'Jesus' to appear at rally
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Two hundred hot air balloons will soar across the skies
of Gallup this weekend as the Red Rock Balloon Rally celebrates its
20th anniversary.
Karl Lohmann, vice president of the Red Rock Balloon Rally Association,
said the highlight of this year's event will be the first appearance
of "Jesus, The Hot Air Balloon," and "Arky," a
balloon in the shape of Noah's Ark.
The local Christian community raised money to bring these two new
balloons maintained by the Merrit Ministry to Gallup this year, he
said.
"Jesus, The Hot Air Balloon" shows Jesus in a purple robe,
rising above a base of white clouds, and surrounded by 12 international
children holding hands.
On the back of Jesus' robe are the words "King of kings, Lord
of lords" and on the underside of the clouds is scripture from
the Book of Revelations, "Jesus Christ: Who is and who was and
who is to come."
The appearance of "Jesus, The Hot Air Balloon" is significant,
he said, because it is an appropriate celebration of the recent success
by local religious groups in getting a county referendum passed banning
casino gambling at Red Rock State Park and within McKinley County.
"Arky" is designed with 28 animals ranging from Anonymous
Hippopotamus to Zuba Zebra and has been used by the Rev.
And Mrs. Rohn Peterson as a vehicle to draw attention to the plight
of abused children.
In addition to the Christian-themed balloons, spectators can expect
to see 198 additional balloons of all shapes and sizes including ones
representing Prisoners of War/Missing in Action, the character Humpty
Dumpty, Wells Fargo, Sky City Casino and Las Vegas.Com.
AAA New Mexico will be taking pictures of its new balloon and consequently
will provide free advertising for the Red Rock Balloon Rally.
Publicity also will be provided by the publication American Legion,
a magazine for veterans, and the association has received inquiries
from House and Garden Television and USA Today.
The Red Rock Balloon Rally, which has its headquarters at the El Rancho
Rancho Hotel & Motel on East Highway 66, will have its pilot/crew
registration 6-9 tonight and Friday.
Lohmann said that this year the event is in dire need of chase crews
and has only one-sixth of the staff it needs.
But organizers can count on the support of the Na'Nizhoozhi Center,
which always has participated in the alcohol-free event through the
support of recovering alcoholics with long-term sobriety who then
train the recently sober to become members of the chase crew.
Balloons actually will become airborne starting about 7 a.m. Friday
from both the Gallup Municipal Golf course and Red Rock State Park.
During those early morning hours, spectators need not worry about
breakfast; there will be concession stands maintained by volunteers
from Church Rock Elementary School.
Following the mass ascension at the park on Friday, balloonists from
Albuquerque will teach area school children attending the Youth Festival
at Red Rock State Park how to build flyable miniature hot air balloons
made of tissue paper.
About 200 area school children on school buses will be greeted by
the Boys and Girls Club and the National Indian Youth Leadership Project
on Friday and shown to the balloons.
Experiential educators from the NIYLP are expecting at least 700 children
during the indoor, mobile team challenge cause, a low ropes course
initiative, that they are sponsoring for the school children.
Twenty-foot inflatable, walking and talking Kangaroo characters will
be on hand, as well as remote control balloons and at least 250 school
children who will be picking up litter on State Road 566, he said.
Lohmann said the association has invited employees from KOAT Radio,
as well as New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, to assist the children in
picking up litter.
During the entire weekend event, city officials will man a booth to
promote a local time capsule in which participants will have the opportunity
to purchase space to preserve items such as pictures of family and
historic film of Gallup.
The plan is for the items to be exhumed 10, 15, 25, 50 and 100 years
from now that families can share the history and memories of their
ancestry with their children, said Steve Dodson, the public relations/event
coordinator for Red Rock State Park.
Proceeds will benefit efforts to restore the Hillcrest Cemetery which
Dodson said has been plagued by vandalism, a lack of electricity,
an old water system and the lack of parking.
The general cost of purchasing a piece of history in the time capsule
is $100, with the cost of larger submittals to be determined by calling
Red Rock State Park at (505) 722-3839 or the Beautification Department
at (505) 863-1249.
He said the project is being backed by the whole city, including all
local banking institutions so those interested in making submittals
can do so at the banks. The deadline for submittals is Dec. 31.
At 6 p.m. Friday at Red Rock State Park, there will be a static light
display of balloons and again Saturday in the parking lots of Rio
West Mall and Castle Furniture.
On Saturday, five to 10 balloons with special lights will fly in the
dark, early morning hours of Gallup about 4:30 a.m. until sunrise
as part of the dawn patrol, with the rest of the balloons taking flight
about 7:30 a.m.
At 10 a.m., interested parties can participate in the Rico Auto Complex
Pyramid Rock Run, a foot race that starts from the launch site to
the top of the tent-shaped rock at Red Rock State Park.
Then, at 4 p.m., the City of Gallup will hold its annual Christmas
Parade, marching from Compassion Harbor on East Coal Avenue and proceeding
west to the Gurley Motor Company where it will turn south and head
up toward Lincoln Elementary School.
Twenty years ago, the Gallup McKinley County Chamber of Commerce arranged
to have to parade during the time of the Red Rock Balloon Rally because
it recognized the event as an important mercantile weekend in Gallup,
Lohmann said.
At 6 p.m., balloons in trucks decorated for Christmas will light up
before sundown during the Nortenas Ballooninaria at Aztec and Coal
avenues.
On Sunday, the balloons will be launched about 7:30 p.m. And the event
will commence with an awards brunch and auction at the park's convention
center.
Lohmann said about 4,000 spectators are expected to attend this year's
balloon rally and that the 1,000 participants, all of whom will be
renting hotel rooms, bring a lot of tourism dollars into Gallup.
| Top |
Wheels drop off Navajo school bus
Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer
NEWCOMB — The Central Consolidated School District is placing
renewed emphasis on how school bus drivers inspect their buses, following
a freakish mishap earlier this month during which the rear wheels
came off a bus in motion.
The 20-passenger bus was transporting a small number of hearing-impaired
students from the Newcomb area to Shiprock, reportedly the Eva B.
Stokely Elementary School. Fewer than five students were aboard the
bus, Central Superintendent Linda Besett said.
As the northbound bus on U.S. 666 approached Shiprock, crossing a
series of white lines where motorists begin slowing down, the rear
wheels came off the bus, dropping the back section to the ground.
Central transportation Director Jeff Hunt said the studs the iron
bars on which the lug nuts are mounted and tightened were loose and
sheared off.
On small buses such as the one involved, students wear seat belts.
Although seat belt use on school buses is a controversial topic on
a national scale, in this case, their use may have prevented harm
to the students.
"There were no injuries of any kind," Hunt said, adding
that students were aided at the scene and no hospital check-ins were
necessary.
The mishap occurred during the first week of November. Hunt conducted
an investigation and later presented findings to the Central school
board during a work session in Shiprock.
The driver who inspected the bus apparently did not check the tires
thoroughly enough. This may have "contributed" to the mishap,
Hunt said. Each time buses leave for an assignment in this case, from
the bus barn in Newcomb drivers are asked to do spot inspections.
Asked if the driver was disciplined, Hunt said, "That's a personnel
matter ... let's put it this way. Corrective actions were taken."
"We felt it was fortunate that no one was hurt," Hunt said.
"We learned some things to tweak."
"It could have been very serious," Besett agreed. "That
was the concern of the school board."
As a result of the mishap, one change has been to remove the cosmetic
covers from bus wheels that resemble hubcaps, so that lug nuts and
tires will be plainly visible, Besett said.
She and Hunt emphasized that in their opinion, school buses are among
the safest places students can be while traveling. Hunt has been with
the Central District 10 years, four of that spent as transportation
director. This type of accident has never occurred in his time with
Central, he said.
"We have a very impeccable safety record here," Hunt said.
The Central District, spanning from Kirtland to Naschitti, contains
three bus barns, nearly 80 buses and travels that total more than
1 million miles per year, he said.
| Top |
Grants police receive money
Tara Drolma
Staff Writer
GRANTS — Grants Police Chief Fred Radosevitch was pleased last
week when the city council awarded his department $72,000 for new
equipment.
Radosevitch will use $57,000 to purchase three new patrol cars and
$15,000 will be used for a new Animal Control Vehicle.
The department has 25 vehicles with a five- to six-year average lifespan
per car. That means the department has to replace three to four cars
a year. The reason for so many cars is that each officer is assigned
his own vehicle and only that officer uses that vehicle.
This policy decreases maintenance because the car is driven only eight
to 10 hours each day instead of 24 hours and the officers are responsible
for the maintenance of their car.
Radosevitch has been with the department for 25 years and he said
the city has always had "take home cars." In fact, he encourages
officers to use the cars when they are off-duty. He believes this
gives the city an additional quick response because the officer is
in the car and ready to go if a call comes in and it provides a second
set of eyes on the street.
The city has only two to three officers on duty per shift and Radosevitch
said this is "one of our best crime prevention tools.
Most of the time officers don't take their family (in the car), but
they can." The "take home car" is becoming standard
with many agencies. Milan Police Department, Cibola County Sheriff's
Department and Albuquerque Police Department all use the "take
home car" policy.
"There were times when my kids were young and my wife and I were
coming home," Radosevitch said, "and I dropped them off
on a corner and went to a call. There were a few times she walked
home."
Radosevitch said it was the first time in 10 years the city has been
able to use money from the general fund to buy vehicles for the police
department. In the past the department has used funds from state appropriations,
federal grants, or a combination of the two to purchase equipment.
The general fund is funded from gross receipts. Radosevitch believes
several factors have contributed to the increase in gross receipts.
Since Wal-Mart opened two years ago receipts have gone up significantly
and Corrections Corporation of America has added jobs at both the
women's prison and the Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan.
This fall, The Connections opened a call center and has hired about
150 to 200 of the 400 employees the company plans to hire as it grows
to capacity. The result is several hundred new jobs in the community
and people are spending money.
Grants City Manager Bob Horacek said the total gross receipts for
fiscal year 1999-2000 were up 15 percent over the previous year. Although
base receipts for the first four months of this fiscal year are up
11 percent, the total gross receipts are the same as they were for
the same time last year because construction receipts have dropped.
Total gross receipts are made up of base receipts, which tend to remain
constant, and construction receipts that are one-time revenues that
occur as a result of taxes on construction projects. Because they
are tied to one-time events, construction receipts cannot be counted
on for long-term projects, but it is appropriate to use these additional
funds for capital outlay projects.
| Top |
Pinon wins big
Staff Report
PINON, Ariz. — Pinon Eagles dominated their Wednesday night basketball
game against Many Farms, winning 99-49.
"We pretty much controlled the game from the very beginning,"
Pinon boys coach Mark Hall said.
Leading Pinon was Erwin Thomas with 18 points, Anthony Burke had 17
points, Rob Ryan Wartz had 13 points and Fernando Begay finished with
11 points.
Hall is proud of this teams team efforts and is glad to see all his
players come off the bench to contribute and score in the game.
Leading Many Farms was Colin Tsosie with 15 points and Baryl Millboy
had 13 points.
Pinon (4-4) will play at St. Johns on Saturday.
| Top |
Police: Student attacks Tohatchi teacher
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — McKinley County school officials are still waiting to
decide what kind of punishment to impose on a 14-year-old Tohatchi
student who assaulted a teacher two weeks ago.
While normally an assault on a teacher would lead to the student being
expelled or at least suspended if the assault was minor, school district
officials said the case is still under review because the student,
a girl, is in the special education program.
The incident occurred about 9:45 a.m. Nov. 15 as the student was preparing
to participate in a physical education class.
According to a McKinley County Sheriff's Department report, instructor
Rita Buccigrossi was getting ready for the class and had asked the
student to get her exercise mat. The student, however, said no, her
hand hurt and "then started to swing a paper bag" at Buccigrossi's
head...
| Top |
UNM-G class seeks essays on violence
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Students at the local university branch want to know
how McKinley County youth feel about violence.
To find out, the students all part of the journalism department at
the University of New Mexico-Gallup are sponsoring an essay contest
open to county students from the fifth to 12th grades.
"UNM-Gallup is reaching out to students in McKinley County, asking
their help in understanding the nature of violence in our
community and asking what can be done about it," the students
said in a letter written to teachers throughout McKinley County.
Winners of the contest will receive prizes ranging from $10 to $50...
| Top |
Leaders push for native rights
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — A half-dozen tribal officials recently traveled
to Geneva, Switzerland, as the Navajo Nation's representatives to
the United Nations committee working on a charter for native peoples'
rights.
It was the sixth meeting of the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission committee
that is writing a Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Navajo
officials view the effort, which Council Speaker Edward T. Begay
said Tuesday now contains
almost four dozen proposed articles, as part of the never-ending
drive for sovereignty.
Begay had to cut his trip short, as did Council Delegates Ervin
Keeswood and George Arthur, for the meeting earlier this week on
the campaign for big land-based tribes to form their own organization
to lobby Congress and the White House for more
independence and money to operate government programs.
Also making the trip were new presidential policy analyst Sarah
Foster, Navajo Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Yazzie and the
judicial branch's chief attorney, James Zion...
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Audit uncovers other problems in Milan
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
MILAN — When state auditor Domingo Martinez made public the village's
controversial audit, which documented thousands of dollars in embezzled
village funds, that was just the beginning.
Contract auditor Gary Gaylord of Albuquerque conducted the audit and
as required by law he recorded a section on findings and costs.
The audit started with the investigation that uncovered the embezzlement
of some $180,000 over the past five years the maximum amount of time-back
the law will allow under the statute of limitations.
Village trustees suspended Clerk Sandra Gonzales from her $34,000
per year job without pay. On Nov. 1, a Cibola County grand jury indicted
her on 42 charges of embezzlement and one charge of destruction of
public documents...
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Navajo Child Project wins high honor
Stan Bindell
Special to the Independent
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation has many natural beauties including
Window Rock, Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelley. It is a place
where stars can be seen at night, people can enjoy smog free air
and the Navajos are proud people who hold onto their culture.
But it is also a place where women are beaten, children are abandoned
and sexually abused, and men walk alone, addicted.
The Navajo Child Special Advocacy Project wants the Navajo Nation
to keep its beauty and pride, but works hard to help children who
have been abused.
The project, which has five offices in key parts of the reservation,
was one of the Elite Eight high honor winners at the Harvard University
Honoring Nations gathering in St. Paul, Minn., recently...
Deaths
Mary C. Spencer
PINEHAVEN — Services for Mary C. Spencer, 75, will be held at
1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, at Rollie Mortuary-Palm Chapel. Pastor Tom
White will officate. Burial will follow at the Gallup City Cemetery.
Spencer died Nov. 28 in Gallup. She was born Jan. 30, 1925, in Pinehaven
into the Towering House People Clan for the Bitterwater People Clan.
Survivors include her husband, Mark Spencer of Pinehaven; sons, Ted
Spencer of Pinehaven and Yazzie Wilson of Gallup; daughters, Rosie
Pino of Grants and Lois Wilson of Red Rock; brothers, Chee Wilson
of Two Wells and Johnny Wilson of Pinehill; sisters, Isabell Eddie
of Two Wells, Betty Henio of Ramah and Ella Mae Smith of Cousins;
17 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Spencer was preceded in death by parents, Dan and Bah Wilson; and
brothers, Jimmy Shay, John Willie and Jimmy Wilson.
Pallbearers will be Andre Pino, Merlin Pino, Johnny Wilson, Leo Wilson
Jr., Vernon Wilson, and Yazzie Wilson.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Hattie Ward
WINSLOW, Ariz. — Services for Hattie Virginia Ward, 56, were
held today in Prentiss, Miss.
Ward died Nov. 22 in Flagstaff, Ariz. She was born Dec. 14, 1943,
in Prentiss, Miss.
Ward came to Chinle to teach at Chinle Primary School in 1978. She
taught first and second grade. She retired in May 1998 and lived in
Winslow, Ariz. Prior to her death, she returned to teaching third
grade at Cottonwood Day School.
Survivors include her son, Ledonovan Notah Ward of Winslow, Ariz.;
daughter, Calandra Lynn Notah Ward of Winslow; parents, James M. and
Effie Lee Ward of Prentiss, Miss.; brothers, James Lee Ward and Frankie
Ward, both of Prentiss, Miss., Henry Ward of Montgomery, Ala., and
Samuel Ward of Winslow, Ariz.; and sisters, Mary Ward of Chicago,
Rena Ward of Prentiss, and Jonna Ward of Anderson, S.C.
Christine Gail Fitzjerrell
TEXAS CITY, Texas — Services for Christine Gail Fitzjerrell,
47, will be announced at a later date.
Fitzjerrell died Nov. 28 in Texas City, Texas. She was born Feb. 23,
1953, in Yuma, Ariz.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Emerson Hogan Begay
RAMAH — Services for Emerson Hogan Begay, 54, will be announced
at a later date.
Begay died Nov. 28 in Albuquerque. He was born Feb. 26, 1946, in Crownpoint
into the Towering House People Clan for the Standing Tree People Clan.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
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