Letters: Mother looking for adopted son

My mom has made a major effort to try and find her son (my brother) recently. She put him up for adoption through the Navajo Nation Social Service. However, she did this in the early 1970s and not sure where to start. I don’t even know where to begin to help my mom find the necessary resources either.

My brother was adopted through the Navajo Nation Social Service. What information I received from my mom is as follows.

He was born Nov. 12, 1973/1974, at the Gallup Indian Hospital or on Jan. 12, 1974, in Gallup.

My mom, Betty Jean Largo, named her son Christopher Largo. He was immediately adopted as soon as he was born. Since he was adopted out through the Navajo Nation and in his 40s there was nothing Navajo Social Services office could do.

My mom said she thought she gave birth on Nov. 12, 1973/1974, but her aunt said she gave birth on Jan. 12, 1974. Anyway, my mom said everything was a blur. The days after she adopted, she tried to get her baby back but social service told her she couldn’t do that.

If he has non-identifying information, his mother was born in 1949 and was age 24 when she had him. Both parents are Navajo.

If anyone has information on my brother, I may be contacted at nizhoniwalker@gmail.com.

Bettina Walker
Salt Lake City, Utah

Bad experience at the Show Low VA clinic

I bring my health matter to the director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System attention, because my primary provider in Show Low VA Clinic failed to provide adequate consultation and referral for my nagging right knee problem.

I have been experiencing pain and swelling in my knee for several months. He conducted limited examination consisting of visual inspection of my ailing knee and poking. I requested him to consult with and refer me to Phoenix VA Orthopedics for further examinations like an x-ray and perhaps MRI. He said everything possible to discourage consultation and referral. He remarked that there is no need to do any injection for temporary relief of pain, I do not need an x-ray, and I certainly did not need an MRI. He also said that I should not withstand a doctor cutting into my knee, which is not necessary and it could further complicate my health. The only thing he chose to do for me, probably to get rid of me from his office that day, was to make an appointment for me with physical therapy at Phoenix VA Hospital. I questioned that referral, because how would a physical therapist at a VA Hospital know what to treat me for without other examinations? If there is something seriously wrong with my knee like a ligament tear, would physical therapy just aggravate that problem?

I left his office disappointed and depressed, because I knew something was ailing my knee and it has been swelling off and on. The swelling will subside for a period of time and it will start all over again.

In pain and disappointment, I made an appointment with the Public Health Service at the Gallup Indian Medical Center. Fortunately, I was accepted and scheduled for a visit with an orthopedic doctor. As soon as I showed up at his office, he sent me directly to the x-ray department simply to learn what it is he will be dealing with in my knee. The x-ray showed something irregular with my knee, so he scheduled an MRI. A couple of weeks or so later, I reported to the MRI department where the specialist thoroughly administered an in-chamber MRI on my right knee. The results of the MRI on CD and analytical report were submitted by the GIMC doctor. I was summoned back into his office and he informed me that I have been experiencing cartilage damage and an aggravating substance that was keeping my knee from healing properly. He scheduled a surgery to repair my knee.

On April 18, 2015, at 9:30 a.m., I was admitted to the operating room of Gallup Indian Medical Center, where he performed incisions into my right knee and made repairs. The surgery involved anesthesia and was an outpatient procedure so I was able to go home the same day.

…I have been experiencing problems with short or discrimination practices at the Show Low VA Clinic. As a 100 percent disabled American war veteran and a Navajo war veteran living on the Navajo Indian Reservation, I have felt for too long that we (Navajo veterans) are considered low priority when it comes to appointments, care, and treatments at the Show Low VA Clinic.

… Thank you for your attention.

Howard Bitsui
Window Rock, Ariz.

 

‘Child now in the comfort of the Supreme being’

I was a resident of the Four Corners area most of my life working at the San Juan Hospital for several years. I was shocked and saddened at the callous crimes committed against Ashlynne Mike.

Please know that many “white people” suffer at the immeasurable pain the family, community, and the Navajo Nation must endure.

This child is now in the comfort of the Supreme Being. The perpetrator must face the laws of the land before he faces judgment in the hereafter. May peace follow you.

Davona Hatley
Brownsville, Texas

 

Officials: Use extreme caution when choosing to use permanent fund monies

Recent editions of the Navajo Times have included articles concerning the Navajo Nation Council approving an initial $150 million five-year Expenditure Plan from the investment income of the Navajo Nation Permanent Fund.

I take great interest in reading these articles because as the controller for the Navajo Nation in 1985, I had the distinct honor of serving as chairperson of the 1985 Navajo Bond Financing and Investment Committee. It was this 1985 NBFIC that originated the vision of creating a Permanent Fund for the Navajo Nation.

The other members of the 1985 NBFIC were Elouise Chicharello, Elmer Lincoln (attorneys representing the Department of Justice) and Leonard Haskie (chairperson of the Budget and Finance Committee).

The 1985 Navajo Tribal Council Resolution CJY-53-85, “Creating and Authorizing a Permanent Fund for the Navajo Nation”, includes the clause “The Navajo Bond Financing and Investment Committee has worked on the concept of a permanent fund in conjunction with its specific tasks to strengthen the financial position of the Navajo Nation, and recommends the adoption of the permanent fund legislation as set forth herein”.

In 1985 and prior years, the Navajo Nation’s most significant unrestricted, recurring source of revenue came from depleting natural resources (i.e. coal, oil and gas, timber). Utilizing the rationale that these natural resources and its related recurring revenue would become depleted at some future point in time, the 1985 NBFIC determined that a new, recurring revenue stream (i.e. investment income) could be developed by creating a Permanent Fund.

This initial rationale of the 1985 NBFIC becomes extremely important today as it is my understanding that current recurring revenue from Navajo Nation natural resources have been in decline. It is therefore important that Navajo Nation elected officials use extreme caution in developing expenditure plans from the investment income of the Navajo Nation Permanent Fund.

Bobby White
Gallup, N.M.

LCR water rights negotiations must be transparent

As a Diné resident of the Little Colorado River watershed, I am concerned that the LCR water rights negotiations must be as transparent as clear water, so that we all understand what is being given away, and what is ours forever.

Our Fundamental Law (1 NNC 205) teaches that:

The four sacred elements of life, air, light/fire, water and earth/pollen in all their forms must be respected, honored and protected for they sustain life; that all creation, from Mother Earth and Father Sky to the animals, those who live in water, those who fly and plant life have their own laws, and have rights and freedom to exist; that we Diné have a sacred obligation and duty to respect, preserve and protect all that was provided for we were designated as the steward of these relatives through our use of the sacred gifts of language and thinking; and that it is our duty and responsibility as Diné to protect and preserve the beauty of the natural world for future generations.

President Russell Begaye declared in his State of the Navajo Nation Address that the Navajo Nation has “an inherent, pre-constitutional and superior right to water”, and that guiding principles to negotiate a Little Colorado River water rights settlement are to protect our lifeways, support our populations, retain as much water as possible, and preserve our opportunities for economic development.

Good ideas! How do we make them real to ensure our water and food security?

We must have a detailed Water Master Plan for every chapter, to protect all water supplies and water quality, and all water uses for all life in the future. Water for (a) domestic needs; (b) municipal, schools, hospitals, government, and community facilities; (c) commercial wholesale and retail businesses; (d) irrigated and rain-fed agriculture; (e) livestock drinking water and for rangelands and pastures; (f) wildlife drinking and habitats, including “in-stream” flows; (g) cultural purposes; and (h) for recreational purposes.

There should be no industrial use of our precious limited water until the N-Aquifer is fully recovered, at which time the Navajo and Hopi will decide on future industrial uses, if any.

Every Navajo chapter, and every Hopi village, must think about it, talk about it, pray about it, and develop their own detailed Water Master Plan to be included in the LCR negotiations. The new LCR settlement must also ensure that all Diné and Hopi rights to the LCR are quantified with real numbers, so that we know for certain how much water is ours forever.

And all the Diné whose survival is being determined forever by the LCR Water Rights Settlement Agreement must be fully informed of all aspects of the negotiations in advance, with time for reflection and discussion of all matters.

Who is benefited by rushing this? We must take the time to do it right this time. Our grandchildren’s children are watching.

Ed Becenti
St. Michaels, Ariz.

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