Letters: Bitsilly is the right choice for council

A special election will be held Tuesday, June 28, for the Tohatchi, Naschitti, Coyote Canyon, Twin Lakes, and Mexican Springs chapters. At stake is a new Navajo Nation Council delegate. There are 13 candidates. Elvis G. Bitsilly is on the ballot in position No. 1.

Mr. Bitsilly is a homegrown resident of Tohatchi. He did not just move there. He grew up in a home where Navajo is the first language with instruction by his parents that he learn the English language to compete and be successful on and off the reservation. Thus, he has command of both languages, an asset he will use to help our people when speaking with the elderly or with city, county, tribal, state, and federal agencies.

Elvis grew up in a home where hard work was required. He participated with his family in traditional ceremonies, graduated from high school, attended college, and was shaped by his parents’ teachings to be honest, trustworthy, kind, and respectful. His character was shaped long before graduating from Tohatchi High School. He now has that character to be our next council delegate.

Mr. Bitsilly has always cared about the unemployed, homelessness, veterans, farmers, ranchers, the disabled, and us. He wishes to help our people with the basic necessities of life such as clean running water, food, plumbing, electricity, livestock feed, transportation, roads, schools, and homes. He is equally concerned with chemical dependency, good health care, high costs of auto or home insurance, and safety of our people to be secure in our homes.

Elvis is aware of the challenges facing our people on a daily basis. He knows how the dollar moves from a taxpayer to the kitchen table. He understands the budget process. He has the skills to lobby for and get funding for our District 14. We can trust him to work hard because that is what he does. He is savvy with high technology and can communicate effectively.

Please consider voting for my brother, Elvis G. Bitsilly, on June 28. Thank you.

Joey Jayne
Montana State Representative 2001-2008
Arlee, Mont.

Animal cruelty is a reality

“This Community is hurting (because you are leaving).” This was what I was told by a Kayenta Township Commissioner: “It was your decision (to leave).” I was told to “move on.” I was told to stop communicating “negativity” and that I was “bitter” for “leaving.” I was told I was committing “slander” for stating a fact that the commission “did not know the details” of the situation although each member received copies and pictures of the animal cruelty reports a month prior.

I was angry and frustrated after the meeting thinking of nothing else on my drive to Phoenix. The next day, I tried to forget the experience of being pressed and badgered by the Commission. I went about my workday performing surgeries, interacting with new staff, and trying to concentrate on just being a doctor again. Then, through one of my new patients, I came across her again, “Queeny” (alias), the beautiful medium-haired, lilac-point Siamese cross I had tried to save in Kayenta. Tears welled up in my eyes, a deep sadness and overwhelming guilt overcame my professional composure, and I began to weep. I remembered: I tried to save her, but I could not.

I thought about her (and her family) throughout the day and during my commute. I could barely focus on anything else. I thought about how I had been so ineffective conveying her and her family’s story the night before. I thought to myself: “I tried to speak up for you, Queeny (and for your family), but they refused to acknowledge the wrong despite the scientific evidence and despite the obvious abuse that had been committed. Instead, they sided with him, the person who had been responsible for your (and your family’s) pain and suffering. You had been hurt. You showed me how much you were hurting. And, I am sure your family hurts still. Decisions were made for you when someone tried to tear a kitten from your body and you were made to suffer and die a painful death. How was I supposed to present such cruelty and abuse positively? How am I supposed to move on?”

Because I began a dialog about cruelty and abuse, I was told I was being negative. I was told that I was “bitter.” If there is anything that I am “bitter” about, it is the injustice. Yes, I made a decision, under duress, to leave, just as I am compelled make this decision to tell Queeny’s story because it was not permitted at the meeting. I want to say to the Commissioner: “This was not ‘just a cat.’ This was someone’s baby. This was someone’s friend, someone’s family. Your decision, Commissioner, will hurt the community, hurt more families, and hurt more animals. Would you “move on” if this had been your pet?” Alas, it will not make a difference. The details and facts submitted to the Commission did not make a difference.

I could state this fact: Animal cruelty is a negative reality that has widespread societal consequences especially for our communities on the reservation, but this will not be acknowledged. And with all the atrocities occurring in the world, the death of one cat may be meaningless, especially on the reservation. But she was someone’s baby, and that alone has profound meaning to me and to her family. I am here – to be her voice, to endure the insults and disrespect, to accept the risks personally and professionally, and to do what’s right – because eventually, animal cruelty affects us all and it escalates to domestic violence. And, it has had a profound effect on me and of my perception and faith in my people to do right for the living creatures with whom we share our world. So no, I will not “move on” until she is acknowledged, even if it is only in the court of law.

Charletta F. Begaye DVM
Kayenta, Ariz.

Give power back to the people

I am so very proud of District 14 Tohatchi, Twin Lakes, Mexican Springs, Naschitti, and Coyote Canyon collaboratively taking an active stand opposing Speaker LoRenzo Bates’ appointment of Council Delegate Leonard Tsosie for the vacancy on the Budget and Finance Committee. Seriously!

We as people are sick and tired of the United States government and we are outraged with our Navajo government. That is exactly the reason why people do not vote and do not care about the critical decisions our lawmakers inflict on the Navajo people. The young people could care less about their government. We have no voice! Diné government has no transparency!

The Fort Wingate issue is a perfect example 0082-16 was passed, sponsored by Honorable Edmund Yazzie to protect all of our Diné burial sites and not to split the land. There are Diné sacred sites on all four corners of the property and in between Fort Wingate. Watch and see which Council delegate voted for or against. When they vote for themselves we must amend current legislation and recall them immediately. Speaker LoRenzo Bates and Leonard Tsosie slyly and strategically also supported and sponsored 0097-16 to protect Diné burial sites also but the big difference is to “separate” Fort Wingate and give half to the Zuni. I ask why?

For Economic Development to build a casino on top of my Navajo Long Walk descendants burial grounds and sacred sites, No! Removing the burial sites will cost us tens of thousands of dollars. Where would we put them? This sneaky tactic is haunting and must be stopped by your vote.

To date, bullying and your Council delegates not standing up for what is right they bypassed the approval of Honorable President Russell Begaye. Why?

This intolerant decision I cannot trust the Navajo Council. Immediately, the legislation was forwarded to New Mexico Congressman Steve Pierce and was forwarded and approved by Department of Interior. When are we going to heal together as a holistic human being?

I will protest vigorously and lay my life physically down on Fort Wingate sacred grounds with my Navajo tribal flag. During our march our Navajo Nation president walked with community Navajo people to show his support for the affected areas — Church Rock, Iyanbito and Bread Springs chapters. The Navajo Council knew our president would veto this legislation when it reached his desk. Great Navajo leaders who listen and will act for the Diné people need our support and we will embrace them. We also need to terminate the demise of ineffective or bullying leaders who impose negative laws that will have a poisoning affect on thousands of Navajo children in the future. Is your red heart in the right place or do you have a black heart? As a pro-active Navajo registered voter I demand the right to be heard and to be informed. I won’t let you get away with bad legislation.

Our forefathers were intelligent and wise. They gave us the power to mobilize, to be pro-active, to get involved. Remove this runaway Navajo Tribal Council and Navajo Nation government, which illuminates the U.S. government, which is in deficit. It only takes one person to start a positive mighty change and together we can turn the green caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. Absolutely amend, amend, amend and change laws we have that power and the free right as Navajo stakeholders. We the people must empower our vote and oversee the Navajo Nation Council decisions to validate the democratic process.

In closing, a positive historical event is occurring the Diné United for Reform has been established and will start a legacy of commitment to fight for our Navajo people’s future. We need registered voters to sign our petition to give the Navajo people power and a strong voice. You will see us at the flea markets, tribal fairs, on every inch of the Navajo Nation. This effort is not for recognition but for you. I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. No more abuse of power!

We want our Navajo people to take an active role with your vote in every decision our tribal government initiatives and stop the Navajo Nation Council. Please, if you want to be a part of this positive change and help in this important cause for the Navajo people, get trained/certified and pick up your election packet to collect signatures in your area.

Our first amendment of current legislation is to change “Power of the Navajo Nation Council” to the “Power to the Navajo People”. We can change laws together to be put on the ballot in November and you vote for yourselves. Thank you for your support and prayers. The Navajo Nation Council will fight us every step of the way and we are ready for the challenge. Bring it on! The Navajo people will speak for themselves.

For information, contact Navajo Nation-wide certified petitioners, Nicole at 505-728-7574 or Cherolynda at 505-385-7425.

Nicole Walker
Diné United for Reform
Church Rock, N.M.

Cherolynda Bennett
Diné United for Reform
Albuquerque, N.M.

Suggestions for  improving public safety

The Navajo Voters Coalition is writing to express our serious concern regarding public safety and law enforcement within the Navajo Nation. As many are well aware, the tragic abduction and murder of Ashlynn Mike has exposed the shortcomings of the Navajo Nation government’s public safety infrastructure and technology. These shortfalls, unfortunately, are not new.

The quarterly reports provided by the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety — going back more than a decade – reveal several disturbing trends within NDPS, including the lack of competent leadership. Back several administrations to as recent as the Begaye/Nez administration, the quarterly reports filed by the NDPS highlight “annual financial shortfalls” that impact the NDPS operating budget, the hiring of personnel, the purchasing of equipment, and training for law enforcement to meet federal Bureau of Indian Affairs Law Enforcement requirements and qualifications.

If the Navajo public were to read NDPS quarterly reports, they will realize that there is no quantitative data for the arrests rates within the Navajo Nation for Class I to Class IV crimes. When this data was available, the annual arrests within the Navajo Nation totaled more than 58,000 arrests. While the recent building and operation of new tribal detention facilities are a welcomed improvement, the 250 jail bed spaces for an arrest population of more than 58,000 Navajo people does not, by any measure, address public safety within Navajo communities and families. Furthermore, the “annual financial shortfalls” plaguing the NDPS means that these detention facilities do not have the necessary funding to operate or to hire trained and certified detention personnel.

While the national per capita ratio of law enforcement officers to population is 2.4 police officers per 1,000 people, the Navajo Nation has only 0.5 police officers for 1,000 Navajo people. This troubling statistic means that there is less than 225 Navajo police officers patrolling 18 million acres or 27,000 square miles of the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. The Navajo Nation police officers should be applauded for having to provide public safety and emergency response within the Navajo Nation given NDPS’s dismal situation. They also work long hours in an increasingly dangerous profession without the equipment and training they need for their own safety and the safety of our communities and families.

Given the drastically inadequate number of Navajo police officers within our communities, it is troubling to think that if the Navajo Nation had more police officers, Navajo law enforcement may have been able to intervene with Ashlynne Mike’s abduction in a timely manner. The long-term negligence of public safety within the Navajo Nation is heartbreaking, which brings us to the non-existent Amber Alert System for the Navajo Nation. Despite more than $300,000 in funding that was provided in 2011 for this very purpose, in addition to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that provided $1.7 million in federal funding to develop a 911 Emergency Response System for the Navajo Nation in 2015, nothing has been done related to this effort.

The gross incompetence of Navajo leadership, as revealed by the news media interview responses the president provided citing his actions as a member of the Navajo Nation Council’s Law and Order Committee, as well as the puzzling transfer of the Amber Alert funds from the NDPS to the Navajo Nation’s Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, and now back again to NDPS, is deeply disturbing.

Strong and decisive leadership is needed to address the public safety challenges that our Navajo communities and families are facing on a daily basis. To this end, the Navajo Voters Coalition strongly urges Navajo leadership in the president’s office and in the Council to:

1. Create a task force on public safety (this in addition to the Amber Alert Taskforce the current administration recently created) comprised of NDPS representatives, representatives from the Law and Order Committee, and representatives from Navajo community leadership. The purpose of this task force should be to identify existing and emerging challenges with Navajo public safety, and most importantly, to develop solutions to the identified challenges, including community policing and public safety planning.

2. Renegotiate the 93-638 contract agreement with the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs to increase federal funding for NDPS.

3. Manage the development of a new Navajo Nation Law Enforcement Academy, identify internal and external funding sources for the building of the Academy and the recruitment of Navajo police officers.

4. Lobby the Navajo Nation’s congressional delegation in both the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and congressional appropriation committees for federal funding for Navajo Nation public safety infrastructure and technology.

5. Review various federal grants the Navajo Nation receives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other federal agencies that provide funding to the Navajo Nation related to public safety, law enforcement, and detention. As it stands, our review of the quarterly reports indicates the need for coordinated management of federal grants to ensure funding is expended according to grant requirement, and to ensure federal grant requirements are not overly limited for use within the Navajo Nation.

6. Review existing public safety functions of the NDPS, Department of Emergency Management, Department of Corrections, and other entities such as the legislative oversight authority of the Navajo Nation Council’s Law and Order Committee within the Navajo Nation government structure that may have a role in public safety for duplication of services, or overlapping responsibilities. Streamlining government function for public safety may increase funding and expand services for public safety within the Navajo Nation.

7. Review public safety coordination with the state (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah) and county law enforcement to identify opportunities to provide law and order in remote Navajo communities. The review should be undertaken with a concern for clarifying.

8. Review, develop and amend the Navajo criminal statutes to ensure that Navajo laws are adequate to provide both punitive penalties for criminal offenders and justice for Navajo victims.

In summary, public safety within the Navajo Nation needs a complete review and redevelopment, increased funding for operations, training, and equipment, and the hiring of 300 additional Navajo police officers. As a last comment, with the development of an Amber Alert System and 911 Emergency Response System, the calls for law enforcement within Navajo communities will dramatically increase the need for Navajo police officers to address crime and emergency situations within the Navajo Nation. While the creation of a task force may focus on the development of these two critical law enforcement and emergency information infrastructures, policy analysis reveals that the capacity for increased law enforcement will be needed to handle the increased service calls that may result from an Amber Alert and 911 Emergency Response System.

The Navajo Voters Coalition can assist. For questions, contact Anthony Allison, president, at 505-787-8494.

Public safety is an important issue for all Navajo voters. Thank you for your attention and participation.

Marilyn Lee
Board Member
Navajo Voters Coalition
St. Michaels, Ariz.

Veterans office  must be funded

Last week on Thursday, June 9, I went to the Shiprock veteran’s office to make a follow up on a request I submitted. Come to find out that the office was without money. No funds for office supplies, no ink for their printers and to make copies of documents, no funding for veterans funeral/casket assistance, no funds for veterans native healing and NTUA about to shut off the power for no payment.

During his campaign, Russell Begaye stated veteran’s issues was one of the pillars and promised to address those issues as president of the Navajo Nation. I understand that request was made to his office about the funding. His office has not responded to date.

I talked to Shiprock Delegate Tom Chee about this issue Tuesday, June 14. We discussed that these veterans are Navajos with the right to vote. Veterans are one of main campaign promises during election. Why do our veterans have to endure more hardship here at home?

I asked the Budget Committee of the Navajo Nation Council to ensure that our veterans are taken care of. We are not asking for freebies but our benefits and what was promised to us.

I ask that the president get off his duff and address this funding problem at the Shiprock Veterans Office, his hometown.

Vern R. Lee
Fruitland, N.M.

Trump is the only one who just puts it out there

The general election for the next president of the United States is in November. My opinion is that the Republican front-runner Donald Trump will win because he is the best choice for the Republican Party ticket, if the media don’t make it chaotic.

We all need a change at D.C. Change the laws so there are more equal rights for all American citizens. This country is based on immigration. Almost all of U.S. citizens are immigrants, and yes some are here illegally, but we are all on the same boat trying to make a living.

Donald Trump is just putting everything out in the open. He is not afraid to say what he believes in and he knows the business end for and of this country.

Supporting his views is complicated to accept, but he probably will make D.C. a whole lot different, maybe better.

Make America great again.

Larry Smith
Cowsprings, Ariz.

A poem for the Code Talkers

I wrote this with the understanding there are 14 Native American Nations in Arizona. I also wrote this with knowledge of how your ancestors were treated, and then how the Navajo Nation saved us in World War II. After the way we treated your ancestors, I find it interesting that you would fight to defend us. Navajos are a special people for sure! You are an Arizona point of pride !

14 Nations

For thousands of years

14 nations across the land

With customs and culture

They have stand

They tamed the mountains

And a river or two

They hunted and fished

Herded livestock too

A welcoming people

Who would share their place

An invader came in

And took their space

A big war came to the land

Invaders had given them zeros

One nation came to the rescue

The Code Talker Heroes

Now for thousands of years

They have lived on this land

Because they saved us 

We all get to stand

Thank you Diné

David W Prescott
Phoenix

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