Navajo Times (Newspaper) - February 1, 1990, Window Rock, Arizona Chairmans page Bl C XXX 5 WINDOW ARIZONA 865150310 250 February really owns Big Bo Is good question WINDOW ROCK The Navajo Tribe may not own the Big Richard one of the special prosecutors for the said his office has reviewed documents for the first shed some light publicly on the Question of ownership of the ranch and the possibility that at some date the Navajo Tribe may have to go to court to assert its The ranch was purchased in 1987 by the tribe from the Tracy Oil Company for At the same the oil company was purchasing the ranch from its original Tenneco West of Hughes said that from 1987 to the there were actually two different land transactions going on the tribes purchase of the ranch from Tracy and Tracys purchase of the ranch from Hughes said that the agree ment between Tracy and Ten oneco called for annual payments for 10 years while the tribe agreed to pay off Tracy in just three The never 1 made its final payment td After allegations were made public of a conspiracy between the owners of the oil company and Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald to defraud the tribe out of the tribe cancelled the last payment of about According to al though the tribe owed the to it would have been to Tenneco that the money would have gone Hughes said documents that his office has seen indicate that once Tracy made its first annual it took the next million from the tribe as its pro fits and then relayed any further payments to Tenneco This indicates that while the tribe may be holding back the see page A3 The ever present supporters of Peter MacDonald left try to block a news photographer and cameraman from taking photographs of MacDonald as he makes his way down the MacDonald appeared with his lawyers for his pretrial hearing at Window Rock District Court lawyer Val JolUy above left and his Randall Roberts talk with f hearing was times photos by Paul speaks with local press WINDOW ROCK Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter Mac saying he was ready at anytime to stand spoke to the press Wednesday after a pretrial hearing was held in the Window Rock District Despite the fact that he will be the major figure in three trials that will under the current schedule from May 1 through MacDonald said he would continue his efforts to cam for tribal Among the areas he talked about were his former friend and the middleman in the Big Bo deal purchase I havent talked to Bud Brown for more than a year and I have no idea where he I dont know if anyone If he were to call me up I wouldnt even talk to Attitude toward the criminal charges filed against him This is purely A waste of tribal Just how much are they meaning the special prosecutors charging the On the fact ne will be standing three trials instead of one This is just a way for the special prosecutors to make more money for the On why he feels there was a postponement of his 29 trial The special prosecutors are supposed to be doing independent research but they havent even talked tq the 80 witnesses they plan to All they have is the stuff from the Senate public On his agreement with his new the Farmington law firm of Roberts and Jolley There is jio We made an agreement that we will pay them as we raise They will us on an hourly Navajo Tribe backs New Mexico legislation SANTA FE The Navajo Nation is supporting legislation that would provide rehabilita tion and counseling for Native American inmates and add a Native American to the state parole Senate 5 and Senate Joint Memorial introduced by Senator John are meeting little opposition in the Ses sion of the New Mexico Senate 5 requests to provide spiritual and cultural counseling for Native American inmates in New Mexico tional The also proposes to provide educational ana vocational instructors for rehabilitation Senate Joint Memorial 3 is a request to Governor Carrey Carruthers to appoint a Native American to fill the next vacan cy or the New Mexico State Parole Len director of the Navajo Nations Corrections said the legislation is If the bills will open the door for the Navajo Nations direct input into the services be ing provided to Native Ameri cans for Mr Foster The bottom line is that we will have a say in how our peo ple will be treated and the con ditions they live he 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 time primarily due to the increase of Foster A Native American Counsel ing Act was passed in but no measures for compliance and enforcement of the act was ever proposed or put in Foster The Navajo Nation has therefore been providing services see page A3 Haskie delivers State of Navajo Nation Judge rules MacDonald to face three separate trials By DONOVAN Navajo Times Correspondent WINDOW ROCK A Navajo tribal judge Wednesday ruled that the tribes suspended Peter will face three trials in connection with the 107 criminal charges filed against him by tribal special The trials will begin on May 1 and continue through Window Rock District Court Judge Robert Yazzie also ruled that trials will be consolidated with those of the tribes vice Johnny who is also under paid and with who was put on paid administrative leave last Feb said after the pretrial hearing that he still feels the trials are a waste of tribal time and MacDonald and Thompson were charged with violations of a number of tribal election laws that prohibit acceptance of campaign contributions from MacDonald and his son Rocky were charged in with fraud and bribery in connection with the Big Ranch purchase in 1987 and dealings with various com panies doing business with the reservation between 1987 and Val argued during the hearing that it would save time and cost to have just one He pointed out that jury for will be difficult enough in one trial without having to do it three The same would be true of getting witnesses to appear in Mark one of the special said having three trials would be quicker than having one large He said that he thought it would be difficult enough to get persons to serve on the jury without having to contend with the fact that one trial would take two or three He said there was a possibility that once a verdict is in for the first whether it is guilty or a domino affect would occur which would affect the length of the other two Yazzie ruled on the three for a different He said that holding one trial would prove to be a burden to members of the jury and the number of issues and witnesses would be so vast that it would be difficult for them to keep everything in mind during a long Yazzie settled the question of who will represent MacDonald in the trials by ordering the law firm of Roberts see page A2 Grand Jury probe continues WINDOW ROCK The federal grand jury continues to in Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter according to two issues that were made public on during a pretrial hearing in Window Rock District was subpoenaed by the federal grand He is scheduled to appear in Phoenix on 15 to give samples of his In an unrelated Michael former attorney general for the tribe during last wrote a letter to members of the Navajo Tribal Council saying he has been sub to appear before the grand jury on Since he was representing the tribe at the time as an letter was a matter of advising the council that persuant to past he planned to waive the privilege ana answer any questions the grand jury may He asked the council that if they had any problems with to notify The apparently had no problems since no objections were issued on Wednesday by WINDOW ROCK Amendments to Title II to the Navajo Tribal approved last December by the Navajo Tribal will go into af fect on April 1 as Thats the word from Interim Chairman Leonard who added this to his State of the Navajo Nation speech before members of the Navajo Tribal Council on Tues The amendments have been a subject of debate since they were approved with a number of chapters passing resolutions ask ing that the implementation of be proposed that Id have a chance after a full hearing both As interim 1 fully support Haskie He pointed out that the changes approved by the council last December are temporary enacted to provide a check and balance The permanent reform of our government will only be done through the Government Reform he project has been looking at the ty for the past few months of drafting a tribal In his State of dw Navajo Na tion efforts are still the hangup Is lacking the js suance f of tons of grata farmers and as well as the Navajo Nation has proclaimed the reservation in a state of emergency because of recent drought the issuance of these needed grains has been held up by the Navajo Area Office for the Bureau of Indian The grain is available to areas that have lost grazing capacity because of drought The area office for the has written a letter to the USDA saying that the current grazing conditions on thi reservation were caused by overgrazing and not by the lack of Haskie said he met recently with Eddie the Assistant Secretary of the and told hint that the Navajo area office should not raise ditions of this say tribal given no indica tions it will back down on this issue so Haskie said further talks will on A full corn Huskys Slate of the Nation m gp fc
