'Stairway to heaven'?



Anythony Cheschilly, 17, from Tohatchi, does a crooked grind down the handrail with his new board at the Gallup Skate Park last week.

Photo by Craig Robinson

 

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Volunteers ready to spruce up city during Earth Week

Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Special to the Independent

GALLUP — Sunday is Earth Day, and a variety of organizations are sponsoring a host of environmental projects for community members to join.

Beginning today, there will be Earth Day-related projects every day this week. Saturday will have the largest community-wide project, when the "Greater Gallup Clean Up" will be held in the morning, and a free public nuclear issues workshop will be held mid-day.

Weekday events

The week's activities will kick off at noon today with an Earth Week opening ceremony and tree planting on the campus of UNM-Gallup.

On Tuesday, UNM-Gallup's Center for Service Learning will host "College, Career and Service Day," an event which will explore community service learning and environmental projects with a career fair.

The day's events will include a college, career and service fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Gurley Hall. A roundtable discussion for local businesses and organizations about developing service-learning partnerships with students will be conducted 2-4 p.m. in Gurley Hall 207B.

Wednesday will be "UNM-Gallup Beautification Day" on campus. There will be a litter clean-up from 8 a.m. until noon, and from noon until 4 p.m. there will be flower planting around campus.

Service learning students will also be participating in "Reflection Groups," where they will discuss and compare learning in the classroom to hands-on working experiences in the community. More reflection groups will be held on campus on Thursday, as well.

Also on Wednesday, the National Indian Youth Leadership Project (NIYLP) and the Gallup McKinley County Schools will plant trees from 4-6 p.m. at Rocky View Elementary School.

On Thursday, NIYLP, the Washington Elementary After School Program, New Mexico Clean and Beautiful, the State Highway Department and the city of Gallup will host a beautification of the Ninth Street neighborhood on Gallup's north side. Tree New Mexico, a private foundation that distributes plants to communities around the state, has donated New Mexico Privet hedge plants for the project. Grass and wild flowers will also be sown. The public is encouraged to help with the
project, which will be held from 4-6 p.m.

Friday is "Recognition Day" at UNM-Gallup. The Student Senate is sponsoring, from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., a community mixer for everyone involved in UNM's Earth Week projects. From 11 a.m. to noon, various speakers will talk about environmental issues and service learning. From noon until 1:30 p.m. the Center for Service Learning will have an awards presentation to recognize students, faculty and community partners involved in outstanding service learning projects. The G-
Town Singers, a Native American drum group from UNM-Gallup, will perform at the close of the presentation. And from
1:30-2:30 p.m. students will sow wild flowers around the campus.

Also on Friday, NIYLP and residents of Church Rock will paint out graffiti around the community from 4-6 p.m.

Saturday events

"The Greater Gallup Clean Up" will take place 7-10 a.m. Saturday. Everyone in the community is encouraged to participate in the project, which is sponsored by the city of Gallup, NIYLP and UNM-Gallup's Center for Service Learning.

Participants are asked to meet in the Albertson's parking lot between 7-8 a.m. to receive their clean-up assignments. All cleaning supplies and trash bags will be furnished, and participants will be given coupons for lunch. Volunteers should wear sturdy shoes, sun screen and bring water bottles.

Immediately after "The Greater Gallup Clean Up," local members of Citizens Against Radioactive Dumping (CARD) are hosting a "Nuclear Issues Education Workshop." The public is invited to the free workshop; however, organizers are particularly interested in attracting teachers to the event. Most of the organizers are local teachers, and they will present lesson
plans and ideas for teaching about nuclear issues in elementary and secondary classrooms.

The workshop will be held 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Family Center of Sacred Heart Cathedral, 555 S. Woodrow Drive. A complimentary lunch will be served, but participants must call Kathleen at 488-5947 to preregister and reserve a lunch.

Tree planting

In addition to the week's Earth Day projects, the city of Gallup will plant 800 trees and hedge plants at Red Rock State Park in the next few weeks, and volunteers are needed to help with the project. Tree New Mexico has donated small plugs of ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, cottonless cottonwood, hackberry, shademaster locust and New Mexico privet for the project. Eventually the trees will become a windbreak on the park's south, west and southwest sides.

Information

For information about the UNM-Gallup events, contact John at 863-7525, Shelly at 863-7706 or Maggie at 863-7578.

For information about the NIYLP projects, contact Karl or Rene at 722-9176.

Information about the Nuclear Issues Education Workshop can be obtained from Kathleen at 488-5947.

Joe Athens of the city of Gallup can be contacted about the tree planting at Red Rock State Park at 722-3839.

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Fire damages Grants home

Tara Drolma
Staff Writer

GRANTS — A burning candle is suspected of causing a fire which damaged a home Friday night.

Grants Fire and Rescue responded to the call at 345 Jefferson St., the home of Art and Rita Woodworth. The Woodworths, who were not home when the fire started, returned to find firefighters had already extinguished the flames.

Chief Andrew Valencia said firefighters found a candle in the bathroom and he thinks that may have been the cause of the fire. He will know more today when he and his staff review the reports.

The Woodworths had been doing some painting and remodeling in the home. They told firefighters they had left a candle burning beneath some bathroom cabinets.

Valencia said there was no structural damage to the home. The bathroom the cabinets, insulation, and sheetrock burned, but none of the beams. The entire house was damaged by the smoke.

Department busy

Valencia said this is the fourth structure fire handled by his department this year. Last year, the department put out 15 structure fires.

The total number of calls the department goes out on has increased fourfold from last year. Valencia said last year the department responded to about 13 calls per month. This year the department is responding to about 55 calls per month. Last year the department went out on 72 medical calls. As of March 23, the crew has responded to 115 calls.

The increase is due to the fact the department now has five EMTs and nine first responders where before it had only one EMT. Last year the department responded only to medical calls that required an extraction, such as an automobile accident where the victim is trapped.

Now, the department is responding to every medical call within Grants city limits and its response time is two to three minutes.

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Rehoboth sweeps Tohatchi

Abelita Rose Freeland
Staff Sports Writer

GALLUP — Rehoboth swept Tohatchi 11-1 and 10-5 at the Gallup Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon.

"With both teams being first year teams both programs are about the same," said Lynx coach Jimmy Montano. "We just got the lucky hits today."

The doubleheader sweep allowed the Lady Lynx to keep pace with district frontrunners Newcomb and Navajo Prep.

Game 1 Rehoboth 11, Tohatchi 1

Rehoboth ace Gavi Burrola struck out eight batters enroute to the victory. The sophomore pitcher ended the day with three walks and three hits.

Rehoboth held Tohatchi in the first three innings with Burrola striking out six of the 12 batters she faced and her defense making three plays for outs.

In the first inning, the Lady Lynx took scored two runs with Hess Romero stealing home and Kim Kaminski coming in on a walk.

Rehoboth added four more runs in the second inning. With Hess Romero and Erika Romero both on base with walks, ReeDee Begaye tripled to bring them home. A double from Kaminski hit in Begaye.

A single by Burrola hit in Begaye and forced Christen Sanchez out at second. Confusion on how many outs there were had Burrola walking back to the dugout for the third out of the inning, but the Lady Lynx led 6-0.

Rehoboth batted around in the third inning, taking advantage of four walks and a hit batter to widen its lead to 11-0.

The Lady Cougars scored their only run of the game with a single by Natasha Watson, who stole her way home before the third out.

Tohatchi held Rehoboth in the fourth inning, but couldn't score to keep the game from ending in the fifth inning on the ten-run mercy rule.

Rehoboth 10, Tohatchi 5

Tohatchi had a 3-1 lead at the end of the fourth inning, but fell apart as Rehoboth came back to score the sweep.

The game ended in the seventh inning with Tohatchi getting their last out on a runner called out for leaving the base early.

Tohatchi took the lead in the second inning on illegal pitches from Lynx pitcher Kaminski. Kaminski walked DaKatah Jim and Sabrina Sam and advanced into scoring position on wild pitches.

Kaminski then pitched Leeja Bitsie three straight balls before she was called on another illegal pitch to put Bitsie on first base, bringing in Jim and advancing Sam to third base. Sam attempted to score on a wild pitch, but was thrown out at home.

Later, a single by Desire Tom hit in Bitsie to give the Lady Cougars a 2-0 lead.

Tohatchi took a 3-0 lead in the third inning with Kyla Bitsilly on base with a walk. Sam hit an RBI single to left field to knock in Bitsilly.

The Lady Lynx held Tohatchi in the fourth and scored their first run with Kaminski scoring on a single by Sanchez.

Rehoboth held Tohatchi in the fifth with three plays to, then took a 4-3 lead.

Hess Romero got on base with a walk and Kaminski had a single. A single by ReeDee Begaye brought in Romero. Sanchez advanced to third on a bunt with the catcher overthrowing home to bring in Kaminski and Begaye.

Tohatchi scored in the sixth inning to retake a 5-4 lead. Shana Jones walked, Sheri Benally reached on a bunt and Marci Morris came up with a double to hit in the two runners.

Lynx Crystal Begay led off the sixth inning with a walk and Yazzie got on base with a hit to second base with second not doing anything with the ball.

A double by Hess Romero brought in Begay and Erika Romero loaded the bases with a walk. A base hit from Kaminski hit in Yazzie with an attempted play at home resulting in an error when the catcher failed to touch home plate. A double by Begaye scored the Romero sisters.

A second double by Burrola hit in Kaminski as Rehoboth took a 10-5 lead.

The Lady Cougars put a pair of runners into scoring position in the seventh inning, but Jones was called for leaving the base early to end the attempted rally.

Earlier in the game, Montano had questioned which umpires were responsible for monitoring the bases because of several Lynx runners being called out at second base.

"It was a disappointing way to end a game," said Tohatchi coach Alvin Bitsilly. "They (Rehoboth) complained about calls all day. It was so obvious that the girl was on base, her foot was on base, and the next thing you know the (official) calls her out.

"We had a pretty good lineup coming up and the game just ended terribly. It was a bad way to end the game," Bitsilly continued. "It was just a terrible way to end the game on a call that Rehoboth was complaining about.

Bitsilly did add that his team didn't play very well.

Kaminski picked up the win with five strikeouts, seven walks and seven hits. She also hit a batter and was called for four illegal pitches.

"The (officials) were saying she was wetting her fingers when her feet was in contact with the mound," coach Montano said about the illegal pitch calls. "But that was just from inexperience and nervousness."

"I was getting really frustrated about the umpires so picky and what not," said junior pitcher Kaminski. "Then I just realized (I just had) to pitch and put it in and I did, then it went well."

Despite 12 strikeouts, Bitsilly registered the loss. She gave up 10 hits on 14 hits and walked four.

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Scouts explode for 17-2 win

Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer

FT. DEFIANCE, Ariz. — The Window Rock Scouts broke open a close game and put Ganado away 17-2 in five innings Saturday afternoon.

With a 3-0 lead the Scouts exploded for nine runs in the second inning and never looked back to take the 3A North Conference victory.

The Scouts (10-5, 4-2 conference) came out expecting to play a double header, but since only the first game counts as a conference game, Ganado (1-2 conference) only wanted to play one game. According to Ganado coach Russ Seymore, it did not look like they even wanted to play that one.

"We played terrible, pretty simple," he said. "They hit the ball well and we had a lack of effort pretty much from the time we took infield until the end of the game..."

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Window Rock chief criticized

Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer

FORT DEFIANCE, Ariz. — The principal of Window Rock Elementary School is facing enough criticism from the Window Rock Education Association to prompt an executive session scheduled for April 25.

However, there are also plenty of teachers who support Principal Joan Gilmore, who's in her second year as principal.
Gilmore is in the first year of a two-year contract.

Also apparently receiving criticism is Tse Ho Tso Primary School Principal Sherry Mitchell, who started her principalship the same time as Gilmore and is under a similar contract arrangement.

Gilmore's name came up during last week's Window Rock Unified School District Board of Education meeting at Tse Ho Tso Primary, although it wasn't mentioned directly due to board policy that clamps down on discussing personnel positions in open session. One way to avoid that problem is to mention a position without mentioning the person...

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Deaths

Roses F. Borunda

GALLUP — Services for Rose Borunda, 41, will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 17, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. Father Ulric Pax will officiate.

A rosary will be held 7 p.m. tonight at St. Francis Church.

Borunda died April 12 in Gallup. She was born Sept. 1, 1959, in Gallup.

Survivors include her son, Lawrence Kiro of Rio Rancho; daughter, Victoria Borunda of Gallup; parents, Juan and Stella Falcon, both of Gallup; brothers, Johnny M. Falcon of Gallup and Juan Falcon of San Angelo, Texas; and sisters, Rosa Aravjo of San Angelo, Texas, and Irene Montoya of Gallup.

Borunda was preceded in death by her brother, Andrew Falcon.

Pallbearers will be Glenn Cleland, Jack Cuellar, Johnny Falcon, Jose Flores, Frank Montoya and Jerry Montoya Jr.

Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Gladys Clarke

GALLUP — Memorial services for Gladys Clarke, 94, will be held 7 p.m. tonight at the First United Methodist Church. The Rev. Jeff Symonds will officiate. Interment will be in Wallworth, Wis.

Clarke died April 13 in Gallup. She was born Oct. 28, 1906, in Excelsior, Wis.

Clarke came to Gallup to teach school. She taught at the Twin Lakes Boarding School, where she became a supervising
teacher and traveled throughout the Navajo District. She was a member of the Chapter "C," P.E.O., the Naomi Circle at the
First Methodist Church and the RMCH Auxiliary and an honorary auxillian at the time of her death.

Survivors include her sister, Doretta "Edward" Barnum; nieces and nephews.

Clarke was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Clarke; parents, Alvin and Lennie "Garner" Wanek ; sisters, Bernice Humphrey and Geraldine Genawick; and nieces and nephews.

Vida Tucker

GALLUP — Graveside services will be held 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 17, in Ralls, Texas, for Vida Tucker.

Tucker died April 13.

Tucker lived in Ralls from 1912 until 1973, then moved to Gallup.

Survivors include her son, Thomas C. Tucker Jr. of Denver; daughters, Mildred Nicholson of Gallup and Lottie May of
Albuquerque; brother, Harley Reese of Ralls; sisters, Imogene Lehr and Earlene White, both of Borger, Texas; seven
grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren and numerous great-great-grandchildren.

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