And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 01:20:23 EDT Subject: Big Mountain elder-Exclusion Order Update-2 Navajo Times articles Dear Big Mountain Supporters, These articles appeared in this weeks edition of the Navajo Times. I will keep you updated about any futher developments in the Hopi tribe's attempt to exclude Big Mountain elder Kee Shay. Please keep the pressure up. Yours sincerely, Marsha Monestersky E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web sites: http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/welcome.html and http://www.solcommunications.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------- Navajo Times Thursday, May 27, 1999 Hopi Tribe�s Order of Proposed Exclusion unfolds By Wendy R. Young Navajo Times Correspondent FLAGSTAFF - In response to the Hopi Tribe�s Proposed Order of Exclusion, Kee Shay has sent a letter to Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor requesting a 30-day extension in order for him to obtain the texts of the Hopi tribal ordinances that he has been accused of violating. Kee Shay�s wife May Shay resides in the �unauthorized dwelling� on the HPL, which the notice alleges is in violation of federal, Hopi tribal, and Hopi village laws. May Shay told human rights activist Marsha Monestersky, �I have lived here since before i was 18 years old when I married Kee Shay. I am now 76 years old. My sheep corral, my house, and my ash pile is here. This is where i live. We are even told that our hogan which we need to rebuild in order to have ceremonies is illegal. How are we to survive? �How can the Hopi Tribe say we are a danger to the Hopi Tribe? I am afraid when I am here alone, the Hopi police come by here and tell me to leave my home and that I do not belong here. (Or that) They do this to me when I am sheep herding. Who is going to protect me? How can they do this to me?� Kee Shay�s son Shay Benally has been trying to attain copies of the Hopi tribal ordinances. Benally told Monestersky, �I went to see the people at the Tuba City Navajo Hopi Land Commission to ask if they could give me a copy of the Ordinance 46 and 43 that my father Kee Shay is being cited in violation of. they told me they have the information but would not give it to me. How are we supposed to respond to the Exclusion Order? They should take the word �Navajo� out of Navajo Hopi Land Commission.� The Tuba City office of the NHLC says that Benally did in fact come to request copies of the ordinances, however the staff person who handles legal matters and who holds copies of those documents was out of the office. Benally was told to come back. Benally also reported that he approached the Hopi Chairman�s office on May 21 requesting copies of ordinances, �I asked him if he would give me the text of the Ordinances that my father Kee Shay is being cited in violation of. He just told me that he would not give me the information and that he wanted to keep this information confidential. Confidential from who? My father Kee Shay and my mother are being told they are going to be excluded from their home.� When asked to verify Benally�s visit to the Hopi Chairman�s office, Administrative Assistant Jackie Nahee was unable to find anyone who had spoken with Benally. �We have no record of that,� she told the Navajo Times. �Usually they would fill out a form and we would make copies...It�s public record,� so the documents should have been provided, Nahee indicated. The Shay family has never approached the Navajo Times to promote their case. The Navajo Times covers this story because it has implications on all residents of the Dineh HPL, including dual residents of the HPL and NPL, as well as signers and non-signers of the Accommodation Agreement. As Benally commented, �Kee Shay and May Shay are afraid of what will happen to them at the hands of the Hopi Tribe and I wonder what will happen to us and who they will target next.� ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------- The Navajo Times May 27, 1999 Hopi exclusion ordered (EDITOR�S NOTE: The following press release was issued on May 20, 1999 by the Hopi Tribe after the Navajo Times published a story in the May 13, 1999 issue about a Notice of Proposed Order of Exclusion issued by the Hopi Tribe against elder Dineh resident Kee Shay. It is printed in its entirety.) KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. - According to media reports, Kee Shay, a resident and member of the Navajo Nation is opposing Hopi efforts to exclude him from the Hopi Reservation. Shay recently received a notice of proposed order of exclusion from the Hopi Tribe acting under authority of a Tribal law which allows the Hopi to protect their people and lands by excluding or removing individuals who are illegally on Hopi land. �Mr. Shay has no right to be on Hopi land, no right to graze his cattle and sheep on Hopi land or to construct buildings on Hopi land. In spite of repeated Hopi warnings, he has done all of these things openly and without permit or other authorization. Such behavior is not acceptable or tolerated in off-reservation communities and it will not be accepted or tolerated here. Our records indicate that Shay is not a member of the Hopi tribe. Shay is also not among the Navajos who are eligible to continue living on Hopi land under the process of accommodation negotiated between the Hopi, Navajo and the United States. As such, Shay is simply trespassing on Hopi lands,� stated Eugene Kaye, Spokesman for the Hopi Tribe. According to the Tribe, Shay�s actions are considered harmful to both Navajo and Hopi families. The Hopi Partitioned Lands hit hard by the ongoing drought conditions has reduced the capacity of the land to support grazing livestock. �When outside individuals illegally trespass and allow their animals to graze on lands that already suffer from diminished capacity, we hurt both Navajo and Hopi families living on HPL who depend on t hose same lands for authorized grazing. Shay�s actions in arguing his case through the media is clearly an effort to disrupt and use for his own benefit the ongoing peaceful process of accommodation taking place between the Hopi Tribe and Navajo families to which he is not a party. Shay�s illegal presence on the HPL has nothing to do with the Accommodation process,� concluded Kaye. Lenora Lewis, Chairperson of the Hopi Tribe�s Land Team agrees. �The Hopi government has a responsibility to look out for the general welfare of its citizens. In this case, both Navajo and Hopi families lose when outsiders encroach on natural resources they depend on. These families are already facing livestock reductions due to the conditions of the land. HPL families don�t need outsiders using up their grass when they are the ones who suffer the consequences. They also don�t need outsiders creating issues surrounding the Accommodation process, especially when it does not concern them. The media needs to be more responsible in not agitating situations that could hurt the interests of Hopi and Navajo families on the HPL.� Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
