Navajo times. [volume], March 01, 1961, Page PAGE 3, Image 3

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

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

                
The chairman of the new task force studying Indian
programs thinks Uncle Sam is trying to stuff a lot of
projects down the throats of Indians whether or not they
like them. And the chairman, who is chief of the Okla
homa Cherokee tribe and executive vice president of
Phillips Petroleum company in Bartlesville, Okla., thinks
that’s a poor way to treat 500,000 American citizens of
Indian descent.
W. W. Keeler, who was named to the task force after
declining the job of Indian commissioner unloaded some of
his gripes in an appearance before the House interor com
mittee. Keeler is on a three month leave of absence from
Phillips to spearhead the Indian task force.
“Speaking as an Indian,” Keeler told the committee,
“I think the government has failed to consult enough with
Indians.” He said he thought that many times in the past
the government has brought problems and programs to the
Indians without ever asking the Indians whether or not he
has been sold on them.
Keeler said his task force hopes to come up with a
constructive forward looking program to present to Interior
Secretary Udall, pointing out that in the years he has been
familiar wih the Indian program, “there has been very little
program.”
The executive vice president of Phillips implied that
more lip-service is given to Indian problems than real
thorough-going attention and follow-through. He said that
it was apparent to him that there has not been enough
honest-to-goodness effort on the part of the Bureau, the
department of interior, the Indians themselves, the people
who are working in behalf of the Indians and congress, to
work these problems out together.
Keeler made the observation that the Indian problem
had been studied to death and therefore he promised that
his group plans to come up with specific recommendations.
That coming from an Indian and a man successful in
the business world should not go undeeded.
Voting Divisions
Splitting Planned
McKinley county commissioners
yesterday decided to ask the Gal
lup League of Women Voters to
work on a project that will result
in eventually splitting seven of the
county’s voting precincts to make
both vote-casting and the work of
election officials easier.
Slated to be split before the next
election are the heavy voting pre
cincts at Zuni, Tohatchi,, Thor
eau. the Gallup library, Gallup
senior high school, Gallup junior
high school, and Jefferson school.
The commissioners instruct
ed County Clerk Ernest Garcia to
contact the League on the project
and then work with them on the
precinct-splitting program.
The commissioners also instruct
Girl Scout Week
Observed Mar. 12 18
Annual Girl Scout Week will be
observed March 12 through 18,
with the week’s events beginning
with Girl Scout Sunday, when all
members of the organization are
to attend the churches of their
faiths in full uniform and in
groups, accompanied by their lead
ers.
Major activities and interests are
demonstrated in the seven days
es Girl Scout week. In addition
to Girl Scout Sunday, other days
•re: Monday, homemaking day;
Tuesday, Citizenship; Wednesday,
?
RAIJUO VINES
WINDOW ROCK, ARIZONA
Phone Window Rock 2-5124
Published semi-monthly by The Navajo
Tribs. The Navajo Times is an inde
pendent newspaper serving the interests
ml the Navajo people.
NAVAJO TRIBE —Publisher
RONALD F. RIPLEY—Editor
Subscription rates —By mail, J2/jK) pei
year ; at newsstands, 10c per copy ; spe
cial rate for 9 months, 41.59. Advertis
ing accepted at 11.59 per column inch.
ed Garcia to advertise for bids
for new sidewalks around the
courthouse to replace those new
weather-worn and deteriorating.
The work of constructing a park
ing lot at the west end of the
courthouse lawn will probably be
completed this week, according to
Joe Kren, commissioner in charge
of this work. Also on the improve
ment schedule is a joint * county
city project to widen Hill street
in front of the court house, move
the sidewalk back from the street
and thus add additional parking
spaces.
Guido Zecca was named chair
man of a county recreation and
parks committee, to plan estab
lishment of recreational and park
areas in the county.
health and safety; Thursday, In
ternational Friendship; Friday, -
arts and crafts; and Saturday, out
of-doors day. Scouts have been
requested to wear their uniforms
to school during the week.
The Girl Scout organization is
for girls seven through 17 years
of age. Its purpose is to help girls
develop as happy, resourceful in
dividuals ready to share their ab
ilities as citizens in their homes,
communities and the world.
Activities are geared to three
age groups: seven through nine
years, Brownies; 10 to 12, inter
mediates; and from 14 through 17
years, seniors.
Scouts of this area are mem
bers of the Chaparral council,
which cobers northwestern New
Mexico and the Navajo reserva
tion in Arizona and Utah.
Membership in the council:
6358 Brownie, intermediate and
seniors: 2039 adults serving as
leaders, troop committee, board
and committee members; 470-
troops.
Udall Wants More
Navajos in School
Secretary of Interior Udall ex-,
pects to have plans completed with I
in a week or 10 days for pro
viding 5,000 additional school seats
for Indian pupils.
Ready, at the same time, will
be his proposals for correcting un
safe and obsolete Indian school fa
cilities now in existence.
A request for funds will then
be submitted to Congress.
Language Barrier
Problem of Schools
The Gallup - McKinley county
school district is unique in many
ways—size of enrollment, area of
coverage and instruction of three
major races, Indian, Spanish-Am
erican and Anglo.
Being unique has problems as
well as benefits for the system.
School authorities point to the
greatest problem the language
barrier as one that i s constant
ly in the foreground of all types
of instruction, and one that is con
tinually being given attention with
! a view toward gaining a common
ground of communication.
The two basics in this commun
ications field are reading and
language arts. Both are stressed
this year and indications are that
even more attention will be given
in future years in an effort to
break through the language bar
rier to a greater extent.
Reading is taught in grades one
through 12. In elementary schools,
reading is given a major allot
ment of time in which th e basic
skills are taught. In grades seven
through 12, the more mature skills
of thoughtful critical reading are
emphasized, not only by the teach
ers of literature, but by teachers
of history and other subjects.
Experts in the curriculum field
in the local system, declare that
reading ability is a pre-requisite
to students’ success, and a major
effort has been made to improve
the reading program, they point
ed out.
After a considerable amount of
study by a faculty committee, a
new reading program was adopted
and is being implemented one
grade per year.
Barnie Calon, school superin
tendent, said, “We are now in the
second year. This is as rapidly
Court to Ok
Navajo Bid
District Court Judge John B.
McManus Friday said that he will
approve a petition to allow attor
neys for the Navajo Tribe to ap
pear as friends of the court in
the Montoya-Bolack contest of el
ection suit.
The petition asserted that the
constitutional rights of the Navajos
are involved and that any deci
sion in the case will affect the
Navajos.
Joseph A. Montoya, Democrat of
Albuquerque, filed the court act
ion Dec. 23, 1960 contesting the
election of Republican Lt. Gov.
Tom Bolack One of the main con
tentions in the suit is that Nava
jos who live on the reservation,
whether in New Mexico or not, are
not eligible to vote in state elec
tions Bolack was certified win
ner of the election by 279 votes.
Judge McManus has set a hear
ing in the case for March 14, and
ordered each side to post a $25,-
000 surety bond to cover costs by
then. The Navajo voting right
question is expected to be the
I first matter discussed.
MARCH, IMI THE NAVAJO TIMES
, “The most urgent needs,” UdaTl
I said “are in the Navajo area of
New Mexico and Arizona, where
we have a shortage of about 3.-
| 700 seats . .
Swift action is possible the stc-i
retarv said, because the bureau
has for sometime been making
long range plans for expanding and !
, modernizing its nationwide school
I system for Indian youngsters.
as financially feasible and educa
tionally desirable.”
In the language Helds, all be
ginning children who do not speak
English are placed in what is call
ed a pre-first class where full
time effort is made to teach a
limited conversational use of the
English language. •
Calon said “A faculty commit
tee has produced a teacher’s guide
“Experiences With Navajo Chil
dren”. and a vocabulary check
list. We also cooperated with Dr.
Miles Zinlz, of the University of
New Mexico, in his three-year re
search project on this problem.
“We have read and studied the
findings of other study groups,
such as the Bureau of Indian Af
fairs productions. With all this, we
recognize the fact that no one
knows the ‘best’ way to teach
English to the Indian child. We
also accept the challenge and are
encouraged by the results noted
in the classroom.”
The system also is experiment
ing this year with five groups of
kindergarten children (age five).
Four groups are at Zuni elemen
tary school and the fifth at Church
Rock elementary.
Caton said achievement to date
is “very satisfactory”. He sug
gested the possibility of a summer
program set up on this same bas
is to be held in chapter houses
on the reservation.
Spelling is taught as a subject
in grades one through six. and
spelling books are used in grades
two through six. In junior high
and senior high schools, correct
spelling in the content subjects is
encouraged by all teachers.
Handwriting is also taught as a
subject in grades one through six.
and in grades one and two, manu
script writing is taught because
of its simplicity and similarity to
the print in readers, thus making
it possible for children to write
as soon as they begin to read.
Starting in grade three, cursive
writing is taught. In grades seven
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Window Rock, Arizona I
On receiving a mandate rrom
President Kennedy, the depart
ment put completion ol the work
on a crash basis.
Udall said he considers it no
matter lor pride that 5.000 Ameri
ran children do not have adequate
school facilities. Children who do
not have a place where they can
go and be educated suffer th®
worst deprivation of all. be said.
He also said that the Interior
Department’s task force studying
organization and programs of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs will
meet with Indian tribal represen
tatives at seven key cities in a
series of.conferences starting Mar*
20.
The group will be in Albuquer
que March 22-23.
Indian tribal representatives in
the regions around these cities
are being invited by Secretary
Udall to take part in the sessions.
Chairman of the task force is
W. W. Keeler, executive vice pres
ident of the Phillips Petroleum Co.
Other members are Philleo Nash
former lieutenant governor of Wis
consin; James Officer, Arizona an
thropologist; William Zimmerman
Jr., former assistafnt commission
er of Indian Affairs, and John O.
Crow, acting commissioner.
Morris K. Udall
Wins In Primary
•
Morris K. IJdall won the Demo
cratic nomination for Congress
from Arizona’s second congress
ional district over five opponents
in Tuesday’s special primary el
ection.
The younger brother of interior
Secretary Stewart L. Udall won
the right to meet Mac C. Mathe
son. Tucson businessman unopnos
ed for the Republican nomination,
in the May 2 special general el
ection.
through 12, all teachers encour
age the use of clear, legible hand
writing. The current elementary
handwriting program is on its sec
ond year.
The English program in grades
one through six includes not only
reading, spelling and handwriting
but also a definite time allotment
to oral and written composition.
English, including composition,
grammar, listening, speech and
literature is a required subject in
grades seven through nine, and in
two of the three senior high school
years.
Caton said the major emphasis
in all grades is to develop clear,
concise and accurate speaking and
writing and appreciation of good
’ilerature.
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