Grand jury to rule on Caballero
GALLUP, N.M. (AP) — A man accused of killing an 8-month-old girl
and her parents faces a grand jury hearing this week, and a prosecutor
says grand jurors will be asked to consider an additional charge of
drunken driving.
Johnny Caballero, 30, of Brimhall, was being held on $100,000 bond
on three counts of vehicular homicide in the deaths of Ray and Christine
Hobb and their 8-month-old daughter, Shasawn. Caballero has been hospitalized
since the crash March 13.
District Attorney Mary Helen Baber has said she plans to present the
case to the current McKinley County Grand Jury on Friday.
Assistant District Attorney Michael Sanchez said Caballero is not
charged at present with driving while intoxicated.
"However, we will be presenting that instruction to the grand
jury," he said. "There is evidence that may support such
a finding."
It will be up to grand jurors to say whether Caballero will be charged
with DWI, he said.
The Hobb family lived in Navajo, N.M., and left behind six living
children. Caballero's pickup truck had been the object of a police
pursuit, officers said, adding the vehicle ran a red light and plowed
into the Hobb family's pickup, severing the truck bed from the cab.
State police Capt. Glenn Thomas said the accident scene "looked
like a bomb hit it."
Thomas said city officers tried stopping Caballero's pickup because
it did not have headlights, but it would not stop.
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Panel approves $1 million bank investment
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Council's Economic
Development Committee has approved the investment of $1 million in
a bank-holding company aimed at helping Native Americans with economic
development.
But there is a question about whether the matter will have to go to
the full membership of the Navajo Nation Council.
The decision by the committee would allow the Navajos to be one of
the 15 founding tribes of the Native American Bancorporation.
The first $100,000 would be used for start-up expenses, with the rest
going into an escrow account that can't be touched until the bank
raises $30 million.
President Kelsey Begaye and Council Speaker Edward T. Begay support
the tribe's involvement in the bank which will help other tribes form
their own banks. It will not operate as a consumer bank and would
not accept accounts from individuals or companies.
The $1 million is coming from the tribe's Business and Industrial
Development Fund.
But Controller Bobby White questioned whether it was legal to spend
the money outside the reservation because it is prohibited by the
fund's plan of operation.
Russell Sacks, lawyer for the Division of Economic Development, explained
that the proposed use of the fund was legal because the original resolution
limiting the use of the fund to tribal territory had been changed.
Frank Saenez of the Office of Legislative Counsel said that while
the resolution was changed, the tribal code wasn't.
Committee Chairman David John said if changes need to be made in the
code, the matter would have to be resolved by the council.
Concerns such as the code-resolution conflict led Division Director
Tony Skrelunas to ask the committee to amend its resolution of approval
to make the OK conditional, which the committee did.
Attorney General Levon Henry said the conditional approach would give
the lawyers time to work out what needed to be done. The council's
next quarterly session will begin April 17.
Dan Press, the bank-holding company's lawyer, said it would cost the
tribe quite a bit more than $1 million to set up its own bank, so
joining the holding company would be the best way to go.
He said $15 million of the $30 million capital would come from the
founding tribes, who would control at least half the voting stock.
The rest will come from major financial institutions that get credit
for investing in minority banks under the Community Redevelopment
Act. He said they include Wells Fargo the major private bank on the
reservation Key Bank, the Bank of America Foundation and the Federal
National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae" ).
Because of leveraging, Skrelunas told the committee, the $1 million
from the tribal treasury would have an $8 million impact.
Begaye said the holding corporation would be able to leverage assets
of $375 million up to $854 million by 2005 and is projected to earn
a return on investment of 14 percent by the fifth year.
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Cibola County disabled get a chance at
Sky City
Christian Oberholser
Special to the Independent
ACOMA PUEBLO — Phillip Analla had a dream when he walked into
Sky City Casino a year ago and it wasn't to win a lot of money.
Analla was looking for an employer who would give him a chance to
prove he could be a contributing worker.
Analla had Dollar, his dog, by his side. He kept a firm grip on the
leash as Dollar led him up the stairs to the casino personnel office.
Phillip Analla is visually disabled.
One year later, answering the phone or directing visitors to the personnel
office are routine responsibilities for Analla. He is the casino PBX
operator.
Phillip moves around the casino with ease, an ease provided by his
guide dog, according to Denis Floge, casino general manager.
"Phillip is one of my best workers," Floge said. "In
fact, my biggest concern is that he is going to become bored. We are
always looking for new ways to provide Phillip with new opportunities."
Analla is one example of how Sky City Casino is successfully collaborating
with Laguna-Acoma Vocational Rehabilitation Program and Bethphage
of Grants to provide employment opportunities for people in Cibola
County with disabilities.
Sky City Casino employs six clients from the two vocational rehabilitation
programs.
Flexibility from casino management and job development and job coaching
provided by Laguna-Acoma Vocational Rehabilitation Program and Bethphage
are key factors in the employment project, according to Anne DiZenzo,
vocational coordinator at Bethphage.
"A large portion of the success of the project at the casino
is due to the philosophy of the casino management," DiZenzo said.
"I feel they want each person to reach their full potential on
the job."
Project clients are given a chance to try different jobs, so a good
match is often the outcome. Opportunities to regroup and try something
different are offered on a continual basis.
The job developer from the two rehabilitation programs looks closely
at available jobs. Jobs are then matched with program clients who
most likely have the capability to perform the duties of the job.
A job coach learns the job and breaks down the tasks necessary to
perform the job assignment. In some cases, a check-off list or a picture
portfolio is used to put tasks in chronological order.
Support systems may need to be put in place, also.
"Since there is no transit system in the county, getting to and
from work is a problem," DiZenzo said. In many cases, program
clients do not have a driver's license.
"Our disabled clients are some of the most reliable and hardworking
individuals I know. It would be a shame for them to be sitting at
home all day doing nothing," she said.
Operating the fax machine and monitoring the satellite
system is a challenge Analla enjoys. However, his daily assignments
do not keep him from contemplating the next step on his job-development
plan.
His voice-activated laptop is on order and will allow him, when it
arrives, to sharpen his word-processing skills.
Meanwhile, Dollar shares space on the floor next to the telephone
and computer cables, waiting for his next assignment.
With 513 employees, Sky City Casino is not only one of the biggest
employers in the county but also is helping to ensure that people
with disabilities are integrated into the county's work force.
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Bengals outslugged by hard-hitting Eagles
Gallup prepares for Saturday's twinbill with No. 1
Rio Grande
Alan Arthur
Sports Editor
GALLUP — Both teams started the game strong offensively. The
Eldorado Eagles were the team that kept it going.
The Bengals matched the Eagles with six run first innings for both
squads and teams were tied at 7-7 after two innings. But it was all
Eagles after that as the No. 4 ranked team in the state captured a
14-7 non-district win over the Bengals Wednesday afternoon at Gallup
High School.
The Bengals, now 7-5 overall and 1-1 in District 1AAAA, were coming
off a doubleheader split with the Valley Vikings on Monday. In that
twinbill, the Bengals lost in eight innings in the first game before
coming back with a victory in the second. That gave Gallup little
time to prepare for the Eagles, who are now 12-2 overall and 3-1 in
their district...
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Agents arrest two for drugs
Staff Report
GALLUP — Agents of the Region II Narcotics Enforcement Task Force
have been involved in three recent investigations, two of which resulted
in arrests.
On March 28, agents of the Grants office served an arrest warrant
on Audra Nicole Simms, 26, at her residence, 1121 El Capita, Grants.
The felony arrest warrant was issued at the conclusion of an investigation
where Simms allegedly sold cocaine to an undercover police officer.
After her arrest, it was discovered that Simms also had two outstanding
arrest warrants, a misdemeanor warrant resulting from a Grants Police
Department case and a felony warrant issued out of a magistrate court
in Valencia County...
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Navajo cops hurt in brawl
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Two Navajo police officers, injured Tuesday in
the Teesto Chapter near the southern Navajo Nation border, were reported
Wednesday to have been treated and released from a hospital.
Sgt. Elaine Nez, 39, and Officer Emerson Barton, 30, were taken to
Winslow Memorial Hospital late Tuesday morning after a 19-year-old
Teesto Chapter man allegedly attacked them. The officers had followed
up on a report by a third officer who had investigated a robbery and
beating of an elderly man, according to Lt. John Begay, press officer
for Chief of Police Leonard Butler...
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Senate condemns diet drug maker
S.J. Ludescher
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Are you one of approximately 25,000 New Mexicans who
have taken the diet drug Fen Phen/Redux?
The drug was prescribed to nearly 6 million Americans during the 1990s
and recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in late 1997.
Numerous medical studies link the diet drug to heart valve and lung
damage and to brain toxicity. Part of the drug combination was also
sold under the brand name Pondimin by Wyeth Laboratories, a division
of American Home Products...
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State to change system on how it rates
schools
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — The state will change how it grades schools next year,
says Kathryn Weil, assistant superintendent of the state Department
of Education's Accountability and Information Services Division.
Weil spoke Wednesday in Gallup at a meeting with education officials
from the Navajo Nation and Gallup-McKinley County, Farmington and
Zuni school districts.
Every year, the state must rank and rate schools. Last year, 10 Gallup-McKinley
County schools were rated as institutions in need of improvement.
Students at such schools score low on standardized tests...
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Twin cities tangle with meetings act
Tom Purdom
Grants Bureau
GRANTS — The county's twin cities are having problems with a
New Mexico open meetings law concerning executive session issues.
Milan is going to try to correct its violations in a special meeting
today after being given an ultimatum by the attorney general's office.
Grants is still awaiting a determination by the attorney general to
see whether the city is in violation.
Milan got cross-wise with the state's Open Meetings Act when the village
board of trustees held what state officials believe was an illegal
executive session last Aug. 4. During the closed session, council
members discussed a service contract with Operational Maintenance
International Inc...
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Thoreau Hawk boys, Lynx girls top meet
Santiago Ramos
Staff Sports Writer
THOREAU — Thoreau senior standout Michael Lambson and Zuni senior
standout Kristy Kercher walked off with the top male and female high
point athlete honors respectively during Tuesday's Gallup-McKinley
County Invitational.
The Thoreau Hawks and the Rehoboth Lady Lynx garnered top team honors
during the five and a half hour area track meet that had to be rescheduled
from last Friday due to snow.
The Thoreau boys edged out Ramah for top team honors in the boys division,
94 points to 92. Zuni captured third with 73 points followed by Tohatchi
71, Rehoboth 69, Navajo Pine 34, Crownpoint 14 and Wingate 1...
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Deaths
Freddie J. Ortega
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Services for Freddie J. Ortega, 27, will be
held at 10 a.m., Saturday April 8 at St. Theresa Catholic Church.
Burial will follow at the Grants Memorial Park.
Rosary will be held at 5 p.m., Friday April 7 at the St. Theresa Catholic
Church.
Ortega died April 3 in Phoenix, Ariz. He was born Jan. 2, 1973 in
Delta, Colo.
Ortega attended elementary school in San Rafael and was a 1991 gradatue
of Los Lunas High School. He served in the U.S. Navy and was stationed
in Japan and participated in the Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf.
After serving in the military he moved to Phoenix, Ariz. and worked
as an electrician.
Survivors include his son, Freddie Jessie Ortega Jr.; parents, Fred
Ortega and Ida Ortega of the Valencia area; sisters, Debbie Salazar
of Amarillo, Texas, Brenda Trujillo of Grants and Sharon Chavez of
Austin, Texas; and grandparents, Florence Ortega, Repito Sanchez and
Elva Sanchez of Delta, Colo.
Correction
GALLUP — The obituary published for John Goodluck Sr., 76, incorrectly
listed his daughters as sisters.
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