Council seats 88th delegate
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Council swore in its 88th delegate
when Frank Chee Willeto took his oath of office Monday morning at
the start of the council's winter session.
Council Speaker Edward T. Begay appointed Willeto, a former vice president
of the Navajo Nation, on Jan. 18.
While Willeto has been appointed only as an interim delegate for the
Pueblo Pintado and Torreon-Star Lake chapters, both chapters adopted
resolutions of support earlier this month.
Willeto was vice president for President Milton Bluehouse in 1998
and 1999.
The appointment will last until the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors
sets a date for voters in the two Eastern Agency chapters to elect
a permanent replacement to complete the three years left in the term
of the late Harry Jackson.
Jackson, who died Dec. 29, was in his second term.
Willeto is one of the approximately 200 surviving members of the Navajo
Code Talkers, having served in the U.S. Marine Corps' Second Division
from 1944 to 1946. He then spent four years with the Bureau of Indian
Affairs Eastern Agency Road Department. In 1950, he began a 24-year
career with the BIA's Pueblo Pintado Boarding School.
From 1974 to 1986, he was on the Navajo Tribal Council, representing
the Pueblo Pintado and White Horse chapters. In 1986, he began a decade
as the Pueblo Pintado Chapter president.
Since 1996, Willeto also has served on the National Indian Council
on Aging, the Navajo Nation Council on Aging and the Crownpoint Health
Board.
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Tax brings $2 million in 2 months
Begaye says tribal finances are strong
Nancy Watson
Staff Writer
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation has earned more money than it
expected from the fuel excise tax it instituted in October.
The tribe had projected that income from the tax would amount to between
$8 million and $10 million a year, but the tax has already generated
$2.1 million in just the first two months, said Navajo Nation President
Kelsey Begaye.
The tax will be used for infrastructure developments, Begaye said
in his "State of the Nation" report Monday to members of
the Navajo Nation Council.
One of the vendors has challenged the tax, but once
that challenge has been settled, the tribal controller will make recommendations
about the money.
Begaye also reported to the council that the future financial status
of the nation is strong. Total assets amount to more than $1.76 billion.
On bond legislation, Begaye said the Capital Infrastructure Development
Team is reviewing projects to identify those that will create a return
on investment.
Some economic projects create revenue from taxes, lease and rental
payments. This revenue can pay back many of the bonds, he said.
"If designed well, we can finance many projects using a combination
of tax-exempt and taxable bonds," Begaye said.
A bill is currently being approved and will be proposed as an amendment
to the Appropriations Act by the Budget and Finance Committee.
The Executive Branch Bond Group is evaluating the legality and the
marketability of projects that have been approved by the Divisions
of Community and Economic Development.
Several of the projects will be eligible for tax-exempt status, and
others will be categorized as revenue bonds that are taxable.
Begaye was also hopeful of a major breakthrough in the tribe's ability
to take over health care.
Two items included in the proposed Reauthorization of the Indian Health
Care Improvement Act would create a demonstration project in Tuba
City and the establishment of the Navajo Nation Medicaid Agency.
The project in Tuba City will study the feasibility of the Indian
Health Service Unit becoming a managed care organization under the
Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System.
If the project is possible, consideration will then be given to the
Navajo Area Indian Health Service becoming a Managed Care Organization
under the Medicaid program.
Also included in the bill is the establishment of the Navajo Nation
Medicaid Agency, or the Tri-State Medicaid agency, to put Medicaid
services under one Medicaid program instead of three medical agencies.
Begaye stated the Nation needs better hospitals and
clinics with improved equipment. As an example, he spoke about hantavirus.
"It is vitally important," he said, "that
life saving equipment and medication to fight off this dreadful virus
be readily available to all our hospitals and clinics on the Navajo
Nation."
Currently, patients report to their local hospitals
for examinations. The diagnosis is not immediate, When they are finally
diagnosed, they are transported to Albuquerque.
"Time is of the essence," Begaye said.
Begaye also reported that two tribal employees, one in the legislative
branch and one in the executive branch were laid off when the tribe
began the new fiscal year back in October. This was contrary to an
earlier report that no employees would lose their jobs.
Positions will be found for the two employees within the government,
he said.
Begaye also said that prayers for blessings will be
offered in the Executive Branch.
He said he has been encouraged to continue the prayers when he was
speaker of the council.. A traditional medicine man offers the prayers
during the winter session; a prayer service performed by the Native
American Church is offered during the spring sessions, and prayers
are offered by Christian churches during the summer sessions.
"We offer to continue these prayers in the Executive Branch and
give an open invitation to the Navajo Nation Council and the Legislative
Branch as well as the Judicial Branch to participate with us,"
Begaye said.
"It has been taught to us by our forefathers, that when we offer
prayers in our meetings and discussions, we will be blessed with wisdom,
compassion, and strength," he said.
"As leaders, we cannot deny these blessings for
our people."
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State-funded tribal projects still not
done
Editor's Note: This is the first of two stories concerning the Navajo
Nation and New Mexico capital outlay funding.
Walter Howerton Jr.
Santa Fe Bureau
SANTA FE — Millions of dollars worth of state-funded projects
in the Navajo Nation some funded more than a decade ago
out of legislative capital outlay money never have been completed.
Some, like the senior center at Two Grey Hills, have been built, only
to sit empty and unused for several years before work was completed.
Many others have never begun.
More than $20 million in projects remains undone, according to a state
report monitoring capital project spending for the Department of Finance
Administration.
Senior citizen centers and buses, health care facilities, Head Start
equipment and facilities, road undertakings, water and sewer proposals,
all kinds of repair and construction projects are on the backlogged
list.
The Navajo Nation is not alone in not spending its money
many more millions remain unspent around the state but now all state-funded
Navajo projects have been brought to a halt by the tribe's Intergovernmental
Relations Committee.
And the projects are likely to stay that way as the tribe fights the
state over who should pay the administrative costs associated with
the various projects.
Lorenzo Bedonie of the Hard Rock Chapter is chairman of the Navajo
Nation Budget and Finance Committee. "We're just kind of holding
off approving grants from the state of New Mexico until we can identify
funds to be used for indirect costs for these outside fundings,"
he said.
The tribe wants to impose a 15.2 percent fee on every state appropriation
to cover the cost of doing administrative paperwork. Based on the
$20 million figure, that would be more than $3 million.
The state says no can do. Paying for such administrative
costs is not allowed under regulations governing how the money is
spent.
The way state capital outlay funding is structured,
the money must go to brick-and-mortar, nuts-and-bolts expenditures.
The administrative costs associated with various projects are shouldered
by counties, municipalities or tribes.
"No one else in the state is allowed to pay for administrative
costs that way," said Linda Kehoe, capital outlay analyst for
the Legislative Finance Committee. "That is a door we don't want
to open."
Albert Ross of the Saint Michael's Chapter also is on the Budget and
Finance Committee. "The politicians in Santa Fe know very well
the Navajo tribe doesn't have that kind of money." he said. "They
cater to us for capital improvement funds and tell us to use our own
money. They know it's self-defeating."
Ross called the funding process "an injustice." "If
the legislators are being sincere about helping the western part of
the state," he said, "they need to come through (with the
administrative money). Otherwise it's just a lot of rhetoric."
The hard line taken by the Navajo Nation has Navajo representatives
and senators in the state legislature tearing their hair and trying
to find a solution to the problem.
Rep. Leo Watchman, D-McKinley and San Juan counties,
is frustrated by the tribe's insistence on seeing the 15.2 percent
bite as a negotiable issue. "It is not negotiable," he said.
"The tribe cannot put any percentage of the capital outlay money
to meeting the indirect costs of these projects. No one can."
Watchman said the issue is being bound up with such
things as tribal sovereignty. However, he said, this is complicated
by the fact the state has no trust relationship with the tribe as
the federal government does.
"I have always said sovereignty is only as good as how you flex
it. Right now, the Navajo Nation is not flexing it toward agreement"
on this issue, he said.
He said the tribe's insistence on butting heads with the state over
the issue has left him with a "why bother?" feeling when
it comes to seeking further capital outlay funding this session.
Further frustrating Watchman is the fact that as much
as one-fourth of the money, as much as $6 or $7 million, could be
lost due to spending delays.
Rep. Ray Begaye, D-San Juan, who also cautioned that
money could be lost, said, "The state does not allow indirect
costs to be paid from state funds. I am trying to undo this."
Undoing it might not be so easy, given the tribe's stance on the issue.
One Navajo Budget and Finance Committee member, Raymond Jones of the
Rock Point Chapter, even accused Sen. Leonard Tsosie, D-Whitehorse
Lake, of "siding with the Santa Fe party rather than helping
the tribe."
Jones said Tsosie "needs to work and meet the Navajo Nation half
way. He points fingers at the tribe and is not moving in our direction
to receive appropriations from the state."
Tsosie said he "didn't know where Jones was coming
from" with his statements, but said he "always met the tribe
more than half way" on such issues. He said the Legislature's
Indian Affairs Committee has "gone out of its way to meet with
them" on the issue.
Tsosie said he believes there will be a solution to the problem, but
questioned the wisdom of tribal officials freezing all capital outlay
projects until a solution is reached.
"There is no sense in having all of these projects sitting idle
over something that is fixable," he said. "The Navajo people
should not have to suffer in this."
Tribal Budget and Finance Committee member Ben Shelly of Thoreau understands
what is at stake in the fight between the tribe and the state. "There
is a lot of money up there, and we have to be careful what we do,"
he said.
Independent reporter Jim Maniaci contributed to this story.
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Publisher arrested after domestic dispute
Staff report
GALLUP — The publisher of the Gallup Independent was arrested
Sunday on charges of obstructing a police officer in connection with
a dispute concerning an upcoming divorce from his wife.
The charges against Robert Zollinger, 49, occurred in an incident
police say centered around efforts by his estranged wife, Toni, 48,
to pick up her personal belongings and school books belonging to one
of their daughters.
According to police, the incident occurred about 4:20 p.m. at the
Pine Haven home of Robert Zollinger. When two officers and Toni Zollinger
arrived at the home, Robert Zollinger opened the door and was told
why they were there...
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Gallup district to train school bus drivers
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Gallup McKinley County Schools will save almost $20,000
this year when they implement a local School Bus Driver Institute,
said Joe Henley, who is the training specialist with the district's
maintenance operations and will be the director of the institute.
The school district usually sends bus drivers to Silver City to take
classes in first aid, passenger management and other subjects. School
bus drivers must take the classes every year.
Sending bus drivers to Silver City cost the schools
about $40,000 in tuition, travel and lodging, Henley said...
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Tribal Council busy on 1st day
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Here is a summary of actions taken
by the 19th Navajo Nation Council on the opening day of its winter
session Monday:
Heard State of the Nation addresses from President Kelsey Begaye and
Vice President Taylor McKenzie for the Executive Branch and Chief
Justice Yazzie for the Judicial Branch.
Deleted two former proposed sets of amendments to the
tribal criminal code, leaving the Public Safety Committee's version
as the only one to be considered...
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Six champs crowned at Elks Hoop Shoot
Alan Arthur
Sports Editor
GALLUP — Cory Miller hit 5-of-5 free throws in the overtime session
to win the boys 12-13 age category at the Elks Hoop Shoot competition
held at the Gallup Junior High School Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.
Miller, a student at Gallup Mid School, was one of six local champions
crowned on Sunday. Also winning championships in their divisions were
Jayme Laughlin of Tohatchi Mid School in the girls 12-13 age category,
Noland Hoskie of Gallup Mid School in 10-11 boys, Melina Martinez
of Chichiltah in 10-11 girls, Colby Yazzie of Fort Defiance Intermediate
in 8-9 boys and Erica Jim of Rocky View Elementary in 8-9 girls...
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Police dog bites suspect
Dine' Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Anthony Yazzie now knows you don't try to kick
a police dog.
The 26-year-old Hogback Chapter resident had to be taken
to the Indian Health Service hospital in the adjacent Shiprock Chapter
after a Navajo Department of Law Enforcement K-9 "officer"
bit Yazzie on the right leg when the man tried to kick the dog, according
to the Shiprock Police report.
The incident occurred at 6:45 p.m. Jan. 18...
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Laguna man indicted on drug counts
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — A 37-year-old New Laguna man was indicted
by the Cibola County grand jury on four drug counts, one of them felony
distribution of a controlled substance.
Vincent Francis was arrested Dec. 6. He had between
one and eight ounces of marijuana on him, court records say. According
to the criminal information filed on him, Francis waived his right
to a preliminary hearing.
Francis, who lists his address as P.O. Box 243 in New Laguna, is also
charged with possession of marijuana and use or possession of drug
paraphernalia...
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Sports Briefs
Ganado student athletes honored
GANADO, Ariz. — The following Ganado High School athletes have
been recognized by the Arizona Interscholastic Association for their
academic achievements while participating in a varsity sport. All
of these young ladies and young men must hold a minimum of 3.5 GPA
through the first semester of this school year.
They are Chris Semore (3.75), Jason Semore (4.00) and Cody Mueller
(4.00) in football; Lynette Martinez (3.75), Melissa Peterson (4.00),
Candice Kirk (3.50), Mary Shirley (4.00), Connie Lano (4.00), Elissa
Nelson (4.00), Tara Curtis (3.50) and Tashina Curtis (3.75) in volleyball;
and Leland Showa (4.00), Nathan Salabye (3.75), Aaron Peshlakai (3.50),
Jackie Sinquah (4.00), Roxanne Cook (4.00), Natasha Tsosie (4.00),
Reyvera Kanuho (4.00), Thalia James (4.00), Lenora Watchman (3.71),
Melissa Jones (4.00) and Levi Bigwater (3.50) in cross country.
NNRCA awards celebration
CHURCK ROCK The NNRCA awards celebration and dance will
be held on January 29, 2000, at 6:30 p.m. at Red Rock State Park...
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Delegate asks state to assist Hopi kids
Stan Bindell
Special to the Independent
PHOENIX — Hopi Tribal Councilwoman Kathleen Nutongla
recently called on the state to help provide funding and services
for special needs children on the Hopi Reservation.
Nutongla, who represents Sipaulvoi, informed the Arizona Senate Education
Committee that there are more than 400 children with some type of
disability on the Hopi Reservation. She said these students attend
Bureau of Indian Affairs, grant, contract and Head Start schools on
the reservation and in Tuba City.
She said there is one Hopi speech and language therapist to serve
these 400 children...
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Racer tracks Navajo roots
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Only one thing could overwhelm Cory
Witherill more than his reception before the Navajo Nation Council
Monday afternoon.
That would be for the three-time off-road auto racing champion to
find his natural parents.
Witherill also was honored earlier in the day at the Window Rock Sports
Center at the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds and was an inspirational speaker
to boys and girls in a program laced with entertainment by reservation
bands and signers...
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Scouts' mat-men get conference wins
FORT DEFIANCE, Ariz. - The Window Rock wrestling team picked up three
dual wins during Friday's 3A Enchantment Invitational that was held
at Window Rock Fieldhouse.
The Fighting Scouts downed Tuba City 46-29 in their opening match.
Window Rock then had an easy time routing Pinon 72-9 and crushing
Monument Valley 65-16.
Winslow was even more dominating as the Bulldogs hammered Tuba City
60-23, blanknd girls in a program laced with entertainment by reservation
bands and signers...
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