Navajo Times (Newspaper) - December 14, 1983, Window Rock, Arizona Navajo Chairman Zah meets with new Interior Secretary page 4 XXV 51 Window Navajo Nation December 1983 35 cents Christmas delivered to Writing letters to Santa Clans may make Christmas wishes come true but for about 469 children at the School Christmas Wishes were delivered to Several years ago president of Douglas from Long decided that as part of his YM CAs Indian guides club that there should be more interaction with American wanted his kids to know what an Indian Barbara Swan He believed that people can feel good about each other if they knew each To getting to know each other meant an ex change of gifts and Its a You get the name of a particular shop for the and wrap it Swan happily You give without the thought of getting a gift in But the gift you end up getting is the letter of The exchanges of letters and gif ts was called Project and after the death of it became The Memorial Project Eugene principal of Boarding was responsible for bringing Project Love to the While working at the Shonto Boarding School as a teacher Charley became familiar with the The annual Christmas project delivers gifts to about Navajo and Hopi After the California group left they planned to stop at Boarding School to attend a Christmas program and distribute gifts to students from and the Steamboat It took the group of 13 people about 22 hours to travel to and once they arrived there wasnt much time to relax because the staff and students with help from the community had prepared a appreciation Its an appreciation to them for spending all their money for the Lillian girls dorm com This is the fifth We really do appreciate what they do for I he The visitors were given a tour of the classrooms and then a deniou property owners pay highest tax rate in Arizona Navajo Times photo by Hes all A first grader at Boarding hugs her giant teddy a Christmas gift from Douglas Aircrafts Project Freedom of information request made for Hopi council records MICH property owners in this small community have the distinction of having to pay one of the not the tax rates in the The tax burden is so had that several of the property owners arc seriously considering selling their property and homes and moving What was once considered a prime section of land for has become a land of the The fuss centers around property taxes and whether or not it is unfair for one segment of the population to assume all of the burden of the enor mous There is a good possibility that somewhere down the possibly in year or the number of property owners here can be counted on one At the present time there are about 25 property owners and possibly the same number of In dian property As a result of a 1980 Arizona State Supreme Court case known locally as the Stanley Battise case Indian property owners in the community do not pay any state or school district The are paying rates this year of about per of assessed This is four times higher than the next highest property tax rate 10 PROPERTY TAX REVENUES OF THOUSANDS 77 79 79 in the county and more than right times higher than the People like who owns a small store in have seen taxes rise from about last to more than this His the arc looking at tax payments this year of more than They arc not No one seems to have a tax of less than this year and there is at least one tax of more than The are blaming the state court decision which allows Navajo property owners to get off with paying no property This means that everyone else has to pay in their Its mt one resident said last pointing out that as a non Indian property owner he not only has to pay but he gets nothing in since he has no children in school and the county and state government provide him with no In he he has to pay for his health care and for his water and sewer lines while Indian property owners get their benefits free from the federal govern 80 80 81 81 83 BCI 84 UNDC asks Navajo Justice Department to intervene in discrimination lawsuit See 3 By Beyal Times Staff WINDOW the request of some traditional Hopi the Indian Law Resource Center has filed a Freedom of In formation Act request for records and documents of Hopi Tribal Council actions dating back to July The addressed to Ken assistant secretary for In dian Affairs in the interior depart is for all resolutions and or of the all minutes of council reports on election results for all council members and and other Steve an attorney with the resource nonprofit office operating out of his offices role as doing research on behalf of traditional leaders who are concerned with the Hopi Tribal It appears that information is hard to come by about the coun A num ber of people have expressed dif in getting information over the The center is compiling materials and sending them to the traditional Hopi People are getting excited about some of the he Under the Hopi he all information regar ding the Hopi council is supposed to be freely available to the To the extent of this information being as people have told these denials are in violation of the he There appears to be a big gap between the council and what people are aware he One possible reason is that the people may not have been asking for this type of he Ivan chairman of the Hopi said Monday that he has no objection to the Fiscal Year 1982 was the first year See WINDOW Utah Navajo Development Council has requested the Navajo Tribes Justice Department to intervene in a discrimination lawsuit against San Juan County in southern The Justice Department has filed suit against the county for discriminating against Indians because elections for coun ty countys governing held and not by Indians account for 46 percent of the countys population but no Indian has ever held a seat on the county although some have The Justice Department says that the elections should be held by district where voters from specific geographic districts vote for individual com mission The Navajo Justice Department could not be reached for comment San Juan County Com missioners met the first week of December to discuss possible solutions to the lawsuit and is reportedly seeking a way to reach an agreement without expensive Commissioners reportedly requested that the county attorney research Utah law to determine the most effective way to set up district According to Cal chair man of the voting in county elections is a requirement of Utah state Also part of the charges against the county are that election in formation is not distributed in a way that allows Indian voters to be able to participate in county elec Tully director of the said that county com missioners have provided some radio announcements in the Navajo language but that the station Navajos listen from Farmington and few Navajos listen to the Utah The UNDC resolution states that Navajos have never been on the commission and therefore have not had their wishes and desires ef heard at commission the resolution states that the county has not done all it cart to allow Navajo residents to exer cise their right to participate in county The county has not provided and extended its services to the Navajo population on an equal basis as with the rest of the county the resolution Any discrimination against In Lameman is mainly based on tax Anglo people have worked well with the he and road im are the strongest coun ty program on the reservation por tion of the affairs looks for ome beet forum rt co served as c AkChin Indians and Congress Kingman may lose reach water agreement water to AkChin Indians Index Special lo limes The Indian Community decided that water is more valuable on a farm than it is DM In 1978 when other tribes were claiming ownership backed up by threats of law suits for com munity negotiated u water settlement with the Thai settlement provided for water delivery by which will stum Hie community and the Department of have on an agreement in principal guui unices water between 1984 and Without the federal would have been ihc lo By Cina Begay Special lo Times officials have tentatively proposed giving Colorado River water allotments designated for Kingman and to the Ak Chin Indian Community in southern This would settle a contract dispute between the com munity and the Department of Interior Sec related story this Both cities arc opposed to the cily council is expected to draft a resolution opposing the proposed water transfer and common coun cil met in executive session Monday to discuss what Yuma Maureen termed u very critical Telephone costs are unknown By MuH A multiple choice question 1 ocal telephone I w ill sooi a double b C i i i o i c than 1 1 i 1 c Itic i ales ill do i Coiled a Jo wo because ically knows lilt LOI ol ol owning a telephone mil be allei Jan A negotiated ihc bleak up ol telephone company in itic world lean i f Company ihc bieak up helped pay ihc Cost ol local telephone pal ly hi i uial 01 high cos I alcaS Telephone now must actual cosis in higher idles tor sub sei s Communications had proposed a pel access tec foi telephone toi calls 1 his charge would monthly on you pel month toi business the Navajo Com Company and telephone companies have asked ihc i foi an ac cess tec of J2 pci The ACC conduct healings on the Ihc companies have asked lhal they begin in NCC is expected to a i ate hike on Dec Com pany to speculate on the increase but ihc new lee could be double 01 tuple the cost of phone sci It 10 me lhal we cannot to leave without a telephone line lo the out side those who ale poot ui ill 01 Disiuci Judge Greene ihc Journal Judge Greene is overseeing ihc bicak up of He suggested some of sub to continue service for all sub particularly those ia rural and those who cant at toi d Capital Talk Navajo Tribal Prosecutor Larry Kee Yazzie attempted last week to file a suit to get the new juvenile court referee declared See page Sports The Window Rock Scouts and the Ganado Hornets continue to roll in boys prep See page Onethird of the Papago Reservation is being out to a com pany for development of a comm
