Navajo Times (Newspaper) - January 3, 1975, Window Rock, Arizona Land Dispute Top WINDOW ROCK Unquestionably the biggest news of 1974 was the passage and signing into law of a to settle the Navajo land The year was marked by sharp debate and frequent controversy as Navajos attem pted to hold on to their homes in the joint use area and as Hopta sought to have remo ved from onehalf of the million are joint use Perhaps the single most controversial event in the past years land dispute events was the publishing of a full page article in the July 21 edition of the Washington as the Senate Interior Committee prepared to conduct hearings on the Written by free lance Journalist Mark the article developed a drama tic and forceful body of eviden ce implying that the Tribal Government has been manipulated by outside indus trial The implication was that power through the machinery of the Tribal were attempting to have Navajos removed from the area so that they could have access to the rich coal ces i 1 See A6 War Paint Shown As Old Anyone who believe that American Indian painted I their faces and bodies to i frighten settlers or the Calvary ought to try to visit the Denver Art That old chestnut is shat tered by a major exhibition of personal decorative art of the Native See story on page 5 Santo Domingo Blocks The Santo Domingo Pueblo Community in north Central New Mexico has barricaded a stretch of paved road crossi ng their sacred pueblo lands because it inference with our religious Our Tribal Council has acted to protect our Indian way of according to official statement made by Santo Domingo Governor Felix For complete story see page 2 Oglala Council Asks for Trimbles An Oglala Sioux Tribal Council by a ten to eight voice calls for immediate removal of Pine Superintends nt Albert for refusal to sign and deliver lease payments to It the hell out ol said I didnt know Wilson could put together ten See story on page 1 Section i s T a v aj INAUGURATION SET TUESDAY Court Of Appeals Reject Nakai Suit WINDOW Tribal Chairman Raymond Nakai Tuesday was unsuccessful in his attempt to get the Navajo Court of Appeals to order a new hearing before the Board of Election Nakai had filed suit before the court two days after the board voted to dismiss charges of illegal procedures in the November tribal The board indicated that while attorney was able to prove some irregularities in the he was not able to prove that these irregularities resulted in defeat to Peter MacDo by more than The suit also asked the court to order the board not to certify MacDonald as the winner in the race until the appeal had been Tribal officials that MacDonald was certified the winner a few hours before the suit had been filed by the The appeal to the tribal courts was according to the on the premise that the decision by the board was not supported by the evidence presented at the The Court of Appeals met all day Tuesday in a dosed session to read copies of the transcripts of the boards Hearing and briefs submitted by attorneys for Nakai and attorneys had asked that Chief Justice Virgil Kirk himself from hearing the supposedly because he had donated money to election cam decided nat to disqualify himself and was one of the three judges who heard the The court ruled 30 at the end of the day to uphold the decision of the This exhausts all tribal remedies for His next if he decides to take is to refile his suit before the federal Nakai and his attorney had filed before the federal court but that suit had been dismissed because he had failed to try tribal remedies Ford Signs Indian Claims Tourney See IV By Curtin Legislative Prior to 1940 Indian had no established legal metho d to seek judicial relief for land cession In order to bring their cases before the tribes were often forced to seek a separate Act of Co which conferred authority on a parti cular court of The creation of the Indian Claims in repreSente d the first time Indian tribes could pursue their claims without first seeking a special Aci by was created to hear tind settle till that from situations in which lands were ceded without compensa tion or where compensation was Public Law the Co Act which created the Indian Claims Commission stipulated that the life of the Commission was not to exceed ten The overwhelming number irf legitimate claims and the lengthy process required to adjudicate them fairly forced Congress to exten d authorization for the four times for a period of years each Jhe extends through All claims hiill pending at A 5 WINDOW second inauguration of Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald will begin at 10 Tuesday in the rodeo arena at the Navajo Tribal Fairgrounds As the paper goes to tribe is constructing i special platform with an 120 foot backdrop for the Special are also being moved in the take care of the expected guests and The Chairman and Vice Chairmans office has issued a special invitation to all elected tribali both on the Chapter and council leveK to attend The office has also issued ns to the governors of New Utah and asking them to atten The ceremonies are sche to begin at 10 with an hour and a half of entertain ment by the Marine Band from El the Navajo Tribal Band and various dance groups from throughout the The actual swearingin ceremonies are expected to begin a little after prece ded by an invocation and flag raising at which time the Navajo will act as an honor MacDonald and Wilson Skeet will be given the oath of office by Chief Justice Virgil If the goes as plan MacDonald should begin delivering his inaugural addre ss about His address is expected to take between half an hour to 45 The tribe is furnishing a free all those that attend the The which will be held in both Gorman Hall and the Civic to begin at Tribal officials said See A2 Navajo Announces Statehouse Correspondent WINDOW ROCK The Navajo Times now has a special correspondent to the Arizona Statehouse and State Legislature according to Chet Editor We are pleased to announce thaf henceforth the activities of the Arizona government as it may affect the interests of the Navajo be reported through this These reports will carry particular emphasis on the activities of those Navajos elected to the Arizona State He said the Navajo Times Arizona dent is Bob Macon who has an extensive news background and has been press officer for Arizona Governor Jack a part of our ve to bring our up io date news and lion much oJ which be obtained from any other Macon earned his way through the University of Arizona as Tucson dent for the Associated Press and lies been a newsman ever since in this state and Califor He has been sports political city editor and managing In addition to the he has worked with the Tucson Daily Phoenix Gazette and the old Los Angeles During the past four as press officer lor Governor Jack Macon lias made an intensive study of state govern menl and the legislative He lias written monographs on these With this Macon has been named political correspondent for the Times at the in Phoenix Kach week lus report on people and will be published as a service to
