Mescalero tribe mourns Chino
Story-Date: 04:57 a.m. PST Sunday   , November 8, 1998

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Mescalero tribe mourns Chino


By Matt Mygatt
Associated Press Writer


MESCALERO, N.M. (AP) -- Flags flew at half-staff on the Mescalero Apache
Reservation and in Santa Fe as tribal members mourned Wendell Chino, who
led the Mescaleros into economic prosperity over more than four decades.

Chino, a nationally recognized Indian leader who fought for tribal
sovereignty, died Wednesday at age 74.

He died after going into cardiac arrest twice at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical
Center. Chino, who had undergone an angioplasty for heart disease last
year, had checked in to the Pritikin Longevity Center in Santa Monica for
several days, a friend said.

Paul Ortega, the tribe's vice president, was sworn in to succeed Chino
Thursday morning at tribal headquarters in the mountain community, where
the poplar and cottonwood trees have turned golden and snow already
caps nearby 12,000-foot Sierra Blanca.

Flags flew at half staff on the reservation and in the state capitol. Gov.
Gary Johnson said the flags would be at half mast through Nov. 10 in memory
of Chino and former state Sen. Ike Smalley of Deming, who also died
Wednesday.

Tribal members expressed shock at the death of the man who had been
president of the tribe for 43 years -- as president since 1965 and before
that as chairman for several terms of a tribal business committee that then
made up the tribe's top leadership.

Chino was the only tribal leader many Mescaleros had ever known.

"Everyone's real hurt. We don't know what to do," Earldina Botella, 38,
said. "It was a real shock, real sad."

Zenda Kaydahzinne, 24, a Jicarilla Apache who married into the Mescalero
tribe, said Chino was always thinking of business growth and education for
the children.

"He was making sure the tribe will exist, making sure the Apache people
stay strong and together, and teaching tribal history to our children," she
said.

"He's been a legend all this time and you're living the legend," said
Lariat Geronimo, 28.

Regis Pecos, director of the state Office of Indian Affairs in Santa Fe,
said Chino was a champion for Indian rights in the minds of Indians and
non-Indians alike.

"For me, he was a Thurgood Marshall championing the cause of Indian rights
throughout the country," Pecos said. "He was a Martin Luther King and he
was a Malcolm X wrapped up into one man. In our time, Wendell Chino was
equal to the legendary Apache leader Geronimo, fighting tirelessly for his
people to be free and independent."

Chino directed efforts that led to the emergence of the 3,300-member tribe
as an economic powerhouse in the Southwest, Ortega said.

Ortega, who is only the tribe's second president, read a brief statement of
praise for Chino's economic development efforts ranging from a timber mill
and ski area on Sierra Blanca to the tribe's posh 250-room resort, the Inn
of the Mountain Gods.

The inn, where flowers were being delivered Thursday, has become a model
for American Indian economic development emulated by other tribes, Ortega
said.

Staff members at the inn would not talk to reporters, and reporters were
not allowed in the tribal headquarters building, where the Tribal Council
was meeting Thursday afternoon.

Tribal rules call for a president to be elected by the entire tribe. Some
tribal members said they believe Ortega would serve until a special
election could be held.

Funeral arrangements for Chino were pending. He is survived by his wife,
Rita, and son Mark, head of the tribal police force.

Chino's death came almost a year to the day after he was re-elected to his
17th two-year presidential term.

For decades, his was a strong voice for Indian sovereignty and land rights,
and he was remembered Thursday as a great leader by Indian and non-Indians
alike.

"I don't know if there's any of us who are capable of what he was capable
of," said Jicarilla Apache President-elect Arnold Cassador. "He
demonstrated how to stand up and fight for the cause of the Indian people,
for sovereignty. He's not going to be easy to replace. At least we
understand the issues better because of him."



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