Chronology of the University of Arizona, Vatican, German and Italian Campaign Against Apache Religious Beliefs 1985-1998

1910-1929-1939 Voluminous documentations of Mt. Graham (Mt.G.) sacredness (Goddard, Opler, Goodwin, etc.).

Aug. 12, '85 University of Arizona (UA) contact with Apache consists of one letter. No UA or U.S. Forest Service (USFS) consultations with Apache etc. as required by law.

Jan. 20, '87 Evidence of Mt.G's sacredness submitted to USFS in Draft Environmental Impact Statement comments. UA/USFS refuse to undertake cultural studies required by U.S. law: viz. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

Oct. '88 Multi-million $$ UA lobbying blitz. In last hrs. of '88 Congress UA sneaks backdoor rider w/o public hearings bypassing NEPA, ESA, NHPA, NFMA.

Oct. 4, '89 UA, Vatican, Germany ignore Apache protests in both Tucson papers, scholarly documentation; cut virgin forest for new road. [2]

Dec. 14, '89 UA meets Council - Apache protest telescopes. UA, Vatican, Germany ignore Tribal Council, clear-cut summit 10 mos. later. [3]

Feb. 6, '90 Council votes approval of Ola Cassadore Davis' "work in opposition to...telescope[s] on top of Mt. Graham." (9-0). [4]

July 10, '90 Council (6-0) passes opposition resolution: "a display of profound disrespect...violation of our traditional religious beliefs." [5]

Aug. 31, '90 Tribal Chairman Kitcheyan writes FS, protests FS never contacted tribe in past 4 yrs., threatens lawsuit for desecration. [6]

Oct. 4, '90 UA, Vatican, Max Planck clear-cut summit scope sites violating ESA, NEPA, NHPA, National Forest Management Act (NFMA), Apache rights to Free Exercise of Religion.

June 4, '91 Tribal Council (9-0) protests to USFS, (Vat., Italy, Germany, OSU) of project violations of NEPA, AIRFA, NHPA, NFMA. [7]

Aug. 19, '91 Apache Survival Coalition (elders, spiritual leaders) file suit in Federal District Court, Phoenix. Germans/Vatican ignore Apache, and rush to pour cement thereafter.[9]

Oct. 29 '91 Kitcheyan, ousted for theft, facing legal and court defense costs, says Mt.G. not sacred. UA sends wife and political allies to Europe, all expenses paid, to see Pope/German Max Planck astronomers. [12]

Nov. 20, '91 UA Pres. Pacheco, despite staff warnings of Mt. G. sacredness, writes letters worldwide saying Tribe approves of project.

Dec. 10, '91 Pacheco visits reservation, insults tribal elders, offers implied bribes. Council reaffirms '90 resolution in his presence.(9-0).[13,14]

Jan. 7, '92 Regents approve scopes 8-2. Booz-Allen report suggests telescope bonds fraudulent, says mirror program is dubious at best, recommends UA strategy to make "outliers" (read outcasts) of traditional Apache. [15]

Feb. 8, '92 Tribal Chairman Thompson asks Pope to meet Apache. Pope agrees, but cancels at last minute after Apache reach Rome. [16,17,23]

March 8, '92 The Vatican, a foreign country and the Catholic Church, declares Mt. Graham not holy to Apache. [19]

March 25, '92 Regents, Pacheco, approve UA being 1st U.S. university to enter court opposing the religious beliefs of Native Americans.

April 6, '92 Vatican approves Vatican astronomer, George Coyne, S.J., and Jesuit UA professor, Charles Polzer, declare Mt.G. not sacred in UA/ASC lawsuit against Mt.G.'s sacredness.

April 10-28, '92 San Carlos Apache spiritual leaders, Medicinepeople, sign petition opposing telescopes. [20]

April 10, '92 Injunction denied ASC. Court declared latches, but UA lawyers falsely claimed they were exempt from all cultural protection laws.

May 25, '92 George Coyne, S.J., Director of the Vatican Observatory declares Apache beliefs "a kind of religiosity..which must be suppressed with all the force we can muster."[22]

June 17, '92 Pope shuns Apache religious leaders who traveled to Vatican, but grants photo op. and private audience with political supporters of ousted, indicted (Tribal funds theft), Chairman Kitcheyan. [24,25]

June 24-26, '92 3 Council members protest to Italian ambassador, German embassy, AZ Cong. Del., Cath. Press Assn. in Wash. [26,27]

Aug. 14, '92 UA Jesuit professor, Father Polzer, declares project opponents "part of Jewish conspiracy to destroy the Catholic Church." [28]

Aug. 24, '92, Oct. 30, '92 Tribal Council (9-0) signs opposition letters to German Parliament; and to Vatican Cardinal Sodano. [29-30,34-35]

Aug. 26, '92 UA and Arizona State University cultural anthropology professors refute Polzer's Vatican-approved lawsuit affidavit of non-sacredness of Mt.G. [31]

Sept. 24, 30, '92 Catholic Bishop Moreno of Tucson refuses to meet with Tribal Council. [32,33]

May 21, '93 Council votes unanimously, 9-0, to reaffirm previous oppositions to telescopes of '90, '91. [37,38]

June 16, '93 Coronado Nat'l. Forest Supervisor, R. Tippeconnic (Apache-raised), admits he knew all along Mt. Graham was sacred and deliberately covered up facts.

Jan. 18, '93, Oct. 29, '95 National Congress of American Indians twice unanimously approves San Carlos Apache opposition resolutions. [36]

July 13, '93 Vote 4-2 by council minority for "neutrality" on telescopes. [39]

Sept.. 18, '93 UA invites tribal embezzler Kitcheyan to speak at scope inauguration. Apache woman risks life atop log "tripod" to blockade event. [40]

Dec. 7, 1993 At 5:00 AM in clandestine, illegal act, UA clear-cuts all virgin, old-growth at unauthorized, relocated LBT site.

Feb. 15, '94 San Carlos Apache Tribe Cultural Advisory Committee members sign opposition petition to telescope project. [42]

July 12, 28, '94 Federal District Court, Tucson, AZ, Judge A. Marquez declares illegal UA's "Pearl Harbor Day" clear-cut site re-location and construction stopped by court injunction until completion of full environmental and cultural studies.

Aug. 23, '94 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upholds District Court against UA and USFS.

Oct. 24, '94 Tribal ChairmanTalgo reaffirms scope desecration. [43]

Oct. 26, '94 6 of 11, Tribal Council majority, oppose scopes in letter to Italian Parliament.[44]

March 13, '95 Tribal Vice-chairman Mull writes Italian parliament reaffirming the many previous opposition declarations of the Council. [45]

April 24, 1995 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel in San Francisco again upholds injunction against UA "Pearl Harbor Day" clear-cut at illegal site. Construction halted until completion of lawful environmental studies.

June 13, '95 Unopposed Council resolution rescinds minority neutrality resolution of July '93, reaffirms opposition to the telescopes. [47]

July 12, '95 Tribe notifies USFS, AZ State Historic Preservation Office to include Mt. G. as a "Traditional Cultural Property" in NEPA study and Nat'l Register of Hist. Places listing. [48]

July 20, July 31, '95 Arizona Board of Regents and USFS en banc appeals rejected unanimously by 23 9th Circuit Court judges. Judge Marquez order for USFS to do all environmental and cultural studies upheld. USFS and UA igore court order, lobby Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) for rider exemption.

Aug. 18, 1995 Visiting German astronomers witnessed on video disrespectfully smirking and snickering during Apache presentation to them at San Carlos about the sacredness of Mt.G..[48A]

Sept. 25, '95 Mull states Tribe's opposition to UA's lobbying for a 2nd rider to avoid U.S. Court of Appeals injunction against UA and USFS.

Sept. 25, '95 Mull letter to German Chancellor Kohl protesting German government Mt.G. involvement. [49,50]

Nov. 8, 1995 Ramon Riley, Dir., White Mtn. Apache Cult. Ctr. asks R.P. Kudritzki, Chairman, German Council of Astronomers, R.P. Kudritzki, to withdraw immediately from M.G. [51]

Nov. 15, '95 Mull asks U.S. Atty. Gen'l. Janet Reno to investigate FS officials who knew sacredness during NEPA, & clear-cut on the summit without due process. [53]

Nov. 15, '95 Mull asks Sen. McCain to undertake long overdue cultural studies. [54]

Dec. 21, '95 Mull asks Pres. Clinton to veto Kolbe rider. [56]

Nov. 30, '95 D. Miles, San Carlos. Historian, J. Cassa, Cultural Comm. Chairperson along with NM, AZ, OK Apache tribes co-sign a protest letter to Congress. [52]

Dec. 5, '95 Councilman Belvado falsely states in a letter to the U.S. Congress that Tribe never protested project to govt. (despite tribes multiple protests) [55]

March 21, '96 Navajo Pres. Hale urges Clinton to veto second UA rider to exempt illegal LBT clear-cut.

Apr. 26, 96 Kolbe attaches second Congressional rider for UA, circumventing Federal Court injunction on LBT's illegal 1993 "Pearl Harbor Day" construction site.

May 30 Mull protests to Clinton on Clinton signing rider. [56A]

June 28, July 1, '96 M. Nixon, Atty. for Apache religious leaders notifies U.S. Council on Hist. Pres. of failure of USFS and Arizona State Historic Preservation Office to follow U.S. cultural law. [58,59]

Aug. 16, '96 U.S. Council on Hist. Preservation. notifies USFS of failure to follow U.S. cultural laws.[60]

Sept. 6, '96 White Mtn. Apache Tribe writes to Advisory Council of UA failure to follow cultural laws. [61]

Apr. 8, '97 Secret USFS memo discovered by Apache's attorney advises USFS to "conduct ethnographic study...regardless of the legal status of the observatory." USFS continues to avoid compliance with NHPA..

April 20, 1998 In Wash. D.C., "Women In Preservation" award bestowed upon Ola Cassadore Davis "for her many contributions to the preservation of cultural heritage."

Sept. 30, 1998 U.S. Council on Historic Preservation letter to McGee urging compliance with NHPA (no evidence of proper cultural consultation with Apache).

For Info:
Apache Survival Coalition, Box 1237, San Carlos AZ 85550;
Apaches For Cultural Preservation, Box 249, San Carlos AZ 85550;
Mt. Graham Coalition, Box 15451, Phoenix AZ 85060