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I'm writing because I can't and never have agreed with the 88 council delegates. Over the years we've all heard many stories over and over about how much money you spend on yourselves.
I have been angry and embarrassed every time. Those rings were the last straw.
Are you all as out of touch with the Navajo people to know Navajos work hard to make rings and jewelry with their last penny and sell them for a living, while you just vote to order them?
If you truly were touch with the Navajo people, you would know by now they want to downsize you. It's been a long time coming.
The money can be better spent elsewhere, maybe to the judicial branch so we can have a bigger jailhouse. Or better yet, dirt roads paved so we can have a better winter on the roads.
Or education on diabetes and alcoholism and what about people dumping trash on Sawmill mountain? They need to go to jail.
I'm already tired of hearing you writing letters about the president's retaliations. It's not true, we, the people, have spoken more than once about downsizing a long time ago, it's just nobody was listening until now and the president's only doing his job to do that, that's why we, the people, elected him. It will be no problem for signatures to pass it.
I suggest if you truly want to help the Navajo people the remaining 64 can volunteer and start such a referendum to vote on that.
The reason why the council delegates are crying about stepping down is because they've been spoiled many, many years. It's time to find a job. Like me, I drive to Gallup every day and work hard.
We Navajos are a proud nation, we take pride in ourselves, and what's happening in Window Rock right now is a lot of whining and crying. Let's not drag this on. We want to downsize the council delegates.
I also read the Navajo Times about "delegates made rude comments to president." Once again I was so angry to think the delegates act this childish.
I think I will go to the next council session and see with my own eyes how disrespectful they are. If they are like this then I wonder what else they do on their off time in Gallup.
Maybe they should have background checks and drug testing like everybody else. Then we'll see who's still standing.
The 25 council delegates to be will be just as effective because it's time to get back to basics and stop arguing. Have respect for our President Joe Shirley and our Navajo ways of life and teachings. Our children are watching us.
Rita Jarrett
Window Rock, Ariz.
Reducing council will not save money
For those of you who believe that reducing the Navajo Nation Council to 24 members will result in saving some money in tribal treasury evidently saving tribal dollars is not your real issue, but to delete 64 council delegates positions will be your satisfaction and life will go on as before.
I would think that there wouldn't be much to be saved with number 24. What appears will likely happen is that the 24 will be overloaded with legislative duties and responsibilities, and in order to meet the high expectation demands from each chapter they represent, a salary increase has to happen, each member may need an office with an individual staff of three to five people, office furniture, computers, assigned vehicles, and not to mention cell phone, laptop, etc.
That's just mentioning a few things and already our dreams of government saving may not be a reality. These operational dollars we will not get to see.
At least now, the local government receives funds that are channeled directly to the chapters at the direction of delegate YJT (experienced piggyback rider).
I would suggest that a quality comprehensive study be developed before having public hearings on council's reduction as far as funds are concerned. That's my own personal opinion.
Wallace Charley
Shiprock, N.M.
Charley is a former Navajo Nation Council delegate.
Flustered, perplexed at actions of leaders
It appears as if I am not the only youth who is flustered and perplexed toward the actions of the leaders in our Navajo Nation community (Letters: "Delegates made rude comments to president," by April V. Tulley, May 1, 2008).
Reading a fellow senior's letter, though not from the same high school, made me proud that at least someone is willing to take a stand and question the motives of our so-called leaders.
I personally did not attend the council chambers because in some unpremeditated way, I knew I would be disappointed.
I didn't exactly know that delegates would be texting and show a sense of disregard to tribal matters, but I heard from second-hand information from people who attended the previous meeting, as well as this year's, that such actions took place amongst the political figures.
Upon hearing this, I made the decision to pass up the opportunity to attend this year's meeting primarily because I felt I could engage in something more productive, and apparently more productive than the delegates themselves.
What was more demoralizing was my own picture that I created in my mind on how our government operates only to see it dissipate quicker than my perception was conceived.
I wanted to believe that there was a sense of formality and that leaders acknowledged each issue, big or small, as paramount. I wanted to believe our leaders of today resembled leaders of great boldness and initiative.
Was this my fault for believing this? If so, I apologize to no one.
Now perhaps I may be overreacting and finally getting a sense of politics in general and a dose of reality, but why must our elders commit such actions so blatantly in front of the youth who are taught to respect preceding generations?
How are we suppose to learn from example is there are no credible examples to follow? Is this a classic case of "do as I say, not as I do?"
Not to say that the entire Navajo government operates in accordance with the council meeting but when the government receives concerns from their youth, who are historically already placed with political disinterest, then that is when you know that the government must act to clean up their dirt.
Much easier said than done? Well, of course.
That is why leaders place themselves in their positions in the first place. They make the conscious decision to work for the Diné, young and old, and therefore are accountable for all they do which does include, if they didn't get the memo, their public images.
If our leaders appear to be apathetic, then what is the use of being a sovereign nation? Answers appreciated.
To our "leaders": Your youth are watching, and, yes, we are learning.
Dani Sandoval
Kirtland Central High School
Kirtland, N.M.
To'Hajiilee police officer did the right thing
As a new member of the community of To'Hajiilee, N.M., formally Canoncito, I wanted to comment on the recent letter about the Navajo Nation police officer who was doing his duty (Letters: "Policeman prevented family's effort to pick up children," by Pastor Lester Secatero, May 1, 2008).
Officer Vandever Jr. is a dedicated and ready-to-serve member of the Navajo Nation police department. I know this from first-hand because I have seen him in action.
As a concerned member of the Navajo Nation, the health and welfare of our Navajo youth is priority, not to mention education - so as it should be for any member of society.
Yes, children are supposed to be turned over to relatives that are not drinking, but Officer Vandever had tried to get in contact with a responsible family member with no luck (as it was stated in the last letter in the Navajo Times).
He did everything in his power to protect those children, so handing them off to Child Protective Services was the right thing to do.
That is a toxic environment for any child and should not be witnessed. All I have to ask is why were the children in that type of environment?
So I stand behind what our Navajo officers have to do in order to serve and protect. We should be so fortunate that we have such strong and dedicated officers in such a small community.
Perry Yellowhair
Albuquerque, N.M.
(Hometown: Naschitti, N.M.)
Window Rock district is failing the students
In honor of Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week, we would like to thank our dedicated teachers and staff who work on the front lines to educate the children of the Window Rock Unified School District. Thank you for your dedication, commitment, patience, sense of humor and expertise.
Yet, despite our gratitude to our teachers and staff, we are writing this letter because of a deep concern over the current state of public education in the Window Rock Unified School District.
Despite our wonderful teachers, the children of the WRUSD are receiving a substandard education. We do not believe that the education of our children is given priority by the current school administration.
It is time that the parents, teachers and community members exercise their right and responsibility to voice their dissatisfaction with the education that the children of the WRUSD are receiving.
The future of the Navajo Nation is at stake. This letter was written as a call to the public, not as a personal attack.
Why are we angry? Doesn't it make you mad and worried that the projected graduation rate at Window Rock High School is less than 50 percent this year? This is unacceptable! This failure to adequately educate our children should inspire outrage and grave concern on the part of parents, the community and the Navajo Nation.
How will our children compete with the demands of the 21st century without a proper education? One might reasonably question who is to blame? We believe that the district administration and the school board of the past years have failed in its charge to educate our students.
And where is the Navajo Nation government in this crisis? Why are they not demanding better for our children and the future of the Navajo people? How is the Navajo Nation ever going to combat the current poverty rates with less than 50 percent of our students graduating from high school?
Where are the parents whose children are not being properly prepared?
The Window Rock Unified School District needs to take a very serious and careful look introspectively at their role in this failure and cease blaming the students, parents, teachers and community.
In our estimation, the low graduation rate is in large part symptomatic of an underlying failure of the leadership in the district. We do not believe that the current school district leadership identifies quality teaching and learning as a top priority.
We would like to call the community's attention to an excerpt from an e-mail that was sent to WRUSD principals from WRUSD superintendent regarding the make-up of snow days in March. It should be noted that this e-mail was sent our around the time when the district declared that all e-mails were "public record":
"It is time for each of you to demonstrate leadership of your department or school. I hope we don't see a protest from any of your staff at the board meeting over the recommended snow make-up schedule. Submission to authority is not a bad thing. Our staff members demand it from our students, they should also model it."
This is an outrage! In our opinion, the goal of the WRUSD administration should be "education, not domination!" What, are we changing the town's name to Fort Submission?
The last time we checked, "freedom of speech" was still a right of the people of the United States and, as far as we understand, the people of the Navajo Nation still are protected under the U.S. Constitution.
We need to ask ourselves whether we want our children to go to school in a district where teachers and staff are not given the right to free speech, but instead, they hide their opinion for fear of retribution.
Do you want your children taught to submit to authority by teachers who are taught to submit to authority? No! Do you want your children to go to school in a district where the goal is domination, not education? Definitely not! No one should.
The strength of a system is in its people. Dictatorial rule is well accepted to be a failed management style, which assures mediocrity. We cannot continue as parents, a community and a people to accept this substandard level of commitment of the school district leadership to our children.
We must demand that our teachers be permitted and supported to do what they know how to do, to teach our children and to assert their professional knowledge and talents in helping to guide the district in its function.
Recently, there has been an exodus of disgruntled teachers and staff who have left their posts at the end of the year or the start of the new school year. To understand why, one must recognize that the lack of autonomy, support, respect and resources leads to considerable frustration among the staff.
Moreover, our schools are running out basic supplies, requisitions for necessary supplies are being denied, professional development is close to non-existent, and at the same time, children are being denied a proper education and are failing to graduate. We know that stable and quality leadership is essential to building and sustaining strong schools where learning is central.
To make matters worse, this year, teachers and staff in the classroom are being cut (or eliminated in the name of attrition) in order to create a more efficient school and school district. The decrease in classroom teachers and staff results in classrooms with more students or larger class sizes. We know that this is not a good thing for teachers or students.
Is this creating a more efficient and effective school environment or is it simply creating more stressed teachers and less productive learning environments? With all the cuts in personnel, supplies and support, we must ask, "Where are the cuts in the district level administration?"
The reduction in staff (or the cuts through attrition) is attributed to a decline in the student population. Where are the students going? Perhaps one should think about the parents who have made the difficult decision to send their children to school in Ganado or Gallup. Students should not have to leave their community to get a good education.
Our teachers and staff have been marginalized by an authoritarian culture where teachers and individual school administrators and principals have no freedom to make decisions. The administration has created a hostile environment in which teachers must teach. Children cannot learn under these conditions.
Please give our teachers a real voice in the education of the children of the WRUSD. Do not reprimand teachers and staff for having an independent voice and for speaking up for the children and families of the WRUSD.
Be proud that they care enough to try to make the school district better. Respect the insights, creativity, innovations, expertise and experience of those who are working on the front lines of education.
If teachers and school administrators are afraid to speak up, to voice a dissenting opinion, to suggest alternative strategies and to suggest changes to improve the learning environment present in our schools, our schools will continue to fail.
While we commend the administration for listening to the staff regarding the details of the calendar, this was an exception to what has become the rule of law at the WRUSD. School staff and district administration must work in partnership to make decisions that are vital to the schools for which they are accountable.
And don't forget the parents and community in this equation. We desperately need a change in the mentality, leadership style and perspective of the school district administration. The current culture existent in the WRUSD is not conducive to teaching and learning.
When dissent is prohibited, consensus is not possible. In this situation, you have a dictatorship, not a democracy. How many people have to get fired or forced out before the community wakes up to what is going on?
Parents, community leaders, politicians - all who care must join school teachers and staff to show the WRUSD that we expect and demand more of our elected officials, school board and our district level administrators.
Parents, it is time for us to step up and take notice of what is going on at school. Parents need to demand a voice in their children's education. It is our right and our responsibility to speak up for the future of our children and of the community. Teachers and staff deserve to be treated like first class citizens, no more sitting in the back of the bus.
What would Martin Luther King Jr. do? In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., "The time is always right to do what is right.
We cannot afford to perpetuate the low graduation rates, the staff cuts and the administration bureaucracy another year. The time is right to speak up for our children and to speak up for the community.
Right now, the children of the WRUSD do not have the opportunity to receive a quality education. We are talking about the lives of individual students and the future of the Navajo Nation. All the students of the WRUSD deserve a quality educational opportunity that will prepare them for a bright future.
Remember, it is the students of today who will be the leaders of tomorrow. The parents and community of the Navajo Nation deserve and should demand better.
We are asking parents, teachers and community members to join us for a "Solidarity March for our Children" on Monday, May 19, at 3:30 p.m. in Window Rock.
We will march from the fairgrounds (near the Window Rock Fitness Center) in Window Rock to President Shirley's office. Come and demonstrate your solidarity with the parents and staff of the WRUSD.
Fort Defiance Coalition of Concerned Parents
Holly Neckerman, Regina Curley, Amy Yazzie, Charlotte Lincoln, Marie Lincoln, Darryl Tsosie, Saraphina Tsosie, Melissa Haley, Kathleen Hubbell and Della Kinlicheeny
Fort Defiance, Ariz.
Chinle school should not go grant
I am a student at Chinle Boarding School. You've probably heard that our school is turning grant. I, as a student, am not very happy with this decision.
The school board members are supposed to help us, but this isn't helping anyone.
If the school goes grant what any good would it do to the students and school? I see no reason for this kind of situation to happen.
The school board members are not generous people because at their last meeting they didn't listen to what the people of the community had to say. They just walked out on the meeting, which is just not right.
How are they supposed to help us if they don't listen to what we have to say?
The school board members are supposed to listen and help us because that is their job and that is why we elected them to be our school board members.
The reason the community picked them is because we thought they were fit for the job, but I guess we picked the wrong people.
I've heard that Mr. Mooring, our principal, and one of the teachers is helping the school board members that they are all helping each other and I've heard that it is illegal to do so as a federal employee. But I only heard that she, Mr. Mooring, the school board members are meeting on weekends planning all these things.
When the school goes grant we won't have enough money to buy supplies, pay for the electricity and all the other important things to this school that is keeping it all together.
The school will have to keep their own money and if we still have the same school board members, the money will be placed in wrong hands. They might start spending it on unimportant things and maybe even stealing the money from innocent people.
There won't be enough money to pay the staff and they'll start leaving the school. When no teacher wants to work for a poor school, the principal will start hiring people who don't even have certification and experience in teaching.
If teachers don't have certification and experience in teaching, they won't teach right to the students. The students will learn the teacher's mistakes and they'll use those mistakes in life.
I, as a student, have been going to school here since kindergarten and this is my eighth year at Chinle Boarding School. Some students have just gotten here or been here since kindergarten or in the FACE program. I want to stay here for my years here since kindergarten.
If the school goes grant I won't be back because it won't be the same without the same staff. Most kids in my classroom and most staff aren't going to return. Most of the students are going to different schools next year. That makes the school have fewer students here next year.
Rocky Ridge and Tonalea schools were going grant, but they didn't. The community and other people fought against the school board members and the principal. Now their school is staying BIA. I want that to happen to our school. I want it to stay BIA and other students want that too.
So please help us, help the students and staff. If you really care for your people, help us. Thank you for your cooperation.
Mariah Taylor, 7th grader
Chinle Boarding School
Many Farms, Ariz.
The real battle is in the spirit
We are living in troubled times for families across the reservation. We hear about young people experimenting with meth, other drugs and alcoholism plagues almost every Native family.
This devil's brew has caused domestic violence, separation and divorce in marriages, birth defects and many children are abandoned and the list goes on.
Add to this list on a very serious situation with alcohol, untimely traffic deaths and our youth committing suicide. Why? I am sure we can all come up with various reasons.
In the midst of all the support services the Navajo Nation government offers, the statistics keep increasing. The real battle is spiritual confrontation.
Now, our government is opening the doors to gambling near the reservation. Our leaders claim this is the will of the Navajo people.
Let me ask our leaders: What happened to the times the people voted down this referendum twice in the early 90s?
By approving and establishing casinos near the reservation, we add another monster to the list, which will destroy the precious family unity of the Navajo people.
This culprit causes separation of families, parents and grandparents spend several hours gambling and the children are left home by themselves. Some older children will have booze parties with X-rated videos.
In conclusion, these people (young and old) have no hope. They need to hear the truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not ritualism, which is a temporary relief. True reconciliation of families comes from God.
Milt Shirleson
Window Rock, Ariz.
Infighting ignores real problems
To add my opinion and experience to the ongoing "soap" within the Navajo Nation departments, now the police department is but one voice out of thousands.
In the past year, my home was burglarized three times. Years prior to that, it was burglarized seven times.
The last burglary, I even had a criminal investigator come and lift prints. To this day, the police department has not filed my report. Criminal investigation says they need to have the police report. I finally have the answer to the puzzle to why things are not moving.
There is all this infighting in the department to not care about what happens in the real world. It seems like the Navajo Nation Public Safety Division has run amuck since the termination of former Police Chief Leonard G. Butler.
Even the demeanor and dress of the current administration has gone to the fashion of going fishing.
Perhaps if the current Navajo Nation administration and elected officials went back to the promises they made in their campaign speeches (i.e., reduce the council, help the people, etc.) the pointless sniveling would be turned into being productive.
I'm sure everyone has an opinion of what needs to be done, but until the elected officials, administrators and Navajo Nation employees become focused on how it benefits others instead of themselves we remain status quo.
Bertha Yazhe
Lupton, Ariz.
Ceremonies are the Navajo constitution
First of all, I would like to clarify a statement from my first letter so that it is correctly understood (Letters: "Ad hoc committee to discuss government reform," April 10, 20080.
The Navajo language is the doorway to the culture and the culture is the ceremonies, therefore, the Navajo ceremonies are the constitution of the Navajo people.
Yes, the Navajo people already have the best constitution in the world. The Navajo people may not be the chosen people but they are definitely the holy people.
I will not enter a church that calls me a sinner, because we are all perfect, beautiful, powerful, eternal, spiritual beings as we were created in perfect oneness with the Creator.
Love does not judge, blame or condemn. Love only forgives, extends and embraces everyone with perfect love and kindness. Don't let anyone tell you any different and don't settle for anything less.
Now for the issues that face the Navajo Nation: education. A society that does not control its education does not control its destiny, enough said.
Economic development is simply turning the dollar around in your own community three or four times like a powwow. Here we get our paycheck and shoot into the border towns and spend it all.
Government: the Navajo Nation government is a socialist government, which means the government is responsible for its people from cradle to grave, but at the cost of freedom. Dr. Becker, professor at Arizona State University public administration called it "the golden handcuffs."
It sure looks pretty, but you can't do anything. Capitalism is impossible in socialism, which is public land ownership. Capitalism depends on private land for collateral.
In socialism, the government is responsible for running all businesses on a non-profit basis, dollars = services.
The Navajo Tribe I remember had tribal enterprises, but some stupid people talked them out of it. Now we just have white men married to Navajo women running the businesses. All the Navajo businesses are burnt down and the tribe is renting buildings that are on their own land from these men.
Jobs: Jobs are in the processing and manufacturing of the products or raw materials. All the tribe does is extract and export the raw materials. Every trainload of coal leaving is jobs leaving and every truckload of lumber is jobs leaving.
The tribe keeps the unemployment rate over 56 percent so by law the welfare money can still keep coming in.
Last but not least, the Navajo Nation Council was voted by the people referendum to be reduced from 88 members to 24 by the direct lawmaking system of the people, therefore, there's no need for a new 88-member complex. That referendum will be enforced.
You may be wondering why I am writing these letters. Well, the tribe provided all the scholarships for me to get all my degrees: bachelor's degree in industrial arts education at the University of New Mexico, education administration at Penn State and public administration graduate studies at ASU.
Long time ago, I made a personal commitment to help the Navajo people and more recently to help the Navajo youth with my knowledge and life experiences.
I am planning to move back to the Navajo Nation next week and build a male hogan to live in with a Navajo sweatlodge and stand my ground for the rest of my life with or without a job.
Ralph U. Davis
Albuquerque, N.M.
We are connected to the Long Walk
I find myself writing a letter to family, friends and distant relatives. In some form or way we are connected to a part of a history of 10,000 souls who were forced to walk into the unknown, now known to be the Longest Walk.
As I walked the grounds of Bosque Redondo Memorial, walking through the sands of time, I felt the sadness and loneliness that resides there.
If I listened to the wind long enough and closed my eyes I could feel sadness to where you wanted to drop to your knees and cry.
To see photos of unknown Navajo girls and boys burdened, probably wondering why someone shoved a box with a hole in the middle into their faces. Anger I felt at the suffering of our people's history, but enraged I am at all of us for the respect and gratitude we show.
What honor? What respect do we have? A building naked of all the artists that our Diné people have, no sculptures like IHS has in Shiprock.
Of memorials I've seen in my lifetime I'm saddened by how we should have showed the love for all those who fell to their death, our beloved people.
I hope these words find the hearts compelled to help Bosque Redondo Memorial, a place our people come together, to look like other places throughout the world where memorials reside.
If you have not been there, it's a place to find the true meaning of hardship, a definition well defined all in the presentation. I also know they accept donations to help (preserve history).
On behalf of my grandfather, Curley John, who taught me to never forget our history, it's because of their survival we exist. I know we all could do more.
Lanetta John
Montezuma Creek, Utah
Appalled at trash
Having just visited St. Michaels and the Window Rock area, I am appalled at the amount of trash I/we saw littering the roadways and backyards.
How can the "nation" justify spending millions on new legislative buildings and leave their area looking like the slums of Los Angeles? Actually, the slums of other U.S. cities aren't as bad as yours.
How can the churches turn their eyes away from all this trash? Why can't the "council," schools and religious groups organize cleanup groups and install some civic pride among the "Native American" citizens?
I've seen it all over the USA when I travel where roadways and "backyards" are cleaned up by local civic pride groups. I was told that this is the way "these people" desire to live. I say that's "b-------!
It's time for some regular people and political cronies to get off their fat butts and get things cleaned up and keep things cleaned up. People first, political building "comforts" last.
Bob Hildreth
Torrance, Calif.
Make recycling a big issue
Hello. I'm writing from Eugene, Ore., but originally from the rez.
I'm 16 years old and I feel that someone needs to step up down there and make recycling a big issue. Up here everyone recycles everything and when I go back to the reservation, I see no one making an effort to save what we call "Mother Earth."
Come on, we're Natives. We're supposed to be the main ones trying to save our Mother Earth.
Obviously we don't need another how many more power plants? How could someone want to build more power plants with the earth looking so bad?
Let's change now.
Kelia Keams
Eugene, Ore.
Looking for best friend
I am writing on behalf of my deaf/sight-impaired sister. She would very much like to reconnect with her best friend from high school whom she lost contact with sometime in the 1980s when she moved from Tucson to Oregon and then to Seattle, Wash.
Her friend Sadie Pinto (maiden name) - married name may be Brown - moved to New Mexico.
I am hoping you might print a notice of some kind that Sadie or someone she knows may see. Sadie is Navajo and is deaf. When I last saw her she walked with the aid of crutches.
My sister is Joellen Fischer (born Joellen Westfall). She is also deaf and is now very sight impaired also with about 20- to 25-percent vision.
She can be reached through e-mail at joellen_fischer@msn.com or through a deaf relay service at 1-866-327-8877 (give the operator/interpreter the No. 206-417-1543).
Any and all assistance you can render will be so much appreciated. By the way, they graduated in the late 1970s.
Steve Westfall
Seattle, Wash.
Thank you during our time of need
Friends are great to have in a time of emergency.
Grayce has a medical condition, which required being treated in a Mesa, Ariz., hospital. Subsequently, she was a resident at a skilled nursing center where she underwent physical therapy. But, this is not the important part.
Most important to Bill and I are the love, support and prayers received during this time. Overwhelming and very much appreciated at a time when they were most needed.
The strength and desire to beat this affliction and walk out of the center comes from wonderful and caring friends and family.
Thank you to the senior citizen's group at Crystal Chapter for their love and assistance. Thank you to the staff and friends at the Fort Defiance Hospital for the help with travel necessities, and to the members of the Navajo Bible Church, your prayers are a true blessing.
To the true friends throughout the area, thank you.
The path to recovery is made easier with the prayers, visits and support from friends. Thank you so much.
Grayce and Bill Kellogg
Fort Defiance, Ariz.
Looking for Roanhorse
I am looking for Frank Roanhorse, A Company, 33rd Transportation Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. We served together between 1960 and 1963.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of Frank, please contact Frank Parker at 707-274-9512 or e-mail to parkerhouse@mchsi.com.
Frank Parker
Lucerne, Calif.