And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 27 May 1999 21:47:00 EDT
Subject: Part I: The BIA returns 6 of 7 cows and Update on Kee Shay's
Exclusion Order
To: Big Mountain Supporters
Return of 6 Cows from the BIA impoundment yard
News flash: Monday, May 24, 1999, we secured the release of 6 of 7 cows
promised for return at no cost from the BIA impoundment yard.
Carlos Begay, Glenna Glenna Begay and Marsha Monestersky went to the U.S.
Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Hopi Agency in
Keams Canyon on Friday, May 21 and on Monday, May 24, 1999. We went there
negotiate for then pick up 7 cows promised to us by Robert Carolin,
Superintendent on Friday, May 21, 1999. However, when we got there we were
told to wait for the results of a conference call between Robert Carolin and
Heather Sibbison, Counsel to the Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt.
What we were told is that Glenna could get back her animals but Alice could
not because she was not eligible for a BIA permit even though she has lived
at her homesite all her life as her parents had before her.
The ramifications for the return of Glenna’s cows created a precedent for the
BIA to exercise their jurisdiction and honor (or issue) BIA permits to all
non-signers of the Accommodation Agreement refusing to sign for a Hopi
grazing permit.
Like it or not the BIA has jurisdiction over grazing. And although the Hopi
tribe is currently trying to lift a court injunction, the reality is that
they do not have any jurisdiction over grazing. This also brings into
question how the Hopi tribe can issue grazing permits for anyone including
signers of the Accommodation Agreement when they are under a court injunction
that prohibits them from exercising grazing jurisdiction.
So how is the BIA going to exercise their jurisdiction now that we are
bringing this to their attention? What we have seen so far is that they have
been confiscating poor peoples cattle, selling them at Valley Livestock, a
public auction in Holbrook, and pocketing all proceeds made from their sale.
The U.S. government has been stealing animals from relocation resisters
including, Rena Babbitt Lane, Ella and Anna Begay, Pauline Whitesinger,
Glenna Begay and Alice Begay to name a few. The BIA is unfit for jurisdiction
as Carlos Begay says, "The matriarchs on HPL have suffered enough and have
been abused enough. It is time tnow for us to get out from under the BIA and
go under the State Department. This is who we signed the Treaty of 1868
with."
February 1, 2000 is still nine months away and the resisters are suffering,
forced to starve, powerless to stop the U.S. government from stealing their
property, religious resources and livelihood. The BIA does not even follow
their own federal regulations. No five-day notice was served to Alice before
her cow was impounded on April 20 and on May 18. Alice and her husband Kee
Z. did not even know these cows were impounded, until on both occasions, they
saw a public notice stating that their cow would be sold at public auction.
What the BIA is calling a five-day impoundment notice properly served on the
impoundment of 2 cows is a notice sent to some unknown person that signed for
a certified mail at Low Mountain School in Chinle, AZ and at a post office
box in Kayenta, AZ. We have copies of these documents and a signed statement
from the Postmaster in Pinon, AZ, the place where they do get their mail.
Alice and Kee Z. want the BIA to give them back the money they collected from
the sale of their cow at public auction on May 5 and the return of her cow
promised to her on May 21. Alice Begay says, "Robert Carolin, Superintendent
of the BIA Hopi Agency promised to give me back my cow. Now he is refusing
to give my cow. My cow was in with the other cattle in the holding area when
Glenna got her cows back. But when they loaded up the cows for Glenna they
took my cow out and put it in the impoundment yard with the others. I need
my cow to come back. I will keep it in the corral with the others to avoid
impoundment. I don't want my cow sold at public auction."
Alice Begay continues, “I was born here and have lived here all my life. My
family, all of them were born here and my grandmother and mom before me. We
have 5 girls, 3 boys, and more than 50 grandchildren. I am illiterate and do
not speak, read or write English. I depend upon my animals for my survival.
How can the BIA tell me I am not eligible for a permit to graze my animals
and continue to steal my animals when they refuse to give me a permit?
Doesn’t that just make them cattle rustlers, stealing my animals then keeping
the money they make when they are sold? I have no money to pay to get my cow
out. It is making me sick thinking about my cow in the impoundment yard.
Robert Carolin lied about giving me back my cow. It made me depressed.
Everything is bad. I can't eat at all and the stress is putting me down.
All this just gives me heartache. Both me and my husband are already sick
from the stress.”
Glenna Begay says, “The BIA is just backing us into a corner and even though
I got my cows back I am forced to have my sheep exiled on the other side of
the fence (NPL) where they are denied access to water that is on the HPL side
of the fence. How can I live like this? I need to have my animals near me.”
She continues, "I see how they feel about us because when I was at the
BIA, Fred Chavez and Robert Carolin said they know everyone of my horses and
their colors. And if they see them on the range they will impound them. It
seems that everyday they are watching us. We have no privacy."
She continues, "When we were just finishing loading up my cows to bring them
home - the BIA Rangers and Hopi police brought in 2 bulls and 1 Heifer brand
(IGB) Brand impounded from HPL. The officers said they captured them from
Range Unit 451. They were just standing there laughing, happy that they
could impound our cattle. How could the US government be allowed to make us
starve?" “We are just like the people in Kosovo, refugees on our land with
no choice but to leave. We are being told that we must leave our land empty
handed and leave all our animals behind. I fear for the end of my ways of
life and my ability to survive.”
Because the BIA has jurisdiction over grazing issues on Hopi Partition Lands
until February 1, 2000, we need your help to ensure that the BIA honor old
BIA permits for all those non-signers not holding a Hopi permit and issue new
temporary BIA permits for all non-signers that do not hold a BIA permit like
Alice and Kee Z. Begay. The irony is that the non-signers need these
permits so they can stop the BIA can stop impounding their animals.
Glenna Begay says, “I know that the BIA has already been found guilty of
having 2.5 billion in tribes trust funds with no record of either deposits or
withdrawals. Haven’t they stolen enough of Indigenous peoples money? The
excuse that the BIA has for stealing our animals is the condition of the
rangeland. If this rangeland is endangered why don’t they just provide hay
and feed to supplement the range? We have been told that the Navajo Nation
can apply for and receive hay and feed for our animals. So why won't they
help us? This is not really about range management at all, it is about
starvation tactics. Why do they want to make us suffer and starve? Maybe
they are just doing this so we will give up and just leave our land.”
The people had a victory today securing the release of 6 of Glenna Begay’s
cows. But what we really need to do is to stop the impoundments altogether
and get Alice and Kee Z. Begay back their cow. What the BIA must do to
remedy this tragedy is to issue permits to all non-signers not holding Hopi
permits and honor these permits until February 1, 2000. What the Navajo
Nation must do is apply for and receive hay and feed for the resisters
animals forced to remain in the corral.
The BIA is feeling the pressure. There must be a humane solution. Please
help us keep the pressure up.
Please call:
Robert Carolin, Superintendent
U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Hopi Agency
(520) 738-2249
Also please call:
Kelsey Begaye, President
The Navajo Nation
P.O. Box 9000
Window Rock, AZ 86515
(520) 871-6000
and
Roman Bitsuie, Director
Navajo Hopi Land Commission
P.O. Box 2549
Window Rock, AZ 86515
(502) 871-6277
Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
Marsha Monestersky,
Consultant to Sovereign Dineh Nation
See Part II Update on Kee Shay and who to contact. I had to send this in 2
segments....
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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