At Week's End; 230; Pueblo-Apache Economic Summit; Tim Gallagher: Land of Enchantment

emeralds of the Tonight at week's end, leaders from New Mexico's

Galero and Hicorea Apache tribes and 19 Pueblos meet to discuss their economic future. The first step I believe is that for a lot of the nine-inch to become aware of the new sophistication that we have developed and the need to do business with us because we are a force. And Tim Gallagher comments on the Southwestern love affair. The other day, my wife and I were driving through the North Valley and Michael Martin Murphy's song, the land of enchantment, came on the radio. We listened quietly for a moment and then I turned to her and said, you know, if we ever have to leave New Mexico and I hear this song on the radio, it'll just about kill me.

Good evening. I'm Neil Boggs at week's end. A remarkable event occurred this week, one which, when looked back on, will surely be regarded as a vital step in creating a positive atmosphere of communication between Indian and non-Indian people. Communication, which will hopefully lead to successful long-term economic development for the participating 19 Pueblos and the Mescalero and Hicorea Apache tribes. This historic event was the Pueblo Apache Economic Summit. The two-day conference at Santa Domingo Pueblo brought together tribal leaders, both governmental and religious and federal state and business representatives.

With many Indian communities burdened by extremely high unemployment, living conditions well below national standards and dwindling federal funds, tribal leaders feel the time has for Native Americans to become more self-sufficient through development of business opportunities. Yet the course of that development appears as diverse as each of the different tribes. Well, I think it's obvious that the Indian people are the most heavily unemployed people in the United States, put it another way. They are the most serious islands of poverty in our country. And we're just beginning even after all these years to reach a point where there is a growing consensus. It's not there yet, but it's growing among Indian leaders that they want to change that aspect. The aspect of unemployment or the aspect of not having business in the broader sense of the word, tribally owned business, individually owned business, manufacturing plants that

they might own, craft businesses that they may own, bringing more of them to the Indian reservation or closer to it to employment. Are we assuming that all the Indian tribes want to develop economically? Now, assuming that they do, then to me, the most important item that we need to zero on to how to get better at finance is project or we're talking about it. Two weeks ago, we had potential candidate was interested in our former CC housing unit down here. The facilities run down another location, Kaiser Jipson Park, which used to empower any people. The industry was very much interested in when it got to the subject of, in point, or any people, someone in the federal agency told them that any people do not stay on the job long enough to come and go. They will lost the potential industry here. See, this is what I mean.

We have so many mixture of different points of view from different agencies of the government. We need to come in and ask them, you know, we need your help. Let's work together. In other words, what I'm saying is let's change our attitude and bring forth some positive attitude in part of federal and state government of people. We're ready to do that. The first step, I believe, is that for a lot of the non-inids to become aware of the sophistication that we have developed and the need to do business with us, because we are a force. We can't be ignored and conversely, tribes cannot ignore what there is around us. One of the summits prominent business guests was Ron Solomon of Laguna Pueblo, President and General Manager of the successful Laguna Industries Incorporated. Laguna Pueblo, once faced with high unemployment due to the closing of the Jack Pyle Uranium Mine, now owns an $18 million a year industry with contracts with the U.S. Army and Digital Equipment Corporation. Laguna Industries provides jobs for 230 employees, 90 percent are Native American.

It holds no company debt. Solomon, this year's New Mexico recipient of the Small Business Administration Small Business Person Award, feels this success began with the willingness of Laguna people to initiate changes to conform with business world standards. We had to look at realistically at how we were set up. And one of the more important things was to provide for stable government. And one of those actions was to change our constitution to reflect two-year terms in office for not only our governor but the rest of the tribal council that provided a more stable base and a frame of reference for any potential customers that we were going to deal with. The other thing is that we had a little bit of money that we could devote to this project and we wanted to see if we could find a partner in the federal government through its various agencies that deal with Indian matters. And one of those was the administration for Native Americans. Another was the Bureau of Indian Affairs and another was the Department of Labor.

All three of those agencies provided for some level of support to this effort. It really was an example of a partnership between the public and private sector. One of the key things that we did was to develop a job skills inventory with the assistance of the council for energy resource tribes. And that provided the basic framework with which we approached Department of Labor with which we approached ANA, the administration for Native Americans and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, saying that this was going to be a viable project because we had a skilled labor force that was readily available. One of the areas of emphasis on any Indian reservation is to try to employ as many of the tribal populace as you can. What I discovered is that that was unrealistic that if we tried to force people even if they were highly educated, but had no experience, into a job that required great deal of sophistication and background, then we were barking up the wrong tree. So I had to make a conscious choice on my part to bring in some individuals from outside of our community to help nurture and mentor some of our people along

in the finance accounting area, quality assurance area, and production management, production inventory support to control and support. Some of the criteria that were set out by some of the political supporters of this project were that Laguna separate the business operations from the tribal government operations, so that this would in fact be a true business entity and activity. And I think those of us that were involved in the project from day one felt the same way that that was the only way that it was going to be able to be successful was to actually have that separateness. I feel like I have enough respect for the tribal community and I'm just carrying out really what they asked me to do, but I'm carrying it out in a business like fashion without regard to any kind of political ramifications. I'm more concerned about making it a profitable business with a high profile and with that profile than lending itself to bring in additional business for the public Laguna.

The Laguna example was held out at the conference as a model of the way in which the tribes can accomplish economic development. As you heard Ron Solomon is the man who heads that venture as President and General Manager of Laguna Industries Incorporated. Bernard Williamson is an elected tribal official as governor of his letter Pueblo, just south of Albuquerque. Peter Pinot is an appointive official of the Zia Pueblo to the north where he serves as tribal administrator. Thank you for being with us and Mr. Pinot, your Pueblo Zia is different in many ways from Laguna as all Pueblos are distinctive in New Mexico. Is the Laguna approach to creating business opportunities one that all Pueblos would necessarily wish to follow? I think the, as the indicated, the tribes are in the Pueblos are different. Some tribes are more traditional than others. I think the Pueblo that I come from Zia is still pretty much traditional, but we still want to get into the mainstream of business development. We want to get into mind, poll type operations, franchises, entrepreneurship,

sole proprietorship to name some of the different ways of people getting into business. So I think that could work on Zia reservation if it was far enough removed from the Pueblo village itself. Governor Williamson, the way that Laguna has gone about building an economic base is that one which would be acceptable to. It's a lot of people. Well, certainly it's led to, isn't it, position to develop economically. We've got a lot of potential there and we're certainly looking at Laguna as an example or a model to some of the economic development that we'd like to pursue it as. Mr. Solomon, do business and tradition mix. I know this was one of the topics at the conference at Laguna since this venture that you're involved in was started. Has there been any erosion of tribal values, traditions there as a result? I think to the contrary, what it does is it helps to stabilize the customs and traditions, any of the values that we have there at Laguna.

Because a family or a head of household that's able to be employed then can provide for his family and actually live and carry out those customs and traditions and participate in our native culture. The various religious activities that we have going on there as well as the day-to-day or month-to-month fiestas and other things that need to be carried out there. You can't do that with people in absentia. You see it as a binding force then in the case of Laguna to some extent. Yes, I do. I see it as a binding force in order to preserve our culture and heritage. Let's talk about different forms of economy. There's a common stereotype, some people to form, that tribal enterprises consist of bingo or pottery or bread selling. And certainly I know from living nearest letter that it goes beyond that there, Governor Williamson. Yes, we've got a number of tribal enterprises presently at Isletta. We have a recreational lakes which provides recreation for not only members of the community but also for anyone in New Mexico. It's looking for a parking.

We've got laundromat, we've got an Adobe Cinder Enterprise that we're establishing. So no, bingo and certainly gaming is not the only kind of economic development that we're looking at. And Isletta having an interstate freeway running through it certainly has a potential to develop other kinds of businesses such as a gas station, perhaps some sort of a convenience store that we're looking at. We're also looking at perhaps developing motel facilities, hotel facilities, and perhaps golf course. Would they be tribal ventures or would they be private ventures? These would start off as tribal ventures, perhaps in the future they would, could be taken over by tribal members. We've got a number of tribal members who have their own businesses, general contractors and other kinds of businesses. Back to the question of values. Mr. Pinot values and how they differ among your own people.

For example, is there a conflict between what we call capitalism, the entrepreneurial approach and tribal traditions and values of sharing? Sure. In the business mentality, the driving force is making a dollar and making a profit and doing things for self-benefit. In the traditional mentality and the traditional upbringing that we get as Indian people is that we're supposed to look out for the general welfare of the people, the land, the environment, and your family, individual, family, second, and you yourself as the last guy on the totem pole. So you have a 180-degree shift from the business mentality and the traditional Indian mentality. And that certainly is a direct conflict and that's why I indicated earlier that when you do economic development or business development on the reservation, you have to have some physical distance between the two setups. The drive for a dollar was one of the themes that was heard at the conference up at Senator Mango Pueblo.

One of the speakers, Senator Medici, was talked about the American way in pushing for economic development. Is there still from Washington a sense of the great white father syndrome of we want you to have what we want you to have? I really think that Washington is asking for some new fresh ideas from the Native American population. They're looking to them now for answers instead of dictating? Yes. Those are the types of questions that I've received more lately. More recently, what are your ideas, what kind of new innovative type of plans do you have in order to further the economic development? They're at Laguna and especially within the state. And how might you help other Indian tribes within the state of New Mexico as well as throughout the United States? Governor Williamson, do you sense that Washington and Santa Fe too are looking more to Indian peoples themselves for coming up with some of the things that work for them? Yes, I think that's the case and certainly that's supported by the passage of the Indian Self-Determination Act several years ago, where tribes have more leeway to determine what kinds of enterprises or other services that they'd like to enter into. I tend to also feel that despite that, I think the federal government still has a news around us in that they limit us to a point.

We're certainly allowed to develop our own programs and our own approaches, but we still must follow some guidelines which may sometimes be limiting. That news that you mentioned applied by Washington does the state government also apply that to some degree? We've talked in the past on this program about sovereignty. Yes, well, we're certainly having some difficulty with the state of New Mexico right now in terms of what we feel would be perhaps some competition that they're feeling from the tribes, especially in reference to the gaming activities. And certainly in view of the recent Supreme Court ruling in reference to the con petroleum versus the state of New Mexico, which I think was a severe blow to tribes and state of New Mexico in that it would allow the state to tax. I think that's open the doors for the state and we're hoping that they're not going to start looking at taxing tribes for other things such as businesses on the reservation.

Attitudes and Santa Fe that lead to adverse legislation, Mr. Pinot, adverse to Indians, is there any way of combating that? Do the Indians constitute large enough voting population in New Mexico or should it be judged on more than sheer numbers? I think the voting numbers are actually there, but I think the membership into the state legislature as far as Indian Indians and the state legislature, that number is low. As a result, a lot of the Indian issues don't get the kind of coverage that they should have or essentially the non-Indian legislatures. Sometimes lack because of lack of information, they're not able to do justice to some of the legislations that are proposed and as a result, a lot of those favorable pieces of legislation are defeated and a lot of the adverse legislations are consequently passed and adopted. It's set up obstacles for furthering the Indian cause in the area of business development.

Certainly there has to be some help from Santa Fe and Washington when it comes to legislation. Let's talk about Laguna Pueblo and what's being done over there. Are there problems with tribal governments running a business, problems that are unique and particularly difficult? For example, financing. With respect to financing, I think the most difficult thing for any tribe to face is going down to a commercial lending institution and trying to exact a loan or a line of credit, especially where the assets are not available. In Laguna's case, while we had assets, while it was known that the tribe had some assets that they could pledge as collateral. We still found ourselves finding a very difficult road with respect to obtaining financing on a line of credit. In fact, we ended up having to go back to the Pueblo and say we've exhausted our resources externally as far as the availability of capital and we're coming back here to tell you that. And it's up to you now to provide a line of credit in order to provide operating capital for the company.

But Pueblo should Pueblos be willing to at least consider changing their way of modifying it in some form to adapt more of a puts looked on outside as a free-enters price system, conforming more to government requirements for obtaining the loans and grants that Mr. Solomon talked about. I think essentially the governments, as we know them in the government operations, I think should remain intact and they should remain as such. I think the key is establishing corporations a way and outside the tribal government set up to then in turn be the ones responsible to then get into business development and enterprise development. And they in turn would have to be able to stand on their own two feet to go out and seek financing either through the government, through the federal government, the state government, or the private sector. Are there disagreements sometimes within the Pueblo structure that the population there as to how far people should go and bending the rules or changing, can that be a block Governor Williamson in getting a business that you feel is very important to the Pueblo meeting the conditions that might be imposed.

Yes, sometimes and certainly again in reference to Mr. Pino's remarks earlier about the extent to which tribes are traditional. I heard repeatedly at the summit that government should not be in the business of being in business. And I agree with that and certainly in small communities politics plays a big role in the government and when that begins to overlap into the business development of the community then it tends to be detrimental. I would certainly like to see a separation of business enterprises and the tribal government. There's a drastic step that you made at Laguna would you come in on that question. Sure, I'd like to expand a little bit about how we actually set up the entity itself. The corporation itself is a state charter corporation. It has a board of directors that have a fiduciary duty of course back to the stockholder and the stockholder of course in this case is the Pueblo Laguna.

There's that fiduciary duty that exists just like in any other corporation. We have annual reports that are required as part of our routine business year. And the other thing is that while there's a separation we still have direct responsibility, someone like myself that's actually a tribal member has much more of a vested interest in making sure that an economic development efforts is successful. That's how we were set up. Mr. Pinot you indicated that in the case of Zia that there the people would tend to favor smaller businesses individually on businesses as opposed to a large tribal corporation. Am I correct in that? I think anytime you talk about business development on reservations or on Indian reservations you always hear the talk about tribal enterprises. I think the backbone of the United States economic and business development is not the government. It's the private sector.

You don't see the state government running businesses. You don't see the federal government owning any businesses. It's the private sector, the people. But in order for the people to support such a development and to have a show of support for such development you have to get the people to approve and to support that concept. We're looking at a general session of the council sometime in September to discuss and to get that input from the tribal people themselves so that once we endeavor into this arena then we have the entire tribal membership support. And with their support I don't think we would increase our chances of being successful in that arena. We have about 30 seconds remaining. Do you see are you optimistic about this conference and what it might be leading to Governor Williams? Yes, I think that certainly that the conference is a success and I think it created an atmosphere for networking and making contacts for some of the Pueblos that may not be into economic development as much as others. I think that that was a good forum for setting up some contacts and networking so that we can begin to develop some mechanism to start working with each other.

So it was, you believe, it was described an important first step at least. Yes, I agree. I believe it was. Thank you very much. Governor Verna Williamson has led a Pueblo, Peter Pinot of Zia Pueblo, and Ron Solomon of Laguna Pueblo. A sense of pride that has a lot to do with success or failure, whether it's the Pueblos and the Apaches in their search for their own economic base or any of us, regarding life in general. Tonight's guest commentator has some thoughts on that. Here is Tim Gallagher. The other day, my wife and I were driving through the North Valley when Michael Martin Murphy's song, A Land of Enchantment, came on the radio. We listened quietly for a while, and then I turned to her and said, you know, if we ever have to leave New Mexico, and we hear this song on the radio, I think it'll just about kill me.

We were. For that's the way I feel about New Mexico and Albuquerque. I'm like a lot of folks. I do my share of complaining about this city in this state. I've been guilty of writing editorials and giving speeches lamenting this area's never reached potential. I am frustrated by what I see as a lack of political leadership and I can't do attitude among many. I am weary of the stories I hear from businessmen about how politics or the good old boy network got in their way. Last week I was eating lunch with businessmen who would like to start some kind of campaign to overcome the negativity in our community. I nodded in whining agreement with their observations until I was struck by a blinding flash of the obvious. Wait a minute, I said. Are any of you guys holding on to a secret survey that says people in Albuquerque hate this city? My sense of this place is that despite its problems, people would rather live here than anywhere else.

I may be frustrated by the legislature's antics, but it goes away when I stroll through the scrub juniper and pinions in Alaina Gallegos Park. Another dopey move at City Hall just melts when I watch another sunset over the West Mesa. I love Albuquerque and New Mexico. The Hispanic and Indian traditions, the wide-eyed amazement of newcomers falling in love with the place, the long-distance jealousy of my East Coast friends. I love the drive between Albuquerque and Santa Fe, especially on Lava Hata Hill at sunrise. I like to walk in the Rio Grande Nature Center and think about the day when there will be a botanical garden, aquatic park, and performing arts center in the neighborhood. I am no Pollyanna, and I believe there are still dozens of problems for our city and state to overcome. There is no place else on earth where I would rather overcome them. On the whole, this is a place where even WCP else would rather be.

Betty Jane Curry of Cuban New Mexico feels the recent Demetria Martinez commentary about the treatment of undocumented juvenile aliens ended the program on a sour note as she put it. Certainly, you should present both sides of an issue, she wrote, but that could be done without the emotionalism shown by Ms. Martinez. We invite your viewers about at weeks end commentaries. Please write at weeks end, 1130 University Boulevard, Northeast, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 8702. Next week, a land dispute that some thought was long settled still smolders in northern New Mexico. We go to Tier Amarea. I hope you'll be with us. I'm Neil Boggs at weeks end. Good evening. Thank you.