NAVAJO UPDATE

ALBUQUERQUE NM -- The following is an update on various issues having
to do with the Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in the country:

- -Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has agreed to help the tribe
battle a growing epidemic of methamphetamine use. Earlier this year,
Goddard supported legislation to make the ingredients to manufacture
the drug more difficult to get. The proposal failed, and Navajo
officials said they support efforts to have it reintroduced.

The tribe this year passed a law make the possession or sale of meth
punishable by up to one year in tribal jail and a $5,000 fine.

"This is probably one of the most important laws enacted by the tribe
in years," said Greg Adair, a Navajo police criminal investigator
from Tuba City. "This is now a tool for every officer to fight this
problem on the tribal level."

- -Officials are investigating a triple murder near the town of
Shiprock. The three victims, all Native Americans, were shot while
inside a parked vehicle. Police believe two different weapons were
used. Witnesses at the scene reported hearing gunshots.

- -A member of the tribe has been convicted of rape and murder. Branden
Pete, 20, now faces life in prison after being found guilty of
second-degree murder and rape in the slaying of Charlotte Brown.
Brown was hitchhiking on the reservation in 2002 when she was picked
up by a car full of men, including Pete-who was only 16-years-old at
the time. The prosecutor in the trial, who called the case a "heinous
crime," say the men raped and killed Brown. Pete is the last person
to be tried in connection with the crime. All of the others have
already been convicted. Pete will be sentenced in January.

- -Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., has vetoed the Fairness in
Appropriations Act of 2005, calling it "arbitrary and lacking
justification." According to the tribe, the legislation would have
drawn approximately seven percent out of the annual general fund base
allocation from the Navajo Nation Executive Branch in order to
increase the allocation of the Judicial Branch by four percent and
the Legislative Branch by three percent.

"Nowhere in the legislation is there a rational justification for the
proposed percentages," Shirley wrote in his veto message. "In fact,
the legislation fails to contain sufficient information about
precisely what services are lacking in the Judicial and Legislative Branches."

- -Four Navajo Division of Public Safety police officers have been
recognized for their efforts in fighting drunk driving. Navajo First
Lady Vikki Shirley, who chairs the tribe's DUI Task Force and Mothers
Against Drunk Driving chapter, said the cops are literally lifesavers.

"A sincere thank you for protecting us on our roads and arresting
drunk drivers as well as enforcing seat beat use," she said. "We pray
for you and hope you will continue to stand with us as we fight together."

- -Navajo flags are being flown at half-staff until Nov. 18 in honor of
Navajo artist R.C. Gorman. Gorman recently passed away at the age of 74.

"He never lost touch with his Navajo soul," said Zonnie Gorman, R.C.
Gorman's youngest sister. "He never lost touch with his roots and
that kept him very humble. His soul emanates in his work, whether it
was a beautiful scene with mountains and canyons, women."