A controversial proposal to designate Mount Taylor a cultural property has some proponents in and around Grants fearing for their safety, according to one activist involved in the issue.



Chris Shuey, of the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center, sent an e-mail message to the media Friday, urging reporters to cover a hearing on the Mount Taylor designation in Grants this past Saturday.



As the Santa Fe New Mexican reported on June 12, five American Indian tribes — Navajo, Hopi, Acoma, Laguna and Zuni — have requested that the state Cultural Properties Review Committee temporarily designate more than 420,000 acres around Mount Taylor a cultural resource. A temporary designation would give the tribes a year to make a case for a permanent listing, which the tribes say is necessary to protect sacred sites from development. Opponents say the listing is "another ploy to stop uranium mining," according to the New Mexican.

At Saturday’s meeting — attended by about 700 people — the committee approved the proposal for temporary protection, according to the Associated Press.  Shuey and other supporters had expected the meeting to be well attended and contentious:

Many of us who have attended previous meetings have noted a definite recent increase in the willingness of some non-Indian people to use ugly, racial perjoratives in public to incite a conflict or confrontation.  The Indian leaders and supporters have maintained a calm and respectful approach to all opinions, however repugnant they be. Nonetheless, we are sensing growing foreboding among Native and non-Native supporters of the designation — about their safety not only at the meeting/hearing, but afterward in community activities and at home.

Shuey’s group has been at the forefront of a battle to stop uranium mining in Navajo country.