Trust has created a century of problems
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elouise Cobell fields about five calls
a day from fellow American Indians who are frustrated, angry and
afraid.
They last were paid three months ago for oil and gas drilling
on their land. Many rely on that money and blame Cobell for the
hang-up — the computer shutdown that stopped the payments
is a byproduct of her lawsuit against the federal government.
Cobell explains to them she went to court to correct a century's
worth of mismanagement of a system that collects and distributes
royalties to Indians. Cobell and others who have joined the lawsuit
estimate 300,000 Indians lost more than $10 billion over the years.
The government acknowledges mismanaging the trust system but disputes
the amount of money lost. Settlement talks have stalled, and it
could fall to a judge or Congress to decide what the Indians are
owed.
"It's been broken. It has been totally broken for all that
time," said Cobell, a banker in Browning, Mont., who is a
member of the Blackfeet Nation.
"Their mentality was they're working with savages,"
she said. "We were considered to not be a people having any
rights. That mentality carried forward all the way through to
today."
Cobell sued the Interior Department in 1996 and won a judgment
in 1999.
"It would be difficult to find a more historically mismanaged
federal program," U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth wrote.
"It is fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest
form."
Lamberth ordered the department in 1999 to fix the system and
piece together what Indians are owed.
Despite spending $614 million since 1996 to comply with instructions
from both Congress and the court, problems continue:
a $40 million accounting system does not work; records remain
scattered and incomplete; computer security has put Indian
money at risk; and the agency has yet to develop a plan to comply
with a court-ordered accounting of the trust funds.
During hearings on Cobell's lawsuit, Lamberth routinely has criticized
government lawyers for the agency's failure to correct
problems. In 1999 he held then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt
and Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in contempt, fining them $600,000
for concealing the destruction of documents.
He now is considering holding Babbitt's successor in contempt.
Closing arguments in Gale Norton's contempt trial were held
last week, and Lamberth said he had been "duped" by
department officials into believing reform was working.
If Norton is found in contempt, it could pave the way for Lamberth
to grant Cobell's request that the department be stripped of its
trust responsibilities and an independent professional be appointed
to manage it.
The history of the trust fund begins in 1887, when Congress took
90 million acres from Indians and gave them to white homesteaders.
The Indians were left with allotments ranging from 40 acres to
320 acres, with the Interior Department assigned to manage grazing,
timber and oil and gas activities on the land.
For more than a century, an untold amount of money meant for some
of the nation's poorest residents was lost, stolen or never collected.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress,
first took notice of the problems in 1928. It took an additional
66 years for Congress to act.
In 1994, the Indian Trust Reform Act was passed. It called for
an accounting of all Indian monies and reform of the collection
and distribution system.
Cobell, who had heard complaints about the system since childhood
and had seen no progress despite congressional action, sued two
years later.
Norton conceded in court on Feb. 13 that a complete accounting
of all the money Indians should have collected would cost hundreds
of millions of dollars and may be impossible because documents
have been lost or destroyed.
The documents are piled in trailers or warehouses. Some have been
shredded, burned, or crumbled from exposure to the elements. Some
even are contaminated with deadly hantavirus from rodents scurrying
among them.
Other problems have arisen. Last fall, a monitor appointed by
Lamberth found the Interior Department's lax computer security
may have put $500 million that flows through the system annually
at risk from hackers.
Lamberth shut down connections to the system, but the Dec. 5 order
had the unintended consequence of disconnecting other agency computer
systems, including its e-mail and public access to Web sites for
national parks, endangered species and other entities.
The computer shutdown also has left the agency unable to collect
and distribute royalty checks, creating a profound hardship for
Indians who rely on the money.
"Unfortunately many individuals, their credit is ruined basically.
I mean, after 60 days, the debt collectors start coming; after
90 days, the lawyers start coming," said Tex Hall, president
of the National Congress of American Indians.
Department officials began mailing checks several weeks ago, but
many Indians have yet to get them. Hall said last week neither
he nor any of the 6,000 accountholders on his reservation had
received payments.
Despite all this, Norton told Lamberth she believes progress has
been made since she took office last year.
Still, her reform efforts have brought problems. She wants to
shift oversight to a new agency called the Bureau of Indian Trust
Assets Management, but Indian leaders were upset because they
were not consulted. Some in Congress are skeptical creating another
agency is the right way to go.
On the Net:
Interior Department: http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust/
Indian plaintiffs: http://www.indiantrust.com
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Diné Congressional candidate Norris
visits Window Rock
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Debra Norris was the first Navajo woman to be elected
to the Arizona Legislature. Now Norris wants to become the first Navajo
— man or woman — to be elected to the U.S. Congress.
In an interview Friday before she spoke with the tribal council's
Inter Government Relations Committee (IGRC), Norris said the difference
between her and the other Navajo running for the new northeastern
Arizona seat in Washington, D.C., Derrick Watchman, is that she has
a track record of being elected from a state legislative district
that is 95 percent non-Indian. One-fourth of the new Congressional
district's people are First Americans.
In an interview when he announced, Watchman said the biggest obstacle
will be to convince non-Indian voters that he could serve both worlds.
Arizona's new First District, although it dips into the Phoenix metropolitan
area, covers all or part of eight of the state's 15 counties. However,
the Hopi Reservation is connected to a western district by a thin
ribbon that includes part of the Colorado River.
Norris said she will make Flagstaff her new home (after the current
session ends in April), moving from Sells on the Tohono O'Odham Reservation
on the Mexican border where she is one of two Arizona House of Representatives
members from District 11. The Navajo Reservation is in state District
3.
In her third term in the Arizona Legislature, Norris said "I
have a diverse knowledge of Indian issues" and "I've been
elected to three two-year terms — no one else has that."
Only two candidates, one Democratic and one Republican, so far, are
elected officials, at the local and county level.
Norris said she will continue to push for the same kind of laws in
Washington, D.C., as she pushed in Phoenix, she said, including education,
rural economic development and as health care.
One reason she has been re-elected after winning the seat in 1996
is that "I'm good at bringing communities together," she
said. "I've been able to represent all of them very well."
Norris said "because of the legislative experience I have, I
gained an understanding of Arizona's issues. The federal and state
governments need to work together along with the tribal governments."
She considers the most important law she managed to get signed by
the governor to be federal impact aid revenue bonds for schools. She
noted that the Red Mesa Unified School District got its voters recently
to pass about $8 million worth of the bonds in which the federal funds
will be used to repay the debt for construction.
"House Bill 2440 opened up about $200 million for reservation
school districts, and while it affects districts all over the state,
it will provide a heavy benefit on the Navajo Nation. Indian school
districts can now build facilities, like gymnasiums," that they
could only dream about before, she said.
Those facilities will provide high-paying construction jobs during
the recession, adding the bonds "won't cost the state anything,"
she said.
Because of a successful law suit similar to the Zuni-Gallup-Grants
suit against the state in New Mexico, the Arizona School Facilities
Board took over construction and major renovations of local schools,
but the districts can go beyond that, if their voters approve.
"I believe in education more than anything," she said. "I
come from a family of teachers and educators." Her father taught
at Monument Valley High School in Kayenta and helped begin the Rough
Rock Demonstration School that led to widespread conversion of BIA
schools to community contract and grant institutions under local boards.
He moved to southern Arizona when she was 7.
"Education opens doors not ordinarily open," she said.Norris
explained that without her college degree she would not have run for
state office. "It opened doors for me and I want that for other
children."
Norris also claims a 100 percent Sierra Club voting record and is
pro-choice.
She recently became a Toll Fellow, a legislative leadership program
in which only 35 state lawmakers all across America are allowed to
participate each year.
The Gallup native denied she is a "carpetbagger," a charge
being leveled by some candidates from the north against her and former
Clinton administration aide Fred DuVal of Phoenix, for moving north
to obtain a seat in Congress.
"I'm from here (the Navajo Reservation) as far as the federal
government is concerned," Norris said. Her family is from the
Kayenta region, where there is a family home, she said. Norris is
a citizen of the Navajo Nation and was granted tribal scholarships,
she noted.
Norris earned her bachelor of arts degree in history in 1993 from
Leland Stanford Junior University in Palo Alto, Calif. She then studied
at Oxford University's Magdalen College in England. She also attended
Papago Christian Academy.
Since she currently holds a state office, Arizona law says she had
to run her committee as an exploratory panel. She also must maintain
her Sells residence while in the Arizona House.
Norris is first vice chair of the state Democratic Party Central Committee,
a member of Local 3194 of the American Federation of State and Municipal
Employees, Hadassah's Valley of the Sun Chapter, the National Association
of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, the National Order of Women
Legislators and on the advisory council for American Indian Tribal
Colleges and Universities.
She has owned an Indian arts and crafts (jewelry and baskets) store
since 1995.
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'Bazaar's' local shoot goes a little
bizarre
Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Special to the Independent
GALLUP — The fantasy world of the New York high fashion scene
seems like it's almost a planet away from the real world reality of
a reservation border town like Gallup. But occasionally those worlds
do collide.
They collided last December when a fashion crew from Harper's Bazaar
magazine came to produce two photo shoots in the Church Rock area
during the Red Rock Balloon Rally. The result of that visit is splashed
across two photo spreads in the February and March issues of the upscale
fashion magazine.
The February article, "The Bright Stuff," features a model
wearing a series of outfits that are as bright and colorful as the
hot air balloons flying in the background. Shot on and around Church
Rock's spectacular red rocks, the ten page photo spread shows hardly
a square inch of the area's scenery. If it weren't for the fine print
of the accompanying text, one would never know the photographs were
shot near Gallup.
For local residents, it may seem a bit strange to see little slices
of Church Rock's rugged landscape and blue sky sandwiched between
big, airy dollops of rich and famous narcissism. For example, the
issue includes an article by a 40-year-old woman who is addicted to
plastic surgery; buying tips by women who appear to be fashion shopaholics;
diet advice by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld who writes about his
decision to lose 90 pounds to "become a perfect 135-pound, five-
foot 11-inch hanger;" a profile of supermodel Gisele, the February
cover model and current girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio; and an hour
by hour chronicle of a day in the life of former supermodel Iman..
However, the eight-page photo spread in the March issue actually does
show local landmarks. In "Desert Bloom" the model, wearing
a number of frilly, floral outfits in pastel hues, poses in front
of white rock land formations, located northeast of Church Rock.
Local artist and balloon rally member Colleen Marchand assisted the
nine person fashion crew, which included the photographer, his two
assistants, the fashion editor, her assistant, the hair artist, the
makeup artist, and two models.
Harper's Bazaar hooked up with the Red Rock Balloon Rally through
the rally's Internet website. Marchand, a former hot air balloon pilot,
volunteered to help out with logistical details such as scouting out
locations and coordinating the shoot with balloon rally events. Two
local hot air balloons ferried the crew to different locations.
Although members of the fashion crew were well traveled, said Marchand,
they seemed to experience some culture shock in Gallup. "Everything
moved at a much different pace," she said. "So, that was
a bit of a shock for them." They were surprised most stores weren't
open on Sunday and were dismayed that many stores weren't open after
5 p.m.
Marchand heard the word "amazing" countless times. "They
thought everything was amazing," she said. One thing that wasn't
perhaps so wonderfully amazing was that Gallup doesn't have a Four
Star hotel - something the fashion editor had initially requested.
Another thing that wasn't wonderfully amazing was that hot air balloons
can't be directed to fly or land in a very precise manner. Marchand
tried to explain factors like wind speed and wind direction when asked
to take the crew back to a previous shooting location. "It's
not like taking a bus," she recalled telling the fashion editor.
Marchand spent much of her time trying to help the models keep warm
since the shoot was in December and the temperatures were frosty.
She bundled one young woman in a balloon rally jacket, inserted a
blow dryer nozzle up one of the sleeves, and inflated the jacket with
warm air like a hot air balloon.
Marchand's efforts to keep the models warm were not helped by the
fact that the women slipped out of one costume and into another in
the great outdoors with anyone and everyone looking on.
Marchand experienced her own kind of amazement while watching the
photographer, his two assistants, the hair artist, and the makeup
artist work to make the model picture perfect. "It took five
people to make that girl like that," she said, "and that's
ridiculous."
She expressed dismay that any young woman would open Harper's Bazaar
and feel she should look like those unrealistic images. "I was
kind of embarrassed to be part of it from that angle," she explained.
Although Marchand admits she had fun with the magazine crew, she has
strong reservations about the magazine's messages about consumerism
and physical beauty. "The Harper's Bazaar standard of beauty
is outrageous," she said. "They make beautiful pictures,
but it's fantasy land... It's not reality."
| Top |
Area sports
Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer
GRANTS — Once the Grants Pirates get on a roll, they don't quit.
After not winning district for 28 years, the Pirates team cut down
the nets in Grants for the second year in a row, celebrating their
second straight district championship in a row.
"I think they stepped it up a notch," said Grants head coach
Gerald Horaceck of his teams play. "I knew that they would be
ready to play."
The Pirates, after their 69-66 win over Bernalillo Saturday night,
are headed for regionals.
The Pirates held a slim 44-42 lead going into the fourth quarter when
Boudy Melonas stepped up and scored 12 of his 26 points. Roshaun McKinney
also came up big in the fourth, scoring eight of his 15 points to
help hold off a Spartan comeback.
Playing in front of a sold out crowd, the Pirates jumped to an early
16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Victor Aldaz scored eight points, hitting two three pointers in the
first for Grants, while Chris Sandoval scored four points to lead
Bernalillo in the first.
In the second quarter the Spartans put together a rally to outscore
Grants 21-16, behind eight points by Gary Saiz.
The Pirates went to their sharpshooters in the second quarter, with
Aldaz and Melonas hitting a trey and Joe Ross sinking two.
Melonas also hit 8-of-10 from the free throw line in the second quarter
and McKinney hit a jumper for the rest of the Pirates scoring in the
quarter.
Both teams matched each other in the third quarter, with Grants scoring
12 points and the Spartans matching them with 12.
Ross sank another pair of three pointers for the Pirates, and Mark
Hans scored eight points for the Spartans.
In the fourth quarter Kenny Chavez scored 10 points and Chris Sandoval
scored eight for the Spartans, but it was not enough to make up for
the first quarter lead that the Spartans gave to Grants.
Horaceck said that the difference in the game came in the fourth quarter.
"We turned it up a notch on defense in the fourth quarter, and
I think that made the difference," he said.
"With out question we are peaking at the right time," said
Horaceck.
Leading the way for the Pirates was Melonas, scoring 26 points. He
was followed by Ross with 18, McKinney with 15 and Aldaz with 11.
Leading the way for Bernalillo was Chavez and Sandoval, both with
15. Hans also scored in double figures, finishing with 10.
The Pirates will host Lovington on Saturday in the regional playoffs
for a chance at state. The game will start at 7 p.m.
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Man stabs assailant, is arrested
Andrea Egger
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Talk about getting stabbed in the back.
Ronnie Tso, 24, of Navajo, N.M., knows all about that after he allegedly
tried to push his way into a stranger's home around 8:20 p.m. Thursday,
according to a Gallup Police report.
Tso had a stab wound to the left side of his back, police said. He
was taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center.
"He was operated on and is recovering in the ICU unit,"
said Gallup Police Lt. John Allen...
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Woman ID'd, but autopsy to tell tale
Andrea Egger
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Police finished investigating what appeared to be
a suspicious death Thursday morning and are now awaiting results
of an autopsy report.
Gallup Police Lt. John Allen said Friday the death looks "less
suspicious."
He identified the deceased woman as Kandice Etsitty, 36, of Hunter's
Point, Ariz., north of Lupton. She collapsed 7:30 a.m. at her home
on East Hill Avenue.
Her boyfriend, Ernest Parker, 39, called 911, then quickly left
the house, Allen said. He saw someone walking outside his home and
said, "My girlfriend just fell down..."
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Mom who left kids urged to come forth
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Five children ranging in age from 3 to 12
were dropped off at a homeless shelter, abandoned by their mother
who wrote a letter explaining: "I can't take care of them any
more."
Jeremy Reynalds, executive director of the privately funded Joy
Junction shelter, said the youngsters were left at the shelter around
8:30 p.m. Thursday.
"The kids trooped through our main building with an abandonment
letter in hand," Reynalds said. "They were directed to
our manager's office. The 12-year-old handed our manager a letter."
The letter says: "To whoever. Will you please take my kids
a(nd) take care of them because I can't take care of them any more.
I asked for help but nobody cant (sic) help me. So this was my last
resort. Thank you..."
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Group frets with city over spending
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — A report on possible ways to save money promoting
Gallup events has been completed by the Northwest New Mexico Council
of Governments.
The COG report has been turned over to City Manager David Ruiz who
said recently that he plans to present it soon to the members of
the Gallup City Council for their review.
The council has been complaining for months about how much organizations
like the Ceremonial, the Lions Club and the Red Rock Balloon Rally
spend on promotional materials. The money, which totals almost $100,000,
comes from rants provided by the Lodger's Tax Committee.
Councilman Charlie Chavez and others on the council have argued
that a lot of this money is wasted because the organizations use
it to print brochures that only promote their own events and nothing
else that happens in Gallup...
| Top |
Navajo Nation fire calls
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Fire Department recently answered
the following calls:
Chinle station
Feb. 13, 9:25 p.m., vehicle rollover one mile south of Round Rock
near Mile Post 92 on BIA Route 12 with victims declining transport
to hospital.
Feb. 14, 1:20 p.m., brush fire two miles north and east of Cottonwood
Day School, caused by children playing with matches; 2:30 p.m.,
two-vehicle collision by Big-O Tire on BIA Route 7 in Chinle with
all victims declining transport.
Feb. 17, 1 p.m., brush fire east of Tsaile Conoco caused by uncontrolled
burning.
Feb. 19, 12:45 p.m., call to assist Pinon at house fire eight miles
southeast of Pinon canceled as on-scene firefighters extinguished
roof fire.
Feb. 20, no time listed, vehicle rollover three miles west of Cottonwood
Day School on BIA Route 4 with one female taken to IHS hospital
in Chinle.
Crownpoint station
No reports.
Indian Wells and Leupp stations
Feb. 14, 3:03 a.m., call for Indian Wells to assist Leupp at fire
quarter-mile east of Tolani Lake School canceled en route.
Feb. 15, 10:51 p.m., two vehicle head-on collision, with fatality
of man not wearing seat belt, near Mile Post 31 on BIA Route 6 (Ariz.
Route 77) with Hopi EMS taking two survivors who used seat belts
in pickup truck to Polacca medical center and Indian Wells and Hopi
firefighters removing dead man at 12:25 a.m.
Feb. 18, 5:55 p.m., structure fire one mile south of Little Singer
Community School in Bird Springs Chapter contained to shed storing
wood and hay and possibly caused by embers from wood stove blowing
about 50 feet from home to shed.
Feb. 19, 2:06 p.m., traffic collision with injuries six miles north
of Jeddito Chapter House on unlisted road revised to accident without
injuries and Indian Wells was canceled with Dilkon Law Enforcement
District, Hopi police, EMS and fire at scene.
Tuba City
Feb. 12, 9:30 p.m., hazardous materials call to home in Toh Nanees
Dizi Low Rent Navajo Housing Authority subdivision for letter containing
yellow power for firefighters to bag letter and decontaminate scene
for tribal police to take to laboratory in Flagstaff.
Montezuma Creek
Feb. 16, 5:03 p.m., assist Aneth BIA Fire Department with car fire
of unknown cause with fatality north of Aneth Boarding School as
numerous fire and law enforcement agencies participated in ensuing
investigation as firefighters stayed at scene next to mobile home
for 12 more hours.
Feb. 17, 12:25 p.m., called back to car fire to remove the body
for investigators.
Feb. 17, no time listed, vehicle rollover with fatality west of
Hatch Trading Post as unidentified driver from south of Bluff was
going too fast to turn the corner and went down to the bottom of
the hill.
Window Rock
Feb. 13, 10:24 a.m., odor of gas at Navajo Arts and Crafts Enterprises
on Ariz. Route 264 in Widnow Rock controlled with Navajo Tribal
Utility Authority assistance; 2:44 p.m., unlock vehicle at 92 Black
Rock Acres as child was still inside.
Feb. 14, 11:31 a.m., assisted tribal police at BIA subdivision with
unlocking recovered stolen vehicle; 6:10 p.m., one acre brush fire
east of Navajo Pine day care center, with local department not available.
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Deaths
Herman Becenti
NASCHITTI — Services for Herman Becenti, 100, will be held
at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 26, at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Tohatchi.
Rev. John Mittelstadt will officiate. Burial will follow at Tohatchi
Community Cemetery.
A rosary will be recited at 5 p.m., tonight at Rollie Mortuary Memorial
Chapel.
Becenti died Feb. 22 in Gallup. He born Aug. 15, 1901 in White Rock
into the Sleeping Rock People Clan for the Edgewater People.
Becenti was a rancher, Tribal Council Delegates of Naschitti and
Chapter President of Naschitti. He was a member of the Naschitti
Community Action Committee, Tohatchi Boarding School Board Member
and one of the founders of Naschitti Livestock Association. His
hobbies included horseracing and horse training.
Survivors included his sons, James Becenti of Lukachukai, Ariz.,
Mike Becenti of Gallup, Alfred Becenti, Freddie Becenti and Jonah
Becenti all of Naschitti; daughters, Ilene Becenti, Edith Lorretto
and Eva M. Yazzie all of Gallup, Mabel Holyan of Yah Ta Hey, Maebah
Morris of Tohatchi and Alta Peshlakai of Naschitti; 38 grandchildren
and 47 great-grandchildren
Becenti was preceded in death by his first wife, Sarah Becenti and
second wife, Rose N. Becenti; parents, Naat'aanii Biye' and Yilnazbaa'
Becenti; sons, Bahe Becenti, Ernest Becenti, Frank Becenti, Harrison
Becenti and John Becenti; brothers, Billy Becenti, David Becenti
and Earl Becenti; and sisters, Martha Succo and Alice Becenti Wood.
Pallbearers will be Ivan Becenti, Brian Loretto, Virgil Loretto,
Ronald Lucero, Aaron K. Morris, Darrell Olin Morris, Patrick E.
Yazzie and Donovan Becenti.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Brenda Jarvison
CHINA SPRINGS — Services for Brenda Jarvison, 41, will be held
at 1 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 26, at Cope Memorial Chapel.
Burial will follow at the City Cemetery.
Survivors include her parents, Ben and Esther Jarvison of China
Springs and sister, Angelinda Platero of Albuquerque.
Pallbearers will be family members.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Betty Rose Denetdale
BUFFALO SPRINGS — Services for Betty Denetdale, 70, will be
held at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 26, at Cope Memorial Chapel. Phillip
Destea will officiate. Burial will follow at Tohatchi Community
Cemetery.
Denetdale died Feb. 21 in Buffalo Springs. She was born Jan. 10,
1932 in Buffalo Springs into the Tangle People for the Towering
House.
Denetdale attended Wingate Elementary School. She was a member of
the Tohatchi Senior Center. She was a homemaker and rancher. Her
hobbies included sewing and quilting.
Survivors include her son, Eugene Denetdale of Buffalo Springs;
brothers, Ernest Destea of Naschitti, Robert R. Destea Sr. of Navajo,
Alfred Destea of Buffalo Springs, Billy R. Destea Sr. and Elwood
Yazzie both of Tohatchi and sisters, Bessie R.
Denetale and Irene R. Destea both of Buffalo Springs.
Denetale was preceded in death by his parents, Carl Ben and Elsie
Jean Yazzie; husband, Fred Denetdale and brother, William Destea
Sr.
Pallbearers will be Eugene Denetdale, Ernest Destea Jr., Christopher
Diaz, Craig Tommy Denetdale, Elwood Yazzie and Robert R. Destea
Sr.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services
at Tohatchi Chapter House.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Margaret Y. Begay
SAWMILL, Ariz. — Services for Margaret Begay, 74, were held
at 10 a.m., today at Our Lady of Blessed Sacrament Catholic
Church, Fort Defiance, Ariz. Father Meldon Hickley officiated. Burial
followed at Fort Defiance Community Cemetery.
Begay died Feb. 16 in Gallup. She was born Nov. 26, 1928 into the
Tangle Clan for the Meadow People.
Survivors include her son, Phillip Chischilly of Sawmill; brother,
Peter Y. Tsosie of Sawmill; four grandchildren; 41 great-grandchildren
and 21 great-great-grandchildren.
Begay was preceded in death by her parents, Billy Y. and Yecozbah
Tsosie; sister, Hazbah Y. Begay and brother, Billy Yazzie.
Pallbearers were Nelson R. Yazzie, Roger Segay, Ray Tsosie, Benjamin
Tsosie, Peter Y. Tsosie and Roy J. Tsosie.
Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Bessie K. Boone
ZUNI Services for Bessie Boone, 92, will be announced at a later
date.
Boone died Feb. 22 in Zuni. She was born Sept. 2, 1909 in Laguna.
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