Suit against police may expand
Andrea Egger
Staff Writer
GALLUP — A legal dispute between the Independent and the
Gallup Police Department may be expanded following the department's
abrupt policy decision on releasing incident reports to the newspaper.
A report on an incident in which Michael Christopher Mazon, 30,
was charged with battery on a police officer and other domestic
charges over the weekend wasn't released by Gallup Police until
Tuesday. Capt. Bobby Silva, who is the police spokesman, claims
he wasn't aware of the report Monday even though Mazon is a relative
of a former Gallup police officer who is a friend of Silva's.
"I didn't even know about that report," Silva said.
The McKinley County Adult Detention Center daily faxes the police
agencies a copy of a police blotter, which details the inmates
arrested the night before and their charges. Silva, as spokesman
and a captain, also has access to all reports written by Gallup
Police officers.
Silva has withheld other reports in the past, including one that
accused a friend of Silva's of criminal sexual contact.
In response to concerns raised by the Gallup Independent that
the report was being withheld, Silva said he would not release
any reports to the Independent without the request being put in
writing.
Silva on Wednesday said the policy was made by order of Deputy
Chief John Gonzales and that it applies only to the Independent.
When asked why, Silva said, "The Independent is the only
one accusing us of withholding reports."
Silva said that Gonzales is out of town and unavailable to discuss
the issue until Friday.
Silva usually pulls felony reports for the media and puts them
in a folder at the front desk of the police station. If he doesn't
put all the reports from the blotter in the folder, a reporter
telephones him and makes a verbal request for a report. Silva
then copies the report and puts it in the folder.
On Wednesday, he still hadn't put copies of three felony crimes
from Tuesday's police blotter in the Independent's folder.
The Independent's attorney, Pat Rogers of Albuquerque, said Wednesday
that while the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act allows
for police departments to ask for requests in writing, the department
can't change its policy in retaliation.
"This would be grounds for a lawsuit. It's retaliation; it's
unconstitutional," Rogers said.
Police reports are public records. Anyone can request a police
report, without giving a reason why, whether or not he or she
is personally involved in the case. These reports are not only
available to the media. They are available to the public.
A report request form at the Gallup Police Department asks a person
to give the reason he is requesting a report. According to the
Open Records Act, to ask why a person wants to review a public
record is illegal.
Blackening out any portion of a police report, except an individual's
Social Security number, also is illegal. The entire report is
public record.
The Independent and the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government
are currently preparing a lawsuit against the department and the
city for failing to turn over police reports from the shooting
death of Gallup Police Cpl. Larry Brian Mitchell.
City Manager David Ruiz, on the advice of city attorney Lynn Isaacson,
refuses to release the records because the 11th Judicial District
Attorney's Office and the New Mexico State Police attorneys say
release of the Gallup Police reports to the media would jeopardize
the ongoing investigation.
But an incident report, which is the report usually written by
the first officer on the scene, is public record and should be
released, according to the state open records law, whether or
not an investigation is ongoing.
Rogers said the Independent's lawsuit is being drafted and will
be against the Police Department and specifically, the new police
chief, Daniel Kneale. The lawsuit has to be made against "the
custodian of records," Rogers said, and the Gallup Police
Department has always made the chief the final custodian.
If the police department loses the suit being brought by the Independent,
the city will be faced with paying all legal fees resulting from
suit including those fees charged by the newspaper's attorneys.
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McKinley County budget in bind over P&M
taxes
Bill Donovan
Staff Writer
GALLUP — The budget problems facing McKinley County Commissioners
have gotten worse.
County officials have learned that the taxes paid by the Pittsburg
Midway Mining Co. will be about $438,000 less this year than expected,
which means that the county is now looking at reducing by almost $1.1
million this year's budget in order to break even.
County commissioners have already submitted a preliminary budget to
the state which was $648,000 over its anticipated revenues for this
year. Those anticipated revenues included a larger amount for the
mining operation.
County Manager Irvin Harrison said, however, that the county has now
learned that the mining company is changing the way it values its
coal resources, which will affect its taxes this year and in the future.
In the past, the mining company has paid its taxes based on a five-year
average for the price of its coal but because of the downturn in the
economy, the company has decided to pay taxes on the value per year.
County Commissioner Ben Shelly agreed that this will make it harder
for the county to balance its budget.
At Tuesday's meeting of the county commissioners, he said that county
officials have been looking at a number of options to get to a balanced
budget, including the possibility of having county workers on a four-day
work week.
The county can't afford to go into the red, he said, because it would
move the county closer and closer to that $1.7 million surplus figure
under which the county faces the possibility of the state taking over
the running of the county. The county is currently about $1 million
over that figure.
County commissioners have been meeting with department and program
directors over the past three months and have instructed them to cut
their budgets to the bone. A freeze on new hires has been put in place
in at least some departments. Also, programs that have depended on
county funds, such as the animal rescue program, have been told to
expect cuts this year.
The departments had been scheduled to meet Friday to discuss proposed
cuts but that meeting has now been postponed to next week because
Shelly will be in Washington, D.C., as part of the ceremony today
in honor of the Navajo Code Talkers.
But on Tuesday, Shelly said he was still confident that the county
would be able to find a way to cut more than $1 million from this
year's budget.
"I've been told that the departments are coming through with
the needed cuts," he said.
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Grants sells land under greenhouse
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — The city council Wednesday sold the land under Colorado
Greenhouse to a finance company, but in doing so, councilor Shirley
Taylor said the city is selling the residents down the river.
The sale was done in a ordinance approved in a 3-1 vote at a special
city council meeting. The city sold the land, appraised at $280,000,
to the Colorado-based Farm Credit Services for $281,002. Taylor voted
against it and councilors Ruben Aranda, Robert Ulibarri and Ron Ortiz
voted to approve it.
Most of the meeting was done behind closed doors in an executive session.
The few residents who showed up at the meeting had a hint something
was up when Taylor asked how many bids were up for discussion because
the agenda cited "bids" and Mayor Bill Snodgrass would not
let the question be answered. City Manager Bob Horacek said after
the meeting only one bid was discussed the one from Farm Credit Services.
To prove her point, after the meeting Taylor said she will start a
petition drive to stop the sale until its full impact both economic
and in terms of water usage can be fully discussed in a public forum.
Any resident has the legal right to petition his or her government
to hold a referendum election by the people in matters of government
land sales which exceed $25,000.
Taylor said she has 30 days to get enough signatures on the petition
demanding an election and she is certain she can get the required
signatures in the allotted time to halt the sale. The sale becomes
effective 45 days from Wednesday unless the petition stops it for
an election.
"Up to now all discussions have been taking place behind closed
doors and my fear is, that with all the secrecy involved in the sale,
we will end up having prisoners working in the greenhouse, the city's
water supply will be compromised and the greenhouse will have absolutely
no economic benefit for the city of Grants," Taylor said.
Farm Credit Services loaned money to Colorado Greenhouse Inc., also
a Colorado company, to build greenhouse facilities on 70 acres of
land owned by Grants. The city leased the 70 acres to Colorado Greenhouse
Inc. through an ordinance approved May 11, 1998, and signed May 14,
1998.
Vote called illegal
Taylor said the vote to approve the original ordinance, which requires
a majority vote, was "illegal" because she and then Councilor
Sybel Cometti were not at the meeting. However, the ordinance was
passed anyway with a tie-breaking vote from Snodgrass when there was
no tie in the first place.
According to the minutes of the meeting, Snodgrass said he interpreted
Taylor's and Cometti's absence as "no" votes which created
a tie situation with councilors Ruben Aranda's and Ron Ortiz's "yes"
votes. Snodgrass voted "yes" to carry the issue to a majority
vote.
The governing body went back two months later and reapproved the ordinance;
however, the May 14, 1998, date remains on the lease to this day.
The plan was to build one 20-acre greenhouse first, use local labor
funded in part though a $1.5 million state economic development grant,
grow hydroponics tomatoes and then build a second greenhouse. Each
greenhouse was projected to use 175 acre-feet of water, or a total
of 350 acre-feet. The figures were worked out by Colorado Greenhouse
officials and city officials.
Colorado Greenhouse Inc. built three greenhouses in Colorado and then
swept into New Mexico first in Estancia in 1997 and then to Grants.
Both facilities are located near private prisons owned by Corrections
Corporation of America. Prison labor, which is not subject to wage
and hour laws, could not be used in the greenhouses because of covenants
in the 1998 lease agreement state that the labor force had to come
from the residents living in and around the area.
According to the lease, as long as Colorado Greenhouse Inc. remained
a solvent player in the Grants economy and hired local labor, the
greenhouse could stay. However, a clue that shows Grants and Farm
Credit Services may have been able to tell the future came in an ordinance
which amended the lease agreement allowing Farm Credit Services to
furlough employees should the finance company ever have to take over
the property was approved two months after the original lease agreement
was signed.
The greenhouse opened in January 1999.
Water an issue
Water is a an issue with the greenhouse controversy. When the deal
was being set up in 1998, then City Manager Clif Lear said the plan
was for Grants to get greenhouse jobs and then turn around and buy
water rights with the $75,000 a year the city expected to make from
selling water to Colorado Greenhouse.
At that time, Lear said water rights were selling for about $3,500
per acre-foot of water. But at that rate it would have taken the city
at least eight years to regain the water it had in the first place,
according to figures supplied by Lear.
In October 1999, the Estancia plant closed and in November 1999, the
Grants operation shut down. Company officials cited several reasons
for the shutdowns including employee turnover, a crop-killing tomato
virus, low prices and plant sanitizing costs. In February 2000, Colorado
Greenhouse Inc. announced bankruptcy and later that month said it
would sell the two New Mexico operations.
Farm Credit Services took back the greenhouse and warehouse facilities
and Grants wound up with the land under the greenhouses until Wednesday,
that is, when the city sold the land to Farm Credit Services. The
sale opens the greenhouses for any kind of labor market, including
prison labor from an adjacent women's facility, whose warden also
happens to be the mayor of Grants.
Taylor said the sale of the land as greenhouse property puts the city
perilously close to "tapping out our water rights."
A 40-year water plan done by the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments
in 1998 estimated the city would be using 2,555 acre-feet of water
by the year 2000 and the city has a total of 2,841 acre feet of water
available to it. The 2,555 acre-feet estimate did not include Colorado
Greenhouse usage.
Farm Credit Services can keep the deal as it stands now and not have
to pay anything for the land. Byron Enix, vice president-lending for
Mountain Plains Farm Credit Services, said the greenhouse becomes
more saleable if the package includes the land as well as the buildings.
Enix said Farm Credit Services has several interested parties, but
all want the land as part of the package deal.
To Taylor, though, something just does not add up. Taylor said the
sale and subsequent water usage does not allow Grants any wiggle room
for economic development. She said the whole deal does not pass the
smell test in the first place.
"I just can't understand why Farm Credit Services would want
to buy something they can have for free (with the 1998 lease agreement),"
she said.
"My concern is, if they reopen it, we have to supply water and
if it goes into phase 2 (the second greenhouse) it has the potential
to compromise any potential growth the city may have by compromising
our available water rights," Taylor said.
"I object to the sale of this property until it has thoroughly
been discussed in public so the public can know the full impact this
greenhouse can have on our water. I think the citizens of this community
are being sold out."
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Byerly tied for eighth
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Ñ Gallup cowgirl Chelsee Byerley is in a three-way
tie for eighth place in the all-around girls standings following her
seventh place performance in the first round of the girls barrel rac
ing at the National High School Fi nals Rodeo in Springfield, Illinois.
Byerley clocked a time of 17.934 for fourth place in the sixth and
final performance of the first round Wednesday night. Jamie Jarvis
of Spanish Fork Utah won the go- round with a 17.729 clocking which
puts her in first overall after the first round.
Megan Yazel of Kiowa Kansas leads the all-around cowgirl race with
230 points. Byerley is tied with Hailey Williams of Snelling, Calif.
and Danielle Peila of Hines, Ore. with 90.
Bullrider Daniel Etsitty of Kayen ta, Ariz. is in a six-way tie for
13th in the overall standings after the first round. He scored a 65
in an earlier performance of the rodeo.
No other area athletes were listed in the e-mailed results from the
HNSRA media center.
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Murder charges filed in shootings
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Three men accused of killing two people at
a pair of businesses off of Interstate 40 will each be charged with
two counts of first-degree murder, a prosecutor said.
Merle Ramone, 27, and Lyle Apachito and Dion Secatero, both 18, were
extradited to Albuquerque on Wednesday after a Navajo Nation judge
signed off on their transfer from a lockup in Crownpoint.
The three were taken to a state police office for questioning and
then booked into the Bernalillo County Detention Center on a string
of charges including first-degree murder and aggravated assault with
a deadly weapon stemming from Monday afternoon's crime spree.
According to a criminal complaint, Ramone admitted to police he killed
Linda Chavez and Allen MacDonald with his .22-caliber rifle during
a series of robberies. Ramone told police he was upset about losing
his job as a silversmith and his truck being repossessed...
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Code Talker medals once tied in red tape
Larry Di Giovanni
Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — In backing Navajo Code Talker legislation, U.S.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) found that his biggest ally was a Hawaiian
peer and his biggest obstacle was the Senate Banking Committee.
Bingaman will speak briefly at today's Capitol Rotunda ceremony, which
will bestow Congressional Gold Medals on the original 29 Navajo Code
Talkers of World War II, of which five are still alive. Four of them,
along with a Navajo delegation of about 100, are scheduled to attend
the event.
Bingaman sponsored a breakfast for the group this morning at the Senate's
Russell Building, and is also planning to attend an MGM-Wal-Mart reception
in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress-Jefferson Building following
the ceremony.
In an interview Wednesday in his office, Bingaman said he started
his Navajo Code Talker recognition request in December 1999 by asking
then-Defense Secretary William Cohen to review their military records.
The request was intended to upgrade Code Talkers for medal honoration...
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Shiprock's new police captain to take force 'proactive'
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
SHIPROCK — The new commander of the Navajo Nation Law Enforcement
District here has promised to continue the efforts he established
as the tribal Criminal Investigations District commander.
Capt. Randy John said he wants his new troops to go on the offensive
and take a proactive stand to prevent crime, instead of reacting
call-to-call. He made that comment Monday during a ceremony at which
he received his new badge and golden double captain's bars.
Actually he was switching his seven-point detective's star for a
patrol shield, since he already had captain's bars from leading
the district's seven-detective force. While his patrol force will
be much larger, no one actually said how many sworn officers are
on the payroll in one of the most active among the seven tribal
police precincts.
His wife Delphina pinned his new badge over his heart, then son
Randy Jr., 19, attached the double bars on both lapels of his gleaming
white commander's shirt. Their other son, Davis, 16, was at an Arizona
State University mathematics camp...
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Tribe may call special session
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Council might be called into
a special session Aug. 9 and 10, thus maintaining its average of
a meeting once a month.
Regular sessions are scheduled quarterly in January, April, July,
October plus a budget approval meeting in late August.
During the last session that ended at 9 p.m. Friday, the council
had bloated its agenda to a total of 55 items, although it never
considerd three sets of reports from the Navajo Area Indian Health
Service, the Navajo Region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and its
own committees.
Delegates acted on 21 reports or resolutions in about 31 hours of
deliberations over five days and nights, leaving 31 stranded...
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Families to get water hookups
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — More than $11 million to connect 677 more reservation
families to water and sewer service won approval Monday from the
Navajo Nation Council's Inter-Government Relations Committee.
The eight committee members present also approved $16.9 million
in other contracts, with $15 million of that to build a new Wide
Ruins Community School complex for 273 elementary grade students
with a dormitory for 128 of them, plus 25 new staff houses, a library,
cafeteria, bus garage and playing fields.
Also among the $16.9 million is another U.S. Environment Protection
block grant of $457,000 for a year to do preliminary assessments
of sites that might qualify for federal Superfund cleanup allocations.
A second U.S. EPA grant, for $40,000, will be used specifically
on the United Nuclear Corporation's Church Rock and Prewitt Superfund
sites...
Rally boosted some stores
But others left in dust
Tara Drolma
Staff Writer
GRANTS — With throngs of bikers and locals downtown last weekend
for the bike rally, some Grants businesses said they
did well while others felt business was slow.
"Anytime there is something at the park my business slows down,"
said Oralia Gonzales, owner of Tres Maria's Bakery. "My customers
don't like to come out in traffic."
Overall, however, Gonzales said she was impressed by how well the
motorcycle rally went.
Larry Baca, owner of El Cafecito, said his business had a great
weekend. Though business was slow Friday, his employees were busy
all day Saturday. Generally El Cafecito is closed on Sunday, but
it opened for half the day Sunday to accommodate the bikers...
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Deaths
Robert "Little Rob" Anthony Crow
GALLUP — Services for Robert Anthony Crow, 16, will be held at
11 a.m. Saturday, July 28, at the Gallup Christian Center, The Door.
Pastor Artie Aragon will officiate. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial
Park.
Crow died July 24 in Gallup. He was born Oct. 16, 1984.
Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow at Rollie
Mortuary-Memorial Chapel.
Survivors include his parents, Susan and Tommy Gene Crow Jr., both
of Gallup; sister, Tania Marie Crow of Albuquerque; grandparents,
Louisa and Richard Martinez, both of Grants and Tommy Gene Crow Sr.
of Gallup; great-grandparents Jennie Gallegos of Albuquerque and Ermalinda
Martinez of Grants.
Crow was preceded in death by his brothers, Isaac Crow, Tommy G. Crow
III and Richard Crow; grandparent, Bettye E. Crow; great-grandparents
Manuel Gallegos and Ricardo Martinez.
Pallbearers will be Adam Berg, Adam Crow, Nick Gonzales, Pat Lopez
Jr., Ronnie McClellen, David Sisneros, Gabriel Sisneros, Jason Armijo,
Gary Crow, Tania Crow, Robert Gallegos, Pat Lopez Sr., Tony Madrid,
Andy Martinez, Arthur Martinez, Bubba Martinez, Louie Martinez, Vanessa
Martinez, Evie Sisneros and Gerred Prairie.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Wilson Smith
REDROCK — Services for Wilson Smith, 71, will be held at 10 a.m.
Friday, July 27, at Rollie Mortuary. Pastor McCormick will officiate.
Burial will follow in Mexican Springs/Lone Pine.
Smith died July 23 in Gallup. He was born Nov. 11, 1929, in Mexican
Springs into the Blackstreak People Clan for the Towering House Clan.
Survivors include his wife, Elsie Fred of Red Rock; son, Franklin
Smith of Mexican Springs; daughters, Shirley Earl of Cornfield, Ariz.,
and Nettie Smith of Fort Defiance, Ariz.; brother, Vincent Smith of
Salt Lake City, Utah; sisters, Annie Mike of Mexican Springs, and
Hannah Smith and Isabelle Smith, both of China Springs; 19 grandchildren
and four great-grandchildren.
Smith was preceded in death by his parents, Joe and Tullie Smith,
and sister, Eva Damon.
Pallbearers will be Vernon Nez, Sampson Sam, Darryl Smith, Duane Smith,
Nelson Smith Jr. and Marvin Watson.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Linda Chavez
CUBERO — Services for Linda Chavez, will be held at 1 p.m. Friday,
July 27, at Our Lady of Light Church in Cubero.
A rosary will be said at 7 p.m. tonight at Our Lady of Light Church.
Survivors include her husband, Daniel Chavez Jr.; daughters, Diane
R. Garcia and Tina Ray Torivio; son, Jacob Chavez; mother, Daisy Chavez;
brothers, Donald Chavez, Oscare Chavez, Patrick Chavez and Joe Chavez;
sisters, Cynthia Armijo, Laura Chavez, Joy Trujillo, Vicki Rodriguez,
Pernetty Salazar and Lisa Jaramillo; and four grandchildren.
Chavez was preceded in death by her father, Telesfor Chavez.
Pallbearers will be Lee Ray Salazar, Jacob Chavez, Leon Tafoya, Michael
Hernandez, Nevin Garcia and Ben Chavez.
Rita Leonard Goodluck
LUKACHUKAI, Ariz. — Services for Rita Goodluck, 79, were held
at 9 a.m. today, July 26, at St. Isabel Catholic Church.
Father Caron officiated. Burial was at Lukachukai Community Cemetery.
Goodluck died July 24 in Chinle. She was born Feb. 20, 1923, in Lukachukai
into Big Water for the Red House.
She was a rancher, farmer, weaver and housewife.
Survivors include her sons, Herbert Goodluck of Window Rock, Paul
Goodluck of Chinle, and Mike Goodluck and John
Goodluck Jr., both of Lukachukai; daughters, Mary Ann Goodluck and
Rose Marie Jones, both of Chinle, Joann Goodluck of Window Rock and
Clara Goodluck of Fort Defiance, Ariz.; 11 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Goodluck was preceded in death by husband, John V. Goodluck Sr., and
parents, Emma Leornard and Leornard Todikozhi.
Pallbearers were Herbert Goodluck, Paul Goodluck, James P. Jones,
Lydell Hardy, Norman Begay and L.T. Goodluck.
The family will receive friends and relatives after the burial services
at a residence 1 miles northeast of Lukachukai Community School.
Tse Bonito Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Lucille S. Galbos
SALT LAKE CITY — Lucille Agnes Steigerwald Galbos, 86, died May
3 in Salt Lake City.
She was born June 25, 1915, in Cleveland, Ohio.
Survivors include her son, Michael Galbos; brother, John Steigerwald;
and two grandchildren.
Galbos was preceded in death by her son, Thomas Galbos.
Mae B. Wood
NASCHITTI — Services for Mae B. Wood, 78, will be announced at
a later date.
Wood died July 24 in Aztec.
Cope Memorial Chapel, Farmington, is in charge of arrangements.
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