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Subject: [Fwd: Navajo-Hopi "Land Dispute" Update; Feb. 9, 1998, Part III]
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Subject: Navajo-Hopi "Land Dispute" Update; Feb. 9, 1998, Part III
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The rest of the "Update", dealing with matters at Teesto, is attached to
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jn

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Navajo-Hopi "Land Dispute" Update: February 9, 1998

Part II


Mr. Alvin Clinton has passed away


     During the Rapporteur's visit, I ran into Grace Smith who told me that Alvin Clinton had
passed away at his home on Feb.  1.  He was to have given testimony on the desecration of Star
Mountain, among other issues.

     The family asked to be allowed to bury him near his home.  There was no response for a
couple days, then a denial.  As a result the funeral was held in Winslow on Thursday, at the
Catholic Church and cemetery.  The family was devastated, both by the loss of their
husband/father/grandfather, and more by having to bury him outside Dine' Bikeya, across the
river.   It was a very ugly thing for them to have to face at that time.

     I knew Mr. Clinton about 10 years. No one who knew him will ever forget that man.  He
was a man who defended his country in World War II, then spent the rest of his life defending
his land and religion, and the Dine' people.  Elmer Clark, his chay, compared him to Manuelito,
Ganado Mucho and Barboncito, and that's how he'll be remembered, I think.  His life showed
that if you stand up for what you believe you will pay a heavy price, but all the same, it can be
done.  In the end, I think that what he was fighting for will be accomplished.  

     Mr. Clinton was also a philosopher or theologian.  He didn't just memorize the
ceremonies.  He was always thinking about traditional religion, the stories and elements of it,
building on it.  The Dine' religion was a working system of thought for him, one he used to
come up with ideas and thoughts that have never been said or heard on earth before.  He was like
Moses that way. Some of us were also reminded how Moses led the Children of Israel through
the wilderness for forty years, but was not allowed to pass with them into the land of milk &
honey.  The spirit of Moses lives in the promise of the Moshiach, so I think Mr. Clinton's spirit
will live in the struggle which continues.

     After the service we all went out to the Clintons' place at Teesto.  The whole community
showed up, people I haven't seen in one place together in over a year.  President Hale sent a
representative, who gave the family a memorial letter.  The weather was good enough to eat
outside, although you could smell ice in the wind that came up in the afternoon.


     *********************************************************************

     I sat with Phoebe Nez to eat at the Clintons.  She said she was relocating, not to "New
Lands" but across the fence into the NPL.  "We're just tired of the rangers coming around all the
time," she said.

     The Dine' Bikeya Committee at Teesto has a new president.  Sam Keyonnie, Judy
Keyonnie's brother, is back on the land and is willing to be a community leader.  The Teesto
Community has always been on its own, without the strong support group presence found at Big
Mountain.  For this reason, Teesto has always had strong leaders and has been able usually to
make its own decisions as a community.  Unfortunately the government's tactics in getting
people to sign the "Accommodation Agreement" caused a lot of division in the community and
as a result the Dine' Bikeya Committee splintered for a while.  The dinner at the Clinton's home
showed, I think, that the community was ready to get back together.

     At Red Willow I learned that the Benally family had also been denied permission to bury
Alice Benally in the area where her prayers were.  She was buried in the NPL, in an area where
she had relatives.  This is the first anyone had heard that there had been a denial of permission
for a traditional burial.  This is a serious matter.  Congress instructed the parties to the P.L. 104-301 settlement that it expected this issue to be resolved.  Apparently the resolution is that no
traditional burial will be permitted.  The US, which engineered the "settlement" and is
responsible for most of its terms, can not really deny responsibility for this violation of the Dine'
right to free expression of their traditional religion.

jn
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