The Nation - News from Aug. 28, 1988

Defying the rival Hopi Tribe and a congressional mandate, a group of Navajo Indians near Teesto, Ariz., began repairing homes located on Hopi land. The Navajo-Hopi Relocation Act of 1974 partitioned some 1.8 million acres of land that once was occupied by both tribes. Hopis have left land assigned to the Navajos, but about 200 Navajo families refuse to leave land now designated as Hopi. Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald, wearing a tool belt and blue jeans rather than his customary three-piece suit, watched as tribal employees and volunteers put a new roof and windows in a home owned by Jeannie Paddock, 75. He said that he feared Navajo children and elderly tribal members could die if their homes were not repaired before the onset of a cold winter. Ownership of the land has been disputed by the two tribes for more than a century.