Tim Smith, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, is shown with his uniform jacket, which still fits, in his Gallup home.

Photo by Michael Fagans

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Champ can't have too many saddles

Bill Donovan
Diné Bureau

LOWER GREASEWOOD — The home of champion rodeo cowboy John Boyd Jr. is a testament to the belief there is no such thing as owning too many saddles.

In his 22 years competing in Navajo rodeos, Boyd has won 61 saddles.

There are saddles in his barn, in his tack room, in a storage room or two and in eight of the 12 horse trailers he has won over the years.

Yes, said Boyd, a rodeo cowboy can't have too many saddles, especially if he has won them and they have the word, "champion," etched on them somewhere.

"I received most of them as year-end awards," said Boyd, who for the past two decades has been one of the most consistent winners in calf-roping events on the Navajo rodeo circuit,

In a region where most Navajo families own at least six or seven saddles, Boyd's abundance might seem as if he has gone a little overboard except for the fact that over the years he has sold a few, pawned a couple, traded some for custom-made saddles and given a couple away.

He still has 12 in storage and the other 20 on his ranch show definite signs that they have been used either on the ranch or in rodeo events. But mainly the award saddles are there, he said, to "show someone I did something sometime."

Over the years, he has won hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, saddles, horse vans and bridles. As for the trophies, there are so many that most have to be stored so his family can have room to move around their house.

At 42, he still believes he is in his prime and has hopes of a decade or two more of competing. "There's some cowboys 60 years old still competing here," he said.

And although the younger cowboys on the circuit may be quicker and a little more agile, his more than 600 rodeos have provided him with the experience he thinks give him the edge in any competition today on the Navajo Reservation.

That may be why he has been spending more and more time on the pro circuit in recent years. "It's more of a challenge," he said.

But he admits that the days when he could come home with a half dozen championship saddles a year may be over, not because of any lack of talent on his part but because of changing times in the rodeo business.

"Money is getting tighter these days," he said, "and many rodeos don't give out things like horse trailers or saddles any longer."

This could stem, in part, from the fact that most rodeos don't attract as many contestants as they did in the past. Rodeos that had 100 contestants just a decade ago now settle for 40. The standard 60 calf ropers have now been reduced to 20 or 25.

But saddles continue to be big business in one area of commerce the pawn business.

Thousands of saddles now reside in the various pawn shops around Gallup, being stored there by their owners who needed a couple of hundred dollars to make a car payment or pay some other bill.

Tobe Turpen's Indian Trading Co. in Gallup currently has more than 900 saddles on pawn.

"Almost none of them will go into dead pawn," said George Kozeliski, the manager of the trading post, estimating the pawn operation has only two or three saddles a month go dead.

Bill Richardson, owner of Richardson's Trading Co. and Cash Pawn, which also has more than 900 saddles in pawn at the current time, agreed that it's unusual for an owner of a saddle not to come back and claim it.

"We have saddles that have been here for three years or more," he said. He said it was common for Navajo cowboys to leave the saddle in pawn for the winter and take it out when the rodeo season begins.

But unlike jewelry or even Navajo rugs, which require only a small space to store, pawn shops in the area have to commit big space to store pawned saddles.

Richardson, Turpen's and the other major pawn dealer in town, Ellis Tanner Trading Co., all have had to commit major portions of their space for the storage of pawned saddles.

Trader Ellis Tanner said it's fortunate that most of the saddles are eventually redeemed, because there's not a big market out there for used saddles, even by Navajo cowboys who would rather buy a new saddle and break it in.

As for the trophy saddles with the championship title etched into the leather, there's no demand for those if they go dead.

"In the first place, someone who has won one of these championship saddles isn't going to allow it to go dead," he said. And if it did go dead, who would want to own a championship saddle he didn't win, he added.

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'Net dream eludes average Navajo
Many want to close gap

Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer

GALLUP — While the technology community sings the praises of the Internet, the average resident on the Navajo Reservation is wondering where to plug in the computer, how to access the Internet without a phone line and how to pay for the computer in the first place.

President Clinton will visit Shiprock Monday to talk about how to get the Internet to a reservation where 77.5 percent of the 37,000 homes have no phones and more than half have no electricity.

Meanwhile, the average Navajo person makes $5,578, less than 25 percent of the average American citizen's income; 56.1 percent of the 176,000 Navajos are living under the poverty level; and 43.4 percent are looking for jobs.

More than half of the reservation homes have incomplete indoor plumbing, kitchen facilities or sewer systems or none at all.

The "digital divide" is the gap between those who have Internet access and those who do not. And while closing the divide is important to ensure equal opportunity to Native Americans, maybe a conversation about the gap between the haves and have nots concerning basic amenities is more appropriate for the president's visit to the reservation.

"Success can't be gauged as a Navajo family with a telephone who has no heat, who has no running water," said Francis Mike, external affairs manager for Navajo Communications Co., which provides service to most of the people on the reservation who do have a telephone.

"Everybody focuses on the fact that people don't have a telephone," he said. "Everybody says telephones, telephones, telephones, but they forget the big picture."

Of all the homes on Indian reservations in the nation, 53.4 percent have telephones. The Navajo Nation has the second lowest percentage of homes with phone lines.

Not high priority

Logging onto the Internet isn't even on everybody's priority list.

When New Mexico State University's College of Engineering surveyed several Navajos, the researchers asked the Native Americans what they would do with $1 million.

Highest on the Navajos' list were housing, roads, waste-water technology, hospitals and education. The Internet placed eighth, and telephones come in last out of 14 items the respondents said they would like to spend some of the $1 million on.

Besides meeting basic needs on meager incomes, some Navajo people may be disinterested in the Internet. Some choose to spend their money on things other than telephones and computers.

Up until about five years ago, Navajo Communications had more cable television customers than telephone customers, Mike said.

Now, people are trying to catch up to the telecommunications race, he said.

Mike, along with others in the local technology community, said he sees the digital revolution on the reservation beginning with the new generation and the national push to invest in technology.

At the front of that infant revolution are schools. Most schools and hospitals on the Navajo Nation are hooked up to the Internet.

In Shiprock, the Boys and Girls Club, Northern Navajo Medical Center and Diné Community College all places where the president will make his appearances Monday are connected to the Internet.

In fact, they are connected by T-1 and T-3 fiber optic lines, the fastest technology available.

(In an effort to overcome the digital divide on the reservation, however, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced the donation of computers to chapter houses on the Navajo Reservation and training so residents can use them. See accompanying story.)

A lack of phones

The story in homes is different. Most homes don't have phones or computers. When they have computers, they're old. When they have new computers and Internet access, they're expensive.

One of the local Internet providers, Community Internet Access Inc., gives service to a few reservation communities, said Shirley Miller, the manager of CIA.

Those customers, however, pay $35 per month $10 more than Gallup customers because getting equipment to those outlying areas costs four times more than getting equipment to the Gallup area.

The Gallup area suffers some from the digital divide also because the telephone lines that have reached the town are slower than the technology available in larger cities, Miller said.

The people in communities without an Internet provider pay $25 per month for service, but they also have to pay long-distance phone rates to use the telephone to get onto the Internet.

Getting phone lines and equipment to communities on the reservation is expensive, said Edward J. Lopez Jr., the vice president and general manager of US West in New Mexico.

When people know they're going to get the Internet, they are more willing to buy a computer, Miller said. Many reservation residents are determined not to be left behind.

Miller said she has met people who have paid $200 and $300 long-distance telephone bills to stay connected. Reservation residents without telephone lines use their cellular phones to dial in expensive, but cheaper than getting telephone lines out to their home, Miller said.

While the reservation struggles to equip homes with basic conveniences, it also needs to try to keep its people on the same page as the rest of the nation.

Internet advantages

The resources on the Internet can give a person an advantage. Information on education, health, business and other topics is provided.

"The farther you live from a large population center, the more important it is to have the Internet, because travel is limited and you're more isolated," Miller said. "It affects your whole outlook on the world and how big it is or how small it is."

Lopez said the Internet can benefit Native Americans even if they are facing other problems. "I would never say it's not time to talk about the Internet," he said.

For example, the Internet can take Navajo arts and crafts to a larger market, Lopez said.

Some people still remain skeptical that the Internet will make a significant change in the lives of the majority of the Navajo people.

Getting jobs to the reservation is much more important than getting the Internet there, said Trib Uprety, who works with the Navajo Nation Division of Economic Development.

In an economy that produces about $1 billion right now, the few million dollars the Internet may create for the Navajo Nation will not put a dent in the problem, Uprety said.

Revolutionizing the reservation through the Internet is "Clinton's idea and Bill Gates' idea, but I don't think so," Uprety said. "We are so far behind. If 75 percent of those houses don't have electricity, where are you going to plug in the computer?"

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Gallup men recall Bataan March

Christopher Schurtz
Special to the Independent

LAS CRUCES — As an ex-prisoner of war in the Philippines during World War II and a survivor of the Bataan Death March, Timothy Smith cannot forget what he witnessed and endured.

"A lot of people really don't realize how terrible it was," Smith said.

Following the surrender of Bataan on April 9, 1942, thousands of exhausted American and Filipino prisoners of war were marched over 60 miles of jungle roads in searing heat, without water or food. Hundreds died or were killed on the march, while thousands more died later in brutal prison camps. The journey came to be known as the Bataan Death March.

Early Sunday, thousands of soldiers and civilians from around the United States and the world will gather in the desert outside White Sands Missile Range, 30 miles east of Las Cruces, to commemorate the sacrifices of Bataan veterans, alive and dead.

The 12th Annual Memorial Death March a 26.2 mile walk/run over rugged desert terrain draws teams and individuals from as far away as Great Britain, as well as from the ROTC, National Guard and every branch of the armed forces.

"I think it's great," said Smith, who moved to Gallup after the war. "They'll also find out how hard it is, in good conditions."

While the memorial march is considered a predominantly military event, the past several years have seen a gradual increase in civilian participants, many of whom march in honor of friends or family members who were Bataan POWs.

Taking part in this year's memorial march will be a seven-member mixed team from the Gallup National Guard's 116th Transportation Company. National Guard Sgt. Roddale Boone whose uncle, Dempsey Chupito, was a Bataan survivor said teams from the 116th have participated in the memorial march for the past three years.

"We do it to honor those who did the real march," Boone said. "We also want to see how well we can adapt to the challenge and, really, if we can finish at all."

The commemorative march, while obviously much less harsh, still tests participants' physical and mental endurance.
Participants in the past have sometimes been forced to withdraw early due to a lack of preparation, severe blisters or dehydration.

Humbling experience

It is sometimes a humbling experience, said New Mexico State University ROTC commander, Lt. Col. William Dorman.

"You can tell the difference between the people who have done the walk before by their demeanor. Everybody's ready in the morning, but by the end of the day, there is a reverence that was not there before," Dorman said. "They realize what these men did and went through 50 years ago."

NMSU ROTC, which changed its name to the Bataan Battalion in 1981, organized the first commemorative run 12 years ago on the west side of the Organ Mountains. In 1992, White Sands joined with the Bataan Battalion to stage the event in the area surrounding the missile base.

It has since become the largest competitive athletic military event of its kind in the country, according to the White Sands Missile Range Public Information Office, growing from less than 50 in its first year to an estimated 3,000 participants in this year's march.

The National Guard unit from the Gallup area that went to Bataan in 1941 was the newest to join before the war and was quickly assimilated into the 200th Coast Artillery. Battery D included 106 men from McKinley County and other surrounding areas. Of these, 64 were liberated at the end of the war.

Forty-two others from Gallup died in combat or as prisoners of war.

In addition to having a strong will to live and a positive attitude, Smith said, most who survived the years of brutal treatment also had a healthy supply of pride.

"Most of us didn't want the Japanese to think they got the best of us," Smith said. "We wanted them to know that we could take anything they threw at us."

Though hundreds died on the death march, thousands more died upon arrival at O'Donnell Prison Camp.

'Dropping like flies'

The day following his arrival, Pedro Espinosa, then a 19-year-old from Gallup, fought malnutrition and exhaustion to help organize burial details for the hundreds of men dying from malaria, dysentery and malnutrition.

"They were dropping like flies," Espinosa said.

Espinosa said his detail buried 76 men in one day. One of the men he would later bury in the hard volcanic ground of the Philippines would be his brother Damian.

His brother had reunited with Espinosa at O'Donnell, but the brother eventually succumbed to the effects of dysentery and malnutrition.

"He died on July 6, 1942," Espinosa said. "That's when I buried him."

After Camp O'Donnell, three and a half years of imprisonment in different forced-labor camps followed for Espinosa and the rest of the American prisoners. Of the estimated 1,400 New Mexicans serving in the 200th Coast Artillery, only 900 would return. A third of the men who returned to the United States after the war died within the first year of their return.

According to Department of Veteran's Affairs, the 200th and the 515th National Guard regiments that served in the Philippines and survived the death march were some of the most decorated units in World War II. Bataan vets also have one of the highest mortality rates of any veteran group. Of the estimated 15,000 who served in the Philippines, less than 1,000 are still living. Many are in poor or declining health.

Janie Matson, whose publishing company, Yucca Tree Press, has published four books on the history and experiences of Bataan veterans, said the stories the Bataan veterans tell are still particularly compelling after almost 60 years.

"The ordeal these men went through is unparalleled, though obviously there were POW camps in Europe that were very brutal," Matson said. "But the Americans captured by the Japanese had a uniformly brutal experience."

Matson also briefly describes in her book, "It Tolled For New Mexico," how local communities tried to support their soldiers from home.

Gallup farmers rally

In 1942, Gallup farmers joined others in New Mexico to raise crops and money for the Bataan Relief Fund, which hoped to provide medicine and supplies for the soldiers. The "Truckload of Carrots" collected 346 crates of carrots donated by farmers from northern New Mexico and Arizona and eventually raised $13,456 for the relief fund. The Red Cross was denied access to the prison camps, and the money raised was never allowed to be used.

In addition to being remembered through the annual memorial march, efforts are currently being made on several fronts to acquire monetary compensation for the years spent in forced labor camps.

A civil suit seeking millions of dollars in damages from Japanese corporations that illegally profited from the prisoners' forced labor was thrown out last year by a Japanese court. The court cited a 1952 treaty that ended the requirement of payment of retribution by the Japanese government.

A California court picked up the suit last year, but veterans concede it is unlikely the result will be different.

"It burns me up to think that they don't have to pay anything," Smith said. "Our government should really be putting the pressure on."

Compensation for the years as a POW may end up coming from the United States. A joint U.S. Senate bill sponsored by senators Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., seeks a one-time payment of $20,000 to surviving vets or their spouses. Both senators cite the years of brutal treatment in prison camps as well as decades of little recognition by their government.

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Trial set for accused killer

Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer

GALLUP — A Sept. 12 trial date has been set for Johnny Cabellero, the suspected drunken driver in a fatal March 13 car accident that left three people dead.

State District Court Judge Grant Foutz set the date during arraignment Friday in district court.

Cabellero, 30, is accused of causing the death of a Navajo couple and their 8-month-old baby.

On Tuesday, a McKinley County grand jury indicted Cabellero on three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer and one count of aggravated driving while intoxicated.

At Friday's arraignment, Gallup attorney Robert Aragon entered pleas of not guilty on Cabellero's behalf.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Sanchez, who is prosecuting the case, said by pleading not guilty, the defendant simply is asserting his right to a trial.

"If he wants his day in court, he'll have it," Sanchez said. "The constitution permits that."

However, Sanchez said he believes the prosecution has sufficient evidence to convince a reasonable jury to return a guilty verdict.

"I believe in the end justice will prevail," he said.

Sanchez said results of the toxicology report indicate Cabellero was under the influence of alcohol on the night of the accident. Sanchez said he could not provide details concerning the suspect's blood-alcohol level but said results show the level was "significant" and "over the legal limit."

Results of blood tests taken from the victims, Ray and Christine Hobb, indicate they had no alcohol or drugs in their systems at the time of the accident, Sanchez said.

If convicted of first-degree murder, he said, Cabellero is facing multiple life sentences and could serve a maximum of 90 years for all three murders. Depending on sentencing, Sanchez said, Cabellero would not be eligible for parole before 2030.

On the charge of aggravated DWI, Cabellero could serve an additional 18 months if the court finds this to be his fourth drunken driving offense, he said. The defendant faces another maximum sentence of 36 months for both counts of aggravated assault against a peace officer.

Sanchez said evidence shows that during the chase Cabellero used his pickup as a deadly weapon when he almost struck two Gallup police unit.Foutz set a July 7 pretrial conference, during which he will review the procedure and progress of the case with both parties.

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Money a problem for skateboard park

S.J. Ludescher
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Skateboard park advocates from the juvenile probation department and Gallup Voices Against Crime discussed the status of the project with city councilors Friday on the third day of budget hearings.

"It's not a question of what the city is going to do," City Manager David Ruiz said. "It's a question of money."

Nearly two years ago, the push for a skateboard park in Gallup began. Then-Councilor Patti Herrera donated $10,000 from her discretionary funds as seed money. Councilor Charlie Chavez also donated $5,000 from his district...

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Chapter houses to get computers

Staff Report

CROWNPOINT — The Crownpoint Institute of Technology will administer a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that is going to give computers to chapter houses on the Navajo Reservation and train people to use them.

The computers are part of a program begun by Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, known as the Gates Native American Access to Technology Intern Program.

The foundation has not yet determined the number of computers which will be given and the chapter houses that will receive them...

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Clinton to promote fiber optics

Nancy Watson
Diné Bureau

SHIPROCK — Monday's visit by President Clinton will mark the first time a president has officially visited the Navajo Reservation.

Although Theodore Roosevelt traveled to the reservation, he was vacationing in the Monument Valley area. Only two vice presidents, Hubert Humphrey and Spiro Agnew, made official visits to the reservation.

"We are honored Clinton has chosen Shiprock," said MacDonald Lee, Shiprock Chapter official...

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Navajo cops run in Challenge Cup

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo cops are running but not from the bad guys.

A Navajo team 19 men and women from the Division of Public Safety, plus a member of the Navajo attorney general's office today and Sunday are running the 120 miles from Baker, Calif., to Las Vegas, Nev., for the second consecutive year in the Challenge Cup foot race.

In their effort last year, the Navajo team finished 18th overall of 194 squads and crossed the finish line in just five seconds over 17 hours for a distance about equal to four Boston Marathons...

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Navajo Nation observes annual Sovereignty Day

Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Most employees of the Navajo Nation will not be at work Monday and it has nothing to do with President Clinton's visit to Shiprock.

Since the annual Sovereignty Day holiday for the tribe falls on Sunday this year, most tribal employees will be taking Monday off. This marks the day in 1985 when the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Navajo Tribe, ruling it could collect taxes imposed on nontribal "foreign" companies...

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Youthful Lady Scouts win own meet
Window Rock Invitational

Santiago Ramos
Staff Sports Writer

FORT DEFIANCE, Ariz. — Despite their youth, the Window Rock Lady Scouts racked up the points en route to an impressive team victory during Friday's blustery Window Rock Invitational.

Window Rock topped the girls team standings easily with 256 points, 88 points ahead of runnerup Dolores, Colo., with 168 points.

"Dolores beat us at Shiprock last week," Window Rock head coach Jim Law said. "This time we had people placing well. I got a whole group of young girls with maybe 15 freshmen. I was pleased with everybody's performance..."

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Deaths

Pedro A. Juarez Sr.

GALLUP — Services and rosary for Pedro A. Juarez Sr., 95, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, April 17, at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Father Pat Universal will officiate. Burial will be in Hillcrest Cemetery in Gallup.

Juarez died April 13 in Gallup. He was born Oct. 23, 1904, in Durango, Mexico.

Juarez was a member of the United Mine Workers of America and the Sacred Heart Cathedral parish.

Survivors include his wife, Natividad Juarez of Gallup; sons, Pete Juarez and Richard E. Juarez, both of Gallup; daughters, Geraldine R. Kline, Pauline Olivar, and Mary Torres, all of Gallup; sister, Toni Forsyth of Norco, Calif.; brothers, Carmen Juarez of Norwalk, Calif., and Seferino Juarez of El Paso, Texas; 17 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Juarez was preceded in death by his father, Felix Juarez; mother, Theresa Juarez; son, Raymond M. Juarez; and granddaughter, Susanna L. Olivar.

Pallbearers will be Carlos A. Juarez, Daniel A. Juarez, Joseph E. Olivar, George W. Romero, Gilbert Torrez, and Justin A. Torrez.

Donations can be made to Sacred Heart Parish.

Rollie Mortuary of Gallup is in charge of arrangements.

Genevieve E. Ortiz

GALLUP — Funeral services for Genevieve E. Ortiz, 93, are pending.

Ortiz died April 14 in Gallup. She was born March 24, 1907, in Kingman, Kansas.

Rollie Mortuary of Gallup is in charge of arrangements.

Correction

GALLUP — In the death notice for Ernest Vigil Sr., the name of a son, Ernest Vigil Jr. of Gallup, was omitted as a survivor. In addition, burial will be in Gallup City Cemetery.

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