Navajo panel to purge voter list
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Election Administration will purge
the tribal voter registration list April 27 and has declared 15
offices vacant in three agencies.
With the Jan. 24 changes adopted by the Navajo Nation Council,
no special elections will be held to fill the 15 vacancies, with
the other two agencies expected to issue their vacancy declarations
this week.
The new procedure calls for chapters to submit nomination resolutions
to the NEA.
Under the new law, if only one chapter is involved, the chapter
fills the vacancy, forwarding its resolution to the NEA. This
section applies to chapter officers and grazing committee members.
If the vacancy is for a school board, and only one chapter is
involved, the chapter must give the school board three nominees
to choose from. If the community or Bureau of Indian Affairs board
covers more than one chapter, each chapter submits one nominee
(by resolution) to the board.
For the Eastern Agency Land Board, the same procedure as for a
school board applies.
In the Kayenta Township, the Kayenta Chapter's resolution has
to name three candidates for the Township Commission to select
from.
The council's January alterations, one of several steps in a major
overhaul of tribal election laws, excluded the Board of Election
Supervisors, although the election administration declared vacancies.
Instead of filing nominating petitions, candidates must now fill
out the NEA application form and pay the fee.
Protest grievances will still be filed with the NEA, but are heard
by the Office of Hearings and Appeals instead of the Board of
Election Supervisors.
One of the longest-vacant boards the Red Lake Chapter Farm Board
still has three vacancies, with four other Fort Defiance Agency
offices open, including three for grazing committee members.
Coyote Canyon is looking for a chapter president, while the Indian
Wells, Low Mountain and Tees Toh Chapters have vacancies for grazing
committee members.
In the Western Agency, Copper Mine Chapter needs a president and
the Grey Hills Academy school board has a seat from among the
Chinle, Kayenta, Dennehotso, Nazlini, Ganado, Lupton, for Defiance
and Crownpoint Chapters.
Also vacant is one of the two seats on the Board of Election Supervisors.
Most of the seats open in the Chinle Agency are for school boards.
The Hard Rock Chapter has one opening on the Rocky Ridge Boarding
School board, the Pinon Chapter one on the Pinon Community School
board, the Many Farms Chapter one on the Cottonwood Day School
board.
The Many Farms High School board has one seat open for the agency
excluding the Chinle, Many Farms, Lukachukai, Round Rock and Tsaile-Wheatfields
Chapters. This means voters in Hard Rock, Forest Lake, Pinon,
Tachee-Blue Gap, Nazlini, Tselani-Cottonwood, Rough Rock, Black
Mesa and Whippoorwill Chapters will select one board member.
A farm board seat is available in the Many Farms Chapter, the
only non-school vacancy in the agency.
In conducting its purge of the voter registration list 93,602
as of Jan. 23 the NEA will be removing men and women's names who
did not vote in the 1998 presidential election or the 2000 chapter-level
election and who don't let the administration know they still
want to be eligible to vote.
Those who didn't vote in either election have been mailed a renewal
card. If the card isn't returned in time by April 26 that person's
name will be stricken from the list of eligible voters.
Anyone with questions can telephone the main office toll free
at 1-800-775-8683 (871-6367 for a local call) in Window Rock,
toll free at 1-888-508-6870 in Crownpoint, toll free at 1-888-508-4970
in Tuba City or (505) 368-1332 or -1333 in Shiprock.
| Top |
Bush budget to rebuild 2 area schools
WASHINGTON (AP) — At Wingate Elementary School in northwestern
New Mexico students walk to overcrowded classrooms through halls with
shattered tiles on the floor and gaping holes in the ceiling.
Rebuilding the dormitories at the asbestos- and radon-contaminated
Wingate school and other buildings at five similar schools including
Polacca Day School is a key component of President Bush's budget released
Monday.
"We've got buildings on this campus that have been here since
the early 1800s," Wingate Principal Dianne T. Owens said. "Seven
hundred Navajo children and their parents deserve better than this."
The Bush budget includes $292 million in school reconstruction funds,
a $162,000 increase over last year's budget.
Part of the funding will be used to rebuild six schools two in Arizona,
two in New Mexico, one in North Dakota and one in Washington state.
There also was a $9 million increase for BIA school operations.
"We'll ensure that more Native American students have access
to safe schools and better computers and textbooks," Interior
Secretary Gale Norton said Monday. "We're making good on President
Bush's promise that no child will be left behind."
The modest increases in Bush's budget come on top of President Clinton's
budget last year, which more than doubled the school construction
program and funded renovations at seven BIA schools.
Still, the continued funding levels were a relief, said William Mehojah,
director of Indian Education program. "The backlog has been so
big over the years and the need so great, with the change in administration
there were fears there would be a change in priorities, as well,"
Mehojah said.
More than 50,000 American Indian students attend the 185 schools operated
by the BIA.
James McDivitt, acting assistant secretary of Indian affairs, said
the infusion and small increases during the next decade put the BIA
on course to take care of the construction backlog by 2006.
"We have a lot of buildings that were never intended to be school
buildings," McDivitt said. "They're doing their best with
a bad situation."
At the Polacca Day School in Arizona, for example, 188 students from
the Hopi Tribe attend classes in a building with deteriorating walls,
no insulation and no way to circulate air.
Bush's budget requests nearly $20 million to build a new school with
the capacity to hold twice the current student body.
It is money that the schools have long needed, said Owens, who has
run the Wingate school and pushed for needed improvements for more
than a decade.
"I wouldn't want my children to have to walk by some of these
old, falling down buildings," she said of Wingate.
Other schools scheduled to be rebuilt are the Holbrook Dormitory in
Holbrook, Ariz.; the Santa Fe Indian School in Santa Fe, N.M.; the
Ojibwa Indian School in Belcourt, N.D.; and the Paschal Sherman Indian
School in Omak, Wash.
On the Net:
Bureau of Indian Affairs education office: http://www.oiep.bia.edu/
Photos of several schools scheduled to be rebuilt: http://www.doi.gov/bia/news/schoolpics.htm
| Top |
County DWI chief comes under fire
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — Sharp, critical words about how County DWI Coordinator
Steve Barela runs the driving while intoxicated program came Monday
from County Commissioner Fred Scott.
Barela, who quit the commission to take a $36,600-a-year job as the
Cibola County Driving While Intoxicated Program coordinator last year,
was trying to get commission approval for a Pueblo of Acoma Police
Department contract to conduct drunken driver checkpoints.
The contract pays $2,000 worth of overtime to conduct the saturation
checkpoints, the same contract the program already has with the Cibola
County Sheriff's Department, the Milan Police Department and the Ramah
Police Department.
The issue came up Monday during the regularly scheduled Cibola County
Commission meeting.
Scott said the money could be better spent in counseling drunks so
"they can become useful, productive citizens again," rather
than on DWI saturation checkpoints. Scott told Barela he does not
see him as doing his job.
"It would seem the DWI Program money would be better used to
assist drunks rather than catch them driving," Scott said, adding
that Cibola County already has financial problems because of prisoner
housing costs.
"I'd like to see your job as counseling them (alcoholics),"
Scott said. "That would be your job as I see it, rather than
catching them."
Barela said the DWI Program, with an annual cost including salaries
of $154,200, is funded through what he calls a "Catch 22"
situation in that a portion of state liquor taxes pays for the program,
so the more liquor sold, the more money there is for the program.
The catch is, the more liquor consumed, the more likely there are
to be drunken drivers on the roads.
Barela said that drunken driving arrests increased 80 percent in Cibola
County last year, due primarily to more vigilant police work.
Defending the DWI saturation checkpoints, Barela said, "We have
to at least make the show of law enforcement as a deterrent. I don't
know any other way to do it, other than to not have any DWI arrests."
Barela asked Scott directly: "What you're saying is, you don't
favor DWI arrests?"
Scott answered, "What I'm saying is, I don't approve of the DWI
coordinator being behind it (the saturation checkpoints)."
Scott abstained from voting on the contract, but the rest of the commissioners
Isaac Padilla, Bennie Cohoe, James Meisner and Arturo Candelaria voted
to approve the contract in a 3-0-1 vote.
In other matters the commission:
Approved 5-0 Cibola General Hospital indigent hospital claims.
Approved 5-0 one-time only contract bids for 15,000 tons of base course
road building material from Ben Griego Trucking, Mirabal Ranch and
C&C Concrete.
Approved 5-0 a resolution which transfers fire department funds held
by the county to the fire department to pay for the well.
Approved 5-0 a $7,437 bid from Rotary Drilling Co. to drill a well
for the Candy Kitchen Volunteer Fire Department. The only other bid
was from Coyote Drilling for $9,700.
Approved 4-0-1 one time only contract bids from Harding Ranch, Mirabal
Ranch and C&E Concrete for 2,500 tons of fill dirt.
Approved 5-0 a certificate of incumbency for U.S. Trust Company of
California.
Approved 5-0 out-of-state travel for County Clerk Eileen M. Martinez
to represent Cibola County at the National Association of Counties
inauguration of President-elect Javier Gonzales, a county commissioner
from Santa Fe County.
Appointed Republican Abe Pena and Democrats Pauline A. Chavez and
Thomas Jackson to the board of registry. Democrats Brenda McBride
and Rita Thompson were appointed as alternates. Another Republican
candidate was on the list, but the commission, as well as all of the
other elected county officials, are Democrats. County Manager Bob
Ortiz told the commission members the statutes call for board of registry
members from each political party.
Elected Eileen Martinez to act as the county's representative to the
New Mexico Association of Counties.
| Top |
Athletes of the Week
Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer
The Independent Athletes of the Week for the week of April
2-9 are Newcomb Skyhawk Jarred Yazzie and Shiprock Lady Chieftain
Rachel Riggs.
Riggs, a junior at Shiprock High School, is in her third year on the
Lady Chieftain softball team.
"It feels good," she said of being selected. "I am
excited. I never thought I would be picked for this."
This weekend Riggs went 3-for-3 and hit three home runs in a 12-1
win over Aztec on Friday. She also had four RBIs in the game.
Riggs was given the Gold Glove Award during the Shiprock Invitational
the previous weekend. She went 7-for-10 with nine RBIs last week and
played without an error in all of her games at second base.
"I am doing better than my other seasons," she said.
Riggs said that going into this season she had a few goals in mind
that she wanted to accomplish, and she is working on them now. "Make
fewer errors and do better batting," she said were two of her
goals. "And be a little bit faster."
Riggs said she wants to win district and get a chance to play in district.
The Lady Chieftains and Riggs played Monday in Gallup against Wingate
and then headed for Albuquerque, where they were to catch a plane
to play in a tournament in Orlando, Florida. "I am really excited
to go," she said.
Looking ahead, Riggs said she wants to go to college and get a degree
in engineering, possible at BYU in Idaho on a softball scholarship.
Yazzie, who attends Newcomb High School, is a junior on the track
and field team.
This past weekend at the Shiprock Invitational Yazzie picked up the
Outstanding Athlete Award for his performance in the javelin.
Yazzie finished with a throw of 165-11, good enough to qualify for
state and as of Saturday be the best throw in the state for AA schools.
It was also a record for Newcomb High School.
"I think I have done all right in the javelin," he said
on his accomplishment. "It beat my old personal best by 10 feet,
and it was into the wind."
Yazzie said that he thinks his throw could have been better, by at
least a half an inch.
Yazzie said that he thinks this has been his best year so far. "I
want to get my personal bests and set goals in different events,"
he said. "So far I think I have done better than expected."
Yazzie said he has been conditioning and wants to get the best out
of the season that he can. Besides the javelin, Yazzie also runs in
the 300 hurdles, the 4x400 relay and the 4x100 relays.
Yazzie, competing since his freshman year, said that he though the
Grants Invite was the toughest he has been in this year but the Shiprock
Invite this weekend was fun.
Besides track, Yazzie also plays on the football team and competes
on the Newcomb wrestling team.
| Top |
Cibola, Extension spar over money
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — A misunderstanding between financially strapped Cibola
County and an equally financially strapped Cibola County Extension
Office may lead to some tough decisions.
Cibola County Manager Bob Ortiz on Monday told county commissioners
that former extension Agent Cal Baca made an oral agreement for the
extension office to pick up utility costs when it moves into the Future
Foundations Family Center to make additional room for the Thirteenth
Judicial District Attorney Office. The costs amount to about $700
a month, or $8,400 a year.
The problem is that Baca apparently failed to tell Extension Service
Northern District Department Head Gerald L. Chacon or new Extension
Service Program Director Constance Trnka about it and Chacon told
the commissioners the service simply does not have the extra $8,400...
| Top |
City budget hearings ready to begin
Payroll is still biggest item
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — As Gallup officials begin their annual budget hearings
on Wednesday, department directors are hoping to have sympathetic
ears for increased budgets.
But City Manager David Ruiz said the revenue projections for the next
fiscal year remain consistent with this year, so the city is looking
at a budget of about $54 million.
That didn't keep department directors from submitting initial budgets
exceeding projected revenues by more than $6.6 million.
Ruiz said that most of these requests had to be denied in order to
keep a balanced budget. In fact, next year's proposed budget is almost
the same as this year's budget...
| Top |
Man indicted in fatal traffic accident
Staff Report
ALBUQUERQUE — A federal grand jury in Albuquerque has returned
indictments against the following individuals:
Tyrone Willeto Becenti, 20, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter
(a maximum statutory penalty of six years imprisonment/$250,000
fine).
Becenti is alleged to have killed Nathan Allen Kalleco in an automobile
accident while driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor.
The offense occurred July 22, 1999, in McKinley County on the Navajo
Indian Reservation.
Anthony Yazzie, 27, and Odell Yazzie, 24, both of Shiprock, have
been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and assault resulting
in serious bodily injury (a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years
imprisonment/$250,000 fine). Anthony Yazzie has also been charged
with an additional count of assault with a dangerous weapon...
| Top
|
School district's meal deal in trouble
Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer
SHIPROCK — Principals from Kirtland to Naschitti are praising
the Central Consolidated School District's "universal meals"
program begun this school year, which provides all students more
than 7,000 with free breakfasts and lunches.
But the program's incredible success, as measured by the number
of students eating compared to last year, may actually prevent the
program from continuing next year. The district includes five Kirtland
schools and 12 schools on the Navajo reservation spanning from Shiprock
to Naschitti.
Popularity and participation are two of the free meal program's
strongest suits. At Kirtland Central High School, Principal Bill
Noland has seen lunchtime participation jump from an average of
just 290 to 300 students last year to more than 600 students this
year...
| Top
|
Gallup School Board OKs 'spin doctor'
post
Staff Report
GALLUP — The Gallup-McKinley County School Board on Monday
approved creating a community liaison position.
The position, which will be new to the district, will also work
as a public relations officer for the district, working with local
media to publicize activities going on within the district.
School Superintendent Robert Gomez said that besides dealing with
community and public relations, the person will also assist in writing
grants.
The district still has not decided on a salary range. Gomez said
that the district will be looking at salaries being paid by the
local college and hospital for their public relations officer...
Shiprock shuts out Wingate
Santiago Ramos
Staff Sports Writer
GALLUP — With its thoughts on its trip to Orlando, Florida
the next day, district-leading Shiprock made quick work of Wingate
with a lopsided 17-0 three-inning district 1AAA softball win Monday
afternoon at Veteran's Memorial Park.
Shiprock pitcher Alexis Jones, who leads the state in strikeouts,
fanned six more to up her season total of 64 while tossing a one-hitter
during the three-inning contest.
"It's hard to get up for a game like this," Shiprock coach
Kevin Werth said. "We hit the ball well. When their pitcher
threw strikes, we hit the ball."
Shiprock, 9-4 overall, and more importantly 3-0 in district play
after a 12-0, 21-0 doubleheader sweep over Grants earlier, will
be playing against 4A Pine Forest out of Pensacola Thursday at 6
p.m. in the first round of the Orlando Softball Invitational. The
Lady Chieftains will be playing one game each day during the eight-team
tournament...
| Top
|
Deaths
Annie "Ahjindesbah" Tennison
VANDERWAGEN — Services for Annie Tennison, 91, will be held at
10 a.m. Wednesday, April 11, at Cope Memorial Chapel. Burial will
follow on family land, Vanderwagen.
Tennison died April 4 in Grants. She was born May 5, 1909, in Two
Wells into the Tower House People Clan for the Over Hanging Rock People
Clan.
Tennison was a rancher, rug weaver, quilter and a farmfield worker
in Idaho, Utah and Texas.
Survivors include her son, Argye Roy Teengar of Vanderwagen; six grandchildren;
22 great-grandchildren and seven great-great grandchildren.
Tennison was preceded in death by her parents, Tsenahaditnii Yazhi
and Tsenahaditnii Yazhi be Asdzani; brothers, Waltero Shelly, Howard,
Nahat Neyet Delth Yazzie, Walter Tennison; and three grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be Cameron Yazzie, Brandon Elliott, Melton Pino,
Peter S. John, Darrell Medicinecrow and Dwyane Medicinecrow.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services
at Bessie and Argye Teengar residence.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Millie Jean Begay
WHEATFIELDS, Ariz. — Services for Millie Begay, 54 will be held
at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 11, at the Jordan River Church of God.
Brother Douglas Cline will officiate. Burial will be held at Lukachukai,
Ariz., community cemetery.
Begay was born May 15, 1946, in Lukachukai into the Bitter Water People
Clan for the Zia Clan.
Begay was a resident of Wheatfields. She was a pastor at the Jordan
River Church of God, Wheatfields.
Survivors include her sons, Leroy Benally and Rufus Davis; daughters,
Marita Gloniiziinii and Tammy Begay; brothers, Howard Chee and Bennie
Chee; sisters, Dorothy Deschine, Lillie Stevens and Maria C. Yazzie;
and seven grandchildren.
Begay was preceded in death by parents, A. and June Chee; husband,
Thomas D. Begay; and sisters, Elizabeth Davis and Mary Charley.
Pallbearers will be Leroy Benally, Rufus Davis, Dan Gloniiziinii,
Ralph Jime, Darrell Benally and Carlton Davis.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services
at Jordan River Church of God, Wheatfields.
Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Annie Platero Enrico
PREWITT — Services for Annie Enrico, 86, were held at 10 a.m.
Saturday, April 7, at Thoreau First Baptist Church. Burial followed
at Thoreau Community Cemetery.
Enrico died April 4 in Gallup. She was born Sept. 9, 1914, in Prewitt
into the Black Streak People Clan for the Towering House People Clan.
Survivors include her husband, Woody Enrico; sons, Wallace Chacho
and Bennie Enrico; daughter, Dixie Enrico; brother, Ramone Platero;
sister, Jean Tulley; three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Enrico was preceded in death by her parents, Pablo and Deesbah Platero;
brothers, Dan Platero and Rollie Platero; and sisters, Rena Platero
and Rose V. Mariano.
Pallbearers will be Calvin Toledo, Lawrence Etsitty, Larry Etsitty
Jr., Jacon Platero, Von Erick Kien and Johnthan Nelson.
Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Douglas Roy Gaddy
HOUCK, Ariz. — Services for Douglas Gaddy, 18, will be announced
at a later date.
Gaddy died April 8 in Albuquerque. He was born March 17, 1983, in
Black Rock into the Water Edge People Clan for the
Coyote Pass People Clan.
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.
|
