Cleanup complete at Navajo Pine
Bill Donovan
Diné Bureau
GALLUP — Students at Navajo Pine High School were scheduled to
go back to school today after district officials said Wednesday the
clean-up effort from a sewer backup had been completed.
School was dismissed at the Navajo, N.M., school Wednesday after an
electrical outage occurred, causing sewer problems.
Angelo DiPaolo, an assistant superintendent for the Gallup-McKinley
County School District, said maintenance crews, working Tuesday night
and throughout Wednesday, had cleaned up the hallways and bathrooms
where "gray water" and other matter had spread after a sewage
pump had shut down because of the electrical outage.
Maintenance personnel also finished deodorizing and disinfecting the
school Wednesday to remove any bad odors caused by the sewage problem,
he said.
Students at the school Tuesday not only had to cope with the electrical
outage and the sewer problems, but there was also a bomb threat and
an altercation afterward between one of the students and Navajo police.
The student was later arrested.
DiPaolo said he was told the altercation began because the student,
whose name was not released, was "wearing something inappropriate"
that was not allowed under the school's dress code.
When this was brought to his attention by school personnel, he became
unruly, and police, who were at the school in response to the bomb
threat, tried unsuccessfully to calm him down. The student finally
had to be restrained and was taken away by police.
DiPaolo praised the rest of the students. "The student body responded
very well, and (it) should be commended," DiPaolo said.
He added that the situation was made easier when the school's principal,
Gilbert Sage, returned to school. Sage had been out of the state on
school business and "drove all night after learning what happened
at the school," DiPaolo said.
Personnel at the school had been criticized for not reporting immediately
to the district office when the electrical outage and sewer problems
occurred just before noon. District officials didn't learn of the
situation until after 2 p.m., when the bomb threat was reported.
DiPaolo said the communication problem was caused by the fact that
Sage was gone and the assistant principal had been at the school only
a few months. Steps have been taken, DiPaolo said, to make sure district
officials in the future are kept informed of any unusual problems.
As for the electrical outage that caused many of the problems for
the day, DiPaolo said it was not confined to the school. A large area
around Navajo, N.M., serviced by the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority
also experienced the outage.
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KTNN, Clinton have chat
Bill Donovan
Diné Bureau
GALLUP — The news crew for a Navajo radio station defied the
odds Monday and got an exclusive interview with President Clinton
during his visit to Shiprock.
Patrick Murphy and Arnold Chee, who work for KTNN Radio, were in the
right place at the right time near a bathroom where Clinton was heading
for a pit stop.
The two interviewed Clinton for about 30 seconds, a half minute that
Murphy admits he will remember for the rest of his life.
In planning their coverage of the Clinton visit, Murphy said he thought
he might get a chance to ask Clinton a question. He decided if he
did, he would ask Clinton about AmeriCorps, a pet project of Clinton's
that has been a major presence on the reservation the past seven years.
The interview didn't break any new ground, but it gave KTNN a chance
to get an exclusive sound bite that played on the radio station Tuesday
and also on "Native America Calling," a national radio broadcast
of Native American issues.
Clinton said in his interview that the AmeriCorps program allows young
people to serve their community and earn money to help them go to
college.
"This program has had a more positive impact in Native American
communities than it has had in any other place," Clinton said.
He said he was also proud of the fact that more young people have
served nationwide in the AmeriCorps program than have served in the
Peace Corps in the last 20 years.
Murphy, who has been with the radio station since August 1998, said
he and Chee were waiting at Shiprock High School while Clinton was
outside shaking hands. Secret Service agents were nearby, keeping
people inside the building because they didn't want anyone leaving
the building while Clinton was just outside.
Clinton came into the building looking for a bathroom. He continued
to shake people's hands, and since Murphy and Chee were located between
him and the bathroom, the president eventually got to their area.
Murphy said Secret Service agents in the area knew he and Chee were
radio reporters, in part because they had press passes and Murphy
was carrying a tape recorder.
Although security was tight in the area, no attempt was made to keep
Murphy from asking Clinton a question, the reporter said.
When Clinton had answered the question, Murphy said he thanked him,
and Clinton continued heading to the bathroom, not realizing, said
station officials, that he had taken part in something that will probably
be talked about within the radio station for years to come.
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Begaye supports takeover of IHS
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — His administration will continue to support the
tribal takeover of the Navajo Area Indian Health Service, Navajo Nation
President Kelsey Begaye said Wednesday.
Begaye said in his quarterly report to the Navajo Nation Council that
the tribe has worked for five years on the conversion of the almost
$300 million a year operation.
Begaye assured the council that he and Vice President Taylor McKenzie
"are doing everything we can to ensure that health care delivery
and services not be interrupted or minimized" in the acquisition.
"We are working to ensure that there is a smooth transition for
Navajo Area Indian Health Service and Navajo Nation staff."
The president said current plans are "that everyone will have
a place in the new health care system at the same step or grade and
salary."
But a federal workers union is fighting the effort because Navajo
law forbids unionization and many of the 3,000 IHS employees fear
a repeat of previous takeovers when their wages were reduced.
"The next step toward self-responsibility is to file the articles
of incorporation, hire a transitional chief executive officer, chief
financial officer and technical staff, create a transition team, assist
with the Indian Self-Determination Act contract application and lobby
for contract support costs," Begaye said.
The president commented on modern technology at two points in his
address to the council.
In June, he expects the announcement from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation about which computer equipment will go to each of the 110
chapters. "We are looking at three to five computers for each
chapter," Begaye said.
The nation's president said he expects use of the information superhighway
to yield a huge savings in travel costs.
The president pointed out that Navajos have been traveling to Washington,
D.C., for 137 years, "yet it has taken 137 years for the president
of the United States to come amidst the Navajo people," he said.
And Bill Clinton's visit might not have happened if were not for Myra
Jodie, 12, a Ganado Middle School student from the Greasewood area.
"It took a young Navajo girl to make it happen because she won
an I-Mac computer in a national contest," he said. "Now
the world comes to us because they realize we don't have electricity
in 52 percent of our homes, we don't have telephones in 78 percent
of our homes, and we don't have computers in 99 percent of our homes,"
Myra won the computer, but the Internet company couldn't find her
for awhile, since she has no phone. She had used a school computer
to enter the contest.
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$1 telephone vow only for low income
Nancy Watson
Diné Bureau
GALLUP — Did President Clinton actually promise everyone on the
Navajo Reservation phone service for $1 a month?
Or did people hear only what they wanted to hear?
Officials of the reservation's telephone service said Wednesday that
he did not promise all reservation residents phone service for $1
month.
He said people who already receive a discounted phone rate from the
federal Universal Lifeline Telephone Service might get an additional
reduction in their monthly phone bill from $4.50 to $1.
Francis Mike, speaking for Navajo Communications Co., said his office
has received several phone calls from people asking about Clinton's
proposal. He also said that every time he goes anywhere in public,
including the grocery store, people ask him about the proposal.
The questions began the morning after Clinton's speech, when telephone
company employees asked Mike if they could take advantage of the $1
per month phone service. That was when Mike went online, found Clinton's
speech and read it closely.
First of all, Clinton is not proposing a new program, Mike said. He
merely wants to add to an existing program that is in place across
the nation.
Families who receive government subsidies such as social security,
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Medicaid or Medicare are eligible
for Lifeline.
Lifeline recipients get a reduced fee on recurring monthly telephone
charges. In New Mexico, the recurring monthly fee is $18.75. In Arizona,
it is $15.90. Lifeline recipients get a reduced rate of $4.50 in both
states.
Clinton wants that amount reduced to $1.
"If you're not low income and you don't qualify," Mike said,
"it doesn't pertain to you."
Due to high unemployment on the reservation, a significant number
of residents who already qualify for Lifeline will be able to get
a discount on their reduced monthly rate.
Only 22.5 percent of the homes on the reservation have phones, and
70 percent of those phones are located in seven communities, Mike
said. Those communities are Window Rock, Chinle, Tuba City, Kayenta,
Ganado, Crownpoint and Shiprock.
Another misconception about Clinton's speech is that phone lines will
become available to every home on the reservation, but that is not
true.
"In looking at his speech and exactly what he said, there is
nothing about new lines," Mike said.
Residents of some homes, particularly those built in Navajo Housing
Authority communities, where people have access to telephone lines
and qualify for the Lifeline phones, have chosen not to have telephones,
he said. But many of those homes have satellite dishes for digital
or cable television, he added.
Other homes across the reservation have no phones, electricity or
running water.
"If I was out there in the middle of nowhere," Mike said,
"a telephone would not be a priority. My priorities would be
water, electricity and the basic necessities."
Mike pointed out that Myra Jodie, the 12 year old from Ganado who
introduced Clinton in Shiprock, said when given the choice between
paying for food and electricity or a telephone, she would choose the
food and light.
In spite of the additional inquiries at his office, Mike said, the
president's trip did not create a headache for him.
"I'm pleased the president recognized the low penetration of
phones in communities and the real problems on the reservation,"
he said.
He liked best the fact that Clinton's speech centered on economic
development. Economic development, he said, is what will bring about
more phone, water, sewer and electricity lines.
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Police find load of meth
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — State police caught two people with 17 pounds of methamphetamine
on Interstate 40 near Grants on Wednesday morning.
Percy Degree, 25, was driving a 1995 Ford Contour 99 miles per hour
on I-40 when state police officer Billy Cunningham stopped him for
speeding. He and his passenger Denise Maxwell, 20, are from Grenina,
La., and the car had California license plates.
Cunningham became suspicious of the couple, got a search warrant and
dogs to sniff the car, state police Capt. Glenn Thomas said...
| Top |
Angel brings national spotlight to Gallup
Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Special to the Independent
GALLUP — Gallup is once again receiving national attention, only
this time it's not for anything negative. It's for something that's
... well ... different.
How do you explain Gallup's angel? How do you explain a grown woman
in a secondhand wedding gown wings attached to her back with Velcro
on hotel rooftops and in back alleys?
The Albuquerque Journal tried to explain it in February in a feature
story titled, "Touched by an Angel." But it's really more
like "Touched by an Angel" meets "Girls Just Wanna
Have Fun..."
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Puncture may have killed inmate
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Though rumors have suggested a county jail inmate may
have died from a drug overdose, a puncture to his esophagus probably
killed him.
The inmate, Quintin Newsom, died early Sunday morning
at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque.
Newsom's mother, Arlyss Newsom, said doctors at the hospital told
her they found a retainer in her son's stomach and a false tooth in
his esophagus. The retainer held the false tooth in place...
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BLM takes back untidy Milan park
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
MILAN — The Bureau of Land Management is repossessing 465.28
acres it leased to the Village of Milan some 20 years ago because
the community failed to make promised improvements at the huge park.
The land is Venaranda Park, an area now desecrated by trash and used
by sports shooters as a makeshift target-shooting range.
BLM officials said shooting is illegal at the park, because it was
designated as a nonshooting area. Trash dumping is also against the
law...
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Principal at Mariano Lake quits
S.J. Ludescher
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Lorraine Etcitty, principal of the much-investigated
Mariano Lake Community School, has resigned.
A source close to the school, who asked to not be identified, said
the resignation followed the release of a review concerning poor conditions
in the grant school and to Etcitty's alleged incompetence.
When contacted at her home, Etcitty said the report had nothing to
do with her decision to leave. "Young Jeff Tom (the president
of the Mariano Lake Community School) gave me the opportunity to buy
out the contract," she said...
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Man guilty in stabbing
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — A McKinley County jury returned a guilty verdict on
two counts today against a man who stabbed a Tse Bonito woman in the
head with a butcher knife.
Bryan Rainey, 19, was found guilty of attempted murder in the first-degree
and aggravated battery in connection with the Aug. 11, 1998, attack
of Barbara Bald.
Depending on sentencing, he faces a maximum penalty of 16 years in
prison. A third count against the defendant for aggravated burglary
resulted in a mistrial due to the jurors' misunderstanding of court
instructions...
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Lack of plumbing helps Kirtland service
grow
Bill Donovan
Diné Bureau
GALLUP — Probably none of the 10,000 or so people who waited
for President Clinton on Monday thought about Don Moats, but he did
a lot of thinking about how to make their wait a little more pleasant.
Moats works for DJ's Septic Service, a Kirtland company that provided
the 75 portable toilets placed in the area for use by the crowd.
This marked the first major event on the reservation handled by the
company, although its presence in the Shiprock area has been growing
for the past four years as a supplier of portable toilets for reservation
homes without indoor plumbing...
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