Navajo times. [volume], April 19, 1961, Image 1

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

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

                
Price 10<i
April 19, 1961
Navajo Times Now Tribal Enterprise!
Kennedy Support Seen
For BIA School Plan
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is
starting the third drive in a decade
to get all Indian children in school.
And this time BIA has the back
ing of President John F. Kennedy
and of Interior Secretary Stewart
L. Udall who was himself born not
far from Navajo country.
President Kennedy stated in his
budget message to Congress on
March 24: "The Federal govern
ment under the previous Adminis
tration, as well as this, has an ob
ligation to meet the educational
needs of Indian children on reser
vations. The fact is that several
thousand such children in New
Mexico, Arizona and Alaska have
been without any schools at all—
but wholly inadequate funds to meet
this obligation were included in
the earlier budget.'*
Udall announced about the same
time that "an additional S2O million
of construction funds" had been
added by President Kennedy to the
Interior Department budget for fis
cal year 1962 as "the initial step
in a program to construct school
facilities for the approximately
5,000 Indian children presently out
of school because of the 1 a c k of
school facilities." Udall added that
"the funds will provide for the con
struction of education facilities at
26 locations and will provide 1,990
additional classroom seats and the
replacement ofl,3Joclassroom
seats. These locations are primar
ily on the Navajo Reservation in the
states of Arizona and New Mexico."
In addition, the Bureau of Indian
Affairs is getting another $1 million
to repair and maintain buildings
and utilities. Assistant Indian Com
missioner . Selene Gifford and Fred
H. M ass hey frequently have ex
pressed concern that some of the
Indian school buildings are so old
and dilapidated tiiat they are lire
traps. By accelerating both the
construction of new schools and the
rehabilitation ol old ones, BIA of
ficials hope, f ina 11 y, to have all
Indian children in school at the be
ginning of the school year in Sep
tember, 1964. Currently there are
3,700 Navajo children out of school,
according to the latest BIA fig
ures Massey said. In addition to
planning new schools for these
children already of school age, he
pointed out, BIA officials have to
plan for a net increase of about
1200 schoolage children annually.
Former Indian Commissioner
Glenn L. Einmons first addressed
himself to this problem in 1954,
with good results. At the lime there
were more than 8,000 Indian child
ren out of school. Former Assis
tant Interior Secretary Roger hr
nest likewise took a crack at the
problem two years ago by attempt
ing to simplify the construction of
school buildings to speed their
completion and to reduce their
"VOICE OF SCENIC NAVAJOLAND"
Published Weekly By The Novaio Tribe-Window Rock, Ariiono
costs.
Neither man was totally suc
cessful in his attempt to get all In
dian children in school. Now the
New Frontier is taking a crack at
the problem. The first thing the new
administration did was to increase
the 1962 budget estimates for the
Indian Bureau from the $140,176,-
000 requested by the Eisenhower
Administration to $161,312,000.
This was not only a $21,136,000
step-up over the original budget
request for 1962, but a $37,197,000
step-up over the 1961 appropria
tion for BIA.
"By the end of 1962 fiscal year
we will be able to get the additional
money for new school facilities
under contract,** Massey said.
"With $1,261,000 in new advance
planning money we can start plan
ning now for new facilities in the
following fiscal year. We have to
start planning for a seat in school
for a child when he is four years
old to be sure that the seat is there
for him when he is six. At the level
now scheduled, it will take three
years to put all Indian children in
school," he said.
One of the most interesting as
pects of the latest BIA drive to get
all Indian children in school is the
aim to pro vi d e most of the new
schools for reservation children
under 12. Under this plan, the
smaller children will not be sent
away to school. Then, at the age of
12, they will be sent to off-reser
vation schools for the first time.
Presumably the older children will
adjust to leaving home easier than
the little ones.
But Indians on the Navajo res
ervation are beginning to group into
communities. Roads are being im
proved and extended. Water, sew
age and utility systems are being
installed. Inevitably the Bureau will
have to c ome to a policy determin
ation: are high schools to be built
in stable communities on the Nav
ajo Reservation? Both the white
population and the Indian population
in tins country are becoming in
creasingly mobile. It is not likely
that Indian reservations in the fut
ure will be closed, as they have
been in some areas in the past. And
it now appears to be inevitable that
in years to come there will be high
schools on the Navajo reservation.
Os the additional S2O million that
the Kennedy Administration has
programmed ior schools on Indian
reservations, $15,342,000 will be
for 10 new schools and one addi
tional on the Navajo reservation.
They are as follows:
Arizona (6): Dennehotso, $929,-
000; Dinnebito Dam School $719,-
000; Kaibitc School addition, $906,-
000; Lukachuka, $1,561,000; Red
Lake, $410,00(5; Wide Ruins,
$1,061,000. New Mexico (5):
Crownpoint, $3,800,000; Lake Val
ley, $814,000; Nenahnezed, sl,-
379,000; Pueblo Pintado, $1,112,-
000; Toadlena, $1,480,000. These,
schools are in addition to three
which were previously prog
rammed for the Navajo for con
struction in 1962 fiscal under the
Eisenhower budget. They were the
school at Shonto, Ariz., with 270
total seats, of which 210 are new
and 60 are replacements, the
school at White Cone, Ariz., with
300 total seats, of which 210 are
new and 90 are replacements and
the addition of five classrooms at
Hunter’s Point, Arizona with 150
new seats.
Navajo Tribal Park
Service Gets Museum
Sam Day 111, Chairman of the
Park Commission, has been instru
mental in laying the groundwork for
the acquisition of a building for the
establishment of a Tribal Museum.
For years Tribal leaders have rec
ognized the necessity of an a rchive
which would house the various and
numerous materials which repre
sent the culture and the heritage of
the Navajo Tribe. Through the ef
forts of Day and other Commis
sioners this dream has evolved into
reaiity with the transfer of the log
building at the Fairgrounds from
the Arts and Crafts Guild to the
Navajo Parks Commission. The
Arts and Crafts Guild will move
into their new building on or about
the first of May, and the log build
ing will then be remodeled into a
combined rn use um, information
center, and Ranger Headquarters.
Anyone interested in donating or
loaning articles to the museum, is
asked to contact Martin Link at
Ranger Headquarters in Window
Rock.
Proposals for
Highway Commission
The Gallup Town Board has vot
ed to send a delegation to the next
meeting of the New Mexico .State-
Highway Commission for the pur
pose of presenting three proposals.
The proposals are:
1. For the design, construction
and completion of an overpass over
the Santa Fe Railway tracks which
cut Gallup into two parts.
2. For the design and construc
tion of four-land U. S. 66 between
interchanges of Interstate 40 and
Gallup.
3. Repair and resurface the
highway which will from the new
Gallup High School and the new
Indian Hospital.
Transfer of the NAVAJO TIMES
from Tribal Education to Tribal
Enterprises took place by Tribal
Council action on the 15th of Feb
ruary 1961. The vote of the action
was 60 to 0.
The NAVAJO TIMES had grown
larger than had been anticipated at
the time of its inception. More
readers, Indian and non-Indian,
more advertisers and more news
made this transfer possible.
Being a member of the Tribal
Enterprise system means too, that
the TIM ES must show a profit. Our
cost to our readers will remain the
same, but.we must receive payment
for the copies sold.
The only new difference will be
the cost per subscription. A one
year’s subscription, (52) issues
will now be $3.50.
The subscribers with the •old
rate for 21 issues will be noti
fied by mail of the expiration date
of their subscriptions so they may
Land Hearing
In Washington
April 3rd in Washington D.C.
saw the start of the hearing con
ducted by the Indian Land Claims
Commission. This hearing is la
beled the Navajo Tribe versus the
United States. This hearing con
cerns lands surrounding the pre
sent Navajo reservation. The area
involved consists of 1,250,000 ac
res. The Navajo Tribe does not
want the return of the land, rather
it seeks monetary restitution.
On the 30th of March, H. Draper
and M. Dalton went to Washington
as the advance party to set up of
fices for the Tribal delegation.
Other members of the Tribe now
in Washington include Vice Chair
man Scott Preston, Director of Re
sources Ned Jiatathli, Tribal Inter
preter Carl Beyal, Mr. Joe
McPherson from the Legal Depart
ment, Lddie Plummer , LeeCorrel
and D. Brugge from Land Investi
gation. Headquarters for Tribal
Offices while in Washington are in
the LaSalle Hotel Building. The
hearing is being held in the Gov
ernments Gene ra 1 Accounting
Building.
Some 35 Tribal witnesses are
expected in Washington to testify.
Months of preliminary hearings
and investigations went into the Na
vajo Tribes claim. Some 65,000
maps, legal documents and other
data was processed to be used at
the hearing. April 11th, Malcolm
Dalton and Tom Gorily, Tribal em
ployees left for Washington to bring
pottery and other artifacts to the
hearing.
The hearing is expected to last
a month or longer. The NAVAJO
TIMES will keep its readers in
formed on events of the hearing
in Washington.
renew them and not miss any is
sues.
The NAVAJO TIMES will be
printed in Albuquerque, by the
Newspaper printing Company.
The TIMES will now be a weekly
paper. It will be received in Gallup
on Tuesday evening and distributed
in Window Rock and Shiprock on
Wednesday. Other areas on the Re
servation will receive the TIMES
on Thursday. We have received our
Second Class Mailing permit,
which mear-r a savings in time and
money to the TIMES and its read
ers. New features and articles will
be seen and read. "Letters to the
Editor" will be revived...if you the
reader, write the Letters.
The NAVAJOTlMESwillappre
ciate and USE articles and stories
that you send us. Our new mailing
address is P.O. Box 355, Window
Rock, Arizona.
We need your help in making the
NAVAJO TIMES the paper for the
Navajo people.
Navajo Film
Given Museum
The Museum of Navajo Cere
monial Art was presented with two
copies of the film “Family Life of
the Navajo Indians'* bytheproduc
ers of the film.
Dr. Margaret E. Fries and Paul ■
J. Woolf of New York City made the
presentation in memory ot the late
Dr. Clyde Kluckhohn, famous an
thropologist of Harvard University.
The film, made more than 20
years ago, records the Navajo way
of life. The New York University
Film Library control the film
rights.
Airborne Scientists
Discover Ruins
Dr. Fred Wendorf and Dr. Al
fred E. Kittert jr.,anthropologists
from the Museum of New Mexico
at Santa Fe, utilized modern meth
ods in the finding of 6 Indian ruins.
These ruins were found between
Farmington, N.M. and the Arizona
border.
According to the specialists,
flying over the sites in a helicopter,
5 of the sites showed to be Pueblo
culture, and the 6th as Navajo.
The aerial survey, was made on
a flight lin6 ith of the new power
transmission line, to be erected
by the Arizona Public Service Co..
The Museum and the Navajo
Tribe wanted the area to be ob
served first, and then have the Mu
seum go in and recover anything
of value.
The Museums Laboratory of
Anthropology hopes to excavate at
the sites this summer.
Volume HR "I
Issue 13 „