Thursday, March 28, 2024

Letters: Urgent issues outweigh need for Bears Ears lawsuit

Letters: Urgent issues outweigh need for Bears Ears lawsuit

What benefit to the Navajo people would ever come from the Navajo Nation threatening to sue the federal government over Bears Ears National Monument being reduced?

Suing the government over the anticipation of reducing Bears Ears National Monument issues pays more lip service on the land issues then it actually does protecting it. Not to mention the resources needed for filing fees and court costs are probably going to come from resources that could be utilized elsewhere. Needed elsewhere. Should be used elsewhere.

Unemployment hovers around 42 percent on the Navajo Nation (4.4 percent national average). According to the 2010 Census and 2010 American Community Survey, “more than one-third of the Navajo Nation tribal members are classified as ‘severely poor’, with poverty ratios that ranges from below 0.5 to .99.”

A further 19 percent of the Navajo Nation is right at the poverty line and 43 percent of Navajos exist below the federal poverty line of $24,250 for a family of four.

With numbers like those, who can afford to support a Navajo Nation that pushes for a frivolous lawsuit against the federal government on land that was already federally protected prior to a massive 1.35-million acre Bears Ears Monument designation?

The monument designation is entirely outside the borders of the Navajo Nation. It has zero impact on the every day lives of our Navajo people who struggle to simply put food on the table every day. The only economic impact the monument has is for the very people who initially pushed for its creation in the first place – radical environmentalist organizations with extremely close ties to the tourism industry.

Of course it would benefit them, yet for the Navajo people living on the fringes of the Navajo Nation nearest to the national monument?

Hotels, restaurants, and outdoor clothing apparel companies that cater to the super rich with Navajo workers seeing no gain to their financial status. It’s no secret to Navajo workers that tourism jobs do not pay well, resulting in our people to have two, even three jobs at the same time. Plus they’re seasonal, no one likes being laid off for four to five months out of the year.

More urgent issues on the Navajo Nation far outweigh the need to initiate costly lawsuits. We have reservation roads that need improvements all over and children missing class because they can’t even make it to bus stops.

We have families living in the 21st century still with no electricity, no running water, or housing at all.

According to AZCentral, there are around “34,000 new homes needed on the Navajo Reservation.”

Important and pressing issues each, yet threats of frivolous lawsuits are all we have to look forward to?

What is the reason to threaten a lawsuit of this nature? Reducing Bears Ears National Monument? One thing most don’t know but are beginning to understand is that reducing it is probably the best solution. Why? Well for one thing it sits over 11 existing federally protected wilderness areas. These aren’t particularly small area either, as they all are approximately 400,000 acres combined, protecting and preserving the cultural heritage sites and sacred areas.

The highest form of federal protection, wilderness areas, already in place should have never required an unfunded national monument designation. Not to mention the fact that these cultural heritage sites and sacred sites are well protected by 11 separate federal laws which include: Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal Government, Archeological Resources Act, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

It’s unfortunate that the Navajo Nation would rather sue the government for the needs of business owners and clothing companies when we need the attention of our Navajo leaders for our every day struggles here on the Navajo Nation.

Ryan Benally
Vice President
Stewards of San Juan County
Montezuma Creek, Utah

Thanks to Gaming for Vietnam ceremony

The planning of the Sept. 22, 2017, Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Pinning Ceremony was initiated and assigned to our office by Hubert Smith, acting executive director, for the Navajo Nation Veterans Administration two months ago.

The planning was paved with adversity, especially since it was at the end of the fiscal year and the funding was lacking.

We were extremely fortunate to have Ms. Phefelia Bradley, executive director of public affairs, Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise, direct us to the right person, Mr. Doug Kacena, director of sales, Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort, who helped us significantly to make this a reality and a success.

Not only did Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort provide, free of charge, the ballroom and lunch for this memorable event, but increased the lunch, opened another adjoining ballroom to accommodate the 400 participants that participated in welcoming our Vietnam veterans home.

I am tremendously grateful to the Twin Arrows Casino and Resort. Most importantly, much appreciation to Bryce Warren, general manager, Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise, for continuously supporting our veterans.

As with any organization, teamwork is a “must” to make an event a success. Thank you to my co-workers who do an excellent job at working hard right alongside me, Ferlin Begay, accounts management specialist; Laurie Begay, office assistant; and Mr. Hubert Smith for allowing us to organize this event.

Much appreciation to our wonderful master of ceremonies, Lemual Adson, who with his wife Saraphina Adson, are always volunteering with our organization; Jefferson L. Begay, Vietnam veteran, Navajo Mountain; Larry Noble and the honor riders; Arizona state Sen. Jamescita Mae Peshlakai, Gulf War veteran and advisor to Navajo Nation president on veteran’s affairs; Anthony Honahnie, Vietnam War veteran, Purple Heart medal recipient, specialist 4, Moenkopi, Arizona; Lena Fowler, Coconino County supervisor; Leland Leonard, Vietnam veteran; James T. Jackson, major general, U.S. Army (Ret), director, Vietnam War commemoration; and Paul James Rock, distinguished service cross, Army Vietnam veteran.

My heart was full as we came to the close of the ceremony. I was richly rewarded with deep found respect and appreciation for our Vietnam veterans.
The Vietnam veterans we honored on Sept. 22 came from all walks of life, but they shared several fundamental qualities: “courage, pride, determination, selflessness, dedication to duty and integrity.”

Many of our Vietnam veterans didn’t ask to leave their homes to fight on distant battlefields. They didn’t even volunteer, they didn’t go to war because they loved fighting. They were ordinary people who responded in extraordinary ways in extreme times because they wanted to protect a nation, which has given them us.

We have awarded medals to many soldiers, added their names to monuments and named buildings for them, to honor them for their bravery. But nothing can ever replace the hole left behind by a fallen service member, and no number of medals and ribbons can comfort the ones left behind.

On Sept. 22, we gathered together to remember, to honor, and to pay gratitude to those who have served our country – the Vietnam veterans. Our gathering is not a lot, but it’s one small way we can honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live in freedom.

Your presence to all those that were in attendance was a tribute to our Vietnam veterans, those lost troops and to their families. It is a way to say we remember and honor them all.

Thank you for attending and express appreciation to Twin Arrows Casino and Resort for a job well done. God bless you and your families, God bless our troops and God bless America.

Eunice J. Begay
Veterans Service Officer
Western Navajo Agency Veterans Administration
Tuba City, Ariz.


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