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| Hopis, Navajos End 40-Year Argument |
| 2006-11-03 |
| An accord has been reached between the Navajo and Hopi tribes to end a bitter 40-year struggle over Hopi religious sites on more than 700,000 acres of the western Navajo Reservation. Thousands of Navajos in the so-called Bennett Freeze Area have been without running water, electricity or modern appliances for decades because of a development ban put in place during the dispute. The area is part of the 7 million total acres of Navajo land in which access by Hopis to religious sites will be resolved. Federal officials imposed a ban in 1966 on construction and additional utility infrastructure on the Navajo land unless both sides agreed to it. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., will be in Phoenix today for a signing ceremony at 4 p.m. at the Heard Museum to discuss details of the agreement. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #2 "TheyÂ’re all dirty." Including the Whigs. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-11-03 08:59 |
| #1 Geraldine Beetso, 43, a Phoenix resident for the past 15 years who grew up in the Bennett Freeze Area, said she is hesitant to celebrate the news. Beetso, whose youth was spent in a one-room house with 10 other family members, with only a kerosene lamp for light, said she had watched many people grow old and die awaiting a resolution. I donÂ’t care whether itÂ’s a Trunk or a Donk that controls the White House or Congress. This mess is on both parties hands. Its gone on for decades. I especially hold those who play the Poverty Card[tm] for nothing more than pure political power advancement to be particularly despicable. Wasting time, resources, and efforts on broad portions of poverty driven largely by free choice [of substance abuse, procreating before establishing viable incomes, and blowing off education opportunities] while real poverty like this exists that could be addressed by exactly those wasted resources is tantamount to willful negligence upon all parties. All done for petty political positioning. The next time some cheap two bit scum sucking pol starts to use the language of class warfare, know that he/she is the problem, not the solution. ItÂ’s damn federally supervised land. The roads, communications network, TVA model energy and power infrastructures, pure water, et al should have been in place decades ago. Not one single party has a viable excuse. Every earmark in federal budget after budget for local and state pork took from these resources. I donÂ’t care whether it is a Big Dig in Boston or a city museum parking garage in Topeka or an academic welfare grant to a university for the study of god knows what. Those are not federal responsibilities. Each little piece of greed continues to make this possible. ThatÂ’s why you wonÂ’t see it nightly on television or read columns and columns of material in the dead tree media. Cause no one can tag it for political gain on someone else. TheyÂ’re all dirty. /Rant over |
| Posted by: Procopius2K 2006-11-03 08:57 |