,~.

E aEN

ETT FR.EZ

The Inaependenf-.-GallupNM.-8.atu

day, December 5: 206

Brian Leddy/Independent

Oenise Almeida anct:her son Julio sit on 'the front steps of their small travel trailer that serves as their home on the outskir!s of .
Tuba City,Ariz. The family lives in an area that that some call "No Man's Land" because no one ~nows if jhe land is on Q~nR~tt
Freeze land or not. Now that the freeze has been. lifted, Denise and'family hope to receive assistance with their challenging living conditions.'
. .
'
..

-Familiestruggle tD-surviveln lNoMan's-Land'

By Kathy Helms
D!n~Bureau
c'

... ; ~~ACITY - Imagine nOfbeing allowed

\ ; to !illprove your home, make repairs or
~:" build a new one -that is the plight of .
those who live in The Bennett Freeze.
~
, Just south~fTllba City, where the pavement
~
and the dirt roads begin, is an area known as
."~oMan's1.and." Residents say ids part of the '
:(0I?;Uer
Bennett Freeze, but nobody really knows
fo~sure. res on the fringe, .and the Bennett Freeze
happened a long time ago..
"
:'~~ they know is ~ is a struggle.and help is ~
basically nOD:existenL
,~ ~
, ;peruse Al~rieida,3.5~,lives with her boyfri~~
an~~sevenchildren in a.7:by-19-foottravel trailer
on~efami1y,~Clmpoun4.Her mother and father':
feSrrfu in atwd-room housein the mi&ll~.Almei'.
Brian Leddy/fndeperrdent
da 's ~ister, Stev~ and her family live in a' thin ~ Julio Almeida, 8, an~ flis 'brother Nito, 11. chase each
other ~~ound the their g~andmother's cramped home
]:

in

The

Bennett Freeze

On May 8, Pr~ident
Obama signed Senate BUI 39
into law, permanently
resclndln the "Bennett
Freeze" and ending more .:
than 40 years of restrictions
for Navajo Nation residents
living on 1.6 million acres in
the western portion of the,
Navajo Nation.
,
The freeze, which was
imposed July 8, 1966, by
then-[')elOlartmertt of the Interior Secretary R<>bertBennett, resulted from a
. decades-long land disptrte
between the Navajo Nation
and the Hopi Tribeand prevented residents from making improvements or repairs
to their homes 'and related
property.:'
~
Orilj{3 percent of families
affected by the Bennett
'
Freeze have electricity and
.o~I!'.~Opercent fl,ave running

~BOVELEFT: Leticia Zapeda, 2, slurps on her bottl~ whije playing at her home just outside at
:amily of'eight has beeniorpec/ to sleep in a smali-tra;vel trailer-after their mobile home-burned
:;itylifts weightg.rheare~is-~hown"~sa
"No Mar.'fLancf'"be~a~se no one really know is it is
nakes room for everyon-eldl./J:'ltl9? birthday. party, {photos by B!lan Leddyt ..~ . ". ."".~.
'_"
__

-'-

_.

"

_._

._~"'_~"

Z.;....

-'-

.- __

--:

......__

._--_,.'-_~.--'--"---

Tuba City, Ariz~Zapeda "!..od:herfal11i1y are among Tuba City's most needy residents, The
down three years aqo. ABOVi: RIGHT: A_boy visiting the Almeida/Zapeda family in Tuba
on former Sennett Freeze. land or not. "BELOW: Despite cramped quarters, the family still

_:.._"-_."_.

__._-----

Continued from page 1

plywood hogan on the other side.

"We had a trailer here, a single-wide, and it burnt down. We don't
have any way of like, getting a hogan done for us, so we've been in
this trailer for almost three years," Almeida said. An orange extension cord runs from her parents' home to the
trailer, providing electricity for a dorm-room-size refrigerator; a
small heater, and occasional television- for the kids. The roof of the
trailer is covered in multiple tarps to try to keep out the rain, The
windows were broken out by a tornado that touched down in 2007
and are draped in blankets or other material,
"The last wood stove I had burned down my trailer, so I'm scared
of wood stoves and I'm scared of propane," Almeida said. The elec- _
tric heater doesn't produce much heat, so the trailer stays cold in
winter.
"Sometimes when it rains really hard, it leaks from the ceiling.
The walls are really bad. You can hear the mouses running around in
there. My kids got sick from the mouse droppings. They all have
asthma," she said,
_.
'>
At night, Almeida's boyfriend, Edward Zepeda, sleeps on the
floor, she sleeps in a twin bed with the babies - Leon and Leticia
The boys sleep on the bunk beds and on-the floor. "Actually, when
it's warm enough out here, my daughter sleeps outside in 'theBlaz- er' because it's too crowed inside, or sometimes she stays over at my
mom's house," Almeida said.
When Stevena and Brian moved to the family compound, their
sons, Brandon, 2, and, Jayden, who turned a year old Nov. 28, hadn't been born yet. '
"Before I got pregnant we used to live in my mom's Blazer. We.
stayed there for maybe like two months. It was getting to the.winter,
It was really cold."
They moved into a rat-infested trailer on the family compound.
"It was really bad. The ceiling was dripping all the time, there was
mouses in there. We had to use the outhouse. I started getting sick
and getting infections," Stevena said. One morning she went to the
.outhouse and when she came back "she was feeling really weird,"
Brian said. 'We took her to the hospital and the doctor said it was a
black widow bite.
'When we lived in that little trailer we used to have mice all the
time. We' dget that sticky paper and we'd get like two or three a
night," he said.
"Even where we laid, there were mouses going on top ofus and
around us. It was kind of gross," Stevena added.
The "Blazer," which really isn't a Blazer but a similar-style vehicle, might not have been much, but at least it was mouse-free. After
Brandon was born, they slept there. "We'd just throw our blankets
down and.put him in the middle," Brian said.
That was in the winter, while Stevena's dad was repairing a
hogan that had been damaged by fire so they would have a home. "It
was burned from the stove all the way down to the doer. The walls
were kind of apart and it looked bad," she said.
Though there is a Navajo taboo against living in burned-out
structures, 'We had no choice because we had nowhere else to live.
My dad wanted some sort of shelter for my son. I was happy that he
was building this. We don't have no mice, but we do have a lot of
bugs in here," she-said. They fixed that by taping all the seams
where the walls and ceiling come together with red plastic tape.
Like Denise's trailer, the hogan is powered by an extension cord
running from Stevena's parents' house.

"It's hard to live like this because sometimes we have to use electricity and then sometiples extension cords burn out arid it's hard for
us to get extension cords to have lights."
.
Neither Denise nor Stevena have running water, so cooking and
bathing takes place at their parents' house, The water heater wore
out a couple years ago, Stevena said, so there isno hot water.
'We have to take turns at the stove-and sometimes my mom runs
out of propane and we end up using a small electric stove to took
on. Only one burner works so we all have to take turns cooking at
different hours," Denise said ..
Her boyfriend has only been able to find work one day a week.
The.family basically subsists on just over 300 a month from TANF
and Food Stamps.
Despite the hardships, Denise said her children are doing well in
school; except for Misael, who contracted helicobacter pyhri, a bacteriological disease better known as H. pylori. He spent two months

iiun

in the ho~i~ ~ ~t~~hicl;.<put

:behind irihis school work,'
~d now.~ have to take medication every day fot the rest of his .
.!jfe.,"
. .,'"'
.....
.
~ZMydoctor wrote out a paper saying thaty.,ene,ededbetter housingthan this, so we've beenwaiting all this-time. We went-to tlie .
chapter and to the housing authority," she said. After the trailer.
.
.burned, she even put up fliers at the grocery store, "trying to find .a
.frailer for cheap," but no one responded, ,
"' ..
<1 wouldn't really call thisa home," Denise said. "l.guess I gQt
used to it, die way.we live and everything,but it'snota'goodsitua:'
tionfor my'lcids...'
. ...
.
"
.
. As Soon as they get back from school they .haveto do their home- .
work, I don't allow- them to do their homework late because we .
. '. don'treally want to use up the lights," she said-Her daughter,EIisa,
19;iS'tlyirig to get-into college, and Denis~l:lerself isgetting:io~~ther
her high school records so she can enroll ili adult edtication)lasses.
- Stevena arid Brian already are taking classes.
.
.
,
. Living in such tight quarters takes its tolL She suffers from,
migraines and asthma. ''I feel so choked' sometimes. It feels like J
.can't breathe, 1can't move around. We try.to db our.best.butit
seems like it's just getting.worse and worse,"
";....
.
'After the trailer burned, she went to the chapter forhelp.The:.
woman who waited on her "turned around and told me the reason
.why the trailer bumt down is because therewas illegal stufffuthere.
Isaid, "Ihe only thing you guys found supposedly illegal inthere.is
the syringes Iuse to give myself a shot for migraines,' . ..,..' . . '.
"It made me so mad, because they don't know nothing abOMtUs.
They just figure, 'Well; that's what they were doing: We're not going
to help them. ' The only time people came around here to check on .
us was when that twister came. But we didn't get help from any of
those 'people, They just took pictures and then they left."
.
, When Mlsael was sick and in the hospital.a lady from SCh091
. .
came by to check on him .
.r-:":-:,....:.;~-'-';,~-,.:...:......,~.,..:...--'---'--'-'--'--,---'-----"---'---'---~-----'---=---'-,--'-:--t.After seeing the living "20:ndi-'.,
tions, she saidshe wasgoing .'
to report them to Social Services.t'This living condition is .
no good f91' yourkids. They

need a better life,"DeniSesaid

she wastold,
.. ' .... ...
"I went up to that lady and
.r said; 'You knowwhat, just .
because maybe you have a better living situationthanus,
. that's no reason. At 'least I'm
':here for my kids. They'rein
.schoolevery day, they'renot
being abused. That doesn't
. make me a bad parent. ' .
. ' ';"I hate it when people .'
.' come around and they think
they're better than otherpe6-
ple.That's what I told her: She .
Said, .'Well, you need to get .
.,i~ .
. ";o;~.l~ . $";::"=
.. "
.~:~':~-6'*_,.
'help, You need a better living
,
.
......'"";;..,.,:,,~,~ '. ~"-=.,.;,,,-~-"i.:.:. '--,
. :~~.....:..-?- :~-.--:~."" situation.' I said; 'Well, help
TOP:Bbb'JimBenfl~,ttWa~ches
television wi.th J~y.d~riMeyers in the hom~ of Irene G~orge.nie
then. If you guys
conGeorge's
home serves-as the center of family activity. ABOVE: TbeAlmeida/Zapeda sboys cemed about it, help me! .
play a game oUag football in the dirt lot in front bftheir home. (Photos by Brian Leddy)
That's what I told her." .

"",.">~:

,"",tHE TRUTH :WEL.LrOLD

en en
G THEIR ~:VOICES'iHEAR
. ~
-~-

, .

Diego Robfes/ForThe Iridep~ndE)rit

Thomas Cody, chapter president of t.eupp-Iocal residents and leaders of Black Falls, Ariz., listen to a speech by suspended
President Joe Shirley Jr. on Saturday.
'"
.
.

The Independenf.....:. Gall

up

N M
. .-

Tuesday, December

. .
8, 2009 '

:s.--

.~SbirleycgetsaagSeotBoISpriDg~'
President, Sandoval sitin 'onmeeting
.

-.

By Kathy Heims

, Dine Bureau

'

,LACK FALLS,Ariz. --;-Pauline Lefthand,AOj heard-the-news ' '--.';"'}hat

Navajo Na~ion PresidentJoe Shirley Jr.~d hi~staffwe.re
., ',."", supposed to be m Box Spnng Dec. 5. "Yeah,'flght;'r':-'s)ie-, -:
thought He's 'not going to have time for us way out here." , ,
She bad never met the president. ''I-just mew hisvoice.on the, radio.
I was really happy and, surprised at the same time to see.himi" she said.
It didn't matter to her that lie was oil administrative leave or that Vice
President Ben Shelly had-just fired the president's chief of staffPatrick .
Sandoval.
-,
,"When Iwalked in and he was sitting there, right away:ithifme:
'Oh, my gosh. what am I going to do if they tell me to speak? What do I
say to him?' If really broke my heart when he said he didn't have time
for me," .Lefthand said.
' "
"
"
It was not that the president didn't want to listen. Hew~s pressed for
.time because he had to leave by-noon to be at Upper Fruitland Chapter '
by 4 p.m. The Box Spring meeting started more-than' anhour late arid "
introductions and welcoming remarks took nearly another' hour, Ieaving
the president only 3'0 minutes to pitch his government reform initiative
.and.listen to .comments. '
When he tried to leave, the president foundhims~lf a captive audi ..
ence as Lefthand - like
many in attendance who-have-a list of iilnesses
,
a mile long -decided
to share herstory anyway: "At least'nowhe
knows there's.another one ofus out here that needs help," she said. ,
. Leftband told the president that she had been a very healthy person
until 2004 when her kidneys failed and she ended uIJon dialysis. "I was

See Box Spring, PageS

,-Cc

-,
Diego Aobles/For TIle Independent
''
After.hearinq testimony from-the Forgotten Peqplecmd
local.residents who had ntchoice but to drink'arsenic
'
and uranium-contaminated
water from Box, Spring
wells, Navajo President JoeShirley Jr'oglv,.es)l speech
~,~.:~~t~cj~y-.~,-~ ~. '.~:",
,',',
,.

",

,~,

Thelndependent-<3alfup..N.M:- Tuesda~:~b.e~ember8"2009------_._-------=-- -.-_.

~....
.. - ----_.--

t.

If
11
:l

s
I

,
:f

!
f

--

Diego RobleS!For The Indepenc;lent

Myrtle Yellowhorse gives her husband Hubert a look during a speech by Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley .Jrsln Black
Falls, Anz., on Saturday.'
',
__,~..___
_~, ..
c

The lndependent"-Gal'
,',

NM - _ -

IUp.

,-'-'-Saturday,

--

December

--'

5,2009-

.. -

~()~:'-REi"~f:;

-.s .~';-;''.' ~""

.: 2._~-':-~ __ -,

Continued from Page 1

f-'-

Like many at the meeting,

sicker and was in and out of
Lefthand grew up in Box
the hospital, Manygoats said.
Spring drinking the water
. "I was the one sitting by her
from the time she was born
side, I missed school for her. I
until she went away-to school
did anything I could just to be
in Utah at age 9. When she
by her side. And oue day, I
came home on breaks she conjust said, 'You know what,
tinued todrink the water. It
she's my mom."
was only-recently that resiManygoats asked her what'
dents learned it was contamisomeone would have to do to
nated with uranium and
get approved for a transplant.
arsenic.
Lefthand said, 'W11y, do you
To date, she does not 'know
have somebody?' I said, 'Yes,
whether the water might have
I think I know somebody,"?
caused or contributed to her
Lefthand told the clinic, they
health problems because there
sent the papers to Manygoars
will ever see my family again.
have not been any comprehenand she signed the papers
I struggle day in, day out. It's
sive health studies.
without letting her mom know.
just like climbing a hill, not
Lefthand adopted her-niece,
"I used to travelfrom here
knowing what's going to hapPamela Manygoats, 22, when
to Phoenix two times a month
pen next."
she was 3 months old, In
for tests to see if I was comShe told the president she
patible with her. It took test
December 2007 Manygoats
needs a home and running
donated a kidney so her
after test after test. Finally I
water on the reservation.
"mom" would no longer need
gar the news and they said,
Because of her medical condidialysis.
'When do you want to come
tions she currently resides in
"She had hypertension,
in - both of you?' Iwas like,
Winslow where she has to pay
That made her kidneys fail
'December. I want it to be a
. rent and high utility bills
and they told her that she was
surprise. '"
because she doesn't know
going to have to be on dialysis
At the clinic they told Leftwhen she might have a
band they needed her paperfor the rest of her life. She
seizure. As it was, she ended
work in- case they had a donor,
up in the hospital Sunday with ~ used to come home crying,
telling me how bad it was with
"She didn't think: anyone was
an infection.and was released
going to donate," Manygoats
the needles and just sitting
Monday.
said. "And then one day we
"I know you're in a hurry. I there thinking about what's
.told her. I said, 'I'm going to
'going to happen next," Manyheard you," she told the presihave to IlO down to Phoenix.'
dent. "And I was sitting here
goats said.
and she was like '\:>i111Y?' I .'
Lefthand was approved for.
going, 'Oh, no, somebody else
a transplant, but when she
said. 'Because I'm donating
that doesn't want to hear my
my kidney to you.'
story.' It would have hurt real- . asked one of her sisters, she
ly bad if you had walked out."
was turned down. She got
"She got so excited. The
there until 2007 when one of
my daughters gave up her kidney for me. From there I
thought things were goingto
be good, but it actually just
went downhill.
"To this day I'm fighting
kidney disease, I have high
blood pressure. Anything that
you can name, I have it," she
said - diabetes, liver problems, rheumatoid arthritis. She
. takes up to 30pills it day.
"Without it, I don't think I

~----.-.- ----

",

--:

smile on her face was just joyful. We all packed up, went
down there and went through .
the procedure," which Manygoats descnbed as frightening.
But just to see her mom happy
and not going to dialysis three
times a week was worth it.
"She didn't see my brother
grow up. She was in and out
ofthe hospital. ... Jt was rough
tunes, up and down, And then
recently I got sick."
She was seven months
pregnant when she went to the
hospital Sept. 4 and was diagnosed 'with swine flu. "I
remember going to Winslow
Memorial and two weeks later
I woke up in Phoenix. My
boyfriend was by my side. He
told me, 'You had the baby.
They took him out because
your heart rate was going
down, his was going up, and .
you weren't going to make
it. ,,,
She suffered heart failure,
was on a ventilator, had 20
IV's including one in her
head. and is still under a doctor's 'care, but she and her son
both made it. "He was only 3
pounds, 2 ounces when he was
born," Manygoats said. Saturday, he turned 3 months old.
"We used to stay down here
with my grandma in Box
Spring. My whole family grew
up drinking this water."

The Indeperident-Gallup N.M.-Saturday, i )ecembe~Oe9-