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Mark Maryboy

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Mark Maryboy
Navajo Nation Council Delegate
In office
January 1, 1991 – January 1, 2007
Succeeded byDavis Filfred Jr.
Personal details
BornDecember 10, 1955
Utah, United States
NationalityNavajo Nation, American
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseRoselyn Maryboy

Mark Maryboy (born December 10, 1955) is a retired 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 as the Navejo Nation Council Delegate in the positions he once stood. He is of the Navajo Indian tribe.

Mark Maryboy was also the San Juan County, Utah, Commissioner for District Three. In 1986, he became the first Native American to be elected as county commissioner in Utah's history.

In 2013, Maryboy, Rebecca M. Benally, and protesters from the Aneth Chapter blocked the main ExxonMobil corporate office for three days in Aneth, Utah.[1]

Life and education

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Mark Maryboy was born on December 10, 1955, at St. Christopher's mission near Bluff, Utah.[2] He was the fifth of eight children, all of whom were raised in a Navajo hogan.[3] Mark attended BIA boarding schools in Kayenta and Aneth at varied times.[4]

He later ran away from boarding school while in third grade. His parents then enrolled him and his brother, Herbert, in a public school at Bluff. 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.[3]

Political representative

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Mark Maryboy at a campaign rally

Some time after graduation, he returned to the Navajo Reservation. Working as the Director of Education for the Utah Navajo Development Council, he supervised Headstart, Adult Education, and Vocational Education programs. In 1986, Maryboy ran for San Juan Commissioner.[5] He has battled against the right-wing former Commissioner Calvin Black during commission meetings.[3]

San Juan County, which includes the Utah section of the Navajo Nation near its southern stateline with Arizona.
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In November 1990, he was elected to the Navajo Nation 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[needs update] the chairman of the Navajo Nation Council Budget & Finance Committee.

Maryboy met former President Bill Clinton in 1992 at the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden.[6] He was appointed to serve on the Utah Advisory Committee for the United States Commission on Civil Rights in 1993.[7] He was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education in 1994.[8]

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In April 2006, Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan faced a charge of criminal battery when he struck Council Delegate Mark Maryboy in the chest after Maryboy made a complaint to the speaker that Morgan did not help Maryboy bring up legislation that had been skipped over earlier that day.[9] 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.[9] Ray Etcitty, Morgan's attorney, told Morgan not to talk to anyone.[9]

Utah Navajo Commission

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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.

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In 2002,[10] he and the Utah Navajo Commission urged the Navajo Nation to reassert Colorado River water claims the tribe waived in the late 1960s to help facilitate a power plant near Page, Arizona. In 2020, the Senate unanimously passed the Utah Navajo Water Rights Settlement Act, which would recognize Navajo's right to 81,500 acre-feet (100,500,000 m3) of water from the Colorado River.[11]

According to the Utah Navajo Commission, the tribe could claim between one and two million acre feet (2.5 km3) of Colorado River water. 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. The council agreed not to demand more than 50,000 acre-feet (62,000,000 m3) of Colorado River water so that 34,100 acre-feet (42,100,000 m3) could be diverted to the plant.[citation needed]

Utah Navajo oil

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In 1997, local residents began a protest against Exxon-Mobil's Utah Navajo community policies. Protesters from the Aneth Chapter blocked the main ExxonMobil Corporation's office for 3 days at the McElmo Oil Plant near Aneth, Utah. The protest was made up of local Navajo people.[12] 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 area as well as the hiring process.

Life after politics

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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.

References

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  1. ^ "Protesters block Exxon Mobil". HCN Article. November 15, 2013. Retrieved July 14, 2022.[dead link]
  2. ^ Smart, Christopher. "Bridging two worlds". Archived from the original on March 27, 2006.
  3. ^ a b c "The Political Mark Maryboy". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
  4. ^ Gonzalez, Sydnee (November 13, 2022). "'It never went away': Utah tribal elders share boarding school experiences". www.ksl.com. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
  5. ^ Bear, Carson (May 24, 2017). ""The Spirits Are Still There": A Personal Reflection on Bears Ears National Monument". National Trust for Historic Preservation.
  6. ^ "Navajos create oil and gas corporation" (PDF). Vol. 24. December 3, 1993. p. 12. Retrieved October 29, 2024.
  7. ^ "Utah Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights Fact-Finding Meeting" (PDF). U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. December 1993. p. 2.
  8. ^ "President Clinton Names 8 To The National Advisory Board On Indian Education". National Archives. August 2, 1994.
  9. ^ a b c Kaye Johnson, Natasha (2006). "Push Comes to Shove". Archived from the original on October 6, 2008.
  10. ^ "Mexican Land Use Plan Water Chapter" (PDF). Mexican Water Chapter: 11. 2020.
  11. ^ Podmore, Zak (December 22, 2020). "Long-awaited bill to settle Navajo Nation water rights in San Juan County passed by Congress". Uintah Water Conservancy District (published December 28, 2020) – via Salt Lake Tribune.
  12. ^ Desruisseaux, Danielle (March 3, 1997). "Tepee blockade spurs talks". High Country News. 29 (4). Archived from the original on August 31, 2002.
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  • Salt Lake Tribune. "Public Lands director's departure pleases environmentalists, some Navajos".
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