DWI arrest teaches cop a big lesson
Andrea Egger
Staff Writer
GALLUP McKinley County Sheriff's Investigator Dee Dee Gonzales
was just putting in some overtime. She didn't expect a woman to
demolish her handcuffs and jump out the window of Gonzales' patrol
car.
Delores Holyan, 39, of Tohatchi, is at Gallup Indian Medical Center,
being treated for a bruised lung which happened during her fall
from Gonzales' moving car to the pavement at Mollica and Highway
66, Gonzales said in an interview Monday. The deputy saw Holyan's
vehicle just stopped in the middle of the road near Zecca Plaza
at 12:55 a.m. Sunday.
Gonzales turned on her wig-wag emergency lights and pulled behind
the car to check if everything was OK. The driver pulled into
a nearby parking lot and stopped.
"What? I was stopping for the stoplight," Gonzales quoted
Holyan as saying.
But there was no stoplight.
Gonzales could smell the alcohol on Holyan's breath. Gonzales
noticed Holyan's shirt was unbuttoned. She told her to button
her shirt.
"I can't." Gonzales noticed all her buttons were missing
and that she was a little bloody.
Meanwhile, a Gallup Police officer had arrived. Gonzales and the
officer gave Holyan a jacket to wear while she got out of the
vehicle.
"No, that's not my jacket. I won't wear it," the woman
said.
She held her shirt together and told the officers she had just
been in a fight at Redwood Lodge. Police checked and found no
disturbance at the motel.
Gonzales told Holyan she wanted her to do some field sobriety
tests.
"There's too many of you. You're upsetting me," Gonzales
quoted her as saying.
The other officers were standing back, and Gonzales told her she
was the only one giving her the test. Holyan still refused to
take the tests.
Gonzales handcuffed her hands behind her back and placed her under
arrest for driving while intoxicated. Gonzales put Holyan in the
back seat of Gonzales' car.
"That's not fair. Why are you arresting me?" Holyan
kept asking, as the investigator drove.
She drove her department-issued Jeep Cherokee, which is the kind
of vehicle investigators drive. There is no cage between the officer
and the prisoner.
The windows of the Jeep roll down on the inside. It wasn't usually
a problem, with prisoners handcuffed behind their back.
That was about to change.
Gonzales drove about three-tenths of a mile, near Mollica and
Highway 66, when she noticed half of her prisoner's body sticking
out the window.
"I didn't want to slam on my brakes and make her fall. I
slowed down as quickly as I could," Gonzales said.
Holyan wound up on the pavement, right in front of Gonzales' car,
right in the intersection of Mollica and 66.
Gonzales tried to get her back into the car so she could take
her to the hospital. She said Holyan pushed her away.
Gonzales opened the police car door. Holyan kicked it shut. Gonzales
opened the door again; Holyan slammed it again.
The investigator had already called for back-up. She got on the
radio again.
"I told the lieutenant to get to me now," she said.
Sheriff's Lt. Lawrence Villanueva arrived, and Holyan struggled
with him, too. They finally got her subdued and in an ambulance
and got her to the hospital.
Gonzales looked at the handcuffs that had been on the woman. "From
hitting the road, she demolished them," Gonzales said.
"I just wanted to get her to jail, because she was freaking
out about doing sobriety tests," Gonzales said.
Gonzales, a seasoned investigator and officer, with many years
on the department and lots of training, discovered you're never
too experienced to learn a lesson on the job.
"That will never happen again. I'll work my overtime, but
I'll make sure I have a unit with a cage," she said.
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Anthrax scare prompts mailroom warnings
NEW YORK (AP) With letters contaminated by the potentially
deadly anthrax arriving at offices in New York, Nevada and Washington,
D.C., mailrooms and delivery services across the country are implementing
new procedures to protect workers.
In California, Gov. Gray Davis ordered state employees to stop handling
mail until they complete training sessions on how to
deal with items suspected of containing chemical or biological contaminants.
"People are lining up around the block to take them," said
Anne DaVigo, a spokeswoman for the California Highway Patrol, which
led the training sessions.
On Monday, Davis released an instructional videotape made at the CHP
sessions. Any Californian can request a copy or watch it online, Davis
said.
Elsewhere, mailroom employees were being warned to check packages
for misspellings in common names and words, look for powdery substances
and incorrect postage and contact authorities about suspicious mail.
The Postal Service announced the creation of a task force to examine
mail security and hazardous-material safeguards. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention issued guidelines for handling letters and
packages. And private delivery companies were scrutinizing their own
procedures.
At NBC studios in New York, where one employee contracted the skin
form of anthrax and another has shown symptoms, the network has stopped
accepting mail from the Postal Service.
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said that city officials received
almost 100 calls about suspect mail by midday Monday and that 24 packages
had been recovered for investigation.
"So far, none of them appear to be anything dangerous,"
the mayor said. "Some of them have the scent of baby powder."
At a meeting of the National Postal Forum in Denver, Postmaster General
Jack Potter told participants that the U.S. mail is safe.
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Baca's store closing
Michael McKenna
Staff writer
A Grants tradition in Western wear is headed toward its last roundup.
For more than three decades, the two owners of the well-known Western-wear
clothing store on W. Santa Fe Avenue have been selling western apparel
and accessories to the Grants community.
But that's about to change. In a few months, the doors to the landmark
building will be closed forever.
Originally owned and operated by the Latham family, the business was
purchased by Cheryl and Casper Baca in October of 1999.
However, Casper, a native of Grants, and Cheryl, a resident of Grants
for 27 years, also own a successful but time-consuming rodeo
production company. Currently preparing for a bull riding rodeo in
Farmington, the Baca's production company arranges everything, from
furnishing the livestock to placing the advertising.
"We furnish our own horses and bulls, supply the staff, and even
do the advertising for the event," Baca said.
Producing rodeos and traveling all over the country isn't the only
time consuming aspect of the business. The Bacas also maintain their
own livestock on eight acres near Mt. Taylor.
"With a 100 head of horses and 50 head of bulls of our own to
feed and care for daily, we're putting in 14 hour days, seven days
a week," Baca said. "I spend two days a week at the store,
and that isn't enough time to run the business."
In the meantime, Baca's Western Wear is having a "Going Out of
Business" sale to reduce inventory, with most clothing 30 percent
off.
"During the sale, we've seen people we haven't seen in years,"
Baca said with a grin.
The traditional ways and places that give order to life are fading
away...and, along with them, Baca's Western Wear will soon be little
more than a memory.
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The Athletes of the Week
Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer
The Athletes of the Week for the week of October 8-15 are Grants Lady
Pirate Antonia Dominguez and Rehoboth Lady Lynx Milly Charles.
"I think it's neat," siad Dominguez, a senior at Grants
High School of being selected.
Now in her fifth year on the Lady Pirates volleyball team, Dominguez
said that one of her goals in to improve every game.
"I also want to gain more confidence," she said. Dominguez
recorded 13 kills in one game against Hot Springs this weekend,
to help pull the Lady Pirates within one win of a district title.
"I want to be district champions," she said. "I think
we can do that."
After high school, Dominguez said that she thinks she will attend
Western and wants to play volleyball there.
"We went and saw them play and I talked to their coach,"
she said.
Dominguez wants to go into physical therapy.
Earlier this season, Dominguez pickd up All tourney honors at the
Belen tournament. She is also a first team All district and a second
team All State player from last season.
Besides volleyball, Dominguez also plays on the Lady Pirates basketball
and track teams.
"I'm very suprised," said Charles of being picked. "I
never thought I would be picked for Atlhete of the Week."
Charles, in her first year on the Lady Lynx soccer team, came through
and scored two goals in a Rehoboth win on Saturday.
"Considering it's my first year, I think I;ve done alright,"
she said.
Charles said that she decided to join soccer this year after competing
on the Lynx cross country team in the passt years.
"I wanted a change," she said. "I played soccer in
mid school but ran cross country last year. This year I wanted to
try something different."
Charles, a senior at Rehoboth High School, said that her goals for
the year are to improve her skills as well as to play well with her
teammates.
"We had some problems working together as a team but we are coming
closer together," she said.
After high school, Charles said that she wants to attend a junior
college and then transfer to ASU. She said she wants to go into special
ed or performing arts.
Charles was a part of last years third place Lady Lynx track team,
where she competed in the 100, 200, 4x100 and 4x200 races.
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Goggles give glimpse of drunken driver's
view
Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer
TOHATCHI About 80 fourth- and fifth-graders had trouble keeping
straight faces Monday morning as their teaches tried to walk a straight
line wearing day-simulated and night-simulated Fatal Vision goggles.
The goggles, purchased by Gallup Indian Medical Center's Office of
Environmental Health, simulate for the wearer the effects of having
one's motor senses run seriously out of kilter due to drinking various
levels of alcohol.
Try walking a straight line, daytime or nighttime your choice
when the bronze-emblem goggles recreates the orientation one
has with a blood-alcohol content of between .07 to .10. The legal
limit that leads to criminal charges is .08.
Then there are the silver-emblem goggles, which place your BAC at
.17 to .20, and the blue-emblem version, which means you are at an
"extreme impairment level" of drunkenness...
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City clerk in near head-on collision
Staff Report
GALLUP The city clerk was in a bad accident this weekend but
is doing much better.
Ruth Ruiz was taken by Med Star ambulance to Rehoboth McKinley Christian
Hospital after the accident, which occurred around 12:10 a.m. Sunday
at Munoz overpass and Aztec Avenue, according to a Gallup Police report.
The pickup truck being driven by Tom White of Ganado, Ariz., was headedsouth
on Munoz, proceeding through the Aztec Avenue stoplight, which he
said was green, according to the report.
Ruiz's car was north on N.M. 602 and turned west onto Aztec Avenue.
The two vehicles collided nearly head-on, but the truck's left front
end hit the car's front end...
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Program may pay tribal healer costs
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) When American Indians become victims
of crime, Utah's Crime Victim Reparations program pays for counseling
to help them recover.
Now, the state is considering paying for American Indians to get
counseling in the form of healing ceremonies performed by tribal
leaders.
Arizona and New Mexico already do it, convinced the ceremonies help.
Not only that, American Indian healing ceremonies often are cheaper
than therapy by licensed psychologists. Healing ceremonies are usually
one-time events, completed in one to three days...
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Area band wants to help
Staff Report
GALLUP A local band is trying to hold a benefit concert to
help victims of September's terrorism attack but is having problems
finding a place to hold it.
Mike Sievers, who plays guitar and is lead singer for the punk rock
band "Shades of Clear," said the band made the decision
shortly after the September 11 terrorism attack and began trying
to decide where to hold it.
Band members approached the operators of Studio 66, the non-alcoholic
night spot for local youth, and was told that it would cost $300
to rent the place for one night.
But Sievers said this was impractical, pointing out that punk rock
is an acquired taste and a punk rock concert would probably not
attract a lot of patrons...
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Program puts homeless vets back to
work
Bill Donovan
Staff writer
GALLUP The Gallup area has programs galore to help homeless
veterans get sober and off drugs but none to prepare them to go
back to work.
Until now.
Officials for the Southwest Indian Foundation and U.S. Rep. Tom
Udall have announced a $250,000 grant that will be going to the
foundation to establish a Homeless Veterans Transitional Work Center
here in Gallup.
Working with the local Veteran's Office, the foundation plans to
use the money to renovate the warehouse it has in the western part
of town that has been used to build homes for needy families on
the Navajo Reservation...
Navajos to work on response to emergencies
Jim Maniaci
Dinι Bureau
WINDOW ROCK The Navajo Nation is working to improve its disaster
response plans, President Kelsey A. Begaye told the tribal council
Monday during his quarterly "State of the (Navajo) Nation"
address.
The council, exhibiting unusual restraint, did not ask any questions
before voting to accept his report. Nor did delegates question the
two other branch chiefs.
Among several items, the president summarized the tribe's work to
prepare for emergency situations beyond what it historically had
done by updating the emergency response plan.
Begaye also said emergency response teams need to be trained and
established in each of the 110 chapters, and the Emergency Management
Department will need the money to set up coordinators in each of
the five agencies, working in conjunction with the Emergency Management
Commission, which is the official body to declare emergencies...
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Deaths
Isabelle Chavez
GALLUP Services for Isabelle Chavez, 75, will be held at a
later date. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Cemetery.
Chavez died Oct. 14 in Gallup. She was born Sept. 11, 1925 in Mogoyon
Mountain.
Chavez hobbies included bowling and reading.
Survivors include her husband, Edward T. Chavez of Gallup; son, Gabriel
B. Chavez of Gallup; four grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Chavez was preceded in death by her parents, Theodore and Isabelle
Ulibarri and brothers, Edward Ulibarri and Philemon
Ulibarri.
Pallbearers will be Paul Chavez, David Chavira, Lorenzo Chavira, Paas
Morales, Chris Ornelas and David Ornelas.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Tommy E. Murrietta
GRANTS Services for Tommy Murrietta, 62, were held at 10 a.m.,
today at St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church, Grants.
Burial followed San Rafael Cemetery.
Survivors include his wife, Crusie Murrietta; daughter, Gale Murrietta,
brothers, Alfonso Murrietta, Wilford Murrietta and
Henry Murrietta; sister, Josie Tafoya and one grandchild.
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