Getting ready for the worst

Dr. Korry Rowberry had a very famous and seasonal patient say "ahh" for him Thursday morning, as Santa Claus (Mike Haag) stopped in for a check-up and to have his teeth cleaned in Gallup

Photo by Jeff Jones

 

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Torn esophagus, man's death prompts lawsuit

Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer

GALLUP — When Quentin Newsom died he had enough drugs in his system to knock him cold. But he also had a badly torn esophagus caused by medical personnel who allegedly rammed his dental bridge down his throat trying to revive him.

According to the official autopsy report by the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque, it might have been a combination of the two that killed him.

Now his family has filed a civil suit in district court alleging medical negligence by the Gallup Fire Department Emergency Medical Services and Med Star.

The lawsuit alleges employees from the two agencies were inadequately trained in the use of the oesophageal/tracheal combitube a device used to clear the airway and help the patient breathe.

Employees were negligent, the lawsuit states, because prior to inserting the combitube, they failed to check and remove a partial bridge that was in the patient's mouth and used "excessive force" during its insertion, causing the the patient's esophagus to be perforated when the bridge was forced down his esophagus.

Vern Newsom, the brother of the deceased, said it was a physician who initially told the family that tremendous force must have been used during insertion of the combitube in order to push the dental bridge that far down the esophagus.

But by then it was too late, he said, hours had passed since his brother had been treated by emergency medical personnel and initially was taken to Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital where drugs were administered to reverse the comatose condition caused by the heroin overdose.

His brother had been revived from the overdose, he said, but because he continued to struggle and had injured his head when he fell during the overdose, doctors sedated him so they could do a cat scan.

The cat scan results were normal, he said, but his brother was having difficulty breathing so doctors performed a series of other tests.

Seven hours had already passed when an X-ray indicated the presence of a large tear in the esophagus where a foreign object had been lodged, according to the autopsy report.

Doctors then determined Quentin Newsom should be airlifted to University Hospital in Albuquerque, he said, and family members began preparing to go with him everyone except his father, Howard Newsom, whose dialysis treatment would prevent him from making the trip.

Vern Newsom said his father wanted to go to Albuquerque so badly but all he could do was wait by the phone for news about his son.

What made matters worse, he said, was that family members only were allowed to see his brother for a few moments while he was at RMCH after the warden gave detention officers an order to restrict the visits.

But Cody Graham, the warden at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center, denied giving an order to prevent the family from seeing Quentin Newsom and said he typically does not prohibit family from visiting inmates in cases of serious illness.

Restrictions on visits usually occur for security reasons, he said, but the inmate clearly was not in any condition to go anywhere and would not have been considered a security risk.

Periodically the family called his father from Albuquerque, he said, but each time the prognosis was worse and each time the phone would ring, his father would brace himself for more bad news.

Once in Albuquerque, doctors confirmed two large cuts in Quentin Newsom's esophagus and told the family they would operate.

Doctors explained the seriousness of the surgery and told the family they were not optimistic about his chance at recovery, that too much time had elapsed nearly 12 hours according to the autopsy report since the initial injury.

By this time, Vern Newsom said, body acids had seeped through his brother's system and literally were eating him alive.

When Quentin Newsom came out of surgery three to four hours later, he was covered in plastic and breathing with the assistance of a machine.

Doctors told the family he probably would not make it through the night, that a lack of oxygen had caused him to become brain dead and it would be best to turn off the machine.

Vern Newsom said his brother wanted help for his drug problem, that he told him he was tired of living this way and wanted to change.

He said his brother saw that sobriety was working for him and was starting to believe it might work for him too.

As a recovering addict, Vern Newsom understood his brother's struggle with heroin addiction and had made arrangements for him to go to a long-term treatment center.

He said his brother was excited about the idea of going to the drug treatment center, as ordered by District Court Judge Joseph Rich upon completion of his one-year sentence.

Quentin Newsom was not an angel. He had been designated by the State of New Mexico as a habitual criminal after being convicted of three prior felonies and has an extensive list of misdemeanors. In the 1980s, he had been convicted of armed robbery and felony larceny in McKinley County and for attempted contraband introduction into prison in Valencia County.

Since then, he had developed an extensive list of misdemeanors prior to his last arrest on felony charges of robbery and tampering with evidence, the latter stemming from an alleged purse snatching in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

As his brother awaited transfer to prison on this latest charge, Vern Newsom said he tried to cheer him up but he became despondent as months passed by and he watched people who had been sentenced after him being transferred.

The jail simply was waiting on an order from the District Attorney's office, Vern Newsom said, but no one at the office would respond to his repeated calls.

Vern Newsom and his father blame District Attorney Mary Helen Baber and former Assistant District Attorney Michael Sanchez for deliberately delaying his transfer because of their personal animosity toward the Newsom family.

They said they believe the District Attorney's office is biased, unable to do its job and directly contributed to Quentin Newsom's death.

"Granted, Quentin had his problems, but no one's to say where he could have ended up,"Vern Newsom said. "He could have straightened out. Is that a reason to let him die?"

Baber said she does not believe the deceased held the same animosity toward her as his family does, that he wrote her a few nice letters after she immediately dismissed one of his cases when she took office.

Sanchez, who now works for the District Attorney's Office in Las Vegas, NM, denied doing anything to prevent Quentin Newsom from being transferred and explained that there simply was a back up in paperwork at that time due to the office being shorthanded.

"We don't pick names out of the phone book,"he said. "Quentin was a career criminal, that's the bottom line. We didn't pick on him. We just prosecuted him for what he did. If he had stopped committing crimes, we would have stopped prosecuting him."

It was not the system that destroyed Quentin Newsom, he said, but rather his drug usage which made him vulnerable to have to steal to support his habit and inevitably killed him.

But Vern Newsom and his father still believe that he would still be alive had he been transferred to prison more quickly and given an opportunity for treatment.

"It's true Quentin is not the greatest guy in the world,"Howard Newsom said. "He was sentenced to do his punishment. But he wasn't sentenced to the death penalty and that's what it ended up being."

He said the family has filed the civil suit on behalf of his deceased son's 8-year-old daughter and to bring attention to and hopefully prevent the kind of incompetence by emergency personnel that inevitably caused his son's death.

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Descheny, school board, miss the point on teen health care

Walter Howerton Jr.
Managing Editor

Birds do it, bees do it, even teen-agers at Thoreau and Crownpoint high schools do it no matter what Annie Descheny and the rest of the Gallup-McKinley County School Board think.

Last week I found myself writing about the kinds of stupid stuff teen-agers do (you remember THAT party). Now I am forced to give equal time to the kinds of stupid things adults do, in particular the school board's decision to shut down health clinic operations for teen-agers at Thoreau and Crownpoint high schools because they didn't want anybody bringing up words like condoms or sex education because it might give teen-agers the wrong idea about "doing it" like they don't have ideas already.

Sometimes stupidity reaches epidemic proportions among elected officials, though the voters, especially those who were refused the right to speak out at Monday night's school board meeting, can cure that at the voting booth on Feb. 6.

But let's talk about official stupidity first. We'll get to the democracy part later.

Here are some facts of life (so, listen up Ms. Descheny):

Teen-agers already know about sex. Sort of. What they don't know can hurt them and other people, too. Sexual urges happen.
Sexually transmitted diseases happen in record numbers. Undiagnosed (and sometimes hidden) pregnancies happen. And even in the best of circumstances babies happen, too.

And here are some more facts of life:

Other things happen to teen-agers, too. Some are depressed and suicidal. Some are chronically ill. Some have drug and alcohol problems. Some are beginning to suffer from diabetes. Some have precancerous lesions that could become cancer if they go untreated for a year or two (more than you would think, according to physicians). Sometimes they have health problems they just won't talk to their parents about.

And there is one more fact of local life:

It is a long way to medical care from almost anywhere around here. It takes time or transportation that many parents don't always have to take a child to the doctor.

Six years ago, Indian Health Service doctors began providing full service health care to students at Crownpoint and Thoreau high schools. They were right there in the school. They weren't family. They weren't judgmental. Teens were comfortable coming to see them about awkward problems.

In the six years before they started 220 babies were born to teen-age mothers at the Crownpoint hospital alone; in the six years since, only 142 have been reported. That is a decrease that should make us all feel pretty good (even those like school board member Descheny who spout the tired old stuff about "babies having babies" then vote so more babies probably will be having babies. Go figure).

But the two clinics have not been all about babies. They have been about all of those other emotional and physical health problems teen-agers have, too. Six years' worth of teen-agers have received help they never would have received otherwise.
Some of them are healthy and some no doubt are alive because some caring doctors came to them, took them seriously, listened to what they had to say and gave them the help they needed.

What IHS doctors wanted from the school board on Monday night was to expand the services they could offer. They wanted to be able to dispense medicines, treat serious health problems and educate teen-agers about matters that might affect their health.
That probably would include sex education and might include contraception.

Descheny apparently choked on the idea of doctors dispensing condoms. "What!" she said. "If we give them condoms they
might get the idea it is OK to use 'em." Or something like that.

So, Descheny quickly and emotionally moved as a "mother and grandmother" (whatever that had to do with anything) to deny
Navajo children needed and convenient health care, apparently just so no one would think that she thinks "doing it" is OK.

Pssssssst. Ms. Descheny. I hate to tell you, but they already have the idea it is OK to do it, with or without condoms or medical
advice or your blessing. It is impossible to live in the U.S. (or even on the sovereign Navajo Nation part of it) and NOT get the
idea that it is OK.

Go to the movies; go to the mall; watch some television; listen to a few CDs; look at Britney Spears belly button; read a
magazine (almost any magazine); go to a clothing store; look at a Barbie doll; check out the perfume, cologne, deodorant, body
care department.

Sex are us, Ms. Descheny. At least that is what the kids see when they look around them. Maybe you should take a look around
and get a grip on reality before you get on your "mother and grandmother" soapbox next time.

It is fine to oppose premarital sex, especially among those too young to understand all of the implications of what they are
doing. From what we hear that is what doctors treating the children at those high schools did anyway. They said wait. They said
grow up. They said talk to your parents about this. But they understood to whom they were speaking. They were speaking to
children in need of help. So, for six years, they helped them. And parents did sign letters allowing their children access to the
program.

But no more.

No more health care for students at Crownpoint and Thoreau (unless you count sports physicals and bad colds). That's what
Descheny wanted and that's what she got. The school board killed the whole health program.

Not only that, in a dazzling display of the way democracy works, they did it without allowing any of those most affected by it
students, parents, health care professionals, educators and other citizens to say a word about it.

Supporters of the clinics had been invited by the board to show up to present the case for keeping and expanding the clinics.
And they did. But they never got the chance to say anything. Ms. Descheny said she saw no reason to discuss it, so they didn't.

The board cut off debate. They board voted 4-0 (Manuel Shirelson abstained). They shut 'em up and shut 'em down in record
time.

The message to the students at Crownpoint and Thoreau couldn't have been more clear and it was a message that had nothing to
do with condoms or whether or not it was OK to use them.

The message was: Health care. Who cares? Especially not the school board, those elected to look after your interest (at least as long as it doesn't get in the way of their interest. Right, Ms. Descheny?).

It's no wonder our children sometimes don't trust us. They aren't that stupid.

All together now. Birds do it. Bees do it. You know the rest. Let the school board hear you. I'll bet even Annie Descheny can learn to quit singing the same old song.

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Grants man points gun at woman

Tara Drolma
Staff Writer

GRANTSA — 19-year old Milan man thought he was being cool when he cocked a handgun and pointed it at a woman and her two children. But he found out it wasn't very cool as they left the supermarket, and he was arrested.

About 8:30 p.m. last Friday Herbert Nelson Jr., 19, of Milan was arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly frightening Helen Gabaldon and her two children in the parking lot of the Milan Supermarket.

His companion, Sherry Woods, 22, also from Milan was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Gabaldon told Milan Police Officer Pat Salazar she and her children were in their truck when they saw a man approach his car, then take a gun out of his pants. He cocked the gun, looked at Gabaldon and then laughed. She said the car was gold and had a lot of damage on the right side and one window was taped up. She had memorized the license plate and she said the car drove off in the direction of Grants.

After reporting the incident, Gabaldon went to the McDonalds in Grants where she saw the gold car in the parking lot. She called the police and Salazar and two other officers, Tomas Archuleta and Adrian Molina went to the fast food restaurant.

Salazar said Nelson was walking around the front his car when the three patrol cars drove up. Because the officers knew he was armed, for their protection, they did what is called a felony stop. The drew their guns and ordered Nelson and Woods to stop and put their hands up. Then they had them raise their shirts above their waists and turn in circles so officers could determine if they were armed. After doing that they were told to lie on the ground and they were handcuffed.

When Salazar searched the car he found two six-packs of beer, a bat, a large knife, and the gun, a Black Marksman Repeater BB gun. Salazar said this type of gun looks just like his police revolver except it is black. He said he could understand why Gabaldon had been frightened by it.

Nelson and Woods were taken back to the police station and questioned before they were booked and taken to jail. Woods refused to talk with the officers, but Nelson told them the car belonged to a friend of Woods' mother and they had taken it. They found the gun on the front seat of the car. At the supermarket Nelson slipped the gun into the front of his trousers before they entered the store where Wood's bought the beer for him.

When he walked outside he said the gun had begun to slip down so he pulled it out, looked over at the truck where Galbadon and her children were, cocked the gun, and laughed. Salazar said he told him he did it to act cool.

In another case, Milan police officers took a report for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. They are looking for Donicio Sanchez for allegedly threatening 20-year-old Victor Abeita with a knife.

Sgt. Jerry Stephens of Milan Police Department said he has a case under investigation that involves a woman who has been receiving threatening phone calls. For several weeks the woman received harassing calls from an unidentified man. Then the man began to threaten her and her family. If the person is caught he can be charged with using a telephone to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, or annoy, which is a misdemeanor.

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Bengal girls downslide continues

Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer

The Gallup Lady Bengals suffered their fifth loss in as many games Friday night when they lost to Sandia 50-38 in Albuquerque.

The Bengals, which drop to 4-5, led for most of the first half but foul trouble kept their main players out for the better part of the second half. Still Gallup battled with Sandia and both teams went back and forth until late in the fourth when the Matadors got a six-point lead, forcing Gallup to foul.

Gallup coach John Lomasney said that his team was able to compete with the Sandia team, and that the only problem he
thought the team had was all of the fouls they picked up.

"We had to take our height out and they went inside on us," Lomasney said. "Our starting five against their starting five, we won. Most of my team was on the bench the second half and they pulled away."

Gallup did not have any players foul out, but had five players with three or more fouls. Regular starters Vanessa Hubbard, Roberta Tahe and Tanya Bailey all missed some playing time with four fouls. The Bengals committed 21 fouls in the game.

The two teams set the pace for the game early, scoring only 10 points combined in the first five minutes. Gallup got their biggest lead of the game at 17-9 in the first quarter but Sandia came right back.

The Matadors scored the next seven points, hitting a three-pointer at the buzzer at the end of the first quarter. They then scored the first two baskets of the second quarter.

Shooting 4-of-6 from three-point range in the first half kept the Lady Bengals ahead of the Matadors, but the Bangals cooled down in the second half. Gallup hit one three to start off the third quarter, but then would go dry, missing the rest of their attempts in the game.

The Matadors took the a 27-26 lead in the third quarter when Kim Neff hit a pair of free throws and trailed only one more time
in the game. Sandia trailed for the last time 29-27 but retook the lead seconds later when Judy Vogt hit a free throw and Lindsey Arndt hit a layup.

The Bengal defense held Sandia to eight points in the third quarter, but they could not get their offense going, only scoring four in the period.

Sandia began a 13-1 run at the end of the third quarter which continued at the beginning of the fourth to take a 40-30 lead.

Meanwhile, Gallup continued to have problems on offense in the fourth, only scoring eight points. But the Bengals were still able to keep the Matadors within eight for most of the second half, but with four minutes left in the game, Sandia slowly began to pull away.

The Lady Bengals pulled to 41-36 but the Matadors went into a stall offense forcing Gallup to foul.

The Matadors, who were in the one-and-one two minutes into the fourth quarter hit 9-of-11 in the period to hold on to the win.

Dawn Hobgood scored all six of her points in the fourth quarter and Kim Neff added 4-of-6 from the line for four points. Judy Vogt was the only other Matador to score in the fourth, hitting a jumper midway through the quarter.

Gallup finished the game shooting 3-for-9 from the field in the final four minutes of the fourth quarter. The Matadors
outrebounded Gallup late in the game and forced the Bengals to turn the ball over four times late in the game.

Gallup was led by Sunny St. Clair, who finished with 14 points. Christine Begay scored six points, all in the first quarter. Iris Wilson hit 2-of-3 from three-point range to finish with six as well.

Sandia was led by Judy Vogt, finishing with 18. Lindsey Arndt scored 11 and Kim Neff had 10. Dawn Hobgood finished with nine, all in the fourth quarter and five coming on 5-of-5 free throw shooting.

Sandia shot 20-of-27 from the free throw line while Gallup shot 7-of-14.

Gallup turned the ball over 11 times and had 10 takeaways. The Lady Bengals scored 17 points in the first quarter and then scored 21 points the rest of the game.

Gallup was outrebounded by Sandia 27-19.

Gallup shot 5-of-11 from three-point range, Wilson and St.Clair both hitting two. St.Clair made one of her threes and Wilson hit both of hers in the first half. The only other three came from Vanessa Hubbard in the first quarter.

The Bengals will attempt to end their losing streak tonight as they take on Eldorado in Albuquerque.

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Venture looks for ways to produce Navajo hogans

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The demand, the raw materials and the motivation to mass produce traditional Navajo hogans have been around for some time. But until recently no one had found a way to harness them at once.

Now an organization sponsored by Northern Arizona University, working with the Navajo Nation and U.S. Forest Service, has developed a way to make a better hogan, octagonal dwellings often used in ceremonies, and produce a number of spinoff benefits in the process.

If the plans by Indigenous Community Enterprises work out, they could provide new jobs, create a new technology to use wood normally considered scrap, produce a new market, and maybe create an industry in northern Arizona.

Tribal officials estimate that at least 30,000 hogans (pronounced ho-GAHNS) are needed to ease a severe housing shortage on the Navajo Reservation, home to 200,000 Navajos...

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Conflict is charged over potato issue

Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer

WINDOW ROCK — Tribal council plans to make a $20 million potato processing plant capital investment came to a halt Friday.

Friday was the second and final day of a Navajo Nation Council special session. The Navajo Agricultural Products Industry proposed project stood as the main agenda item.

The resulting resolution, tabled until the regular winter session next month, was preceded by a showdown on the council floor involving section 3748 of the Navajo Ethics in Government Law. Shiprock Delegate Wallace Charley confronted Hogback Delegate Ervin Keeswood Sr. on a possible conflict of interest.

The vote to table the $20 million expenditure was 34-21 and no abstentions, with Charley voting "yes" and Keeswood "no..."

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Deaths

Charles Kezele

GALLUP — Services for Charles Kezele, 85, will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, Dec. 18 at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Father Jim Walker will officiate. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Park.

A rosary will be recited at 7 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 17 at Rollie Mortuary-Palm Chapel.

Kezele died Dec. 13 in Albuquerque. He was born March 25, 1915 in Heaton.

Kezele was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the VFW of Gallup and the CFU Lodge #60.

Survivors include his wife, Helen Kezele of Gallup; son, Floyd Kezele of Gallup; daughter, Charlene Iskra of Gallup; six
grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Kezele was preceded in death by parents, Mike and Katherine Kezele and grandson.

Pallbearers will be I.D. Cato, Andre Martisik, Gary Mesich, Terry Mesich, Walt Peters, Floyd Senoski, and Steve
Tomljanovich.

Donations may be made to Gallup Catholic School, 515 Park Ave.

Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Frances Sardo

CASAMERO LAKE — Services for Frances Sardo, 71, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Dec. 18, at Assembly of God Church, Prewitt. Sarah H. Begay will officiate. Burial will follow at the community cemetery, Thoreau.

Sardo died Dec. 12 in Gallup. She was born May 15, 1929, in Prewitt into the Hairy People Clan for the Meadow People Clan.
Sardo was a rug weaver, bead worker and homemaker.

Survivors include her sons, Buck Begay and Randy Sardo, both of Prewitt; daughters, Lucita Sardo and Lucy Begay of Prewitt; brother, Jimmy Chaco of Prewitt; 10 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers will be Randy Sardo, Ronald Sardo, Jimmy Platero Jr., Larry Martinez, Eddie Pablo and Nelbert Yazzie.

Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.