Meeting to focus on assault
Woman claims abuse by BIA officers

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

BLACK MESA — A meeting is scheduled for tonight in Tuba City regarding the Bennett Freeze compact and the apparent assault of an 84-year-old Navajo woman at the hands of Bureau of Indian Affairs police officers.

"It's a real delicate issue regarding human rights," said Clarence Raphael, who helped bring Rena Babbitt Lane off the mountain after the November incident.

Lane, a fierce foe of forced relocation, lives in a remote region of Black Mesa, without electricity or running water. She can't speak, read or write English. On Nov. 4 three BIA federal rangers raided Lane's home in anticipation of a law that would force her removal from her land.

"As a Navajo who respects his elders and his people I must say it's time we punished these lowlifes, those born with no morals, those who wish to demean our mothers and who dare to do such a thing to an old woman, home alone," said Chester A. Begay.

Police shouldn't be able to hide behind their badges while accosting the elderly and breaking the law themselves, Begay said.

It would be an outrage, he said, if "we allow these jackals to harm an old woman."

The public should be made aware of this atrocity and the rangers identified as Sgt. Richard Honeyumptewa, Officer Albert Goldtooth and Officer Derrick Begay be held accountable, Raphael said.

But not everyone is out for blood. Sara Hayes urges caution.

"I'm not doubting what happened to Rena Babbitt Lane I know, for a fact, it did," said Hayes. But she worries that someone may be using this issue for political purposes.

The forced reloaction bill has been stalled before a Congressional committee since June, with small chance of it coming up for a vote before the new Congress is sworn in, she said.

The story "raised my suspicions," Hayes said.

According to sources, the three heavily armed agents " ... broke into (Lane's) home, dragged her from her bed, threw her around, shook her cane at her, threw her cane on the roof of her home ... " and forced her to stay in one of their vehicles while they searched her home and her son's without search warrants.

During the altercation, Lane with a history of heart problems suffered a heart attack.

On Nov. 15, the Western Navajo Agency on Aging representing 18 chapters unanimously passed resolutions in support of Lane and calling for hearings on elderly abuse in the region.

John Christian Hopkins can be reached at hopkins1960@hotmail.com or by calling 505-371-5443.