Tribal Council Speech

By Criss Candelaria, Apache County Attorney

Honorable Speaker Morgan, Council Delegates, special guests and people of the Navajo Nation, thank you for the opportunity speak to you today.

During the course of nearly six years, it has been my privilege to serve the people of Apache County, Arizona. As you know, the people of the Navajo Nation constitute 75 per cent of total population of the county. Until the late 70's, the Navajo People did not have the privilege of one person one vote, despite the fact that they received benefits of full citizenship in 1924.

The progress toward full citizenship was a painful process that was resisted mightily by certain people who refused to give up the power they had wielded for decades. This lust for power caused Apache County-alone in the western United States- to be added to a list of states whose governmental policies had achieved notoriety for denying civil rights to minorities. However, much progress toward equality has been made as is shown by the interest and participation of an unprecedented number of Navajo people in Apache County government.

This report explains both the progress and difficulties that we have encountered.

Of course, the greatest achievement is the large increases in voter registration on the Nation. Recorder Lenora Johnson must receive most of the credit. Our offices have worked together to change the history of voter registration on the Navajo Nation from one of exclusion to that of inclusion.

The first part of this report concerns the Navajo community of Sanders, Arizona. As you are aware, Sanders is a Navajo community along Interstate 40 near the New Mexico border. Alcohol abuse has plagued the town for some time. The problems include many deaths from exposure, panhandling, crime and the general depression the settles over a community which daily is exposed to seeing its people suffering from distress. The Apache County Attorney's Office has teamed with community businesses to use their heavy equipment to clear the area of brush and trash to try to make it more difficult for vagrants to live in the weed and brush that surrounds the liquor store. At our request the Arizona State Department of Transportation welded bars across culverts in the area to keep people from living in them while they are waiting for the liquor stores to open. We have increased enforcement to attempt to remove the groups of panhandlers from downtown businesses. We have talked many times early on with representatives and law enforcement from the Arizona Department of Liquor. While they have occasionally stepped up enforcement, they have not sustained it. We have also sponsored a basketball tournament with speakers such as Warlance Forster, Nadia Begay, and Coach Nash of Monument Valley High School to teach the local kids about the dangers of alcohol abuse.

Despite these efforts, the problems remain because the liquor stores remain. The solution lies with this council. Congress has given to the tribes the authority to establish ordinances that require liquor establishments who do business in Indian communities either on or off the reservation (typically border communities) to get liquor licenses from both state and tribal authorities, if the tribal authority has passed legislation requiring a liquor license. The United States Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of this legislative delegation of authority to the tribes in United States v. Mazurie. Our primary objective is to enable the community to heal through tribal legislation which requires the liquor stores in Indian communities to get permission from the tribal council to operate.

The next issue is to bring federal court services closer to the people.

As an instructor at the Toyei academy, I have learned how the resources of the Nation's police force are stretched to their limits. The number of new officers does not yet begin to be enough to match the national average. Besides having less than the minimum national and state ratio of police officers to citizens (2.5 per 1000 people per the Bureau of Justice Statistics), there is also the problem of the long distances that the officers must travel to make their calls. The response time is the major complaint that I hear when the subject arises. Another compounding factor is the long distance between the officers' duty stations and the courts. They must travel to Phoenix or Prescott to go to court.

With the price of travel, lodging and, especially, gasoline, this is also a problem for the Navajo victims of crimes who have the right to attend and sometimes must attend court.

If the courts were closer to the Nation, the officers would not have to lose as many as two whole days just to make a simple appearance in court. This makes the manpower shortage even more acute. If the courts were closer, the officers would be able to respond to an emergency on the Nation much more quickly.

I have yet to discover such a large group of citizens without the physical presence within its jurisdiction of a legal infrastructure to fully serve its people. Like every other court system anywhere else, the officers, witnesses and victims must be able to go home at night. If the halls of justice are too far away from it people, it is easy to find reasons not to go see them or to put them on the back burner.

I have spoken to Congressman Renzi about the need to have a Federal Court with the ability to conduct business other than misdemeanors cases much nearer to or on the Navajo Nation. He advised that there has been discussion of putting a court in Flagstaff. However, establishing a "full service" court facility there is not something that he believed would soon be forthcoming for a variety of reasons. Earlier this month, I spoke with Senator Kyl. He said that the best that can be done is to put the courthouse in Flagstaff. However, even that is not a done deal. He said that there is a single judge who can prevent the court from moving to Flagstaff. Apparently, that judge prefers Prescott.

With your help and the help of the Navajo people, we will continue to push for a courthouse closer to home. It is necessary in the interests of justice and the many citizens of the Nation are entitled to it.

Next, I would like to report my efforts to designate one of my deputy county attorneys as a Special Assistant United States Attorney.

There is a tremendous gap in prosecution on the Nation. Many Navajo people are the victims of crime-especially in domestic relationships involving one partner who is not Navajo. These events have devastating effect on the children especially if nothing is done about them. Until the current laws are changed, Tribal prosecutors do not have the authority to prosecute non tribal members for misdemeanor crimes they commit against Navajo victims on the Nation. The most they can do is encourage the perpetrators to submit to the Nation's jurisdiction to heal these families. To make matters worse, my office can not prosecute any crime committed on the Nation where either the accused or victim is a citizen of the Nation.

The total of these misdemeanor crimes far outnumber the felonies that nonnative peoples commit against tribal citizens. The felonies have a higher priority in the United States Attorney's Office. Unfortunately, we expect these types of crimes to increase due to increased personal interaction that will come with the establishment of casinos and other businesses that come to the Nation. For some time, I have been attempting to establish a specially designated prosecutor (special assistant United States attorney) to prosecute these cases. A person acceptable to the United State's Attorney would have the authority to pursue these cases committed against Navajo victims within Apache County. This person would travel to the federal magistrate court to represent the United States and resolve these cases.

I have spoken with U.S. Attorney's Office representatives including two U.S. Attorneys, Paul Charlton and Diane Humetewa. As you know, the situation in the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office has been unsettled for a couple of years since Paul Charlton left the office. No one person was permanently in charge. Finally, Diane Humetewa was chosen and sworn into office early in 2008. I have both spoken with her and sent her a letter seeking discussions on this important matter and I hope to hear from her soon so that we can close this gap in prosecution.

Victim's compensation. This is money that we receive from both the state and the federal government. This money-in part- is taken from the fines given criminals at the time of their sentencings. It is collected to assist victims of crime wherever it occurs in Apache County. The past two years we have had to send the money we don't use back to the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission. As I mentioned earlier, current law forbids us from prosecuting any cases on the Nation if they involve a member of the nation either as a suspect or a victim. Victim compensation is different. It does not matter whether or not we can prosecute a case here. If the victim is a citizen of the Nation residing in Apache County, we can pay for the medical and dental expenses their injuries have caused them (that are not already paid by HIS), loss of wages, court travel expenses, funeral expenses, and even traditional healing, if the victim chooses traditional ceremonies to make him or her feel better.

It has been a struggle to make government officials at the state level understand the value of traditional healing to many people on the Navajo Nation. We have succeeded so far in persuading them to continue paying medicine men for ceremonies they perform but I may have to call upon the Navajo people to assist me in the future.

We don't want to send any money back. Please help us spread the word on the Nation so that we can help reduce some of the suffering of crime victims here.

Finally, the shortage of police officers and the recent natural emergencies on the Navajo Nation have highlighted the need to enter into mutual aid agreements. We hope to craft agreements that will trigger use of Apache County personnel and equipment if the Nation officially declares an emergency. We also seek agreements that will permit each government to protect each other against liability if we do come to each other's assistance.

We have worked together well in the past. In a joint effort with the United States environment protection agency, the Navajo EPA, a number of other state, federal and tribal agencies, we stopped serious environmental damage that was being done at a business establishment along Interstate 40. It is my hope that we can continue to work together for all our sakes.

Thank you very much for your kind attention to this report. It is my pleasure to serve all the people of Apache County. In the same way securing water rights is essential to the life and growth of a people and their children, mutual respect and aid between our governments is essential to the lives and future of all of us all. Thank you all and I hope your Summer Council session is a success.

© 2008 Criss Candelaria