After a hard-won and historic victory that will shift the body from a long-standing white Republican majority to a Democratic and American Indian one, the new San Juan County Commission took the oath of office on Monday.
The occasion was met with celebration from many in the southeastern part of the state who hope that the change will improve conditions for the county’s majority Native American population. But following a new legal dispute to their power, it was also marred with a sense that the changing of the guard wouldn’t be allowed to stand without a fight.
“It’s very, very hard to accept changes,” newly-inaugurated Commissioner Willie Grayeyes, a Navajo Democrat, told The Salt Lake Tribune in a recent interview.