Navajo Times (Newspaper) - April 21, 1982, Window Rock, Arizona A merica Indian Weekly TIMES Volume 24 NUMBER 17 Window Arizono APRIL 1982 Copyright The Navajo Times Publishing Dedication Of New Facility Set Festivities mark tribal building opening WINDOW Navajo Nation will host a day of festivities and ceremony to com the dedication of the new tribal ad ministration building April The sandstone block buildings which presently house the headquarters of the Navajo government were built in the by the Bureau of Indian Af Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter Mac Donald said the new building represents a new milestone in the Navajos long walk for self determination and Today the buildings are rundown and over crowded while the services extended to the Navajo people have But the structural growth of the governmental headquarters has not kept pace and tribal offices have been housed in small Dedication ceremonies for the million facility are scheduled to begin at 8 with a blessing of the building by Medicineman TIMES P Frank and going out to Arter He will be in their office during noon hour at the new tribal by Dolly Miss Entertainment is scheduled until when opening remarks will be given by Master of Ceremonies Carl Reverend Paul Redhouse will deliver the invocation and mem bers of the Navajo veterans commission will perform the presentation of Vice Chairman Frank Paul will deliver the w come address and guest speaker will be James former Senator of South MacDonald will present the dedication address at After the ribbon cutting a free Navajo meal will be served to all in followed by entertainment and an open The public will to tour the facility which will house the Divisions of Com munity Social and Health Improvement Ser Also included in the dedication ceremonies will be presentation of the newly created highest given by the Navajo nT the Continued op page 3 Navajo miner protests loss of job By General Editor the only Navajo assistant superin tendant at the Kayenta coal fired by the company last week for what he believes to be discriminatory believes that his association with the Kayenta Communication which is made up of local com munity and union led to his According to no reason was given for his dismissal except for a verbal statement which said he was not per forming his duties and his outside actions were not in line with company says he is unaware of such a com pany policy and that his last job performance rating was above In he would have been with the company for four has taken the case to the Arizona Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with representation by a DNA According to only one other Navajo has a position similar to That Navajo works at the Peabody Coal Mine which is situated next to the Kayenta Mine and which is being investigated by the Commission on Civil Rights for discrimination against Navajo em Mine officials would not comment on Navajo silversmiths struggle with high cost of turquoise By BUI Donovan TRW Navajo who have been giving a big sigh of relief at the declining prices of now have a new worry the skyrocketing prices ar ts and crafts dealers are paying for high grade owner of the Nufje Gallery in m thai several good Navajo silversmiths have had to give up the business because they have been unable to get the good quality turquoise they need to produce their The problem of fin ding turquoise is worse now than it ever said out of a hand ful of dealers who in tote pur chajes In Jones said he purchased a 10 pound sack of high quality spiderweb paying about a Just last 1 had a chance to purchase two pounds of the same quality and I paid a pound for The problem many Navajo silversmiths having is first getting the funds necessary to buy the turquoise at these ever increasing rates and even if they have the fun finding someone who will sell it to Most of the highgrade turquoise is sold by the pound to dealers like Jones who usually have their own stable of silver They do not Tribe blasts county division According to the communications com was set up because of the lack of com between the Anglo management and Indian workers at the A year he mine officials attempted to fire a Navajo super The Jimmy protested the ac tion and received the sup port of the 19 foremen working at the Meetings and the group of miners adopted an open door policy where anyone could air ces or thoughts on the In the Curtis Anglo supervisors at tended a stormy confronting the Navajo and the result was that Curtis was Last the group of miners named themselves the com Two months after adop ting the name and By Duane Beyal General Editor passed last week by the Arizona Senate to divide Northern Arizona coun ties along the Navajo Reservation boundary is doomed to die in court and has no stated Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter The House 2191 already been passed by the Arizona House and received a majority Republican vote in the Senate with a vote of The now goes to the which is ex to concur with Senate and then to Arizona Governor Bruce The Navajo Tribe is planning to press for a veto but if it is signed into law Mac Donald said the tribe will challenge it in Reports indicate that the passed the Senate after an hour heated floor Despite charges that the is racist and supporters cling to the argument thai the is a matter of In the last icn stated MacDonald in a written statement released April a small number of dissident taxpayers in Apache County have caused the legislature to consider en dorsing what is clearly an unconscionable legislative Cost of relocation tripled since 74 By Al Senia Reprinted by permission of the Washington Post con federal program to relocate about Navajo Indians from reservation land claimed by two tribes has more than tripled in cost since its inception in and the Navajos are renewing their pleas that the effort be The first federally ap pointed director of the Program quit last and joined for ces with the Navajos against His who sup ports the relocation as the most reasonable of the alternatives nevertheless calls real negative is probably racist as At issue in the highly emotional dispute is title to million acres of land in Arizona and New Mexico thai the Hopi and the Navajo tribes have been feuding over since In 1974 the Federal government decided to split the land between two relocation thousan ds of their own reservation the largest in the United a handful of Hopis to their piece of the Congress and in 1980 President Carter signed a relocation Continued on page 20 No basis for new county Analysts with the Arizona Tax Research Association say creating a new county seat will be more troublesome than lawmakers The problems of county court and properly records as well as existing bond debts will have to be resolved before setting up new county of Navajo leaders have charged that the new made up of reser vation land would not be able to be have made ii clear thai the Navajo Tribal Council cannot function as a county government if the slate legislature at tempts to divide the coun ty on an said The Navajo Tribe has no way of dealing with bonds thai have been issued to finance county he since such matters are in hands of bond holders who have been promised payment by the issuing unit of government not the Navajo he said county government is a pan of stale not tribal and the tribe is unable to place itself under the authority of he Representative Donna Carlson West of said the Navajo govern ment would become the county government for The boundaries of the new 10 be called Dine Con would not become effective until January A proposed NavajoApache County Continued on page 3 an eighth grader at Fort Wingate Elementary School assists Mary Redhair with a game of Craig along with several elementary school students visit and play talk and socialize with the of McKinley Manor twice a month on voluntary Jits 90 years oB and is a resident at the See
