And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >X-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.3 (32) >Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 13:40:43 -0800 >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >From: Robert Dorman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: LIVESTOCK IMPOUNDMENTS; Phones not in service > >From BIGMTLIST > >This posted by-- >Marsha Monestersky >Consultant to Sovereign Dineh Nation and >Co-Chair of the NGO Human Rights Caucus at the United Nations Commission on >Sustainable Development > >PRESS RELEASE: LIVESTOCK IMPOUNDMENTS > >For further information please contact: >Sovereign Dineh Nation (520) 673-3461 or (508) 540-8980 >February 16, 1999 > >Big Mountain, AZ: The US Bureau of Indian affairs (BIA) launched a massive >campaign of livestock confiscation targeting the elderly Dineh families who >reside on the Hopi Partitioned Lands created by the 1974 Navajo-Hopi >Settlement Act. This area, larger than the state of Rhode Island, is the >poorest region of the US, with an annual per capita income lower than many >third world countries. The elderly people rely upon their livestock for their >survival, living a traditional subsistence lifestyle on lands their families >have inhabited for hundreds of years. > >The BIA ended a self-imposed two-year moratorium on livestock >confiscation in January by mailing notices to all owners of livestock >without valid permits, with impoundments scheduled to begin on February 15, >1999. People who have not signed the leases with the Hopi Tribe are not >eligible for permits. People who signed leases received allocations far >below the number needed for survival. The BIA claims that their sole >purpose is to protect deteriorating range conditions. The people claim >that the source of the problem is BIA range management policies that >outlawed their traditional practice of using separate summer/winter >camps that had enabled them to sustain herd sizes 4-10 times larger >prior to BIA intervention. Furthermore, when government policies disturb >a traditional culture that has been self-sustaining for hundreds of >years, genocide should not be considered as an acceptable mechanism to >correct the problems resulting from those policies. > >While the BIA claims that the range management is an independent issue, >the targets of the impoundment campaign are the same people threatened >by other policies resulting from the 1974 Relocation Act. Over 12,000 >people have already been forcibly relocated from the region, and many >government policies have been designed with the purpose of making life >impossible for those remaining on their land. The people have been >subject to a freeze on housing improvements for 30 years that has made >it illegal even to fix a broken window. The government routinely >confiscates their firewood in winter, and the people have been stripped >of their civil rights. > >The people threatened by the planned BIA livestock confiscation are all >elderly people who have no means of survival other than their >traditional herding. Zonnie Whitehair, the owner of the largest herd in >the area, is faced with the confiscation of her entire herd of 200 >sheep. Her husband, Oscar, died in December, and if her herd is taken, >she has said that she will soon follow. Roberta Blackgoat, like many >other grandmothers, faces the possible confiscation of her entire herd. >In addition to losing their primary food source, the grandmothers lose >their source of wool to weave rugs that provide their only source of >funds for other provisions. As she has stated in reference to the BIA >policy, "This is not range management - it is murder". > > >-end- > > > >============================= > >After posting contact numbers relating to the Big Mountain livestock >impoundment issue, I received some messages stating that the phone numbers >don't work. Here is one such message. Since there is no legal >justification for what the BIA and Hopi rangers are doing, I guess the >appropriate officials have gone into hiding (from angry accusations)! >--Bob Dorman > >============================= >Date: Wed, 17 Feb 1999 12:54:17 -0600 >To: "Phil's List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Bob Dorman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From: Gerry Davidson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: Big Mountain - (Phones not in service} see note below, > Harold. > >At 04:33 PM 2/15/99 -0000, you wrote: ><snip> >Phil and Bob: > >Just made my phone calls again about 12:30 PM today and intersting!!, now >all three numbers, Carolin, Nordwall and Chavez are out. The operator tells >me that he has no listing for them. VERY INTRESTERING. I had planned to be >very professional but, wanted to notify each that an associate of mine had >ask me to discuss what really the problem was at Big Mountain. I did give >my name and state I was calling from to the female who answered the phone >at Carolin's office and also yesterday to the man who answered from Carolin >office that I would call back today. I was told that Carolin would in his >office about 8:00 AM this morning. > >Regards: > >Harold > >******************************************** >You are on the BIGMTLIST, a moderated mailing list >of Big Mountain relocation resistance information >(not discussion or debate). To unsubscribe, email >[EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe" in the >subject header. For non-list members receiving >this post as a forwarded message, you may subscribe >by emailing [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word >"subscribe" in the subject header. For Big Mountain >and other activist internet resources, visit "The >Activist Page" at > >http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/welcome.html >Also, for great internet tools please visit: > >http://www.msw.com.au/cgi-bin/msw/entry?id=1271 >******************************************** > &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
