adelzadeh

Another interesting story about a young Totsohnii woman reconnecting with her roots. She says relearning your identity is important. I've heard about this ancestor she mentions, "Horn Woman".

Native Currents
Indian Country Today
June 20, 2008
By: Kristina Adelzadeh

Weaving my Navajo history

I take pride in my Navajo culture, and I choose to rediscover the fading footprints of generations before me. A big part of reconnecting with my heritage is listening to family members share stories from the past. My Navajo grandmother, Susie Yazzie, has told me how hard it was to live on the reservation when she was young. Every morning she had to go out with her brother, and eventually by herself, to herd sheep. She did not attend the first grade until she was the age of 14.

I was 7 years old when I started to learn the importance of my culture. My grandmother decided to teach me how to weave. I felt honored weaving the wool string in and out of the loom. I felt empowered because weaving was a tradition that was passed down by generations of Navajo women. The first of these women was called Spider Woman. She is said to have taught the Navajo people how to weave rugs. This tradition was passed down to me through my great-great-grandmother, Addie Kayonnie Begay; my great-aunt, Alice Sangster; and my grandmother. Before I learned to weave, I did not feel like a Native American.

Today, I am proud that I have this connection through my Ttsohnii (Big Water) clan. However, our family tradition could have easily been broken due to events beyond our control.

My great-grandfather, Knox Yazzie, married my great-grandmother, Opal Begay; together, they had five children, including my grandmother. In December of 1944, he had to enlist to fight for the United States in World War II. When he returned, the only job that he could get was working on the railroad. My great-grandmother died of tuberculosis in 1947. Because he had to travel all the time, my great-grandfather could not support five children without his wife. So he divided his children among his wife's sisters. My grandmother went to live with her aunt.

As my grandmother grew older, she had to choose between staying on the reservation and attending boarding school. Following her dreams, she chose education rather than continuing a life herding sheep. She went to boarding school in Riverside, Calif. Then she went to work in Albuquerque, N.M., and Oakland, Calif. She eventually got married and had my mother. However, my grandmother never taught my mother to weave, because she was so busy working and because she had not yet mastered the art of weaving herself.

Although my grandmother left the reservation as a young woman, she still carried her Navajo traditions with her. Later in life, she reconnected with her family back in Arizona. There, she relearned the art of weaving from her aunt Alice. That is how she was able to teach me when I was a young girl.

Today, she continues to talk to me about the Navajo ways, ceremonies and blessings, including the walk of beauty, when a girl becomes a young lady. She talks about the sacred animals and why we should avoid some of them, such as snakes and lizards. My grandmother also tells me about the ''Horn Lady,'' our Hopi ancestor who wore her hair in twin buns that looked like horns. My grandmother might think that all she is doing is reminiscing about her past and that I am not listening well, but hearing what my grandmother has to say has helped to reconnect me with my heritage.

Wars, diseases and the establishment of boarding schools forced my ancestors to make difficult choices. These events divided our families and nearly broke the circle of our tradition. Faced with limited opportunities, my grandmother made decisions that had big impacts on my future. If my grandmother had never returned to Arizona, then I probably would have never learned the Navajo art of weaving. An important part of my circle would have been broken. But she did reconnect with that tradition, and then she chose to pass it on to me.

We can all choose to discover what has happened in our families' past. If we take time to acknowledge these histories, it will help us to learn and understand more about ourselves. It will also give us a sense of what all Native Americans have experienced. Through this knowledge, we can proudly respect and maintain our cultural identities.

Learning how to weave has helped to reconstruct the breaks in my family's history. All Native Americans share a history of being separated from our lands, families and traditions; however, we have the power to reconnect missing parts of the circle. We are all like strands of wool, but we are all not necessarily woven. If we rediscover how history connects us, then we can weave ourselves into a beautiful pattern, just like a Navajo rug.

Kristina L. Adelzadeh is a member of the Totsohnii (Big Water) clan of the Navajo Nation. She was a grade 10 student at Inderkum High School in Sacramento when she entered the second annual Reconnecting the Circle National High School Essay Contest. She was among 10 students awarded a $2,500 prize.

Reducing the council to 12

This writer wants the Navajo council reduced to twelve instead of the proposed twenty-four. The writer says that we need to return back to the traditional form of Navajo government. What does that mean? Is he referring to the form of government as enunciated in the Fundamental Laws of Dine? I have always wondered what that means. I also notice that most of the letters on this point are for reducing the council. They are also written by people. The few letters to keep the size of the council the status quo are few and written by the council delegates themselves or past former delegates. The question now is will the people be able to pull this effort off?

Reduce council to 12
Navajo Times Letter to the Editor
May 28, 2008

Ya'at'eeh shi'k'e, doo shi' Diné! Hope this letter finds you all walking in beauty.

I picked up a past edition of the Navajo Times and on the headlines were once again the topic of reducing the council to 12 or 24. I affirm that the council should be reduced to 12.

We have five agencies and we could elect two from each agency and one from the two surrounding satellite territories such as Ramah, then we could vote on our leader from the population.

We, as a people, have tried this once before but due to the obvious lack of support of council delegates, due to ignorance of the laws, did not obtain the required 2/3rd majority vote at each chapter house.

According to our law, we only need a chapter with a majority of the signatures to get a referendum drafted to put this on the ballot, but we need the majority of the chapters to vote on this referendum. This will be hard, especially since only as little as 40 percent actually vote of the 100 percent voters.

Yep, you will have to get registered - it's easy, go to your chapter house and register.

This topic has been around longer than I have been back on the rez, over 14 years! Still, nothing has been done. Each year, I read the Diné writing to the editor conveying their sentiments of downsizing the council.

We are nothing but mocking birds saying the same thing. The power is in the Diné, not the council, nor the judicial branch, nor the executive branch.

Heck, this government is not our government. It does not conform to our traditional culture. In fact, the BIA has systematically manipulated our government to push our people off the reservation for prosperity.

This current puppet government and council have not led our people to be recognized by the United Nations as an independent nation, not until during Peter MacDonald's reign. And look what happened to him. As a great leader and a great nation with his removal and his fight for Navajo sovereignty, we have been reduced to a bunch of apples in Window Rock.

I'm tired of this council's apathy for the people who they were elected to serve. They are only serving their own interest and get a large paycheck with little return, not to mention wasting millions on salary and per diems. But to waste our hard earn tax dollars on commemorative gold rings for work they didn't perform is enough for this Diné to say enough!

Our council is supposed to carry on the Diné's voices and concerns. This white government tells us what is best for us, not the other way around. Our traditional voices guided us and transcended from the people to our leaders and we were great.

This government through BIA have forcibly removed our families from their sheep camps, lost our water rights, reduced our livestock, and forced our elders off the reservations to live in nursing homes, instead of building our elders health assistance housing on the rez.
Heck, this government has not secured our future for the seventh generation, because they have forced our Diné and their youths' off the reservation to work and to go to college. This government does not even have an effective recruiting program to recruit the Diné who have left the rez to get a college degree, only to hire biligaanas to displace our Navajos.

This Diné thinks it is time for a positive change, and we can start this by downsizing the council delegation to just 12. Not only will we save millions of dollars in wasted monies, but we could use that money for more scholarships, nursing homes for elders on the rez, not off.

Let's put some traditional values and an education on these new delegates and some ethical requirements on these delegates. Hagoonee from Kinlani - this Diné has had enough!

Peter June-Corbell
Flagstaff, Ariz.
(Hometown: Kaibeto, Ariz.)

Yellowhair-Gilbert a model for Navajo youth

Highland High senior Charity Yellowhair-Gilbert, 17

Wow. Here is a story about a Navajo teenager who became proficient in the Navajo language through online courses. Even having the most Bilagana education does not compare to knowing your language. She is a model for the Navajo youth today as well as those who are off the reservation where the Navajo language is less spoken. Nizhoni!

Student learns her roots
Highland High senior is studying Navajo at SLCC and on a state-funded Web site
By Ben Fulton
The Salt Lake Tribune
May 27, 2008

Growing up on the Navajo Nation reservation in Kayenta, Ariz., Charity Yellowhair-Gilbert was embarrassed and frustrated: She understood the Navajo language as she listened to her mother and grandmother talk, but couldn't speak it herself.

Twelve years and countless hours of study later, the 17-year-old Highland High School student has made her grandmother proud - she can converse in her native tongue. Mastering Navajo wasn't easy, Yellowhair-Gilbert said. It is loaded with verbs, heavy on tones that move up and down, and spoken from deep inside the chest. A combination of classes at Salt Lake Community College and lessons downloaded from a Navajo language Web site developed by Utah Electronic High Schools, a state-funded program, made the effort worthwhile.

"It's important to me, because I want people to know who I am," Yellowhair-Gilbert said. "I want people to know who the Navajos are, and not see us pushed to the side."

With more than 150,000 speakers in the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, and renowned as the language used in military code during World War II, few believe Navajo will die out anytime soon.

The Navajo Nation isn't about to leave that to chance, however. Signs of decline are worrisome, said San Juan School District bilingual education director Clayton Long, who trains teachers in Navajo instruction from Blanding. Almost all Navajo students entering kindergarten in the Four Corners area cannot speak the language, even if they understand portions of it, he said. Many older Navajos proficient in speaking lack reading and writing literacy.

One effort to preserve what Navajos call the language of ''The Holy People'' - Mother Earth, Father Sky and other deities of nature - rests in the nation's various scholarship programs requiring language classes for applicants. But with 2000 U.S. Census data showing that 30 to 40 percent of the Navajo population now live off the reservation, online instruction is critical.

Utah Electronic High Schools developed the first known online Navajo classes at state expense in 2003, available only to Utah students. But after being licensed recently by Salt Lake City's American Academy, UEHS's online Navajo language courses are now available to students outside Utah. The full cost for two courses is $600, but Navajo students can apply to local community chapters of the nation for financial assistance, said Rebekah Richards, senior vice president of academic affairs and school principal for American Academy, a private school.

Better access to online instruction has resulted in more applications to the nation's scholarship programs, in particular the Chief Manuelito Scholarship for high school graduates, which provides $7,000 per academic year, said Rose Graham, director of scholarship and financial assistance programs for the Navajo Nation.

The online program has been a boon to Navajo students in Arizona, where English-only statutes make it difficult for Navajos to learn their language in public schools.

"It certainly helps us," Graham said. "Even students who have schools teaching Navajo can use it to catch up on course work, or go through an independent study group."

As a Utah student, Yellowhair-Gilbert was able to download course work as needed for free from UEHS's original online Navajo course to download course work as needed free of cost. As a Navajo, she's grateful the same course work is now available to those outside Utah. Once her final high school transcripts are in hand, she plans to apply for the Chief Manuelito Scholarship, and hopes other Navajos will do the same in the future.

"It would be impossible for me not to study my language," she said. "But it's good some people care enough to accommodate those of us who live in the city."

Desert Rock - A question of values

This writing shows the complexities of coal-generated energy. While President Shirley supports Desert Rock, traditional Navajos are taught not to disturb the earth and sky. It begs the question, do we Navajos give up our values for jobs and economy?

Proposed coal plant pits economy vs. Navajo belief
May 20, 2008
Associated Press

BURNHAM, N.M.: In a corner of the Navajo Nation burdened by old and heavily polluting coal-fired power plants, it matters little to many tribal elders that another facility promises to be the most efficient and cleanest of all.

With two plants already a dozen miles away, the last thing they want is another one even closer, a 1,500-megawatt project barely two miles in another direction.

"We want the smoke to stop," said 76-year-old Alice Gilmore in Navajo, raising a hand toward the belching plants.

Others say the $3 billion Desert Rock Energy Facility could invigorate the lagging economy of the Navajo Nation, which stretches across parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Backers say it would bring $52 million a year in revenues to the tribal government and provide up to 400 jobs on a reservation where unemployment hovers around 50 percent.

The plan — the largest-ever economic development partnership for the Navajos — has prompted fierce debate pitting that economic windfall against environmental concerns and traditional culture on the 27,000-square-mile reservation, rich with natural gas, uranium and low-sulfur coal.

Some Navajos believe they are inseparable from Mother Earth and Father Sky — stewards of the land who must live in harmony with the natural world. There are no Navajo words to describe the complexities of power plants; to many elders, they are big stoves that produce electricity, the emissions wild spirits capable of harm.

"You treat your mother with great respect and love," said Harry Walters, a historian and cultural anthropologist at Dine College in Tsaile, Ariz. "You don't give your mother bad food, you don't take your mother to a place where there is bad air, you don't let her drink dirty water."

Gilmore grew up tending goats on a homestead on the reservation, and recalls waist-high grass teeming with tiny ground lizards before the coal burning started 44 years ago. While the land is bare now, it would be obliterated by an advancing strip mine that would be tapped for the new plant.

"Sometimes she cries for it when she's alone, for the land and the destruction," says her daughter, Bonnie Wethington.

Walters said tribal leaders need only consider the legacy of uranium mining booms in the 1950s and 1970s, which brought cancer, lung disease and death to the Navajos — to know that Mother Earth will retaliate for coal digging and burning.

Others, however, see a gift in their land's fortune of low-sulfur but high-ash and medium-BTU coal. By various estimates the coal reserve would last a century or more of stepped-up burning.

"The creator blessed us with this land, where there is an abundance of natural resources," said Lucinda Bennalley, president of the Nenahnezad Chapter, one of 110 such tribal chapters, or local governing entities.

Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., a staunch supporter of the project, says critics should "stop picking on the little Navajo" when countries like India and China are commissioning a new coal plant practically every week.

The debate over Desert Rock comes at a time when leaders in Congress and a number of states have begun questioning coal burning, and the volume of greenhouse gases it churns out.

The project's backers, a private equity group, are trying to build ahead of a possible regulation by Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency or states to limit carbon dioxide emissions, produced in abundance by coal burning that takes most of the blame for heating up the planet.

The Navajo Nation picked Houston-based Sithe Global Power, which is 80 percent owned by New York-based Blackstone Group, to build what amounts to a "merchant" plant for hire or sale. Blackstone executives say customers won't be hard to find — Phoenix or Las Vegas is the most likely consumer — among hard-pressed utilities in the booming Southwest.

Because of industry-wide improvements in pollutant-capturing technology over the years, Desert Rock's emissions would be as little as a fifth of the reservation's Four Corners Power Plant to the north. Four Corners, a 2,000-megawatt plant co-owned and operated by Arizona Public Service, routinely ranks No. 1 on dirty-power lists compiled by watchdog groups from emissions reports to the EPA.

But Desert Rock would hardly be a pollution slouch, despite new emissions technology.

Every year, according to figures compiled by the EPA, the station would pump out 6,644 tons of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are components of acid rain; 5,529 tons of carbon monoxide; 570 tons of lung-busting particulate matter and 166 tons of smog-forming volatile organic compounds, plus trace amounts of lead and mercury.

The EPA has yet to approve an air-quality permit, which Sithe Global first applied for in 2004. Sithe and the Navajo Nation's Dine Power Authority sued March 18 over the agency's delay, claiming the tribe is losing $5 million in tax revenue for every month the permit is held up. The Bureau of Indian Affairs already has signed off on a lease.

Nathan Plagens, vice president of Sithe subsidiary Desert Rock Energy Co., believes the risk of more stringent carbon regulation will "work itself out" in a way that won't derail Desert Rock. But he said the project is stalled because it's seen as politically incorrect.

"It's all about politics. We've met all of the requirements, done all of the work, and yet we're still waiting," said Christopher Deschene, an attorney for the Dine Power Authority, the tribe's partner in the project. "This is our backyard. We can handle this."

The EPA says it was initially delayed by climate-modeling uncertainties for a region that includes several national parks, and then by nearly 1,000 mostly negative comments posted on the agency's Web site. Air-permit technicians say they have a duty to answer each of the comments.

Added to the debate is a recent analysis of government temperature data that shows the interior American West is heating up at twice the global rate.

"We think we're doing our job as best we can — the good technical work that we are required to do," said Colleen McKaughan, a Southwest region deputy air-division director for the EPA. She declined to provide a timeline for action.

Environmental groups have vowed to keep fighting any EPA permit.

"There no such thing as clean coal," said Theodore Spencer, a climate policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Coal power is pretty much the dirtiest power there is, and that plant would do nothing to address global warming emissions."

Visit Desert Rock Energy Co.

Na'ats'oosi

The deadly Na'ats'oosi (dear mouse).

Avoid the Hanta Virus

This is an eerie article about the Hanta Virus scare fifteen years ago. It mentions how the Navajo Medicine Men Association consulted among themselves and attributed the problem mice and other rodents. It is scary that there is no cure for this sickness. The articles give some good tips about handling rodent droppings.

Year of Fear
Medicine men knew cause of Hantavirus
Weekend, May 17-18, 2008
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — In the spring of 1987, people living in New York stayed inside, with their doors locked, as a killer named the Son of Sam roamed the streets, killing at will.

Residents of this area experienced the same kind of fear 15 years ago this week, as a silent killer ended the life of several young Navajo. No one could figure how what was killing them — it was Hantavirus.

For two weeks, as the number of deaths increased, local doctors like Bruce Tempest, who was a specialist in internal medicine at the Gallup Indian Medical Hospital, worked around the clock examining patients who were flocking to IHS hospitals worried that they may have caught the disease that was causing people to die only a few days after showing the symptoms.

“This was one of the most intense periods of my life,” Tempest said. “There was enormous stress.”

Today it’s hard to imagine the fear that radiated not only through this area but all through the Southwest as people began learning of the deaths of young Navajo and began wondering if this was the beginning of an outbreak that would eventually spread to other parts of the country.

Local restaurant owners reported a sharp decline in business. A lot of people stopped going to the movies. There were even reports in Phoenix that restaurants there discouraged Navajo from eating at their establishments and when they did, the owners would throw away the plates they used rather than taking a chance passing on the disease to their customers. Very few people visited the Inter-Tribal Ceremonial that summer.

Some people began wearing surgical masks when they went outdoors. If you didn’t have to go outdoors, you didn’t. Tempest blamed the media for writing stories that indicated the disease was only affecting the area’s Navajo population and indicating that it may be passed on from person to person. Most of the early victims were Navajo but it turned out that the disease was concentrated in rural areas and not targeting any specific ethic group.

For Tempest and other doctors in this area, the first time they became aware that there was this mysterious disease killing people was on May 14, 1993.

That was the day that a young Navajo from north of Gallup died. What made the death unusual was that the man’s fiancé had died from the same symptoms just a few days before.

“It all came together on that day,” Tempest said. Another IHS doctor, Larry Crook, had one of his patients die of the same symptoms a few days before and Tempest learned that there had also been a similar death at the Fort Defiance Hospital about the same time. He was able to track down five recent deaths to the disease.

“This didn’t look like anything I had ever seen before,” he said. “We basically had five young, healthy people who came down with the disease and then died within a few days of showing symptoms.”

Was it being passed from one family member to another? Some though so since so many of the early deaths were concentrated in one area and one family?

“We just didn’t know,” said Tempest, which is why during the next two weeks, doctors and nurses who were treating patients at the IHS hospitals wore surgical masks and gowns to reduce the chance of catching the disease.

Once the alert was issued, state health officials and doctors at the University of New Mexico were called for help and by the beginning of the following week the Centers for Disease Control began sending van loads of doctors and researchers to Gallup to try and find a reason for the deaths.

During the next week, three more people would die and hundreds of people were rushing to local hospitals if they had a cough or a runny nose.

By that time, Tempest said, doctors had some idea of the symptoms and concentrated their efforts on people who said they had a fever and then muscle aches and finally found themselves short of breath. The problem was that by the time they got to the end of these symptoms, it was too late.

Local newspapers had stories every day about the mysterious disease and the fact that no one still had any idea what was causing the deaths. Speculation ran rampant with Navajo officials fighting media reports that this was a Navajo disease while everyone seemed to have their own idea about what was causing it.

A lot of people were looking at the U.S. Army as being responsible.

The Army at this time was closing down their depot at Fort Wingate and were removing weapons stored there to other sites. People began wondering in the newspaper articles if the Army was storing chemical weapons and whether it was possible that some kind of chemical agent designed to kill America’s enemies had somehow managed to get out and was now killing Navajo.

Army officials denied any involvement and denied that any chemical weapons were being stored at the site. But people continued to wonder.

By May 25, as CDC doctors were closing in on the cause, so was another segment of this area’s health profession — Navajo medicine men.

It was on that date that more than 50 Navajo medicine men met in Window Rock behind closed doors and discussed the deaths and later told the Navajo people to be very careful around prairie dogs and deer mice in their area.

They had heard reports from the Navajo people living in the areas where the deaths had occurred that the rodent population in their areas had skyrocketed because of a wet winter and abundant food sources in the spring. The medicine men told of stories passed down from generation to generation warning Navajos that death and destruction would come when rodent populations became too large.

CDC officials were concluding autopsies on all of the victims as well as blood work and were beginning to think that the disease was related in some way to a disease that the U.S. Army had discovered during the Korean War — a Hantavirus that up to now had only been seen in the Eastern Hemisphere.

The Hantavirus there caused kidney failure, which was not happening here, but other symptoms were so close that doctors began wondering if the disease causing the deaths in 1993 could be spread by rodents. Tempest said that one of the things that also triggered this thinking was the discovery of mouse droppings at one of the homes where a number of people had died.

Researchers began fanning out to the areas where the victims had lived and began trapping every rodent they could find and sending them to the CDC so they could be autopsied. Within a few days, CDC officials said they had found the cause.

“It’s fortunate,” Tempest said, “that all of this occurred within a couple of weeks.”

The bad news, however, is that while CDC officials found the cause of the disease, they didn’t find a cure. In fact, there is no cure and every year, a few cases of the disease crops up each year with most surviving, although there are deaths every year.

“We’ve already had our first case this year in the Taos area,” Tempest said, adding that most of the cases in this hemisphere are now occurring in Argentina and other South America countries, although in those countries, it’s slightly different than the ones that occur in this country.

No one knows how the disease spread to this part of the country but Tempest thinks the disease may have been around for a long time but went unnoticed because they were never a lot of cases in one year until 1993.

He thinks he had a couple of cases in the years before 1993 but never realized what they were until the 1993 deaths occurred.

“I will never be able to know for sure but I believe they were also Hantavirus victims,” he said.


TIPS TO AVOID GETTING THE DISEASE

While there is no cure for Hantavirus, there are steps people can do to less their chances of getting the disease, according to information released by the Navajo Area Indian Health Service.

AIR OUT — Do not enter areas that are left vacant during the winter without first airing them out to allow fresh air in and to move floating viruses out.

SEAL OUT — Seal any openings through which mice can enter. Keep a clean house, especially in the kitchen, so you won’t attract mice. Wash dishes and keep counters and floors clean.

TRAP OUT — Do trap out and seal out activities at the same time. Trap mice until they are gone from your home or work area. As you do this, wear latex or plastic gloves. Use only spring-loaded traps. Spray dead mice with a solution of one part bleach to nine parts water.

CLEAN OUT — Clean areas after trapping and sealing. Put on rubber or plastic gloves before cleaning. Do not stir up dust by sweeping or vacuuming. Thoroughly wet contaminated areas and items with bleach and water mixture to kill the virus. Pick up contaminated items with a disposable rag, then mop or sponge the area with a bleach solution.

Cure for Hanta Virus?

In 1993, Hurricane El Nino hit the Pacific Coast causing rains in the southwest. More rain meant more pinon nuts, more mice, and more Hanta Virus deaths. According to this article, Hanta Virus can be successfully treated with Nitric Oxide. I wonder if this treatment is available in the I.H.S. Navajo region?

AIRBORNE
Researchers have found a way to save Hantavirus victims from death, the first time any such treatment was tried in treating this disease.
Vistas Winter 2001
Written by Suzanna Cisneros Martinez

The Navajo Indians believed that mice were the bearers of illness. Folklore says the Navajo elders predicted healthy young men would become sick and die throughout generations with an illness that came with the rains. In 1993 there were many unexplained deaths among young Native Americans in the Four Corners area of the United States. Researchers would eventually give the illness a name, Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (HCPS).

The 1993 outbreak came to the normally semi-arid region of the Four Corners, the only point in the United States where four states -- Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona -- share a common border. The preceding year, El Nino's weather pattern brought uncommon rains to the area, causing the rodent populations to explode because of an extra supply of pinon nuts, the primary food of Peromyscus maniculatus, the deer mouse.

Researchers say the virus that causes Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome is carried by rodents such as the deer mouse. The increase of infected rodents exposed the victims, many of which were of the Navajo Nation, to the rodent droppings. During the 1993 outbreak, 13 deaths were confirmed as due to Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome (HCPS).

Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome is used to describe one of two diseases caused by the many strains of Hantavirus. Since the 1993 outbreak, HCPS had been found in more than half of the states in the United States. Although it recently has been recognized in North America, Hantavirus was given its name back during the Korean War. Researchers had named a virus that caused the Hemorragic Fever after the Hantaan River in Korea, which ran through the region where the virus was most prevalent.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center's David Waagner, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics, says the biology of the Hantavirus is interesting in the sense that the disease is different in various parts of the world. "'Old World' Hantaviruses in Europe and Asia predominantly cause kidney disease and bleeding. It's a very different illness from Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome, which is caused by the 'New World' Hantavirus," he says.

The patient may present with mild flu-like symptoms, headaches, mild aches and pains, vomiting, fatigue, fever and some diarrhea. Researchers know that the virus seldom targets the old or young. "We don't know why, but Hantavirus predominantly targets healthy individuals, not the very young or the elderly," says Waagner. "This is unusual because one would expect infants to have a higher risk of exposure. Likewise, one would expect the elderly to have more severe disease with underlying baseline pulmonary disease. Yet, this has not been observed."

Waagner notes that a 45 percent fatality rate exists in the reported cases of Hantavirus. Through May of 2000, a total of 250 Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome cases were reported in the United States. Although most of the cases affected Navajo Indians in the 1993 outbreak, Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome can strike anyone.

American Indians account for 20 percent of the cases, African-Americans for 2 percent, Asians for 1 percent, Hispanics for 10 percent and Anglos account for 77 percent of all cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that 60 percent of reported cases have been male and 40 percent female.

Waagner is quick to point out that the virus is acquired through exposure to aerosolization, or the dispersal of fine particles in the air, of infected rodent droppings and not by person-to-person contact. "In North America, there haven't been any confirmed cases of person-to-person transmission," says Waagner. "However in South America, there have been a few cases which are suspicious for person-to-person transmission."

After someone is exposed to the infected rodents, symptoms appear one to five weeks later. The illness begins with symptoms that resemble the common cold. Patients with Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome rapidly develop pneumonia, shortness of breath and respiratory distress.

We have a basic supportive care that we use for an illness that's called ARDS, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and that is a syndrome that can be due to a wide variety of different causes, hantavirus being one of them," says Michael Romano, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center.

"The virus causes the lungs to fail, and we use a mechanical ventilator and oxygen to support those patients," says Romano.

Texas Tech researchers may have found one way to save Hantavirus victims from death. In 1996, 16-year-old Heath Henderson made a trip with his family from Merkel, a small town in West Texas, to Lubbock to attend a Texas Tech Red Raider football game. After struggling with a fever and other pains and aches for a week, Heath's condition became worse, and he was taken to the emergency room at University Medical Center. Two days later, his condition deteriorated.

Doctors from the Texas Tech Medical Center worked to find the solution to his condition. Doctors Robert Rosenberg, Waagner and Romano determined that Henderson potentially had been exposed to Hantavirus. What they did next would be the first in the treatment of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome.

"Although Heath was the first pediatric patient in our region to present with Hantavirus, his symptoms, X-ray findings and laboratory results were very similar to those described in the initial outbreak in New Mexico," said Waagner.

"Patients with Hantavirus usually have very leaky blood vessels with fluid leaking out of the blood vessels into the lungs. Therefore, their blood is rather concentrated," says Waagner. "Hantavirus patients typically have blood hematocrits of 45 percent or greater. Heath was brought in at 51 to 52 percent, and that was our red flag."

"We were seeing a young, healthy adult who 16 hours after admission, complained of severe shortness of breath, with respiratory rates ranging from 40 to 50 breaths a minute," says Romano. "And if our suspicion of Hantavirus was correct, we knew Heath's conditions could easily become fatal."

After the traditional procedures had been tried, the doctors offered a new experimental study to treat Heath, which would save his life. "He qualified for using nitric oxide on the basis of an investigational protocol, that I had in place," said Rosenberg. "He therefore qualified because of the severity of the illness."

Rosenberg says that nitric oxide is not normally a treatment for Hantavirus. "Nitric oxide is a therapy for pulmonary hypertension, which can be a complication of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome, as well as many other disorders," explains Rosenberg. "Nitric oxide is used for example on newborns who experience pulmonary hypertension, and in patients with certain heart conditions."

Nitric oxide is a chemical that our bodies use to regulate blood pressure and is produced in a variety of cells. The relevant cells in this case are those that line blood vessels and produce nitric oxide. "When it's locally available, it causes the blood vessel muscles to relax, and the blood vessel gets larger making it easier for blood to get through the vessel, by lowering the resistance," says Rosenberg. "We delivered extra nitric oxide if you will, through the gas that the ventilator gives to the patients. We mix it with oxygen, give it through the lungs and it diffuses into the blood stream," adds Rosenberg. "And as it affects those blood vessels, it causes them to relax."

Rosenberg says the illness produces a situation where the blood vessels are not normal in the way they are regulating blood pressure in the lungs. The blood pressure tends to be too high. The nitric oxide interacts with the muscle cells and the blood vessels causing them to relax so that the blood pressure goes down.

"That's the theory as to why it should work. It makes it easier to get blood through the lungs and allows the heart to do less work to get the blood through the lungs," says Rosenberg. "We have other medications that cause blood vessels to relax, given intravenously. The problem is that those chemicals will indiscriminately cause blood vessels to relax all through the body, causing the patient's blood pressure to fall."

The small capillaries in the lungs adjust blood flow to various parts of the lung based on oxygen levels in the lung. As oxygen levels fall, blood flow is decreased. In this way, the lung does not "waste" blood going to areas where it can't pick up oxygen. The unique aspect of nitric oxide is that it is given by inhalation. In this way, only blood vessels to areas of the lung that are receiving oxygen open up. Nitric oxide has a very short half-life, so it breaks down before causing low blood pressure in the rest of the body.

The majority of patients who die with Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome usually die within 48 hours of the onset of the severe respiratory illness. Waagner says most survivors of Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome have little long-term aftereffects. If the patient survives, they usually return to normal activity with nor residual problems," says Waagner. Aggressive supportive care during this time is critical for a good outcome. In Heath's case, he went back to playing high school football."

Doctors Romano, Rosenberg and Waagner agree that Hantavirus is difficult to study. "Overall, it is a relatively rare disease, and most cases are clustered in a few geographic regions," says Romano.

"All of them are younger. That's why Dr. Rosenberg has done a recent collaboration with investigators in New Mexico, comparing our two cases with some of their cases and other cases from other parts of the country to combine data," says Romano.

Doctors warn individuals not to be frightened if they are exposed to mice. The chances of contracting Hantavirus are slim. "Almost all cases occur indoors in an area with rodents' droppings which are aerosolized typically by sweeping," says Waagner.

However, he says people can protect themselves from contracting Hantavirus. If a person is in an enclosed area, like a closet or an attic or storage shed, and sees evidence of mice droppings, then there are a couple of things one should do in order to clean up.

-- Wear a good filter mask, such as a painter's mask;

-- Use a bleach solution in a spray bottle to spray the area down, letting it set for a few hours before cleaning it out;

-- Avoid putting the particles in the air, for example by sweeping the area with a broom;

-- If you find live mice, dead mice or signs of mice, like droppings in the area, spray the area with a bleach solution, then using gloves, pick up the carcass with a plastic bag turning it inside out. Seal the bag and even double the bag before disposing of the carcass.

In Heath Henderson's case, doctors suspect that he was exposed by infected animals found in a closet used to store the family's hunting equipment. "A dead mouse and rodent droppings had been seen in the store room. Heath had a hunting vest that was somewhat dusty, and he shook it vigorously to air it out," says Waagner. "We postulate that might be the exposure, but we don't know for certain. The Texas Department of Health confirmed that rodents trapped in the immediate area tested positive for the virus."

The Texas Tech Health Sciences Center doctors add that research is being done to see if anything else can be done for patients with Hantavirus. "There is a protocol testing a potential drug for the Hantavirus Cardiopulmonary Syndrome," says Rosenberg. "But we are still looking at three or four years of testing to see if it works."

But for now patients like Henderson are happy to have a medical center like that at Texas Tech in the West Texas community. "At the time Heath received nitric oxide therapy, this was the only center within 250 to 350 miles that had this technology available," says Romano. "If he were not at Texas Tech, he would not have been able to access this therapy and perhaps may not have survived. This is a perfect example of an academic medical center like Texas Tech offers to the community."

Aneth Chapter House

This disgruntled writer talks about some tribal corruption at the chapter level. Did this really happen? Or is she just making this up? If this really did happened, I’m surprised that some of our Navajo chapters have risen to this level of corruption. Approving $70,000 to pay off one person’s trailer? I need $70,000 for a new car too! It’s sad that these types of things happen among our people and we just ignore the problem. What can the people do about this?

Aneth conflict of interest
Gallup Indpendendent
April 30, 2008
Letter to the Editor

To Editor:

I am not one who has ever written to any local papers, but after attending an Aneth Chapter meeting on April 3, 2008, I felt a strong urgency to write a letter to the editor. At this meeting, the chapter approved $70,000 to help one of the chapter staff pay off her mobile home. If this isn’t “conflict of interest,”, I don’t know what it would be classified as and that’s why I turned around to the Chapter Community Services Coordinator who was sitting behind me and asked “how can this be allowed?”

His response was “that’s the grazing committee’s and Secretary’s decision.”

This to me is outlandish especially when we have so many community members who live in dilapidated trailer houses and/or substandard houses without electricity nor running water in the Utah portion of the Navajo Reservation where the chapter receives 37.5 percent oil royalties in addition to the Navajo Nation Council appropriations to all the 88 chapters.

This exorbitant amount as disbursement of cash to a chapter staff needs to be reported to the IRS. This exorbitant amount should be reportable to IRS as income and if no one will, I have every intentions of doing so. Another Ismay community member stood up and spoke, although she had been repetitively asked to sit down and be quiet, she expressed her disapproval and outraged that her request of $35,000 for remodeling costs to accommodate her son’s handicapped needs such as wheelchair accessibility in her home was denied and only $7,000 was allowed to assist her.

As for myself, I live with my elderly grandmother and care for her for the past 10 years. And after several requests, we still do no have electricity nor water. I’m sure there are many others out there in the same situation and have been denied access to running water and electricity all because of tribal politics and ramifications deliberately staged by our own relatives. An interest public comment I heard was “What goes around comes around. All I can say is I hope she enjoys her house. For the rest of us, we should not envy questionable monetary disbursements in the midst of poverty.

I witnessed the people speaking out against this item having been pre-approved but were told to put your hand down and sit down and that it was already approved but were told to put your hand down and sit down and that it was already approved on Monday night at the Planning Meeting! A former tribal council delegate publicly labeled an attendee as a trouble-maker, specifically, “ei chindi at’e.” One of the community members in attendance asked for an apology to all those in attendance, but the former elected official only asked “did I really say that?” This is a another prime example of keeping the Navajo people entrenched in poverty and without voices to be heard by the people in power. Thank you for hearing me out.

Casey Benally
Bluff, Utah

Aneth Chapter Link

Council Delegate Begay responds to President Shirley

Council Delegate Kee Allen Begay Jr. (Many Farms/Round Rock)

This is an interesting response from council delegate Kee Allen Begay, a response to Joe Shirley’s announcement to start downsizing the Navajo council. Mr. Begay accuses President Shirley of running corrupt programs. It sheds a different perspective on the problems blamed on the Navajo council.

Prez proposals are retaliation against legislative branch
Navajo Times
May 1, 2008
Letter to the Editor

Mr. President Shirley, I would like to commend you and your branch for the initiative of your April 29 press release ("Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. launches government reform initiative, submits language to reduce council to 24 members, obtain line item veto").

I sure would like to help you put this law in place and even talk with our Navajo people of your effort, appropriately.

But, is this truly the "desire" by our Navajo people? Is it truly your "initiative" as Navajo Nation president? Will it actually "improve our Navajo Nation government efficiency and effectiveness"?

Will it truly relieve a burden on our "Navajo Nation tribal treasury"? Will it truly dismantle your stance of micro-management from the Navajo Nation Council?

Will it truly protect the Navajo Nation finance? Did you truly campaign on these issues during the last election? Lastly, without a doubt and with our Navajo belief, that this is truly "your" movement and not by your press officer?

Mr. President Shirley and Mr. Executive Press Officer, you are severely misleading our Navajo people of your justifications and it is very obvious that it's just another tactic of "retaliation" against the legislative branch.

As I always said about you and your staff that you put your oppression in full throttle of such moves when it comes to putting down the Navajo Nation Council. Just remember that we also have been elected by those people who have also elected you in.

Have you not evaluated your own staff (staff assistants) or your own executive political appointees (division directors) that they might be the reason that our Navajo Nation issues are not being addressed accordingly and that this is the reason why the legislative branch is "spending an excessive amount of time addressing administrative matters as opposed to enacting positive laws"?

Which of your corrupt programs or division do I need to point out to you that you are not effectively addressing or making correction of your own programs, but instead blaming the Navajo Nation Council of your unsettling issues?

I have always specified to you to indicate in writing of where the funding that the Navajo Nation Council has appropriated that was severely misspent? Are you implying that funding appropriations to our Navajo chapters, veterans, students, elders and such are just a wasteful spending?

Is this not the government of our Navajo people that we allocated their own funding and make their own democratic decision of how they spend it at the local chapters? What happens to the issue of local empowerment?

From the beginning of your second term or first term, have you ever provided to the Navajo Nation Council during your "state of the nation address," or any other time, your short-term plan or long-term plan for our Navajo Nation?

Have you ever put an apparition/action items in place since you took office of what we (Navajo Nation government) should tackle or what should be a priority for our Navajo Nation? Is there any management that is in place that your executive branch is following and addressing?

Why is the Navajo Nation Council always being trampled down about their stipends and compensation? Is it really a wasteful spending when we attend our own chapter meetings and take part in our local government affairs?

Is it really a wasteful spending when we attend our committee meetings as enacted by Title 2 and engaging in our Navajo Nation affairs? Is it really a wasteful spending of our 401K savings and benefits?

Have you ever put into consideration that the Navajo Nation Council uses their own vehicle when conducting their duties? Unlike your executive branch, which has a fleet of gas guzzling SUVs, and you or your staff doesn't pay a penny for the wear and tear of these vehicles or even pay for the gas. And not to mention insurance.
Now tell me who is taking advantage of the freeloading utilizing the Navajo people's money.

Now compare the Navajo Nation Council's supposedly wasteful spending with your executive branch salaries. What's the average salary of your top political appointees? I believe it's $80,000 or more (including your press officer getting paid much higher just to let out negative informa