County Commission juggles jail contract
MTC gets 6-month contract
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — For a few moments it seemed as if the McKinley County
Detention Center was not going to have any managing staff come Jan.
5.
At the McKinley County Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning, Commissioner
Ben Shelly entered a motion to disapprove a county contract hiring
Management and Training Corp. to manage the county prison next year.
Commissioners Chairman Earnest Becenti Sr. seconded the motion. After
a heated debate, both men withdrew their motions.
Commissioner Harry Mendoza subsequently made a motion to approve the
contract with a stipulation to review other management possibilities
after six months. In the ensuing vote, the motion was passed by a
two-person majority, with Shelly voting against it.
Shelly said he was voicing the opinion of public citizens who signed
a petition in October requesting that the county manage the prison
and that no out-of-county prisoners be jailed at the McKinley County
Detention Center.
The contract with MTC does not forbid non-area prisoners.
However, it does require the county commissioners' approval for admitting
such inmates.
Moreover, with the MTC contract, the McKinley County sheriff will
also have a say in which inmates from outside the county should be
permitted, said Douglas Decker, civil counsel for the county. No such
authority was given in the contract with the current management, Corrections
Corp. of America.
The citizens' petition was presented after a jailbreak in early October.
A public hearing was scheduled afterward, to which all commissioners
were invited. Only Mendoza attended.
Mendoza said Shelly's action may have more to do with politics with
the former prison manager, CSC, and less with the public's wishes.
"He's mad because CSC lost the contract," Mendoza said.
"I had a petition from citizens two years ago about the same
thing. (The commissioners) didn't care about it then.
"And suddenly they're worried about the citizens
that's bull. The bottom-line is, he wants CSC to get the contract."
Under CSC, McKinley County housed outside prisoners, and though approval
was not required, since it was a county-owned facility, the commissioners
could have acted to remove the inmates, Decker said.
Shelly said he remembers some talk about removing non-McKinley County
inmates and having the county manage the facility a few years ago,
but he said no formal action was taken.
"When CSC took over (approximately five years ago), it was all
new," Shelly said. "We never had no escapees. There was
no problem at the time. When people escaped it woke us up."
He has no preference for management, Shelly said, but he does not
want outside prisoners at the institution.
Since the contract was approved, Shelly said, he will
vote against any future requests for outside prisoners.
Shelly said the county could take over operations instead of MTC when
the contract with the current managing company, CSC, ends.
Before Shelly and Becenti withdrew their motions to
disapprove the contract, several county officials said that assuming
responsibility for the prison would be unwise.
"We don't have the expertise nor the time," said Judie Krauklis,
county finance director. "We would be putting the public at risk
because we don't have the operating procedures to ensure the safety
of not only the inmates but of the public."
Krauklis estimated that start-up costs to begin to put in place prison
management would cost the county $140,000.
"Basically we would bankrupt the county," she concluded.
Such costs would require extensive budget cuts, which would translate
to extensive payroll cuts, said Tom Trujillo, director of support
services.
At the same time, the county would have to search for
50 to 60 people to staff the prison.
Had the contract not passed, the county and its commissioners could
have faced a suit, Decker said.
The county has entered into a contract. MTC fulfilled
its part by making the changes required by state and national law,
and the commissioners can not break it now, Decker added.
Before Shelly and Becenti withdrew their motions, Decker
said, "If you don't approve the county will be sued to fulfill
the contract."
Shelly said the contract, formed over more than a month's
time, was "ram-rodded" through, giving him little time to
review it. He added that he never received a list of bids by which
he could make cost comparisons.
However, the process the county commission chose was a request for
proposals, not bids, said Decker. In such a request, candidates are
interviewed and evaluated for their professional quality and quantity
of service, not price.
The process began in August, and once MTC was decided
upon as the new manager, the contract was drawn up starting in mid-November,
Decker said.
Decker, Krauklis, Mendoza and other county officials said Shelly never
addressed the issue of non-McKinley county inmates at a previous meeting
while the county developed the contract.
Though Mendoza did not agree to halting prison operations
as planned, he said he did want the county to consider managing its
own facility for local inmates only.
For that purpose, Mendoza added a stipulation to his motion to approve
the contract, stating that the commissioners should review different
management possibilities after six months with MTC.
At the meeting, the commissioners also approved changes to the contract
to make it comply with national and state statutes.
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Houck family opposes land transfer
Nancy Watson
Staff Writer
HOUCK, Ariz. — Residents here expressed strong and often emotional
statements about land during a public hearing Tuesday evening.
The hearing was called by Wydale Silversmith because the Silversmith
family is concerned about the transfer of a permit from Arizona Silica
Sand Co. to Oglebay Industrial Sand Inc.
The family, which lives adjacent to the sand pit, learned about the
transfer of the permit at a November chapter meeting. The Navajo Nation
approved the transfer of the permit in April.
At that meeting, William Kratz, a plant manager with Oglebay, displayed
a map that highlighted 160 additional acres that he said Oglebay needs
to operate in the area.
The additional land is close to the original Silversmith
homes and it contains home sites that belong to younger members of
the family.
Members of the Silversmith family didn't understand why they weren't
told about the transfer of the permit by Houck chapter officials and
the Navajo Nation.
"Miscommunication" was the word used to describe
the situation by tribal officials.
None of the departments that had to sign off on the permit communicated
with each other about possible home sites in the area. Also, none
of them communicated with members of the Silversmith family.
The tribe was interested in the possibility of getting
rid of a contract it had signed with Arizona Sand in 1966, said Brad
Nesemeier, a geologist with the Navajo Minerals Department.
During the past 33 years, Arizona Sand and the tribe have been involved
in a series of legal skirmishes over royalty payments, bonding amounts,
mine planning, land reclamation, the payment of Navajo Business Activity
taxes and the disturbance of cultural resources.
Transfer of the permit to Oglebay offered the tribe a resolution to
many of the issues of the old contract, said Nesemeier. The lack of
communication to the Silversmith family was not intentional, he said.
The transfer of the permit is considered a reassignment.
The tribe does 20 to 30 reassignments a year on oil and gas leases
for one reason or another and no one is ever notified. No one thought
that anyone needed to be notified this time, he said.
"I apologize for our department's not contacting you," he
told the family. "You just fell through the cracks."
Nesemeier's apology came after four hours of often emotional and sometimes
tear-filled testimony regarding the land from members of the extended
family.
Marion Silversmith Yazzie's testimony was typical of the many family
members who spoke against the permit.
She stated that her parents had been relocated to the
area from Chambers when she was a small child.
"They put our roots here. I was raised here. This is our home,"
she said tearfully. "My children and grandchildren come back
here. They may live in other places to work, but this is their home.
They have home sites here."
Randin Yazzie said the 172-member family was going to stand strong
and would not leave (the land) over the 19 jobs Arizona Sand provides.
One of those employees, Ralph Nelson, vice president of the Houck
Chapter, was in tears when he pleaded that his job be saved. At the
November planning meeting, he had urged the audience to support the
permit transfer.
A packet including nine photographs of family home sites and unreclaimed
land as well as a map of the land now being mined and the additional
land Oglebay has requested were handed to audience.
Signs saying, "Cease the lease," were posted
outside and inside the building.
According to William Johnson, deputy assistant attorney general, Natural
Resources Unit, Navajo Department of Justice, the process has just
begun. There has not been a map presented to the tribe yet regarding
the additional land.
Prior to tribal approval for the additional land, an environmental
assessment and an archaeological assessment will have to be completed.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs will also conduct studies, and if they
find no sign of adverse impact, the Bureau of Land Management will
have to approve the area for mining if it gets that far.
Houck chapter residents will vote on the issue in January.
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One-third of paid firefighters fired
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — One-third of the Navajo Nation's full-time firefighting
staff was fired Tuesday for joining with most of the department<cm
EQ>s volunteers in a mass walkout last week.
And the second-largest community on the reservation lost its tribal
fire coverage for most of a week, although the Bureau of Indian Affairs
agreed in writing to cover Tuba City during the crisis.
Herb Clah, director of the Division of Public Safety, said he terminated
four full-time people, including the department's remaining highest-ranking
officer, Capt. George Tolth of the Window Rock station.
Clah also told the Public Safety Committee of the Navajo Nation Council
during a special meeting Tuesday that the other three were Johnson
Watson of the Window Rock station, Sadie Lister of the Indian Wells
station and Jacob Rock, whose station he did not identify.
The other eight full-time employees, including two secretarial people
and the former chief, stayed on the job.
The director said he did not process the termination papers of the
volunteers and invited those who had not returned to do so. He pointed
out that the Chinle staff did not join the walkout. This left at least
one paid firefighter at Chinle, Indian Wells, Aneth and Window Rock.
But the Tuba City station was locked up and its truck moved to Window
Rock for the past five days.
The walkout stemmed from the staff revolt against the department's
former fire chief, Dickie Bain, who has been demoted to captain. His
demotion resulted in 42 paid and volunteer firefighters sending a
petition to Clah saying they did not want Bain in the department.
The staff complained about Bain's management style and what they said
was his lack of communications and lack of leadership. Bain began
with the department in 1982.
Clah, however, refused to fire or reassign Bain, and his decision
was backed by the Begaye-McKenzie administration, which pointed out
that in just one year, the Navajo Nation had to shell out $800,000
in penalties for improperly handled personnel decisions.
Laurence Garnanez, who has been named acting fire chief, and Clah
are using the Navajo Pine and BIA fire departments to supplement the
Navajo Nation's reduced staff.
With the lack of staff, Garnanez closed the Tuba City station until
Monday. The reopening of the station followed an impassioned Tuba
City Chapter meeting Sunday. Meanwhile, Bain moved the Tuba City fire
truck to Window Rock, with Window Rock's truck hauled to Gallup for
repairs.
Committee Vice Chairman Edison Wauneka said he understood residents'concern
about sending Bain to Tuba City to remove the truck saying, "It
only made the situation worse."
When Council Delegate Harry Williams of the Tuba City and Coal Mine
Mesa Chapters asked Clah why he waited until the crisis to have the
Window Rock truck repaired, the director said money wasn't available
for the repairs until the new budget began on Oct. 1. The Window Rock
truck was due back from the repair shop Wednesday.
In his brief comments to the committee, Garnanez said he would remain
chief until Feb. 29, that he will help the volunteers with their training,
would screen and hire more volunteers and has talked with the Navajo
Department of Law Enforcement and the BIA so everyone had a better
understanding of whom to call when there is a fire.
Tribal officials have maintained since the walkout that there is fire
coverage throughout the entire reservation.
In a press release Friday, the Navajo Nation Volunteer Firefighters
Association disagreed, pointing to federal regulations that allow
the BIA fire departments to cover only areas close to the schools
they protect.
This year, the tribal Fire and Rescue Department has
12 full-time positions, including the chief, two captains, seven firefighters
and two secretarial people. It is one of seven departments in Clah's
division. With salaries ranging from $17,181 to
$37,544, its personnel budget this year is $338,599.
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Name our alley, say residents
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — For only the second time in its history, the Gallup
City Council is being asked to name an alley.
The residents of #1 through #6 on Burke Drive, led by Charles Starkovich,
have filed a petition with the city to have the name of the alley
behind their homes named Starkovich Lane.
Gallup Mayor John Pena said at a city council work session
Tuesday that the name request is coming from the residents in part
because of confusion about the addresses of the houses, some of which
have their front entrances on the alley and others on Burke Drive...
Navajo Police briefs
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
Body found
WINDOW ROCK — Navajo police are investigating a body found buried
near Diné College, a fatal traffic accident and a gang attack
at a chapter dance.
Tribal police and the FBI are investigating the death of a man found
Dec. 13 buried in a shallow rock and sand grave near Diné College.
The body is believed to be that of Frank Brady, reported missing since
Nov. 12...
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Man killed on State Road 53
Body remains unidentified
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — A man crossing State Road 53 near Grants
was run over and killed at 6:50 a.m. Monday by a car driven by Rodney
Lonjose, 44, from Zuni, said Capt. Glenn Thomas of the New Mexico
State Police.
The victim's name and age are unknown since he carried
no proof of identification.
The state police will question those living close to
the road to gather information to help determine the man's identity,
Thomas said. The incident occurred immediately outside Grants as SR53
heads toward Ramah...
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Topeka, Kansas schools honor janitor
Nancy Watson
Staff Writer
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — He was just a janitor, but the Topeka, Kan.,
Unified School District honored his service to education by proclaiming
March 16, his birthday, as Tom Toni Rogers Day.
Rogers was honored for the years he educated school children in the
district about Native American culture. His singing, dancing, sand
painting and silversmithing in the classrooms of the school district
opened an awareness to Native American culture.
"He was teaching Native American culture long before
there was talk of cultural diversity," said Tom, his son...
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Trustees petition to stop Milan mayor
appointee
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
MILAN — A district court petition filed Dec. 16 by the Milan
Board of Trustees against Rebecca Gomez contains a request that could
be unconstitutional unless the petition is changed.
"I cannot imagine a judge would act on this (the declaratory
judgment order) without placing constraints in it," said Maurene
Sanders, co-legal director of the New Mexico American Civil Liberties
Union in Albuquerque.
Gomez was sworn into a vacant village trustee position
on Dec. 15 by Magistrate Judge Lee Alcon at the request of Mayor Elisabeth
Lopez-Rael...
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One in 5 families think schools unsafe
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Almost one of every five families who
send their children to the Gallup-McKinley County School District
think those children are unsafe at school.
That's the finding of a survey released recently by
the school system as part of its annual accountability report to parents
in the district.
But school officials stressed the report only measures perception
and not whether the children are actually unsafe at school...
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