Dierdre Dale

 

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'Luck' helps create local Parentsas Teachers program

Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Special to the Independent

GALLUP — A chance encounter in a supermarket aisle led Mary Johnson onto a new career path and led the Gallup McKinley County Schools into a unique partnership with the Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Care Services (RMCHCS).

Johnson was shopping for groceries when she saw a teenage couple trying to cope with their crying infant. The frustrated young father was holding the baby out at arm's length while the child continued to wail. Johnson, a longtime preschool teacher with an advanced degree in early childhood education, approached the couple and suggested the father hug the baby securely to his chest and talk soothingly to the infant. The baby began to calm down.

A few aisles later, the couple walked up to Johnson and thanked her. No one had ever shared that simple suggestion with them, they said.

That incident proved to be a catalyst for Johnson. From her years of teaching preschool students at Indian Hills Elementary, she felt there was a strong need in the community for a program that would help support and educate parents of infants and toddlers.

The program would help parents nurture their children's intellectual, emotional and physical development during the first three years of their child's life, thereby producing healthy preschoolers, eager to learn and ready for the challenges of school.

Needed tool

Johnson quickly found support with Dr. Mary Poel, a local pediatrician. As the two began to discuss the idea with others, they discovered other professionals in the school district and health care community receptive to the proposed program, including Gallup school superintendent Robert Gomez, hospital administrator Herb Mosher and pediatrician Dr. Richard Stam.

The result of those discussions is now the Parents as Teachers (PAT) Program, a collaborative effort between the Gallup schools and RMCHCS. Johnson is the parent educator who runs the program, the school district pays her salary and RMCHCS provides the program's office space in the College Clinic, located at 2111 College Drive.

According to Stam, the program is a "needed tool" and a unique collaboration that may not be duplicated in many other communities around the country. He believes, however, that similar early childhood education programs are the wave of the future.

With the PAT Program located just down the hall from the pediatricians' examining rooms, parents can easily drop by to visit with Johnson or stop in for parenting groups. Johnson also sponsors parenting meetings with different discussion topics, and she makes home visits to interested families. Parents can also be referred to other local agencies that provide services to children.

Mosher credits Gomez and the school district for being supportive of the program. "I think that's very progressive thinking,"
he said. It was encouraging, he added, to see pediatricians and teachers working together for the benefit of children.

Mosher is hopeful the PAT Program can be expanded in the future. With more emphasis on early education, he believes that less local children will have to "play catch up" once they reach school.

Brain development

Johnson adamantly believes in the value of stimulating and enriching the first three years of children's lives and says the value of early childhood education programs is supported by evidence from scientific research. She has studied the subject of brain development in infants and toddlers and feels that when parents learn how much their behavior can affect their child's intelligence, parents will make more efforts to nurture their child's development. (See Johnson's list of recommendations in separate story.)

"I've not met a parent yet that's not been interested in the brain development of their child," she said.

One of the biggest delays many preschoolers exhibit, she believes, is low oral language development. She feels too many parents park their infants and toddlers in infant carriers or in front of television sets and don't take the time to simply talk to their children.

"How to best help a child learn is interaction with a caring adult," is a mantra Johnson said she repeats over and over.

Talking with infants and toddlers, even when they are too young to understand the words, creates the foundation for language development. Reading children's books to babies and toddlers is another parenting tool Johnson pushes strongly. Each new vocabulary word heard, she said, is like a "gold nugget" put toward the child's educational future. "It's like an investment,"
she explained.

According to Johnson, how well a child's vocabulary grows during their school years is based on how enriched their language development was during the first three years of life.

Another aspect that Johnson emphasizes is how a child's brain development is linked to emotional health. According to studies, she said, brain development is enhanced when infants and toddlers are lovingly held, touched and rocked. Babies under eight months old cannot be "spoiled" by being held too much, she said. Babies that are held the most actually cry the least, she added.

Another common misconception told to new parents, she said, is the idea that sometimes babies should be left to cry.
Johnson, herself a mother and grandmother, said that babies always cry for a reason, and parents need to respond to the child and understand what's distressing them. When parents ignore their child's crying, the child learns not to trust.

Johnson received out-of-state training in the "Born to Learn" birth to 3 curriculum while the PAT Program was being designed. She would like to see more local early childhood teachers similarly trained as parent educators and was encouraged recently when the PAT program sponsored a seminar for area preschool teachers and more than 500 participants attended.

Individuals interested in the Parents as Teachers Program can contact Johnson at 726-6812.

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New dog, old tricks and home to a life without regret

Walter Howerton Jr.
Managing Editor

This world is not my home,
I'm only passing through.

Ralph Stanley

I was back in the local cemetery last week. It was a gray day, warm enough, sprinkling spring rain, good for cemetery walking.

I was walking my new dog. He likes the cemetery, too.

He is a Jack Russell terrier I rescued from the pound up in Espanola two weeks ago. His old owners dropped him off at the pound after he killed a goat. Exactly how a stumpy 15-pound dog killed a goat is difficult to imagine I sort of wish I had been there to see it but he did. And now he is mine. His name is Ace.

He is white, muscular, with a brown head. I suppose some people would call him cute, though cute is not a word that does much for me, not with dogs, women, children or anything else. Besides, cute doesn't age well and I plan to have this dog until I am old.

How can a man plan to grow old with a dog he has owned less than two weeks?

I don't know quite how to explain my new dog. He makes me do things I never thought I would do for a dog. I sometimes let him ride in my lap when I am driving. I feed him snacks off the table. The other day on the way home, I pulled into a local drive-in restaurant and ordered myself a green chile cheeseburger to go. Before I realized what I was doing, I had ordered Ace a Junior Burger (plain). A couple of days later I did it again.

I am not the sort of guy who does these things. I look down my nose at people who allow dogs to ride on their laps. My dogs keep a respectful distance from my dinner table, usually in another room (my cats do not jump on the table and lick the butter). And I have never NEVER ordered a hamburger for a dog. I swear.

Is it me? Or is it Ace? I have been warned that Jack Russell terriers are smart enough to let you think you own them, when just the opposite is true. But I don't think that is it.

Ace is a message from home.

Gallup is not my home. And after months of spending most of my time here, I have realized it never will be. Home is the place a person can live without regrets. That is not Gallup for me. Actually, as the months have passed I have come to see Gallup as a place where regret is as thick in the air as dust on a spring day. I often wonder how anyone could live with his eyes open and call Gallup home.

But I have tried. I have even tried closing my eyes and living like someone from Gallup. I have tried so hard that my wife finally has begun to do some not-so-subtle things to remind me that home really is where the heart is.

At Christmas, she gave me gifts that I only could use at home. They weren't really portable enough to haul down the road to Gallup. I have a brand new stereo system back home that I have not had the chance to listen to very much. A couple of times recently, there have been little gifts waiting on the table when I arrived home for the weekend: CDs to play on my new stereo system. Last night on the phone, she told me that another CD I wanted has arrived. It was like a sexy whisper in my ear.

Then there is Ace.

My wife and I decided we would get a new dog only after I was home to help take care of it. But when we went to the pound a couple of weeks ago and found Ace, she encouraged me to get him.

After we got him home, she said, "You will have to take him to Gallup with you until you come back home. It will be a sort of bonding thing." Now, every time I look at Ace, I remember the little smile my wife gave me when she said that. If you've ever really loved anyone, you know that smile, something more victorious than winning.

So, Ace and I have done a lot of walking in the past couple of weeks. Much of it has been in the cemetery. A cemetery is a good place to go and think when life is about to change. Ace doesn't seem to mind. He follows his nose; I follow him.

Last week, as we walked along the road along the cemetery's western boundary, Ace bristled and growled. I looked where he was looking and saw large sheets of plastic and what looked like a trash heap just beyond the trees. He kept growling. I stepped closer and realized I was looking down into the eyes of a homeless man bundled in a sleeping bag under a sheet of plastic. We looked into each other's eyes at the same time we agreed not to see each other. It was a true Gallup moment. He said nothing, I said nothing. I tugged Ace away.

I think about that homeless man so close to the cemetery. I think about Gallup. I order my dog another hamburger. He sits on my lap as I drive. I think about home.

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Independent All-Area Basketball Teams
Rogers, Scott Coaches of Year

Carrie Loretto
Sports Editor

GALLUP — The area 2000-2001 basketball season saw two teams make history and other teams repeat it.

The Tuba City boys and girls teams both repeated as Class 3A state champions inn Arizona to become the first school in any class to accomplish the feat in state history.

Realignment didn't affect the Kirtland Central Lady Broncos' dominance in girls New Mexico prep basketball as they captured a 14th state title.

It took over twenty years, but an underrated Kirtland Central boys team won its first state championship in 23 years to complete a cinderella season.

All three schools accounted for three of the Independent All-Area Basketball team's top honors with the Lady Warriors' Tamrya Rogers and Kirtland's Steve Scott garnering Coach of the Year honors. Kirtland Central senior Jaimey Tanner was named the Independent's Co-Player of the Year in the big school division.

Melissa Jones of Ganado shared the honor with Tanner with her season averages of 26 points, 12 rebounds, six steals and four assists beng hard to overlook by the panel of Independent sportswriters.

Elcaro Lee's consistent performance night after night translated into his selection as the Player of the Year for big schools.
The 3A North's top player averaged 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists and nearly two steals for the Window Rock Scouts.

In the area A and AA schools division, Ramah's sophomore sensation Candice Gibbons and Red Mesa's Theus Begay were tabbed the Players of the Year.

Gibbons was a consistent double-double performer for the Lady Mustangs, who qualified for the state tournament for the first time in school history. She averaged a state best 16.7 rebounds and 14.8 points per game.

Begay also dominated area players with an impressive 25 points per game average along with 7.2 rebounds and two assists.

Tuba City placed a pair of players on the <cm+it>Independent<cm-it> All-Area Girls big schools team with Jayme Lomakema (12 ppg, 3 assists, 3 steals, 4 rebounds) and Amy North (11 ppg, 8 rebounds, 2 steals). Joining them were Gallup Bengal Roberta Tahe (9 ppg. 4 assists, 3.3 rebounds); Shiprock Chieftain Lucita Yesslith (14.5 ppg, 10 rebounds, 4.5 steals, 2.5 assists); Thoreau Hawk Cindy Morgan (15 ppg, 8 rebounds); Wingate Bear Elvina Benally (18.1 ppg, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 steals); Monument Valley Mustang Lorena Sullivan (16.5 ppg, 6.3 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 3.5 steals); and Window Rock Scout Roberta Haskie (19.8 ppg, 11 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists).

The big schools boys team was headed by Lee who beat Chinle's Jimmy Skeet for Player of the Year honors. Lee and Skeet (21 ppg, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, 6 assists) were joined by Crownpoint Eagle Collin Henio (20 ppg., 8 rebounds, 5 steals); Shiprock Chieftain Benson Billy (17.4 ppg., 5.2 rebounds, 5 steals); Grants Pirate Wayne Smith (17 ppg., 3 steals, 4 assists); Kirtland Central Bronco Pat Crawford; Monument Valley Mustang Troy Watson (15 ppg, 8 rebounds, 3.2 steals); Tuba City Warrior Josh Allen (12 ppg.); Greyhills Knight Uriah Yazzie (17 ppg., 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals); and Ganado Hornet Cody Mueller (15.2 ppg., 7.8 rebounds).

Selected to the small schools girls team were Navajo Prep players Vanessa Francis (14 ppg, 5 assists, 7 steals, 4 blocked shots and 16 rebounds); Genice Morris (18 ppg., 5 steals, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals); and Delano Yazzie (16 points, 19 rebounds, four assists, four steals and 1 block per game). Juanita Antonio (12.4 ppg., 4.8 assists, 6.2 steals) joined Gibbons off Ramah's squad. St. Michael also had two players selected with 2A North Player of the Year Natashia Begay (6.7 ppg, 6.0 rebounds, 2 steals, 5 assists) and Carly Nez (13.8 ppg, 8 rebounds). The rest of the team members are Zuni Thunderbird Talana Johnson (12.8 ppg, 3.5 assists); Pine Hill Warrior Cecil Rafelito (10 ppg., 4 assists, 6 rebounds); and Terilyn Keedah (9 ppg., 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals).

In the boys division, Gallup Catholic which earned its first state tournament berth in 40 years, matching the fourth place finish, headed the team with three players: Bryan Sparks (18.3 ppg., 10 rebounds, 3.5 assists); Michael Estrada (14.5 ppg., 5.5 rebounds, 5 assists); and Marshall LeMoine (11 ppg., 5 rebounds, 5 assists). Also selected were Hopi Bruin Davin Leslie (18.6 ppg, 4 rebounds); Valley Pirate Ardell Watchman (14.3 ppg., 8.3 rebounds, 2.1 steals, 2.4 assists); Zuni Thunderbird Shawn Simplicio 16.3 ppg, 4.8 assists, 4 rebounds); Laguna-Acoma Hawk Graham Drummonds (17 ppg.); St. Michael Cardinal Omar Benally (15 ppg., 7.2 rebounds); and Ramah Mustang Tucker Simons.

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Navajo Nation to press its San Juan River water rights case

Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Navajo Nation representatives, and those from the city of Farmington and San Juan Water Commission, are among the major parties in what will amount to a pretrial and scheduling conference concerning San Juan River water rights.

The all-day conference is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. April 24 in Aztec at the San Juan County Commissioners' chambers near the county courthouse. Presiding will be Judge Pro-tempore Frank Zinn, who was has coordinated the case since last
June following his pro-tempore appointment by former state Chief Justice Pamela Minzner.

The pretrial/scheduling conference was described by Zinn as "what amounts to a census." There are a multitude of water users who have potential claims to the San Juan River. The meeting will provide an opportunity for each to supply information on their current water rights ownership and historical water uses...

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Stolen vehicle recovered Wednesday

Staff Report

GALLUP — A stolen car was recovered Wednesday evening after the driver was reported to be driving at a high rate of speed.

At 6:25 p.m., a McKinley County Sheriff's Department deputy was called to Jones Ranch Road, south of Gallup, to look for a gray car that was reportedly traveling up and down Jones Ranch Road at a high rate of speed, according to a report. After the deputy searched for the car and couldn't find it, a dispatcher reported that the car was parked seven miles down on Jones Ranch Road.

The deputy found the car parked at the side of the road with the engine running. The driver, who had a seat belt on, and the front passenger were both asleep when the officer approached the vehicle.

The deputy called in the vehicle information and learned that the car was listed as stolen at the San Juan County Sheriff's Department in the Farmington area...

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Deaths

Alice Charley

RED ROCK — Funeral services for Alice Charley, 95, will be held at 1 p.m. today at Cope Memorial Chapel. Deacon Joe Krikawa will officiate. Burial will follow at Gallup City Cemetery.

Charley died April 4 in Gallup. She was born 1906, in Red Rock into the Bitter Water Clan for the Towering House People Clan.

Charley was an active member in traditional ceremonies, NAC, a homemaker, a rug weaver, she also made Navajo dolls, and was a sheepherder.

Survivors include her sons, Ray Sanchez of Albuquerque; daughters, Lillie Willie of Red Rock; brothers, Steven Yazzie of Hogan Station; 7 grandchildren, 12 great-grand children and 1 great-great grandchild.

Charley was proceeded in death by her first husband; Toh Lee, second husband Tom Charley; son, Herbert Yazzie; mother, Glenbah; brother, Tom Haskie; sisters, Bah Frank and Nellie Davison.

Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Eugene Donald Barber

GAMERCO — Services for Eugene Donald Barber, 41, will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, April 9 at Cope Memorial Chapel. Bobby Boyd will officiate. Burial will follow at Rehoboth Cemetery, Rehoboth.

Barber died April 4 in Shiprock. He was born Aug. 8, 1959 in Rehoboth into the Black Sheep Clan.

Barber attended Gallup High School. He was employed with Amigo Chevrolet and Rico Motor Company.

Survivors include his wife, Leigh Rose Barber of Albuquerque; son, Mitchell Barber of Gamerco; parents, Annie and Richard Barber Sr., both of Gamerco; brothers, Richard Barber Jr. of Rio Rancho, Sylvester Barber of Zuni and Barry Barber of Gamerco; and sisters, Lavina Barber and Brenda Barber both of Gamerco.

Barber was preceded in death by his sister, LaVerne Barber.

Pallbearers will be Richard Barber Jr., Sylvester Barber, Barry Barber, Ruddell Lementino, Mitchell Barber and Roland Long.

Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

Isabell Tsosie

CRYSTAL — Services for Isabell Tsosie, 84, were held at 11 a.m., Saturday, April 7 at Latter Day Saints Church, Crystal. Burial followed on family plot.

Tsosie died in Bloomfield. She was born Dec. 6, 1917.

She was a rugweaver.

Survivors include her son, Felix Tsosie; daughters, Phyllis Thompson; brothers, Frank Thompson and Franklin Mose; sisters, Agnes T. Johnson and Rita Mose; 10 grandchildren and two grandchildren.

Tsosie was preceded in death by her parents, Kahjobah Mose and Denet Tsosie, Julia Livingston and Francis Thompson.

Pallbearers will be Marvin Mose, Ben Spencer, Rodriquez Roan, Felic Tsosie, Medero Tsosie and Marco Tsosie.

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

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