From: redorman@theofficenet.com

Story by C.J. Karamargin, Citizen Staff Writer Feb. 23, 2000

McCain's office target of pickets

Navajo elders gather to speak out against an order to evict them.

Navajo elder Huck Greyeyes from Coal Mesa came to Tucson with his wife,
Genevive, to hold a news conference at Sen. John McCain's office. Greyeyes
believes McCain has been unresponsive to Navajo needs regarding the Navajo
Hopi Indian Relocation Act.
NORMA JEAN GARGASZ/Tucson Citizen

A handful of angry Navajo elders gathered with their supporters in front of
Sen. John McCain's Tucson office yesterday to protest a federal plan to
evict them from Hopi-controlled land in northern Arizona.
Standing before a banner proclaiming "McCain Guilty of Human Rights
Violations," Huck Greyeyes vowed to remain on the land he has shared with
his wife of more than 50 years because it is essential to their Navajo way
of life and religion.
"I will not relocate from my land," said Greyeyes, a soft-spoken man of 77
whose comments were translated from Navajo. "My spirituality is one with the
land."
Although some Navajos have criticized McCain as unsympathetic or indifferent
to their dispute with the neighboring Hopi, Greyeyes declined to resurrect
those charges now that McCain is a contender for the Republican presidential
nomination.
"We're hopeful that if John McCain wins he will help us someway, somehow,"
the elder said.
The protest was held yesterday to coincide with McCain's primaries in
Arizona and Michigan.
At least 15 Tucson police officers barred the Navajos and their 20 or so
supporters from the well-manicured grounds of the senator's downtown office,
at 450 W. Paseo Redondo.
No arrests were made. A protester was pushed by a police officer after he
strayed onto the grounds and ignored a request to leave. Another protester
attempted to prevent an undercover officer from filming the event.
Earlier this month, protesters demanding McCain move to halt the relocation
briefly occupied McCain's office. Two were arrested and charged with
trespassing.
McCain was in Tucson on Monday night for a rally at the University's of
Arizona's Bear Down Gym. He was at home Tuesday in Phoenix, where he voted
for himself in Arizona's presidential primary.
Sky Crosby of the Tucson-based Environmental and Cultural Conservation
Organization, which helped coordinate yesterday's event, said Navajo elders
recently sent a letter to McCain requesting a face-to-face meeting. He said
McCain's office did not respond. A spokesman for McCain in Washington said
none of the senator's offices has received such a letter.
Greyeyes and his 70-year-old wife, Genevive, are among about a dozen Navajo
families who refuse to give up their homes on a swath of high desert
surrounding Big Mountain. The land has been at the heart of the dispute
between the two nations since the late 19th century.
According to the terms of a settlement sponsored by McCain and ratified by
Congress in 1996, the Navajos may remain on the Hopi land if they sign a
75-year lease granting them home and farm sites but requiring them to abide
by Hopi laws. Refusal to sign would lead to eviction, officials said.
The deadline to sign was Feb. 1. Greyeyes said he faces eviction by July.

... many prayers ...

dn: daily news code for auto placement

William "Sky" Crosby, director E C C O
Environmental and Cultural Conservation Organization
Tucson, Az
tel 520 749 0585