Alert-BIA Threatens Dineh Elder Rena Babbitt Lane
Yesterday, Sunday, August 22, 1999, R. Honyumpewa, Hopi BIA
Ranger G-684BS
and G-495BV Ranger accosted Rena Babbitt Lane. Rena has been
keeping her
sheep on Navajo Partition Land (NPL) since she and her animals
are considered
illegal. However, there was a pool of water that accumulated
from a recent
rainfall just inside the Hopi Partition Land (HPL) fence and she
went with
them through a gate to allow them drink the water.
R. Honyumpewa, a Hopi BIA Ranger came up to her and told her
Your sheep are
trespassing. I do not want you to herd sheep on this side of
the fence
(HPL). I will be back to check on them and if you take your sheep
here for
water again today, I will come back with 2 trailers this evening
or tomorrow
and load up all your sheep.
Rena says This fence was not made by the Hopi or BIA,
it was made by Navajo
and was not intended to be used as a boundary marker for a partition
fence.
I did not cut the fence, I used a gate that was there and I was
with my sheep
the whole time. I just wanted them to have water. There is so
much hardship
out here. It is getting us sick and is causing a lot of heartache.
I have
to haul water, going off the mountain every day when I live right
above the
slurry pipeline and three million gallons of water a day flows
beneath my
land. But I have no water, not for me and not for my sheep. I
am afraid of
what the Hopi BIA will do to me.
Last winter 13 armed BIA and Hopi police confiscated Rena Babbitt
Lanes
horse from her corral. She has a heart condition, wears a pace
maker and has
sustained broken fingers by BIA Rangers in the past, including
being thrown
in an impoundment trailer with enough force the gate to shut on
her back.
She used to have a house but the Hopi Rangers destroyed it and
put a barbed
wire fence in denying her access. Rangers and police have also
confiscated
her wood and truck carrying wood.
Please call the Hopi BIA Area Agency, Wendell Honannie, Acting
Superintendent,
U.S. Department of the Interior
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Hopi Agency
Phone: (520) 738-2249
Tell them to stop committing elder abuse. Water is a right not a privilege.
For anyone thinking of coming to Big Mountain to support the
elders, please
contact me by e-mail.
Thank you for your support,
Yours sincerely,
Marsha Monestersky
Consultant to Sovereign Dineh Nation
E-mail: dinetah29@aol.com