A woman whose daughter died in the Iraqi war is urging Arizona lawmakers to honor the decision to name a Phoenix mountaintop after the fallen soldier.

Percy Piestewa said the Legislature shouldn’t try to revamp the state board that renamed Squaw Peak after her daughter, Lori Piestewa, a Hopi tribal member who was the first servicewoman to die in the war.

The lawmaker who proposed the changes said he only wants to strengthen the board and isn’t trying to change the peak’s name.

Percy Piestewa and leaders from several American Indian tribes in Arizona said they were skeptical of that claim.

“If it hadn’t been for the name change to Piestewa Peak, these bills would not be before you today,” Lori Piestewa’s mother said.

The Arizona Geographic and Historic Names Board voted last year to rename the mountaintop.

Republican lawmakers said Democratic Governor Napolitano’s staff pressured board members to adopt the new name. They also said the panel waived a requirement that people be dead five years before their names can be used on geographic features.

“It was obviously the heavy hand of the executive branch that caused this,” said Rep. Phil Hanson, R-9, who proposed the changes.

Mr. Hanson’s proposals, which already cleared the House, were considered but not voted on March 23 by the Senate’s Government Committee. The panel is expected to vote on the proposals March 30.

Mr. Hanson said his proposed changes don’t include reversing the naming decision but instead aim to ensure that rules are followed.

His proposals would take away the governor’s influence over the board and give it to the Legislature.

Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor said the proposals (H2007 and HCR2036) are disrespectful. “Let Lori Piestewa have the peace she fought for,” Mr. Taylor said.

In a letter to a lawmaker, Raphael Bear, president of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, said the proposals are meant to embarrass Ms. Napolitano and change the mountaintop’s name.

“Many Native Americans have concluded that this legislation has less to do with good government than it does with election year politics,” Mr. Bear said.

Ms. Napolitano said she is unsure if the proposals solve any problems.

“Quite frankly, I’m afraid that once they do that, they’ll want to go back and rename Piestewa Peak (as) Squaw Peak despite their saying they don’t want to,” Ms. Napolitano said.

Services

More than 200 people gathered at sunrise March 23 to remember the life and death of Spc. Lori Piestewa, the first Native American servicewoman killed in combat.

The day marked the one-year anniversary of the ambush in Iraq of the 507th Maintenance Company, in which Ms. Piestewa and former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch served.

During the ceremony at the peak now named in Ms. Piestewa’s honor, a letter from another female POW from the 507th was read. Former Army Spc. Shoshana Johnson urged Arizona officials to keep the name Piestewa Peak.

Ms. Piestewa’s father, Terry Piestewa, said the peak was a tribute to all fallen soldiers.

“It makes my heart heavy to think of those people who haven’t made it home. This peak belongs to all the veterans who didn’t make it,” said Mr. Piestewa, a Vietnam war veteran.

Ms. Piestewa, a member of the Hopi Tribe, is believed to have been the first American Indian woman killed while fighting for the U.S. military. —

Associated Press reporter Paul Davenport contributed to this report.