First place



Danelle Ballengee crosses the finish line to become the first place women's solo participant in th 18th Annual Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon in Grants.

Photo by Jeff Jones

 

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Food bank seeks views on move

Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer

GALLUP — The Gallup Community Pantry is attempting to gain community support for its plans to relocate to a larger facility.

The City of Gallup will hold two public meetings over the next two weeks to determine whether residents favor the facility expansion.

Tom Crider, director of the food bank, said the 2,500-square-foot facility has outgrown its current location almost from the first day it opened.

The non-profit organization is hoping to move to a building that is about 20,000 square feet, he said.

"We served more than 20,000 people in 1999, our first year of operation," he said. "We distributed more than 150,000 pounds of produce and 40,000 pounds of dry goods to Gallup area residents in need."

Through four food distribution programs, the Community Pantry primarily assists people in McKinley County, but does provide some aid to eastern Arizona and Cibola County.

The Free Produce program links free produce from Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to communities and agencies in those states.

The Emergency Food Bank four times a year provides low-income families with a week's worth of food including produce, dairy products and meat.

McKinley Cares Budget Stretcher Boxes allow the needy to stretch their food dollar by purchasing a high-quality, nutritionally balanced assortment of food at a fraction of its retail cost.

The Agency Program makes food available to 35 local non-profit agencies for distribution that then distribute the food to the needy. In addition, each week the pantry assists about 250 individuals referred by recognized agencies.

Crider said a larger facility would enable the pantry to offer a larger variety of foods and to start some new programs such as a demonstration kitchen where they would offer cooking instruction.

Often, he said, clients do not know how to prepare many of the foods they offer, such as fresh green beans.

In November, the pantry received a $25,000 Community Development Block Grant to conduct a feasibility study for the new facility.

With that money, the organization has retained the services of the Albuquerque consulting firm, VOCES, Inc.

Crider said that as part of the contract with the city, they are required to hold public meetings to determine the level of community support for the larger facility.

In addition to the public meetings, the study directors are interviewing elected officials and key community leaders.

A final report will be delivered to the City of Gallup in early April. The results of the report will be used to plan the possible future expansion of the Community Pantry and to identify key revenue sources for building and operating a bigger facility.

"We know the Community Pantry is meeting a critical need in the community," Gallup City Planner Lisa Baca Diaz said , "and
we need to know if the community supports the expansion of their services."

The two meetings are scheduled as follows:

From 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Neighborhood Center, 400 W. Princeton Ave.

From 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Octavia Fellin Public Library, 115 W. Hill St.

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Boy, 12, man, 80, keep up the pace

Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

GRANTS — It was as if 12-year-old J.T. Toepol followed a set of instructions to the letter when the exhausted seventh grader peddled across the finish line of the 18th annual Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathalon on his racing bicycle.

The amazing thing is he did.

J.T. wore an alarm wrist watch and when the alarm beeped, the kid pulled written instructions from his spandex suit to see what he had to do next.

"This was the first year that I did it all by myself," the youngest racer ever to compete in the quadrathalon said. He completed the course last year, but that was side-by-side with his father, who wrote the instructions for his son.

As young J.T. crossed the finish line accompanied by wild cheers from spectators gathered at the start/finish line in front of the Cibola County Complex in downtown Grants, two things were immediately evident. He was a miniature version of other quadrathletes and a screaming woman, his quadrathlete mother Cindi, scooped him up in one of those proud-mother death-hugs.

Something else was evident. This boy at that moment was the absolute light in his mother's eyes.

J.T. as his parents call him because his first name is Justin and there's no reason for the T because his middle name is Edward just completed a grueling 44-mile race from downtown Grants at 6,490 feet in elevation to the top of Mount Taylor at 11,301 feet in elevation and then reversed the whole race back to Grants. He competed with some 500 other racers on bicycle, on foot, on
snowshoes and cross-country skies.

When J.T. crossed the finish line his father Circ was not there to see it like Cindi, but then Cindi just completed her own race a little more than 30 minutes before. Circ was on the mountain helping as a volunteer. Ordinarily a competitive quadrathlete, Circ
this year was sidelined by cracked ribs from a spill on ice in Colorado. The Toepol family lives in Littleton, Colo., just south of
Denver.

Cindi finished eighth in the women's solo division with a time of 5:17:59. J.T. finished first in his division of 18 and under solo with a time of 5:51:50. Keep in mind the course was designed to test the will and endurance of adults.

The oldest on the course this year was Larry Johnson, 80, of Albuquerque, who competed with a team named "The Classics."
Johnson competed in the running portion of the race, which means he took over from his teammate at the bicycle/run transition
point some 13 miles above Grants on the side of Mount Taylor and ran the five miles in a snow-packed and icy course to the ski transition point. When the ski racer came back down the mountain after a grueling two-mile cross country course, Johnson took over and ran the five miles back to the run/bicycle transition point in the rarefied air.

Still puffing from the race just minutes after he crossed the finish line, J.T. said the run was the most difficult part for him. "I'm just not any good at it," he said, and by the way, he said he followed his dad's instruction to-the-T.

For J.T. the bicycle part was his most accomplished part of the race. He is a world cup champion mountain bike racer after waxing competition in a race in Canada last year. The ski portion was OK, but the snow shoe event, well, in his words: "That worried me the most. I just didn't feel great both going up and coming back down."

Johnson, meanwhile, said he got involved in the Quadrathalon through friends. Born in Ohio and raised on a farm there, he now is a retired mechanical engineer after working 38 years at Sandia Labs in Albuquerque. He became friends with former Grants competitors Mark and Jodi Olson and when an opening came on the Olson's quad team they asked Johnson to fill in, and he has
every year for the last four year.

At 80 years old, Johnson said he doesn't mind being the oldest on the course. "It doesn't seem like the first time I've been the oldest lately," Johnson said with a laugh. "It seems my competition keeps going by the wayside!"

Last year the mountain was all but snowless; this year it was not measured in inches, but feet. For the quadrathletes, as Johnson puts it: "We just have to take it like it comes."

Johnson said the downhill portion of his race was the worst part, although he confided that no part of the race was really that bad. "The weather was just perfect,"Johnson said.

J.T. began competing in quad events at age 9. At 11, competed in his first Mount Taylor Quadrathalon. He competes from the United States to Canada in mountain bike racing and last year tried his first quad.

"My main fear then was that I wasn't going to finish the race in time,"he said.

Quadrathletes are allowed a maximum of eight hours to complete the grueling race. In 2000, he did it in 6:39 minutes.

Even at age 12, J.T. knows the race is not only physical, but mental as well. "You have to be mentally prepared to do it because all you have to have is one second thought and it can mean a different outcome," J.T. said.

At 12 most kids dream of being firefighters or the like, but J.T. wants to remain in the mountains of his beloved Colorado and just grow up to be "a ski bum."

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Bill would give funds to build public schools

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

FORT DEFIANCE, Ariz. — A bill that could provide millions of dollars for construction for public schools on Arizona military and Indian reservations has been introduced in the Legislature.

HB-2440 would allow any district in Arizona to issue revenue bonds against the last five years' average of the U.S. grants that go to districts with federally owned land within their boundaries territory to which local property taxes cannot be applied.

Assistant Superintendent Gloria Hale-Showalter told the Window Rock Unified School District's Governing Board last week that the district receives about $11.5 million a year of federal impact aid.

The bill says districts can issue bonds up to three times the five-year average but no more than three-fourths of the current year's aid for any one year's repayment so the district would be looking at around $30 million it could issue.

Under the Arizona Students First capital funding program from the state, "School districts may fund projects not included under the (Students First) guidelines, or to exceed the guidelines by issuing capital overrrides or Class B general obligation bonds.
These options require an election and result in a secondary property tax levy," says a briefing sheet on the bill in the 45th Legislature.

The briefing sheet adds, "In school districts with mainly federal lands and therefore low or no property valuation, exceeding the state guidelines through secondary property tax levies is not possible. However, these districts receive annual Federal Impact Aid (P.L. 81-874) payments."

HB-2440 would allow "these school districts to issue revenue bonds for capital projects using Federal Impact Aid as the revenue source to secure the bonds," the sheet concludes.

While one section of the bill indicates no election would be required for the approval to issue the bonds, another sets up a procedure if the governing board does decide to get the people's approval first. The bill would require a district to mail each voter a publicity pamphlet about the bond issue at least 10 days before the election.

If there won't be an election, or voters approve, all the governing board has to do is issue a resolution that includes the length and amounts of the bonds, including interest and repayment schedule.

The bill also requires that the bonds be paid in full before the impact aid appropriated by Congress expires. And nothing else can be used to repay them, the bill adds. But money not scheduled to be used can earn interest, and annual auditing is required for the full fund.

A legal check would be provided by the Arizona attorney general ruling on the bond issue's validity.

The district also would set up an account to deposit the amount due on the principal and interest on the bonds each year, leaving the rest for maintenance and operations, and any money left over can be transferred to the district's regular capital fund.
Superintendent Ron Hennings told his board that 53 of Arizona's 229 elementary, union high and unified districts would be the
main beneficiaries of the proposed law, especially those with military and Indian reservations.

In support of the bill, the governing board adopted a resolution "to have greater flexibility in using available funds to meet the pressing needs of our students and the schools that serve them."

The resolution allows that the bill will probably be amended, but would continue to lend the board's support "as a viable means of providing additional budget flexibility for some of the poorest districts in the state and enhancing their capacity to address the needs of their students without creating a burden upon the few taxpayers within their districts."

District lawyer Patrice Horstsman warned that any attempt by the state to play with the situation, such as was tried (and failed) in the 1970s, would certainly lead to another lawsuit.

Hale-Showalter also told the board of continual annual trips to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress on the impact aid. She added that for fiscal year 2002, a one-fourth increase is expected across the county.

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St. Michaels falls to Joseph City

Santiago Ramos
Staff Sports Writer

PHOENIX — St. Michaels ran into a very determined Joseph City team that wanted revenge for last year's Class 1A state finals loss.

After losing by 21 points during last year's state championship game, Joseph City outplayed St. Michael 52-35 during the girls state championship finals Saturday afternoon at America West Arena.

"Joseph City wanted it," said St. Michael coach Joey Rollings whose team was playing in an impressive third straight title appearance and fourth in five years. "They played aggressive. They were on today and we weren't. We missed some key layups.
But they're bigger and stronger. I'm not heartbroken about losing but I'm disappointed for the fans. With my young team that I have I think we can take it (the state title) the next two or three years. Joseph City played seven seniors and I had one senior starter. I was pleased with my girls. Sure we had mistakes but we have a young team. We graduated nine last year. Next year I have no doubt that we can win it (state title)."

Joseph City head coach Michael Sterkowitz said he was glad that his Lady Wildcats (27-5) faced St. Michael (24-12) in a rematch of last year's showdown between the North's top two ballclubs for the second straight year.

"We really wanted to face them (St. Michael) and we wanted to come back and win it," said Sterkowitz who is stepping down next season and allowing assistant coach Julie Fields to take over.

Sterkowitz said a switch in his team's offense, from an man offense to a spread offense, opened the door.

"They went man and we were used to zone," Sterkowitz said, "so we went to a spread offense that opened it up and gave us open looks at the basket. Switching offense was key. It enabled us to spread them out. They couldn't team up on us as in the past."

The Lady Cardinals, who started one lone senior starter along with two juniors, one sophomore and one freshman, had the lead just once at 8-6 late in the opening period when junior center Kim Smith nailed a turnaround jumper.

Joseph City, which started an all-senior lineup, tied the game on senior forward Laura Duncan's 15-footer and stole the lead on Tera Fish's layup coming off one of St. Michael's 28 turnovers in the game.

The Lady Wildcats, who picked up their fifth state championship, nursed their lead with a solid 10-0 run. Duncan hit a pair of 10-footers from the baseline before senior forward Krystin McMaster, who led the team with 15 points, added another score as Joseph City was allowed to hit the open 10-footers from the side time and time again.

St. Michael, which has turned into a Class 1A state power playing in its eighth state finals in the last 13 years with a total four state titles and four state runnersup, was able to stay within range.

Despite turning the ball over 15 times in the first half, St. Michael, which split with Joe City during the season losing 59-40 in the first meeting before prevailing in the rematch 57-55 with free throw shooting, trailed by just four points, 22-18, at the half.

However in the third period, Joseph City pulled away for a commanding lead which St. Michael was unable to overcome the rest of the way.

The Lady Wildcats blitzed the Lady Cardinals with a 17-9 third period to go up by 17 points, 41-24, capitalizing on seven St.
Michael's turnovers in the period. St. Michael was ice cold from the field, hitting on just 1-of-7 on Jolanda Curley's lone bucket along with five three throws. Joseph City, which ended its state drought with its first state title since 1988, hit on 8-of-18 from the field and dominated on the boards 11-5 with just one turnover.

St. Michael could not close the gap any further in the fourth period as Joseph City captured its fifth state championship by 17 points, 52-35.

St. Michael did not have a single player in double figures with Carly Nez the top scorer with seven points. She also had six rebounds and two steals. Natashia Begay, the North region's Co-Player of the Year, was held to six points along with Kim Smith.
In contrast, Joseph City finished with three players in double digits with Krysten McMaster leading with 15 points before
fouling out, along with Laura Duncan with 11 and Tera Fish 10.

St. Michael was hurt by 28 turnovers while Joseph City had just 14.

St. Michael was also outshot from the field, shooting 33 percent, 12-of-36, with Joseph City hitting on 20-of-44 for 45 percent shooting.

Loss sends Lady Bengals to Hobbs

Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer

RIO RANCHO — The road to the state tournament now goes through Hobbs for the Gallup Lady Bengals.

The Lady Bengals lost to Rio Rancho for the third time this season, 37-35, in the girls District 1AAAAA championship at Rio Rancho High School Saturday night.

If Gallup had won, they would be staying home for this weekend's regional tournament, but insted they will be traveling to Hobbs.

Instead, Rio Rancho will be coming to town for regionals while Gallup will have to travel to Hobbs to play. The Bengals will play District 4AAAAA champion Clovis Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Rio Grande will play Hobbs Saturday night at 7:30.

Gallup held the lead late but could not pull of the victory with Rio Rancho hiiting 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute of the game to pick up the two-point victory.

"The whole team did a great job," said Gallup head coach john Lomasney. "We started out a little slow. Our freethrow shooting and outside shooting weren't there, but we did a good job on the boards and came back against a very good team."

The Lady Bengals fell behind early, but kept it close with free throw shooting in the first half.

Gallup shot 1-of-11 from the field and 0-for-3 from three-point range in the first half, but still kept the Lady Rams within 10 points, trailing only 19-15 at the half.

Sunny St. Clair was the only Bengal to hit a field goal in the first half. Gallup shot 13-of-18 from the line in the first two periods to keep the game close.

The Lady Bengal shooting drought came to an end with 5:40 left in the third quarter when Roberta Tahe hit Gallup's first field goal since the first quarter and then Tanya Bailey hit to pull Gallup to within two, 23-21.

Less than a minute later, Bailey hit the Bengals' third field goal in under one minute to tie the game at 23-23.

Bailey scored one more time in the quarter, and Gallup went into the fourth quarter down 27-25.

Tahe hit a jumper seconds into the fourth quarter to tie the score once more at 27-27, and then the two teams began a back and forth battle that would last the rest of the game.

Gallup got its first lead of the game with 3:57 when Roanhorse put in a basket for a 29-27 lead.

Brio Rode gave Rio Rancho the lead back when she put in a basket and hit a freethrow, putting the Rams up 30-29.

The Lady Bengals retook the lead off a pair of free throws from Bailey, and then Rode gave Rio Rancho the lead with a pair from the line.

Tahe put in a basket to give Gallup a 33-32 advantage, and Rio Rancho answered with a pair of free throws by Terry Salazar.

With under 30 seconds left in the game Gallup got the ball behind 34-33 but had problems holding onto it. Rio Rancho got the ball on a turnover and Rode was fouled. Rode hit both freethrows from the 1-and-1 to give the Rams a three-point lead.

Gallup quickly got the ball downcourt on its next possession, but missed a three-point attempt. Rio Rancho grabbed the rebound and passed it to Jim, who was fouled.

Jim hit 1-of-2 from the line and Gallup grabbed the rebound and tossed the ball downcourt. With 4.1 seconds left on the clock Gallup had the ball under their own basket. Rio Rancho pulled their players off to the side of the court to prevent any of them from fouling, and Gallup's Iris Wilson grabbed a missed three-pointer and put it back in as time expired.

"We did more things right than we did wrong," Lomasney said. "We had two turnovers late that really hurt us."

Gallup was led by Roberta Tahe with 12 points, including 6-of-8 from the line.

Rio Rancho was led by Brio Rode with 11, including 5-of-5 from the line, all in the fourth quarter.

Gallup hit 17-of-26 from the free throw line, 4-of-8 in the fourth quarter, while Rio Rancho shot 13-of-18.

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IHS doctors to guide students to health career

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

FORT DEFIANCE, Ariz. — Two Indian Health Service doctors will soon become mentors to Window Rock High School students who want to learn first-hand about medical and health careers.

The Window Rock Unified School District Governing Board approved the request for a health professions program to be offered during the high school's Wednesday activity period by Dr. Dale Potter and Dr. Cindy Martin.

Principal Joe Gill's memo to the board also said some of the students would be allowed to shadow their mentors on Fridays when there is no in-classroom instruction, as the district operates on a four-day week.

Gill said some of the training could even lead to the students being qualified as first responders in emergency medicine. It also could even extend to teaching them to draw and type blood...

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Laptop back in Kayenta after mixup
Ex-worker says she had permission

Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer

KAYENTA, Ariz. — Kayenta Township's erstwhile business development specialist turned in an expensive laptop computer she has held since leaving the township five months ago, then had her day in executive session.

Beth Cascaddan's replacement as the township's business specialist, Dan Nakai, criticized her late last week for not turning over a $4,000 laptop containing confidential information on business site leases and personal mortgages. Nakai said he suspected that Cascaddan, who resigned abruptly on or about Aug. 31, was using the computer's files to the benefit of her new employer, Fort
Defiance Housing Corp.

Fort Defiance Housing Corp. is a nonprofit housing builder that is constructing the 240-unit Teeh-in-Deeh subdivision in Kayenta Township, soon to be the Navajo Nation's largest single housing subdivision...

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Deaths

Lorraine Yazzie Clark

CHINLE,Ariz. — Services for Lorraine Clark, 70, will be held at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 20 at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Chinle. Father Blane Grien will officiate. Burial will follow on a family plot, Del Meurto, Ariz.

Clark died Feb. 15 in Phoenix. She was born March 21, 1930 in Chinle, Ariz. into the Tangle People Clan for the Water Edge People Clan.

She was a housewife. Her hobbies included sewing and making navajo arts and crafts.

Survivors include her husband, Wayne Clark of Del Muerto; sons, Phillip Clark of Phoenix, Gene Clark Sr. and Peter Clark both of Del Muerto; daughters, Alice Reyes of Phoenix and Anita Alice Clark of Del Muerto; Amos K. Yazzie Sr. of Chinle; 24 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Clark was preceded in death by her parents, Betany and Desbah Yazzie; daughters, Irene Clark and Lori Ann Clark; brothers,
Henry Silversmith, Albert Yazzie and Russell Begay; sisters, Florence Scott, Elizabeth Yazzie, Pauline Ben and Mary Tully
Brown.

Pallbearers will be Gene Bryant, Samuel Sanisya, Frankie Ben, Brad Bahe, Nelson Brown and Richard Etsitty.

Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.