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Gah'nahvah/Ya Ti'
Yavapai-Apache Nation Newspaper
The Yavapai-Apache Nation publishes a monthly newspaper called the Gah'nahvah / Ya Ti', covering news, special events, and community
The Gah'nahvah / Ya Ti'
July 2010
Judge Orders PrimaryElection to be Held August 7, 2010
By Fran Chavez
July 29, 2010-The Honorable Judge Gloria Kindig granted injunctive relief to Roberta Pavatea and Genevieve Datsi yesterday, in what many consider a violation of the Nation’s Constitution.Datsi filed a Petition for Injunction on July 23, 2010, requesting that the Court issue an Injunction ordering that the Primary Election be held on August 7, 2010 as previously set and preventing the date to be changed to July 31, 2010 and that the Court seize all absentee ballots currently in the possession of the Election Board.
Pavatea filed an Injunction on the same date to Stay Original Election Date and Removal of Election Board Members, requesting that the Court order the Primary Election to be held on August 7, 2010 and not on July 31, 2010 and that the Court order the removal of the election Board Members for failure to perform their duties.
Pavatea filed an amended Petition on July 27, 2010 dropping the request for the removal of the Election Board Members. Pavatea stated in court, “
Shiloh Hoggard, legal counsel for the Nation, argued that Pavatea and Datsi failed to provide evidence beyond speculation of any harm that would entitle them to an injunction in the case and that the case would have to be dismissed.
Pavatea and Datsi argued that their voter rights were harmed when the date was changed without proper notice as required by Article VIII Section 6 of the Election Ordinance - Special Elections, “adequate notice shall be given to the voters”. Pavatea also argued that she was financially harmed as a candidate due to the cancellation of a campaign luncheon she had planned for July 31, 2010.
In her final Order, Judge Kindig wrote, “It is commonly held that due process requires sufficient notice to be heard or in this case sufficient notice to vote,” “given the fact that the Election Board made the mistake and did not notice it in a timely manner…Petitioners should not be required to bear the consequences of the Election Board’s error by having the Primary Election accelerated with such short notice.”
Kindig denied Datsi’s request to have the absentee ballots seized and granted injunctive relief to both Datsi and Pavatea ordering that the Primary Election be held August 7, 2010.
When questioned about the ruling Hoggard had the following to say, “The Election Board is obviously disappointed with the ruling and concerned whether they would be able to provide notice to the Nation’s members that the date had been changed again. Voters may show up on Saturday and have to be turned away and that’s a concern for the Election Board.”
Regarding the Election Board, Datsi stated, “They need to take their role seriously, that tribal council change the way that they appoint people to the Board and make people more aware that voting is a privilege and a right and they need to take that to heart.”
Pavatea stated, “The tribe needs to install people that are really interested in upholding what is right for everybody, not only in voting but everything else. We have got to stop the favoritism, the nepotism of relationships.”
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Yavapai-Apache Nation Takes the Lead in the Fight Against Diabetes
With diabetes (and other health issues) on the rise among Native American communities, the Yavapai-Apache Nation (YAN) took the unprecedented step of supporting and implementing a healthy lifestyle agenda for its members and employees. This agenda includes efforts from collaborating with the national media to implementing internal programs designed to reverse the trend of diabetes in Indian country.
With insurance premiums on the rise and the demand on YAN’s healthcare resources at an all time high, Chairman Thomas Beauty directed his staff to implement a weight loss challenge to the tribe’s employees and community members. Executive Assistant, Kim Nightpipe took the initiative one step further and sought advice from one of the country’s top weight loss promoters.
Nightpipe states, “I couldn’t believe they (the national program) contacted the tribe. When I got the phone call that the producers would be sending a team to the tribe to begin working on negotiations, I still couldn’t believe it. I don’t think it really hit home until the production team actually showed up and got the community members out of their homes and walking.”
One family from YAN was chosen to lead in the fight against diabetes. That family, while nervous about appearing nationally and taking the lead internally with the tribe, undertook the challenge and set aside their performance and leadership fears to fight diabetes as an example for Native American communities. This effort resulted in a six-week fitness program designed to implement exercise with nutrition to reduce weight that would otherwise lead to the identified health problems.
As a part of the fitness program, frybread, an intrinsic part of today’s Native American dietary cuisine, was tossed out and replaced with healthier foods. Exercise, along with good nutrition, became a part of the family’s daily lives. Gradually, the family came to understand that their former lifestyle promoted the diabetic epidemic we now see in Indian Country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found in a recent study a 30 percent increase in diabetes among Native American and Alaskan Natives. More profound was the discovery of a 68% increase in diabetes in Native American youth, aged 15 – 19 years.
Before the implementation of the fitness program, the family’s youngest member, a 15 year old male, was a statistic for adult onset diabetes. During the six-week fitness program, the 15 year old family participant lost 52 pounds and lowered his cholesterol level by 44 percent. This reduced, if not eliminated, his risk of adult onset diabetes.
“At first we took the challenge for my mother (the family’s matriarch). My mom being diabetic, we knew we had to make a change. She was the mastermind behind our participation.” Along the way, the family realized after talking to a doctor that they were following in their matriarch’s footsteps. Soon, if the family did not change their ways, they would soon be diabetic and on insulin. This provided the motivation they needed to successfully implement the fitness program.
One of the family’s greatest hopes is to pay the fitness program forward, to give back to the community and show them that they don’t have to be a statistic. They want to empower the people and show them they have a choice to live healthy. Through their fitness program experience, they have developed relationships with local trainers. “We are gifting back to the Nation those trainers to help the people begin to exercise, get healthy meal plans and to just to live a healthy life,” states one family member.
In putting action to words, the family has invited each adult tribal member to participate in a five-week fitness challenge beginning July 12. Participants will receive one-on-one assistance from personal trainers along with meal plans and fitness education. A separate program is being developed for the youth and is expected to include celebrity guest speakers, exercise programs, meal planning and field trips.
Chairman Beauty, in continuing his campaign against diabetes, has requested the YAN Tribal Council to support a separate weight loss challenge for YAN tribal members and employees. “With the national spotlight on us (the Yavapai-Apache Nation), we need to follow through with our goal of becoming a healthy tribe,” states Beauty. The tribe will be offering a $2,500 cash prize to the tribal member or employee who loses the highest percentage of weight after a 9 week challenge. The winner will be announced September 23, 2010, as part of the Nation’s Indian Week festivities.
With Fifteen Years Experience In Indian Gaming
Robert Pokorney Is Appointed General Manager Of Cliff Castle CasinoA nationwide search has resulted in the appointment of Robert Pokorney as General Manager for Cliff Castle Casino. Pokorney, most recently General Manager for Camel Rock Casino in New Mexico, competed against more than two dozen applicants before being appointed Cliff Castle Casino General Manager.
“Cliff Castle Casino has a really outstanding reputation in the business. I’ve gotten to know hundreds of people in Indian gaming and Cliff Castle Casino is known as one of the most exemplary casinos in Indian country, if not the nation. I am proud and honored to be associated with Cliff Castle Casino and the Yavapai-Apache Nation,” states Pokorney.
Pokorney began his career in Indian gaming as the Director of Marketing and Public Affairs with the Bad River Band of Chippewa in Wisconsin, but soon discovered that the casino operations were an integral part of the marketing strategy. “I could do all the advertising and promotions I wanted,” said Pokorney, “but it wouldn’t have any long-term effect if we didn’t have the games people wanted to play, or if the food was no good, or if we had dirty bathrooms, or if we didn’t acknowledge and reward our players.”
With casinos to be built in Flagstaff and the Valley of the Sun, the Nation is facing the very real threat of increased competition in the Northern Arizona gaming market. The tribal council sought a candidate that would be able to streamline expenses without sacrificing customer satisfaction, in an effort to counter that threat.
Pokorney fit that bill. He is able to claim success in achieving double digit increases in profits where most casinos suffered double digit declines.
“Robert has extensive marketing experience and is aware of the casino expansion threatening Northern Arizona. We needed someone on board who would be able to strategize and set goals and objectives to counter those threats. I’m very confident that Robert will be able to meet the tribal council’s goals of maintaining Cliff Castle Casino as the #1 casino in Arizona,” say Council Member Linda Evans of Pokorney’s appointment.
The Nation anticipates Pokorney will begin his new position mid-July.
As He Prepares For College Richard Juan Reflects
On His Experience As A WIA WorkerI started my experience with the wia program as a 15 year old sophomore working for the Attorney General’s office. I never chose my departments I just randomly constructed a montage of eye opening experiences. Last year I was working at the courts and found myself fitting in right away. Thanks to my previous year I was able to grasp the inner workings of my office much sooner than I had anticipated. It felt almost adult like. I had begun to appreciate the fact that I had such opportunities that, well let’s face it, most if any kids rarely ever have the chance to have. To work with a real department not involving a fry machine and smoothie maker was invigorating.
I was happily blissful in my new found jobs. I took in everything I could like a dried sea sponge grips at water and consumes it. I was easily amused, constantly intrigued and always kept on my toes with the new skills I was obtaining. My co-workers became my friends and family and while I never repeated any departments I still found ways to check in with them. Of course there is the natural detachment of not being there all the time and soon as a wia worker you realize it was almost all pretend. So on to the next family i went. Some kids stayed with their original departments but I couldn’t allow myself another opportunity to advance my skills and reopen the story book I had started the year before, and I was happy to begin filling in the new chapters.
At the beginning I was a shy but proactive kid. When they asked I said yes, of course with a typical teenage response of *sigh* “yeah sure.” Some days were slow, and repetitive, but it never failed that as soon as I thought I had it covered and down, the routine was thrown all out of whack again. It became quite frustrating but all the same immensely inviting. My experiences offered an alienating breath of fresh air. Just as I thought I was drowning in the seas of predictability, a tide would rush me back to shore and a new uninhabited island would reveal itself to me. Once again I became a stranger in an all too familiar but fascinating world. This cycle repeated itself up until the very last day of the program.
My only regret was that time, no matter how fiercely I pulled at its rope, never seemed to cease. I wished i had framed those moments better in my mind, or better yet stayed a part of it. But when I became comfortably situated In the dream, reality spewed out, like an eruption from a volcano and the lava melted away the familiarity. And as the summer came to a close and fall crept up behind me. It was back to the school desk. I would have worked at another job while in school. But the thoughts of laying my anchor to rest in shallow uneventful waters were to grotesque of a thought. So I waited and waited till the day school would end.
But a cycle is a cycle none the less. It runs over you, stands you up and dusts you off, and when you believe your situated, it comes back with the same effect, that volcano erupts again. It’s a bitter sweet feeling, one of reverence and remorse. I said my farewells knowing I’d await the same fate the next year.
But now I am 18. I have graduated high school and about to end my last term here with the wia program. I am so appreciative for the gifts I have been presented with. My tribe is good, my family members are lucky, and the youth are ever so gifted, even if they don’t realize it just the way I didn’t in my first year. My only sadness for this year’s wia workers is that they don’t get the amount of time I had with a department. In the time they are given is about the time it takes to warm up and feel familiar with their surroundings. And just as they see the berry ripening on the vine, and the smell intoxicates them with sweet thoughts of tasting the fruit they’ve worked hard to raise. It’s cut down in front of them all too quickly. I don’t know if I’d call it unfair. Unfair in the sense that they didn’t get to receive what last year’s wia workers received but unfair too in the fact that they get to experience what most kids only hope to experience.
All in all I am satisfied and content with the new found skills I have accumulated and I believe that I will not go into this world so wet behind the ears.
The 12th Annual Gathering of the Pai’sSubmitted by Rachel Hood and Richie Juan
Around 2000 years ago when all the Pai people were one, a group of children were having a mud fight near the mountains in what is known today as Kingman Arizona. Slowly word of the fight circulated to the older youth and the older youth soon got involved in the fight. Once the older youth joined in the fight the parents had no choice but to fight also, this fight became epic, so much so that a little fight evolved into a full out war among the people, ‘The Mud War’. Disturbed by these events the chief set out to end the outlandish behavior. Ordering his people to stop, he made the decision to separate his people for the good of the tribe. “You Yavapai will head to the south, there you shall be known as The People of The Sun,” as he looked about he ordered the Hualapai’s, “You Hualapai, you will travel to Peach Springs, and there you shall call yourselves The People of The Pine Trees, as for you Havasupai, head into the canyon and there you will reside as The People of The Blue Water,” and with these commandments the people set off to their new homes, and became a family split ever since.
Now 2000 years later the Pai people unify once a year as a family. The Yavapai-Apache Nation hosted this year’s 12th Annual Gathering of the Pai’s, where the Pai Tribes gather to celebrate their history, culture and traditions.
The Gathering began its celebrations with a 5k walk organized by the Plunkett and Marquez family. Cora-lei and Brain Marquez provided t-shirts for the first 100 participants. Dianna Uqualla honored everyone with a prayer before the walk and dedicated the walk to all the Pai Women and Elder Pai, past and present. The Marquez family recognized all the participants for their efforts and the winners were presented with plaques.
The Fort McDowell Veterans Association recognized local military personnel who served overseas, protecting America. The five Pai tribes honored Brian Marquez and Buddy Rocha, Jr., both whom recently returned to the Yavapai-Apache Nation after completing tours of duties overseas.
The Pai Women and Elder Pai Ceremony is one of the highest coveted honors within the Nation. When Ernestine Smith honored Beverly Crawford from the Yavapai-Apache Nation as the new Pai Woman, Beverly filled with emotion as she was presented to the people as the 2010 Pai Woman. Beverly achieved her spot as Pai Woman by performing her berry juice making talent and explaining the origins of the Yavapai-Apache Nation’s flag. Susan Rocha from the Hualapai Nation was selected as the 2010 Elder Pai Woman after displaying a family tree showing her origins within her tribe.
A group of tribal members from the five Pai tribes performed bird singing and dancing, expressing their traditions through their dancing and singing. The bird singers ranged from young to old and provided less seasoned singers a lesson in how to perform traditional songs.
Havasupai tribal member, Dianna Uqualla told a story of a child losing his horse, which gave birth to the Horse Dance. The Havasupai Basket Dancers then performed the horse dance, displaying their culture with pride and sharing their heritage and art of storytelling.
Always crowd pleasers, the Spirit Mountain Dancers performed the much anticipated ram dance. As they performed they called to the crowd to join them in a circle. With much enthusiasm the crowd willingly entered the circle and showed their stuff.
Despite the event being a celebration of the Pai tribe’s reunion as a family, the Nation’s unique blend of two distinct tribes, Yavapai and Apache, allowed the San Carlos Apache Tribe’s Mountain Dancers to participate in this year’s event. The San Carlos dancers treated the crowd to a special performance by their crown dancers and were lead by Manuel Cooley lead drummer for the group.
As the Gathering came to a close, all the gourd singers came together and sang an honor song for all the fathers present. One gourd singer came forward and expressed the importance of being a father and what it means to be called a dad. “Any boy can have a child, but it takes a man to raise one.” After his speech he asked for all the bird dancers to bring the fathers into the circle for one last dance. With a final goodbye and final closing of this years gathering, Master of Ceremonies Rudy Clark wished everyone safe travel, thanked everyone for their participation and the coordinators for doing a job well done.
2010 Yavapai-Apache Nation Election
Draws Six Candidates For Chairman’s SeatThe Nation’s primary election scheduled for Saturday, August 7, gives tribal members the opportunity to select Chairman and Vice Chairman nominees for a subsequent runoff in the Nation’s General Election to be held Saturday, September 18, 2010.
With an anticipated turnout of approximately 27% of eligible voters at the polls on Election Day, the candidates will have their work cut out for them as the low numbers force them into a tight race for the two seats.
Accusations of misuse of funds and violations of the council’s code of ethics seem to have split the Nation into two camps; young versus old, placing more pressure on the candidates to actively campaign to the opposing voters in an attempt to swing the vote in their favor.
While many of the tribal elders support the movement to distribute funds from the Nation’s gaming investment account, the younger generation seems to favor an investment strategy with a long term payout for future generations.
Although candidates are focused on internal issues, the Nation faces challenges at the state and federal level on a daily basis, issues that the candidates have yet to address. Issues include water rights negotiations, land exchange proposals, gaming issues and decreased funding at the federal level for healthcare, law enforcement and economic development.
These are sure to be topics on many of the candidate’s agenda as they jockey for the opportunity to become the Nation’s next top leaders.
Six candidates have been deemed eligible by the Nation’s Election Board to run for the Chairman’s seat: Thomas Beauty, Billy Garner, Harry Hood, Roberta Pavatea, Norman Smith and David Kwail, while four candidates have met the requirements for the Vice Chairman seat: Nancy Guzman, Robert Jackson Sr., Celestina Valles and Carol Williams.
To vote in either election, YAN tribal members must be 18 years of age or over and must be registered to vote with the YAN Election Board. For more information on voting, contact Crystal Rivera, YAN Election Board Chief Judge at (928) 567-1093.
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