Keeping fit



Norman Roach, right, and Morris Muskett keep fit by running the treadmill at the Gallup Recreation Center. Roach, a social studies and history teacher at J. F. Kennedy Middle School, and Muskett, a civil engineer, each use the center every day.

Photo by Jerry W. Kelley

Election board asks for trial

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — As expected, the first group of Navajo election supervisors told a Window Rock District Court judge Monday afternoon that they were not guilty of two charges and demanded their right to a jury trial.

Another four members of the now powerless (but still in office) board are expected to enter the same pleas Wednesday afternoon in the same courtroom. They are Eunice Begay, Juliette Largo, Paul Redhouse and Harry D. Brown.

The eight are charged with failure to perform required duties and abuse of office by performing an official act knowing it was illegal.

Two members of the old board were absent from the July 31 meeting that brought about the charges and thus are not defendants in the election cancellation case.

Window Rock District Prosecutor Geraldine Benally and White Collar Crime Unit Attorney John Kern asked Judge LaVerne Johnson for a gag order against the defendants talking to reporters. Benally said that because of the extensive coverage given the controversial case, it might be hard to find an impartial jury.

On Monday Judge Johnson let LeNora Fulton (Johnson), Roy Tso Sr., Jackie Burbank and Jay DeGroat stay out on their own recognizance until pre-trial conferences on April 10 and 12, accepted their demand for jury trials, told the defendants to apply for appointed lawyers or public defenders, and ordered both sides to submit other motions in writing.

In addition to the gag order request, Tso submitted a motion to dismiss, DeGroat asked his trial to be in his home district of Crownpoint, and Burbank wanted the U.S. Justice Department to represent him. Kern said he saw a problem with Burbank's request. Previously board members said they expect the case to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Benally and Kern challenged DeGroat as he asked Johnson questions about the charges, seeking clarification. The prosecutors felt he was trying to argue his case, but drew rebukes from the judge who said she was only answering his questions.

DeGroat said he believes the court doesn't have jurisdiction because the board, acting in its official capacity as an elected body, was covered by the Navajo Nation Sovereign Immunity Act. Johnson told him if he was attacking her jurisdiction he was getting into other matters that would be considered later.

Attorney General Levon Henry's Justice Department, through the Office of Chief Prosecutor Donovan Brown, filed the same two charges against each of the eight in January, about a month after receiving a White Collar Crime Unit report. In August Council Delegate Freddie Howard asked Chief Legislative Counsel Steve Boos if the board broke any criminal laws, thus launching the investigation. Less than three weeks later Henry denied an investigation was being done.

The complaints seek a year in jail for each defendant, a fine of $3,700 from each, removal from office of the five still in office (Fulton, Tso, Burbank, Brown and Largo), and repayment (as a group) of the alleged cost of the aborted election, $153,189.

Each agency elects two board members for a four-year term. When the council stripped the board of its powers, it could not kick the members off the board because they, like the council, are elected.

However, the council temporarily shifted the board's hearing election protests to the Office of Hearings and Appeals and recently made that move permanent. The council's Inter-Government Relations Committee took over the rest of the duties until the 2000 chapter-level elections are concluded, including any appeals decided by the Navajo Supreme Court.

Delegates recently turned down a move to turn most of the board's remaining duties over to the election staff, but did approve filling vacancies by appointment rather than election, to save money.

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State tests at schools mired in controversy

Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — County students begin taking their CTBS tests today amidst a variety of rumors, charges of favoritism, and threats of boycotts.

The situation has become so inflamed that school officials wrote a memo to all district principals outlining who would and would not be taking the test, which stands for the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, and whose test results will not be sent to the state to become part of the district's official test scores.

The test, which takes three or four days to complete, is the major assessment tool of the district, although school officials have been publicly critical of it because of what they call its inappropriateness for this area and culture.

For example, one question centers around a student's knowledge of what an escalator is. Since there are no escalators in or around Gallup or the Navajo Reservation, school officials question just how fair it is for students here to be tested on something that is more appropriate for big city students.

More than a dozen students have called in messages to the Gallup Independent in the last four days, claiming that the district in order to push up their test averages plans to allow students who are expected to do poorly on the test to sit it out and play basketball in the gym instead.

They also claimed that students who do take the test and do poorly will not be promoted at the end of the school year, leading to a number of students talking about a boycott in the belief that they are better off just not taking the test.

In actuality, say school officials, these and other rumors that have been spreading throughout the district in recent days contain equal parts of truth and falsehoods.

At the center of this controversy is the district's new retention policy which has resulted in letters being sent by the district to thousands of parents last month warning that their child may be retained if his or her test scores are low.

The policy is based on legislation approved by the New Mexico State Legislature last year, legislation that has caused so much anguish and confusion in various school districts that there are attempts going on in the legislature to amend the law.

Esther Macias, director of secondary curriculum for the school district, is co-chairwoman of a task force created by the district several months ago to draw up various retention proposals.

On Monday, she wrote a memo to all district principals, outlying the policy that district officials finally decided on Friday.

The policy calls all students, except high school seniors, to take the test.

However, not all the scores will be turned into the state. These include those students who enrolled after the 40th day of the year and those are considered to have problems in the English language because it is not their primary language. Instead, these scores will be kept internally by the district to be used to assess the student's learning skills.

What happens next?

School Superintendent Robert Gomez said Monday that it's still uncertain what will happen to students who don't take the test over the next three weeks.

The Tiger Times, the student newspaper for Gallup Junior High, which came out Monday, was blunt. It's top headline stated: Miss the test and you'll be retained.

However, that apparently isn't the case.

In actuality, the CTBS scores that students receive will not be the sole criteria in determining whether a student will or will not be retained. Macias said that the district will also take into consideration scores on other tests, grades, performance and other things deemed important by the district and the school.

And, although school officials are not saying it publicly, students who, for one reason or another, do not take the test will not automatically be retained.

Instead, makeup tests will be allowed if they are completed by the deadline later this month. It also appears likely that if a student does not take the test, the district will factor into other grades, test scores and performance to decide whether the student will be retained.

Tom Payton, president of the McKinley County teachers' union, sharply criticized Gomez and other school officials for trying to use "scare tactics" to get students to take the test.

The district, he said, has been very successful in convincing students and parents that not taking the test will have a profound effect on whether they will be promoted next year.

However, all of this could backfire on the district, he said, because students will be coming into the test so nervous that their test scores will suffer. And if this happens, the district's test scores overall will suffer.

Most of the calls to the Independent over the past few days have centered around what will or will not happen at Gallup Junior High, which is where the rumors started that students with low English skills would be allowed to play basketball while the other students take the test.

Principal's response

James Cammon, the school's principal, said district officials were considering a plan in the middle of last week that would result in English-deficiency students not taking the test.

Gomez said at Monday's meeting that state law allows districts to exclude these students from taking the test and discussions centered around allowing these students to go elsewhere while other students took the test.

At Gallup Junior High, there was discussion of what to do with the more than 300 students who would not be required to take the test.

Putting them in the cafeteria was discussed but school officials decided it could be too disruptive so plans centered around sending them to the gymnasium for the three days that other students were taking the test.

There were discussions about having the students play or watch basketball in order to have them occupied while in the gym.

These plans were discarded, however, when district officials decided that everyone would take the test.

What has not been discarded are plans by Gallup Junior High and various other schools in the district to provide incentives to students who do take the test.

A number of schools, as they have in past years, are working with area merchants to provide students with coupons for free movies or pizzas, among other things, if they take the test.

Cammon said he looks on these incentives as rewards to the students instead of bribes, pointing out in previous years that school averages are usually higher by as much as 9 percent at schools that provide incentives.

"What we are saying here to students is take the test and do your best," he said, adding that it is in the best interest of any student at his school or any other school in the district to take the test.

Macias agrees, saying this test is the best way the district has in determining just where the student is having problems and what needs to be done to correct these problems.

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Murdered Milan man's truck found

Tara Drolma
Staff Writer

GRANTS — Police officers in Hemet, Calif., have found the pickup truck that belonged to Christopher Pervorse, who was murdered Feb. 13. Still at-large is James L. Bell, who is charged with the murder.

Milan Police Sgt. Jerry Stephens said an officer from Hemet stopped four people who were in the 2001 silver-blue Dodge Ram pickup at a liquor store. The officers did a check on the truck and found it was stolen and there is a warrant for Bell's arrest.
Bell had loaned the truck to friends and they told officers where they could find him. When officers went to the house, Bell was gone.

The Milan Police Department issued a warrant Friday for Bell's arrest in the shooting. Bell was having car trouble and Pervorse gave him a ride from Bowlin's Travel Center and Dairy Queen, where he was manager, into Milan. On the way into Milan, Bell shot Pervorse six time in the right side, dumped his body on the ground at the Cross Roads Motel and stole the truck.

Officers got their first break Friday when they learned Pervorse's credit cards had been used in Hemet and Temecula in California. Milan sent out an updated teletype to those cities and to all law enforcement agencies in San Diego and San Bernardino counties notifying them of the warrant.

Hemet Police Sgt. Kevin Caskey Officer B. Behringer was doing a routine patrol on the main street of Hemet, a city of 75,000, on Friday night when he observed the 2001 silver-blue pickup in the parking lot of a liquor store. There were two women in the front seat of the truck and two men in the back seat.

Behringer stopped the truck because he noticed it was a new truck that had a New Mexico temporary registration in the rear window, but it had no license plates.

The police report indicated Behringer asked for permission to search the vehicle and the occupants allowed him to. Caskey said the officer found four grams of marijuana under the rear seat and a 9 mm pistol under the driver's seat. The subjects were detained and charged with possession of a controlled substance.

At this point the officer, who did not realize there was a stop and arrest order for the vehicle, called in the vehicle number. After about 40 minutes the results of the check came back and the officer learned the car had been involved in a homicide and was stolen.

The driver told police Bell had loaned him the truck to go to the store. After being questioned, the occupants of the truck told police where they could find Bell.

Caskey said officers considered using a swat team to approach the apartment at 480 W. Minister in Hemet, but decided against it because it was quicker to send in a patrolman. However, Bell was gone when they got to the house. The report said Bell had been staying with his family, but it is not clear whether the apartment belongs to his parents.

Out-of-state registration checks often take a long time, Caskey said. Caskey speculated Bell might have become suspicious when his friends did not return from the store after a few minutes.

The gun was a 9 mm blue steel pistol that was manufactured by Taurus. Caskey said the officer handled it with gloves to preserve it as evidence. The pistol has a 15-round capacity and it was fully loaded with one cartridge in the chamber. The officer found a box of ammunition in the back seat with four cartridges in it. The box originally held 20 cartridges so officers assumed the gun had been loaded from this box.

Stephens said his department did not know what caliber gun was used in the shooting.

Caskey said the department is holding the truck and the gun for Milan Police. He said his department really wants to catch Bell and they have sent posters with his picture, description, and a synopsis of the crime to all of the law enforcement agencies in the area. The information has also been entered into a computer system called TRAKS that makes the bulletin available to any
agency that uses the system

A reporter with the Hemet Bureau of The Press Enterprise for Riverside said she found there were six or seven outstanding warrants for Bell's arrest, but all of them were for minor traffic incidents and failure to appear in court. In August a warrant was
issued for failure to appear in a case involving driving with a suspended license.

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Athletes of the week

Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer

The Athletes of the Week for the week of Feb. 26- Mar. 5 are Kirtland Central Lady Bronco Jamie Tanner and Navajo Prep Lady Eagle Vanessa Francis.

Tanner helped the Kirtland Lady Broncos win the girls basketball state championship this weekend in Las Cruces, the school's 14th girls basketball state title.

Tanner scored 21 points in the championship game against district rival Farmington, and in the semi final game scored 17 points against Espanola Valley.

"Surprised," was how Tanner said she felt when she found out she was picked for the Athlete of the Week. "It feels good."

Tanner, a senior at Kirtland Central High School, said that going into the season she wanted to play good defense and be a leader on the team.

"A team goal was to win district, regionals and state," she said.

At the beginning of the season, Tanner said that there were a few things the team needed to work on, but they improved. "I think the team improved tremendously," she said. "We reached all of our goals."

Tanner pointed out that scoring was not the only part of the game, but defense as well. "I wanted to do a good job on defense. The scoring will come, but I wanted to perform well on defense."

One of Tanner's main concerns this year was hr leadership, she said.

The toughest games of the season, Tanner said, came in regionals against Artesia and in the state tournament, where she said she thinks she had her best game of the season against Farmington.

"I think my best game was against Farmington," she said. "I also thought the team did really good against Farmington. They are always pumped to play us and we try and have class when we play them. The team really likes to play Farmington."

Tanner said that she is pretty sure she will be going to Dixie College in Utah after graduation, attending on a basketball scholarship.

She said she is undecided on a major but wants to go into the medical field.

Francis helped get the Lady Eagles to the state championship game, where they fell to defending state champion Texaco.

Francis scored 27 points in Prep's first round 61-47 win over Hatch and then poured in 11 points in the semi final game against Ft. Sumner. In the championship game Francis was held to three points, but still grabbed five rebounds.

"I think it is an honor," said Francis of being selected Athlete of the Week.

At the start of the season, Francis set two goals: "Be the best captain I could be and to win the state championship."

Francis said she thinks she did a lot better this year than in her previous two year playing for the Lady Eagles.

Francis played at Farmington her freshman year, and then transferred to Navajo Prep in her junior year.

"I didn't get much playing time my freshman year," she said. "Last year I was a started when I transferred."

Francis credited her head coach, Robert Adams, for making her a better player. "Adams made me more aggressive. When I first started here he said I was too prissy and helped to make me more aggressive."

Only a junior, Francis will be returning next year and thinks she will have to be more of a leader. "We will have a young team next year, there will only be two seniors on the team."

Francis said next year she wants to make the state finals again and be a contender.

Besides basketball, Francis also played on the volleyball team and plays on the softball team. She said she would like to run track too, but does not know if she will be able to play two sports and handle a job at the same time.

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More Hopi students to learn in D.C.

Stan Bindell
Special to the Independent

POLACCA, Ariz. — Thanks to two grants totaling $36, 364, Hopi Junior/Senior High School has expanded its Close Up program this year.

The Close Up Foundation is a non-profit government studies organization where the nation's capital becomes the students' classroom. The participating students meet with federal policy makers including congressmen and members of the federal bureaucracy to see what goes on behind the scenes.

The students will hear speeches by experts in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government as well as by lobbyists and members of the news media.

In past years, Hopi High has sent about six students each year to be involved with this national program...

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El Morro Theater donated to Catholic School Foundation

Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Gallup's oldest theater has a new owner.

Officials for the Gallup Catholic School Foundation announced last week that the El Morro Theater has been donated to the group by the Richard Kauzlaric family.

"This is a terrific gift," said Liz Sparks, director of the foundation which was formed several years ago to raise funds to help Gallup Catholic School.

Allen Theaters, which has been operating the theater for the past several months, will continue to lease the building to show first-run films. The theater chain signed a three-year lease last year with options to renew. Before that El Morro operated for more than a decade as a second-run and community theater...

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Deaths

Mateo "Matt" Moretto

GALLUP — Services for Mateo "Matt"Moretto, 84, will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 7, at the First Methodist Church. The Rev. Jeff Symonds will officiate. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Cemetery-Elks Section.

Visitation will be at held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. today, March 6, at Rollie Mortuary.

Moretto died Feb. 28 in Gallup. He was born Dec. 3, 1916, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Moretto was a member of the Elks Lodge 1440. He was past president of the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial
Association. He was the former owner of Riccas Mercantile and part owner of M&M Sewing Center.

Survivors include his wife, Marjorie Moretto of Gallup; daughters, Lynn Davidson of Flagstaff and Rhonda Trujillo of Gallup;
brother, James Moretto of Bremen, Idaho; sisters, Priscilla Reddick of Pensacola, Fla., Rose Beaumont, Josephine Troy and
Jennie Carpenter, all of Albuquerque; nine grandchildren and one great-grandchildren.

Moretto was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph and Jennie Moretto, and daughter, Barbara J. Moretto.

Pallbearers will be Edward Canete, Adelfio P. Fronterotta, Dennis Griego, Jerry Guillen, Riley Johnson Jr., John McBreen and
Darrell Olson.

Memorial contributions can be made to RMCHCS-Home Health, 650 Vandenbosch Dr., Gallup, N.M. 87301.

Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Tony Albert Yazzie

SUNRISE, Ariz. — Services for Tony Yazzie, 65, will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 7, at the Ganado Presbyterian Church, Ganado, Ariz. The Rev. Paul Stone will officiate. Burial will follow in the family plot, Sunrise.

Yazzie was born March 3, 1936, in Sunrise Spring, Ariz., into the Start of the Red Streak People Clan for the Towering Rock People Clan.

Yazzie attended school in Riverside, Calif. He was employed as a painter for the Ganado Mission and as a carpenter with the
Navajo Housing Authority. His hobbies included attending Beauty Way ceremonies, watching western movies and wrestling.

Survivors include his daughters, Shirley Chee, Alison R. Wilson and Tonita H. White, all of Ganado, Darlene Bia of
Kinlichee, Ariz., Barbara Yazzie of Sunrise, Tina L. Yazzie and Laverna Yazzie, both of Phoenix, and Dorothea Yazzie and
Tonia Yazzie, both of Steamboat, Ariz.; mother, Mary Alice Yazzie; brothers, Mark Yazzie, Henry Albert Yazzie and Leo
Yazzie, all of Sunrise and Jimmy Willams of Kayenta, Ariz.; sister, Irene Yazzie of Sunrise; 30 grandchildren and three great-
grandchildren.

Yazzie was preceded in death by his father, Hosteen Yazzie, and brother, Cecil Yazzie.

Pallbearers will be Leo Yazzie, Hardy Cleveland, Henry Albert Yazzie, Raymond Friday, Orvis Chee and Travis White.

The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services at Mary Alice Yazzie residence in Sunrise.

Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Debroah L. Begay

COYOTE CANYON — Services for Deborah L. Begay, 30, will be announced at a later date.

Begay died March 3. She was born March 11, 1970, in Gallup.

A family meeting will be held at 6 p.m. tonight at the Coyote Canyon Chapter House.

Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.