Letter to the Editor

Albert Hale betrayed the Navajo people

The People of the Confluence oppose the re-election of Albert Hale, District 7 State Representative.

We, the people of Western Navajo affected by the proposed Escalade development, encourage voters to consider how Hale betrayed his own people. Instead of protecting the sacred land and water, he is determined to take 400 acres of grazing land, which includes sacred sites to develop a tourist hub.

As one of the founding members of the Confluence Partners, LLC, Hale maneuvered around the authority of the Gap/Bodaway Chapter and its voting members to secure a MOU between the Partners and President Shelly. At duly called chapter meetings the people overwhelming rejected the development three times. Now the Partners are collecting signatures from across the nation to petition the government for a referendum. This effort is outside of the boundary of the MOU, which requires unquestionable support from the grazing permit and homesite lease holders. The MOU expires New Year’s Eve.

What also jars the Navajo people is Hale’s support for the SB 2109, better known as the Navajo-Hopi Water Rights Settlement. He should be advocating on behalf of the people instead of working against them. Unless there are an infinite amount of water and endless tracts of land out there that we don’t know about, what resources the Navajo Nation has is it.

Navajo leaders at all levels: chapters, tribal, state, national, and global, should stand with the people. The person that we know as Albert Hale stands on the other side.

Willie LongReed
Tuba City/Bodaway, Ariz.