50 Years Ago | Redistricting shuffles political landscape

A bill was introduced into the Arizona House of Representatives this week that, if passed, eliminates the complaints from non-Indians in Apache, Navajo, and Coconino counties to having Navajos elected to their boards of supervisors.

Every election for the past decade has seen non-Natives living in the southern portion of these counties refusing to recognize the right of reservation residents to vote in county elections. They argue that it is not right to allow Navajos who pay no property taxes to elect members of the board who would have the responsibility to determine how property tax revenue is spent.

Of course, this is a bogus argument. Still, many Republicans living in those three counties have refused to take note of all the federal court decisions allowing Native Americans the right to vote in off-reservation elections.

So, a group of non-Native representatives has introduced a bill that would change county lines to put the northern part of the three counties into its new county, with Window Rock being the county seat.

Navajo leaders immediately opposed the bill, saying this was just another attempt of non-Natives to discriminate against minorities and keep them from having any power in off-reservation politics.

Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald Sr. pointed out that an all-reservation county would have significant problems getting enough revenue because the primary source of income is from property taxes. It would be a problem if 90% of the land in the county cannot be taxed.

The proposal is not expected to get many supporters because this type of change would require a vote in the three counties, and many voters in all the sections would have to approve the change.

A few years later, Navajo leaders were looking at a proposal to create a single district that would include all the reservation lands in Arizona and New Mexico so the Navajo could elect their own representatives to Congress. This would not have worked since representative be districts had a minimum population of 420,000 people, and the total population of the Navajo and Hopi reservations was just over 100,000.

Wrestling team is top story

Fifty years ago, high school basketball was the most popular among sports fans on the reservation. Still, in mid-February, the attention was on the wrestling, particularly the wrestling team at Window Rock High School and their unbelievable win over Tuba City.

Going into the match, no one would have predicted a Scout victory. After all, the Warriors had not suffered a loss in two and a half years.

In a lengthy article – on page two, which shows how big a story his was – the Navajo Times gave readers a rare insight into a sport underreported by the paper for the most part.

Terry Weaver and Hardy Phelps inspired with pins at crucial junctures as a determined squad of Scout grabbers ended the 1972 wrestling season with a sensational 28-25 victory over Tuba City,╙ the lead paragraph said.

╥The Scouts achieved what a few hours earlier had seemed virtually impossible with Äclat and dispatch,╙ the article said. ╥Terry Weaver╒s weekend on the mat will not soon be forgotten by him, his admirers, and Scout fans in general.╙

The only downside to the victory was that fewer than 100 Scout fans attended the matches, even though this was held on their home court. And many of those were family members. Weaver was up against Arthur Garcia in the 112-pound class. Garcia had been one of Tuba City╒s top wrestlers in 1972, having been named the state champion in that weight the year before.

The Scouts found themselves ahead by 28-7 with only three matches left, so their victory was assured.

╥Scout coach Don Rae was seahorse after the matches ended,╙ the article said. But he managed to tell his players that they were now ready to go to the regional tournament the following weekend in Holbrook.

Readers of the Times probably noticed that the article was better written than most of the other articles in the paper that week. The word ╥Äclat╙ in the story should have told readers that a reporter did not write this. In fact, in more than 55 years as a reporter, I haven╒t used that word once.

It means a brilliant display which is what a reporter would say. The article itself was not bylined, but it was evident that it was written by Milton Bennett, who was working for the Window Rock School District as a public spokesman.

He wrote two or three stories about what was going on in the school, with many of them dealing with the various sports teams in the school. The articles were well-liked by all the readers, and Chet MacRorie often gave them great play in the paper.

It was also a big win for the school district as the stories substantially increased the enthusiasm for the teams by the fans and may have been responsible for even more people becoming fans.

Since the Times was still developing a strong sports page, these stories were appreciated. It also gave a lot of publicity to the players, going to Window Rock and the players on the other teams.

But Window Rock wasn╒t the only school that had its own publicist. The Fort Wingate Bears also had one named Pat Graham╒s, and his stories, while not as eclectic as the ones about the Scouts, also did a lot to bring attention to his school.

When the two teams played, the two writers would often write up a preview, and I would combine the two articles in one and write it as if the two were humorously challenging each other. I once wrote a story about their rivalry, suggesting that the two wrestle each other to determine the better publicist.

They never did it, but I thought that the event would see the arena packed with fans if they ever did.

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