Navajo Times (Newspaper) - December 28, 1989, Window Rock, Arizona Company 52 of iho WINDOW ARIZONA 865150310 December 191 1989 closed out 80s decade in stormy fashion Chairman MacDonald denied all wrongdoing and accepting kickbacks from reservation contractors as implicated by the Senate Subcommittees investigation into overall corruption ill In dian earlier this Times file photo by Paul Navajo Nation to lobby tor more voice In prisons WINDOW ROCK The Navajo Nation is planning a lobbying effort for the upcoming session of the New Mexico Legislature in support of pro to provide funding for the Native American Counseling Act and to add a Native American to the states Parole This is an ongoing process by the Navajo Nations Corrections Program to have input into to develop rapport with the and to establish a spirit of said Len director of the Navajo Corrections Its time to realize that these issues need to be The two bills would provide funding in the amount of to hire staff to work with Native American inmates at the four facilities in New Mexico through the addition to the Parole to allow Native American input into the criminal justice About 125 Navajos are cerated at the New Mexico State Penitentiary at Santa the Central New Mexico Corrections Facility at Los the Western Corrections Facility at and the Southern Cor rections Facility at Las The number of Navajo in mates is increasing all the primarily due to the increase in of Foster The Native American Study reveals commodities are not all that healthy Counseling Act was passed in but no measures for com and enforcement of the act were ever proposed or put in Foster The Navajo has been providing services al though the New Mexico Department of Corrections is obligated to provide Tne two bills have been en and accepted by the Legislatures Indian Affairs which is cochaired by Senator John Pinto and Rep Leo Pinto and Wat chman plan to introduce the bills on the first day of the 1990 New mexico Legislative session which begins in Political turmoil in tribal government was basis for controversy during year NAVAJO NATION Never has there been a year like 1989 in the history of the Navajo To reflect this all 10 top stones of the year are directly or indirectly Its been a year of soul searching for most Navajo voters who have questioned the role the tribal government plays in their lives and the overall structure of the tribal government The events of this year are bound to play a major role in events that will be throughout most of the next Suspension of Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter This is the top story the Navajo Tribal Coun in a move that surprised gathered enough votes to force MacDonald to take leave with pay and relinquish control of the tribal While it took almost 11 weeks for this to the majority members of the council never wavered and the tribal courts ruled that the chairmans powers were given by the and therefore can be taken a principle that will have a great deal of influence on the operations of the tribal government until av constitution is The July 20th After several weeks of demonstrations by supporters of a group of about 300 some armed with clubs and demonstrated out in front of the tribes administration The ensuing confrontation between demonstrators and tribal police left two demonstrators dead of gunshot another one a tribal police officer wounded and several other demonstrators and police officers in The immediate result of the demonstration was a series of press conferences where MacDonald placed the blame on tribal police and the tribal Interim Chairman Leonard said the blame has to rest on the shoulders of who had been making inflammatory remarks during the previous few days at tribal The longer effect was a period and the effective end of any organized demonstrations against the interim government by MacDonald By August the interim government for the first spend most of its energies on running the tribal government and not reacting to actions taken by the Mac Donald The hearings by the Senate Special Committee on These held in set off the move to place MacDonald on suspension and appoint an interim Supposedly set up to investigate mismanagement by the Bureau several of the hearings were taken over by testimony about the tribal allegations that the Navajos were taken in when the council agreed to buy the Big Ranch in 1987 for participants in that including Bud a longtime friend of and Rocky his about a plot that if carried out would have netted Mac Donald more than despite the evidence given at the has denied any wrongdoing but has refused to talk about the allegations with the Takeover of the chairmans weeks after his sion by the MacDonald and his appointees finally agreed to leave their and allow the interim government to take But supporters of led by Shiprock council dele gate Donald refused to give up the deluxe chairmans of saying that the offices belong to the Navajo Tribal police twice had to remove MacDonald supporters from the offices with allegations made by MacDonald supporters that police were less than gentle the second For weeks after the chairmans office was closely guarded by police and security as were a number of other tribal The controversy over the tribal police Mac after his did not lose control over the tribal government all at Instead it was in with the loss first of the financial offices and then legislative affairs and then some of the The last holdout was the tribal whose com see page 2 WASHINGTON Maybe the federal government should put a warning on their USDA commodities distributed on the Navajo and other This food may contribute to heart diabetes and This is the finding of a study recently made public that looked at distribution of federal food commodities on four Indian Reservations the Navajo in the White Earth in Fort Berthold in North Dakota and Pine Ridge in South The situation here on Navajo is not as bad as in the according to the where some participants in the program may be going Although federal food pro grams have contributed to the diet of Indian households we there are indications that some hunger still exists at Fort Ber NTS to transport students to Haskell DEFIANCE The Navajo Transit System NTS will be transporting students to Haskell Indian College for the spring r The NTS has been informed that dorms will be open for w all freshman and returning students on stu dents planning to ride the NTS need to call antT make reserva tion by 3 MOST January for all students is January 1990 and classes on January cpst per student is oneway and seat reservation is on a first serve Payment is on a cash basis and can be made at the NTS in AZ or money order mauin is No personal checks Only actual money order will be No copies or receipts of money Send money order payment to Navajo Transit P O fAij least thir of the students and i freight NTS bus will depart from at all NTS telephone numbers are 602 7295457 or 5458 for seat res Pine the report Another finding of the which pertains to all reserva is that the food distributed to Indian households is often high in fat and both of which are bad for health USDA officials said they have made a concerted effort to improve the nutritional content of the food packages to meet the special dietary needs of An improved food coupled with a basic understan ding of menu planning and food preparation would enable food package to achieve a diet that has balance and promotes good one USDA officials The study stated that 38 per cent of Navajo households as compared to 57 percent of White 90 percent of Fort Ber thold and 46 of Pine Ridge received food packages oh a regular One reason the Navajo number is so low is that some Navajos receive food stamps instead of food Although 15 percent of the families at Fort Berthold said they ran out of food before the end of the month and 41 percent of the families at the Pine Ridge said the same at the Navajo and White for the most had their food last only accor HAPPY HOLIDAYS eat it or didnt know how to prepare greetings to all the Pictured Central Navajo are are Sharon Mt V
