BIA to hear Pine Springs complaints
Students' civil rights an issue
Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer
GALLUP — The Bureau of Indian Affairs' top Indian Education
administrator from Washington is scheduled to be at the Pine Springs
BIA Day School today to discuss community concerns.
Today's meeting is set for 1 p.m. Scheduled to attend is William
Mehojah, director of the Office of Indian Education, Bureau of
Indian Affairs. Also expected is Beverly Crawford, a BIA educational
line officer with the Fort Defiance Agency.
President Wayne Wilson of the non-profit Pine Springs (Ariz.)
Association, during a Tuesday interview with the Independent,
said students' civil rights are being violated. Pine Springs Day
School has five teachers and about 100 students in kindergarten
through fourth grades. Pine Springs is a small community about
a 15-minute drive north of Houck.
Wilson said the Pine Springs Associaton's beef with the BIA is
a racial discrimination issue, stemming from the school's failure
to provide a program for students with limited English proficiency
as required under federal law.
"In fact, the school at this time has no curriculum at all,"
Wilson said.
Aided by his wife, Jennifer, who attends Northern Arizona University
in Flagstaff, the Wilsons have compiled a mass of documents regarding
the association's complaints. They have been recorded since last
fall.
Their records show that according to the Castaneda v. Pickard
case decided by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit,
a three-pronged test determines the meaning of "appropriate
action" as provided in the Equal Education Opportunity Act
of 1974: a program based on an accepted educational or experimental
theory; school implementation consistent with a chosen educational
theory; and a program that produces results in overcoming language
barriers.
Acting on behalf of the Pine Springs Association, Wilson brought
the issue before the U.S. Department of Education's Office on
Civil Rights. The first contact was made in early January.
"They determined it is out of their jurisdiction," he
said.
The group was later informed that the complaint must be handled
by the Department of the Interior's Office for Equal Opportunity.
The Wilsons said that their ideal solution would be for Pine Springs
BIA Day School to become a charter school permissible under Arizona
law that would work through a grant-partnership arrangement with
Northern Arizona University. NAU has a branch that specializes
in bilingual and English as a Second Language education, and has
assisted other Native American tribes, including the White River
Apache.
Lack of a program for limited English proficient students isn't
the only failing duty of the BIA in Pine Springs, Wilson said.
The northeast-bound road to Pine Springs from Houck, which is
just off Interstate 40, is not paved, which is a BIA responsibility,
he said.
The four-member school board has members who come from Sanders,
Houck, Wide Ruins and Querino but not from Pine Springs, Wilson
said. The attitude of the board "pretty much pushes the community
away." What's worse, the school board doesn't meet in Pine
Springs, instead convening in Sanders, Houck and Lupton.
"Some parents are sending their kids to Sanders Elementary
due to the way they're treated," he said.
What's more, the community is never allowed to use the school
for any events, as it used to. The one exception is only to allow
Mehojah's appearance, Wilson said. Pine Springs Association members
are forced to meet in a metal building that was part of the old
chapter grounds. The Pine Springs Chapter was dissolved in the
1980s.
"They claim it's due to a lack of insurance," he said
of the no-use policy.
Other issues raised by the Pine Springs Association are:
Whether students are bused in to meet an enrollment quota. No
one has clearly defined the school's boundaries.
The school has running water, while the community has existing
pipes in place but no running water to go with it.
Community members are not allowed to tap into the school system.
No access to waste disposal.
A community fire station sits unused. Meanwhile, a few weeks ago,
a family's home was destroyed because the response
time from Sanders was 45 minutes. Once on the scene, a water tower
nearby had no water available, and firefighters were unable to
tap into the school.
Two toxic waste sites near the school need abatement, one a former
sheep dip trough at the old Pine Springs Trading Post in which
the since-banned chemical toxaphene was used. Residents fear it
may have seeped into area ground water.
"All of this relates back to the BIA," Wilson said.
"That (trading post) was a BIA business site lease."
| Top |
Radio company buys bank building, gets
more room
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — In 1999, George Malti realized that it was time for
a change at Millennium Media.
The radio broadcasting company which oversaw the operation of three
FM stations and one AM station needed a new home.
And after leasing space since 1977, the time had come for the station
to own its own facility.
The home of the company at 405 S. Second had been becoming more and
more cramped in recent years as the stations continued to grow.
"And we began to realize that the space we had wasn't very efficient
for our operation," Malti said last week from his new offices
over the Wells Fargo Bank.
After a long search, Malti decided to buy the bank building (the bank
is still there, but as a renter now) and put in some major bucks renovating
the second floor to create, in Malti's words, a better working atmosphere
for station employees.
Although he could have moved anywhere in the city, Malti said he wanted
to stay downtown, partly because he wanted the news operation to be
close to city and county government offices. He said he also felt
he had an obligation to remain in the downtown area if at all possible.
"We believe in Gallup downtown," he said. "These businesses
downtown are vital to the economy of Gallup and by staying here, we
hope to indicate our belief that downtown Gallup will continue to
be a vital part of the area's economy."
He also likes the fact that moving to the bank building eliminated
a major parking problem for station employees and customers, who had
to compete in the old place with people wanting to go to the public
library or to the county courthouse.
Dale Dedrick, manager of the Wells Fargo Bank, said officials at the
bank's corporate headquarters had made a decision to sell many of
the bank branches throughout the country and become renters, although,
in some cases, like the bank facility in Zuni, the bank will still
own its own building.
Malti said the move effectively doubled the area available for the
stations.
"We had 3,800 square feet at the old place but only about 3,500
was usable. We have 7,000 square feet here," he said.
The extra footage allowed the architecture firm hired by Malti Vann
H. Gilbert of Albuquerque to provide for a lot of space in the center
of the office for a reception area with the offices and various broadcast
and programming stations on either side.
The station even had a local carpentry buff, Terry Clinton, build
new consoles for each of the four stations, using a Southwestern motif.
The result, as Malti says on the half dozen or so tours he has been
giving daily of the new station to Gallupians since moving, has given
the station something it never has had before a feeling of "light
and air."
Eddie Scott Yazzie, a program director and disc jockey for the station,
said employees immediately reacted positively to the change.
"We can now see some beautiful orange sunsets out of our windows
facing to the west," he said. "It really gets us in the
mood for our evening broadcasts."
He said he also noticed a change in the attitude of employees.
"It's due to the atmosphere here," he said. "Employees
enjoy coming to work everyday now."
Listeners who tune in to Malti's weekly show on Friday mornings on
KYVA know that his radio persona is that of a man who looks at everything
about Gallup in a positive light.
But off the air, Malti is even more pro-Gallup, saying he has never
regretted for an instant his decision some 15 years ago to give up
a growing law firm in San Francisco to run what many of his colleagues
in California probably thought was a rinky-dink radio station in a
rinky-dink town.
"They couldn't believe it when I came up to them in 1986 and
said I was retiring," Malti said. "They asked when and I
said today."
The move to the new headquarters, he said, just reinforces in his
mind that the decision back then to stop running the radio station
as a sideline was a good one.
He admitted, however, that there was one aspect of the move that he
and the others worried about: How long would the radio stations be
off the air during the move?
Although the actual move was only a couple of blocks, it was a major
technological challenge as the equipment for the various radio stations
were located in various places in the old building and was going to
be put in one central place in the new.
This meant miles and miles of cable and wires through the offices
and broadcast booths.
Keith Desautels, the station's chief engineer, agreed that until they
flipped the switches to turn on the stations at the new site, no one
knew for sure whether the move would be successful.
The move occurred in late February over a three-night span with the
stations being off for only about two hours usually in the 2-4 a.m.
period.
"Fortunately for us," Desautels said, "everything went
smoothly."
Malti admitted that this meant a lot of long nights for station employees
and although there were a couple of hangups in getting the stations
back on the air, the move was relatively painless.
"Everyone is happy to be here and hopefully, this move will allow
us to bring better service to our listeners and allow us to continue
to grow," he said.
| Top |
New Cibola panel tackles jail dilemma
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — Why Cibola County sold its old jail to a private company
and now wants to build a new jail to keep inmate costs in check is
a question begging for an answer.
And since it appears sales taxes are going to pay for most of the
new jail, the need for answers is becoming even more
pressing.
Some explanations were given recently at a committee of community
experts called together to find the best way to ease Cibola County
into building a new jail.
The committee is called Cibola County Criminal Justice Coordinating
Council and it is a direct result of a study requested by the county
and funded with a federal grant.
Attending the meeting were: Jeff Smith, adult probation officer; Camille
Olguin, district judge; Larry Frank with Grants State Bank; Grants
Police Lt. Steve Bell; Walter Topp, Cibola General Hospital administrator;
Mary Lundstrom, Milan municipal judge; Lt. Tom Dodson, New Mexico
State Police; Manuel Lujan, Cibola County sheriff; Wesley Martin,
assistant Grants municipal judge; Lee Alcon, magistrate judge; Ted
Howden, Thirteenth Judicial District Cibola County chief deputy district
attorney; and Bob Ortiz, Cibola County manager.
Ortiz called the jail situation "critical."
The county's contract with Corrections Corporation of America ends
this month. CCA does not want to be the county's long-term inmate
facility any longer, but company officials say the firm is willing
to talk about allowing county inmates at the
facility until Cibola County has a jail of its own.
Ortiz said CCA officials at the company headquarters in Nashville,
Tenn., have a contract proposal in hand.
Cibola County's inmate costs are almost doubling and to handle some
of the overflow, the county sends some inmates to McKinley County.
CCA's Cibola County Corrections Center in Milan has become almost
exclusively a federal facility.
Jail business
During the committee meeting several members shed some light on what
happened to the old jail.
Bell said the city of Grants maintained a jail, which was the only
one in Cibola County until the county got into the jail business in
1994. At that time the county built a 35-bed jail facility along with
another 301-bed facility to house inmates from other counties willing
to pay the price.
Ortiz said Cibola County went into the jail business with what was
supposed to be a "done deal" and promise from Gov. Bruce
King.
Howden said the county had a written understanding from King stating
that inmates from other parts of the state would be sent to the Cibola
County facility in Milan.
Ortiz said, "It was built into the design that the county could
market the beds."
Howden said the primary reason for Cibola County building a facility,
completed in 1994, was to offer employment for residents, "Not
to make money for the county." That was the deal Cibola County
set up with King, but then after the jail was built, something happened.
King's administration went by the wayside and a new governor, Gary
Johnson, stepped into the Roundhouse and things changed dramatically.
Johnson favored, and still does favor, a private prison system, which
put Cibola County into a predicament.
Ortiz said the county did not have the kind of expertise it needed
to properly market jail beds and the business which was supposed to
be a county asset suddenly became a huge liability.
"Our jail was losing money and we were going in debt," Ortiz
said.
In 1997, the county commission decided to get out of the jail business.
CCA enters scene
About that time CCA came on the scene and bought the facility from
Cibola County, along with a contract allowing the county to house
inmates in the original 35 beds. Ortiz said Cibola County made $500,000
off the deal, which Howden added was simply placed into the cost of
running county government.
In 1999, CCA landed a lucrative federal contract to house foreign
prisoners for up to five years and suddenly the private prison no
longer wanted county inmates to be housed in the facility. CCA also
added a huge jail expansion which more than doubled the inmate carrying
capacity
With inmate costs spiraling almost out of control each year, county
officials decided something, such as building a new county jail, had
to be done to have better control over inmate housing costs. Cibola
County today is in the position of investigating the possibility of
building another jail.
| Top |
Lady Bengals lack offense in loss
Abelita Rose Freeland
Staff Sports Writer
GALLUP — The Gallup Lady Bengals couldn't pull through offensively
to beat West Mesa in a 1AAAAA district game on Tuesday afternoon at
the Gallup Sports Complex.
The Lady Mustangs were able to hold on to a 3-2 win over Gallup, with
Bengal Carla Paredes being the only hitter for Gallup, going 2-for-4
with two singles.
Gallup had two opportunities to score in the third and fourth inning
with bases loaded but the Lady Bengals just couldn't hit the ball.
"Defensively we played a hell of a game," said Bengal coach
Marty Alderete. "But we couldn't get a hit when we need it. The
bases were loaded twice and runners in scoring possession twice."
"We have to pull these close games out and we haven't been able
to do it right now. The girls are upset and they had their chances
but its just a matter of pushing the runs across," Alderete said.
In the third inning, Ara Green led off with a walk on balls and Paredes
had a single to the pitcher throwing out Green.
Melinda Alderete took her base on balls, but Natalia Reeder stuck
out swinging and Jennifer Christiansen was walked to load the bases.
Bengal Socorro Herrera grounded out to second base on a play to first
to hold Gallup 3-1.
The Lady Bengals held West Mesa in the fourth inning with Paredes
grabbing a line drive from Regina Martinez, Amanda Aragon striking
out swinging and Andrea Maestas flying out to shortstop.
Gallup came up with Brandie Olivar striking out looking and Anna Antonio
grounding out to second for the first two outs.
Susie Matsutani, Green and Paredes were all walked one at a time to
load the bases again.
Alderete battled at the plate before finally being walked to walk
in Matsutanie. Bengal Reeder left the bases loaded by striking out
looking, with Gallup trailing 3-2.
Both teams were held in the fifth inning and Gallup held West Mesa
in the sixth.
The Lady Mustangs ended up holding Gallup in the sixth with Antonio
and Matsutani both striking out. Green took base on balls and Paredes
had a single.
An illegal pitcher by the Mustangs advanced the runners to second
and third for scoring possessions, but a fly to left field by Alderete
left two running on base for the third out.
Lady Bengal Alderete was able to get her team out of the seventh inning
with three straight strikeouts with two looking.
Bengal Reeder was placed on first with a base on balls in the seventh
inning and Christiansen flew out to first base for the first out.
A hit to the pitcher by Herrera put West Mesa in a double play situation
to throw out Reeder and Herrera for the win.
The Mustangs scored two of their runs in the second inning with Tafoya
on base from a single and a double from Michelle Pettos brought in
Tafoya.
Justine Scharader was hit by the ball and Ginnette Petroncelli, Martinez
and Aragon were all walked to bring in Pettos before Maestas stuck
out swinging.
"West Mesa is one of the better teams and our district is going
to be tough, but we played with Cibola and now we played
West Mesa and the girls now they can play with these team," coach
Alderete said.
"It's a learning experience and until we can pull one of these
games out it's going to be hard on the girls," Alderete added.
Alderete took the lost with nine strikeouts, five walks and six hits.
Gallup had no errors.
Maestas took the win with four strikeouts, 10 walks and two hits.
Montoya came in to save the game with four strikeouts, three walks
and on hit.
The Lady Bengals (1-2 in district) will play in Rio Rancho on Saturday
in another district game.
| Top |
Ex-tribal captain gets prison term
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Former Navajo Law Enforcement Capt. Billy Fred
Hillgartner will spend 2 years in prison after a federal judge imposed
an extended sentence for obstruction of justice, abusing a trust position
and the planning involved in stealing more than $100,000 of a federal
grant from an impoverished reservation community.
A U.S. jury found him guilty Nov. 21 of two charges of wire fraud
and one charge of attempted wire fraud for his personal use of a $150,000
national Community Oriented Policing Services grant for the Navajo,
N.M., townsite.
Judge LeRoy Hansen also sentenced Hillgartner to repay $102,000, according
to U.S. Attorney Norman C. Bay in Albuquerque. Under U.S. law, he
could have been fined $750,000 and sentenced to 15 years behind bars...
| Top |
Grants parents support girls' coach
Tara Drolma
Staff Writer
GRANTS — Two parents protested what they say is the unfair treatment
of the girls' basketball coach at Grants High School.
The parents brought their protests to the Grants-Cibola County School
Board meeting Tuesday night.
It was the second time Walter Meech had asked the board to look into
the matter.
At the last board meeting, he told the board he had seen the evaluation
for Coach Al Torske that was done by Principal Joe Dominguez and he
said, "It looks like a hatchet job." He told the board some
of the marks on the evaluation were not true...
| Top |
Truck kills teen
Navajo cops seek driver
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — A 13-year-old Burnside Junction girl became the
10th pedestrian killed this year by a vehicle on the Navajo Reservation
and the second to die at the highway junction where Ganado High
School is located.
In separate incidents, a 24-year-old Many Farms Chapter man on foot
died when hit by a vehicle at the Many Farms Chapter House, and
a 33-year-old Wood Springs man was crushed to death when a mobile
home fell off a jack onto him.
The 13-year-old girl and her 34-year-old mother, whose identities
Navajo police withheld, were walking along Arizona Route 264 from
the Thriftway store at the junction with U.S. 191 about five miles
west of Ganado shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday when an unidentified
white pickup truck hit them and fled...
| Top
|
Chamber pulls out of Native American Day
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Native American Day has lost its sponsor.
The Gallup Chamber of Commerce has decided not to sponsor this year's
event, saying that it has grown too expensive and that it is becoming
harder and harder to find volunteers willing to help put on the
event.
Perry Null, a member of the chamber board of directors, said the
chamber had no choice but to cut back on its programs this year.
"We took a poll of businesses in the area and discovered that
the money would not be there to do all that we have done in the
past," he said...
| Top
|
Delegates upset with Skrelunas
Division head misses meetings
Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer
WINDOW ROCK — Navajo tribal delegates appear increasingly upset
at the absence of Economic Development Division Director Tony Skrelunas
from Economic Development Committee meetings.
The issue may surface later this week when EDC members meet in Window
Rock, just as it did Friday when the committee held its weekly meeting
in Montezuma Creek, Utah. Skrelunas did not attend, but was scheduled
to give presentations on four agenda items: the proposed Interstate
40 Road King truck stop project in Navajo, Ariz., a number of planned,
ongoing projects in Shiprock, projects slated for Chinle, Ariz.,
and an update on a trust land leasing issue.
Three of those issues were postponed by the committee. Dave DeVore,
Shiprock Regional Business Development Office's new program manager,
filled in to give the status of that chapter's projects. Later at
Friday's meeting, Economic Development's Ed Richards came to observe
discussions...
Tuba City, Zuni softball teams pick
up wins
Staff report
TUBA CITY, Ariz. — Tuba City downed Greyhills 9-6 in the opening
game to improve to 2-0 in conference play. Only the opening games
are counted as a conference game.
The Warriors pushed four runs in the third inning to grab a 5-2
lead. The Knights rallied to trail 7-6 but the Warriors scored once
in the bottom of the fifth and added two more runs in the sixth
to win, 9-6.
Tuba City senior starting and winning pitcher James Justice pitched
four innings and allowed three runs on three hits. Justice struck
out eight, walked two and hit one batter. Sophomore Carl Tunney
came on in relief and pitched one and a third innings and allowed
three runs on no hits. Tunney walked four. Sophomore Rudy Preston
finished the game and did not give up a run and allowed two hits.
Preston fanned one and did not walk a batter...
| Top
|
Deaths
Dallas Roberts Belone
TOHATCHI — Services for Dallas Belone, 20, will be held 11 a.m.
Thursday, April 5, at First Baptist Church, 2112 College Dr., Gallup.
Jim Bostic will officiate.
Belone died March 31 in Tohatchi. He was born Dec. 13, 1980, in Gallup
into the Water Edge People Clan for the Mountain Cove Clan.
Belone is a 1998 graduate of Central High School. He was a silversmith.
Survivors include his wife, Carrie Ann Belone of Tohatchi; daughters,
Delilah Ella Belone and Jenica Tahy, both of Tohatchi; parents, Virginia
Becenti Yazzie of Tohatchi and Harold D. Belone of Twin Lakes; brother,
Jeremy Belone of Twin Lakes; sisters, Lenore Belone of Las Vegas,
Nev., Hannah Rae Yazzie of Tohatchi, and Lenelle Belone, Lindsay Belone
and Alyson Belone, all of Twin Lakes.
Belone was preceded in death by his grandparents, Wilson and Ella
Becenti, Alice Y. Robertson and Harry Belone Sr.
Pallbearers will be Kevin Huskie, Ryan Huskie, Brian Becenti, Jonah
Ingram, Elliott Gibson and Kyle Brewer.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
DeiShawn Marie Allen
NAVAJO — Services for DeiShawn Allen, infant, will be held at
10 a.m. Thursday, April 5, at Brewer, Lee and Larkin Chapel, Shiprock.
Burial will follow at Shiprock Community Cemetery.
She died in April in Albuquerque. She was born Feb. 7, 2001, in Fort
Defiance, Ariz., into the Naakai Diné for the Pai Ute.
Survivors include her parents, Brandon B. Allen and Miranda M. Coho,
both of Navajo; grandparents, Regina Allen of Navajo, Dennis and Gladys
Blackgoat of Coalmine; and great-grandparents, Robert Catron Sr. of
Red Lake and John and Bessie Platero of Crownpoint.
She was preceded in death by her grandfather, Bruce D. Allen.
Pallbearers will be Curtis Coho, Olin Coho, Ross Johnson Jr. and Bryan
Mailmain.
David Pete Long
DILKON, Ariz. — Services for David Long, 54, will be held 10
a.m. Thursday, April 5, at the First Church of Nazarene, Dilkon. The
Rev. Joseph Curley will officiate. Burial will follow in Birdsprings,
Ariz.
Long died March 20 in Flagstaff, Ariz. He was born Feb. 19, 1947,
in Winslow, Ariz.
Survivors include his mother, Florence Yazzie, daughter, Darlene Paddock;
biologiczal parents, Leroy and Alvina Long; brothers; a sister and
two grandchildren.
Long was preceded in death by his father, Decker S. Yazzie and sister,
Marie Long.
Santos "Shine" Paredes
GALLUP — Services for Santos Paredes, 76, will be announced at
a later date.
Paredes died April 2 in Gallup. He was born Nov. 2, 1924, in Gallup.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Josephine Noche Paquin
GALLUP — Services for Josephine Paquin, 77, will be announced
at a later date.
Paquin died April 3 in Gallup. She was born Dec. 23, 1923 in Zuni.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
| Top |
Contact the Gallup
Independent
Please send the Gallup Independent feedback on
this website and the paper in general.
E-mail: gallpind@cia-g.com
By mail:
The Independent
PO Box 1210 Gallup, NM 87305
500 N. 9th Gallup, NM 87301
All contents property of the Gallup Independent.
Any duplication or republication requires consent of the Gallup
Independent.
Feel free to send any questions or comments to gallpind@cia-g.com
E-mail the webmaster at martyr_dom@hotmail.com
for problems concerning the website ONLY.
|
