Taking a stand

(Times photo - Cindy Yurth)

Betty Scott, fifth from left, gathers with her family and supporters Saturday at the survey marker that indicates the southwest corner of a 100-acre parcel Leupp Chapter has withdrawn in the hopes of being the second site for a Navajo Nation casino. Environrmental and archeological surveys of the land have not yet been done. Scott says there are multiple Anasazi sites on the property.

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Betty Scott says that, more than anything, she's just confused.

"Everybody's always saying, 'We need to preserve our Navajo way of life,'" Scott, 73, said in Navajo translated by her daughter, Norma Scott. "I'm trying to do that, and they want me to move over and make room for a casino."

Counting her grandchildren, Scott says, her family has been running sheep and cattle on this rocky, rugged stretch of high desert for seven generations.

"My chei is buried over there," she said, pointing with her chin to the east. "My grandmother is over that way."

With five other families, Scott has grazing rights to the 100-acre parcel Leupp Chapter has withdrawn for the Navajo Nation's proposed Twin Arrows Casino just off Interstate 40 east of Flagstaff.

According to Chapter President Thomas Cody, she is the only one who has not agreed to give up her grazing rights to the land.

Scott says she's not trying to be an obstructionist.

"Those other people, they don't live here any more," she said. "I'm the one who will be affected."

Scott says she's under so much pressure from the chapter and her neighbors, it's starting to affect her health.

"She went 73 years in perfect health," said Norma Scott. "Lately, she's been to the doctor three times with pains in her chest and stomach."

So far, the casino is only in the planning stages.

"The environmental assessment, the archeology, none of that has been done," Cody said.

But with the surprising success of the Fire Rock Navajo Casino near Church Rock, N.M., the Navajo Nation is turning hungry eyes toward its next possible gaming site.

Chapter officials want to maximize the development with other businesses: a hotel, a golf course, rodeo grounds, and plants producing bottled water and ice. The latter are opposed by the group C-Aquifer for Diné, which has thrown its support behind Scott's efforts to stop the casino, according to C-Aquifer member Ellen Branch.

"The way we see it, these issues are all related," Branch said. "It's about preserving - the land, the water, the way of life."

Cody said he's confused by the group's opposition.

"They run around saying, 'C-Aquifer for Diné!'" he said. "Well, the Diné had better start using some C-Aquifer water before Flagstaff gets it. They've already filed a claim."

Cody said when he first approached the Scotts about the land withdrawal, "they were all for it until they realized they wouldn't directly get the profits from it."

That's not true, Scott says.

"I don't need money," she said. "I have my animals. I just want my grandchildren to be able to enjoy the same life I enjoy."

Most of the children and grandchildren live elsewhere now, but Norma says she's already to starting to build a home on the land and hopes to move back. One of her brothers has a house next to her mother's.

Cody says if Scott is really thinking about her grandchildren, she will support the casino.

"They'll have jobs right in their community," he said. "They won't have to go to Winslow or Flagstaff."

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"What kind of jobs?" retorts Scott. "Cleaning toilets for white people?"

While federal Indian gaming law prohibits individual families from receiving a portion of the casino's profits in exchange for giving up their land, Cody said there are other ways to compensate stakeholders.

"Of course we'll reimburse the families in the area for the loss of their grazing rights," he said, "and we could set up a trust fund, similar to the Utah Navajo Trust, for their grandchildren's education."

He thinks the Scotts are taking a narrow view of the situation.

"This development will benefit the whole Navajo Nation," he said.

Scott says maybe it's Cody who's taking the narrow view.

"Quality of life is more than money," she said. "This gambling is just greed. It's something that's new to our people. If we really want to help our people, we'll go back to our traditional ways."

Cody said if Scott won't sign on, the development may proceed without her approval.

"She's got close to 10 square miles and maybe 50 animals," he said. "We may be able to argue that she's under-utilizing the land and taking 100 acres away won't affect her way of life at all."

Scott says she can't imagine her quality of life won't suffer when she's living 50 yards from a casino.

"The way I was taught, this land is for the little antelope and the hawks and the Anasazi, whose things we're not supposed to even touch," she said.

"I say my prayers and make my sacrifices down where that casino's supposed to be," she said. "I'm not just thinking of myself or even my children. I'm thinking of the land, the way I know it. I just want it to stay the same."