Navajo times. [volume], March 01, 1961, Page PAGE 2, Image 2

About Navajo times. [volume] (Window Rock, Ariz.) 1960-1984

Image provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ

                
PAGE 2
THE NAVAJO TIMES MARCH, 1961
Shaw Says City Loses Cash
Callup will start losing payroll
checks beginning about March 15
because the city failed to provide
suilicient housing to staff the big
Gallup Indian 200 bed referral
hospital.
That is tl»e end lesult of a long
battle which Dr. James R. Shaw,
director ol the United State Pub
lic Health Service Division of In
dian Health, has waged unsuccess
fully for the past year and a half
to get housing for the hospital
staff.
‘‘The hospital has just had its
final inspection and we will start
opening it on a unit by unit basis
by the first of April. The hospital
is scheduled to be in full opera
tion by the first of July. As of
row we actually have 44 people
in Gallup. But we have a total
of 113 cuirently on the Gallup hos
pital payroll. There are only 62
rental vacancies in Gallup, so we
Ground Breaking Rites
At Four Corners Plant
Installation of a flagpole at the
site of the multi-million dollar|
Four Corners Power plafnt of the
Arizona Public Service Company
22 miles southwest of Farmington
today, took the place of the usual
ground-breaking ceremony.
Taking part were Waiter Luck
ing, APCC president; Allen Chris
tnsc, Utah Construction company
president, and Paul Jones, chair
man of the Navajo Tribal Council.
Jones, in a speech prepared for
delivery at the ceremony, said the
main interest of the Navajo tribe
in pi ejects such as this is to pro
vide jobs for Navajos in the con
struction and operation of the
plant itself, as well as “ a better
way of life for all of our people
through the low cost power which
will be produced here.” „
Jones said he hoped the electric
rower produced will attract many
industries.
He visualized a grid of power
lines throughout the Navajo res
ervation. electric power in Navajo
dwellings and with the advent of
such power, the acquisition of el
ectrical appliances, including re
frigeration and television.
The tribe will also receive a
Indian !
Schools |
Pushed i
(
Hie Interior Department moved i
quickly today to carry out Presi- i
dent Kennedy’s order to establish
school facilities for 5,000 Indian j ]
and Eskimo children. <
Kennedy announced at his news
conference Thuisday he was or
dering something done about the|;
plight of the Indians mostly
Navajos in New Mexico and Ari
zona.
Today, Interior Secretary Stew
art Udall announced the Bureau
of Indian Affairs had already as
signed a staff to prepare plans,
for schooling the Indians and to,
correct unsafe and obsolete federal *
Indian school facilities.
"The most urgent needs are in
the Navajo area of New Mexico
and Arzona where we have a short
age of about 5.700 (school) seats
and in Alaska where we need
roughly 1,000,” Udall said About
300 additional seats are needed in
the Choctaw area of Mississippi
and in other scattered locations ’
The secretary said his depart
ment considered it a “crash pro
gram” and planned “to put a great,
have had to stash some of these
people away at other locations un
til we have the housing for them,”
Shaw told the Independent in an
interview.
USPHS would be bringing these
people into Galiup as ol now if
proper housing were available for
them, Shaw said, ‘‘But it isn't, he
added. We are basically up against
the same old problem,” By Mar.,
15, some of these recruits now in
other locations would be drawing
their first paycheck in Gallup if
the housing were available. As it
is now, Shaw said, ‘‘that's just
one less payroll check that won’t
be spent in Gallup” multiplied
many times over.
Shaw had sought to have 150
housing units ready for the hos
pital staff by January 1, 1961. The
hospital will have a staff of 300
approximately. He plans U> recruit
percentage from the mining of
coal for the plant and a “fair”
overall rate on power, Jones said.
Arizona Gov. Paul Fannin was
one of the invited guests and while
New Mexico Gov. Edwin L. Mech
em was unable to attend the cere
mony, he plans to attend a ban
quet tonight in Farmington along
with Lt. Gov. Tom Bolack.
Reservations
Bill Opposed
The Southern Ute Tribal Council
objected strongly Sunday to a bill
before the Colorado Legislature
which would give the state com
plete jurisdiction over criminal and
civil legal actions on Indian res
ervations.
If the bili w'ere to become law,
the council said, it would abolish
the law and order departments
in the Southern and Ute Mountain
Tribal Reservations the only 1
reservations in Colorado.
The proposal was introduced by
Rep. Arthur M. Wyatt, D-Durango.
Southern Ute officials said they
knew nothing of the bill until it
came to their attention through
newspaper and radio reports.
Council# Chairman Anthony
Burch said no member of the tri
bal organization had been consult
ed about the bill. The Ute Moun
tain Tribal ouncil confirmed that
it had not been informed on the
measure.
In a letter to Wyatt, the Ute
j people asked that the bill be with
drawn.
Butch pointed out that the South
ern Ute Tribe spends $55,000 p
I year to maintain a five-man police
force and for welfare costs re
sulting from tribal rulings.
“If the .Wyatt bill were to be
come Burch said, “these
expenses would have to be borne
by all the people of La Plata,
I Archuleta and Montezuma coup
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about half of the personnel for
the hospital from Gunup residents.
The other 150 will be trained per
sonnel that will be b:ought in
from other communities and from
the USPHS commissioned corps.
USPHS officials became alarm
ed about the housing situation ior
trtbir Gallup hospital staff anj
some 63 new housing units 'have
been built in Gallup. Most of them
are for sale. Os the 62 rental units
now listed as available in Gallup
Shaw said, ‘‘many are in base
ments and are substandard.” Shaw
had hoped for 135 rental units
for his staff.
Such housing simply is not avail
able and USPHS has had “a real
tough time recruiting personnel to
come to Galiup. Most of my med
ical staff are commissioned offic
ers going into Gallup under orders
but against their personal desir-
The new plant will have a ca
pacity of 350,000 kilowatts and will
use coal as a fuel. The coal will
be supplied by the Utah Construct
ion and Mining company which
has extensive mineral leases next
to the plant site.
The new installation, expected
to go into operation in 1963. will
cost more than SIOO million.
ties if the Indian peoples were to
receive the same efficient serv
ice.” |
Burch said there is no possibil
ity of tax revenue from Indian
lands to help meet the added costs.
■
Club Celebrates
Indian f)nv
Indian Day was sponsored by
the Dineh Club of Cential High
School, Kirtland, N.M.
The theme for the day was
“Pride in our Indian Heritage.”
Carrying out this theme was an
exhibit of the arts and crafts ot
Indians. Seeds representing the
different ciops raised by the In
dians were also on display.
Many students and members of
the faculty dressed in various tra
ditional Indian costumes added to
the spirit of the day. The squaw,
Imogene Benallie, w'as crowned by
Brave, Jimmy Daniels.
Mrs. Anna Wauneka, member of
the Tribal Council, was the guest
speaker. She gave a most enjoy
able talk in which she encourag-j
ed the Indian youth to make the l
I most of their days in school in
obtaining an education and at the
same time to retain as much as 1
possible their own Indian heritage.
The Dineh Club hopes the cele-
I bration of Indian Day will become
<an annual event.
es,” Shaw said. Finally, on Feb. .
16, the Bureau ol Indian Allans,
acting as contracting agent lor
USPHS, announced bids for the
constriction of nine public hous
ing units lor the top medical of
ficers who will live on the hospital,
grounds and will be on call 24-
hours a day. Gallup builders ob
jected to this public housing, for
which a contract for $203,363 was
let to W. A. Elliott Coonstruction
Co. of Albuquerque on March 3.
Shaw said that these nine public
housing units will be completed
by the end of the summer and;
will insure adequate quaiters, at j
least, tor his top medical person-'
nel. They will be rotated into Gal-!
lup on USPHS tours of duty. Theyj
include the top medical officer, the i
deputy medical officer, the chief!
and deputy chief of surgery, the!
deputy chief of medicine, the chief
of orthopedics, the deputy chief
of pediatrics, the chief ot obstet-i
rics and the chief dentai officer. |
There are no present plans to
build any more government hous
ing units at Gallup, So the rest
of the staff will have to find its
housing on a catch-as-catch-can ba
sis, Shaw said. ‘‘The time will
come when I will have to order
our recruits into Gallup" who are
a.ready on the hospital payroll but I
are living elsewhere because of!
the current lack cf housing. "What
I am fearful of is that many of i
these recruits eithei will refuse
to come to Gallup or will quit'
shortly alter they do come be-
Junior Colleges
Bill in Senate
Junior college enabling
tion was pending action in the
Senate today, following approvalj
by the Senate Finance Committee
Tuesday afternoon. j
House Bill 55, pioviding for lo
cally supported junior colleges in
San Juan County and tour other!
counties in the state, received a
‘do pass’ recommendation in the i
tough committee after a number I
of amendments were added by
Sen. Albert R. Greer of Farming,
ton.
Pioponents believe the Senate
will accept the bill by a lair maj
ority but will make no guess about
whether Gov. Edwin L. Mechem
will sign it. By the time th e bill
reaches the governor the so-called
“veto deadline” will have passed,
therefore he could kill it by tak
ing no action for the succeeding
20 days.
Greer explained to the commit
tee that his Jments were de
signed to up objections of
some committee membets. The
favorable recommendation came
on a 7-4 committee vote. Sen. Fa
bian Chavez was present but ab
stained from voting.
Greer's most important amend-
SERVICE AND DEPENDABILITY
FOR OVER 7# YEARS
FLAGSTAFF • WINSLOW
HOLBROOK • WILLIAMS
PAGE • GRAND CANYON
AND RESERVATION TRADING POSTS
cause of lack of housing.- Hons?
ing has been the big prooiem ia
recruiting. Many people just don t
want to come to Gallup without
assurance 01 adequate housing lor
their families.” Shaw said.
"I don't know what we are go
ing (o do. We can't bring bousing
into being. And we juSt can't op
erate a hospital without a staff.
It is unthinkable to me that this
problem has remained unsolved,
although 1 predicted that we would
haw trouble with housing at Gal
lup six years ago,” when the de
cision was first made to put the
hospital at Gallup.
Asked whether he was sorry now
that Gallup had been chosen ac
the site for the hospital, Shaw
said, ‘‘No. Gallup is the logical
place for it if we are ever going
to solve the Indian health prob
lem in that area.” But he said
that he was discouraged that Gal
lup citizens had not faced up te
1 the housing problem when they
! realized that the government wa*
putting into the community “a
mulli-million-dollar hospital which
will have probably the largest pay
roll in Gallup and which will be
one of tile finest hospitals in the
state.”
Cur.ently Shaw plans to have
i 23 medical officers at the hospital
! during the coming fiscal year.
* Presently there are 44 Gallup ho®*
pitai doctors and employes in Gal
lup. two of whom have purchased
i homes, eight are renting and 34
are local residents.
ments require that the pubWe
schools join in providing a trans
portation stystem for junior col
lege students, that members «4
the junior college board be elected
each from separate public school
districts in the college district,
that no dormitories will be built,
that the junior college be guided
by a senior institution in prepar
ing a curriculum, and that prior
to establishing the college a 10-yr.
enrollment projection, 10 year
campus expansion plan, a trans
portation plan, and a plan for
public school use of facilities ii
the college folds be drawn up.
The amendments also provide
that the college “may” set up vo
cational courses (rather thaa
“shall ") and that the state board
of education “may” approve a
college district.
If the bill becomes law, college*
could be established upon peti
tion by property owners and ap
proval by voters in San Juan,
Eddy. Lea, Chavez, and perhape
McKinley Counties. AH financial
support would be local, with con
struction of facilities through build
ing bonds and a tax property t-as
levy.