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“Deborah Begay is an enrolled citizen of the Navajo Nation. She is affiliated with the Lupton Chapter House. Deborah is the first Native American Judge elected to the Maricopa County Justice Courts. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Native American History from the University of California, Berkeley, and her Juris Doctorate from Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law with a concentration in Federal Indian Law.
She has worked for Navajo Nation in both the Department of Justice and the Department of Natural Resources. She was a contributing editor to the Navajo Nation Peacemaking Model used within the Navajo courts and is a strong advocate for Restorative Justice. She also interned at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. She speaks often on LGBTQ+ issues, community collaborations, and restorative justice.” 1
“Fred Urbina (Yaqui/Yoeme) currently serves as an Attorney General of the Pascua Yaqui Nation. Fred has practiced law or worked in the field of Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement for 20 years. Fred was recently appointed to the Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee and Indian Affairs.
Fred recently led successful efforts at the Pascua Yaqui Tribe to implement the Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction provisions of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which expanded the tribe’s criminal jurisdiction to prosecute non-Native offenders of domestic violence. The tribe was the first in the Nation to exercise this jurisdiction since 1978. Fred has also testified on the impact of the VAWA and Tribal Courts before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. For recent efforts, Fred was awarded the 2017 Bonnie Heavy Runner Victim Advocacy Award in recognition of his work to increase access to justice for domestic violence victims and members of the Pascua Yaqui community.” 1
References:
National Park Service – Native Peoples of the Sonoran Desert: The Yoeme
Art Fettig’s Monday Morning Memo – December 7, 2009
In This Issue
o The Almost Learning Process o Say Something Good o Points To Ponder o A Little Humor o Quote of the Week
The Almost Learning Process
Penetrating my Brain … right now my brain is still awaiting penetration.
I’ve never been a fast learner but lately I have the feeling that my capacity to learn some things has come to a screeching halt. It has. I am making a valiant effort to learn to talk Southern and for this old Yankee it sometimes seems too much. I feel like Elizabeth Dolittle in My Fair Lady. walking around the room saying “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.” Again and again and again. Aye do! And just learning Southern isn’t enough because Andy Griffith had his own unique brand of Southern. Still, it is kind of exciting making a determined effort to accomplish a new challenge. Each morning as I approach yet another practice session I find that my mind is blank and it is like I am starting all over again. I’m certain that many of you who have worked in training have trained people with heads so thick that you felt you would never penetrate their thinking system, and yet, when you persist you might soon find them at the head of the class. Well, right now my brain is still awaiting penetration.
Say Something Good
I had the honor of speaking at Pearl Harbor for the U.S. Navy some years back and I visited the cemetery and was once again reminded of the horrors of war. We have had and we currently have some mighty fine people in our military. May God bless America and keep our troops out of harms way.
Points To Ponder
It is never too late to be what you might have been. George Eliot
A Little Humor
Almost Andy Sez… we had a bad accident downtown last week. They had a crew resurfacing the road and one of the onlookers, Sarah May, leaned in too close and fell and she was run over by the steam roller. She’s in Duke Hospital and can have visitors in rooms 203, 204 and 205…
Quote of the Week
Children, you must remember something. A man without ambition is dead. A man with ambition but no love is dead. A man with ambition and love for his blessings here on earth is ever so alive. – Pearl Bailey,