January 10, 2000
URANIUM ALERT !

RADIATION ALERT
SOL COMMUNICATIONS

There is an open pit uranium strip mine just southwest of sandsprings on
the HPL/NPL border.
The mine is between the 264 and cameron at:
N 35.46.073 x W 111.04.478
N 35.46.062 x w 111.04.382
N 35.45,965 x W 111.05.213

Each position marks a different position within the mine.

The cutoff from the 264 is adjacent to coal mine mesa which is on the
opposite (north side of the road). It is easy to see the turn off because
THE NAVAJO NATION IS RELOCATING PEOPLE to the 264 juncture. You cant miss
it, there are a couple of hundred pads with utilities already in. From
there you go SW several miles.


One of the miners said he worked the mine at the age of 7, helping his
parents. He lives on the HPL. He used to ride atop the bags of uranium on a
donkey to get the Uranium out. There is raw uranium ore all over the place
in plain view. Wind would carry this contamination up into the new
relocation site at the 264 as well as Black Mesa and other surrounding
communities. Water supplies are nearby that lead to the Colorado as well as
Tuba city.

The area is heavily contaminated and the local people are dying of thyroid
and other cancers.

The local residents claim the ALL GOVERNMENTS have ignored thier pleas for
help. One family has had 9 miscarraiges. To may contact about this
situation please call:

888 41 PRAYER ext1
or email me at
meyesol@eudoramail.com

Video, testimonies and interviews have been forwarded to activists in Los
Angeles.

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

January 07, 2000
Letter Writing for Big Mountain

STOP EVICTIONS OF DINE'H IN AZ !              
Remember to be polite. Use your anger about injustice to motivate you to
write a compelling letter. If you need to write about more than one
subject, then write more than one letter. Ask a friend to read it over
and check for spelling, grammar, typo's and your tone. Please send us a
copy of your letter and their replies, thanks !          ISCO
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eric Holder, Assistant Attorney General                
(202) 514-2101          
(202) 514-0467 Fax
United States Department of Justice
PO Box 44378         
Washington DC    20026       
cc: Attorney General Janet Reno, US DOJ    
cc: US Attorney's Office, District of Arizona

Ask Asst. Attorney General Eric Holder to direct the Department of
Justice and US Attorneys for the District of Arizona to not seek
eviction orders from the US District Court in Phoenix to forcibly remove
traditional Dine'h (Navajo) from Hopi Partition Lands in Arizona. He may
help while Attorney General Janet Reno and the Dept of Justice are under
investigation.
Express your concern that this be handled non-violently with sensitivity
to the traditional Elders and different culture of the Dine'h people.
Remind him of the terrible outcome of their raid on the Branch Dividians
at Waco, Texas. Since the DOJ is being investigated for it's role in the
Waco fire, and the FBI were found responsible for a shooting death at
Ruby Ridge in Idaho, the DOJ should halt any threatening actions against
US citizens whose beliefs counter US policies that directly affect their
children, such as traditional Dine'h resisting forced relocation from
the HPL (regardless of their AA lease status). Ask for true justice for
American Indians, starting with the Dine'h on Hopi Partition Lands.
Regardless of any "perceived" land dispute between traditional Dine'h
(Navajo) residents or the Navajo and the Hopi Tribal Councils, forced
relocation continues to violate Dine'h religious and human rights.
Forbidding construction or repair of housing for 33 years under the
"Bennett Freeze Act" to force Dine'h to move is a cruel and
inappropriate measure to solve problems the US has created. Forcing
Dine'h to sign leases to settle legal claims the Hopi Tribe has with the
United States is neither permanent nor fair. The United States must be
more "accommodating" and learn to stop bullying American Indians or it
will only continue to exasperate the ongoing situation. Forced evictions
can only bring tragedy and national disgrace. Instead, the DOJ should
protect the human and religious rights of traditional Dine'h on the HPL.
Please cc: your letters to Holder to the below DOJ officials:
Attorney General Janet Reno, US DOJ, same address as above for Eric
Holder
United States Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona   
(602) 514-7500
US Courthouse, 230 N. First Ave. Rm. 4000 Phoenix, AZ
85025-0085
(202) 514-7693 Fax
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
President William Clinton, United States of America   (202) 456-1111
The White House                            
            then "0" for a person 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
                              (202)
456-2461 Fax Washington DC 20500                    
        president@whitehouse.gov
Ask Clinton to issue an Executive Order forbidding any forced evictions
of Dine'h from the HPL in Arizona. Remind him that the next "deadline"
is February 1, 2000 and that the Department of Justice could forcibly
evict after then. Urge him to show his commitment to human rights here
at home. This is his opportunity to leave a legacy of his presidency by
righting the wrongs against American Indians, starting with the
traditional Dine'h.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of Interior            (202) 208-7351
1849 C St. NW         exsec@ios.doi.gov        (202) 208-6956 Fax
Washington DC 20240    
Fraud, Waste & Abuse:   (800) 424-5081 Toll Free
Ask him to instruct the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation to
not certify the relocation housing on the radioactive "New Lands."
Remind him he was Governor of Arizona when the United Nuclear dam broke
in 1979 spilling 1,100 tons of milled uranium ore sludge and 94 million
gallons of heavy metal effluent into the Rio Puerco in New Mexico,
contaminating the ground water and river bed for hundreds of miles
downstream into Arizona. As a clean water champion, he should safeguard
the Dine'h from alpha radiation and radon gas lingering in wells and the
Rio Puerco riverbed on or nearby the "New Lands" relocation housing
sites.
Ask that he direct the Secretary of Indian Affairs and BIA to create a
voluntary livestock management plan with Dine'h residents living on the
HPL and the Hopi Tribal Council, and to cease forced impoundments.
They've had rain this summer and may have snow soon.
Remind him, as Secretary of Interior, that his "trust responsibility" to
American Indians includes preventing tragic forced evictions of Dine'h
who refuse to sign leases or relocate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INDIGENOUS SUPPORT COALITION OF OREGON
PO BOX 11715 EUGENE, OR   97440
(541) 683-2789         bigmnt@efn.org

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

January 07, 2000
Bonnie Whitesinger's Urgent Plea For Help

Without a kidney transplant, Bonnie Whitesinger, a Dine'h mother of six, could die.
Without dialysis, she will not survive until a kidney becomes available.
Without transportation, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Bonnie to get dialysis.
To qualify as a kidney recipient, she must have running water, electircity,
and a phone; basic utilities that the BIA forbids her to have because she is Dine'h.

The Navajo Hopi Land Commission, with power to help Bonnie, will provide nothing.
Why? Because the Navajo Hopi Land Commission is owned and operated by the
federal government and the BIA. Forbiddance of every human right is part of
the BIA and federal government's plan to drive the Dine'h onto radiation
contaminated "new land" and certain death so that Peabody Coal Company can
strip mine the ancestral homeland of the Dine'h. Until laws can be changed
and action taken, the Dine'h continue to suffer human rights violations, and
Bonnie's situation becomes increasingly dangerous for her. With her urgent
need for assistance and nowhere to turn, the emotional and physical stress
are enormous--certainly more than anyone with renal failure should have to bear.

Bonnie's situation is desperate. She needs your help to be able to obtain
basic services that you and I take for granted so that she will be eligible
for a kidney transplant.

Read Bonnie's plea, open your heart, and help her if you are able.

Thank you.
Al Swilling, Founder; SENAA International

By way of me, Fred,
Praying.

*********

Dine'h Call for Help in 2000!     
Jan. 7 , 1999   
bigmnt@efn.org
from the Other Paper, Eugene OR                 
 ISCO   (541) 683-2789

In January of 1999, several traditional Dine'h (Navajo) families were
served 90-day notices that their names were reported to the United States
Attorney's Office in Phoenix, Arizona and face forced evictions in 2000.

Sometime after February 1st in 2000, these Dine'h still living in an area
designated for Hopi by the United States Congress face possible forced
eviction by the United States Department of Justice, the same agency now
under investigation for their role in the firey deaths of Branch Dividians
in Waco, Texas.  With the help of their supporters, Dine'h will challenge
eviction hearings in the United States District Court in Phoenix, Arizona.

Dine'h supporters are raising funds for eviction hearing costs and related
travel, room and board expenses for the extended families of these Dine'h.

In separate litigation, the Hopi Tribe will be seeking to expel Dine'h
Elder Kee Shay and a non-Indian supporter off the Hopi Partition Lands
through action in the Hopi Tribal Court in January 2000 (the "Hopi Tribe"
is a federally certified tribal council under the United State's 1934
"Indian Reorganization Act" aka the Howard-Wheeler Act of the United
States Congress, rather than a traditional Hopi governing body). 

Also at an unknown date in 2000 the class-action religious freedom lawsuit
"Manybeads V. United States et al" may return for an appeal hearing in
the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.  Dine'h
plaintiffs have a First Amendment constitutional right to remain on the
Hopi Partition Lands and practice their land-based spirituality.

Workers who can herd sheep, help with chores and witness government
harassment and potential evictions are needed to stay at Dine'h homesites.
Background literature and orientation packets are available upon request,
and video presentations and protests are being planned throughout Oregon.

Groups are organizing fundraisers, letterwriting meetings, prayer vigils,
petition signature gathering, pampletting, and action alert phone trees.

Dine'h (Navajo) people have been living in the southwest on the Colorado
Plateau in the former Joint-Use Area (now known as the Navajo and Hopi
Partition Areas) and sharing the area with Hopi since before the Spanish
invaded.  It is ironic the Dine'h are treated like squatters by the US
government who encircled and encroached upon both tribes over centuries.

Indigenous Support Coalition of Oregon (or "ISCO") has been asked by
Dine'h facing eviction to send out a call for help from supporters in
Oregon and across the country.  There is a lot you can do to help and we
urge you to contact us and get involved.  We need your help to make our
efforts count! 
Please call (541) 683-2789 or e-mail us at bigmnt@efn.org
or write:
ISCO
PO Box 11715
Eugene, OR
97440
and offer your help soon!

Front Page or Contents
Black Mesa for 1999
Page TWO of Black Mesa