The pleasure of pottery



Tanya Bennett, a potter for two years, enjoys the serenity of being able to work on her pottery outdoors. This week, she was working on several items that will be made in the Navajo etch style. The clay was collected near Continental Divide.

Photo by Craig Robinson

 

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Gallup teen murder victim

Staff Report

GALLUP — A 16-year-old Gallup girl who attended Central High School has been positively identified as an apparent
homicide victim, according to the FBI and New Mexico Office of the Criminal Investigator.

The body of Deirdre Dale was found near Mariano Lake, about 30 miles east of Gallup, on March 3. Dale lived with her parents in a mobile home on Lewann Drive in Gallup. Her body was identified through fingerprints and viewing by family members.

Autopsy results indicated tht Dale died of multiple blunt trauma wounds to the head. She had been deceased for three to five
days when passersby discovered her body.

Dale was last seen alive by neighbors on Feb. 24. She was wearing a black leather jacket, Angel's brand bell bottom jeans, and shiny purple Skechers shoes with thick white soles.

The FBI is continuing its homicide investigation. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call the FBI in Albuquerque,
(505) 224-2000, or the FBI Resident Agency in Gallup, 726-6000.

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Kayenta voters oust Smallcanyon

Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Kennard Smallcanyon, who helped lead an effort to oust Kayenta Unified Superintendent Tommy Yazzie, has been voted off the school board.

In losing Tuesday's recall election and collecting the second-fewest votes among a field of five candidates, Smallcanyon becomes the last of three board members two of them already off the board who led the effort to place Superintendent Tommy Yazzie on administrative leave. The other two board members attempting to oust Yazzie, Daniel Peaches and former board
President Harry Sombrero, were defeated in the Nov. 7 election.

A recall movement began last spring against Smallcanyon, Peaches and Sombrero. More than 400 recall signatures for each of them were received by the July 5 deadline at the Navajo County Recorder's Office.

A total of 371 valid signatures were needed to place their names on the recall ballot. But enough certified signatures came only in Smallcanyon's case, with 381.

Raymond Laughter, who works as a tribal probation department employee in Tuba City, was Tuesday's recall election winner, with 165 votes.

A total of 544 voters cast ballots out of a field of 6,455, according to the Navajo County Elections Office. The election results are scheduled to be certified during the county Board of Supervisors meeting this Monday.

The other four candidates Tuesday, by number of votes received, were: Aaron Bradley, 121, Eugene Charley, 110,
Smallcanyon, 82, and George Sisco, 66. Smallcanyon's four-year board term was set to expire Dec. 31, 2002.

Laughter and Smallcanyon were unavailable for comment Wednesday. Messages were left for them at the Kayenta Unified School District superintendent's office. Also unavailable for comment this week was acting Superintendent William Allsbrooks.

Yazzie, reached Wednesday, said his administrative hearing is scheduled for March 26 in Kayenta. He said he hopes to be
reinstated after all the facts of his case are brought to bear against the school board.

Asked what his reaction was to Tuesday's recall election, Yazzie said people have told them there's "a sigh of relief." Since last spring, he said, when many of the district's top-level administrators were sought for removal by the school board, the Kayenta
Unified district has been marked with "tension."

"People have been indicating that there's really no leadership," Yazzie said.

One of Yazzie's claims against the school board and Allsbrooks is that they have freely discussed the reasons for his "dismissal" outside official board meetings and executive sessions, violating his right to due process.

In an Oct. 31 letter to the school district's attorney from Yazzie's attorney, Kay Hartwell Hunnicutt, Hunnicutt noted that Sombrero made damaging statements in an Aug. 8 Independent story. The story made it appear that Sombrero was officially investigating Yazzie for criminal wrongdoing in Sombrero's official capacity as a tribal criminal investigator, according to
Hunnicutt.

Hunnicutt also mentioned that in an Oct. 12 Independent article, Allsbrooks said that Yazzie had committed 13 offenses, including "misappropriation of district monies." Allsbrooks said that a tribal attorney general investigation, followed by criminal charges, were possible.

On. Oct. 29, Hunnicutt said that Smallcanyon, after talking to Sombrero, published untrue information alleging that Yazzie was having a personal relationship with a female district employee, and that her car was seen at Yazzie's house.

The former school board apparently decided last spring that an administrative shakeup was in order, Yazzie said. In March, Yazzie wrote to Sombrero that he had found out his contract would not be renewed for the coming school year. But Yazzie said he had requested his own evaluation twice from the school board, and had not received one.

Yazzie said he was informed that his evaluation contained the signatures of Smallcanyon, Sombrero and Peaches, but not the remaining two board members. Any meeting involving employee evaluations is to involve the approval of the superintendent, and Yazzie said his exclusion from such a meeting violates the Open Meeting Law.

Since last spring, the district has lost Debbie Turl, curriculum director, and Joe Begay, business manager, whose contracts were not renewed, Yazzie said. He added that Begay later received a settlement from the school board after filing a complaint with the Office of Navajo Labor Relations.

"There were other administrators who left because they didn't think we had a positive group atmosphere," Yazzie said.

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Miners share horror stories

Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

GRANTS — At times Rick Fuller looked as though he would rather be any place but inside the Cibola County Complex Wednesday, explaining a 10-year federal government run-around to the crowd of about 150 angry, sick and sometimes dying uranium workers.

Fuller, the state outreach director, came to Grants for the monthly meeting of the Uranium Workers Council of Western New Mexico to represent U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, and to explain what is happening with the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act.

The act is designed to compensate the sick and dying miners, mill workers and transport workers exposed to radioactive uranium during the massive mining effort while the Cold War raged.

Congress approved the act in 1990. The act provided up to $100,000 compensation to the dying uranium workers. The legislation was not funded for two years and in 1993 compensation began to filter into the system and in May the program
simply ran out of money.

In July 2000, President Bill Clinton signed the RECA Reform Act which extended the compensation to millers and transport workers. Regulations on how to apply are still being written and the total amount of compensation has been increased to
$150,000 plus ongoing medical costs administered through the Department of Justice.

Since then, some uranium workers have been getting IOUs from the government promising payment, but still no money.

Miners brought the yellow ore from deep inside the earth to the surface from the 1940s through the 1970s in New Mexico, Utah
and Colorado. Because of the efforts of the miners, the mill workers and the transport workers, the United States was able to
build a nuclear weapons arsenal to keep enemies at bay.

People worked in the mines, in mills and in transport trucks hauling raw ore and later they began to die of cancers and organ
failures, but the government failed to sound the warning bells about the dangers. Even wives of the workers, washing the
yellow-caked clothes of their husbands, began to fall from diseases similar to those of the men.

Today they are much like many of the people who filed into the Cibola County Complex to hear what Fuller had to say. Some
looked frail, some appeared outright sick, many carried portable oxygen machines and several women came alone because their
husbands were already dead from cancers.

Fuller told them Domenici has got two bills on the table, one titled Senate Bill 448, an entitlement bill, and the other Senate Bill
440, which allocates additional funding for the IOUs.

Fuller said both bills need a letter-writing campaign from the uranium workers and widows telling their stories to a select group
of United States senators and congressmen.

"You people are going to have to write letters to Congress saying that you held up your end, now it is time for Washington,
D.C., to hold up its end," Fuller said, adding that the fight for entitlement is going to be a tough sell in Washington.

Fuller also said the issue should have been funded and fixed years ago, "but it is a big problem."

He asked for questions and got a flood of them, many from angry, sick and scared uranium workers. None of the people gave
their names, only their ire at the government.

One man said, "What amazes me is that Congress is pushing for a tax cut and they have a $1 trillion surplus, and yet, all we're asking for is $84 million."

Another man said he has written letter after letter about the issue. "I've been to several of these meetings and I hear the same thing over and over again ... they say write a letter and then they throw it away."

To that statement one of the women in the crowd asked if the letters are actually read. Fuller assured her on the Senate side all letters are read and even cataloged. "Letters do make a difference," he said.

The big fight, Fuller said, would be the bill calling for entitlement funds. "If the entitlement bill is passed, the DOJ will have no more excuses; they'll get a claim and they will pay it," he added.

Another woman stood when Fuller saw her raised hand to ask a question.

"Do you realize how much this feels like getting slapped in the face," she began. "I've got 50 letters I have written and I am very frustrated about this. This has gone on for years and years and years. I have seen people die ... it's time for something to
be done."

Her words were met with clapping from the people in the room.

Another man said, "The fire they had in Los Alamos, Congress acted quickly to get money to the victims, but not here."

"That's a different set of circumstances," Fuller responded.

"Yeah," the man said. "That was people's stuff and this is people's lives."

Delfine Hicks, wife of miner Paul Hicks, who died last year and who took over as president of the Uranium Workers Council
of Western New Mexico, had a few words too. Her husband, because of the work he did in the RECA movement, became the
namesake of the RECA Reform Act.

"When the money finally came to us, it was too late," she said. "He was too sick to enjoy it."

After some of the statements Fuller offered his apologies on behalf of Domenici. And after still others he asked the people to
bear with the senator and to write the letters. He assured them Domenici is listening and taking action, such as the two Sentate
bills. "We won't be able to fix all of the wrongs, but we will continue to work on them," he said.

The uranium workers completely agreed on a proposal to have Domenici come to Grants for a meeting, and to have the claims
workers from DOJ come as well. "We want them to see the people they are dealing with, not just voices and letters and claims,"
one man said.

Possibly the most touching statement came from a woman whose husband had died.

In a voice choked with emotion and tears she said, "It's hard to watch someone die and not be able to do anything about it. To
watch someone die who has taken care of you for so many, many years ... it's very hard."

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Anderson signs letter of intent

Abelita Rose Freeland
Staff Sports Writer

THOREAU — Thoreau Lady Hawk Melissa Anderson signed her letter of intent to attend LaMar College in LaMar, Colorado on Wednesday evening. The signing took place at Thoreau High School.

Anderson will attended the junior college to play for their volleyball team and for at least two years before transferring to a major university.

Anderson and her mother sent video of her playing volleyball to different colleges, but didn't hear any response until Anderson decided that she would attend LaMar College.

Anderson had thought about another college in Texas, but after she attended a tryout in LaMar she decided that it was the school she wanted to attend and got first hand with the team she will be playing with at the tryouts.

"I am so excited," said senior Melissa Anderson. "I went a few weeks ago and met all the girls and they are all nice and I can't wait."

"I think I am going to miss home at first, but I'll get used to it because I'll have a team and I won't be on my own," she added.
"I am really excited for her," said Linda Anderson. "I think this was a dream of hers to go to college and play volleyball."

"I am going to miss watching volleyball," said Melissa's mother. "But hopefully we will be able to go and watch some of her games."

"I think it is pretty neat," said Melissa's varsity coach Josie Willie about Melissa going to LaMar to play volleyball. "I think she'll do really good. I just wish her luck."

Anderson will go out to LaMar during spring break to workout with her new team and go to a few games.

Although Anderson knows for sure that she will play volleyball, but she is undecided on what field she will study.

Anderson has participated in Thoreau's volleyball program for all four years of high school with three years on varsity. While playing for the Lady Hawks Anderson has been named to the All State second team and first team All District.

Anderson finished her season with 160 kills, 317 solo blocks and 25 aces at service.

Other school activities Anderson has been in involved over her four years in high school were student council, being a student officer, FAA, track and she is has also been able to maintain a 3.3 GPA.

Anderson is the daughter of Linda and Dwayne Anderson of Thoreau.

Sports Briefs

Rodeo meeting

ROCK SPRINGS — The Indian Junior Rodeo Association has rescheduled its Rodeo sponsor's meeting to 6 p.m. March 17 at Rock Springs Chapter House.

For more information, call Shannette Begay at (505)722-5240.

Trailer & saddle roping

TOLANI LAKE, Ariz. — The Rafter W. Classic Trailer and Saddle Roping will be held March 16-18 at the Rafter W. Arena in Tolani Lake, Ariz. Entry Fee is $10 for draw pot roping, $15 for number roping, $20 for open roping and $8 for showdown.
For more information, call Rafter W. Productions at (520)686-6239 or (520)699-5167.

Spring basketball tournament

ALBUQUERQUE — The North American Youth Sports still has openings for their annual spring youth basketball tournament during the week of April 6-8 at Del Norte High School in Albuquerque.

The tournament will feature ten different brackets with fifth and sixth grade boys and girls; seventh grade boys and girls, eight grade boys and girls, ninth and 10th boys and girls and 11th and 12th boys and girls.

Entry fee is $90 with a guarantee of two game. Deadline is March 16. For more information call, Mark Garrigan at (800)787-3265 or Mike Huston at (505)884-2686.

Youth baseball meeting

ST. MICHAELS, Ariz. — The Navajo Capital Youth Baseball League will hold a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, March 16 at the Navajoland Days Inn Conference Room.

For more information, call Michael Smith at (520)871-2525 or Sheryl Sanderson at (520)871-5560.

Sonic League basketball

CHINLE, Ariz. — The CDC Sonic League Basketball will have 10 open men's team, eight inter-department team and six women's team March 18-April 12, Sunday through Thursday at the Chinle High School gym. There will be three weeks of league play and tournament and awards with a 10 player roster. The entry fee is $250 per team.

For more information call, (520)674-8437/9528/2066.

NTUA Shoot out

KAYENTA, Ariz. — The Kayenta NTUA will hold a Corporation Shoot-out March 22-25 at the old Monument Valley High School gym.

The entry fee is $130 per team with a 10 player roster. For more information call (520)697-3617/3574.

Men's open tournament

SANDERS, Ariz. — The Valley High School FFA Chapter will sponsor a men's open basketball tournament March 22-24 at the Sanders Middle School. The entry fee is $150.

For more information call (520)688-2253 between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Jayhawks Classic

UPPER FRUITLAND — The Jayhawks Classic will hold a 16 & under boys and a 12 & under girls basketball tournament March 23-25 at the Walter Collins Center in Upper Fruitland. The entry fee is $150 with a 10 team roster. A $50 deposit is required and original birth certificates.

For more information contact Mike Bekis at (505)598-5828 or (505)330-7129.

15 & under basketball tournament

NAVAJO — The Junior Class of Navajo Pine High School will sponsor a double elimination boy's 15 & under basketball tournament March 24 at Navajo Pine High School. The entry fee is $100 and is limited to a 10 players per team. For more
information call Galen Martinez at (505)777-2288/2371.

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Dog sniffs out cocaine

Andrea Egger Rider
Staff Writer

GALLUP — McKinley County Sheriff's Department drug pooch Voy has been at it again, this time dogging in more than $231,000 of cocaine.

Region II Narcotics Task Force Director Doug McKim of Farmington this morning praised the Gallup office of Region II for officers' "dogged" hard work. "They're doing a bang-up job," McKim said.

Around 4 a.m. Monday, McKim said agents and Sheriff's Deputy George Justice, along with his German shepherd, Voy, busted a Mexican national and a Texas woman with 2314 grams of cocaine, which has an estimated street value of more than $231,000. The agents were using Voy while doing an investigation at the Travel Lodge Motel, 2375 W. Highway 66.

Voy smelled "a drug odor" when agents passed a car at the motel. During a search, they found the cocaine in four packages in a hidden compartment near the engine under the hood of the car...

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Canoncito casino up for review

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Canoncito Band of Navajos has been scrambling this week to round up Navajo Nation Council delegates so they can hear the explanations of the proposed gambling ordinance.

As ordered by the council in January, the Economic Development Committee planned meetings Tuesday, Wednesday and this Monday for the reviews. But apparently some of the agency caucus leaders didn't pass the word on to their delegates, so several groups may end up in the Council Chamber on Monday.

The committee did, however, approve a $150,000 no-interest loan from the Economic Development Division's Business and Industrial Development Fund revolving account, to be repaid over a four-year period beginning the second year after the casino project's completion...

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Deaths

Doris Aitson

ALBUQUERQUE — Services for Doris Aitson, 66, will be held at United Methodist Church, 1800 Red Rock Dr.

Aitson died March 12 in Albuquerque. She was born March 15, 1934, in Crystal.

Aitson attended Rehoboth School and Calvin College. She was employed with the Gallup McKinley County School for 31 years as an educator. She also taught at Rehoboth School. After retiring from Gallup McKinley School District, she taught at Zia School District and Acoma Sky City Community School.

She was a member of the United Methodist Church, Inter-Tribal Cermonial Association, ADK, PEO, KKI and Kiwanis organizations. She volunteered for New Mexico AIDS Services.

Survivors include her daughters, Patty Aitson of Richardson, Texas, and Clarice Roy of Fort Worth, Texas.

Aitson was preceded in death by her husband, Marlin Aitson.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to New Mexico AIDS Services, 625 Truman NE, Albuquerque, N.M. 87110-6472.

Arriana Destiny Armijo

SUNDANCE — Services for Arriana Armijo, infant, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, March 16, at St. Francis Catholic Church. Father Diego Mazon will officiate. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Park.

Armijo died March 13 in Gallup. She was born March 13, 2001, in Gallup for the Edge Water People Clan.

Survivors include her parents, Tony Raymond Armijo of Church Rock and Monique Armijo of Sundance; sister, Alyssiana
Preciosa Armijo; and grandparents, Angie Acevedo of Albuquerque, Chris Acevedo of California, Alice Armijo of Sundance,
Lupe Ramirez of Gallup, Margaret Ramirez of Albuquerque, Richard Ramirez of Gallup and Joe Armijo of Gallup.

Armijo was preceded in death by grandparents, Tony Armijo, Viola Armijo, Catalina Martinez, Herbert Yazzie and Nellie
Yazzie.

Pallbearers will be Chris Acevedo and Joe Armijo.

Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Alice Lucy Begay

KLAGETOH, Ariz. — Services for Alice Begay, 69, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, March 16, at St. Anne Mission, Klagetoh. Father Flann O'Neil will officiate. Burial will follow at Klagetoh Community Cemetery.

Begay was born April 3, 1931, in Klagetoh into the Bitter Water People Clan for the One Who Walks Around You People Clan.
Begay attended school in Fort Defiance, Ariz., and Riverside, Calif. She worked at various cafes, restaurants, did
housekeeping and farming.

Survivors include her husband, Anderson Begay; brothers, Kee Tapaha of Borrego Pass, Joseph Tapaha of Ganado, Ariz.,
Chee Tapaha, Samuel Tapaha and Eddie Tapaha, all of Klagetoh; sister, Mary A. Curly of Klagetoh; and two grandchildren.

Begay was preceded in death by John and Amelis Tapaha.

Pallbearers will be Aaron Tapaha, Peter Curley, Roderick Begay, Johnson Tapaha, Arnold Murphy and Anderson Begay.

The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services at Klagetoh Chapter House.

Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Allison J. Bryant

TOHATCHI — Services for Allison Bryant, 64, will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, March 16, at Tohatchi Catholic Church. Father
Paul Juniet will officiate. Burial will follow at Tohatchi Community Cemetery.

A rosary will be said at 6 p.m. tonight at Cope Memorial Chapel.

Bryant died March 13 in Gallup. He was born Aug. 8, 1936, in Naschitti into the Salt People Clan for the Towering House
People Clan.

Bryant attended school in Stewart, Nev. He was employed in Eureka, Nev., and Rico, Colo., with the mines, as a ranch hand,
and with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Toadlena, which he retired from. After his retirement he was involved in ranching and
livestock. His hobbies included ranching, silversmithing, camping, fishing, hunting and watching movies.

Survivors include his wife, Theresa Bryant of Tohatchi; sons, Rex Bryant Sr. of Farmington, Stanford Bryant of Yah Ta Hey,
and Samson Bryant and Alton Bryant, both of Naschitti; daughter, Yolanda Jones of Mexican Springs; brother, Robert Byrant
of Naschitti; sister, Alice Bryant of Flagstaff, Ariz.; and 24 grandchildren.

Byrant was preceded in death by mother, Emily Johnson, and grandparents, John and Sally Bryant.

Pallbearers will be family members.

The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services at Tohatchi Chapter House.

Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Tom Gleason

NEWCOMB — Services for Tom Gleason, 73, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 17, at Lighthouse Pentecostal Church, Newcomb. Burial will follow at Gleason family cemetery, Newcomb.

Gleason died March 12 in Albuquerque. He was born April 5, 1927, in Newcomb into the Edgewater Clan for the Red House
People Clan.

Gleason was employed with the Union Pacific Railroad and was a rancher.

Survivors include his wife, Nellie K. Gleason of Burnham; son, Johnson Gleason of Flagstaff, Ariz.; daughters, Lena Gleason
of Newcomb, Marcia G. Wauneka of Fort Defiance, Ariz., Lola G. Littlesunday of Flagstaff, and Priscilla G. Littlesunday and
Caroline Gleason, both of Phoenix; 21 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Gleason was preceded in death by his parents, Galeson Begay and Daisy Gleason, and son, Emerson Gleason.

Pallbearers will be Johnson Gleason, Herman Gleason, Homer Gleason Jr., Roland Gleason and Dean Charles.

Petra "Pat" S. Gutierrez

GALLUP — Services for Petra Gutierrez, 75, will be announced at a later date.

Gutierrez died March 13 in Gallup. He was born Oct. 19, 1925, in Navajo.

Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Joe Nelson

ROCK SPRINGS — Services for Joe Nelson, 70, will be announced at a later date.

Nelson died March 12 in Tuba City, Ariz. He was born Aug. 15, 1930, in Rehoboth.

Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.