Manataba Messenger

Page 9 CANDIDATE FOR CHAIRMAN Dwight Lomayesva, Jr. CANDIDATE FOR CHAIRMAN DENNIS PATCH I was raised on this Reservation with nine brothers and sisters on land assigned to my father and mother in 1945. I attended and finished from all the local schools, including Le Pera Elementary and Parker High School. In higher education, I received a BS degree in mathematics education from the U of A, a BS degree in Civil Engineering from California State Polytechnic University, and a MA degree from California State University in Fullerton, where I studied history and American Indian land tenure. I began my professional career by teaching high school mathematics in Snowflake, Arizona, and later at Sherman Indian High School in Riverside, California. Still, the majority of my teaching experience has been in higher education. I taught mathematics, history, and physical education at Riverside College, and after twenty-five years of service, was awarded the rank of Professor by the Board of Trustees. During that time, our three-college district faculty selected me to lead them as the president of the faculty Academic Senate for two terms and then as the leader of the faculty union for two terms. I also participate in higher education matters on the California state level. Other teaching experience was at UC Riverside, Cal State University Fullerton, and San Diego State University, where I taught as an adjunct faculty mem- ber. I became a part-time farmer in 1987 when I leased 56 acres of Tribal land on Eddy Road. Later, I leased land from my father and joined him in the cattle business. After I retired five years ago, I moved back to the Reservation to farm full time and leased and farmed over 10,000 acres. Today, I farm 550 acres for myself and run a Reservation farm with over 10,000 acres of cotton, alfalfa, corn, wheat, and Bermuda grass, on land leased by a California dairyman. With all the great resources existing on our Reservation, tribal members should expect our 26 enterprises to prosper, but they are not. The Pandemic is certainly a factor in this. However, our enterprises were not doing well financially, even before the Pandemic. CRIT Farms is also losing money. The Tribal Council assigned over 27,700 acres to the Farms, but they can farm only 8,200 acres due to the water shortage. When we leased (sold) our water, the Tribes took some of that water from CRIT Farm's water allocation. The Farms had to decrease their water consumption by not growing cotton. Then our multimillion-dollar cotton gin had to close because CRIT Farms was the gin's only customer. Other concerns are the need to improve our students' quality of education by supporting our Public Schools, classroom problems in our Head Start program, depend- able online education with better internet access, and high school graduation. These things need to be addressed and solved by working together. Public safety on the southern end of the Reservation could be improved, and the Tribes could do more to assistance tribal farmers and ranchers. The Covid-19 Pandemic has hurt the Tribes physically and financially, but now we face the bigger task of developing a viable plan that addresses both the illness and the economic recovery. I have the experience and desire to help solve all of these problems. s/ Dwight Lomayesva, Jr. At the beginning of 2020, CRIT had a lot of plans mapped out. We were looking into implementing hemp on the California side to expand our water usage on a very valuable crop as well as planting indigenous vegetation to bring the wildlife and waterfowl back to help protect our cultural ties to those lands and water. On the Arizona side, we were just hitting the ground with farmers that wanted to pay higher land leases and start growing an assortment of produce with built-in conservation methods to save our water. Then COVID-19 hit with a full force across the world and here on our reservation. We had to shift gears quickly to try to understand how to fight this virus and how to protect our people and community. As Chairman, I worked diligently every day to protect CRIT and the surrounding communities with my main priority being our elders and children by providing food and supplies distributed to them specifically, so they did not have to venture to stores. We also got testing kits needed as our local Colorado River Service Unit only had 16 total testing kits for March and April. I knew in order to fight this unknown virus; we had to start testing. So I requested the help of Sonora Quest Laboratories, Border Health, ASU Biodesign Institute (who specifically were the first to be able to test children via saliva-based testing), and Dr. Dwivedi to oversee the testing and guide us in our battle against this virus. We were able to flatten the curve in September. However, like the rest of the world, a second surge is coming, and I can say we have been in preparation for many months to meet this virus again with enough PPE, testing kits for COVID-19, and vaccines for the Flu. Without the passing of the CARES Act monies that native tribes were able to attain, we would be in a much different place today. The CARES act enabled us to purchase more testing kits and supplies, provide monies to help those in need, food, water, cleaning supplies, and electrical and water payments for members. CRIT updated all first responders with new gear and supplies. We also sent many non-essentials workers with pay home for four months with the Stay at Home Resolution to prevent the spread of the virus to protect our families and communities. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank and commend CRIT Fire Department, CRIT Fish & Game, Western Boundary, Big River Development employees, CRIT Police, DHSS, and all essential workers for all their commitment in helping and protecting CRIT during this stressful time brought on by the virus. The pandemic of COVID-19 has exposed many areas that need improvement not just on this reservation but all reservations and all rural areas in the United States. It revealed how inadequately we are served in terms of water utilities, technology, education, and healthcare. My vision for our people is to connect our reservation to the world to bring about a lasting change as we transition into a more technology-based world brought on by COVID-19 by implementing wireless & fiber internet throughout the reservation. Once this is accomplished, our people will be able to enhance their economical, edu- cational & job opportunities. We can also use this technology for implementing and harnessing solar energy, implementing wireless electronic water metering of our water system to conserve our water, connecting all our enterprises on the Arizona and California side of the reservation to better enhance a true economic business struc- ture. Lastly, but most importantly, to bring Telehealth/Medicine care to our members, with the pandemic, many healthcare facilities had to move to a remote provider-based healthcare model. I foresee this method of patient care only expanding, especially as there is no vaccine for COVID-19 available and no plan if there is one available that has been properly tested. We must not let ourselves be the forgotten people any longer, and as your Chairman, it’s my commitment to not let that happen. Thank you for your continued support. s/ Dennis Patch