Many loyal readers in Flagstaff were deeply
disappointed by HCN’s minimal (125 words) blurb about the
recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding the Arizona
Snowbowl (HCN, 4/2/07).
This was an amazing and
significant decision with major consequences for land management
throughout the West — and elsewhere. Snowbowl principal owner
Eric Borowsky is already talking about groups from around the
country offering their assistance to fight a unanimous court
judgment they claim “gives Native Americans veto power over
all federal land.” For HCN to simply say “they
won” in describing the years of effort by a coalition of
Native American and non-Natives; to ignore the precedent-setting
application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act; to ignore the
policy impacts for the U.S. Forest Service in both pending cases
and future decision-making; and to fail to mention — let
alone analyze — the value of the decision regarding religious
freedom for minority belief systems vs. the dominant capitalist
paradigm demonstrates nothing less than inadequate journalism by a
key periodical reaching both grassroots activists and public
officials around the country.
Lance
Diskan
Flagstaff, Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Dropping the ball on the Snowbowl.
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