Two hurt when shell explodes
Sekai K. Mutunhu
Staff Writer
FORT WINGATE — Two Zuni residents were seriously injured after
a 105-mm explosive detonated at the Fort Wingate Army Depot Monday
afternoon.
Addison Peynesta, 32, was reportedly in stable condition at the Gallup
Indian Medical Center after suffering an arm injury.
Georgena Horting, 25, was in critical condition Monday after suffering
abdominal injuries and burns. She was transported to the Trauma Intensive
Care Unit at University Hospital in Albuquerque.
The entrance to the depot was closed off and the area sealed shortly
after the accident occurred around 3:45 p.m.
New Mexico State Police Cpt. Glenn Thomas said a state police explosives
team made up of bomb technicians from Sante Fe, Albuquerque, Grants
and Gallup will inspect the site today.
Several technicians arrived at the scene late Monday afternoon.
Horting is believed to have been disassembling a howitzer shell which
is fired in a high trajectory from a short cannon when it exploded.
Horting reportedly works for TPL, the private company hired by the
federal government to decommission the weapons at the old ammunition
storage base.
State Police Lt. Richard Newman said the shell Horting was disassembling
was a practice shell and that explosives experts are working to ensure
similar accidents don't occur in the future.
"We have secured the area and the airforce explosive ordinance
disposal team are there along with State Police bomb techs,"
Newman said. "They are going to go over the scene and evaluate
it because there are several of these practice shells out there so
they will evaluate it and make sure it's safe."
TPL officials could not be reached for comment.
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White Cone leader must repay loan
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Marilyn John can keep her job as secretary-treasurer
of the White Cone Chapter.
However, the Ethics and Rules Committee has ordered John to repay
within six months the $900 in chapter funds she had loaned another
White Cone employee who had said her vehicle was about to be repossessed.
The committee also ordered John to undergo eight hours of ethics training
and spend another four hours learning the duties of a chapter secretary-treasurer
with an emphasis on financial matters.
However, Bernadine Martin, director of the Office of Ethics and Rules
who leaves office today to take another job, said she fears the committee's
decision is sending the wrong message.
"They did find her in violation of the Ethics in Government Law,"
Martin said. "I hope this is not a message to the chapters that
they are allowed to establish interest-free loan programs."
Tribal laws have outlawed interest-free loans since 1980. New laws
enacted in 1998 went even further, prohibiting loans of any kind to
chapter members for any reason.
Martin had asked for John to be removed from office and to be disqualified
from holding office for five years along with the restitution of the
money.
After the committee's decision, John told reporters, "I'm happy
with the committee's ruling. My attorney (John Chapella) and I presented
the evidence, and based on that, I'm happy with the committee's ruling.
I'm glad I was exonerated."
Chapella argued that John wrote the check to White Cone Chapter clerk-typist
Sherry Dick only after Dick reassured her three times, saying that
Chapter President Danny Tsaipi Sr. had approved the loan. Martin argued
that John received some benefit by doing a favor and therefore breached
her oath of office.
Martin asked the committee to imagine what would happen if all 110
chapters made such unauthorized loans $99,000 worth.
Chapella said John turned Dick down for the loan three times on Aug.
20, 1998.
By not charging Dick, he said, the Navajo Nation was "protecting
a person who commits forgery." He said Dick also gets to keep
her job and doesn't have to pay back the loan.
The forgery charge stems from testimony given at the hearing by Tsaipi,
who said the second signature on the check was not his.
Testimony showed that at a July 1 meeting, Dick agreed to pay off
the loan, pledging to give the chapter $150 every other week. However,
she did not make any payments.
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Diné College leaders fail to attend
Chinle hearing
Nancy Watson
Diné Bureau
CHINLE, Ariz. — No top officials from Diné College attended
a Monday night meeting on controversial plans to reorganize the college,
disappointing two dozen people who showed up to voice concerns.
Only Kathleen Park, assistant to David Begay, dean of the Tsaile campus,
and Mark Retasket, executive director of student services at Tsaile,
were present.
As the evening wore on many commented on the fact that they were "disheartened,"
"disappointed" and "sad" that no one from the
college's administration was there to listen to their concerns.
Neither the college's president, Tommy Lewis, nor anyone from the
board of regents attended the hearing.
Also, many who attended the hearing said they wanted more information
about the reorganization. Some stated they didn't really know what
was going on.
In an effort to explain, Retasket said the problem is a severe lack
of money. The college has only received 50 percent of the federal
funding it was granted when it was created by the Navajo Community
College Act of 1968, he said.
Also, the college is not a line item in the education division of
the Navajo tribal budget. Instead, the college applies for grants
and competes with other tribal programs for money that is left over
after the tribe has budgeted for operations. And even that money has
begun to dwindle.
Last February, when work on the college budget began, the college
was warned by the tribe that it could expect a $1.2 million cut in
money from the tribe.
"The tribe was downsizing and we could expect to do the same,"
said Retasket.
That $1.2 million represented a 58 percent cut to the college's budget.
Facing a budget shortfall, the college began to devise a plan of action,
or reorganization.
Between February and July, there was change and the president's office
instead offered the college "a status quo" budget. The money
for the college was not cut. But reorganization had begun and has
remained necessary for the college, Retasket said.
The board of regents looked at ways to save money, including the merging
of programs and other measures that would free up money for other
priorities, he said.
These priorities include shifting some resources from the main campus
to community campuses because there was such inequity between the
per capita spending on students on the Tsaile campus and the community
campuses.
But three points of the 13-point reorganization plan are what Retasket
called "bread and butter issues." And those three points
have brought the reorganization under sharp criticism.
The three points are the outsourcing of the campus maintenance department,
the reassignment of secretaries and the reduction in the number of
campus police. Since the college is the only employer in Tsaile, people
are afraid they may lose their jobs.
The college administration has tried to quell their fears by saying
workers would probably be hired by a private firm contracted by the
college, but the issue remains a difficult bone of contention between
the college and employees.
Joe Davidson said that jobs shouldn't be the issue and people shouldn't
be afraid of reorganization. "It is time to filter out those
who aren't doing a good job and those who are," he said.
Raymond Jones wanted to know why, if there is a need for downsizing,
there are ads for new positions at the college.
Two students of Diné College said that the Chinle campus is
seriously lacking in equipment, buildings, and proper libraries. The
community branch in Chinle does not even have access to the Internet.
They said they did not want to see two new campuses now being discussed
for Dilkon and Teec Nos Pos added when their own campus and others
are not properly maintained and staffed.
They requested more full-time teachers, more computers, better equipment,
and not "hand-me-downs" from Tsaile. One said that even
a toilet bowl had broken and she had repaired it. Nearly everyone
at the hearing spoke of the need to strengthen and improve the college.
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Tuba City man held for handgun threat
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Navajo police arrested a 25-year-old Tuba City
man Sunday night after he allegedly broke into a neighboring home
while drunk and threatened residents with a handgun a weapon the family
wrested from him.
Kasey Etsitty, who lives in the 1200 block of Castle Rock Drive was
arrested without incident at home shortly after 11 p.m. He was charged
with aggravated assault, unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon and
burglary...
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County jail dismisses 21 workers
Bass calls structure unsafe
Sekai K. Mutunhu
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Correctional Services Corp. officials say they will
lay off 21 employees today as they continue to return inmates, transferred
to the McKinley County Adult Detention Center from lock-ups in other
states and counties, and prepare to turn the jail over to new managers
Jan. 1.
Twenty security guards and medical personnel will be given their pink
slips today, Acting Administrator Bob Bass said. An additional 19
employees will be given notice sometime next month, he added...
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Bass admits detention center not secure
S.J. Ludescher
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Harold "Bob" Bass, acting administrator of
the McKinley County Adult Detention Center, said over the weekend
that the county jail is unsafe because it is easy for inmates to escape
through the roof.
Bass, in comments to news media, said the jail doesn't have a metal
mesh in the ceiling and has regular glass instead of plastic in the
skylights. His comments were made in light of the escape of five inmates
early Friday...
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Turpen School to be built in city
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — The new Tobe Turpen Jr. Elementary School will be built
in Gallup and not in the county.
The Gallup-McKinley County School Board made that decision Monday
when members agreed to accept a $2.5 million bid from the Jaynes Corp.
of Farmington to build the district's newest school on land donated
by Turpen, a long-time Indian trader, in the northern Mentmore area...
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