To the editor:

Last week, I ended my hunger strike. I spent those four days in prayer for the protection of some of the last sacred lands left on this Mother Earth.

I started fasting and another joined me locally, and four more joined in Pennsylvania. Solidarity spread.

I ended my hunger strike because my demand was met. On the fourth day, the University of Arizona put in writing that they would not cut more trees on Mount Graham before the court hearing. A judge is scheduled to determine whether the telescope project should be halted until a full court case has been heard. If the hearing is postponed or takes longer, then the university will have a moral obligation to wait for a decision. Any respectable institution would do the same.

By spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars in lobbying efforts, the UA has exempted themselves from the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. What use are our laws if they are not enforced?

Too much money had been spent and progress had already moved on the telescope to consider the importance of this central aspect of the Apache culture.

The U.S. courts and the UA once again placed their own gods Ä money and scientific research Ä above these peoples' ancient culture.

Further, they have been insensitive to the fact that today, Apache people on the reservation have a different education and less access to professional lawyers.

Modern people have lost sight of this paradise all around us. They've numbed themselves in their concrete world which is built on another illusion: money. A simple choice between survival and death becomes clear.

Thank you for your support. Peace.

Wendy Rachel Young

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