Navajo Times (Newspaper) - July 21, 1982, Window Rock, Arizona VOLUME 24 Americas Largest Indian Weekly O TIMES Copyright The Times Publishing t o BOX WINDOW ARIZONA 86515 Election Board questions nine chapter nominations looking building is the new home of the BIAs Western Navajo Agency headquarters in Tuba The million two floor facility houses the administration and 15 other The new facility opened its doors on April Lendke Con struction of constructed the facility within WINDOW embers of the Navajo Election Board will meet today Wednesday to decide on questions raised by the nomination of council delegates at nine reservation The nine whose nomination process are under question are Tuba Oak Many Whitehorse Crownpoint and Rock Most of the problems deal with said Harry director of the There should be no problems in getting these questions resolved during Wed Wero said the council nominees from each of these chapters will be announced after the A list of the unofficial results of the other chapters follows this Candidates will be certified for about a week so a few of these names may Two chapters are not included in the Wero said Nez has to still submit a list of its Red Mesa candidates are also not There was nothing wrong with their procedure but we have to conduct a routine said Wero indicated that most of the problems stem from the chapters in question not following the like Tuba for which nominated seven can when they are only eligible for A total of 13 women were ac cording to the list of those chapters whose nominations have been unofficially approved but not Most members of the council have been re A total of 53 incumbents appear on the unofficial list ot can Some notable council nominations include Donald Benally running again for the Shiprock council Benally was in 1978 over a disagreement about his There is no dispute this time about his He is running against Duane Chili who he defeated for chapter Michael Benson for Two Grey Hills council former campaign coordinator for Peterson filed suit Atkinson proposes to limit relocation benefits eligibility WINDOW relocation com missioner H a w 1 e y Atkinson has proposed a change in the com missions regulations which he says would save SI00 million by denying relocation benefits to thousands of Navajos claiming residence in lands to the Honj Atkinson said last week that the drastic change in the economy over BIA rent hike opposed WINDOW ROCKN Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald has sent a letter to officials of the Interior Department and members of Congress opposing the recent rent hikes for Bureau of Indian Affairs in a letter to Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs Ken said he felt the decision by the BIA to raise employee rents by as much as 100 percent was an Pointing out that unemployment on the reservation is now ap proaching 85 MacDonald said the increased rents are further deteriorating the situation to a point of total human misery and The BIA increased the rents last some quite Those with the largest increases were those that have been renting the with BIA officials saying that they are trying to make up for the years when rents were not increased and bring BIA rental housing up to the rates charged in the private As if this is not Continued to page 5 the past several years necessitates the His proposal would strip eligibility for relocation benefits from Navajos who claim residence on the Hopi partition area although they do not live there full The commissions current regulations grant benefits eligibility to persons from the land partitioned to the Hopi if they live elsewhere but maintain substantial continuing contacts with family remaining In large part the regulations are a recognition that many Navajos were forced to leave the land by a 1972 court order prohibiting new construction Atkinson said he in tends to submit his proposal to the Navajo and Hopi negotiating Calling it an alternative to two previous land exchange proposals developed by the com he identified it as Proposal Number This should effect a savings of approximately Atkinson In a telephone interview from his Phoenix Atkinson said he thought his proposal would stimulate serious inter land exchange negotiations and thereby accelerate the relocation program Atkinson has repeatedly accused the Navajo Tribe of stalling on He said his proposal should help convince the tribe of the need for cooperating with the program in order to assure the best possible deal for the Navajos who must The economic con ditions have drastically and we need to get on with all this and not Goldwater and DeConcini call for land exchange Economic plan will create jobs WINDOW ROCKN Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald an plans last week to submit to members of the tribal council this week a proposed million tribal economic recovery MacDonald said the proposal will create more than jobs over the next few months and wiU affect some Navajo households or 40 percent of the Navajo families living on the The plan will affect practically every time of workers on the reser from the traditional livestock raiser to the more modern The proposal will be presented to members of the tribal council shortly after they begin meeting for their summer This session was scheduled to have begun this past Under the a wide range of programs will be established to help the Navajo livestock from improving the breeding stock to establishing a system whereby the livestock owner would be assured of getting a fair market value for his MacDonald is also proposing setting up a auction and feed purchase all of which he hopes will bring down the cost of Continued to page 5 a letter to the chairman of the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation senators Barry Goldwater and Dennis DeConcini have called for a land exchange that would substantially reduce the number of people to be relocated from the former Joint Use The senators said in the letter to commission chairman Hawley Atkinson that last weeks land dispute hearings had made it clear that relocation is a concern not only to the living on partitioned lands but also to the communities which would receive Stating that a negotiated land exchange would lessen the impact on all involved DeConcini and Goldwater urged the commission to continue with land ex change negotiations begun earlier this year and cut off last month in Any lessening of the impact on the local communities and the will require that any settlement sub number of reduce the people to be the senators We are aware that such a land exchange agreement can be ac Continued o page 18 delay it in any way for fear that Congress may just take the bull by the horns and go for sharp reductions in relocation he Navajo disbelief Navajo officials reacted to the proposal with apparent Leon director of the tribes land dispute task said the proposal has nothing to do with Continued lo page 5 against Zah last week in the Window Rock District Court for damages caused by Zahs alleged decision to demote him to the number two position on the A couple of former tribal council delegates are trying to make a Continued to page 13 Congress approves land trade several years of negotiation and it appears that the Eastern Navajo Land Exchange will soon be ac Members of the House of in a voice approved the land exchange between the tribe and the Bureau of Land The exchange will consist of the tribe turning over to the BLM acres of land it purchased several years ago south of Grants for some acres of land owned by the BLM but inhabited by some 900 Navajos for the past several BLM officials had told the families that they would have to move off the land unless the ex change was approved by For the past several BLM officials had prevented the Navajo families from receiving any new water or sewer services because of question over The Senate has already passed a similar so it now goes to President Reagan to Congressional officials do not think the will have any problem with getting Reagans Among those who were Continued lo page 5 Percy Deal director of the Navajo Tribes Land Dispute Leon Berger director of the Task and George Navajo Tribal general discuss the latest development in the land dispute at a press conference in Phoenix last Women need to be says Tso by Rose Smallcanyon Navajo Times Correspondent Over 50 percent of registered Navajo voters are women and their vote can be a powerful in fluence on the upcoming primary and general This vote can also influence the for mation of tribal Women who vote solidly and thoughtfully can elect a candidate who can best act on issues that effect Navajo These are issues such as child teenage child child abuse and the low position of women hi tribal govern The fourth Navajo tribal chairman candidate approached by Times and questioned on his views on the needs and concerns of Navajo women is Raymond Originally from Nos Join hands to develop Navajo Nation economy and society is the
