Stars event focuses on local recognition<br><br>

“It raises the spirits of goodness for her family so they could be happy,” she said.

Pewo said Stars in the Desert was lots of fun because of all the royalty that was there dressed in their traditional clothes.

The celebrities ranged from the young to the elders and included Miss Tuba City Primary Bobbie Benally, Miss Tuba City Boarding School Crystal Goldtooth, Miss Hopi Andrea Siou, Miss Western Navajo Laura Dugi, Miss Dixie College Alicia Martin, Miss Hopi High Randi Boucher and Miss Navajo Elder Mary Martin.

Pewo said meeting all the actors was cool.

“It’s interesting because not many kids get to meet Indian celebrities,” she said.

Sahmie Lalo, a senior, at Hopi High, said it was sad what happened to Lori Piestewa because what the Iraqis did to her was inappropriate.

“She was just a lady who was trying to defend her country. I also feel bad for the others who were with her. I hope all the soldiers come back safe to their families.”

Wayland Piestewa, Lori’s brother, was given the honor of giving awards to area youth April 18 during an awards banquet.

Brown, coordinator for Stars in the Desert, spoke about Lori Piestewa crossing the ocean to give up her life.

“The family has given up a lot,” she said. “We see Waylon on television being the type of brother we have to be when we shoulder that type of responsibility.”

Waylon said this is a special time for the family as they learned the need to turn to the Creator for guidance, blessing and wisdom.

“Lori flies on the eagle’s wings in our hearts,” he told the crowd of about 350.

Wayland said the family has received letters of support from British Columbia, Canada, Britain and Australia.

“We’re proud of the community because of the love it shows for its children. We are a town of champions,” he said.

After Wayland presented awards to several area children, Carlos Quintero gave him a special gift. Quintero is an actor who was recently in “Sea Biscuit,” a Walt Disney movie that is expected to be released this summer. But Quintero is also associated with the U.S. Marines Corps and presented a book of military posters—including of female warriors—to Waylon. He then saluted Wayland.

Brown said the loss of Lori Piestewa was a great loss to Tuba City.

“We must all overcome together and heal together,” she said.

Community center

A proposed youth complex was also discussed, but the focus was on honoring youth and having fun along the way.

Brown, coordinator of Stars in the Desert, told the crowd that “we honor the children and we have the desert. The stars are the children.”

Brown recounted how CACY had previously worked with Save the Children and the Christian Children’s Fund, but found that these large organizations didn’t put a lot of money into the program.

“They said they would only help in third world countries, but today many here live in third world country conditions,” she said.

Brown recalled how in 1986 CACY hired eight kids and asked them what they wanted to do for the community. They came up with the idea of building a huge youth complex.

“We must keep trying. We’ve faced many obstacles, but we’ve had fun along the way,” she said.

Brown said there are people waiting to help with the funding of the proposed multi-purpose youth complex, but a lot of issues remain to be worked out.

“In the meantime, we’ll have fun, honor kids, play games, dance and listen to music,” she said.

Stars events

The kids were honored April 18 during an awards banquet, games were played April 19 with the celebrities and local EMT’s bed racing and competing in other unique contests, and music was the focus on April 20 during an open-air concert. There was also a pow wow on Saturday and a children’s walk on Sunday.

Fun was the name of the game at the awards banquet as Darrin Elmer and James Bilagody emceed the event. Elmer, a former disc jockey at KGHR, took a good-natured ribbing for looking spiffy.

“Wow, your all dressed up,” Bilagody told him in amazement.

Bilagody, a former Navajo Nation councilman, also spoke about how long Stars in the Desert has been going on.

“You looked young then, but now you look like me,” he told Elmer.

Little Miss Navajo Elementary Princess Crystal Goldtooth had a more serious message for the parents.

“Love your children like yourself because they’re a part of you. Support them, don’t abuse them,” she said. “Talk to them and tell them to stay in school.”

The celebrities who gave awards out to youth included comedian James Junes, actor Akima Casteneda, comedian Ernest Tsosie III, actor Lee Cohoe, actor Norman Brown, model Urulu Yazzie, actor Carlos Quintero, stuntman Dakota Denetsosie, Miss Dixie College Alicia Martin, flutist Milton Tso with help from son Randolph Tso, actor Ty Abrigo, musician Jeanette Acosta, actor AbleHawk and modeling agent Katie Yazzie.

Junes and Tsosie performed a hilarious skit together, but it was the Navajo Elvis who drew the most applause for his singing and shaking.

Norman Brown, Vanessa’s brother, recalled how he used to teach drama at Greyhills. He has been in the movies “Raising Arizona,” “Incident at Oglala” and “Thin Red Line.”

Denetsosie performed stunts in the movies “Mexican Blow” and “What Planet Are You From?”

“I live in Phoenix. They (agents) want me to move to Hollywood to be closer, but I don’t want to move that far away,” he said.

Abrigo has acted in the movies “Eight Seconds” and “North and South.”

AbleHawk spoke about a gathering of all native people this summer in Peru. He noted that while there are two million natives in the U.S., another two million natives in Canada that there are 100 million in South America.

Casteneda had one of the better punchlines for the night.

“In Iraq, we took out Wal-Mart and K Mart, but we left Target,” he said.

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