BY PAUL ROLLY
Somebody is playing dirty tricks in San Juan County in an apparent attempt to turn American Indians against the proposed Bears Ears National Monument.
A phony news release purportedly from the Department of Interior was posted at the post office in Bluff and in several gas stations in the county, saying the Interior Department was poised to take over more than 4 million acres of the Navajo Nation Reservation.
A statement issued by Utah Dine Bikeyah (UDB), a nonprofit American Indian grass-roots organization, said the falsified Interior Department news release was accompanied by a fabricated flier supposedly from UDB that invited the public to celebrate a new Bears Ears National Monument, except Utah Navajos, who were directed to "stay away from our party..."