More snow!



Teresa Kiser gets her letters in the mail, through snow and sleet Friday afternoon at the Gallup Post Office on Aztec Avenue. Below, Steve Gohrick is pelted by snow as he returns to work through the downtown walkway in Gallup late in the afternoon on Friday.

Photos by Craig Robinson

 

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Schools locked down, gunman on the loose

Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Three Gallup schools were placed on lockdown late Friday morning after police alerted administrators that a suspect armed with gun allegedly fired shots in the Mossman area.

Police said the suspect, Brandon Lee, who is in his 20s and lives in Gallup, was captured at a mobile home park on Gallup's east side about 5 p.m.

Gallup Police Chief Danny Ross said the suspect initially had been involved in a domestic dispute in which he was told to leave the residence and then allegedly fired two rounds of ammunition. Police, however, were unable to locate the casings from the weapon, he said.

Earlier that day, Gallup Police Capt. Bobby Silva said officers were searching for Lee who allegedly was armed with a .40 caliber handgun and had discharged the weapon at about 10:30 a.m. in the 900 block of East Hill Avenue.

Silva said police received a report that Lee had fired two shots outside of his residence but the reason for his behavior is unclear.

Angelo Dipaolo, the assistant superintendent of the Gallup-McKinley County School District, said police notified three schools in the area of that an alleged gunman was on the loose in the area.

Following the calls, school officials immediately placed Gallup Middle, Red Rock Elementary and Roosevelt Elementary schools on lockdown, he said.

Police then informed the schools that the suspect had left the area and reportedly was heading northbound, he said, so the schools in that direction were notified. However, shortly thereafter, at about 1:30 p.m., the lockdown was completely lifted, he said.

Dipaolo said he hopes this is the exception rather than the rule but that school officials must take this type of incident seriously in order to ensure the safety and minimize the risk to students and staff.

The schools will notify parents of the incident and the resulting lockdown, he said.

The night booking officer at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center would not release information as to the charges against Lee.

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I am not kin to that dog in my uncle's obituary

Walter Howerton Jr.
Managing Editor

My Uncle Jim died a couple of weeks ago. I didn't go home for the funeral. The truth is I didn't like him very much.

My mother says I shouldn't have those feelings about blood relatives (she's a regular Dracula when it comes to loving blood), but I do (I'm not much of an extended family man; I have a hard enough time being an extended family man). Blood or no blood, I didn't care for him, even if he was my mother's brother.

It was one of the triumphs of my young life when I grew taller than he was (seventh grade, eighth?). But as my father said, "That's not saying much." It's true. They were a short bunch, my mother's family.

My Uncle Jim was one of those short men who always seemed to be picking on children or hurting someone.

When I was a boy, I remember him tickling me until I couldn't breathe, then until he made me cry. When I cried, he would call me a sissy. He liked to make me and my boy cousins cry. He liked calling us sissies. He liked telling our mothers (his sisters) they were making us into a bunch of sissies.

In those days, several years after World War II, my uncle still was living with my grandparents. He lived in an upstairs bedroom for years, but my cousins and I never were allowed up there.

He already had been married, fathered a child and divorced. It was the first family scandal I remember. My cousins and I would hide behind the sofa and listen to our parents and our grandparents talk about it in hushed and serious voices. None of us ever saw our uncle's son or his wife.

When my Uncle Jim died, his son's name was not listed among the survivors, though I know he is younger than I am and still alive (the family gossip mill still grinds). Instead, the obituary said my uncle was survived by his "loving wife" (actually his second wife) and "his beloved dog Penny," along with my mother, her brother and three of her sisters, all that is left of the nine children in that family.

I don't know how the other survivors felt about being put on equal footing with a dog, but I was glad my name wasn't listed there.

My Uncle Jim was the fourth in line, the second boy in the family. My mother was the fifth, the third girl, just two years younger (eventually there would be seven girls and two boys).

My mother and my Uncle Jim were playmates. My mother preferred the company of her two brothers to that of her sisters.
She remembers wishing she had been born a boy. One year for her birthday before she started to school she received a little boy's suit, a little boy's wagon and a little boy's haircut. That is all she wanted. There is a photograph of her.

She loves to tell the story of how she and my Uncle Jim spent whole mornings as children catching lizards and clipping them to the backyard clothesline by their tails with clothespins. When they had that line just squirming with five-lined skinks and blue-tailed skinks and whatever other lizards they could catch, they gave the wire a sharp snap and all of the lizard's tails broke off (because that's what lizard tails do). The lizards scattered every which way and my mother and her brother left the tails on the line for my grandmother to find.

"We had the best old time when we were children," my mother said. She laughs every time she tells that story.

But what might have been child's play to my mother turned into a real mean streak in my uncle by the time he was grownup.
And he drank. And he was the kind of drunk who is mean and self-pitying by turns.

I remember when I was in junior high and high school, he would show up drunk at our house. Usually he was angry, too, but what he was angry at was never clear. He liked to make threats, make noise, throw wobbly punches. Sometimes he hit people.
People in the family blamed his hitting on his drunkenness. They never seemed to blame his need to drink on anything at all. At least not out loud.

But he would show up drunk and my parents would spend hours sobering him up while he yelled at them, chasing us back to bed when we got up to complain of his noise. They always told us he was "sick."

He wasn't sick. He was a bully and a drunk, but my mother always defended him because she said that is what blood means between people.

Maybe it was insecurity. His own father (also a short man) never drank, but he was better at raising daughters than sons and died before either of his sons could get things settled with him. His mother spread tales and played favorites among her children (clearly favoring the oldest daughter and the oldest son). It is how she busied herself in the 35 long years she spent as a widow.
And I remember she spoke to him like he was a child, always calling him "Jimmy" even after he was a man. (Women in my mother's family do that to their husbands and sons. The husbands, all tall men, end up feeling as short as their wives. The sons, we tend to be divorced, never married or slow to be men at all.)

My Uncle Jim always seemed a little confused, but he tried not to let it show. I figure it was because he never wanted to look like a sissy. He seemed to think being called a sissy was the worst thing a man could be called. He was short and thick and looked like he meant business, even if he didn't always seem to know quite what his business was. When he got liquored up, he grew to 10-feet tall, at least the way he saw it. And if you didn't believe him, then, by God, he would cut you down to size. At least he would try.

I read somewhere the other day that there are approximately 6 million World War II veterans still living and that they are dying at a rate of 1,500 per day. He was one of the 1,500 who died on his day.

He served under Gen. George Patton, a bully in his own right. Paradoxically, my uncle didn't like Patton. I remember my uncle telling a story about how they were in a long motorized column grinding along a muddy road toward Germany. A small boy was watching from the side of the road. I think my uncle said the boy was French. Somehow the boy ended up under the wheels of one of the trucks, his body caught there between the tires, flopping over and over in the mud. Patton wouldn't let them stop, not to save the boy, not even to remove the muddy, bloody corpse when he was dead. My uncle said he always hated Patton after that.

My uncle's war came down to that one story of the French boy caught up in the wheels beating and beating into the mud until he was gone. That and the fact that after the war my uncle vowed never to camp out again in his life.

He married again when he was 40 years old, but had no more children. He worked. He drank. He attacked the puzzle of his existence through the haze of booze and showed up at our house late at night. And then, according to what my father told me on the day of my uncle's funeral, he quit drinking. At least he quit showing up places drunk and mean and bullying and confused.

"I don't think he's had a drink or been drunk in public since the day your grandmother died," my father said. She lived to be 95 years old, but died years ago, so maybe my Uncle Jim had a few peaceful years with his second wife and his beloved dog.

I saw my uncle last June at a family picnic in North Carolina. The years seemed to have been kind to him. He looked good for a dying man, ruddy faced, thick-haired and healthy. He was smoking as he always had and driving a huge new Cadillac.

Even then the cancer probably was spreading from his lungs to places no doctor could reach. They operated a couple of months back. He went home but never really recovered. He started coughing up blood. They put him back in the hospital gave him a month, but he died two days later.

After my parents called to tell me, I hung up the phone and tried to remember one good thing about him, the mean little boozer who loved to call me a sissy.

I remember he had a motorcycle when I was a very little boy. It was a big one, an Indian motorcycle, I think. I remember he took me for a ride on it without asking my mother (he probably said something like, "Climb on. Don't be a sissy."). I
remember the rumble of the motor under us. I remember the wind. I remember holding onto him and feeling like it was the best thing I ever had done.

I remember when we pulled back into my grandparents' yard my mother was waiting. She yelled at him for taking me on that ride.

"You don't want him to grow up to be a sissy, do you?" he said, and climbed the stairs toward his room. My mother shouted that I would never need a motorcycle to prove I was a man. I didn't know what they were talking about. I only know he never took me for a ride again.

The only times my uncle ever touched me after that were to tickle me until it hurt, pinch me until I squealed, hit me a little too hard and tell my mother he was only playing around as I cried.

Now he is dead. I do not cry for him (only a sissy would cry). I don't think I knew him well enough for that. I am not sure anyone did except perhaps his beloved dog, Penny. What does that say about a man?

Blood or no blood, I don't feel any more kin to him than I do to his dog. I outgrew him by nearly a foot. All of my children will be of him lives in listed in my obituary. I remind myself that no mean little man seems to live inside me. Still, I always have loved motorcycles, but I never have owned one.

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No reinstatement for GeneThomas

Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer

WINDOW ROCK — Nearly as fast as he had received it, fired Dilcon Community School chief Gene Thomas had his temporary retraining order dissolved Friday in Window Rock District Court.

Judge Allen Sloan ruled that since Thomas, fired Nov. 10 by the school board, has been receiving full salary and benefits, he and his attorney John Chapela could not make a convincing argument for "irreparable harm."

Under Navajo law, "irreparable harm" must be suffered by a plaintiff seeking a temporary restraining order for matters that include job reinstatement. Thomas will have to wait approximately 30 to 60 days, during which time his case will be scheduled before an independent hearing officer.

Sloan had approved the restraining order on Wednesday without a hearing. His decision Friday means that Thomas will not be returning to his duties Tuesday as school executive director.

"I'm disappointed with not being able to go back to work while the litigation drags on," Thomas said. "But I understand that financially, I wasn't harmed.

"I'm suffering from a lot of other things, like mental stress because this hasn't come to a conclusion."

In addition to a forthcoming administrative hearing, Thomas will be going back to Window Rock District Court for a hearing on a motion for preliminary injunction and declaratory relief. On those matters, Chapela will argue that by not granting his client a timely administrative hearing upon termination, and by not properly evaluating Thomas before firing him, the school board denied him due process.

The declaratory phase will involve witnesses who will appear to testify on behalf of plaintiff Thomas and the defense four school board members, President Margie Barton, Secretary Gerdie Manygoats, Thelma Barton and Kee Ben Begay. One of Thomas' witnesses, lead bus driver Harry Mike, has signed an affidavit stating that Begay referred to Thomas as a "zhinni," a derogatory term for African Americans. Mike added that Begay had announced his intention to have Thomas removed as school executive director.

The school board fired Thomas after alleging that he hired contractors and made purchases without board approval. Thomas has denied the charges, saying the previous school board approved his expenditures.

Begay was approached after Friday's hearing for his reaction to Sloan's decision, but moved away quickly without comment.
Upon convening outside the court building with Flagstaff attorney James Manlowe and another lawyer, the group said they might issue a press statement later. None was forthcoming as of Friday night.

Court documents filed Thursday by the defense stated "because defendant has merely placed plaintiff on administrative reassignment with full pay and benefits ... plaintiff can demonstrate no harm entitling him to the extraordinary remedy of a temporary restraining order."

Sloan questioned Manlowe on what was meant by stating that Thomas was on "administrative reassignment." Thomas has remained at home since his termination, acting in no official capacity for Dilcon Community School.

Thomas lives close to the school.

"Where's the letter that reassigns him to stay at his house?" Sloan asked.

"We don't have such a letter, your honor," Manlowe answered.

Sloan also expressed concern that after eight weeks, Thomas has not received an administrative hearing, and that a hearing officer has yet to be selected by the defendant and agreed upon by both sides.

The judge rebuked Manlowe for suggesting that additional evidence has been compiled against Thomas since his termination. Sloan said the evidence found through investigation prior to termination will have to suffice.

"I'll hold you to your complaint," Sloan said, adding that he would not permit "amendment after amendment after amendment."

Manlowe said the school board is "proceeding in good faith," but mentioned that it is difficult to find an unbiased, impartial hearing officer to preside over what is "a politically charged issue."

Sloan questioned why the school's personnel manual is not specific on timing and dates for grievance procedures involving terminations, while offering more "precision" on lesser offenses.

Manlowe said it is not appropriate for a judge to second guess the school's policy manual.

Manlowe and Chapela both discussed harm to "reputation." Chapela argued that the longer Thomas is without work, the greater
the harm to his professional status as a school administrator. Manlowe argued that allowing Thomas back to work before his status is decided harms the school's reputation and the school board's reputation as decision makers.

"Our position is that Mr. Thomas is not suffering any actual harm," Manlowe said.

Chapela responded that after eight weeks, his client still has not had the opportunity to appeal his termination in a fair manner.
He also said Thomas' continued absence jeopardizes the efficient operation of Dilcon school.

Sloan told the defense the longer it takes to grant Thomas an administrative hearing, the more "validity" is attached to his claims of questionable due process.

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Storm cancels games

Staff report

Friday's major snowstorm forced the rescheduling of the majority of the area basketball games.

One of the few games that was played Friday night was Hope Christian at Laguna-Acoma with Hope Christian whipping Laguna-Acoma 59-38 in district play.

At the Mavericks Stampede in Lordsburg, the Pine Hill boys beat the host team 55-48 and Zuni defeated Animas 69-59. Also Ramah defeated Tohajiilee 91-57.

The Tohatchi-at-Crownpoint girls game was postponed and rescheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 30. The Kirtland boys and Wingate game was also postponed due to snow.

For the Arizona schedule, Ash Fork at St. Michael was postponed but has not been rescheduled yet.

In the 2A North Conference, Valley Sanders at Many Farms was postponed due to the snow but has not been rescheduled. Valley will play at Joseph City tonight, weather permitting.

The 3A Enchantment schedule for Friday night was also wiped out.

Greyhills at Ganado has been rescheduled for Monday, Jan.22. Window Rock at Pinon was postponed but has not been rescheduled. Winslow at Tuba City will now be played Wednesday, Jan. 31. Show Low at Monument Valley has been set for Jan. 27.

Weather permitting for tonight's schedule, Ganado will host Winslow, Tuba City will travel to Pinon and Monument Valley will be at Window Rock.

Girls Hope 59, Laguna Acoma 38

Hope led 12-8, 34-23, 45-31 before pulling away for a 21-point win.

Laguna-Acoma'a leading scorers were Brandi Kie with 12 points and Allyn Pedro with eight. Shawna Douma got into foul trouble and finished with just four points.

Hope Christian, unbeaten in district at 3-0, had three players in double figures with S. Armstrong with 16 points, S. Wilson with 15 and J. Morales 11.

"Hope has just about everybody back from last year," Laguna-Acoma coach Ron Martinez said. "After winning the district last
year, I'm rebuilding. I had Hope's luxury last year. I have to be patient this year. Hope just outplayed us."

Laguna-Acoma, 4-8 overall, 2-1 in district play, will host Wingate next Tuesday.

Wednesday Monument Valley 61, Pinon 47

The Monument Valley Mustangs downed Pinon at home Wednesday, 61-47 in conference play.

"We missed four open layups and it was a five-point game with two and a half minutes to go," Pinon coach Mark Hall said. "If we were on, we should have won the game. We had to foul at the end and they made the free throws."

Boys Ramah 91, Tohajiilee 57

Ramah jumped out to a 21-8 lead after the first quarter, but a 40-point fourth quarter put the Warriors away as Ramah picked up its' first district win of the season.

Ramah had three players in double figures with Ian Anderson leading the way with 25. Austin Clawson scored 19 and Tucker Simmons added 18.

Tohajiilee was led by Delmer Watbema with 15. Kelly Werito scored 13 and James Gray added 10.

Ramah, 1-0 district, will host Alamo tonight.

Pine Hill 55, Lordsburg 48

The Pine Hill Warriors knocked off their hosts as they picked up a win in the semifinals of the Lordsbug Invite.

Lordsburg led 18-8 at the end of the first quarter, but Pine Hill rallied for a 27-23 lead at the half.

Pine Hill extended their lead in the third to 42-36 lead.

The Warriors were led by Uriah Maria with 28 points. Justin Begay added 15 and Farrell Bryany had nine.

The Warriors play Zuni today in the championship game.

"We are starting to gel together," said Pine Hill head coach David Whitesell. "We are finally staring to figure out what type of ball club we are."

In Thursday's opening round game, Pine Hill defeated Luz Academy of Tucson 64-50. Uriah Maria scored a game high 21
points and had five assists. Justin Begay added 14 points and six steals.

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Begay returns as council speaker

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Current Navajo Nation Council Speaker Edward T. Begay will serve another term he was the only one of the 87 delegates to file for the two-year post.

As the head of the Legislative Branch, the speaker is one of the three most powerful men in the tribal government. Begay, Kelsey A. Begaye (now president) and Delegate Nelson Gorman are the three men to hold the post since the three-branch form of government began in 1990.

Selection of the speaker is the first action item on the winter agenda when the legislature meets Jan. 22 for its week-long quarterly session.

Council rules require candidates to file their declaration, resume and platform at least 12 days before the fourth Monday in January of odd numbered years, said Legislative Branch Press Officer Carolyn Calvin...

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Civil rights leader to be honored Monday

Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Gallup will honor the life and accomplishments of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday with an afternoon of guest speakers, youth activities and a peace march.

City, county and state government offices will be closed Monday in observance of the holiday.

William Bright, the co-chair of the Gallup Peace Process and a candidate for the Gallup-McKinley County School Board, said he wants to invite all local organizations and churches that share King's dream of a "beloved community" to join in the celebration.

"The Gallup Peace Process started in March 1999, and its goals are to promote peace and safety in the Gallup schools and community," he said,"and to maximize participation of Gallup citizens in peace dialogue and action and to present Gallup as a city of peace..."

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Deaths

Mary Roanhorse Brown

NAVAJO STATION, Ariz. — Services for Mary Brown, 88, will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, Jan. 15 at Saint Anne's Catholic Church, Klagetho, Ariz. Father Flann will officiate. Burial will follow at Cornfields, Ariz.

Brown died Jan. 10 in Fort Defiance, Ariz. She was born May 15, 1912 Navajo Station, Ariz. into the Zuni Red Running Into the Water for the Bitter Water People Clan.

Brown was a homemaker, rug weaver and a foster grandparent at Cornfields Pre-school. She was a member of the Klagetoh Catholic Church and the Native American Church.

Survivors include her husband, Joe Brown; sons, Freddie Taliman of Cornfields, Ariz., Peterson Taliman of Navajo Station, Ariz. and Cato Taliman of Navajo, NM; daughters, Lois Todacheene of Cornfields, Ariz., Garnet Smith of Navajo Station, Ariz.; Alberta Yazzie, Burnside, Ariz., Mary Ann Arnold, Chinle, Ariz., Rena Taliman of Fort Defiance, Ariz. and Marie Taliman of Acoma; 37 grandchildren; 77 great-grandchildren and 24 great-great grandchildren.

Brown was preceded in death by brothers, Pete Roanhorse, Ambrose Roanhorse and Sam Roanhorse; sister, Mae R. Taliman and daughters, Marilyn Taliman and Donna M. Shirley.

Pallbearers will be Virgil Tsosie, Patrick Tsosie, Robert Arnold, Dominic Abeita, Roger Pablo Jr. and Jonathan Yazzie.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services at Cornfields Chapter House.

Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Frances Curley

THOREAU — Services for Frances Curley, 80, will be held at 10:30 a.m., Monday, Jan. 15 at Little Sisters of the Poor-Villa Guadalupe Chapel. Father Alfred Tachias will officiate. Burial will follow at Threau Community Cemetery.

Curley died Jan. 11 in Gallup. She was born July 1, 1920 in Smith Lake into the Start of the Red Streak People for the Salt People Clan.

Survivors include her sons, Herbert Delgarito of Blackwater, Nelson Delgarito and Yazzie Delgarito, both of Smith Lake; daughters, Bessie C. Henio of Smith Lake and Annie R. Shortman of Cow Spring, Ariz.; 17 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.

Curley was preceded in death by husband, Jim Curley and father, Wilson Sandoval.

Pallbearers will be Brandon Delgarito, Darrell Delgarito, Eric Delgarito, Jereme Delgarito, Lawrence Delgarito and Norman
Morgan.

Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Rambo H. Becenti

TOHATCHI — Services for Rambo H. Becenti, 53, will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, Jan. 15 at St. Marys Catholic Church. Father John Mittlestadt will officiate. Burial will follow at the Community Cemetery, Tohatchi.

Becenti died Jan. 9 in Tohatchi. He was born Dec. 25, 1947 in Fort Defiance, Ariz. into the Two Who Came to Water for the Black Streak People Clan.

Survivors include his mother, Rose Becenti of Tohatchi; brothers, David R. Becenti of Farmington, Milton Becenti of Gallup and Marvin Day of Crystal; sisters, Elousie Becenti Dawes of Albuqueruque and Denise Becenti of Tohatchi.

Becenti was preceded in death by his father, Leonard Becenti; and his grandparents.

Pallbearers will be Jessie Dawes, Todd Becenti, Terry Becenti, Terry Becenti, Timothy Becenti, Micheal R. Willis and Leonard
Becenti.

Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Mary Barbara Youngren

LAS CRUCES — Services for Mary Barbara Youngren, 85, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 15, at Holy Cross Catholic Church, 1327 N. Miranda, Las Cruces. Rev. Monsignor John E. Anderson will officiate. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Memorial Gardens Cemetery, 5140 W. Picacho.

A prayer vigil will be held at 7 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 14 at West Chapel of Baca's Funeral Chapels.

Youngren died Jan. 9. She was born Aug. 5, 1915 in Gallup.

Youngren graduated from Sacred Heart High School in Gallup. She attended nursing school in Tulsa, Okla. and received her Bachelor Degree in Nursing at Saint Louis University. Mary worked at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md. and then work at Children's Hospital in Seattle, Wash.

Survivors include her sons, Paul Youngren of Las Cruces and Bill Youngren of Lubbock, Texas; daughter, Mary Kay Yoder of
Mesa, Ariz.; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Youngren was preceded in death by her husband, Earl Youngren and brothers, Jim Lanigan, Dick Lanigan and Bill Lanigan.

Pallbearers will be family members.