The Apache Stronghold is please to announce that Jane Sanders, wife of Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders, is going to visit the Oak Flat site in the Tonto National Forest on March 13, 2016, at 4 pm.
Mrs. Sanders will meet with Apache Stronghold, a group of activists taking a stand against the plan authored by Senator John McCain to turn Oak Flat into North America's largest copper mine, by Resolution Copper, a joint enterprise comprised of Rio Tinto Mining and BHP Billiton.
Oak Flat--a site of immense religious and cultural meaning to the Apaches, awe-inspiring scenery, and vital to the spiritual life of the Apache people--is very important to Senator Sanders, prime sponsor of the Save Oak Flat Bill, which is presently stuck in the Senate Natural Resources Committee, Chaired by Senator Lisa Murkowsky.
Mrs. Sanders will meet with Apache activists who have been occupying the site for more than a year, as well as with tribal leader, elders, and members, as well as members of the press, to highlight the need to get this bill out of the Republican-controlled committee.
The National Park Service has just recently designated Oak Flat as a National Historic Place, and in effect slows down McCain's plan to privatize Tonto National Forest for copper mining.
The event will include a tour of culturally significant sites, a discussion with stakeholders, and time to address member of the press.
For more information, please contact:
Wendsler Noise Sr., Apache Stronghold (928) 215-5812
Lian D'avignon, Apache Stronghold (602) 423-1591
Duke Romero, Apache Stronghold (719) 415-0203
To make your voice of support heard in the Senate, please write a letter asking that Sanders' Save Oak Flat bill, be approved by the Republican Majority on the Senate Natural Resources committee. Send it to (in care of the US Senate, or on each members website):
Lisa Murkowski, Chairman, Alaska
John Barrasso, Wyoming
Jim Risch, Idaho
Mike Lee, Utah
Jeff Flake, Arizona
Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
Cory Gardner, Colorado
Steve Daines, Montana
Rob Portman, Ohio
John Hoeven, North Dakota
Lamar Alexander, Tennessee
[I welcome readers and those who send letters to the committee above and ask that you send me a copy of your correspondence. Thank you, from Stephen Fox. stephe|AT|santafefineart.co ]