Navajo tribe looks for ways to raise money
Jim Maniaci
Dine' Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — A plan that could raise more than $100 million
for capital improvements on the Navajo Nation may be worked out Monday
as the tribe's outside auditing firm and two committees meet to recommend
how to pay for the projects.
The auditing company KMPG will meet with the Budget-Finance and Transportation-Community
Development committees in Albuquerque.
The past two fiscal years the council has not had the funds to appropriate
money for the capital improvement budget, so only unspent allocations
from previously approved, but unfinished projects were carried forward.
At the Albuquerque meeting, a plan will be developed and people given
specific assignments to complete a financing plan. Most discussions
the past two years have centered around issuing bonds as the largest
possible source of new money.
In October 1999, a gas tax proposed by President Kelsey Begaye went
into effect and has raised more than $10 million in its first year.
Begaye expects at least 10 times that amount could be raised by bonds.
Distributors pay 18-cents a gallon on land vehicle fuel, which stores
pass on to the motorist at the pump.
At Monday's meeting, after hearing opening comments from Committee
Chairmen Lorenzo Bedonie and Lawrence Morgan, the group also will
listen to Council Speaker Edward T. Begay.
Then three topics will be discussed.
After reviewing the history and current status of capital projects,
the most important topic will be covered last. KMPG and Controller
Bobby White's office will give their presentations on various financing
options for capital improvements.
First will be to reviewed will be the present Capital Improvement
Plan process by which chapters or others subject to the tribal government
get their projects on the priority list. The list must then be approved
by the Transportation-Community Development Committee. White's office
will give this presentation.
Second will be the status of CIP projects overseen by the tribe. The
CIP office of the Community Development Division will give the presentation,
which will include sources of money, such as New Mexico's severance
tax bonds or federal government grants such as the Indian Health Service
paying for water and sewer lines to homes.
Begaye has pushed since taking office in January 1999 to improve the
financial capacity of the central government, exploring overall economic
development, looking at establishing banks, proposing or getting the
council to approve new types of taxes, and supporting the Navajo Nation
issuing various kinds of revenue bonds.
Earlier this year, the Community Development Division compiled a wish
list of needed capital improvements from various agencies, but has
never made it public.
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All wrapped up at Rocky View
GALLUP, N.M. (AP) — Elementary school principal Marc Nestorick
has gone to the wall for his students literally. He got himself duct-taped
to it Friday as an incentive for parent-teacher conferences.
Nestorick, 29, spent an hour taped to the wall of the Rocky View Elementary
School gymnasium Friday morning after nearly 90 percent of his 382
students brought their parents for teacher conferences.
Each of the 340 students whose parents came in got a 3-foot strip
of tape. Nestorick looked like a silvery alien plastered against the
gym wall his feet about 2 feet off the floor when they were done with
him.
"It was shocking that it held," the 230-pound principal
said of the tape. "They used 12 rolls."
When Nestorick took over as principal three years ago, parent participation
in teacher conferences was about 50 percent, he said.
About 1 years ago, he said, he got 90 percent participation and agreed
to let teachers shave his head.
This year, he pledged to be taped if participation topped 80 percent
and to be pelted with water balloons if it exceeded 90 percent. He
narrowly missed a soaking Friday.
Asked how it felt to be taped to a wall, he said: "Tight."
"I had a sweater on underneath it, so I could move a little bit,"
he said.
That red sweater has been relegated to the category of memorabilia.
As a sweater, "it's being retired," he said. "We left
it with the duct tape on it."
People at the school are still pondering what they might do with it.
Maybe it will be framed and put on display, he said.
Rocky View, which has students from kindergarten through fifth grade,
is Nestorick's first assignment as a principal. He was a teacher previously
at another school.
Being taped to a wall or going goose-egg bald may lack the dignity
sometimes associated with the stereotypical image of school principals.
But Nestorick says: "It's fun that's one of the things I'm trying
to emphasize right now is we've got to have fun."
Duct-taping is not new to prankdom.
At Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., one of the more creative prankster
havens, it's common on "Ditch Day" for seniors to be duct-taped
to trees if they are found on campus.
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Road work
Gallup is everywhere and everywhere is Gallup
Walter Howerton Jr.
Managing Editor
The New Guy is gone. Our trip to Monument Valley couldn't save him.
He worked here for only eight weeks and claimed he never drew a happy
breath in all that time. When he worked, he worked. He was a good
worker. He even cleaned up his desk when he quit and left without
working out his notice. But when he was not working, he closed himself
up in his apartment with his television, his telephone, his email,
his nightmares of where he had been and dreams of where he would rather
be. He said he always has wanted to live in New York City. Maybe that
is how a man gets ready to live in New York City. When he left, it
is where I encouraged him to go.
He claimed his problem was Gallup, that Gallup and its people made
him too uncomfortable to stay. I don't think so.
Gallup is a hard place, but I think the New Guy was undone by the
things that sometimes threaten to undo us all memories of a past we
can't return to or dreams of a future that never will be. Most of
us end up with lives that don't fit quite right and the
New Guy's life fit worse than most. After years of stretching his
life out of shape with his own two hands, he could no longer get comfortable
with it.
Some days it was too large for him, some days too small. Some days
he walked into the office as if his life were heavy, damp, soiled,
too baggy in the knees. On those days, he didn't talk much, but his
silence was never quiet. Other days he walked as if his life were
100 percent wool and itchy and too tight in the shoulders. On those
days he fidgeted, sizzled with nervous energy and talked too loudly
and too much without ever quite saying anything. Most of us learn
to take it in a little here, let it out a little there and cloak ourselves
in the days that add up to our lives. Not the New Guy. He was a man
in desperate need of a tailor who could not even find a simple needle
and thread, not in Gallup, probably not even in New York City.
At first, there was something touchingly innocent about the way he
paraded his neediness nakedly through the world, as if he were Adam
or some other buck naked child of God. And there was something wonderfully
childlike about the way he seemed to cling to the simple faith that
somewhere there was something, or someone, who would save him, like
a little boy who stubbornly refuses to surrender his faith in Santa
Claus despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Whether he needed
a god, a good woman, a healthy meal (he was a junk food afficionado),
a chance to do it all over again, a shiny red bike, or a good kick
in the teeth, was never clear, but he was needy, disturbingly willing
to let it show and, finally, more selfishly childish than endearingly
childlike: He was a man living on boyish faith in his dank apartment
and complaining about it.
I understood him because I have been where he is and I would have
saved him if I could. But sometimes you can understand the hell out
of something and still not do anything to fix it. There are people
who come into our lives who remind us of the pitiful human limitations
of our own best instincts and intentions and of how close untouchable
loneliness and misery lurks to
us all. I tried to give him Monument Valley, but even that was not
enough. The Great Oz is that humbug behind the curtain.
Those who would cross the grandest canyons better have the ruby-est
slippers. I guess I do not have the stuff saviors are made of. The
New Guy is living proof of that. So, when he departed late one afternoon
last week, headed east on I-40, I admit I was glad to see him go.
Perhaps because I hired him, perhaps because I was once a Southerner
like him, perhaps because I was interested in his story at first,
the New Guy felt free to drop by my house. Knowing that New Guys don't
have friends, I encouraged him to stop by.
He lived only a few houses away, but he never walked to my house.
He always drove because he said something about the streets of Gallup
frightened him (always careful to add that he was never frightened
on the streets of New York).
He came to talk, but we did not converse. He talked; I listened. As
the days, then weeks, went by, he explored his misery from every angle
reciting failed marriages, lost jobs, squandered chances, dashed hopes,
distant and uncommunicative children. I heard it all. At least, I
heard his version of it. And his version is the only truth he knows
any more, lugging it around with him like a heavy sack simply because
he is so in the habit of carrying it that he cannot put it down and
walk away.
"I think I made a terrible mistake," he said only a few
days after arriving in Gallup. "I have to leave," he said.
I tried to talk him around that idea. At first, I tried to talk him
out of leaving, tried to simply convince him to stay. It did not take
long for me to realize that we were not talking. He was talking, not
listening. Eventually, when he would say he had to leave, I said,
"So, leave." And he said, "But I don't know where I
will go." New York, I suggested. "You always have wanted
to live
there," I reminded him.
The day he left, he dropped by to shake my hand, thank me, apologize,
tell his sad tale one more time. His truck was loaded. "I don't
know where I am going," he said. "But I have to leave."
"Drive east," I said. "And north." He asked for
directions to I-40, a highway he had crossed, passing the interstate
entrance, every working day for eight weeks. He drove away, wearing
a Detroit Tigers baseball cap. The last thing he said? "I figure
I will be in jail or dead in a week." How do you answer a thing
like that? By then I had lost interest in the New Guy. He was like
a part-time job for which I never got paid and he wasn't entertaining
enough to be a hobby. I waved goodbye.
Less than 24 hours later, the phone rang on my desk at work. "Hey,"
he said. "I'm in Amarillo." I figured he had called to tell
me how glad he was he finally had left. He sounded more upbeat than
usual. "I have a question for you," he said. "A simple
yes or no question." He paused. "I think I made a terrible
mistake," he said. "I just want to know. Can I come back?"
I paused. Perhaps he thought I was thinking about it, but I was simply
caught by surprise. "No," I said quickly. "Drive,"
I
said. "East. Oklahoma City is a few hours away. And what about
New York City? Try New York City. This is your chance."
He was quiet. I thought I could hear traffic behind him. I heard him
breathe. There was a catch in his voice. "I'm afraid to go to
New York," he said and hung up.
Hearing him speak one simple truth nearly broke my heart. I imagined
him walking toward his pickup truck, climbing in, belting his ill-fitting
life around him and driving away.
So, here I am and the New Guy is gone to wherever New Guys go when
they leave us behind after disturbing us with their innocence, their
faith and their need of something that remains just beyond theirs
to grasp and ours to give. As I sit here wondering what will become
of him, I think about the times I have driven through the Panhandle
of Texas, the ugly, bright, too-hot-too-cold desolation of it. I imagine
him at a lonely pay phone in his Detroit Tigers hat, his baggy jeans
and his black sneakers, the kind church league softball umpires wear.
I think about Bob that was his name, Bob standing beside I-40 somewhere
east of Amarillo, another new guy growing old, and I am reminded of
a line from a Sheryl Crow song: "I'm
standing in the desert waiting for my ship to come in."
Goodbye, Bob.
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Bengals trying to stay out of cellar
Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer
ALBUQUERQUE — The Gallup Bengal football team is fighting for
survival in District 1AAAAA.
The Bengals, 0-2 in district, face off against an Albuquerque High
team Saturday that is also winless in district. Meanwhile, two of
the undefeated teams in the district, Cibola and Manzano faced off
last night in a matchup for first place.
"These games are games where undefeated teams fight for first
place and winless teams fight for survival,"said Gallup head
coach Jeff Taylor of the two games.
Taylor said that, because of injuries Jared Montoya will make his
second start, but some key players will be returning. Brian Long is
the only starter that will not play in the game on Saturday.
Ben Mitchell and Ben Garcia, along with other players that have been
missing in recent games are all expected to play.
Taylor said that Frank Budik injured his shoulder in last week's loss
to Rio Rancho, but he is still expected to play.
"We are planning to use Ben (Garcia) at tailback and on defense
a little bit more if Frank is hurting, it will depend on how he feels
at game time," Taylor said.
Despite the injuries, coach Taylor likes the match up between the
two teams.
"I think the match up is pretty even. We lost one player to eligibility
last week, and one player has not finished his tests so he will not
play. We will have to see how the two missing will effect us, but
other than that I like the match up."
Taylor said that he thinks this will be another close game, and it
may come down to special teams.
"We have lost one game and won one this year, all the rest came
down to the wire, and unfortunately they haven't gone our way."
"At this time of the year, very few players are healthy,"
the coach continued. "But we've got what we've got and we're
going to use it."
Taylor said that the starting lineup will stay pretty much the same
as the last few games, with Ben Garcia seeing more time because of
the Budick injury.
"I am concerned with the Budick injury," he said.
Garcia is returning after missing the last few games with a concussion.
Long, the only Bengal starter that will not play Saturday, is expected
to return to practice on Monday.
Taylor said that though his team is at 0-2 in district, so are two
other teams, and if the Bengals can win their last three they are
still alive in the district race. The Bengals return home next week
to play against West Mesa and then finish the season in Albuquerque
against Cibola.
Bengal Harriers continue winning tradition
Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer
ALBUQUERQUE — Winning the district title has become natural to
the Gallup High Bengals. This year was no different.
Led by district champions Felicia Guliford and C.R. Davis, the Gallup
boys won the District 1AAAAA cross country meet for the 18th straight
year, while the girls won their 17th consecutive title.
Gallup Coach Curtis Williams said that, though they took first, there
is still some room for improvement.
"Our seventh girl struggled a little bit, and so did our fifth,
sixth and seventh place boys," Williams said.
He added that Friday meets are not the team's favorite, but they still
ran pretty good.
The Gallup girls dominated, placing all five runners in the top ten
for a team score of 19.
Guliford also ended up with a big victory. Guliford, who missed most
of the early season with a hip injury, ended the race over 40 seconds
ahead of teammate and second place finisher Paula-Etta Houston. Guliford
finished with a time of 18:32.01, Houston ended up second with a time
of 19:12.72. Guliford's time also set a new course record for the
three mile course.
Roxanne James of Gallup finished third, 19:19.83 followed by Riann
Lucy of Cibola, 19:33.29 and Gallup's Savannah Benally, 19:40.23 finished
off the top five. Candice Natachu placed eighth (20:22.19) for the
Bengals to help them to their 19 score.
Gallup's other two runners, Crystal Pinto (20:31.59) and Valerie Casuse
(21:08.36) finished ninth and 15th.
Rio Rancho finished second behind the Bengals, scoring 61 and Cibola
advanced to state with a 72 score good enough for third. Valley placed
fourth with an 84 and Albuquerque High placed fifth with a 143. West
Mesa only had four runners in the girls race.
The top three teams in district advance to state in Gallup next Saturday
along with the top ten runners from non-qualifying teams. No runners
from Valley, Albuquerque High or West Mesa placed in the top 10.
The other runners that placed in the top ten were Rio Rancho's Katie
O'Neil-Dreher sixth, 20:08.08, Sasha Mascarenau of Rio Rancho seventh,
20:22.07, and Cibola's Erin Chavez, 20:07.44.
In the boys race, Davis finished 35 seconds ahead of West Mesa's Andy
Cavalier to take first. Davis finished with a time of 15:44.84. and
the Bengals won with a final score of 33.
Lonnie Williams was third in 16:25.78 and Nabahe Austin was sixth
in 16:35.25. Gallup's other runners finished in the top 15, Jayson
Etsitty 11th (16:43.66), Darren Benally 12th (17:02.74) Kyle Benally
13th (17:04.20) and Ryan Dodson 14th (17:08.67).
Rio Rancho took second with 64 points, followed by Albuquerque High
with 82. Cibola just missed out on going to state with an 88, Valley
ended fifth with a 107 and Rio Rancho finished with a 138.
Andy Cavalier of West Mesa finished second with a 16:19.53 time. Other
runners to finished in the top 10 were Albuquerque High runner Ryan
Millis fourth, 16:33.17; West Mesa's Santos Contreras fifth, 16:34.38;
Cibola runners Aaron Sanchez (16:39.20) seventh and Matt Welker (16:39.20);Rio
Rancho's Matt Trujillo ninth, 16:40.03; and West Mesa's Matt Lindborg
tenth, 16:42.46.
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Coal Basin water is not contaminated
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Residents in the Coal Basin area who received public
notices Wednesday about contaminants in their drinking water need
not worry.
April Romero, secretary for the Gallup office of the State of New
Mexico Environmental Department, said the Coal Basin Water Supply
System has re-sampled the water and come up clean.
According to the public notice, October tests of the drinking water
exceeded the "maximum contaminant level for total coliforms."
The Environmental Protection Agency and New Mexico Drinking Water
regulations require public water systems to be tested each month...
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Shonto woman faces child abuse charges
Jim Maniaci
Dine' Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Navajo police arrested a 56-year-old Shonto Chapter
woman Thursday on a series of charges in a child abuse case.
Kayenta Police District officers charged Dorothy Bigman of 3516 Navajo
Housing Authority, Shonto subdivision, with obstruction of justice,
aggravated battery, simple battery and endangering the welfare of
a minor.
Three children in her care were turned over to the Child Protective
Service of the Navajo Social Services Division pending the outcome
of the case.
The case began Wednesday morning when police received a call from
the Shonto Prep School. A social caseworker and officer found a 5-year-old
boy with bruises on both arms. At the Inscription House Clinic, medical
workers found more injuries on the boy's body...
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Women bare emotions on T-shirts
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Lavine was so nervous when she began decorating a
blank, yellow shirt, she asked another woman to write the words
for her.
In red letters, Lavine told a little about her story and a lot about
her emotions. She wrote that she was abused and that she had to
stay in a hospital after she took the last beating from her boyfriend.
She also wrote that she felt isolated, helpless, scared and sad.
Every time she looks at the shirt, she feels the hurt again, but
she's glad she wrote down her story because it took some of the
weight off her shoulders.
For many of the women who decorated shirts to express their thoughts
on domestic violence, the project wasn't easy, but they felt it
had to be done...
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NTUA will go high-tech
Jim Maniaci
Dine' Bureau
FORT DEFIANCE — Within two years Navajo Tribal Utility Authority
customers should be able to get on the Internet to look at their own
accounts.
On Friday, NTUA announced the signing of a contract for an undisclosed
sum with a German company to upgrade its computers programs to provide
the Internet service.
Customers also will be able to report outages or service problems
and receive help on the same system without having to make a telephone
call.
NTUA spokesman Dwayne Johnson said the new system will speed up internal
operations considerably."Work orders will be processed faster,
productivity will increase, and we will be able to give better customer
service," he said...
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Police name lieutenant
Staff Report
GALLUP — Long-time New Mexico State Police Lt. G.R. Cook announced
Wednesday that Sgt. Robert Cron would be promoted to lieutenant.
Cron will assume Cook's position Nov. 1 as assistant district commander.
Cook has been transferred to the Santa Fe headquarters to become
the assistant fleet manager for the state police. His new assignment
will involve repair, maintenance and purchase of nearly 1,000 vehicles.
Cook has served with the Gallup office of the state police since
1984. "I am not happy about leaving Gallup but that's part
of the job," he said.
"They ( the state police) finally have someone who wants to
be here, they should let him stay," he said. "This is
a hard place to adjust to and hard to find people who want to be
here..."
Deaths
Mary Jake Rafael
RAMAH — Services for Mary Jake Rafael, 88, will be held at 10
a.m., Monday Oct. 30 at the Sand Mountain Church of God in Ramah.
Pastor Shep D. Martine will officiate. Burial will follow on family
land in Ramah.
Rafael died Oct. 25 in Grants. He was born June 28, 1912 in Ramah
into the Chiracahua Apache for the Towering House People Clan.
Rafael was a rug weaver, sheep herder, homemaker and a medicine woman.
Survivors include brother, Guy Jake of Ramah.
Pallbearers will be Alvin Martine, Wilfred Jake, William Jake, Gilbert
Garcia, Everette Jake and Leon Martine.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Vera N. Syverson
GALLUP — Services for Vera N. Syverson, 87, will be held at 10
a.m. Monday, Oct. 30 at Rollie Mortuary. Pastor John Luginbuhl will
officiate. Burial will follow at the Sunset Memorial Park.
Syverson died Oct. 23 in Gallup. She was born Jun 29, 1913 in Booneville,
Ark.
Syverson was a member of the DOES and the Eastern Stars.
Survivors include her son, Jay Dickens of Gallup; brother, Jack Bergin
of Grants; and a sister, Vivian Pierce of Albuquerque.
Syverson was preceed in death by her husbands, Benny Dickens and Melvin
Syverson; and a brother, Jay Pridmore.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Thomas F. Batson Jr.
GALLUP — Services for Thomas F. Batson Jr., 65, will be announced
at a later date.
Batson Jr. died Oct. 27 in Gallup. He was born May 11, 1935 in Tucumcari.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
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