Fear in Dinétah
Many Navajo residents say action against Shirley is a Council ploy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Navajo citizens reacted as the news spread that Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. was placed on administrative leave by the Navajo Nation Council Monday, but those that the Independent spoke to did not want to be identified for this story for fear or retaliation.

Council spokesman Joshua Lavar Butler issued a news release Tuesday that the action to place Shirley on leave has absolutely nothing to do with the initiatives to reduce the Council membership from 88 to 24 delegates and give the president power to strike out line items from the tribe’s budget or supplemental appropriations.

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