Thousands expected for Clinton's visit
Tribe's tab: $30,000
S.J. Ludescher
Staff Writer
SHIPROCK — Only one word appears to describe this town of nearly
10,000 as they prepared for President Clinton's visit here today excited.
Maxine Walter, a student at Diné College, expressed it like
this: "Even the people that didn't vote for Clinton are going
to go see him."
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is expected to be among the entourage
as well as other computer experts. Navajo Nation President Kelsey
Begaye will meet Clinton at the Farmington airport, according to Mellor
Willie, an aide to Begaye.
As part of the preparations, Begaye selected the official gifts for
the First Family, Willie said.
A Navajo Chief Pendleton blanket with a tribal seal
etched in commemoration was purchased at Ellis Tanner's in Gallup
for Clinton. A Navajo doll with a replica of a traditional loom was
made into a lamp for Chelsea Clinton, and both Hillary Rodham Clinton
and Tipper Gore were scheduled to receive shawls. Begaye was also
planning to give a blanket to Vice President Al Gore. Neither Hillary
and Chelsea Clinton nor Tipper and Al Gore were expected to be in
Shiprock today.
"During the White House visit, Begaye did tutor Clinton in how
to introduce himself in Navajo," Willie said. "It will be
interesting to see if he uses that."
In trying to keep the focus on Navajo tradition, speeches by tribal
delegates and officials will be in Navajo.
Begaye just returned from Washington, D.C., where he was Clinton's
special guest at a fund-raising dinner. "President Begaye will
not be speaking," Willie said, "and doesn't want to deflect
from Clinton's purpose of the visit."
Willie estimated the visit will cost the tribe about $30,000. White
House funds and in-kind volunteer labor paid for most of Shiprock's
expense for the hosting the president.
All over Shiprock, in fact, the excitement and enthusiasm appears
to have been contagious. Students, faculty and janitorial staff at
Diné College spent Sunday receiving last-minute briefings and
completing tasks in expectation of the visit today, which is also
a holiday, Navajo Sovereignty Day.
The White House advance crew completed set-ups for the computer demonstrations
and interviews with area students. By midafternoon, everything was
done, and the school spit-shined and polished from top to bottom.
Bringing out the jewelry
Aside from "costing all of them a lot of homework," the
students said it was going to be a worthwhile experience. "We're
all amazed how much work it takes to host the president," said
Erica Nakai, a Diné College student, "and how often the
plans change."
Nakai, a sophomore at Diné College and associated student body
president, was chosen to greet and guide Clinton through Diné
College. She is a civil engineering and computer technology major
planning to transfer next fall to New Mexico State University.
Part of her preparation for the Clinton visit was to round up some
of her family's jewelry to wear with her traditional dress. When her
mother heard of her honor, Nakai said, she bought the daughter new
buckskins and moccasins.
Other students also said their family members had called and offered
family jewelry to participating students, in hope their pieces would
be photographed with the president. Students all reported that family
members had asked to be included if the students were allowed to bring
a guest.
The student volunteers were also required to undergo background checks.
With less than 10 days' notice for the presidential visit, a lot of
work has had to be done to host Clinton.
The speakers were given a last-minute check to the tune of "Hail
to the Chief" as live news vans from Albuquerque television stations
checked lighting for the telecast.
Phone crews also worked to complete the installation of 50 extra phone
lines, required by the presidential entourage. "As a benefit,
the phone lines will remain after the president is gone," said
Al Martinez, president of the task force organized for the president's
visit.
Wayne Arnold, a Diné computer and business division student
from Tsaile, said he thought the visit would create more attention
in computer technology and increase enrollment at Diné College.
Schools in Shiprock will not be open Monday. Some merchants
are also planning to close their operations.
Navajo Nation police, however, did not take a holiday. "All of
our men have been dispatched to this area for this event," Officer
Joseph Dedman said. The Shiprock Indian Health Service and emergency
medical technicians are on stand-by alert, as well.
Thousands expected
By early Sunday evening, the entertainment program for the visit had
not been completed. Selena Manychildren, an announcer with the Navajo
radio station KTNN, was announced as the mistress of ceremonies and
official translator, Martinez said.
About 25,000 people are expected to attend. Consequently, the shuttle
schedule was expanded to include sites at City Market and the Shiprock
Chapter House as well as the fairgrounds.
Martinez said vendors who wanted to sell food and refreshments needed
to prepare food in advance, since no propane or open fires were to
have been permitted at the Boy and Girls Club grounds. The vendors
were to have been allowed in the distant part of the grounds. Crews
had graded and leveled several acres adjacent to the speakers' platform
as part of the preparation.
No glass or aluminum cans are allowed through the gates, either. "Only
plastic and Styrofoam cups will be permitted," Martinez said.
Shiprock resident Dahaana Baadaani III said he enlisted the help of
his family in creating a sign to welcome Clinton.
The family hung the banner on Route 654, close to the bridge, in hopes
the president might see it as he motors by.
"He's the only one that remembered us Navajos," Baadaani
said. "He's our heart and believes in our people. He remembered
the uranium workers. My dad was a miner."
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Firm proposes Navajo flights
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — A Page-based company, Sunrise Airlines, wants to
initiate the first commuter airline service to the Navajo Reservation.
Navajo officials say it's about time somebody realized there was a
need for a commuter line on the reservation.
Tony Skrelunas, director of the Division of Economic Development,
estimated that 90 percent of the people getting off Mesa Airlines
flights at the Gallup airport are headed to the reservation.
The Window Rock airport, which Sunrise hopes to service, has a 7,000-foot-long,
75-foot-wide runway on which an airplane weighing up to about 45,000
pounds can land.
The Gallup Municipal Airport is only 300 feet longer and 25 feet wider.
It can hold a craft weighing about 160,000 pounds, or the size of
a Boeing 737 or MD 80.
Sunrise now provides commuter service between Page and Phoenix; Show
Low and Phoenix; Moab, Utah, and Salt Lake City; and Elko and Ely,
Nev., and Las Vegas, Nev.
Company official Gary Scaramazzo, a former teacher turned mayor of
Page, said the airline hoped to get federal officials to give the
essential air service subsidy to the airline serving the Navajo Nation
rather than the airline landing and taking off in the city of Gallup.
Page battled for many years to keep regular airline service and depended
upon the federal subsidy.
Show Low tried a different approach, what Sunrise officials call a
tremendously successful and profitable venture. The town bought its
own commuter aircraft, which Sunrise operates.
The company has 32 airplanes, maintained at the Page airport. Six
of them are commuter-style with pressurized cabins holding 19 passengers
and a crew of two.
Skrelunas obtained the approval this week of the council's Economic
Development Committee to conduct a feasibility study with the airline
and report back on June 7.
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Walkers want end to abuse
"You must become the change you wish to see in the world."
— Gandhi
Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Special to the Independent
GALLUP — The Journey of the Sacred Hoop, the result of one man's
vision and many other people's hard work and energy, is being propelled
across the country in remembrance of the spirit of a young girl, a
tiny victim of domestic violence.
Brandi was 5 years old when her mother's boyfriend unleashed his fury
on the child. She died as a result of the vicious beating and kicking
she endured, but she is not forgotten. The Silent Witness Program
made a life-size silhouette of Brandi, painted it crimson and attached
a plaque that tells the tragic details of her death.
While attending a conference on domestic violence, Don
Coyhis saw Brandi's silhouette, read her story and was forever changed.
"I just lost it," said Coyhis, the founder and president
of White Bison Inc., a nonprofit Indian organization, and the main
organizer of the Sacred Hoop Journey.
His initial shock led to a time of prayer and reflection and to the
determination to do something in Brandi's memory for those caught
in the destructive cycle of domestic violence. With the words of Gandhi
in mind, Coyhis decided to become the change he wanted to see in the
world.
Thus the Journey of the Sacred Hoop was born.
Coyhis and his fellow travelers on the journey are bringing Brandi's
silhouette along with them as they travel across the country advocating
"wellbriety" sobriety, recovery, healing and wellness.
Coyhis, wearing his Wellbriety sweatshirt and a pin with the quotation
from Gandhi, talked about the journey while the walkers were in Gallup
the past weekend.
The group, consisting of a core group of 21 walkers, left Los Angeles
on April 2 and will travel to the White House by July 10. The 3,800-mile
journey is scheduled to take 109 days.
"It's a very spiritual journey," Coyhis said. No alcohol,
drugs, gambling or cursing is allowed by any of the participants.
According to Coyhis, the group opens and closes each day with a Native
American Talking Circle ceremony.
Although the Sacred Hoop Journey is primarily focused on wellbriety
in Native American communities, it is not exclusively for Indian people.
During the course of the walk, the group will participate in conferences
about domestic violence, substance abuse, the frequently destructive
legacy of the boarding school experience, youth suicide, Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome, children of alcoholics, leadership, roles of women and men
and how to strengthen families. The group encourages active participation
in the walk and its events by anyone regardless of race or culture
whose life has been affected by these issues.
The Journey of the Sacred Hoop ties all these issues together because
Coyhis believes the problems are inter-related. Domestic violence
is an example of this, he said.
Experts in the field of domestic violence are "not necessarily
saying it's tied to alcohol abuse," he said, "but it is."
"This journey is about awareness," Coyhis said. Problems
can't be solved until they are recognized and acknowledged. He quoted
a saying from 12-step recovery programs, "You're only as sick
as your secrets."
And although this walk of 3,800 miles will probably be the longest
physical journey most of the participants will ever take, in his writings,
Coyhis has quoted another recovery: "The longest road that we
will ever walk is the 18 inches between the head and the heart."
One of Coyhis' goals is for people to take the knowledge they learn
and use it to transform their heart and lives.
Coyhis, himself a recovering alcoholic with 21 years of sobriety,
believes that recovery and healing takes place in an order: first
the individual, then the family, next the community and ultimately
the nation.
Through the White Bison organization, Coyhis has been
working to blend the wisdom of 12-step recovery programs with Native
American spiritual beliefs, prophecies and practices. For example,
Coyhis took the native symbol of the medicine wheel, blended it with
the 12 Steps and offered native concepts to explain the steps.
This, according to Coyhis, has proved successful with
many Indian people, a number of whom have really "struggled"
to identify with the traditional Alcoholics Anonymous program.
One of White Bison's projects is to publish a book on recovery similar
to AA's famous "Big Book." The format will be similar to
the AA classic, but it will contain the stories of Indian people and
some of the experiences unique to native people.
"We're just going to Indianize it," Coyhis said. The book
will provide "an entry into AA, not a distance from AA."
When the walk arrives in Cherokee, N.C., the group will hold a conference
on leadership in native communities sober leadership.
"Are you drinking?" is a question Coyhis believes Indian
people should demand their leaders answer. "I don't care how
smart they are," he stated. "Don't vote for them. Make it
an issue."
Coyhis was interviewed in Gallup, while the second conference of the
journey was taking place. Next, the group will depart to Albuquerque,
traveling through Acoma and Laguna pueblos. The walk's third conference,
on "Fatherhood," will be held in Albuquerque on Easter Sunday
at the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute.
So far, Coyhis said, the walkers have had positive experiences with
the people and the communities along the journey.
"It's beyond my vision the reaction to it,"
he explained. "It's been like walking in a minefield of miracles."
For more information about the journey, readers can contact White
Bison at 6145 Lehman Drive, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, Colo. 80918;
phone (719) 548-1000; FAX (719) 548-9407; e-mail at infor@whitebison.org
or visit its webpage at www.whitebison.org.
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Teachers' union: Gallup is worst
But Gomez cites progress
This is the first of two parts looking at the relationship between
teachers and the Gallup-McKinley County School District.
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — The local school employees' union is writing a resolution
that says the Gallup-McKinley County School District is the worst
district in the state to work in.
Tom Payton, president of the McKinley County Federation of United
School Employees, said he will present the resolution to the New Mexico
Federation of Educational Employees, the umbrella organization for
New Mexican school unions that are affiliated with the American Federation
of Teachers.
Delegates from AFT unions in the state will meet in May, where they
will vote whether to endorse the MCFUSE resolution.
At a New Mexico Federation meeting in March, Payton said he told union
representatives from other parts of the state stories about the mismanagement
and mistreatment GMCS teachers. Payton said other union leaders at
the meeting told him GMCS sounded as if it were worse than other state
school districts.
Gallup Superintendent Robert Gomez said the resolution would hurt
the administration as well as the students and Payton's fellow teachers.
"It's an unfortunate aspect that a teacher is trying to run down
his employers and his fellow teachers," Gomez said.
Such a statement, Gomez added, would overlook what progress the district
has made.
Payton and other teachers said they believe the district is still
far behind. They said the central office and school board have worked
against the teachers instead of with them.
Payton said he wants to write the resolution "to create an awareness
among new employees that they are coming to a place where they can
expect to be treated in an unprofessional manner.
"While this may make the short-term goal for recruiting harder
for the administration," Payton said, "it'll mean fewer
teachers who leave right away. We'll get tougher teachers. We need
teachers who know how to deal with abuse and mistreatment from the
administration, who will not run and cut."
The president of the New Mexico Federation, Don Whatley, said the
personnel policies GMCS has recently enacted are among the most unprofessional
policies he has seen in the state.
"When I read the list of policies, I was just appalled,"
Whatley said. "I can't think of any district in New Mexico that
has a list of policies that are so anti-employee."
Some parents said they are sympathetic to the teachers' problems,
but wonder how the resolution will help them.
"It is probably one of the hardest places to work," said
Leslie Hudgeons, the mother of a Gallup Junior High School student.
"I don't know that it (the resolution) would do any good. I don't
think it'll affect anything either way."
Administrators and teachers alike have said the resolution will affect
children.
"If we don't have everybody working together from the classroom
to the leadership on up," Margaret Garza, an assistant to the
superintendent, said, "then it's hard to make sure our children
are progressing."
Jane Henley, a fourth-grade teacher at Juan de Oate, said teachers
do not get the support they need from the administration.
She said teachers look at children's needs first, but central office
administrators seldom listen to teachers' suggestions. The board and
administrators do not give teachers the opportunity to try the programs
or activities they think students need, Henley added
Ken Holloway, a school board member who taught for GMCS for 25 years,
said the division between the teachers and the administration may
be part of a natural rift between employers and employees.
"I taught for 25 years, and I know we've got some problems,"
Holloway said. "Sometimes the communication between the teachers
and the administration hasn't been the greatest. If kids are No. 1,
then our classroom teachers should be No. 2."
About the resolution, Holloway said: "I'm just shocked. I don't
know what purpose it (the resolution) would serve except to hurt our
reputation."
Payton said he hopes the resolution will get teachers the attention
and help they deserve from institutions independent of GMCS such as
the state Department of Education or the New Mexico School Board.
He hopes to get "outside help. The administration will not listen
to employees and they are making authoritarian decisions that aren't
working."
The final part looks at what teachers say is the problem in the Gallup
schools and at what administrators say they are trying to do to address
these issues.
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Bengals flat against Manzano
Alan Arthur
Sports Editor
ALBUQUERQUE — Slow starts killed the Bengals twice Saturday afternoon
as they suffered a doubleheader loss to the Manzano Monarchs, 8-4
and 8-2, in their District 1AAAA twinbill at Manzano High School.
The Bengals trailed 6-0 after two innings in the first game and were
down 8-0 after two innings in the second game.
"We kind of shot ourselves in the foot," Gallup head coach
Robert Erp said...
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Homefield advantage!
Grants boys perform well on their own track to edge
out Gallup
Santiago Ramos
Staff Sports Writer
GRANTS - It was a close call but in the end Grants edged out Gallup
by just three points in the boys team standings during Saturday's
Gallup Invitational that was hampered by gusty winds all afternoon.
After placing fourth at state last year with just eight seniors, a
rebuilding Grants Pirates team amassed 105 points to hold off Gallup's
challenge with 102 points. West Mesa was a close third with 98 points,
followed by Thoreau 54, Rio Grande 51, Tohatchi 19 and Crownpoint
8...
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Grand jury hears drug, liquor cases
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — If it were not for drugs and alcohol, the Thirteenth
Judicial District Grand Jury would have heard only four cases last
week. But jurors listened to 12 cases, including that of Daniel Paul
Chafee, who apparently tried to run down another person with a car
while under the influence.
Chafee, 36, of Newbury Park, Calif., tried to run down a woman with
a 1989 Nissan car on Jan. 13, and because of that, Chafee was charged
with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon...
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Woman shot during brawl
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Navajo police have arrested two young Shiprock
brothers on aggravated battery charges and federal charges are pending
following the accidental shooting of a 30-year-old Fruitland woman.
Sherry Tso was taken to the Indian Health Service hospital about 5
a.m. Wednesday by her boyfriend, Lennie Becenti, 27, after the brothers
struggled and a .25-caliber pistol discharged. The bullet hit the
woman in her lower right abdomen, according to Shiprock Police District
reports.
Investigators said five people had been drinking at a house in the
Mesa View subdivision...
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Pueblos take step toward opening community
colleges
Christian Oberholser
Special to the Independent
ACOMA PUEBLO — High school graduates from Acoma and Laguna Pueblos
will soon have the convenience of earning a two-year associate's degree
without commuting to Albuquerque or Grants.
The Southern Pueblo Governors Council and the All Indian Pueblo Council
took the first important step recently toward establishing a tribally
controlled community college.
Resolutions by both organizations created the Pueblo Indian Community
College the first such community college in New Mexico...
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Kayenta's website attracting thousands
Bill Donovan
Diné Bureau
GALLUP — The Kayenta Township is celebrating the first anniversary
of its website this month, and more and more people are clicking on
daily.
"We're getting hits from all over," said George Joe, public
information officer for the township and editor of the monthly Kayenta
Today. Joe is also the designer of the website.
The website www.kayentatownship.com attracted 10,000 hits during the
month of February or close to 350 a day...
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Deaths
Genevieve E. Ortiz
GALLUP — Services for Genevieve E. Ortiz, 93, will be held at
10 a.m. Tuesday, April 18, at the Sacred Heart Cathedral. Father Pat
Universal will officiate. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Park
in Gallup.
Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. tonight, April 17, at Rollie Mortuary.
Ortiz died April 14 in Gallup. She was born March 24, 1907, in Kingman,
Kan.
Ortiz graduated from Thoreau. In her younger years she worked for
CNN Cotton. She married Peter Ortiz Sr. in 1925 and went to work for
JC Penney. During World War II she and her husband moved to California
and she worked as a ship builder.
After she and her husband moved back to Gallup, they opened the Tiny
Tot Shop of Children's clothes. They later opened the Wagon Wheel
Bar and in 1970 they sold the bar to their son. After retiring she
and her husband traveled all over North America.
Survivors include her son, Pete Ortiz of Gallup; daughter, Lorraine
Richardson of Kingman, Ariz.; nine grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren;
and five great-great-grandchildren.
Ortiz was preceded in death by her husband, Peter P. Ortiz Sr., and
parents, George W. and Carey Burroughs.
Pallbearers will be family members.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Florence Navone
GALLUP — Memorial Mass for Florence Navone, 76, will be held
at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 18, at the Hillcrest Cemetery.
Navone died April 7 in Gallup. She was born Jan. 9, 1924, in Gallup.
Navone was preceded in death by her parents, John and Rose Mary Navone,
and a sister, Rosalie M. Navone.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Trinidad Rivera
ALBUQUERQUE — Services for Trinidad Rivera, 73 will be held at
10 a.m. Wednesday, April 19, at the Church of the Risen Savior, 7701
Wyoming Blvd. NE in Albuquerque. Monsignor Juaquin Bazan will officiate.
Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 18, at the French
Mortuary, Wyoming Blvd. Chapel, 7121 Wyoming Blvd. NE. Visitation
will be 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at the mortuary.
Rivera died April 15 in Albuquerque.
Rivera was a member of the Church of Risen Savior. He was also a member
of the Sheet Metal Workers Union Local 49, as well as the Rio Rancho
Country Golf Club and the Gallup Golf Association.
Survivors include his wife, Ruby S. Rivera; daughters, Judy Rivera
and Joyce Trujillo, both of Gallup, and Jan Moore; brothers, Adolfo
Rivera and Eddie Rivera, both of California; sisters, Mary Lucero
Theresa Rivera and Piedad Herna, all of New Mexico, and Eloisa Dominguez
of California; and three grandchildren.
Dolores J. Sanchez
GALLUP — Services for Dolores J. Sanchez, 72, will be announced
at a later date.
Sanchez died April 15 in Gallup. She was born Nov. 25, 1927, in St.
Johns, Ariz.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
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