Diné language to be released on CD-ROM soon

Gallup attorney to head up Santa Fe family violence unit

Tuba schools get $

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Diné language to be released on CD-ROM soon

By Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — In a few months, teachers wanting to immerse their students in the Navajo language will be able to buy a compact disc showing stars as well as plants and animals with their parts.

Since the initial CD-ROM discs cover kindergarten through third grades, a simplified Navajo alphabet is included, presenter Gloria Grant said Tuesday.

Navajo, an Athabascan-based language, originally was only an oral tongue, without a written alphabet. Earlier this century, a phonetically based alphabet was developed using English letters with a large variety of accent marks.

The computer-generated images, complete with both Navajo and English names and pronunciations, will come from the Chinle Curriculum Center of the Chinle Unified School District and will cost $50 to $100 a copy. The discs will probably be available in January.

A brief demonstration in the auditorium of the Navajo Nation Museum, Library and Visitors Center held Navajo Nation Council delegates spellbound. Grant, curriculum center director, told the delegates that although the discs are designed for the primary grades, they could be used by older students.

Grant said the curriculum meets the standards of the Arizona Department of Education. (Chinle is one of the largest public school districts on the Navajo Reservation's Arizona section.)

Delegates also received a folder of printed materials covering the history of the Diné that was developed by the center. Additional demonstrations will be given starting at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 6 during a "culture night" in the Chinle Kindergarten Center on Navajo Route 7.

During their first day of their two-day study session at the museum, delegates also received instructions in contract support costs, which is money from outside sources used to pay the Navajo Nation's cost of administering the external funds. Around two-thirds of the tribe's $313 million budget for the current fiscal year comes from non-Navajo Nation sources.

The second day, they learned more about the many steps it takes the U.S. Congress to pass a law. Up to 75 of the 88 delegates attended at one time or another, according to Victor Joe, a staff assistant to Council Speaker Edward T. Begay.

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Gallup attorney to head up Santa Fe family violence unit

Sense of purpose drives Tony Julian

By Sekai K. Mutunhu
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Tony Julian leans back in his swivel chair, rolls up his shirt sleeves and stares at the rows of leather-bound state statutes that line the bookshelves in his south Second Street office.

Starting Dec. 6, Julian will leave his current position as one of three McKinley County deputy district attorneys to head up the Family Violence Unit at the District Attorney's office in Santa Fe. Along with four other attorneys, three investigators and three victim advocates, Julian will help prosecute and bring some sense of justice to those who have been victimized by domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault.

"If I put a guy in prison who beats his wife or rapes a child, then it's a good day," he said.

Julian's concern for victims is well known throughout the community. Up until last Wednesday, when he submitted his resignation, he served as president of the Battered Family Services board of directors. The nonprofit organization provides shelter and counseling to victims of domestic abuse.

Executive Director Michele Fuller praised Julian for his contributions over the years, particularly his tireless efforts to keep Battered Families afloat when financial troubles threatened to close its doors.

"Tony is one of the people who, when he saw that we were going to lose this shelter, he was instrumental in keeping it open," Fuller said. "It's a good solid organization, due in large part to his efforts."

Julian will be sorely missed by members of the judiciary, legal community and various social service agencies, said District Attorney Mary Helen Baber, who cited his courage in taking difficult cases to trial.

"I respect him for that, and so does anybody else who knows anything about trials," she said. "To have a combination of trial experience, compassion for victims and dedication is exceptional, and I am sure it will be a long search to find someone to replace him."

Rape, domestic violence Julian has seen a lot of ugliness in the five years he has served in the McKinley County District Attorney's office, where he has prosecuted countless crimes against women and children. But of all the victims he has come in contact with, the memory of an infant named Angel Herrera continues to haunt him.

Last year, Tex Herrera was accused of child abuse after he repeatedly shook his infant daughter and caused her permanent brain damage in what is known as Shaken Baby Syndrome.

"The biological father shook Angel Herrera, a perfect child, and by shaking her he blinded her," Julian said. "She will never walk again, she will never talk, and she will still be in diapers when she is 35."

Last May, Herrera was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

While the physical and emotional damage inflicted on many victims makes it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve any true sense of justice, Julian is clear on why he continues to do what he does.

"I'm 40 years old. If I die tomorrow, I would like my life to have had some sense of purpose," he said somberly. "If I died tomorrow, I know that I have helped people who are not in a position to help themselves."

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Tuba schools get $
By Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — The Tuba City Unified School District increased the beginning balance of its main operations fund by $3.6 million from July 1, 1998, to July 1, 1999. During that same year, its enrollment dropped by 79 students.

That information is part of the annual financial summary Arizona requires public school districts to publish in a newspaper of general circulation in their district...

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Navajo execs face busy week

By Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A busy week of hearings and meetings will begin Sunday for residents, committees and executives of the Navajo government.

Diné College hearings

From 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Ganado Chapter House, the Diné College administration will conduct the first of five public hearings for students, staff and residents to comment on the reorganization, staff layoffs and other concerns including the direction the college is headed...

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We're counting the days until escape-easy CSC leaves city

Forget about counting the days until Christmas. We're too busy counting the days until the incompetent at Corrections Services Corp. leave the area hopefully forever.

CSC is the company that has been unable to keep prisoners in the McKinley County Adult Detention Center, allowing a total of 12 men including murderers, kidnappers, rapists and child molesters to roam freely through the streets of Gallup recently...

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A rose by any other name, no matter how you spell it?

By Duane A. Beyal
Staff Writer

The other day, a telephone conversation showed that a Navajo can spell Hopi.

In English, that is.

Snooping around for rich, meaty, preferably dark info regarding the arts and crafts industry, this writer placed a call to the Hopi Arts and Crafts Enterprise...

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Tuba police sponsorToys for Tots

By Stan Bindell
Special to the Independent

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — The Tuba City Police Department will sponsor a concert Dec. 3 to raise money for its Toys for Tots Christmas giveaway program.

The concert, with Dying Tribe as the headliner band, will run from 6 p.m. to midnight at the Tuba City Community Center. Admission will be $5 plus a canned food or a new toy. Chances to win a guitar will be raffled off...

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