Flag Mayoral race ignores native view

There are two candidates for the upcoming mayoral election for the City of Flagstaff.

Neither of the candidates support the efforts of 13 Indian tribes who want to stop the introduction of recycled water to make snow for the ski runs on the Peaks.

Ironically, the incumbent mayor, Joe Donaldson who endorses the sale of Flagstaff recycled water to Arizona Snowbowl, has been a longtime board member of Native Americans for Community Action (NACA), a social service agency in Flagstaff that serves Indians exclusively.

How can Donaldson separate his personal interest in the welfare of Flagstaff Indians from the plight of this same constituency who oppose the pumping of waste water to the holy shrines of Indian tribes on the Peaks? This conflict of interest on the part of Donaldson should be acknowledged by his immediate resignation (or dismissal) from the NACA board.

During the week of March 22, a local scientific study done by Northern Arizona University was released to the public, which shows that recycled water is, in fact, polluted with various chemical compounds that can cause abnormal growth rates in tadpoles. But it doesn’t take Indian rocket scientists to arrive at the same conclusion because us Indian people knew way before the NAU scientific revelation that wastewater is harmful to living things.

To place this recycled water in a holding pond on the Peaks next to the ski lodge will surely attract literally billions of microorganisms, which may also experience these same abnormal growth patterns. This is what Indians object to. It’s just not nice to fool with Mother Nature.

In addition to the 600 Indian students at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, there are more than 5,000 Indians who reside in Flagstaff who are eligible to vote in the upcoming mayoral election. The majority of these Indians have supported the current mayor in his quest for the position of mayor in Flagstaff in the past. But because of the Donaldson’s concerns with his own desires to help Indians and defeat them at the same time in the current controversy over recycled water, Indians need to stay home on the city’s election day since there are no mayoral candidates that fairly represent Indian concerns to stop the desecration of their holy places on the San Francisco Peaks known as “Dooko’oslid” to the Navajo or “Jil cho” to the Dilze’e Verde Valley Apaches.

Letters, page 6

Dilze’e Apaches, which I am a member of in Camp Verde, are not amused by any of the current rationalization to pump “almost pure” water to our holy place called “Jil cho” to make snow for a bunch of irreverent people who don’t give an iota about Indian spiritual beliefs.

Donaldson needs to have a powwow will all members of the 13 tribes affected by this adverse decision to proceed with the pumping of questionable water to the peaks for snow production.

Do we have any write-in candidates for the Flagstaff mayoral election that will support us in stopping this insanity that is about to take place on the Peaks?