People tell Shirley their 'stuck in the mud' challenges

By Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. and Louise Claw look at the mud damage around Claw's house on Black Mesa Saturday afternoon. Claw's home is inaccesssible to automobiles due to muddy conditions. Shirley flew to Claw's house in a helicopter and discussed getting her feed, coal and other supplies. (Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent)

BLACK MESA CHAPTER — The inpenetratable mud left by a series of snow and rain storms which washed over the Navajo Indian Reservation in December and January has left families stranded with food running out and the kids not able to reach school bus routes.

This is part of what Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. learned in person Saturday as he took a helicopter ride to Black Mesa, landing to visit three families.

One of the visits, according to his communications director, George Hardeen, was with Louise and Lee Claw, about five miles northeast of the Black Mesa Chapter House.

The president found her outside her home on a warm afternoon with slick mud everywhere. She told Shirley she and her husband had been stuck at home for more than two days, that they were low on canned food and hay. She said her husband was out herding their sheep on horseback.

"A short way from the house, their pickup truck sat mired in mud a few feet from their road," Hardeen added.

Second to receive a presidential visit was Helen Nelson, an elderly neighbor of the Claws, who lives alone.

She said she was low on hay and feeding her sheep a mix of mineral salt and corn. Her daughter Helene Nelson had driven 60 miles from Chinle to check on her mother, but her pickup truck was stuck in the middle of the road about 1,000 yards from her mother's home. So she, too, was stranded at home.

"That's the only road we can come in on and now it's impassable," the daughter commented.

And forage for the 60 sheep, 40 cows and several horses is sparse. It's all the animals had to eat this week because she was not able to bring in hay, the mother relayed to the president.

The third stop was at the Rose Gilmore Chee home a short distance from the Nelsons, Hardeen said.

Mrs. Chee told Shirley her teenage daughter hasn't been able to go to school since Christmas because of the road conditions. She said if a nearby dirt stock pond dam breaks, the flood of water will wash out the road for many weeks, or even longer.

Apache County Sheriff Brian Hounshell, appointed to the job in 1999 when Shirley was on the Board of Supervisors, had told the president on Saturday at the county office in Chinle that deputies already had delivered 300 food boxes, courtesy of a $5,000 donation from the Salvation Army.

While they were talking, a deputy covered with mud returned from delivering insulin to a diabetic person. He had used one of the new Homeland Security six-wheeled all-terrain vehicles; however, sometimes even vehicles designed for such conditions can't reach the stranded people. The sheriff said three elderly people in Thorn Valley received food and supplies after volunteers hiked in through the mud and snow to reach them.

The sheriff said a great deal of credit for identifying people in need and with medical conditions must go to the tribal Community Health Representatives who know everyone in the hard-to-reach outlying areas.

— To reach reporter Jim Maniaci, telephone (505) 371-5443.