Letters: Potholes every 5 to 6 feet on road

I am a Tuba City resident who lives in the northwestern part of town where I have to use the Peshlakai road on a daily basis. This road from the four-way stop north to the Potter’s House turnoff has potholes approximately every five to six feet apart which leaves a small section covered with pavement.

This morning at approximately 7:55 a.m., I had to drive the road. I have other chores to do throughout the day, which means I will be driving on the road at least six more times today.

People who live in this area fill the holes with dirt and gravel. This morning a woman was using a shovel filling the potholes with dirt and gravel. She was alone filling the holes. I stopped and thanked her for what she was doing and let her know I would be writing a letter to the Times regarding the road.

Can you imagine this? A woman all alone, filling the potholes. I know Navajo Housing Authority received funds to get the road repaired. This was several months ago but we have yet to see any type of construction happening on the road other than individuals who fill the holes, as was this morning.

There is a petition that was completed several years ago. I know nothing about it as I was not living in Tuba City at the time. All who travel the road must be spending a large amount of funds on alignments, etc., for their vehicles. I had to file with my vehicle insurance company for damage that occurred while driving the road.

School buses, diesel trucks, ambulances, and other organizations travel the road on a daily basis. All the organizations have tried getting the road fixed but there’s always, “You cannot because of this, that and whatever.” It took research to find out who is actually responsible for the road repair and the end result was Navajo Housing Authority and as stated earlier, NHA received funding months ago but we have yet to see any type of construction, except for people like the woman who was filling the potholes this morning.

If and when NHA does fix the road, I believe the diesels and other large, oversized vehicles need to use Main Street to get to their destination.

This letter is written on behalf of the residents who travel Peshlakai daily. Thank you.

Velma L. Maloney-Begaye
Tuba City, Ariz.

Reclassify positions for president, delegate, chapter officials

I am writing in response to the “send us your letters” in the Navajo Times and these are topics that I would like addressed that are relevant to the coming Navajo Nation elections.

There are areas that pertain to the classification of the president, vice president, legislators, and chapter officials. There are comments that salaries are not commensurate with the job titles.

My letters to the various departments and reporters is that the classification for these positions has not been updated for over 50 years. We need these classifications updated so that salaries meet the classification positions.

Salaries are based on degree of difficulty performed. We need the classifications updated so that we can get quality persons in these positions.

We cannot live in this date and time when our leaders lack education to perform. Our chapter officials need degrees to successfully run their chapters. Some of these chapter officials have only a high school education. That is not enough to supervise the aides that are required to have a degree.

We need individuals with education with supervisory and management skills to effectively run the chapters.

There is no control of monetary funds that are distributed to chapters. They need to have tight controls on spending monies by credit cards and the cards need to have a limitation with proper checks and balances.

Staffing should not include family members. Each candidate needs to have a background check, no felony record, and written statement as why they are competing and what their goals are. Let’s bring back a lot of our college educated Navajos back to serve their people. Create housing and decent shopping, medical and dental services available. The candidate should address how they plan to correct present problems and how the government should be set up.

I would like to see Mr. Deschene and Mr. Hanley run on a combined ticket. They certainly have the qualifications to make changes for our people.

Raymond T. Smith
Sacramento, Calif.

At music festival, no food, gas or beeso

I have just returned from Kayenta where we were invited to play at the music festival.

We arrived hours early so we could get a sound check and get loaded in and be ready for our set. That’s when the trouble started. First, there were too many cops and security running around telling people no bags or anything. They were very rude about it.

As the Diné bands were playing, the guitar tech from the main band Soulfly was very disrespectful to our people by blasting a guitar while the Diné bands were trying to play. This was very unprofessional on the part of the main act so I went up to the guitar tech and told him straight to his face to turn it down and people are trying to listen to that band.

He ignored me and I told him he was a guest on our land and to act like a guest. We were told by a promoter we would get gas, food, and beso. We never got our food, gas, or beso. We got excuses after excuse.

There was no water for any of the Diné bands playing. Any professional music festival anywhere in this country always provides water for the band. It’s just professional courtesy, but to the promoters, president, and vice president’s office I guess someone forgot to tell them of professional rock and roll etiquette for bands playing on stage. This was supposed to be a Treaty Day celebration but it felt more like oppression and degradation on Diné musicians and bands.

None of the Diné bands were paid or fed or given water. They were all lied to and used by the office of the president and vice president in the name of k’e and si hassin. Dear Mr. President and Vice President, this is not k’e this is not si hassin and this is not the way of the Diné.

Why do our leaders always lie and put down their own people and then pay the non-Native band all the money? They even gave the non-Native band an award and another band got a flag. I have never even seen any of these bands chop wood for grandma or save a person from a burning building. What exactly did they do to get an award from our tribe?

Plus the 10 grand and then the vice president and president have the nerve to post with the Native Diné band they screwed over, which is very, very unprofessional and is a sellout. If we were back in the old days of the Long Walk, the president and vice president would’ve told the white soldiers where the Diné bands are and where to get them.

After being treated so badly and lied to I felt like I had to write this letter and say something and take a stand for all Diné bands to get paid and treated like a decent human beings with respect and sihasin at its very core. Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, and all Diné music lovers, do you all have any idea how much music we lost on the Long Walk that we as a tribe will never hear again? All the medicine men and women that were killed with their songs in their hearts and soul – do you have any idea?

We, as a tribe, almost lost the music during that time and now my generation is bringing it back to life with new songs. We have a lot of very professional bands and musicians who have been doing it a long time and they deserve to be treated like a human being and be respected, and most of all, paid.

This has been happening in our tribe for a very long time. They pay the non-Diné bands thousand and thousands of dollars and non-Native bands don’t even buy a frybread from our Native vendors. All the Native bands sets that day were cut short to only three songs. We were promised 35-minute sets.

Mr. Vice President stole about 10 minutes from our set to talk about ke’ and sihasin and treaty days. I later cornered him and gave him a piece of the truth and that’s why the white bands get paid and the Diné bands get nothing.

It’s our day, it’s our treaty! Then he said all you guys get exposure. I countered with what we had been exposed with already. You know, there are like four bands here that have been touring all around and making a name for themselves and they are Diné. Why not them? Then his security took him away. Nice guy, but I wish I had more time to talk to him.

I tried to talk to the president but he didn’t seem to care about the Diné bands at all. All he said was it’s good to see you here and you guys always sound great.

I know I’m going to get crap from writing this letter and speaking the truth, but someone has to take a stand for all the Diné musicians. Otherwise the tribe will always treat you like crap and not pay you what you are worth. We have worked with professional promoters and tribes before and never been treated so badly. The promoter there was a lying two-faced, full of excuses, unprofessional person. When I asked him for our pay he said the vice president didn’t give him any money to pay the bands.

I think he pocketed the beso, but I can’t prove it. All in all, it felt like Treaty Day, the Diné musicians were oppressed and lied to and treated real, real bad by their own people and their own tribal government. They don’t acknowledge the professional musicians or respect them and pay them.

Remember this, Mr. President, when you pay a Diné band you are creating jobs and a way for the musicians in our tribe to work their talent and to feed themselves. Hire Diné and pay Diné bands first and foremost then the non-Diné bands. And you have to let the non-Diné bands know straight up don’t act like rock stars, you are a guest on our land so act like a guest.

When we didn’t get our beso and food, we ended up staying with our friends and music family, the Mose family in Hachilta, Arizona. They fed us, took us fishing, and we got to perform for Goulding Tours and they treated us with respect, k’e and sihaasin, and didn’t lie to us and make excuses. They hugged us, bought CDs, and said thank you. That is k’e and that is si hassin.

Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, that is how you treat Diné musicians. You don’t lie to them. You feed them and pay them what their talent is worth. And please don’t let the fair and the tribal government treat our musicians like crap. These musicians are out in the world, representing the Diné people in a good way. Bands like The Plateros, Sihasin, Blackfire, Chucki Begay Family Band, and EDG. These bands have been around the country and representing the Diné people and they all work with kids when the Music is Medicine Music Camp is up and rocking Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, did you know that Music is Medicine had 175 guitar students at one time in one class? It takes a spark to start a fire and these bands I’ve mentioned have started the spark in so many young Diné musicians to this day.

Thank you, Mose family, for your food, time, hugs, music, and fishing. Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, please, please hire Diné and pay Diné first and foremost. And don’t lie to them like you did to us. It’s not cool. Thanks for your time.

Richard Anderson Jr.
Gallup, N.M.

Tribe forcing 20 ranchers off their leases

While the Navajo Nation prepares to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of 1868, an agreement that took the U.S. government four years to decide, the Navajo Nation has been working on a ranching agreement since 2009.

At that time they attempted to force over 20 ranchers off their lease and began a process to redistribute the ranches. It has taken the Navajo Tribe 3,290 days and counting to resolve the ranching issue.

On March 19, I received a certified letter from Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture telling me to respond within 10 days of my decision to lease or re-apply for the existing lease. After completing the paperwork I sent it off well within the allotted time. Since then I have waited another 67 days for an answer. I sincerely hope this can be resolved in a reasonable time as I have been diligent in my response and feel the tribe owes me the same courtesy.

This whole issue is a cultural journey for me as my family has passed down this way of life through five generations and hope to continue in the future. Remembering our suffering insures that we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

Justin D. Yazzie Jr.
Farmington, N.M.

Vote for me for Council delegate

I am of the Deer Spring/Bitter Water Clan, born for the Towering House Clan. My maternal grandfathers are the Holy People Red Running Into the Water Clan and my paternal grandfathers are the Tangle Clan.

I am a registered voter of Tonalea Chapter. I am currently pursuing a master’s degree in health care administration at Grand Canyon University. I am a certified health education specialist. I hold two bachelor’s degrees from Northern Arizona University in the fields of psychological sciences and community health. I obtained my associate degrees from Diné College in the fields of public health and health occupation.

It is with great excitement and pride to announce my candidacy for the Navajo Nation Council. I am requesting your support and vote as I embark on this journey to represent our people. My mission is to be an advocate and speak on behalf of our Navajo people as a Council delegate to improve the quality of life for all Diné communities.

I believe my previous work experience within the local communities qualifies me to be an effective representative. There are many issues that affect a community on a daily basis and I want to invest in these issues by addressing concerns and providing solutions.

I believe that leaders and community members need to work together and support each other on behalf of all stakeholders. As new leadership transitions into new positions, it is important that assessments are made to learn where the organization currently stands. I feel there is a need to conduct community assessments in all five chapters.

Community assessments will help us learn where our communities are at with regards to areas such as health, education, access to running water and electricity, economy, sacred sites preservation, and others.

As a team we can identify solutions that fit the needs of each community. In closing, I want to encourage everyone to visit your local Navajo Election Administration office to register and/or to check to see if your voting status is up to date and valid, for the upcoming Navajo Nation elections.

So, please vote for Jordon J. Begay on Aug. 28 for Navajo Nation Council delegate representing the chapters of Tonalea/Red Lake, Kaibeto, LeChee, Coppermine, and Bodaway/Gap. I appreciate your vote and know that your voice matters.

Thank you.

Jordon J. Begay
Tonalea, Ariz.

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