Mark Maryboy
Encyclopedia
Mark Maryboy was an American
politician
for San Juan County, Utah, and a former Navajo Nation
Council Delegate
for the Utah Navajo Section of the Navajo Tribe. He is the brother of Kenneth Maryboy
who currently serves in the positions he once stood. Mark is of the Navajo Indian Tribe
.
Mark Maryboy was also the San Juan County, Utah
Commissioner for District Three who saw to the needs of the county's residents and the Utah Navajo Element. He made history when he was elected in 1986 as the first American Indian county commissioner in Utah's history
.
Rebecca M. Benally along with the former Navajo Nation Council Delegate Mark Maryboy and protesters from the Aneth Chapter Blocked the main ExxonMobil corporate office for three days in Aneth, Utah.
. He was the fifth of eight children, all of whom were raised in a Navajo hogan
.
Mark attended BIA boarding schools in Kayenta and Aneth at varied times, even though it was hard for him to be separated from his parents during those periods. Government schools were difficult for him as there seemed to be a deliberate attempt to destroy the Indian person that he was.
Angry and resentful because of harsh treatment, he ran away from boarding school while in third grade. His parents then enrolled him and his beloved brother, Herbert, in the public school at Bluff. They were the first reservation Navajo students to attend public school in San Juan County.
Upon graduation from San Juan High School in Blanding, Utah
he attended the University of Utah
, majoring in history with a minor in business. He garnered a B.A. degree in 1978.
Not alone in his endeavors, he married the engaging Rosylyn Johnson, who is also a graduate of the University of Utah and a State of Utah Social Worker on the reservation. They have one daughter who currently is attending a higher learning academy.
One hundred and thirty years after Native Americans were pushed to isolated reservations, the Navajo people of Utah reclaimed a place in the American political process.
In 1986, Maryboy, then age 31 and politically ambitious, ran for San Juan Commissioner. This was the first election after the county was divided by Justice Department decree into commissioner districts. He was elected a San Juan County Commissioner and became the first Native American to hold such a position in the state of Utah.
An elected official, he realized even greater inequities in services given to his Navajo constituents. The Navajo people were bringing in more money for the county than they were receiving back in services. He mixed it up with the other commissioners, often battling the always capable right-wing
former Commissioner Calvin Black, the undisputed kingpin of San Juan County politics, during hotly contested commission meetings. He spoke out quietly but effectively to point out the injustices of it all.
Maryboy's four terms on the San Juan County Commission - particularly the first half-dozen years - were the subject of much press and the stuff of legend-making. His sword-crossing with the late commission chairman, Cal Black, spiked tensions across southern Utah as Maryboy fought for funding for roads, sanitation and water for Utah's Navajos.
In 1989 Navajo elders and other Democratic stalwarts determined to run a Navajo for every county post up for election. 56 percent of San Juan's population was Navajo at the time. The campaign aimed at getting tribal members to the polls was called "Niha-Whol-Zhiizh", meaning "It's our turn."
The Democratic-Navajo plan fizzled. Maryboy won a second commission term, but was the only Navajo Indian elected.
Council as a council delegate from the Aneth area.
He sat on the Advisory Board of the College of Social & Behavioral Science at the University of Utah. He is currently the chairman of the Navajo Nation Council Budget & Finance Committee.
Maryboy met President Bill Clinton
in 1992 at the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden. Maryboy delivered a prayer in Navajo at one of the sessions. He was a delegate to the United Nations
Conference for Indigenous peoples in Geneva, Switzerland in July 1992. He was appointed to serve on the Utah Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 1993. He was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education in 1994.
faced a charge of criminal battery when he struck Council Delegate Mark.
Navajo Council Speaker Morgan struck Maryboy in the chest after Maryboy made a complaint to the speaker that he didn't help Maryboy bring up legislation that had been skipped over earlier that day.
The item—formal condolences to the family of late Council Delegate Curley John of Aneth, whose family was in the gallery—was skipped because Maryboy was out of the Council Chambers dealing with Constituents.
Maryboy tried later to put the item back on the agenda but was ruled out of order, the paper reported
Aneth Chapter members had demanded Morgan issue a public apology, following the bathroom scuffle, during one of Aneth's monthly chapter meetings in Utah. Speaker Morgan ignored the Aneth meeting, overall never presenting himself.
to reassert Colorado River
water claims the tribe waived in the late 1960s to help facilitate a power plant near Page, Arizona
.
In a resolution to the Navajo Nation Council this week, the Utah Navajo also urged the Navajo tribe's water attorney be fired and the tribe create an independent water commission to reform the tribe's water policy
According to the Utah Navajo Commission, the tribe could claim between one and two million acre feet (2.5 km³) of Colorado River water, which potentially could be worth billions of dollars.
Mark always felt that it was long past time for the Navajo Nation to take aggressive and comprehensive action on the tribe's dormant water rights.
The council waived at least a portion of its rights in a 1968 agreement with the federal government and the Salt River Project, which planned to build a coal-fired power plant near Page.
In that deal, the council agreed not to demand more than 50000 acre.ft of Colorado River water so that 34100 acre.ft could be diverted to the plant.
In 1933, Congress created the Utah Navajo Trust Fund. It is unique in that the state was deemed the trustee-delegate for oil pumped from Navajo land.
According to the law, 37.5 percent of royalties are supposed to go to Utah Navajos. But a 1991 report from the state found gross mismanagement. Some people were later indicted for misusing the trust fund
Navajos living in nearby San Juan County in southeastern Utah have long protested the saturation of oil and gas wells around their homes. Mark and other Utah Navajos have long argued that the Navajo Nation returns little profit to Navajos living in desperate conditions in the Utah portion of tribal land.
Utah Navajo allegations of corruption within the U.S. Interior gained support from an Interior whistleblower in 2003.
From the start, the protest was made up of local Navajo people who were becoming increasingly angry at Exxon-Mobil's stance towards the environment and its hiring practices within the local communities. Many other national political activist organizations such as the American Indian Movement
wanted to get involved with the protest. However, it was agreed to not include outside affiliates, which might result in losing the original meaning and message of the protest http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=3102 .
Former Navajo Nation president Albert Hale
was also mobilized to the northernmost corner of the Navajo Nation where the protest was initiated. Mark, along with members of the Aneth Community, helped create a new standard for the Navajo workers working in the Aneth Oil area as well as the hiring process.
Maryboy established Utah Navajo Health Systems in 1999 along with Donna Singer. Then he ramrodded tribal legislation that allows the agency to keep its profits, rather than return them to Window Rock. This remains a legacy for the policies Maryboy left.
However such causes are not without competition, the Navajo Nation itself has been working counter to the Utah Navajo people in taking over the Aneth Oil Revenues. It presents a significant problem with a line of issues Kenneth is up against.
On June 16, 2008, Kenneth Maryboy, Mark Maryboy, Davis Filfred, and the honorable Phil Lyman of Blanding, Utah
will travel to Washington, D.C.
to present a working model of how an easy transition from the State of Utah handling Utah Navajo royalty money, to a functioning Utah Navajo organization before Congress.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
for San Juan County, Utah, and a former Navajo Nation
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
Council Delegate
Navajo Tribal Council
The Navajo Nation Council is the legislative branch of the Navajo Nation government. As stipulated in the Navajo Nation Code, "The Legislative Branch shall consist of the Navajo Nation Council and any entity established under the Navajo Nation Council...
for the Utah Navajo Section of the Navajo Tribe. He is the brother of Kenneth Maryboy
Kenneth Maryboy
Kenneth Maryboy is an American politician for San Juan County, Utah, and the current Navajo Nation Council Delegate for the Utah Navajo Section. Kenneth is also one of three San Juan County Commissioners who oversee the needs of the county's residents and the Utah Navajo Element...
who currently serves in the positions he once stood. Mark is of the Navajo Indian Tribe
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
.
Mark Maryboy was also the San Juan County, Utah
San Juan County, Utah
As of the current census of 2010, there were 14,746 people and 4,505 households. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 50.4% Native American, 45.8% white, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% African American and 2.3% reporting two or more races...
Commissioner for District Three who saw to the needs of the county's residents and the Utah Navajo Element. He made history when he was elected in 1986 as the first American Indian county commissioner in Utah's history
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
Rebecca M. Benally along with the former Navajo Nation Council Delegate Mark Maryboy and protesters from the Aneth Chapter Blocked the main ExxonMobil corporate office for three days in Aneth, Utah.
Life and education
Maryboy was born on December 10, 1955 at St. Christopher's mission near Bluff, UtahBluff, Utah
Bluff is a census-designated place in San Juan County, Utah, United States. The population was 320 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Bluff is located at , in the scenic and very sparsely populated southeastern Utah canyonlands of the Colorado Plateau.According to the United States Census Bureau, the...
. He was the fifth of eight children, all of whom were raised in a Navajo hogan
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
.
Mark attended BIA boarding schools in Kayenta and Aneth at varied times, even though it was hard for him to be separated from his parents during those periods. Government schools were difficult for him as there seemed to be a deliberate attempt to destroy the Indian person that he was.
Angry and resentful because of harsh treatment, he ran away from boarding school while in third grade. His parents then enrolled him and his beloved brother, Herbert, in the public school at Bluff. They were the first reservation Navajo students to attend public school in San Juan County.
Upon graduation from San Juan High School in Blanding, Utah
Blanding, Utah
Blanding is a city in San Juan County, Utah, United States. The population was 3,162 at the 2000 census, making it the most populated city in San Juan County. It was settled in the late 19th century by Mormon settlers, predominantly from the famed Hole-In-The-Rock expedition...
he attended the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, majoring in history with a minor in business. He garnered a B.A. degree in 1978.
Political representative
Some time after graduation, he returned to the Navajo Reservation to put his talents to work to help his people. Working as the Director of Education for the Utah Navajo Development Council, he supervised Headstart, Adult Education, and vocational education programs. He created teacher training programs and a special class for teen mothers.Not alone in his endeavors, he married the engaging Rosylyn Johnson, who is also a graduate of the University of Utah and a State of Utah Social Worker on the reservation. They have one daughter who currently is attending a higher learning academy.
San Juan County Commissioner
In 1986, Maryboy, then age 31 and politically ambitious, ran for San Juan Commissioner. This was the first election after the county was divided by Justice Department decree into commissioner districts. He was elected a San Juan County Commissioner and became the first Native American to hold such a position in the state of Utah.
An elected official, he realized even greater inequities in services given to his Navajo constituents. The Navajo people were bringing in more money for the county than they were receiving back in services. He mixed it up with the other commissioners, often battling the always capable right-wing
Utah Republican Party
The Utah State Republican Party works to nominate and support the election of Republican candidates in partisan races for public office in the state of Utah...
former Commissioner Calvin Black, the undisputed kingpin of San Juan County politics, during hotly contested commission meetings. He spoke out quietly but effectively to point out the injustices of it all.
Maryboy's four terms on the San Juan County Commission - particularly the first half-dozen years - were the subject of much press and the stuff of legend-making. His sword-crossing with the late commission chairman, Cal Black, spiked tensions across southern Utah as Maryboy fought for funding for roads, sanitation and water for Utah's Navajos.
In 1989 Navajo elders and other Democratic stalwarts determined to run a Navajo for every county post up for election. 56 percent of San Juan's population was Navajo at the time. The campaign aimed at getting tribal members to the polls was called "Niha-Whol-Zhiizh", meaning "It's our turn."
The Democratic-Navajo plan fizzled. Maryboy won a second commission term, but was the only Navajo Indian elected.
Navajo Nation Council Delegate
In November 1990, he was elected to the Navajo NationNavajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
Council as a council delegate from the Aneth area.
He sat on the Advisory Board of the College of Social & Behavioral Science at the University of Utah. He is currently the chairman of the Navajo Nation Council Budget & Finance Committee.
Maryboy met President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in 1992 at the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden. Maryboy delivered a prayer in Navajo at one of the sessions. He was a delegate to the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Conference for Indigenous peoples in Geneva, Switzerland in July 1992. He was appointed to serve on the Utah Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 1993. He was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education in 1994.
Navajo Tribal Council Assault
In April 2006, Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. MorganLawrence T. Morgan
Lawrence T. Morgan is the current Speaker of the Navajo Nation Tribal Council.He was first elected in January 2003 by then the 20th Navajo Nation Council. Current Navajo law requires a Speaker to serve two years per term...
faced a charge of criminal battery when he struck Council Delegate Mark.
Navajo Council Speaker Morgan struck Maryboy in the chest after Maryboy made a complaint to the speaker that he didn't help Maryboy bring up legislation that had been skipped over earlier that day.
The item—formal condolences to the family of late Council Delegate Curley John of Aneth, whose family was in the gallery—was skipped because Maryboy was out of the Council Chambers dealing with Constituents.
Maryboy tried later to put the item back on the agenda but was ruled out of order, the paper reported
Aneth Chapter members had demanded Morgan issue a public apology, following the bathroom scuffle, during one of Aneth's monthly chapter meetings in Utah. Speaker Morgan ignored the Aneth meeting, overall never presenting himself.
Utah Navajo Commission
The Utah Navajo Commission manages revenues derived from mineral development on the Utah portion of the reservation for the Utah Navajos. The population of Utah Dine' is nearing 10,000 enrolled members. Mark Maryboy serves with this entity as well seeing to the deployment of monetary funds and the Navajo energy issues in San Juan County.Navajo water rights issue
In 2002 he and the Utah Navajo Commission urged the Navajo NationNavajo Nation
The Navajo Nation is a semi-autonomous Native American-governed territory covering , occupying all of northeastern Arizona, the southeastern portion of Utah, and northwestern New Mexico...
to reassert Colorado River
Colorado River
The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...
water claims the tribe waived in the late 1960s to help facilitate a power plant near Page, Arizona
Page, Arizona
Page is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 6,794.-Geography:Page is located at ....
.
In a resolution to the Navajo Nation Council this week, the Utah Navajo also urged the Navajo tribe's water attorney be fired and the tribe create an independent water commission to reform the tribe's water policy
According to the Utah Navajo Commission, the tribe could claim between one and two million acre feet (2.5 km³) of Colorado River water, which potentially could be worth billions of dollars.
Mark always felt that it was long past time for the Navajo Nation to take aggressive and comprehensive action on the tribe's dormant water rights.
The council waived at least a portion of its rights in a 1968 agreement with the federal government and the Salt River Project, which planned to build a coal-fired power plant near Page.
In that deal, the council agreed not to demand more than 50000 acre.ft of Colorado River water so that 34100 acre.ft could be diverted to the plant.
Utah Navajo Oil
According to the law, 37.5 percent of royalties are supposed to go to Utah Navajos. But a 1991 report from the state found gross mismanagement. Some people were later indicted for misusing the trust fund
Navajos living in nearby San Juan County in southeastern Utah have long protested the saturation of oil and gas wells around their homes. Mark and other Utah Navajos have long argued that the Navajo Nation returns little profit to Navajos living in desperate conditions in the Utah portion of tribal land.
Utah Navajo allegations of corruption within the U.S. Interior gained support from an Interior whistleblower in 2003.
Aneth Oil Crisis
In 1997, local residents began the Aneth Oil Protest against Exxon-Mobil's Utah Navajo community policies. Protesters from the Aneth Chapter blocked the main ExxonMobil Corp. Office for 3 days at the McElmo Oil Plant near Aneth, Utah.From the start, the protest was made up of local Navajo people who were becoming increasingly angry at Exxon-Mobil's stance towards the environment and its hiring practices within the local communities. Many other national political activist organizations such as the American Indian Movement
American Indian Movement
The American Indian Movement is a Native American activist organization in the United States, founded in 1968 in Minneapolis, Minnesota by urban Native Americans. The national AIM agenda focuses on spirituality, leadership, and sovereignty...
wanted to get involved with the protest. However, it was agreed to not include outside affiliates, which might result in losing the original meaning and message of the protest http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=3102 .
Former Navajo Nation president Albert Hale
Albert Hale
Albert A. Hale is a Democratic politician. He has served as Arizona State Senator for District 2 since 2004.Hale was elected the second Navajo Nation President in late 1994 by the consent of the Navajo people. He served three years before being indicted for accepting kickbacks, bribes, misuse of...
was also mobilized to the northernmost corner of the Navajo Nation where the protest was initiated. Mark, along with members of the Aneth Community, helped create a new standard for the Navajo workers working in the Aneth Oil area as well as the hiring process.
Life after politics
Heeding to his father's wishes, he did not seek a fifth term on the council.Maryboy established Utah Navajo Health Systems in 1999 along with Donna Singer. Then he ramrodded tribal legislation that allows the agency to keep its profits, rather than return them to Window Rock. This remains a legacy for the policies Maryboy left.
Utah Navajo Oil Revenues
Recently Counsel Delegates Kenneth Maryboy, Davis Filfred, and Former Counsel Delegate Mark Maryboy have been actively working to ensure that the Aneth Oil Royalties stay with the Utah Navajo people.However such causes are not without competition, the Navajo Nation itself has been working counter to the Utah Navajo people in taking over the Aneth Oil Revenues. It presents a significant problem with a line of issues Kenneth is up against.
On June 16, 2008, Kenneth Maryboy, Mark Maryboy, Davis Filfred, and the honorable Phil Lyman of Blanding, Utah
Blanding, Utah
Blanding is a city in San Juan County, Utah, United States. The population was 3,162 at the 2000 census, making it the most populated city in San Juan County. It was settled in the late 19th century by Mormon settlers, predominantly from the famed Hole-In-The-Rock expedition...
will travel to Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to present a working model of how an easy transition from the State of Utah handling Utah Navajo royalty money, to a functioning Utah Navajo organization before Congress.
See also
- Literacy is Empowering ProjectLiteracy is Empowering ProjectThe Literacy is Empowering Program is a non-profit project which promotes literacy and pre-reading skills for Native children to increase standard academic language.-Purpose:...
- Long Walk of the NavajoLong Walk of the NavajoThe Long Walk of the Navajo, also called the Long Walk to Bosque Redondo , refers to the 1864 deportation of the Navajo people by the U.S. Government. Navajos were forced to walk at gunpoint from their reservation in what is now Arizona to eastern New Mexico. The trip lasted about 18 days...
- DinetahDinetahDinétah is the traditional homeland of the Navajo tribe of Native Americans. In the Navajo language, the word means "among the people" or "among the Navajo"...
- Navajo languageNavajo languageNavajo or Navaho is an Athabaskan language spoken in the southwestern United States. It is geographically and linguistically one of the Southern Athabaskan languages .Navajo has more speakers than any other Native American language north of the...
- Navajo musicNavajo musicNavajo music is music made by Navajos, mostly hailing from the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States and the territory of the Navajo Nation...
- Navajo peopleNavajo peopleThe Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
- Southern Athabaskan languagesSouthern Athabaskan languagesSouthern Athabaskan is a subfamily of Athabaskan languages spoken primarily in the North American Southwest with two outliers in Oklahoma and Texas...
- Supreme Court of the Navajo NationSupreme Court of the Navajo NationThe Supreme Court of the Navajo Nation is the highest judicial Native American authority of the Navajo Nation, the largest American Indian nation in the United States...
- Uranium mining in the United StatesUranium mining in the United StatesUranium mining in the United States is the extraction of uranium-bearing ore from the earth. While uranium is used primarily for nuclear power, uranium mining had its roots in the production of uranium-bearing ore in 1898 with the mining of carnotite-bearing sandstones of the Colorado Plateau in...
External links
- San Juan County Website
- "Bridging Two Worlds"
- "THE POLITICAL MARK MARYBOY"
- Navajos blocked Mobil Oil Corp. offices near Aneth, Utah January 1997
- Mobil Settles Aneth Oil Spills Case
- "Navajos in Utah fight state over trust mismanagement"
- Oil and gas drilling leases increase for sacred lands
- Salt Lake Tribune Public Lands director's departure pleases environmentalists, some Navajos
- Aneth Oil Field
- "Navajos say Utah cheated their tribe"
- Speaker Morgan accused of battery against council delegate Maryboy
- Utah Democratic Party