Downtown Bank of America robbed Friday
Suspect is still at large
Staff Report
GALLUP — Bank of America's main facility at 200 W. Aztec was
robbed of an unspecified amount of money about 11:15 a.m. Friday.
The robber was still being sought Friday night, according to a statement
by the FBI.
"The robber walked into the bank and stood in line," said
the statement. When he got to the front of the line, "he handed
the teller a note demanding cash. The teller complied and the robber
stuffed the cash in his pockets. The robber left the bank."
FBI officials said that no one noticed which direction he took after
leaving the bank.
The robber was described as a white male in his mid 30's, 5'9"
tall, weighing 140 pounds with a medium build. He had dirty blond
hair and was wearing a reddish brown light jacket and a light colored
baseball cap with an emblem.
This is the first bank robbery in Gallup in more than a year.
Gallup Police Chief Danny Ross said that the city averaged a bank
robbery every year or two.
The decision of the robber to hit the main offices of the bank, however,
is somewhat unusual, he said, because in the past, robbers hit the
branches.
The main building is located downtown in a congested area where escape
could be more difficult than in the branches which have easier assess
to Interstate 40, he said.
The investigation is now being handed jointly by the FBI and the city
police and a reward of up to $2,000 is being offered for any information
leading to his arrest.
Anyone with information can contact the Albuquerque FBI at (505) 226-2000,
the Gallup FBI at (505) 726-6000 or New Mexico Crimestoppers at 1-800-432-6933.
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Students, teachers, get sick at school
100 affected
Bill Donovan
Staff writer
GALLUP — Officials at Tobe Turpen Elementary School are still
trying to solve the mystery of what has been causing dozens of students
and teachers at the school to have headaches and extreme fatigue.
The epidemic, which at last count has affected nine of the teachers
and 89 of the students, is now believed to be caused by molds and
spores growing in the portable classrooms at the school.
District officials Friday put out a press release saying that they
are doing everything they can to resolve the problem.
Keers Environmental of Albuquerque has been hired to come to the school
on Tuesday and conduct an inspection that school officials hope will
find the cause of the problem.
Tami Maldonado, principal at the school, said she first learned of
the problem on Monday, after many in the school had been experiencing
symptoms for several weeks.
At the time, however, she had some first-hand knowledge of the affects
of the sickness since her six-year-old son, who attends class in one
of the portables, was also having headaches and fatigue for the past
several weeks.
She said she was getting more and more worried about her son as the
symptoms would not go away. She went as far as getting a cat scan
done on her son and taking him to specialists in Albuquerque.
It wasn't until Monday, however, that she began to suspect that the
problem may be carbon monoxide in the portable classrooms.
"Three parents called me and told me they were getting tired
of their children coming home complaining of headaches and being fatigued,"
she said.
She then checked with teachers in the portables and found that everyone
had one or more students and/or teachers who reported having problems.
She immediately contacted district offices which dispatched Joe Armenta
and Joe Garcia, both of whom have training on locating and resolving
carbon monoxide problems.
District officials said that the investigation revealed that two of
the portable classrooms had extraordinary high carbon monoxide readings
when the room's furnaces were fired up.
After a few minutes, however, the CO levels dropped to 3 parts per
million (ppm), well below the acceptable level of 9 ppm.
Both Armenta and Garcia, however, recommended that the furnaces be
replaced, which was done by Friday.
The two staffers also inspected the other portables at the school
and these tests showed a CO level of 1 ppm.
When the two checked the school's main building, they discovered a
reading of 5 ppm near the location where the new construction interfaces
with the existing building. They recommended to district officials
that the temporary doors connecting the two areas be sealed with duct
tape.
It's still questionable as to whether the furnaces are causing the
problem, district officials said. Instead, the investigation is now
centering on the possibly of spores and molds being the culprit.
Armenta and Garcia reported finding conditions in several of the portable
buildings that "might promote the growth of molds and spores
that (could) lead to respiratory problems.
"The presence of such molds and spores is very remote, but with
the recent humidity in the rooms caused by standing water in the schoolyard
from recent precipitation and snow melt, the possibility cannot be
discounted," according to a statement released Friday by the
district.
Armenta and Garcia suggested correcting the problem by making certain
repairs to the facility and changing staff and student activities
that might help to reduce or eliminate the possibility of such molds
and spores growing.
The district is now waiting for the Albuquerque firm to do its own
investigation before taking any further steps.
Maldonado said that district officials decided to continue holding
classes in the portables.
"Absenteeism has been way up in the last three weeks," she
said, adding that her son is still experiencing the symptoms.
One teacher who is pregnant asked to be allowed to be reassigned because
of the possibility that the carbon monoxide may affect her unborn
child.
She was told that since she had started work in November, she had
very little sick leave available. She was offered the opportunity
to work at another school as a substitute or work in the library in
the main building. She chose to work in the library.
Otherwise, she said, the school is trying to operate as normally as
possible while both students, their parents and their teachers wait
for the district to find an answer.
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How we ended up bushed in Washington,
D.C.
Walter Howerton Jr.
Managing Editor
I was in Washington, D.C., when our new president (I'll leave it at
that because I still have a hard time saying President George W. Bush
seriously) spoke to the members of Congress last Tuesday night.
I didn't go to see him.
I was right down the street from the Capitol, sitting on the little
balcony of my fancy hotel room (the hotel even provided the thick,
white bathrobe I was wearing AND they sneaked in and turned down the
covers on the bed while we were out for the evening), smoking my pipe
and digesting a good dinner.
Maryland-style crab cakes were the beginning of it, stuffed freshly
caught black sea bass with shrimp and a rich sauce was the middle
of it (my wife had something Louisiana-ish that married catfish, shrimp,
sausage and a spicy sauce — it was that kind of restaurant, food
was married there), a bottle of wine went with it and a piece of Key
lime pie finished it off (we shared the crab cake, the wine and the
pie, just so you don't think we overdid it).
My wife was stretched out on the bed in her own hotel bathrobe.
We watched the President speak on television. We could have been back
home in New Mexico.
We decided ahead of time not to allow anything he said to mess up
our digestion. It turns out we shouldn't have worried about it. Everything
he had to say was predigested, nothing we had not heard before. It
was all readin', writin' and tax cuts, the kinds of promises and good
intentions that get new presidents lots of applause at first (the
Washington Post said the next day that Bush would have received applause
for a cough, a standing ovation for a sneeze).
Whether we are too cynical or were just too involved in digestion,
we didn't applaud, even in the privacy of our room.
Perhaps it was because we had taken a short subway ride and a long
walk in the few hours before dinner.
It was the first chance my wife had had to see those things even though
it was not her first visit to Washington (she ran away from home with
a high school boyfriend and ended up holed up in an apartment for
a week in Washington before her parents found her and had her returned
to Ohio. I guess seeing national monuments is not so important in
some situations, especially for
the young).
We rode the subway from the Foggy Bottom station, where someone has
written on the wall in large letters, "BushThief," to the
Smithsonian station. From there we strolled along the Mall (and just
so you know, the Mall in Washington is not a place to
shop, though it does seem to be a place where the eager beavers —
and boy are they eager — who run our government have
established some cosmic relationship between democracy and jogging;
they jog there day and night).
We touched the Washington Monument. It is tall and stiff and pointy
on top and seems to have somewhat the same relationship to our view
of ourselves that jogging does to modern American-style democracy
(though I still am working all of that out).
From the Ellipse (that's where the Washington Monument is) we could
see the Lincoln Memorial. It stands like a bold assertion of the best
any of us can hope for, never out of sight as we strolled toward it.
But there are other monuments, down the Mall from Washington's and
almost at Abraham Lincoln's feet, that remain invisible almost until
you stumble on them. They are statements of another sort.
One commemorates those who fought in Korea. A larger-than-life patrol
is caught in mid-stride in front of a wall of granite. On the wall
nameless faces come and go in the growing darkness like some mysterious
gathering of memories and mist.
The other commemorates 58,000 Americans who died in Vietnam. On this
dark wall, there are no misty nameless faces; there are no faces at
all; there are only names. And names. And names. Deep in the silence
of the Vietnam Memorial, in the face of all those names, questions
arise. They have to. They are troubling, faceless questions. And they
are questions that kill the appetite
for more monuments.
We looked up a few names in the book at the memorial. We saw how young
most of them were when they died. We realized that these were the
names of people who should be our friends and neighbors, people we
should be growing old with, but never
will have the chance because other presidents were full of promises
and good intentions.
My wife and I walked to the seafood restaurant and ate far more and
far more richly than is our custom. We had not realized how hungry
we were.
Afterward, we walked the few blocks back to our hotel, put on the
thick white bathrobes, switched on the television and watched our
new president make his promises with the best of intentions.
We were so close to the Capitol that we could almost hear the applause
for the president. Instead, we tossed our bathrobes in a heap, turned
off our lights and, shortly after the speech, went to sleep. We had
walked from monument to monument, from Washington to Korea to Lincoln
to Vietnam. Afterward, in our hunger, we had not understood how tired
we were. We were
bushed.
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Gallup Catholic snatches state berth
Zuni loses heartbreaker
Carrie Loretto
Sports Editor
ALBUQUERQUE — It's been 41 years since the Gallup Catholic Panthers
qualified for the boys N.M. State Tournament. The long hiatus is over.
This year's overachieving Gallup Catholic Panthers wore down House
54-50 in the Class A Region D playoffs at Rio Rancho High School Friday
to secure its first state tournament appearance since 1960 when the
parochial school was called Cathedral High School.
Gallup Catholic (21-1) will face Tatum for the regional title today
at 5:45 p.m. The game also serves to determine seeding for next week's
state tournament.
Also at Rio Rancho, Zuni and Shiprock failed in their bid to qualify
for the state tournament. Zuni lost a 68-65 heartbreaker to Ft. Sumner
and Shiprock fell apart against Portales, 56-40.
"It feels wonderful just even being here," Gallup coach
Vince Lonetree said following the Panthers' 19th consecutive win.
"At the beginning of the season our goal was just to get through
the districts. We've made it this far so we're just ecstatic. We're
just out here having fun all the way around."
Gallup Catholic's only loss was to Class AA state quarterfinalist
Laguna-Acoma in the Panthers' third game of the season.
It took awhile for the Panthers' usual uptempo style to emerge, but
when it did at the beginning of the second quarter it gave them a
lead that held up against a tougher-than-expected challenge from Ft.
Sumner.
A steal by DJ Biava became a score off the offensive glass by Bryan
Sparks. Marshall Lemoine followed with another swipe and took it in
himself as the Panthers pushed a three-point margin to 16-9.
A timeout by House failed to derail Gallup Catholic's charge as Sparks
blocked a shot to force another turnover and trigger the Panthers'
fastbreak. Biava, who started the 6-0 spurt, finished it off with
a layup off a feed from Mike Estrada.
"The pressure that we put on the ball (with) our trapping and
our press gives us a lot of turnovers and gets us ahead most of the
time and from there I think we pretty much play even with other teams,"
observed Lonetree.
His assessment rang true through the rest of the half as the Panthers
maintained a 28-21 half-time advantage.
Gallup Catholic had only led 12-9 at the end of the first period,
overtaking the Cowboys in the final stretch with scores from Estrada
and Lemoine.
"We haven't played in a week so we were a little sluggish coming
out of the gates, the boys just didn't want to move the ball today,"
Lonetree said of the slow start. "(Ft. Sumner) played good defense
and they were putting a lot of pressure on us.
That defensive pressure resulted in a steal and a layup by Michael
Downey which followed a score by Zac Sloan that brought House within
three, 28-25 at the beginning of the second half.
However, the Panthers went on another 6-0 spurt with scores from Biava,
Sparks and Estrada to go back ahead by nine. They led 42-34 going
into the final period.
This time House was able to tie the Panthers at 44-44 with 4 1/2 minutes
left in the game on a three-pointer by Downey off a crosscourt pass
from James Woods. The teams were still knotted when Estrada converted
a three-point play from the free throw line to put Gallup Catholic
back up 49-46 with 3:03 remaining.
A steal and a score by Sparks put the Panthers in control for good,
52-46, with 2:03 left. Sparks helped preserve Gallup Catholic's advantage,
blocking a shot, rebounding a missed free throw by Brian Morris and
grabbing another key rebound on defense in the final two minutes.
Sparks scored only six points, but blocked three shots, came up with
three steals, dished out four assists and grabbed seven boards reflecting
an all-around balanced effort by the Panthers.
Estrada led a trio of Gallup Catholic players in double figures with
13 points. He also had three assists. Biava finished with 12 points,
a steal and a pair of assists and Lemoine scored 11 points, came away
with four steals, blocked a shot and pulled down six rebounds.
"It looked pretty good, we usually have balanced scoring every
game, I just don't depend on one person to win us a game, I expect
all five, six players to come out and score at least ten, 12 points
and that's what they've been doing the last couple of weeks,"
Lonetree said about his team's balanced effort.
Members of the 1960 state tournament team which finished fourth and
went 27-5 included Notah Begay II, the father of PGA golfer Notah
Begay, III, Mike Ration, Wilfred Yazzie, Sammy Trujillo, Butch Garcia,
Alfred Ruiz, Charlie Dowds, Punky Garcia and Vic DeAngelis. Some of
those former players were on hand at Friday's game and hosted a reception
for the Panthers and their fans following the state qualifying win.
Ft. Sumner 68, Zuni 65
Despite a season-high performance by Shawn Simplicio in his final
game as a T-Bird, Zuni couldn't pull off the win.
Simplicio scored 28 points, including a season-matching seven threes,
to keep Zuni close after Ft. Sumner overtook the T-Birds in the second
period.
"He's been in a slump, he came out of it tonight," Zuni
coach Bob Kercher said.
The 5'7" senior guard ended an almost two minute drought at the
beginning of the game with his first trey to put Zuni ahead 3-2. That
helped open things up inside for 5'9" senior foward Jamie Hooee
who scored Zuni's next eight points, including one off a nice spin
move. Hooee also scored twice off a pair of offensive rebounds.
Delvin Soseeah added a shot from the perimeter at the end of the quarter
as Zuni led 15-12.
Zuni lost its advantage at the beginning of the second quarter, but
Simplicio kept the T-Birds within striking distance with four three-pointers
in the period. However, Zuni gave up numerous layups to Brent Wilcox
who scored 15 of his team-high 25 points in the quarter. As a result,
the T-Birds trailed 39-35 at the half.
Ft. Sumner still led 55-50 going into the final period , although
a steal and a layup by Faron Sanchez brought Zuni within one, 49-48
with 2:07 left in the period.
Another steal and layup from Roylen Latone with 5:56 left in the game
tied the score at 57-57 and the teams traded scores to a 61-59 Ft.
Sumner lead.
On Zuni's next possession, Simplicio attempted a three-pointer, but
was fouled. He sank all three free throws to give Zuni its first lead,
62-61, since the opening period.
With the partisan Zuni crowd cheering, the momentum suddenly shifted
back to Ft. Sumner when a steal by Soseah was nullifed by a walking
call. The Foxes capitalized, getting a three from Fisher to retake
the lead and the momentum.
Ft. Sumner later went up by three points, but Zuni put up one final
rally.
Hooee drove the lane, scored and was fouled. He completed the three-point
play for a 66-65 score with 1:21 still left to play.
Zuni then regained possession as Fisher, who used his elbow throughout
the game to stave off his defender, was finally nailed for doing just
that. However, the T-Birds lost the ball on a walk.
Forced to foul to stop the clock, the strategy worked twice with Zuni
coming up with the rebounds. However, the T-Birds couldn't capitalize,
turning the ball over the first time. The second time, Simplicio drove
the lane and threw up a shot against a double-team. The attempt bounced
off with Hadley Patterson grabbing the board.
He was fouled and sank both free throws to seal the win.
"The kids played well, we had a couple of breakdowns on defense
where they got some easy baskets, that hurt us," Kercher said.
"The boards always hurt us because of our size. But the kids
played as well as they could play and I was proud of them. I
know they're upset right now, anytime you work that hard and give
it everything you've got, it hurts."
"We had a critical call that I thought we got the ball that was
given back to (Ft. Sumner) that I thought should have been our ball.
I think right there we would have had plenty of time to set up an
offensive play to bring it down at the end of the game to try and
go for that last shot. It just didn't happen that way," Kercher
added.
Hooee finished with nine points as nine Zuni players scored.
The Foxes got the bulk of their scoring from Wilcox, Price Carter
(17) and Fisher (11).
Zuni's season ends at 13-9.
"Above and beyond what we thought," Kercher said summing
up the season. "We weren't predicted to win (district). With
the people we had coming back, not to say that they're not good players,
but its not the most talented team that I've had. They're
just a great bunch of guys to coach, they work well together, they
enjoy themselves, it's been fun all season long. "
The Thunderbirds will graduate seven seniors.
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Upset in Aneth, Utah: Oil seeps tap patience
Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer
WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Nation Council delegate Robert Whitehorse
(Aneth/Red Mesa/Mexican Springs chapters) has reported to Navajo EPA
that an apparent oil well rupture and resulting seep near his own
Aneth, Utah, home is causing alarm among community residents.
The seep has surfaced at the Aneth Oil Field within the past month,
adding to the more than 160 spill episodes that have been documented
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency since December 1991. Calvert
Curley, Navajo EPA's Air and Toxics Department director, said the
particular episode involving Whitehorse stems from Exxon/Mobil's McElmo
Creek Unit No. P-20 Well.
The seep is near Sandy Spring, and a water well exists at the base
of the drainage where the seep has occurred. The seep is located about
a quarter-mile upstream of the well...
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Police look for suspect in Grants man's
death
Tara Drolma
Staff Writer
GRANTS — A warrant has been issued for the arrest of James L.
Bell in the slaying of Christopher Pervorse, the former manager of
Bowlin's Bluewater Travel Center and Dairy Queen.
Pervorse was shot six times in the right side on Feb. 13 about 7:30
p.m. after he gave a stranger a ride into Milan. Pervorse was finishing
his shift at the travel center and he was about to leave for Grants
to sing karaoke at a local bar, when he stopped to help the suspect,
whose car would not start. After failing to get the car started, the
man asked Pervorse to give him a ride from the travel center into
a motel in Milan and he agreed.
The first motel at the west end of Milan is the Crossroads Motel and
Pervorse had already been shot when he swerved the truck to a stop
in front of the motel office. The murderer dumped Pervorse onto the
ground and sped away in his new 2001 silver-blue Dodge Ram pickup.
Pervorse died shortly afterward...
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Pat Butler
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Councilman Pat Butler hopes city voters will choose
to look at his experience when they go to the polls March 6.
Butler, now seeking his fourth term as city councilman for district
3, said there still are pressing issues that the City of Gallup
needs to address such as the Navajo-Gallup Water Pipeline, the electrical
contract and proper implementation of the
infrastructure gross receipts tax.
But the 46-year-old councilman stressed that one person cannot do
it alone, that it takes the cooperation of the entire city council
to move the city forward.
He said he believes the city has a very good and experienced council
as it sits...
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George Detorie
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — The driving force behind George Detorie's campaign for
city council is simple he truly believes he can make a difference.
Detorie, who is running for the city council position in District
3, said that in the 30 years he has lived in Gallup the citizens have
been good to him and he wants to give something back.
He said he has gotten to know and gone to bat for a lot of families
in Gallup and therefore views himself as "constituent friendly."
As a retiree, the 71-year-old candidate said he now has the time to
invest to being a city councilman. His overall philosophy is to look
at what is good about Gallup and make it better...
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Kenneth Thomas Jr.
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — What Kenneth Thomas, Jr. lacks in experience, he makes
up for in enthusiasm.
Thomas, who is running for the District 3 city council seat, said
he is running for office because he is a concerned citizen who wants
to see Gallup grow.
After calling the Census Bureau, he said he discovered that the
city only has grown by a little more than 200 people between 1990
and 1999.
The 28-year-old Gallup native blames the lack of population growth
on the city not making an effort to bring bigger businesses into
Gallup and thus failing to draw in more people...
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Deaths
Betty June Garcia
BLUEWATER LAKE — Services for Betty Garcia, 76, will be held
at 11 a.m., Monday, March 5 at Rollie Mortuary. Rev. Gary Bickner
will officiate.
Garcia died March 1 in Gallup. She was born Sept. 1, 1924 in Pecos,
Texas.
Garcia was a member of the Busy Bee Senior Citizens.
Survivors include her husband, Denzil Garica of Bluewater; son, Joe
D. Garica of Continental Divide; daughter, Karen Hubbell of Beggs,
Okla.; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Garcia was preceded in death by her parents, Joe Kyle and Willard
Biggs; sister, Mary Louise Markowitz.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Mateo "Matt" Moretto
GALLUP — Services for Mateo Moretto, 84, will be announced at
a later date.
Moretto died Feb. 28 in Gallup. He was born Dec. 3, 1916 in Demon,
Iowa.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
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