* chopped Millions in Funding for Navajos (Health/Education) for Iraq War

[The Straight Story]

Freeze Compact Signed

Diné reactions mixed

By Marley Shebala
Navajo Times
Font: N / N+ / N++

Times photo - Leigh T. Jimmie

In distress over the Navajo-Hopi compact to end the Bennett Freeze, Woody Smith, 81, of Canyon Diablo near Leupp, Ariz., say he will be forced to move his home because he lives within a half mile of an eagle's nest and the compact restricts residences within an one-mile radius.

....

"We've lost a lot of people, a lot of elderly because of it, never to be seen again. There was a lot of suffering, a lot of heartache, a lot of tears. But now, finally after over 40 years, the Freeze has been lifted, and it's ecstasy and exhilaration for these people, my people."

Shirley acknowledged the efforts of the Navajo Nation Council, 1934 land dispute negotiating team, Hopi tribal council, former Hopi Chairman Ivan Sidney, Hopi Vice Chairman Tony Honyaoma Sr., U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and other federal officials, and Navajo Nation attorneys.

He also noted that the Navajo Nation is still working to obtain millions of dollars in federal aid needed to bring the living standards of hundreds of Navajo families into the 21st Century.

This would involve the establishment of electricity, running water and transportation services and the construction and repair of homesteads that could not, by law, be modernized since 1966.

On Tuesday, however, Jim Zion, an Albuquerque attorney representing the Forgotten People of Bennett Freeze Community, a grassroots group protesting the compact, told his clients it's highly unlikely Shirley will succeed in getting the needed money.

Zion said President George W. Bush chopped millions of dollars in federal funding for Indian health and education programs to fund the Iraq occupation.

Odds are low that Navajo officials can persuade the Bush administration to divert funds from the war effort to help families in the Bennett Freeze, he explained.

The Forgotten People have filed a lawsuit to nullify the compact on grounds that it contains serious flaws and could actually limit their ability to enjoy use of their ancestral lands.



http://navajotimes.com/news/freezecompact120706.html

[elehhhhna]

1. Of course. The Navajo Nation doesn't do Gambling.

No quid-pro-quo for the Bushmafia. Duh.