Earl Tulley, 63, spotted the sign in the community where he was born as the coronavirus rips through the largest reservation in the United States. In rural communities, he said, locals and relatives tend to look out for one another and check in on their neighbors. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic, residents still share resources, like food, and reach out to each other but from a distance. 

“In case of emergency, I can shine my mirror against the sun to my neighbors across the valley,” said Tulley, an environmentalist and executive office veteran liaison for the Navajo Housing Authority. “They know to come over.”

The Navajo Nation covers over 27,000 square miles, sprawling across Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. Home to about 175,000 people, the Indian country has reported 2,654 Covid-19 cases and 85 deaths as of Thursday. It has the third-highest infection rate in the United States behind New York and New Jersey, and a per capita infection rate 10 times higher than Arizona. 

The Navajo Nation has reported reported 2,654 Covid-19 cases and 85 deaths as of Thursday. It has the third-highest infection rate in the United States behind New York and New Jersey. Photo of a sunrise courtesy of Earl Tulley

Before the pandemic, however, the Navajo, or Diné, people faced another kind of crisis: limited health care facilities, a prevalence of conditions like heart diseases and diabetes, few grocery stores and scarcity of running water. Now, these factors further complicate the Covid-19, or Dikos Ntsaaígíí-19, emergency in the community. 

“Do you wash your hands or do you quench your thirst?” Tulley said. “That is something that a number of families are faced with right now.”

An estimated 30 percent of the community’s population does not have access to clean, reliable drinking water, and has to haul it from watering points due to severe infrastructure deficiencies, according to the Navajo Nation Department of Water Resources. 

“Water comes at a premium,” Tulley said. “If you count the payment of the wear and tear on the vehicle and the payment of utilizing water, it’s calculated somewhere in the neighborhood of about $40 a gallon, because you’re your own utility provider.”

Under strict curfews, lockdowns and checkpoints to curb the spread of the coronavirus, a trip to haul water can be a struggle. The city of Gallup, in New Mexico, is a regional watering hole, and the trek to the community has been a practice of local tribes for generations. On the first day of the month, Tulley said, people tend to visit the city to socialize and haul water. This May 1, however, Gallup was placed under lockdown. 

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday invoked the state’s Riot Control Act to close off all roads leading to Gallup, in McKinley County, “to mitigate the uninhibited spread of COVID-19 in that city.” McKinley County accounts for nearly 30 percent of coronavirus cases in the state. The lockdown, requested by the city’s mayor, is scheduled to end today.

“I believe that those individuals that live closer to the watering hole basically depended too much upon it,” said Tulley. “I don’t think that they could phathom or even comprehend that Gallup would ever do this. But, with the pandemic that is happening now, some of the people are saying, ‘You know what, it’s about time.’”

On top of lack of running water, there is also the issue of quality. Water in communities like east To’hajiilee, in New Mexico, have high sulfur content, Tulley said. “There’s nothing wrong with it as far as health wise, but the stench and the smell of sulfur water is really, really bad,” he said. “It does wear and tear on your plumbing, and if you have a porcelain sink or a ceramic sink, then you can see the yellow marks.” 

Difficulties to drive to haul water apply to the struggle to buy supplies during the pandemic, too. Roughly the size of West Virginia, the Navajo Nation has only 13 grocery stores, so residents drive hundreds of miles to border towns for groceries. 

“Not very many people have transportations, and so those individual families who are not blessed to have a vehicle, then they would have to hitchhike,” said Tulley. “It’s not going to the corner market.” 

Environmentalist Earl Tulley delivers a box of food to Dennis Charley in Tachee, Arizona. Photo courtesy of Earl Tulley

Recently, Tulley participated in a community effort to distribute 80,000 pounds of food on the reservation. The food distributed came from humanitarian aid collected in Salt Lake City, Utah, and went to several communities in the territory, from Farmington to Crown Point. 

Rural families like Tulley’s have adapted to living within their means, herding sheep and depending on live stock. “If you’re able to go out into Mother Nature’s garden,” he said, “then you pretty much have a greater understanding as to how to live off the land.” 

Like grocery stores, health facilities are limited on the reservation. There are 12 healthcare centers in the Navajo Nation and nearby areas, according to the Indian Health Service. In March, the tribe reported that it had 170 hospital beds, 13 intensive care unit beds, 52 isolation rooms and 28 ventilators. 

“If you are working and you have insurance, the possibility of having your own specialists, your own doctor, that would be a blessing,” Tulley said. “But in many of our Navajo communities, people are dependent, and the only resource that they have, as far as Western medicine or medical care, is going to be through the public health service or the Indian Health Service.”

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said that federal aid began to trickle into the Indian country in April and that the Indian Health Service facilities received vital equipment. Last month, the community distributed rapid test kits, protective equipment and 50 ventilators.

Nez said the community has not received the emergency funds needed for testing and equipment. The Navajo Nation is set to receive $600 million in federal funding from the distribution of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. 

As the coronavirus tears through his tribe, Tulley has taken the time to share with his four grandchildren and teach them to garden. He tells them that, if they plant a seed in the ground, they must nurture and sing to it so it can grow. 

He reassures them that life will come back to normal at some point.

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In the small town of Belfast, New York, population 1,600, Jim and Mary Mountain have become outcasts in recent weeks, shunned by their neighbors. Their sin: they are the only residents with a “Hillary” sign on their front lawn.

“We are kind of the exception to the rule,” chuckled Mary, 80, a retired postmaster and a lifelong resident of the town. “My daughter’s friend drove all the way from Rochester to Friendship and the only Hilary sign she saw was on our lawn.”

The Mountains live right along the major road in the area, Route 19, so if you need to get anywhere in the county, chances are you will pass by their yard.

Her husband Jim, now 82 and also retired, worked for Dresser-Rand, an industrial equipment supplier, and served on the Belfast Town Board. In his 12 years of service, he was the only Democrat.

Belfast is located in Allegany County, the third poorest county in the State. The county’s population is around 47,000 people, and its per capita income is $20,000 a year. Though economically poor, Allegany is rich with rolling hills, dairy farms, and pick-up trucks. According to the New York State Board of Elections, there are twice as many registered Republicans than Democrats in Allegany County.

So why do the Mountains vote left in a region that is a predominantly conservative? Jim says that he believes the Democrats are “for the poor guys, they are the first ones to help out the small guy.” He continued, “I don’t believe in giving everything to the rich, I’ve always been a Democrat for that reason.”

Mary said that she doesn’t understand why a lot of people don’t trust Hillary. “I think she’s a good person and they have given her a lot of trouble to get to where she is today.”

The Mountains, who are elderly and rely on many medications, fear that if Trump gets elected he will abolish Social Security and Medicare. “Those are good programs,” said Jim. “It would kill us if we didn’t have the Medicare. It would take everything else we got, it’s a big help.”

Their neighbors have not reacted well to the couple’s Hillary sign. “Yeah, they holler at us,” said Jim, who seemed to brush it off easily. However, Mary has experienced more severe taunts. One day she was out retrieving her mail at the end of their gravel driveway when a driver in a big truck yelled “F–K YOU!” at her. “I’m surprised someone hasn’t shot bullets through it yet,” said Mary of the sign.

The Mountain’s sign has certainly caused a stir in the area.

“I don’t know them, but I think it’s stupid to vote for Hillary,” said neighbor Anne Chamberlain,30 a stay-at-home mother and a registered Republican. “She scares me and I don’t have a good feeling about her. She reminds me of Hitler.” said Chamberlain.

Asked why she plans to vote for Trump, Chamberlain responded, “I guess he is the less of two evils.”

Darlene Redance, 34, another neighbor, is aware of the Hillary sign and does not approve.

“I don’t like it, I just don’t want Hillary as president. I don’t like her, she should be in jail,” said Redance, “I think Trump will bring this world where it needs to be.” She does not understand why the Mountains approve of Hillary, adding, “I’m confused about that one, doesn’t make any sense to me.”

A little bit further north along Route 19 lives Chuck Babbitt, a crop and dairy farmer. Babbitt, 63, is very enthusiastic about the GOP candidate and is baffled that his nearby neighbors don’t feel the same way.

“I think everybody ought to be voting for Trump,” said Babbitt. “I’m voting of Trump because I don’t want Hillary.”

Babbitt believes that Hillary would be just the same as President Obama.

“Obama doubled the debt in his term, where was the change we were supposed to be believe in?” said Babbitt. “I think he has been one of the worst presidents ever.”

Chamberlain, Redance, and Babbitt couldn’t exactly articulate reasons why they believe that Trump will help the residents of Allegany County and the country as a whole. Asked why Republican candidates are good for farmers and people in poorer counties, Babbitt replied “I don’t know about that one, I haven’t thought about it.” Chamberlain said that Trump wants to bring back the “Old America.” But what does that look like? “Basically before Obama” said Chamberlain.

Being a Democrat in a small town is like showing up to an Adidas PR Party decked out in Nike apparel. The Mountains are surrounded by people who may never see this side of the coin.

Residents of rural areas tend to vote Republican, a perpetual reflection of the urban-rural divide in politics. According to a an NBC/ Wall Street Journal poll, Trump leads Hillary 64% to 27% in rural areas across the states. Trump particularly does well among older, white Americans. Considering both Jim and Mary are in their 80s and white, they are defeating yet another stereotype.

Just as the Republicans in the town can’t wrap their heads around how the Mountains can vote for Hillary, the Mountains can’t wrap their heads around how their neighbors can be for Trump. “I have no idea why people are voting for him in this community” laughed Mary. “Maybe it’s because he has driven into people’s heads that Hillary is evil.”

Even though Jim is used to being outnumbered by his conservative neighbors (He and Mary both voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012), he is surprised by the large number of Trump signs he sees in his neighborhood.

“I don’t understand how there are so many. He has said so many things that are just off the cuff, not things that you would want to hear from a future president,” said Jim.

“Anybody that could vote for Trump could vote for that dog right there,” said Jim pointing to their dog, Milly. His wife interjected quickly, “Milly probably wouldn’t vote for him either!”

The post Election 2016: Small Town Rebels appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Ken Johnson, 80, a conservative Republican from Lycoming County, Pa., plans to vote for Mitt Romney for president. Photo by Louie Lazar.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa – In the wide, sparsely populated valley below Bald Eagle Mountain, about a block from the Lycoming County Courthouse at 212 Pine Street, David French sat in an office behind a desk piled with booklets of the U.S. Constitution and leaflets reading, “Stop Obamacare in Pennsylvania.” French, a board member of the Williamsport Tea Party who “lives up in the hills” in nearby Cogan House Township and considers himself a “conservative Republican, with an emphasis on conservative,” is far from enthusiastic about Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and presumptive GOP nominee.

“Nobody likes him. Nobody wants him,” French said Monday morning inside Tea Party headquarters, sharing what he considers the accepted view among fellow conservative activists towards Romney. “He’s a New England establishment Republican. He comes from a part of the party that should’ve been dumped 30 years ago.”

But French, a serious-looking man of 69 with his thinning hair buzzed into a crew cut, said that he will nonetheless back Romney in November, if reluctantly.

“We’ll support whoever the [Republican] party comes up with,” he said.

French is one of several conservatives in this Pennsylvania county who, in interviews conducted here on Monday and Tuesday, expressed deep skepticism of Romney and his right-wing credentials. Yet for a majority of these likely voters, the prospect of a second term for Obama is so frightening that they remain committed to punching the Republican ticket in November.

A fast growing city in the heart of central Pennsylvania, Williamsport is the self-hailed “Epicenter of the Natural Gas Industry,” and home to the Little League World Series. With about 27,000 residents, it has the largest population of any city in the greater Susquehanna Valley and in surrounding Lycoming County, the largest county in all of Pennsylvania. This rural, poor county, with an average income of about $27,000, is also one of the state’s most conservative: John McCain defeated President Obama by 24 points here in 2008. Four years earlier, George W Bush trounced Senator John Kerry by nearly 37. Once known as the “City of Churches,” spires dot the horizon, and every quarter hour church bells echo throughout the valley.

Under a steady late morning rain in downtown Williamsport on Monday, conservative Republican Marcia Johnson, a senior citizen who is both a pilot and a standout bridge player, said that she will happily support Romney in the general election. But she did have early doubts.

“At first I wasn’t for him because I think Massachusetts is kind of liberal,” said Johnson, who initially supported Herman Cain because she thought he could attract black voters. So why has she decided to back Romney in November?

“Well, I’m sure as hell not voting for Obama,” she said, her spirit peppy and her hair in a gray bonnet. “I think Obama is ruining the country. He’s a socialist. He’s a Marxist.”

Her husband, Williamsport native Ken Johnson, a talkative, cheery 80-year-old wearing a jacket with an airplane logo, had little to say about Romney, but agreed that removing Obama from office was a priority.

“Anybody but Obama,” he said, wearing a hat with the letters UFO, referring to United Flying Octogenarians, a club of active airline pilots over age 80. “His government is out to destroy the country.”

“He’s never really shown his birth certificate,” Ken continued. He also said he doesn’t think Obama is in the country legally. His wife nodded.

“I can’t understand why he hasn’t been impeached already,” said Marcia. She added that she believes Obama is a Muslim.

But not all conservatives here are as open to voting for Romney. Or as cordial.

About a mile away, a huge, middle-aged man with a white, grizzly beard emerged from his house on Washington Boulevard, next to Williamsport Cemetery. A visitor had inquired about the man’s garage, and about the sign on its door that read, “East End Gun Specialty Sporting Goods and Live Bait.” Asked whether he plans on voting in November, the man, who declined to disclose his name, uttered a racial epithet in reference to President Obama, then turned angry.

“If it’s between that jackass we have in office, and that moron from New England, I’d rather not bother,” he barked, with numerous expletives peppered throughout the sentence. He said he has supported Republicans in the past, but that he prefers not to discuss politics. Asked if he had voted in the 2008 Election, the man turned silent.

“There’s the door,” he ordered, pointing in the direction of the cemetery.

At 7 a.m. Tuesday morning, at the same time polls throughout Pennsylvania opened under still-overcast skies, Lycoming County Commissioner Tony Mussare, a Republican who “leans Tea Party,” said over oatmeal and coffee that it is “kind of a joke that [Romney] is the guy the Republicans are going to nominate.”

“My God, Mitt Romney – are you kidding me?” cried Mussare, a short, passionate man with a round face who makes solid eye contact. “Go look at his flip flop videos. Almost every notable policy he’s changed his mind. Is that a conservative? I don’t think so.”

He cited Romney’s past positions on gun control, abortion, and health care as just a few reasons why he thinks many in the Tea Party will not vote for the former Massachusetts governor.

“Now will I vote for him? I certainly will if he’s our candidate,” he said.

Mussare, a small business owner, believes that Romney will “excel in understanding the needs of businesspeople,” and that the economy is the country’s top concern. Plus, there’s another, more significant issue.

“Not everything that Barack Obama does is evil,” he said, “But he’s further to the left than a socialist. Socialism wouldn’t be enough for this guy, and I don’t mean this jokingly.”

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