Group lobbies to stop gambling
Nancy Watson
Staff Writer
WINDOW ROCK — A Navajo group opposed to gaming is praying their
tribal president, Kelsey Begaye, will veto the Navajo Nation Council's
resolution to decriminalize gambling on the reservation.
Citizens for Integrity in Government held a day-long hearing on gaming
at the Navajo Nation Museum on Thursday to voice their objection to
gambling.
Begaye, a born-again Christian, has said he will probably veto the
resolution, but those attending the hearing were encouraged by speakers
at the event to pray for him.
"We need to hold him accountable and pray that he vetoes the
resolution," Richard Kontz, CIG spokesman, said. "We also
need to support him and pray for him after the veto because he will
face a lot of ridicule and torment. He'll need our prayers for protection."
On Jan. 27, the Navajo Nation Council voted 42-27 to amend the tribe's
criminal code to allow committees to discuss the issue of gaming with
communities on the reservation that are considering casino proposals.
Kontz was speaking about gambling from experience. This is not the
first time the tribe has considered gaming, and this is not Kontz's
first campaign against it.
The issue was defeated in 1994 by 55 percent of the voters. The results
were the same in 1997. During the second referendum, Kontz was working
for the tribe's Economic Development Division.
He said he worked for the defeat of the referendum in 1997 and was
threatened with physical violence by some Navajo Nation council delegates.
So, he moved his family from Fort Defiance to Gallup, where he felt
safer.
Gambling will create more problems than it will solve, Kontz said,
and the tribe does not need the money.
The Navajo Nation is cash rich with more than $1 billion in assets,
he said.
Kontz was the tribe's budget director for four years and the financial
adviser to the council's budget and finance committee for four years
before going to work for the economic development division.
The tribe receives money from state and federal sources that it has
to give back because it doesn't spend it all, he said.
For example, a few years ago, the tribe received $40
million for roads. A good portion of it was returned, he said. "The
tribe does not need the money from gambling," he said. "The
tribe has money, but it manages it poorly."
Regarding job creation, he said, the 3,000 jobs created by gaming
will change the unemployment rate only by 2 or 3 percent.
The tribe should support the small businesses operating on the reservation
and help them offer more jobs, he said. There are 500 small businesses
on the reservation. If there was an economic plan to expand the number
of jobs in those businesses by five to 20, then anywhere from 2,500
to 10,000 jobs could be created, he said.
"We don't need casinos," he said. "We need to empower
the local communities by giving them the authority to develop at their
own level."
Kontz said the tribe will experience an escalation in social problems
as a result of gaming.
Some of those problems include: increased domestic violence, increased
arrests for driving while intoxicated, three times the number of break-ins
and robberies, an increase in poverty, an increase in fraud and embezzlement
and an increase in bankruptcies.
Casinos make money from the low-income people who frequent them, Kontz
said.
"It is a fallacy that the money will be taken from rich tourists,"
he added.
Traditional Navajo people believe gambling is so taboo it should not
be voted on. The only gamblers were the spirit beings who gambled
to decide issues such as how long night and day should be. There were
no winners and no losers, he said.
The Rev. Cory Crane, a Lumbee/Cherokee, gave the following statistics
from the council for his tribe in Oklahoma after it opened a casino.
The divorce rate tripled, crime went up 62 percent, the homeless rate
went up by 48 percent, unemployment went from 27 percent to 51 percent,
27 businesses closed, the arrest rate went up 47 percent, DWIs went
up 77 percent and robbery went up by 58 percent, he said.
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2nd on drunken driver list
1 in 72 drivers is a chronic DWI offender
SANTA FE (AP) — McKinley County has the second largest per capita
number of chronic drunken drivers in the state, according to a Motor
Vehicle Division study released Thursday.
The study shows only San Miguel County has a higher per capita ranking
than McKinley County. San Miguel County is in northeastern New Mexico.
Its county seat is Las Vegas.
San Miguel's rate of chronic drivers (per 100,000 population) was
1,415.5 as compared to 1,351.35 for McKinley County. The state average
is 531.92.
Chronic drunken drivers, according to the study, are those who have
five or more arrests for driving while intoxicated. The study shows
497 individuals in McKinley County who have amassed that record since
1984.
The number of registered drivers in the county is 36,778,
which shows that about 1 out of every 72 registered drivers in the
county has five or more DWI arrests.
The study also shows that nearly 40 percent of motorists who appeal
DWI-related license revocations are able to hold onto their driving
privileges.
The reason in many cases: Police officers fail to show up for the
administrative hearings.
"I find this pretty appalling," said Nadine Milford, an
anti-DWI crusader whose daughter and three granddaughters were killed
by a drunken driver in 1992.
The MVD report released this week said there was a 40 percent chance
that an offender would get his license back merely by requesting an
administrative hearing, which must occur within 90 days of the arrest.
Sometimes, the report noted, arresting officers or state examiners
don't show up for those hearings.
The number of no-shows is higher in areas of northern New Mexico,
with Espanola police and Rio Arriba County sheriff's deputies missing
70 percent of the hearings before the state Motor Vehicle Division,
it said.
In New Mexico, people arrested on DWI charges are supposed to automatically
lose their driver's licenses for a year.
Of the many reasons for getting the license back, the largest by far
is police absence from those hearings, the MVD study found. Officers
do not show up nearly one-third of the time, it said.
All those arrested on DWI charges have a legal right
to such a hearing, which is separate from criminal proceedings. About
20 percent exercise that right, the MVD says.
The MVD study says police absence from those hearings allowed 1,350
New Mexico DWI arrestees to keep their driver's licenses in 1998.
In his study, Jerry Richardson, chief hearing officer for the MVD,
noted, "there has been a slight decrease over the past 13 years
in the number of DWIs, yet the number of (revocation) hearings has
nearly doubled and the percentage of persons requesting hearings has
more than doubled."
Asked about police officers missing hearings, state police Lt. Richard
Newman said: "It happens. I don't think it happens as often as
people make it seem like. What happens is that (MVD) will set pretty
much one date, and they don't vary much from that date."
Richardson agreed the absent officer is generally not to blame.
"We have 90 days to hold the hearing," Richardson said.
"When we schedule a hearing we don't have time to consult with
the individual officers. They might be on vacation or testifying in
another court case or maybe even retired and moved away."
The MVD has five hearing officers responsible for more than 4,000
cases a year.
Fewer than 10 percent of revocations are overturned on substantive
legal issues, Richardson said.
City by city, Los Alamos officers showed at all 28 of their revocation
hearings in 1998, the most recent year for which figures were available.
In Santa Fe, police missed 33 of 163 revocation hearings for a "no-show"
rate of 21 percent, compared with 30 percent statewide. Santa Fe County
sheriff's deputies missed even fewer. Of 115 hearings in 1998, those
deputies missed 12 for a "no-show" rate of 11 percent.
Espanola police missed 16 of 23 hearings 70 percent no-show. And Rio
Arriba County sheriff's deputies did not show for eight of 11 hearings,
or 73 percent.
In Albuquerque, 551 DWI offenders kept driver's licenses
because Albuquerque police missed 29 percent of their revocation hearings.
The study found that the number of DWI offenders exercising their
right to a revocation hearing has grown from 2,088 in 1985 to 4,410
in 1998.
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Hopis want their side of dispute told
Nancy Watson
Staff Writer
KYKOTSMOVI,— Ariz. Hopi tribal officials have challenged people
who are in the area gathering information on the Navajo-Hopi land
issue to contact Hopi officials for their side of the story.
Members of the Swedish American Indian Foundation and other European
and Japanese delegations have been in the area for a few weeks gathering
statements.
"The Hopi people have read with concern your claims that you
are on a fact-finding mission regarding allegations of violations
against resisting Navajo who now occupy our lands illegally,"
said a statement from Cedric Kuwaninvaya, chairman of the Hopi Land
Team.
"These claims appear to be pretense because those gathering information
on the issue have already taken positions in favor of the Navajo,"
he said.
"Over and over again, through the courts, Congress and the media,
the resisting Navajo have had their say. We want our turn."
The letter "challenges" the delegations to meet with Hopi
officials and village leaders to hear the Hopi side of this sensitive
and complex matter.
"It is the least you can do when you falsely charge the Hopi
with genocide, ethnocide and other 'atrocities,'" he said.
The delegations are in the area to show support for the 10 Navajo
families who remain on the Hopi Partitioned Land.
Tuesday was the deadline for families to either sign agreements to
remain on the land or relocate. They are also no longer eligible for
federal relocation benefits. They are expected to soon receive letters
of eviction from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The HPL is 911,000 acres of land given to the Hopis by the federal
courts. The Navajos received an equal amount of land, but many Navajos
families had been living for years on the land given to the Hopis.
Many Navajos have accepted the federal government's relocation benefits
and moved. Others have signed the 75-year lease agreement. Ten families,
or about 125 Navajo people, remain on Hopi land, refusing to sign
any agreement with the Hopis.
Many of the protesters and political activists who have been coming
to the HPL since December said Tuesday that Hopis and Navajos managed
to "get along" well until the federal government became
involved.
About 200 people arrived at Roberta Blackgoat's home just west of
Big Mountain late Tuesday afternoon. Many were ending a peace and
prayer march that started near Flagstaff on Jan. 27. Some of the participants
in the March came from as far away as Japan.
Blackgoat welcomed the marchers to her home and encouraged them to
stay, rest and enjoy themselves. At Blackgoat's home, the marchers
and about 50 other people prayed, enjoyed music and food.
"There was nothing negative said about anyone, except for the
federal government and the way it has handled this problem,"
Percy Deal, president of the Hard Rock Chapter, said Wednesday.
Navajo tribal police officials said everything was quiet
on the HPL Wednesday.
"We've had no reports of any incidents," Window Rock District
Capt. Steve Nelson said.
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Panel: Let Begaye make appointments
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Nation President Kelsey Begaye not his aides
needs to be the person who makes appointments to tribal enterprise
boards, the Economic Development Committee has emphasized.
The eight-member committee declined, once again this week, to confirm
six appointments sent down from Begaye's office for the six-member
Navajo Agricultural Products Industry board because the nominations
came from a key staff member, not Begaye.
Committee members said they knew that these appointments had been
made by Larry Foster, his chief adviser, and refused to confirm any
of them until they had a chance to talk to Begaye personally to see
how he felt...
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Laguna is on target for opening of new
casino
Christian Oberholser
Special to the Independent
LAGUNA PUEBLO — The blackjack dealers are going through their
final training and construction crews are applying the final coat
of plaster to New Mexico's newest casino.
Dancing Eagle Casino, located on the western edge of the Pueblo of
Laguna, is on target for its grand opening ceremonies on Feb. 21.
Three months into the construction project, workers are applying final
touches to the casino's exterior. The parking area is now ready for
business...
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Tribal delegates may receive more benefits
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation's Budget and Finance Committee
has voted to change the tribe's 88 Council delegates from independent
contractors to common-law employees.
This means Social Security and federal income taxes will be deducted
from their $25,000-a-year paychecks and when they retire, they will
be able to collect federal Social Security payments.
But the change, passed Tuesday, still must be approved by the full
council...
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Pedro's awaits decision on liquor license
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — By now, Pete Ortiz thought he would be semi-retired
and Pedro's Lounge would be nothing more than a memory.
But Ortiz's plans to close the well-known Gallup tavern and former
restaurant were put on hold as he waits for the state of New Mexico
to approve the sale of his liquor license to a group that wants to
establish a Goodfella's Lounge near Pedro's.
The members of the Gallup City Council threw a wrench into Ortiz's
plans to sell the license when they rejected the request for a license
transfer, sending it to the state liquor licensing agency to make
a decision...
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Volunteers needed to teach literacy
Tom Purdom
Grants Bureau
GRANTS — Literacy Volunteers of America-Cibola County wants you.
Statistics show that one person in four in the United States can't
read a coffee shop menu well enough to order breakfast. According
to the last U.S. Census, the figures for Cibola County indicated one
person in three could not read or write well enough to get along in
everyday living.
Looking at the statistics, Literacy Volunteers of America-Cibola County
Coordinator Linda Vigil knows she has a huge, tough job ahead...
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Bears go to 3-0 in district play
Santiago Ramos
Staff Sports Writer
FORT WINGATE — Wingate had five players in double
figures as the Bears held off a scrappy Cuba Rams ballclub 75-64 Thursday
night in District 6AAA action.
"With five players scoring in double figures we shared the ball
tonight," Wingate head coach Peter Viola said. "But we had
a little fire missing. We had two emotional games last week (against
Tohatchi and Thoreau). We were a step slow tonight and we had some
foul trouble. Overall it was a lackluster night. I wasn't particularly
thrilled with the victory. But we didn't play badly. Our shooting
was real poor. We had several chances to put them away and we didn't."
Wingate, now 8-9 overall, unbeaten in the district at 3-0, will host
Thoreau next Thursday before playing at Crownpoint next Friday...
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Volunteers needed for job plan
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — As part of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, local
training and employment programs designed to benefit businesses and
job seekers will be created throughout New Mexico.
However, for the programs to be put into effect, volunteers are needed
to plan the One-Stop Career Centers and develop a five-year plan for
workforce investment at the local level.
"I support the concept of local boards, because it gives us the
opportunity to direct our own programs," said Patricia Lundstrom,
executive director of the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments...
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