Jim Franklin
4th November 2006, 05:42 PM (17:42)
A picture in today's Idaho Statesman shows our former Idaho governor and current Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne, between the tribal leaders of the Navajo and Hopi tribes as they signed an agreement yesterday ending a 40 year long dispute between the two tribes. The Hopi Reservation is completely surrounded by the Navajo Reservation and within the Hopi Reservation are sacred sites for both tribes. Forty years ago a decision was made by a governmental official that there would be no upgrades to the infrastructure until the dispute was settled which meant that housing, electrical transmission lines, natural gas lines, roads etc. could not receive upgrading. This meant that many of these people could not gain access to adequate water, heat, power and transportation for all of these 40 years. In other words many structures, roads and facilities were stuck in the 1960s. Now finally the upgrading can begin. This is of particular interest to me not only because Dirk Kempthorne is a friend of mine but that the two tribes that were the main source of students at the Nazarenes' own Sun Valley Indian School are now able to modernize their housing and facilities.