Navajo woman finds family
Was sold as a baby from a Gallup motel
Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Special to the Independent
GALLUP — For the last few years, Bettye Maynard has been
a detective, trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of a
Navajo baby off the streets of Gallup. She's been meticulously
piecing together the puzzling pieces to the story a story that
filled newspaper pages in Gallup 38 years ago.
But Maynard is no ordinary detective. She's not working for either
hire or salary. This is no ordinary story to her. This is Maynard's
story, and with each bit of new information, she is reclaiming
a small part of her life, her past, her identity.
She's reclaiming a life that was causally given away on the street,
like a piece of turquoise jewelry to be pawned.
Last spring, Maynard and her husband, Robert, journeyed to Gallup
from their home in Missouri. They brought with them a startling
story: that Bettye had possibly been given away as a newborn baby
by intoxicated Navajo parents to a white woman traveling through
town with a male companion.
That woman was Betty May Prickett, the only mother Bettye Maynard
has ever known.
At first, the Maynards hit a brick wall. There seemed to be no
evidence. No one remembered the story. But then a couple of coincidental
events occurred, and pieces of the puzzle dropped into place.
Now, a year later, Bettye Maynard has been reunited with many
members of her biological family, a family that has been scattered
across several Indian reservations by
abandonment, alcoholism and death.
And though it has been a joyful reunion for Maynard, the detective
work goes on. Just last month, Maynard discovered another startling
riddle in her family's history: she was not the only baby that
mysteriously
disappeared.
Slivers of truth
Betty May Prickett always said her daughter was a birthday present
since little Bettye was born on her mother's birthday. And Prickett
said little Bettye was part Comanche, although she offered precious
few details.
But Bettye believed those stories. Her mother told them to her,
and her mother obviously loved and cared for her. But still there
were some puzzling things in Bettye's life. The biggest puzzle
was why she didn't look like anyone else in her mother's family,
a family that was supposedly part American Indian.
And although Betty May Prickett dyed her hair black, she really
didn't look anything like her brown skinned, dark haired daughter.
Another puzzling question was who was Bettye's father?
But as Bettye prepared to marry Robert Maynard 20 years ago, her
mother presented Bettye with two odd pieces of information that
didn't fit with the old stories. Like small slivers of a wedding
cake, Prickett gave Bettye two small slivers of a whole different
story.
First, there was Bettye's birth certificate, a document Bettye
had never seen before. It was a delayed certificate, drawn up
when the child was 6 years old. It said Prickett had given birth
at home in Texas.
And then there was the strange story, told on the eve of their
wedding. Prickett told Robert Maynard she had gotten Bettye as
a baby on the streets of Gallup.
Bettye and Robert Maynard dismissed the story. But they did not
forget it. Through the years, the couple occasionally sought out
Native American gatherings, like powwows, in an effort to learn
more about Bettye's heritage. When Indians would ask Bettye what
tribe she belonged to, she didn't know how to answer.
Finally, three years ago, Bettye wanted some answers of her own.
She confronted her mother and asked for the truth. In a tearful
confession, Prickett admitted to an amazing story. In February
1963, she and a man named Pappy had been traveling
through Gallup in a car with Texas license plates when they encountered
an intoxicated Navajo couple with a newborn baby.
The infant was four days old and still had her umbilical cord.
The Navajo mother apparently couldn't breast feed the child, Prickett
said, and she asked Prickett to care for her.
Prickett and Pappy took the baby to their room in the Arrowhead
Lodge, but soon checked out, steered their car onto Route 66,
fled Gallup and headed east. Prickett told her daughter she thought
the Navajo woman's name had been Lily May Ellis.
The search begins
That was the story Bettye and Robert Maynard brought to Gallup
last April. The Maynards searched the February 1963 issues of
the Gallup Independent and found no news stories about a missing
baby. They searched Navajo tribal records and area phone listings
for a Lily May Ellis, and turned up nothing. They took Bettye's
story to the Independent and the Navajo Times.
Still nothing. They returned to Missouri disappointed and discouraged.
Two months later, an Independent reporter, working on another
story, was searching old newspapers on microfilm when he discovered
a story from May 15, 1963, that told the story of a Navajo grandmother
filing a police report on a missing, 6-month-old granddaughter.
The woman's daughter-in-law had told the older woman she had sold
the infant to a white couple for $4. The couple was driving a
car with Texas license plates. Unfortunately, the news story,
and several subsequent ones, provided no names.
The Independent contacted the Maynards with the exciting news.
Local law enforcement officers began searching for the nearly
40-year-old police report, but came up empty-handed. Then in July,
two Independent reporters told Bettye's story on the air, during
a Navajo language program on KGAK radio.
One listener was especially riveted to the tale. Juanita Tom just
happened to be in the Red Rock Chapter House on a work-related
assignment, and the chapter house just happened to have KGAK tuned
in that afternoon.
In amazement, Tom listened to a story that was strikingly similar
to a story her mother had once told her. Tom's late brother, Lewis
Willis, and his former wife, Lily Mexicano Willis, had had three
children. The youngest child, Lucy Ann Willis, mysteriously disappeared
in Gallup as a baby. It was a painful story for the family, and
it was a story that was not discussed much.
But listening to the radio show, Tom felt she had to talk about
it now.
"I had to make that phone call," she explained. Still,
however, Tom would not talk on the air nor publicly give out her
name until there was proof that Bettye Maynard was her missing
niece, Lucy Willis.
'I'm not lost'
Soon afterwards, Tom and Maynard talked with each other in a phone
conversation that ran past midnight. Maynard listened to Tom's
story of her "lost" baby niece. Maynard's reaction was
instant.
"I'm not lost," she remembers saying to herself. "Here
I am."
Both women felt an immediate connection. The Maynards began making
plans to return to Gallup to meet Tom and her extended family.
Maynard was disappointed to hear that Tom's parents, Ruth and
Stanley Willis, were deceased. Ruth Willis, the worried grandmother
in the 1963 newspaper stories, passed away in 1999, the year before
Maynard's first trip to Gallup.
Maynard was also disappointed that the Willis family didn't know
much about Lily Mexicano, who had eventually split with Lewis
Willis and abandoned their remaining son and daughter.
The Maynards returned to Gallup in September to soak up some Navajo
culture at the annual Navajo Nation Tribal Fair, meet members
of the Willis family and search for more clues to Maynard's identity.
Maynard was excited to learn that Jennie Willis Jim, Lewis and
Lily's other daughter, was willing to undergo DNA testing to see
if she and Bettye were really sisters.
On Sept. 18, 2000, the Independent ran an update on Bettye's story
and, for the first time, publicly named Lily Mexicano as Bettye's
possible biological mother.
To Delcita Yazzie, who picked up the newspaper in Thoreau, this
was startling news. Lily Mexicano was her mother. Mexicano had
abandoned Yazzie as a child, leaving her to be raised by her father
and his family.
Yazzie contacted the Independent with her story and was given
Maynard's phone number and address. She excitedly placed a telephone
call to Missouri, but was greeted with just an answering machine.
She then wrote Maynard a letter and spent $13 to send it Express
Mail.
"That was special to me," Maynard recalled. "I
was impressed." Maynard's potential family tree just added
another
branch.
Early Christmas present
Maynard and Jim both had their blood drawn for the DNA tests in
October. The wait for results seemed to take forever to Maynard.
"If this isn't my family," she recalled thinking, "I'm
going to have to start all over again."
But like a wonderful, early Christmas present, the results verified
what Bettye Maynard had already felt in her heart: she was the
missing Lucy Ann Willis. Maynard had finally found her family.
"Last year was one of the greatest years in my life,"
Maynard said simply. It was the year her life's puzzle pieces
started to fit into place.
Her family members marvel at the amazing coincidental events of
the last year.
Robert Maynard, who put in countless hours helping his wife in
her search, sees a deeper meaning behind those coincidences. "God
has a purpose for everything," he said. "God was behind
it."
Maynard's aunt, Juanita Tom, agrees. "I guess that's what
they mean by 'God works in mysterious ways,'" she said.
In actuality, Maynard was just beginning to find her family. Through
letters and phone calls to Tom, Jim and Yazzie, Maynard began
piecing together the story of her parents' lives and discovered
she had many more half-brothers and -sisters.
Maynard's father, Lewis Willis, in addition to his three children
with Lily Mexicano, had fathered two other children. According
to his sister, Willis had been a good man who had struggled with
alcohol abuse problems off and on in his life.
Lily Mexicano, a chronic alcoholic, had led a much more troubled
life. Between abandoning her oldest daughter, Delcita Yazzie,
and giving birth to her three children with Willis, Mexicano had
also abandoned three more children in Alamo. After separating
from Willis, she went on to have five more children with a man
in Zuni Pueblo, and she abandoned them as well. According to Yazzie,
Mexicano died in 1977 from injuries she sustained in a barroom
assault in Albuquerque.
"I was really hoping, deep down inside, that she'd still
be alive," Maynard said, admitting her disappointment upon
learning her biological mother had already passed away.
The Maynards returned to Gallup again this April to finally meet
Yazzie and some of Maynard's other half brothers and sisters.
During a visit to one of her newly discovered Zuni half-sisters,
Maynard was stunned to learn another startling fact about her
mother's hard life.
Around 1971, Mexicano took her youngest child, a newborn son,
into Gallup. She returned without the baby. The boy's four older
sisters haven't seen him since. Maynard plans to begin searching
for this half-brother, who would be about 30 years old now.
Calm acceptance
Maynard deals with the harsh facts of her life with an attitude
of calm acceptance. She accepts the fact her biological parents
sold her for $4 in front of a Gallup liquor store. She accepts
the fact her adoptive mother had a witness lie to a judge to get
Maynard's delayed birth certificate.
When she looks at the difficult lives of some of her biological
siblings, Maynard said, she is grateful for the good life she
has had.
Maynard expresses "no hard feelings" toward her biological
parents or to Prickett, who is now in her early 80s. While forging
a relationship with her Navajo family, Maynard said, she still
tries to reassure Prickett of her love.
Maynard, a registered nurse, is hoping that she and her husband
can soon move out to the Southwest to be closer to her newly discovered
family.
Back in Missouri now, Maynard treasures family photographs that
have been given to her by Navajo relatives over the last few months.
The photographs are a tangible link to the people and place that
now feel like home in her heart.
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Seymour Tso fought for Diné water
rights, sovereignty
Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Coming out of a service last Sunday at Cameron Nazarene
Church, Seymour Tso collapsed from what is believed to be heart failure
and died.
Tso, 72, was a long-time Navajo Nation Council delegate from Cameron.
He was also a founding member of the grassroots Diné Sovereignty
Defense Association, based in the Western Agency. The group formed
several years ago to bring attention to what members consider a legacy
of failure of tribal lawyers to secure water rights for the Diné
people going back more than 50 years.
Diné Sovereignty members are rededicating their mission to
Tso. It is to force enough pressure on tribal leadership to go after
the Navajo Nation's potentially staggering water claims.
Diné Sovereignty member Christine Benally said Tso was a strong
group member who always offered words of encouragement.
A memorial service for Tso is to be held today at Cameron Nazarene
Church.
"We're really going to miss him," she said. "He told
us to always remember we are Navajo in everything we do. He really
wanted us to continue."
Tso coined a now-popular phrase among grassroots groups that the Navajo
Nation is "the sleeping giant, ready to awaken" and claim
the water that is rightfully the Navajo people's water.
"He kind of started that," she said.
The message of Tso and other tribal elders about the importance of
water rights is getting through to Navajo youths. The National Native
American Youth Coalition, which formed Feb. 1 in Gallup, is dedicated
to peacefully pursuing Navajo people's rights to be heard.
According to former President Clinton, who visited Shiprock on April
17, 2000, about 37 percent of all Navajos living on the reservation
are in their teenage years.
"The issue of our water rights is our future survival and we
will not take for granted the importance of a valued resource,"
youth coalition founder LaVerne Nicole Brown said in a letter to Diné
Sovereignty members. "The National Native American Youth Coalition
will pledge our support and will defend the Diné Sovereignty
Defense Association."
Tso was a personal friend of former tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald.
Diné Sovereignty members credit MacDonald with pursuing their
water rights vigorously in the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, some members
believe his drive on the issue is one reason why the U.S. Senate started
its investigation of BIA spending practices, which later turned its
attention toward the activities of the popular tribal leader.
"Water rights is our casino," Diné Sovereignty members
have said.
In "A River No More," Philip Fradkin described how decisions
by the U.S. government "cheated" and "duped" the
Diné people of their Colorado River claim, which could have
been more than 5 million acre-feet of water.
Fradkin describes the history of how the Navajo Nation gave away its
upper and lower basin claims on the Colorado, much to the benefit
of Arizona and California. The tribe's postponement of its Colorado
claim allowed such projects to proceed as theNavajo Generating Station
near Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam.
"As I see it, the Indian's exclusion from participation in basin
development has resulted from a silent conspiracy between the Western
States and the federal government ... In fact, the federal government
has breached its trust, not only by silence, but by actively subsidizing
projects in contravention of Indian rights," Fradkin quoted from
MacDonald.
Two Navajo Nation subcommittees are preparing to release a report
on water rights allegations that involve tribal government, some brought
to bear by tribal hydrologist Jack Utter. Diné Sovereignty
members have said that without testimony from MacDonald as well as
former tribal President Peterson Zah, both of who worked on water
rights issues, the report may leave out too much information to be
credible.
During the first day of the spring council session, representatives
from the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority said that although the Four
Corners Power Plant near Shiprock, the Navajo Generating Station in
Page, Ariz., and Glen Canyon dam above the Grand Canyon were built
on Navajo land and use tribal coal and water resources, not a single
Kilowatt of power is delivered from these projects to the Navajo reservation.
| Top |
Guliford captures second title; Grants’
Dominguez wins long jump
Michael Peretti
Staff Sports Writer
ALBUQUERQUE — Area female athletes continued their strong showing
during the second day of the 3A-5A N.M. State Track and Field Championships.
Felicia Guliford added the 1600 meter state championship to her 800
title that she won during Thursday's competition.
Led by long jump state champion Antonia Domingugez, the Grants girls
continued to have success as a team, scoring 17 more points.
The second day of the three-day state meet was cut short because of
weather. Five of the six 1600 medley relay preliminaries will be run
as finals today along with the final distance race, the 3200, and
the sprinting and hurdling finals. Field event finals in the remaining
events began this morning at 8 a.m. Running finals are scheduled to
start at noon.
The realignment to five classes lengthened the state meet to three
days with preliminaries being spread over the first two days. The
three distance finals were also spread out to one per day.
"I think I did pretty good," Guliford said about her most
recent victory. "I didn't reach my goal time, but I still did
good."
Guliford finished ther 1600 meter run with at time of 5:01.23, more
than 18 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
Guliford said that the weather was one of the reasons that she was
unable to set her goal time. "The wind came out of nowhere about
10 minutes before my race," she said. "I hope I can redeem
myself tomorrow." Guliford will run in the 3200 meter run on
Saturday, but will not be able to compete in the 1600 medley relay
event as previously reported. Distance runners are limited to competing
in three distance events unlike other athletes who can qualify for
up to five events.
The rest of the small Bengal contingent didn't fare as well.
"Vanessa (Hubbard) didn't jump well today, Will (Biletto) and
Maurice (Guliford's) chances were good, but it didn't work out,"
Gallup head coach Spencer Sielschott said. "We are going to have
to work hard tomorrow."
Sielschott added that his team is young and that the weather also
hindered his athletes.
"The weather was a killer. It really spoiled all of our efforts."
The Bengals just missed qualifying Maurice Guliford, Felicia's older
brother, in the 400 meter preliminaries. 300 meter hurdler Belletto
and long jumper Hubbard did not place in their events.
Class 3A
The Grants girls continued to have success, pulling off a first, a
second, two thirds and a sixth to score 17 more points to bring their
two-day total to 30.
The biggest chunk of that total came from Antonia Dominguez, who won
the state championship in the long jump with a personal best performance.
"I PRed today," she said. "I came in ranked fourth."
Dominguez said that she is also excited about the final day of competion.
"We look very strong right now even with our injury."
Grants sprinter Meagan Montoya injured her leg in the pole vault finals
Thursday. Montoya was the state runner-up in that event.
"I think we did very good," said Grants girls head coach
Dominguez. "We are really excited."
"I was pleased with today," said distance runner Erin Lewis,
who finished second in the 1600 meter run with a time of 5:19.17.
"I am very excited about tomorrow."
"This is my first time here," said Lady Pirate Stephanie
Garcia, who took sixth in the javelin with a throw of 106-02. "I
thought it was great and I had fun."
Robbi Lucero took third in the javelin and said she can't wait to
go into today's competition when she will be throwing the shotput.
"The competion here is great," the second-year state competitor
said. "It is a different experience each year."
Thre Grants boys also had success on the second day, placing third
in the 1600 meter run and fifth in the long jump.
"We didn't expect to finish this good today," said Grants
head coach Bob Vandiver.
Vandiver said that Joseph Castillo, who placed fifth in the long jump,
had to take three jumps back-to-back to qualify for the finals.
"We forgot his number at the motel so we had to go and get it
and when we got back he has to jump three times in a row to get his
three jumps in."
Lucero said that he is pleased with his finish but could have done
better. Lucero finished with a 20-6 jump on his second try, good enough
for fifth place.
"I expected tough competion here, and it was really good,"
said Lucero. "I am pretty happy with my finish but I know I could
have done better."
Tohatchi's Gerald Nez finished with a 19-8 jump in the long jump,
good enough for sixth.
Gary Louis of Grants took third in the 1600 meters, finishing with
a time of 4:32.65. Wingate's Leonardo Jim finished right behind with
a time of 4:33.65.
"I think I did alright," said Jim. "Looking at the
rest of the runners times, I thought I was going to do bad."
Jim said he was expecting to finish around sixth.
Wingate head coach David Garza said that the state track meet this
year marks the end of an era at Wingate High, and the beginning of
a new one.
The end of the era, according to Garza, the era that is ending is
senior Fallon Snyder and the one that is beginning is Cateka Tsosie's.
"Fallon is the only one who has been at state every one of her
years and she is a senior this year," he said. "And Cateka
is just starting, only a freshman this year."
Snyder finished sixth in the 1600 with a time of 5:53.34 and Tsosie
finished fifth with a time of 5:41.96.
"I pushed myself," said Snyder. "I wanted to finish
good for my last high school race."
Tsosie said that she was satisfied with her finish. "But now
I know I can do better than expected," she said. "I came
in ranked eighth and did better." Crownpoint head coach Bill
Johnson said that he was happy with how his teams did.
"They competed," he said. "We did about as good as
you can ask us to." Johnson said that the competition is so good
at the state meet that it is more of a reward for his athletes to
go than it is about competing. "They work all year and this is
like a reward. We do well in district but here the competition is
just too good."
Crownpoint was unable to qualify in any of the three relays that they
ran in.
Class 4A
Kirtland boys head coach Tom Adair said he was happy with his teams
performance, and that he was really pleased with his distance runners.
Kirtland's Cary Moone placed sixth in the shot put, Pat Crawford placed
second in the long jump, James Randolph placed fifth in the discus
and three runners placed in the 1600 meter boys run. In the 1600 meter
run the Broncos picked up 10 points.
The Broncos were also able to qualify their girls 300 hurdler Jessica
Cockrell and the girls 4X200 relay team for today's finals.
"We did an outstanding job throughout," said Adair.
"I was pleased with my finish," said Vernon Harrison, who
finished behind 800 and 1600 meter champion Phil Sekala. "I look
forward to facing Phil Sekala one more time."
Harrison finished with a time of 4:22.48, two seconds behind Sekala.
Dawson finished with at time of 4:25.45 and Deswood finished in 4:29.56.
| Top |
Laguna / Acoma can’t convert at
the plate
Abelita Rose Freeland
Staff Sports Writer
ALBUQUERQUE — The Laguna-Acoma Hawks failed to convert on their
offensive opportunities and lost to Sandia Prep 4-2 in the semifinals
of the Class A-AA State Tournament at Rio Rancho High School on Friday
morning.
Laguna-Acoma will have played for third place this morning against
Estancia. Estancia lost to Eunice 13-0 in the other semifinal.
In the first two innings both teams managed to hold one another with
no runs scored, but the Hawks did have their opportunities.
"We didn't hit the ball," said Laguna-Acoma coach Chris
Sarracino. "If you don't hit the ball you lose."
"They had good pitching, (but it) was not overpowering by no
means, but we just didn't hit the right pitches at the right time,"
Sarracino added.
The lack of offense wasted a strong outing by the Hawks' own pitcher,
Louis Sarracino. Sarracino struck out 14 batters and only walked three.
He did give up 11 hits though.
"We just couldn't hit the ball," said junior pitcher Louis
Sarracino. "We played good but we just couldn't get the runners
in."
In the first inning, the Hawks rallied to load the bases with two
outs, but then John Carillo struck out swinging for the third out.
Laguna-Acoma's next opportunity in the second inning started again
with a two-out rally. With two outs, Zach Carrillo and Ian Chino each
hit singles and Dale Brown walked to load the bases.
Louis Sarracino took three balls before he scared the Sun Devils on
what would have been a grand-slam home run, but the ball was foul
by a couple of feet and Sarracino ended up flying out to second, leaving
the bases loaded once more.
In the top of the third inning, the Sun Devils scored their first
unearnd run of the game when Colin Scott got on base with a single
and stole second. While stealing second, Scott took third on an overthrow
by the catcher Douma and then came home.
In the Hawks' turn at-bat, Laguna put two more baserunners on base
with walks, but three strikeouts left them stranded.
In the fourth inning, Brown started another two-out rally with a double
and Louis Sarracino was intentionally walked. But Bahe flew out to
the catcher leaving two more baserunners on base.
Laguna pitcher Louis Sarracino continued his strong performance, striking
out three in a row after hitting the first batter with a pitch.
The Hawks offense finally came through in the fifth inning. Carillo
and Aaron Sarracino drew back-to-back walks then advanced on a wild
pitch. An error by the second baseman allowed Carrillo to score to
make it a 2-1 ballgame.
The Hawks held Sandia Prep with third baseman Bahe making the first
two plays for outs and Gabe McFarlane striking out in the sixth. But
then Laguna-Acoma stranded another pair of baserunners.
In the seventh, Sun Devil Harms led off with a double on the first
pitch. Sarracino struck out another batter, but then gave up an RBI
double to Houghton and an RBI single to David Mann as Sandia Prep
took a 4-1 lead.
Carrillo singled with one out in the seventh inning then scored on
a shortstop's error on a hit by Chino. Chino advanced to third, but
was left there as the next two batters struck out and flew out.
"We have been scoring in double digits all the time and you don't
think that four runs can beat you, but if you don't hit that's what
happens," coach Sarracino said. "We started the season sluggish
and now it's our first loss since April so we have been improving
and fairly consistent."
Sun Devil Harms picked up the win with 6 strike outs, eight walks,
a hit batter and four hits.
Carrillo led the Hawks' batting, going 3-for-4. Brown finsihed 2-for-4
but no other batter had more than one hit.
"I just hope we hit better. If our bats are there then we'll
be okay because we'll get a good pitched game out of Dale (Brown).
I just hope we hit the ball like we are capable of," coach Sarracino
said about today's third place game.
| Top |
Navajo woman finds family
Was sold as a baby from a Gallup motel
Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Special to the Independent
GALLUP — For the last few years, Bettye Maynard has been a detective,
trying to solve the mysterious disappearance of a Navajo baby off
the streets of Gallup. She's been meticulously piecing together the
puzzling pieces to the story a story that filled newspaper pages in
Gallup 38 years ago.
But Maynard is no ordinary detective. She's not working for either
hire or salary. This is no ordinary story to her. This is Maynard's
story, and with each bit of new information, she is reclaiming a small
part of her life, her past, her identity.
She's reclaiming a life that was causally given away on the street,
like a piece of turquoise jewelry to be pawned.
Last spring, Maynard and her husband, Robert, journeyed to Gallup
from their home in Missouri...
| Top |
A shocking tale at Bluewater Lake
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
BLUEWATER LAKE — New Mexico Game and Fish officer Craig Sanchez
gunned the 200 horsepower Mercury motor on the 18-foot open-bowed
runabout. As the propeller took hold in the water the boat suddenly
shot forward up a silvery lighted ribbon of water and came alongside
a second boat just feet off the shoreline, this one outfitted with
electrodes which had just
been pulled from a 15-minute shocking expedition in the murky Bluewater
Lake water.
What was going on was not the usual fishing expedition.
"Any bass?" Volunteer Charles Voigt asked from the game
and fish runabout piloted by Sanchez.
"Naw, don't think so," New Mexico Department of Game and
Fish Warmwater Fisheries Biologist Casey L. Hawthorn responded. "Just
suckers ... wait-a-minute ... there's a small trout..."
| Top |
Gallup, Grants netters lose in opening round
Staff report
ALBUQUERQUE — The Gallup and Grants tennis teams lost during
the N.M. State Tennis Tournament Friday.
The Gallup Lady Bengals were eliminated with a 4-1 loss to La Cueva
in Class 5A. Both Grants teams will play for third place in Class
3A competition today.
The Lady Pirates were shut out by Portales 5-0 and the Pirate boys
were blanked by New Mexico Military Institute.
The Grants girls will fave faced Santa Fe Prep and the boys will
have play St. Michael's this morning...
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Dan McKinnon to decide Zuni case
Andrea Egger
Staff Writer
GALLUP — A special master has been chosen in the Zuni schools
funding lawsuit against the state.
District Judge Joseph Rich chose former state Supreme Court Justice
Dan McKinnon out of a list of names given by the plaintiffs and
defendants. McKinnon served on the Albuquerque school board for
eight years and has served on school boards for some of the state's
smaller school districts.
"He has some knowledge of the nature and running of school
districts and their needs," said Assistant Attorney General
Bennett Cohn.
Cohn is the attorney handling the defendants' case the state of
New Mexico...
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Shiprock man dies in tractor accident
Jim Maniaci
Dine' Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — An elderly Shiprock man died Thursday morning
when his tractor ran over him after hitting a stump in a ditch he
was clearing.
John Charley was plowing a ditch with a blade attached to a tractor
south of Fifth Lane in the Mesa Farm when he hit a stump.
The impact jerked him off the and the right rear wheel rolled over
him, according to the Shiprock Criminal Investigations Department
report.
He was taken to the Shiprock Indian Health Service hospital where
he was pronounced dead.
Decomposed body
Sheepherders found a badly composed body Thursday night after the
victim apparently had been run over by his car in a wash at the
bottom of a steep hill...
Chinle Chapter gets in election controversy
Jim Maniaci
Dine' Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Chinle Chapter has gotten involved in the
tribal election controversy directing the Navajo Nation Council
to restore the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors to its duties.
Chapter members voted 35-0-1 on April 29 to approve the 11-point,
three-page strongly worded resolution, with the council scheduled
to consider the topic at Monday's special session.
During the spring council session Speaker Edward T. Begay acknowledged
that the supervisors would get their powers back when all the protest
grievances had been decided.
Council Delegate Daniel Peaches (Chilchinbito, Kayenta Chapters)
has offered the restoration resolution because one case remains
on appeal before the Navajo Nation Supreme Court...
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Deaths
Helen L. Lowman
LOWER GREASEWOOD, Ariz. — Services for Helen Lowman, 68, will
be held at 10 a.m., Monday May 14 at Lower Greasewood Latter Day Saints
Church. President Myron Maxwell will officiate. Burial will follow
on Family Plot, Lower Greasewood.
Lowman died May 10 in Farmington. She was born Oct. 11, 1932 in Lower
Greasewood into the Red House for the Big Water Clan.
Lowman attended elementary school in Greasewood and Shomawa Indian
School in Oregon. She was employed with Greasewood Boarding School
as an Educational Aide.
Survivors include her sons, Paul Lowman Jr. of Page, Ariz. and Wayland
Lowman of Ganado, Ariz.; daughters, Sandra Lowman of Greasewood and
Corina Brown of Whitecone, Ariz.; brother, Jim Lee of Lower Greasewood;
sisters, Lavern Beyal and Jane Begay both of Lower Greasewood, Bessie
Charley and Agnes Yazzie both of Flagstaff; eight grandchildren and
one
great-grandchildren.
Lowman was preceded in death by her husband, Paul Lowman Sr.; parents,
Tom and Hanibah Lee and Patrick Lowman.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services
at Lower Greasewood Chapter House.
Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Bonnie Lou Shaffer
RIO RANCHO — Services for Bonnie Lou Shaffer, 73, will be held
at 11 a.m. Monday, May 14, at the Chapel of Vista Verde Mortuary,
Sara Road at Meadowlark Lane, Rio Rancho. Bob Brown will officiate.
Shaffer died May 9. She was born Sept. 21, 1927, in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Survivors include her sons, Jeffrey W. Shaffer of Prescott, Ariz.,
Gary Shaffer of Corrales, Scott Shaffer of Gallup and Randy Shaffer
of Rio Rancho; daughter, Susan Oaks of Joshua, Texas; sisters, Mickey
Hewitt of Midland, Texas, and Posie Griffiths of Burleson, Texas;
12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Shaffer was preceded in death by her husband, William H. Shaffer.
Katherine Elizabeth "Watkins" Kerr
LOS ALAMOS — Services for Katherine Kerr, 94, will be held May
21 at the Peralta United Methodist Church.
Kerr died May 11. She was born in Oklahoma Indian Territory.
Kerr was employed with the Fred Harvey Hotel and stationed at the
Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque. After retirement and a sojourn to Lake
Isabella, Calif. she moved to Los Lunas, then moved to Los Alamos
to live near her family. She was a member of Peralta United Methodist
Church, First Congregational Church of Gallup, Past Matron of the
Eastern Star, Past Grand Nobel of Rebekahas, National Association
of Retired and Veteran Railway Employees, Woodmen of the World, Theta
Rho Girls sponsor, Valencia County Extension Club and Los Lunas Garden
Club.
Survivors includer her son, Vernon K. Kerr of Los Alamos; brothers,
Albert Watkins of Tulare, Calif., Jasper "Bud" Watkins of
Omak, Wash. and Benjamin Watkins; sisters, Ethel Clement of Redding
Calif. and Betty Stevenson of Oregon; four grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren.
Kerr was preceded in death by her husband, Norman A. Kerr; son, Clifford
M. Kerr; brother, Floyd Watkins and sisters, Rosa Kindle and Marie
Watkins.
Bobby Todacheenie
SHOW LOW — Services for Bobby Todacheenie, 71, will be announced
at a later date.
Todacheenie died May 10 in Show Low. He was born July 20, 1929 in
Kitsille, Ariz.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
John Anthony Spinelli
GALLUP — Services for John Spinelli, 78, will be announced at
a later date.
Spinelli died May 10 in Gallup. He was born Jan. 18, 1923 in Gallup.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Ruth Ann Carnel-Oates
GALLUP — Services for Ruth Carnel-Oates, 48, will be announced
at a later date.
Oates died May 10 in Gallup. She was born Jan. 30, 1953 in Ganado,
Ariz.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
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