Man pleads not guilty in stabbing

Lights burn for fallen cop
Sculpture honors brother

Flu-like bug fills hospitals

Becenti released from lockup

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Man pleads not guilty in stabbing

Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer

GALLUP — A plea of not guilty was entered by Patrick Beard at his arraignment on Monday. Beard was charged with voluntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal stabbing of Vincent Tony on Saturday.

Bail was set at $15,000, but it has not been posted yet. The preliminary hearing will be Jan. 22, when attorney David Pederson will represent him, said Gena Ruiz, a magistrate court clerk.

Relatives of Tony told the Independent on Tuesday that they will contest several details of the account given to police by witnesses Manual Cordova and Williamina Ortiz. Cordova and Ortiz told police that Tony and his brother Brian Tony forced themselves into the house and began attacking those inside before Beard stabbed him.

Tony's sister Leandra Tony and Edwin DaHozy said they were in a car in front of the residence as the episode played out. They said Vincent never entered the house, but was instead attacked by Cordova, Beard and others as he approached the door.
Moreover, both Leandra Tony and DaHozy said Brian was not in Gallup but was at Crownpoint Saturday with other family members.

Leandra Tony said she saw the body after it was pronounced dead and noted three deep wounds; however, Lt. Robert Silva said Vincent was stabbed once in the abdomen.

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Lights burn for fallen cop
Sculpture honors brother

Nancy Watson
Staff Writer

LUKACHUKAI, Ariz. — Nathan Redhouse doesn't want people to forget the sacrifice made by his brother, Samuel, when he went to work that morning in 1997.

So he used his grief to fashion a sculpture that he hopes will remind people of his brother and other members of the Navajo Division of Law Enforcement who have died in the line of duty. Samuel Redhouse was killed on Feb. 17, 1997, when he responded to a call about a man in the Iyanbito area with a gun.

Nathan Redhouse said he felt his brother's presence when he was making a sculpture to honor him. "Spiritually, he's still around," he said.

Redhouse, a welder who works for the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, shaped the iron for the sculpture to resemble the emblem used by the Navajo Police Academy in Toyei.

Redhouse covered the sculpture, which stands in his sister Yolanda Redhouse's yard, with blue lights to remind those who pass by of his brother and all police officers who have died while doing their job.

"We understand the feeling when an officer goes down," Nathan Redhouse said. His father Ray Redhouse nodded.

Creating the sculpture made him think of his brother and made him strong, Nathan Redhouse said. He may make an even bigger sculpture for the Navajo Tribal Police headquarters in Window Rock or for the police academy in Arizona, he added.
For the past three years, the family has held a flag raising for Samuel Redhouse in the family hogan near Yolanda Redhouse's house. They always invite police officers and many attend the ceremony, Nathan Redhouse said.

"My brother died a warrior," he said. "I want his children to know that he died a warrior."

The sculpture was placed in Yolanda Redhouse's yard because that is the area where the Redhouse children, including Samuel, grew up, and it is where their father now spends his day tending cattle, sheep and horses.

Ray Redhouse has suffered a heart attack since his son's death, and Elizabeth, his wife and Samuel's mother, has also experienced severe health problems, Nathan Redhouse said.

He is certain his parents' health problems are connected to the loss of their son, who visited his parents frequently and helped them financially, Nathan Redhouse said.

"The hardest thing was accepting his death," Nathan Redhouse said. "Nothing will bring him back, not even if you cry all night."

A news report in the Feb. 18, 1997, issue of the Gallup Independent tells the story of Samuel's death.

On Feb. 17, Metro Dispatch received a series of 911 calls from a man who refused to identify himself.

"The individual sounded troubled or despondent or angry," FBI spokesman Doug Beldon said. "The individual said he had a rifle and a pistol. And then he hung up."

The call was traced to the home of Richard Roy Smith, 56, in Iyanbito.

Two Navajo police officers and two McKinley County Sheriff's Department deputies were sent to the address. Arnold Smith, 13, told them that his father, Richard Smith, was out shooting at dogs. But the story wasn't true.

As soon as Arnold went back into the house, a volley of shots rang out from the hillside. One shot hit Samuel Redhouse, killing him almost instantly.

The remaining officers took cover and tried to locate Smith, who was hidden in the hills. They also tried to speak to him, but Smith fired at them again.

When a deputy told Smith to drop his rifle, Smith whirled the rifle around and pointed it at the deputy. The deputy fired three rounds from his 9 mm handgun. Smith died of a gunshot wound to the head.

The report said Smith may have planned what they called a "suicide by cop" by creating a situation where officers had no choice but to fire at him. He was scheduled to turn himself in to U.S. marshals the following day to begin a prison sentence for sexually assaulting a minor.

Deputy Larry Allen placed Samuel Redhouse in the back of a cruiser and rushed to meet an ambulance. But efforts to revive him failed.

Beldon said the death of an officer is "a very difficult time in the career of an officer or an agent. There's such a tightly knit brotherhood. Even if you don't know the officer personally, you realize that on any given day, this could be you or someone close to you."

That day nearly three years ago was the worst day Allen had experienced in the five years he's been a deputy.

"It really was the worst," he said. "I do think about it. I miss having Sam as a friend. What can you say? You can't bring him back to his family."

In spite of the danger, Samuel Redhouse loved being a police officer. Two months before his death, Ray Redhouse had counseled his son that he had choices he did not have to be a police officer.

"But he was dedicated to it," his father said. "He told me that he liked it, he liked to help people and he liked to serve."

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Flu-like bug fills hospitals

Nancy Watson
Staff Writer

GALLUP — People with flu-like symptoms are filling the waiting rooms of the Indian Health Service clinics and hospitals.
"Our workload has jumped up dramatically during the past three weeks or so," said Dr. Doug Peter, chief medical officer for the Navajo Area IHS.

Over the past several weeks, IHS doctors and nurses have given some 30,000 flu shots to children, adults with respiratory problems, the elderly and those considered high risk.

But the outbreak of coughing, upset stomach, chills, and body aches that now seem to be plaguing thousands of Navajos may not be caused by influenza, Peter said. There are a variety of viruses out there, and they cause similar symptoms, he said.

IHS employees expected an increased workload for the winter due to the flu, but the patients started coming in about a month earlier than expected.

And many people who are coming into the clinics and hospitals for treatment of other illnesses are also getting sick with a virus that tends to hang on. Many patients appear to get better and then relapse.

In other words, people who come down with aches and pains, coughing, running nose and blahs should be prepared at best to be under the weather for three or four days. For some, that period might extend to as much as two weeks.

Efforts are being made in IHS facilities to keep those who have come down with the flu or virus away from patients who are well and are coming to the facilities for well-baby clinics or treatment for other diseases.

Peter said that so far he has not received reports of anyone dying because of the outbreak.

The best treatment for the flu and viruses that are here for the winter months is rest, plenty of fluids and a mild pain reliever like aspirin, acetaminophen or ibuprofen to reduce fever and ease body aches.

"Whatever your mother used," Peter said. For a person in the high-risk category who has not had a flu shot, it's not too late, he said.

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Becenti released from lockup

Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer

GALLUP — After seven days of imprisonment for a conviction on two counts of misdemeanor battery, McKinley County Commissioner Earnest Becenti Sr. was released at 5 p.m. Wednesday from the McKinley County Adult Detention Center.

Marcella King-Ben, now deputy district attorney, took Becenti to court four months ago. She said Becenti put his arms around her and tried to kiss her on her mouth on Oct. 28, 1998, in a county office. However, he kissed her on the cheek only because of her struggling.

Becenti serves as chairman of the county commission and has been involved in local politics for many years...

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Scholars: Zuni farming may date to 60 B.C.

Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer

ZUNI — The valleys with low, leafless shrubs and sparse trees along New Mexico Highway 602 may have supported extensive Zuni farmland as long ago as 60 B.C.

The Zuni Cultural Resource Enterprise's archaeologists discovered signs signifying an irrigation network used for farming, according to Jonathon Damp, principal investigator at the enterprise. This is the first evidence of 2,000-year-old irrigation technology in the Colorado Plateau region.

Working for two years, James Kendrick, the project director, and his colleagues found several sites where patterns in the soil and gravel indicate that people strategically dug irrigation canals to provide water to large corn fields...

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Students learn joy of giving

Christian Oberholser
Special to the Independent

LAGUNA — Giving can be as much fun as receiving. That's the lesson learned by 15 kindergarten students at Laguna Elementary School this Christmas.

Designing, stringing and selling macaroni necklaces was only the beginning of the students' Christmas Service Learning Project.

"Buying groceries for a family who may not have enough to eat on Christmas is the service element of the project," kindergarten teacher Lin Demers said...

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Shelley, county split on issue of outside inmates

S.J. Ludescher
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Female prisoners from Montana who have been housed at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center are being shipped home, possibly because of a letter that County Commissioner Ben Shelly wrote.

McKinley County Manager Irvin Harrison said Shelly sent a letter to Sally Johnson, the administrator of the professional development division of the Montana Department of Corrections, telling her he would "vigorously support" local residents' wishes to have only local prisoners at MCADC.

Harrison said Shelly wrote the letter after the Dec. 7 commissioners' meeting, when it became clear that commissioners wanted Management and Training Corp. to take over the operation of the jail from Correctional Services Corp...

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Blue Canyon Band receives award

Stan Bindell
Special to the Independent

TUBA CITY, Ariz. — The Blue Canyon Band has been recognized for its country music as well as its fundraising efforts for noble causes.

Eli "Bojack" Blackfeather recently gave the band the Bojack Humanitarian Band of the Year Award. Blackfeather, a retired Native American Hollywood stuntman, has presented more than 22,000 awards to Native Americans and friends of Native Americans during the past 20 years.

"The Blue Canyon Band is always doing fundraisers for various causes. They make tremendous contributions. They are one of the top Native American country bands in the nation and I am honored to give them this award," Blackfeather said. "The members of the band are also good role models for kids..."

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Tribe starts rescue, fire backup plan

Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation's Division of Public Safety has started a backup plan for fire and rescue services after volunteers and paid employees walked off the job this week.

The walkout, which began Tuesday, was because embattled Chief Dicky Bain was allowed to stay with the department. Bain was demoted to the rank of captain.

DPS Director Herb Clah said his division on Wednesday began providing fire and rescue coverage for the Chinle, Indian Wells, Tuba City and Window Rock areas. However, Clah did not specify how this was being done.
Clah did say, however, that the division contacted various county and Bureau of Indian Affairs fire services for coverage until the situation within the Navajo Fire and Rescue Department was resolved...

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Red Lake converts ex-NFPI building into chapter house

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

NAVAJO, N.M. — The Red Lake Chapter is about to get a new home.

The chapter lost its chapter house, the center of local government, in early September because shifting clay soil cracked the walls and foundations, making the building unsafe. The utilities were also knocked out, and rodents, reptiles and insects were able to invade the structure.

Correcting the deficiencies would cost an estimated $800,000, the Navajo Design and Engineering Department estimated.
The chapter, with the support of Navajo Nation Council Delegate Ralph Bennett Jr., asked the Division of Economic Development for the use of buildings at the defunct Navajo Forest Products Industry...

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