Letter to Editor: What do the Native Americans think?

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Dear Editor,
I read the long interview with Phil Lyman (July 28, 2015) with considerable interest, but upon finishing it I felt the need for commentary from other sources. While one can regret the actions of an overaggressive government bureaucracy and its effect on some citizens in San Juan County, there is substantial evidence that some people did traffic in antiquities, despite its being illegal. And it seems the courts will have to settle the vexed issue of who “owns” the county’s roads.
I’m aware that acts of civil disobedience can result in laws being changed, but until they are actually changed, there are consequences to pay for disobedience, however much the action is conscience driven.
Henry David Thoreau spent a night in jail because he refused to pay a tax that supported what he believed an unjust war against Mexico.
Are there no archaeologists or moderate environmentalists who would be willing to provide a perspective different from Commissioner Lyman’s? Are there no reasonable people in Utah who regret the willingness of State government to underwrite the costs of Lyman’s trial?
Commissioner Lyman presents himself as being responsive to the desires of his constituency. One can only hope that constituency also includes the majority Native Americans in the county. I’d be interested to learn what they feel about incursions into sacred territory and vandalism to antiquities.
James L. Dean
Ashland, Oregon