Faced with budget cuts, a lack of space or both, Yavapai, Navajo, and Yuma counties have taken to cremating the indigent rather than burying them. A burial costs nearly three times the amount of cremation.

Maricopa and Pima counties continue to bury the indigent, but officials in Maricopa County say budget pressures may force them to reconsider that policy.

Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, spent nearly $2.3 million to bury 497 bodies at an average cost of more than $4,600 per body during the 2008-09 fiscal year. That costs includes required investigations to locate relatives of the deceased in hopes of sparing taxpayers from shouldering the costs of burial or cremation.

When relatives are found but refuse to pay, counties are responsible for disposing of the bodies. Counties can sue relatives who refuse to bury their dead, but rarely do so.

When relatives can’t be immediately located, Ramona Loza, coordinator of Maricopa County’s indigent-burial program, thinks it still makes sense to bury a pauper.

“It’s in our best interests to give them a complete body than ashes,” she said, adding that sometimes relatives learn of a loved one’s death years after burial.

Loza estimated that five to 10 bodies are disinterred a year at the county’s White Tanks Cemetery, the only paupers cemetery in Maricopa County.

Loza said she expects economic pressures eventually will force Maricopa County to reassess its approach.

That’s already the case in Yavapai County, which in January opted for a cremation-only policy to handle its indigent dead. Navajo and Yuma counties are cremating the indigent dead if no relative can be found.

All three rural counties handle far fewer paupers funerals than Maricopa, which handles about 700 a year.

Yavapai County had been encouraging cremation for years, but made it a requirement in January as space started running out at a Prescott cemetery, Public Fiduciary Shari Tomlinson said.

Tomlinson, a longtime advocate for cremations during her long career with Maricopa County’s Public Fiduciary Office, said no one criticized the new policy.

Pima County Public Fiduciary Anita Royal said she objects to cremation on religious grounds and has concerns about upset family members suing if they discover a long-lost relative was cremated without their permission.

“I’m not going to violate anyone’s religious beliefs,” Royal said. “If I can get a family to cremate over burial, I’m happy.”

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

The Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff reports that a group of 12 people listed as hay deliverers rang up a bill of $519.86 at one meal, ordering 10 steaks at a Tuba City restaurant. That’s the most expensive item on the menu.

Meanwhile, stranded Navajos were eating air-dropped freeze-dried food.

Coconino County Supervisor Lena Fowler also allowed her county expense credit card to be used by the Navajo chapter president and dozens of tribal police officers for free meals.

Nearly $3,000 was charged to her account. Fowler says in emergencies, government needs to step up and take care of business.

The spending in many cases exceeded the maximum allowed for a day’s meals.

Information from: Arizona Daily Sun, http://www.azdailysun.com

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — In the Navajo community of Klagetoh, like others across the vast reservation, health representatives make it a point to know where all the high-risk residents live and what their medical needs are.

So when wintry weather stranded hundreds of people in deep snow and mud, community members got out their maps, pointed them out and relayed critical information to those tasked with reaching such residents who topped the priority list.

Without that knowledge, officials might have found themselves scrambling to locate residents in often rugged terrain where homes are typically isolated, miles apart from one another. “It would have been devastating,” says Flo Long, a volunteer with the Klagetoh response team.

Getting to the residents was the hard part. Heavy snow and deep mud made many roads across both the Navajo and Hopi reservations that cover northeastern Arizona inaccessible. While most residents who live in the most remote areas maintain strong ties to the land and can last days without leaving their homes, they found themselves still stuck after more than a week and unable to get to the grocery store and medical appointments.

The Navajo Nation declared a state of emergency after the most powerful in a series of winter storms hit the 27,000 square-mile reservation and much of the state on Jan. 21. A federal declaration followed.

Food, hay, water and coal were stockpiled at command posts across the reservation. National Guard helicopters carried supplies from Holbrook and air dropped them to residents who stamped out “Help” or “Need Food” in the snow.

Tribal members familiar with communities went along on some flights, helping to identify the homes of residents in need.

“They know the lay of the land, they know the people,” state Department of Emergency Management spokesman Eric Neitzel said Saturday. “Without them, we’d still be in Day 2 mode.”

Anyone with an immediate medical need was asked to wave a red cloth or lay down on the ground. It’s a system similar to one Navajo officials have used in the past where a certain color designated the need for food, hay, water or medical assistance.

Though a few calls trickle in each day from concerned family members who haven’t heard from or seen loved ones, tribal officials believe most medical needs have been addressed and are transitioning to working with residents in remote areas and with livestock. Selena Manychildren, a spokeswoman for the Navajo Department of Emergency Management, said livestock owners are encouraged to find temporary shelter for their animals that can get infections spread through muddy waters.

The relief effort based in Holbrook is expected to continue through the first part of the week and eventually be turned over to tribal officials. More than 36,000 meals, 30,000 gallons of water, 120 tons of coal and 5,600 blankets have been sent to the Navajo and Hopi tribes.

Major roadways have been cleared, but the lack of heavy equipment in some areas has delayed response to secondary roads. Residents are encouraged to travel early in the morning or late at night when the ground is frozen to avoid getting stuck in the mud — something they’re well accustomed to dealing with.

Coconino County Supervisor Lena Fowler, who is Navajo, said the communities’ response to the storm has been impressive. The health representatives do weekly, if not daily checks on residents with medical needs, working together with area hospitals.

“They’ve been good at getting themselves ready,” said Fowler, who aided with relief efforts in the Tuba City area. “They know where their families live, and what they’ve done is organize themselves at the local level and try to get to people.”

Tribal Department of Justice attorney Henry Howe told lawmakers last week that Attorney General Louis Denetsosie soon will file a petition with the Window Rock District Court to appoint a special prosecutor.

The lawmakers placed Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. on administrative leave last month. The move came a week after they met in closed session to discuss alleged legal violations arising from tribal contracts with separate Internet and manufacturing companies.

Investigators hired by the council compiled the reports, but they haven’t been made public.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Sr. Marguerite Bartz was found dead in her residence at St. Bernard Mission Church. (Photo: Diocese of Gallup)

NAVAJO, N.M. (AP) – A 64-year-old nun has been found dead in her residence at St. Berard Mission Church on the Navajo Indian reservation, and authorities believe she was murdered.

The FBI says Sister Marguerite Bartz failed to show up to Sunday Mass so a colleague went to check on her and found her body.

Her vehicle, a beige 2005 Honda CR-V, is missing. It has a New Jersey license plate, NF24821.

The FBI and state police are combing Bartz’s residence for evidence, and an autopsy is planned.

FBI Special Agent Darrin Jones would not say how Bartz died.

Investigators would like to speak with anyone who talked with Bartz on Halloween night or anyone who believes they may have information related to the case.

Jones says any detail, however small, could help.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

The Navajo Generating Station near Page. (Photo: R. J. Hall.)

PHOENIX (NAZ Today) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rules that would require the Navajo Generating Station and the Four Corners Power Plant to install new emissions equipment which could potentially put power rates out of reach for users.

The plant supplies low-cost electricity for the Central Arizona Project Canal to pump water to Phoenix and Tucson. Though the supply of electricity comes at a price, the EPA ranks Navajo as the nation’s third largest emitter of nitrogen oxides and Four Corners as the second largest.

Some fear the cost of curbing these carbon emissions will have a great impact on the Hopi and Navajo Indian reservations. The coal burned to produce electricity is mined on these reservations and tribal members provide a large portion of the labor needed to keep the plant running. There is the possibility that many tribe members could lose their jobs if the plant closed.

The rules being proposed by the EPA would force the plant’s owners to install complex new air scrubbers that use ammonia to break down pollutants. The cost of the project could range between $600 million and $1 billion. As an alternative, plant owners were considering installing more efficient burners to reduce nitrogen oxides at a substantially lower cost of $43 million.

The suggested scrubber system would add on an additional $13 million a year to the plant’s operating budget as estimated by Salt River Project, the plant’s managing partner. These raised expenses would, in turn, be passed on to users.

The proposal has been appealed to Arizona’s congressional delegation by the plant’s partners and Governer Jan Brewer has been enlisted. The EPA will accept comments from the public through the end of the year before making a final decision that is expected by the middle of 2010.

“We do not have an alternative,” said Susan Bitter Smith, president of the board that oversees the canal. “This is a survival issue for us. We need the EPA to work with us in a rational, logical way that takes into consideration all of the consequences.”

—

Related story: Navajo Nation Receives 5 Million Dollar Grant to Improve Electrical Services

More information on the Navajo Generating Plant: http://www.srpnet.com/about/stations/navajo.aspx

More information on the Four Corners Power Plant: http://www.pnm.com/systems/4c.htm

The bill’s sponsor, Raymond Maxx, says wording to purchase the Arizona Snowbowl outside Flagstaff drew concern from delegates.

The Tribal Council voted 41-27 to refer the legislation to the Resources Committee until its spring session. But Maxx says he and other co-sponsors plan to rework it and bring it before the council again as soon as Monday.

The Navajo and several other tribes fought in court for several years to stop the Snowbowl’s plan to use reclaimed wastewater to make snow. Tribes have said the practice would desecrate the land they hold sacred and infringe on their religious beliefs.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) — Construction is under way on a new 10-bed Indian Health Service hospital in Kayenta, Ariz.

Project managers said the new facility is intended to improve health care access for the isolated Navajo Nation community.

Kayenta community involvement coordinator Malcolm Benally said a primary objective of the new hospital is reducing patient wait times to make services more readily available.

The chief executive officer of the IHS Kayenta Service Unit Linda White said when it’s completed in 2012, the short-stay hospital is expected to be capable of treating up to 75,000 patients per year.

___

Information from: The Daily Times

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

The meetings will allow the public to ask questions and learn about the current status of the Navajo Nation Long Range Transportation Plan. The issues to be discussed include the future plans for transportation and current transportation needs for the Navajo people.

Both meetings will be held on Thursday, April 23rd at two different locations. The morning meeting will be from 10:00 am to noon at the Tuba City Chapter House and the second meeting will be in the evening from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Chinle Chapter House.

For more information, contact Salisa Norstog, Principal Planner, Navajo Department of Transportation at (928) 871-7985.