Central Diné focus on need for roads

Their votes may have been scattered all over the place, but one issue was on the minds of nearly every voter here in the remote, rural heart of the Navajo Nation: roads. Or lack thereof.

With deep puddles still dotting the landscape from Monday's thundershowers, the network of treacherous dirt roads on either side of Navajo Route 4 - the only paved road between Forest Lake and Piñon, Ariz. - was on everyone's mind the way soupy mud was on everyone's tires.

"They become impassable in the winter time," said Tasha Nez, 24, of Forest Lake. "We worry about the elders. We have to go out there on foot to check on them."

So the debate around the chapter house in both places during Tuesday's primary election was who was going to do something about the roads. Nobody seemed to have heard any promises on the subject from the candidates, and some pointed out that the Navajo Nation couldn't do much about BIA roads anyway.

But there were some good theories on who might do the best job.

Nez was going with local educator Dwight Witherspoon for the area's council delegate. She was impressed by the fact that he had admitted to not being fluent in Navajo, and pledged to learn.

"Since he's taking the effort to learn our language, maybe he'll do something for the rural people," she said.

Valencia Bizahaloni of Piñon, on the other hand, was supporting her chapter president, Bessie Allen, because of her track record.

"She's done a lot of road projects," she said. "She's always been there for her community."

Former Forest Lake Chapter President Dan Begay pointed out that incumbent Lorenzo Bedonie was already on the Transportation Committee, which might give the area more pull.

"I'm hoping he'll do something," Begay said. "He's got some projects going on already."

While Allen handily carried her home chapter of Piñon with 101 votes, she lagged in some of the other four chapters that comprise the new district of Hard Rock/Forest Lake/Black Mesa/Whippoorwill.

Allen was happy to hear that newcomer Witherspoon had carried the day, besting incumbent Bedonie - his closest opponent - by 79 votes. The two men will face off in the general election.

"I ran because after it turned to 24 (delegates), I thought, 'There's a chance to make change!'" she said. "If we vote the same old council in, they'll just find a way to lift the law and crawl under. That's my main issue: Get a new group in there."

Lastenia Wilkes, daughter of current Forest Lake Chapter President Donald Chee, was coy about whom she was supporting for council lest it affect her dad's ability to work with the victor, but said she had voted for Lynda Lovejoy for Navajo Nation president.

To Wilkes, the issue isn't so much roads as accessibility.

"My main issue is getting some services out here," she said. "You call an ambulance, and it's a coin toss whether Chinle or Kayenta will get here first. We need something closer."

Wilkes hopes Lovejoy's "forward vision" will include more development in remote areas like Forest Lake.

Most of her chapter mates apparently agreed, casting 85 votes for Lovejoy. Unlike the Navajo Nation as a whole, which chose Ben Shelly for Lovejoy's opponent in the general election, Forest Lake cast the second-most votes (34) for Donald Benally.

The reason may have been old-timers like Lorene Greyeyes, who recalled Benally's support of former chairman Peter MacDonald Sr.

"He (Benally) was one of MacDonald's supporters, and Peter MacDonald was the greatest tribal chairman that we have seen," Greyeyes said simply.

Shelly came in a close third in Forest Lake, with 23 votes.

Piñon Chapter more closely mirrored the nation as a whole, with Lovejoy garnering 188 votes and Shelly 108. However, Piñon gave third place to Dale Tsosie (98), while Benally ran third in the overall vote.

The only person interviewed at Piñon or Forest Lake chapters who didn't think the roads were the biggest issue was Irene Begaye, the district grazing official for Forest Lake.

"We have a big, big issue that I haven't heard any of the candidates address," Begaye said. "We have had no grazing permits for 40 years now."

Begaye explained that all grazing permits in Forest Lake were canceled in 1973 as part of the Navajo-Hopi land dispute, and since then only six families have had their grazing rights restored.

"Most of the original owners have passed away, and everything's in probate," she said.

Meanwhile, many families continue to graze their livestock illegally, but it makes it hard for them to sell the animals at auction.

Begaye said she voted for Lovejoy even though she hasn't heard a peep out of her on the grazing issue.

"She'll be a big change, and that's what we need," she said. "Hopefully she does something about this."

While opinions were running strong at the two rural Central chapters, spirits were high and voters roamed freely between the different candidates' camps, grabbing a cup of coffee here and a piece of fry bread there.

"There aren't any hard feelings," said Bizahaloni, who lives in Piñon but whose family hails from Forest Lake. "Out here, election day is a day to run into your cousins that you haven't seen in years."

She pointed to two elderly ladies holding hands and chatting.

Bizahaloni said she regularly puts a food stand up on election day, even when she's not supporting a specific candidate, just to encourage people to come out and vote. She's following in the footsteps of her grandfather, John Smith.

"He wanted the rural people to be more involved politically," she explained as she handed out snacks and water at the Forest Lake Chapter House. "He was always trying to get candidates up here to make speeches and meet people. He didn't care who you voted for, he just wanted the people way out here to have a voice."

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