minercon

I enjoyed reading all your answers in the previous subject about this name change. However, I have a completely different viewpoint on this matter. Remember when Goldwater died? There were dozens of ideas of what places, parks, natural monuments etc. we should change to honor the man. As someone pointed out all that has faded with the 5 year time period....as the Piestewa Change would have if Napolitano had not TAKEN UP THE CAUSE. Also the REPUBLIC pushed this constantly in their editorials. People did not want the change....the paper did and so did Napolitano (which I will expand on later)

I read or heard someplace quite awhile ago that 40% of Americans have Indian blood in their background. I think this % is extremely high. In my own personal background all my ancestors came over in the early 1900's except for one grandmother. However, in my husband's background one relative came down from Nova Scotia and married an Indian. I am presuming it was a female Indian at the time and not male. My husband has about 3% Indian blood in him. Therefore, my daughter has about 1 1/2%. She married a year ago and her husband also has a percentage of Indian blood in him. I would estimate about 6%.

I wonder how many of you actually have someone in your families background with some Indian blood in them however small. My daughter's husband was born in Phoenix and is 43 years old. My daughter is 29. Guess folks where they live??????

If you guessed Squaw Peak you would be correct. I asked her husband what he thought about the name change. Being the jovial person he is, he stated....I don't care what they name it...it will always be Squaw Peak to me and that is what I will call it. Living on a small hill myself I have looked out on Squaw Peak and Camelback for over 20 years every day....many times a day. I will never refer to it as anything else but Squaw Peak. Jewell McFarland Lewis just died a few weeks ago. She lives right next door to Kevin Johnson on Camelback Mountain. She was a very great lady in this town....they owned Channel 3 and gave a lot of money to worthy causes. Maybe we should rename Camelback mountain.....Jewell's Mountain. As we know this is absurd.

Now many of you will say that Camelback is not an offensive name and Squaw is. Obviously from your many responses you would prefer the name of Squaw.

So why has Napolitano pushed for the change? The paper did as the mountain was named after an Indian expression, and since an Indian was killed during the latest conflict they pursued that name change. But why Napolitano? It may be political. She may want to run for Senate in 8 years. If McCain is still in office she will have a very hard time. Mc Cain is liked by the Indian tribes and this just might cement the swing vote Janet may need to win a tight race. We are a Republican state on the whole. We are a little more liberal in our voting habits if the case arises that pleases us. Many of us will switch parties to vote for a person or cause we feel is more advantagous. As an Indian would you vote for Napolitano or McCain? I say this has some bigger and deeper political roots than some of us have fathomed.

The word Squaw may have been derived from the Algonquin tribe. I believe they occupied mostly the mid atlantic states up into lower New England. I never recalled them being too much of a warring tribe or one that mistreated their women. People take any word in the English language or their own language and can make it a pleasant or unpleasant word on how they use it in context. Many Indian tribes treated their women well and others horrible. A lot depends on the male member you are associated with. Love can change into hate as fast as a thunderbolt flashes and hits the earth.

So as we argue there are several things to take into consideration. Words are mightier than the sword as the Republic recently showed us. Laws were broken to rush everything through. And is there an ulterior motive behind Napolitano's RUSH? Five years from now the Peak we have always referred to as Squaw would have remained that name if the RUSH had not taken place.

Brian in Mesa

One of the required board members wasn't present when the vote to skip all the bylaws took place and he is thinking of suing over it.

I hope they overturn the changing of the name.

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"If Chuck is Solo, Larkin is his Fett!" - Morgan

Ryanwb

Brian, would you happen to have his or her name? I would like to try to find an e-mail address and make a note of encouragement

Brian in Mesa

Tim Norton. The guy Napolimano tried to get fired (for following the rules, no less), after she appointed him to 5 more years at the beginning of her governorship (doh!).

My question: If they claim the public is behind this naming, let's put it to a public vote. Two choices: 1) Squaw 2) Piestewa. Let's see which one wins.

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"If Chuck is Solo, Larkin is his Fett!" - Morgan

AZCB34

Typical. Instead of saying this, why not say what you really mean? Democratic bitch? At least I would have respect for what you are saying instead of the juvenile crap people spew. Totally destroys your post and argument.

Brian I fail to see how your insults (I assume this is Biblical truth or you are the most hateful Christian I have ever heard) give any credence to what you are saying. Must make you feel like a real man.

Reply, as I know you will. I shall not reply in turn. Sad.

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Dream like you'll live forever, live like you will die today. -James Dean

Brian in Mesa

AZCB34 - Whatever.

I guess as a Christian I am not supposed to get political or have little nicknames for people? Geez.

Lighten up a bit.



And my nickname has nothing to do with the Bible, or her sexual preference (which, by the way, she says is heterosexual). She flat out looks like her brother, a court tv judge - and...a man. And it has a double meaning when you consider how she man-handled this issue.

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"If Chuck is Solo, Larkin is his Fett!" - Morgan

Brian in Mesa

If the governor simply had to change the name from Squaw Peak because it was sooooo offensive, why is she in no hurry to rename the other 68 places in our state which bear the name SQUAW?

Or Negrohead in the Superstition Mountains, or Chinaman Flats up North? And there are 3 places in the state which still bear the "N" word in many state guides...

These places were all mentioned in Saturday's Repulsive (Oh my, another nickname, how dare I? )

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"If Chuck is Solo, Larkin is his Fett!" - Morgan

bratwurst

Is there any movement for a referendum on the issue?

How many signatures do you need to put something like this on a ballot? If the public opinion is really that one sided on the issue, it shouldn't be that hard to get the required number.

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minercon

If the entire state voted on the name change they would probably approve it. If it was a Maricopa County vote the name Squaw Peak would remain. There is too much sentiment about the name and many people do not care if it is REALLY an offensive word, or just some tribes think it is offensive. To me the word means "WIFE" and that is it. I guess in some tribes it means maiden. Well, wife and maiden are two completely different meanings...one married and one unmarried.

The problem to me is that Napolitano took the most recognizable and one a a half dozen beloved Peaks in the state to make the change on. I wonder what the people who live on the Peak really think about this name change? They are the ones that have the true investment in it.

Brian in Mesa

Lori Piestewa was a maiden.

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"If Chuck is Solo, Larkin is his Fett!" - Morgan

Strong Bad

The name was changed simply for politcal reasons ... Gov. Neapolitano's politcal reasons.

Brian in Mesa

It still won't be recognized, at least on a Federal level until 5 years after her death, unless Congress waives that restriction.

The whole situation was/is ridiculous.

And, I think it was political suicide on the Gov's part.

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"If Chuck is Solo, Larkin is his Fett!" - Morgan

minercon

I disagree with you Brian about the political suicide argument. I am a registered republican. For various reasons I did vote for Napolitano and crossed political lines. I did this with one or two other candidates. I read the issues and decided what I believed was best for the state and any political ideals I had on the matter. For instance, I voted against Brewer. Living on the westside I have seen what the Board of Supervisors have done when they have ignored zoning ordinances. She was a former supervisor. In the Goodyear-Litchfield area they have taken R-43 zoning and turned it into R-8. That means lots that were suppose to be an acre have been turned into 8000 sq. foot lots. In essence this is not even true! One must understand how they zone. If there are green areas, schools, parks etc. they take into considerations their acreage and add it to the actual acreage containing homes. So when you think that an R-8 lot would contain only 5 homes to an acre....what you really get is 8 to 10 homes to an acre. Why they even figure in the road space as part of acre space. So Brewer never got my vote even though she won. People just simply don't read issues and they vote party lines. This is true when it came to Jim Irvin. He has been in trouble for years with his dealings and should have been kicked out before the last election. However, he got voted in, because most people don't even know what the Corportaion Commission does or even cares. They have enough problems voting for a Governor or Secretary of State.

Napolitano has now captured the entire Indian vote in the state. Many people, including myself, feel that there are other issues more important than the renaming of a peak in Maricopa County. I will judge her worthiness for being reelected not on this one issue (even though I hate her decision), but on how she handles the budget, whether there are any other Major fiascoes(like the alternative fuels issue), her handling of increasing business investment, a tax increase or not, etc.

I don't think she thought out the Squaw Peak question very well. My true and gut feeling on the situation is that everyone who has been in the valley for at least 5 years will still refer to it as Squaw Peak and it will take 25 years for people to begin to become comfortable to refer to it as Piestewa Peak....if they ever do.

Brian in Mesa

I personally do not feel the Indians should be able to vote in State matters if they choose to continue living on the reservations. Let them vote on "reservation" matters.

It is a double-edged sword. They want to be an American citizen with all the rights that come with it, and they still want to be recognized as their own sovereign nations, with their own rules and laws...and casinos within areas where gambling is illegal.

I say disband the reservations and make us all equal or keep the reservations but do not allow them to vote outside of their own "sovereign nations."

The reservations are basically the last legal method of segregation within the USA.

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"If Chuck is Solo, Larkin is his Fett!" - Morgan

Chaplin

How much "choice" do they actually have, Brian?

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"I don't flop. I don't complain. I beat you." - Shaquille O'Neal