It's a seller's market for cattle
Bill Donovan
Diné Bureau
RED ROCK — It was a normal Friday at the Rico Ranch south of
Gallup and the talk as usual centered on the drought.
Ron, who asked that he be indentified only by his first name, came
in from his ranch in Standing Rock with a couple of head of cattle
after checking out the prices with buyers in the area.
"I've decided that now is a good time to reduce my herd with
the drought being the way it is," he said, adding that he thought
the time to sell was good "while the cattle are in pretty good
condition."
He's not the only one.
Cherry Menapace, who runs the ranch since her father, Alan, retired
a couple of years ago, said the buying business for this time of year
has been very good.
"Usually, people don't sell their cattle until September or October,"
she said, adding that this year a lot of ranchers are going to the
market early to take advantage of the good prices.
A number of area ranchers have apparently learned their lesson after
the severe drought of 1997 when the worst drought of the last century
was coupled with some of the lowest prices in the cattle market.
What saved many Navajo ranchers was that some major corporations agreed
to pay higher prices than the market called for to encourage Navajos
to reduce their herds.
"That's the main difference between the situation today and three
years ago," Menapace said. "The prices for cattle right
now are holding up."
During the 1997 drought, area ranchers kept their livestock so long
that by the time they did go to market, most were emaciated and on
their last legs. While there were a few head that were on the thin
side Friday at the Rico Ranch, most were in good shape.
Alan Menapace, who still helps his daughter at the ranch, said ranchers
in Oklahoma and nearby states have plenty of wheat and feed this summer
and would rather buy cattle from this area now so they can fatten
them up.
"The ranchers in Oklahoma can't find cattle like we have them
here," he said, adding that area ranchers are known for selling
light cattle, which allows the buyers to fatten them up and make more
profit.
Once the cattle get to Oklahoma, they can gain three pounds a day,
making them worth about $3 more every day they feed.
"That adds up a lot of money," he said.
It also adds up a seller's market right now, which is why the Rico
Ranch and other ranches in the area are seeing better than average
business.
But there is a downside to all of this buying and selling. Many ranchers
are slowly getting out of the cattle business while they wait to see
how much longer the drought lasts.
One of these is Alan Menapace, who said he is in the process of selling
the last cattle from his ranch at Thoreau.
"As of (this Sunday),
I'll be out of the cattle business," he said. "I'll be waiting
to see if it rains or snows before I buy any more cattle."
He said he's especially going to wait to see how the weather is this
winter. The key to ending the drought is not rain this summer but
the snowfall this winter because that will feed the ponds and the
grasses in the spring.
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Gallup traders blast Ceremonial finances
Tanya Brazil
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Local traders expressed their concern to the city council
Tuesday about the management of the Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial's
finances and its effect on Gallup's biggest tourist attraction.
Steve Coleman, owner of the Nugget Gallery, told council members that
if Ceremonial board members ran their businesses like they do the
Ceremonial, they would all go broke.
In the past two years, he said, the quality of the event has gone
downhill. As a result, the Ceremonial is not attracting as many tourists,
and several Indian artisans have chosen not to participate in the
event.
Coleman, along with John Hornbeck, owner of Red Shell Jewelry, said
they have not made any money at the Ceremonial during the past two
years.
During that time, Hornbeck said he has not made a "sale, transaction
or contact" at the Ceremonial and that he made more money at
his store when the sidewalk was torn up.
Both traders suggested that the Ceremonial consolidate with Native
American Appreciation Day so the two groups would not compete for
money.
Coleman said the Ceremonial is broke and asked whether the city planned
to bail them out like it did last year when, just weeks before the
event, board members called an emergency meeting to request money.
Because the organization is broke, he said, board members are cutting
corners with award money and prizes at the arts and crafts shows.
If the city decides to provide funding to the Ceremonial, he said,
it should hold a public meeting so citizens can ask board members
questions. Such a meeting would draw at least 100 concerned Indian
traders and artists, he said.
City Manager David Ruiz said the city had received no request from
the Ceremonial for funding. But if asked, he said, the city would
give them money, as it did last year, for brochures and to put on
the two parades.
Bob Fultz, president of the Ceremonial, admitted the organization
is broke but attributed it to the fact that it is a nonprofit organization
that no longer receives funding. However, he said, the Ceremonial
has no intentions of asking the city for
additional money.
In response to Coleman's questions about the group's financial status,
Mark Gartner, secretary of the Ceremonial, said all records are available
to the public.
Councilman Charlie Chavez told Coleman he believes his presence is
a "roundabout way of knocking the Ceremonial" and asked
why he did not offer to help the organization instead of complaining.
He suggested that Coleman would get more
answers by talking to Ceremonial board members rather than to the
city council.
"You're beating your drums at the wrong dance," he told
Coleman.
Chavez stressed the city's responsibility to keep the Ceremonial in
town, adding that there are people "waiting like vultures,"
hoping the event will be taken over by Farmington.
In closing, Chavez said, "Ask not what the Ceremonial can do
for you, but what you can do for the Ceremonial."
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Race relations in Gallup: Room to improve
S.J. Ludescher
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Some Gallup residents may have breathed a sigh of relief
that recent murders, billed as possible hate crimes against Navajos,
had occurred in Farmington.
While race relations have come a long way in Gallup, there is evidence
that room for improvement still exists, local citizens say. And issues
may be more complex than in past years because prejudice isn't as
blatant.
"Racism is America's most challenging problem," Gallup resident
Bill Bright said.
Betta Duncan, former Gallup branch president of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People, said she thinks people's interactions
with one another is getting better but still needs work.
"Stereotypical prejudices still come through, but the biggest
problem is through racist economics," she said. "There are
factors here that do not give people opportunities and do not help
people do better."
Duncan defined racist economics as more than just incidents of charging
consumers of color higher interest rates, insurance premiums and loan
costs than other populations or steering them to certain neighborhoods
to live. It also has to do with the onslaught of corporations trying
to undermine efforts of a targeted population to overcome social problems.
Duncan cited as an example the recent decision by Super Wal-Mart to
add a liquor department in spite of the many protests by citizens
and the Navajo Nation.
"Businesses move into areas where people have a problem, anyway.
They help to enable the negative behavior," she said.
About two years ago, a group of citizens who recognized the need to
work quietly behind the scenes for change formed a loosely-organized
grassroots effort known as the Multi-Cultural Allies Against Racism
(MCAAR).
Bright, a member of the group, said it works with a variety of projects
including Habitat for Humanity.
One goal of MCAAR is to influence the home-building agency to include
more minority and ethnically diverse people in the upper echelons
of planning and administration in order to be more culturally sensitive
to the people they serve.
On a local level, the group plans to ask the city council to create
a city-sponsored human rights commission. The goal is to have a place
to create more awareness and teach tolerance as well as a forum to
which to take concerns and complaints.
Bright said the commission would be patterned after a similar effort
in Albuquerque.
MCAAR also has applied for a hate crimes grant. The money would create
a library and training group to help teachers and school counselors
deal with culturally sensitive issues, including the forming of gangs
along racial lines.
"Basically, though," Bright said, "we wait for a trigger
to begin an action. We watch our community for any groups forming.
We know racism is here, but it's so nebulous."
Bright cited the example of a project used in other towns to combat
bigotry against a Jewish population called, "Not in Our Town."
Sympathetic residents posted pictures of menorahs, candelabras used
for traditional Jewish holidays, in their windows.
"The message became clear to the small number of racists in that
town that the majority of the citizens would not tolerate the activity
and (the racists) moved on," he explained. "For those kind
of groups, apathy is consent."
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Hantavirus case 'critical'
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — A 38-year-old McKinley County woman is being treated
in an Albuquerque hospital for hantavirus infection.
The woman was reported to be in critical condition at University Hospital
late Tuesday.
She was brought in on Sunday the third case of hantavirus in the county
this month and the seventh for the state this year and led to some
concern by state health officials who thought that the drought conditions
in this area would mean a low number of cases this year because of
a low rodent population.
"We don't have a good explanation for this cluster," said
Dr. David Keller, chief of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Program.
"The dry weather may be leading more rodents to enter homes and
outbuildings to look for food sources left by humans," he said.
"Alternatively, some people may be taking less care to avoid
rodents in the belief that the drought has reduced their numbers."
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which causes lungs to fill with fluid,
is contracted by inhaling dust containing dried particles of rodent
waste, especially from infected deer mice.
All of the first six victims have been treated and released from the
hospital. The other two victims in McKinley County both males are
reported to be in good condition and were not severely ill with their
illnesses, according to a press release issued by the New Mexico Health
Department.
State officials are still investigating in an effort to find out where
the three victims in the county came in contact with the rodent feces
or urine that caused them to contract the disease.
The first New Mexico case of the year was confirmed in a Lybrook woman
who was admitted to University Hospital on April 4. A Navajo tribal
police officer was diagnosed in May, and a McKinley County man and
a Crownpoint woman were diagnosed in June.
Keller said that the number of cases this year should encourage people
in the state and especially those in rural areas to review measures
that they are using to prevent the disease.
"The presence of live rodents in homes, work sites,
outbuildings and even automobiles is probably the worst risk factor
for hantavirus infections," he said.
He urged people in areas where the disease has occurred which means
northwestern New Mexico and possibly northeastern Arizona to take
steps to clean up all potential food sources for rodents, including
pet foods, grain and garbage, as well as seal up their homes so that
rodents can't enter.
"It's also very important to move wood piles, old automobiles
and other rodent living sites away from homes in order to reduce the
number of mice living near where people live," he added.
| Top |
Area contingent heading to nationals
Santiago Ramos
Staff Sports Writer
GALLUP — High school steer wrestling state champion Flagan Gerard
and barrel racing state champion Chelsee Byerley head an area contingent
of six headed to next week's 52nd Annual National High School Finals
Rodeo in Springfield, Ill.
Along rookies Gerard and Byerley, both of Gallup, the group will include
steer wrestlers Brandon Bates of Mexican Springs, Rodney Begay of
Mexican Springs, Michael Holyan of Crownpoint and team roper Chris
Walterscheid of Gallup.
The six area contestants, who qualified for the national finals by
finishing in the top four in their respective events at the state
level, will be among 1,500 high school cowboys and cowgirls from 38
states and four Canadian provinces competing in 13 events. There will
be two go rounds during the first six days of competition at the Illinois
State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ill. before the top 20 in each event
advance to the short go finals. There will be two daily performances
at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. the first six days of competition and with the
short go at 1 p.m. The world's largest rodeo will get underway next
Monday, July 24 with the short go finals Sunday, July 30. This will
mark only the second time that the NHSFR will be held east of the
Mississippi...
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NNRCA leaders tops in Dulce
Carrie Loretto
Staff Sports Writer
DULCE — Several NNRCA points leaders won their respective events
at the latest sanctioned rodeo held in Dulce over the weekend.
Bullriding leader Julius Y. Begay captured the event in the Little
Beaver Round Up rodeo held last Saturday while bareback leader Harrison
Curley topped his field.
Begay, who leads the latest standings with 64 points, bested Romeo
Maryboy 81 to 80 for first place money of $480. Maryboy, way back
at 18th in the standings, pocketed $400.
Begay holds an 8 point lead in the standings over Jarvis Woody, 56.
Adrian Yellowman sits in third with 44 points...
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Delegates demand a Aug. 1 vote
Council strips election board of its powers Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Council voted Tuesday to conditionally
strip away the powers of the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors
and the election administration director if they fail to conduct the
tribal general election Aug. 1.
But the action prompted a delegate to comment afterwards that the
true reason for the action was not a contest over when to hold the
election, but the fear that three-fourths of the council would be
voted out of a job in a referendum to reduce the size of the tribal
legislature.
The council voted 60 in favor, 11 against, and two abstentions with
59 votes needed for passage to approve the resolution. Fifteen delegates
did not vote...
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Laguna, Acoma, Zuni libraries get money
Staff Report
GALLUP — Thirteen 13 Native American tribes and pueblos in New
Mexico will receive federal grants to enhance core services at their
libraries so that students can have greater access to improved centers
of learning.
Among those receiving $4,000 grants are the pueblos of Acoma, Laguna
and Zuni.
The grants are part of the Institute of Museum and Library Services
(IMLS), a federal agency that serves the general public by strengthening
museums and libraries throughout the country.
Congressman Joe Skeen (R-N.M), a senior member of the House Interior
Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior that funds the IMLS, said
that Native American libraries in the state will have better access
to important education and cultural resources this coming year as
a result of these grants...
| Top |
Ranch was started to sell pickup trucks
to Navajos
Bill Donovan
Diné Bureau
RED ROCK — The Rico Ranch was created out of a desire by Rico
Menapace to help Navajos buy trucks.
Menapace has sold a lot of pickups to Navajos living on the reservation
since the dealership began in 1919 but he may not have been able to
sell as many if it was not for the ranch.
To understand how a ranch helps a dealership sell pickups, you have
to go back to the 1920s when the company first began looking at selling
pickups made by General Motors, said his son, Alan Menapace.
GMC representatives talked to Rico Menapace one day, his son said,
and asked if he would be able to sell GMC trucks to the Navajos...
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Downtown Grants to get face-lift
Renovation to start with historic sites
Christopher Schurtz
Staff Writer
GRANTS — Downtown Grants will soon be getting a face-lift.
In the first phases of the Grants MainStreet Plan, which was approved
Monday by the city council, several historic but dilapidated buildings
along old Route 66 will be renovated.
While plans include the rehabilitation of four other buildings, the
first phases will begin with transforming the railroad depot into
a museum and renovating the Lux Theater into a stage for performing
arts and films.
But council member Shirley Taylor questioned both the popularity and
success of railroad museums in other cities. She said the Grants Visitors
Center and the Chamber of Commerce Mining Museum satisfy enough of
the demand for local museums...
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Deaths
Nelson Sam
COYOTE CANYON — Services for Nelson Sam, 63, will be held at
10 a.m. Thursday, July 20, at Rollie Mortuary Palm Chapel. Branch
President Tully Haswood of Tohlakai will officiate. Burial will follow
on private family land in Coyote Canyon.
Sam died July 15 in Coyote Canyon. He was born April 14, 1937, in
Peach Springs into the Black Streak Forest People Clan for the Mud
People Clan.
Sam attended the Inter-Mountain School in Brigham, Utah. He worked
in Boulder, Colo., for more than 35 years at University Cleaners and
worked at the children's hospital rehabilitation. At the time of his
death, he was a rancher in the area.
Survivors include sisters, Janice Harrison of Brimhall, Mary Jim Sam
and Elsie Willeto, both of Coyote Canyon, Betty Upshaw of Denver,
Colo., and Berny Willeto of Albuquerque; and brothers, Ray Sam of
Albuquerque and Tony Sam of Coyote Canyon.
Sam was preceded in death by father, Hosteen Sam; mother, El Ke Pah
Sam; brother, Sam Gibson; and sister, Mary W. Johnson.
Pallbearers will be Lew Harrison, Raynell Harrison, Kevin Kalleco,
Neval Mitchell, Jonathan Perry and Jerrold Tahe.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Lydell Eugene Foster
FORT DEFIANCE — Services for Lydell Eugene Foster, infant, will
be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, July 20, at Good Shepherd Mission in Fort
Defiance. The Rev. Margaret Hardey will officiate.
Foster died July 15 in Gallup. He was born July 15, 2000, in Gallup
into the Towering House People Clan for the Red Running into the Water
People Clan.
Survivors include parents, Randy Foster of Naschitti and Gloria Cleveland
of Fort Defiance; sisters, Ralphalita Cleveland, Tristina Foster,
Alfreda James and Levera James, all of Fort Defiance; brother, Rydell
Foster of Fort Defiance; and grandparents, Edward and Marie Y. Cleveland,
both of Fort Defiance, Elsie Stephan and Frank Stephan, both of Naschitti,
and Dave Holland of Calif.
Foster was preceded in death by grandmother, Sadie Foster.
Pallbearers will be Randy Foster and Vernon Marshall.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
John Willie
LITTLEWATER — Services for John Willie, 74, will be announced
at a later date.
Willie died July 17 at the Indian Health Service in Crownpoint.
A family meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, July 20 at the
family residence in Littlewater.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
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