Balloon rally 'best in West'
Sylvia Carlson
Staff Writer
GALLUP — According to balloonists from all over the world who
responded to a questionaire in "Balloon Life" magazine,
the Red Rock Balloon Rally is the best in the West.
The Third Annual "Balloon Life" Best Balloon Event Awards
were revealed in the May issue of the international publication. The
Oldsmobile Balloon Classic in Danville, Ill., was named the best rally
in the East.
"We were very pleased to be selected as one of the top three
rallies in the country," said Bill Lee, programming director
at KGLX Radio and organizer of the Red Rock rally.
Like everyone else who works on the rally, Lee does it in his spare
time as a volunteer. He pointed out that the Red Rock
rally is the fifth largest in the world, put on by a staff of volunteers.
"Gallup and the organization put on a great rally," Lee
said.
This year's rally at Red Rock is scheduled to begin with preliminary
registration on Thursday, Nov. 30, and the second registration on
Dec. 1. The two big days for flying are Dec. 2 and 3.
According to Lee, the rally here not only draws balloon enthusiasts
from New Mexico and the rest of the country, but from a variety of
other countries as well, including Germany and England.
"I've flown in a lot of different places," Lee said, "and
seen some spectacular country, and Gallup is still the best place
to fly ... it is unparalleled."
The Red Rock Rally is expected to host 200 balloons this year, and
considering that each balloonist means five other people to crew,
Lee said, that is a lot of tourism dollars that come into Gallup each
year.
The biggest rally in the world, however, is the Albuquerque Balloon
Fiesta held every October, with around 1,000 balloons flying. This
doesn't seem to faze Lee in the slightest.
"Albuquerque is the biggest, but certainly not the best,"
Lee said. "This (the Red Rock Rally) is really an event that
all the balloonists look forward to." He added that Gallup simply
does not have the infrastructure to handle a rally as big as Albuquerque's.
There is a waiting list of more than 600 balloonists, Lee said. The
Red Rock Rally is by invitation only, and this means "we have
the cream of the crop when it comes to pilots," he said.
| Top |
Anti-smoking doc wins award
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — Four years ago, Dr. Arnolfo A. Valdivia decided enough
was enough.
He started helping with a nationwide smoking-education campaign aimed
at kids called Tar Wars.
Now, for his relentless efforts, the retired physician has been honored
in Washington, D.C., with a prestigious award.
A panel of Tar Wars experts selected Valdivia and three other individuals
from across the U.S. to be recipients of the 2000 Tar Wars Star Award.
"This is something that I did not expect," Valdivia said.
"I am honored, deeply honored."
Sarah A. McMullen, Tar Wars national manager, said that Valdivia's
contributions were chosen for "the significant commitment and
support shown in making this program a success in your community."
The award is supported by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
Valdivia was given the award in July at the National Poster Awards
ceremony in Washington, D.C. The poster awards are a large part of
what Tar Wars is all about.
Valdivia has taken his message of tobacco-free children into the classrooms
of fourth and fifth graders for the past four years. Through visual
media and participation by the children, Valdivia shows how large
tobacco companies get their message out, especially to children, through
advertising.
Through the years he has talked to hundreds of kids and there is no
way of determining exactly how many have not smoked through the seeds
of knowledge that Valdivia plants in the young minds.
Valdivia knows what tobacco use can do to the human body. Born, raised
and educated in Peru, he finished his education in the U.S. and began
a medical practice. Eventually Valdivia, his wife and family came
to Grants. Valdivia quit smoking in the 1960s and that is when he
began an active no-smoking campaign.
"When I came to this town there were ashtrays in the doctors'
waiting rooms," he said.
Valdivia became a partner in a medical practice and then owner. He
got rid of the ashtray despite predictions it was a huge
mistake. When he became chief of staff at Cibola General Hospital,
he went against the grain again and stopped the smoking in the hospital.
Valdivia even got rid of the cigarette machines. He later went to
work in the prison and in his clinic no one smoked.
It is hard to say how his campaign against tobacco would have gone
if he had not been a smoker who stopped because he knew and saw the
health risks.
"I think it is best to lead by example," Valdivia said.
"That's why I committed to the tobacco-free education program
called Tar Wars."
A large part of the local annual Tar Wars campaign is a poster contest
open to children in the fourth and fifth grades. The children create
posters. The state winner competes on a national basis.
Valdivia said of his Star Award, "It validates the years I put
into this effort." He added that he is surprised there are not
more New Mexico physicians involved in the program.
Valdivia said he will keep doing the Tar Wars campaign as long as
he can. For him, Star Awards are nice, but the biggest star award
is the knowledge that he is giving children the tools they need to
not pick up that first cigarette and smoke it.
| Top |
Domestic attacks more violent on reservation
Christopher Schurtz
Staff Writer
WINDOW ROCK — The degree of violence in domestic attacks on the
Navajo Nation has increased, an official said Wednesday.
"It's gone beyond pushing and hitting. We are now seeing an increase
in fatalities," said Edna Scott of the Navajo Nation Advisory
Council on Domestic Violence.
Weapons like guns and knives are being used, Scott said, "because
women are now beginning to tell people about it."
Scott was one of the participants in a three-day conference examining
domestic violence on reservations.
The Southwest Native Women's and Men's Conference, which ends today,
is the first major conference of its scope and size hosted by the
Navajo Nation, according to organizers.
The conference has brought speakers and representatives from the Navajo,
Hopi, Gila River, Ak-Chin, Choctaw, Muskoke Creek, Northern Ute, White
Mountain Apache and Seneca-Cayuga tribes.
In a panel discussion Wednesday, several of the representatives answered
questions from the 50 to 60 audience members concerning a variety
of domestic abuse-related issues, including questions about how widespread
domestic violence is on the reservation.
Many of the speakers said tracking the actual number of domestic abuse
cases is difficult because it has only been in the last several years
that police and the courts have specifically kept track of domestic
violence incidents.
And, according to Scott, it has only been in the last three years
that entities within the Navajo Nation judicial system have adopted
similar protocols in addressing the treatment of victims of abuse.
"We have found that the victim is often revictimized in the judicial
process," Scott said.
The protocols for the court system also include directing perpetrators
of domestic violence into meaningful rehabilitation programs, in addition
to punitive measures.
Scott said the advisory council is recommending 23 new offenses specifically
related to domestic violence crimes.
An option for victims that has been available only recently is the
temporary housing for up to five days in one of the eight shelters
or safe houses located throughout the Navajo Nation.
Doreen Nicholas, training coordinator at the Arizona Coalition Against
Domestic Violence, said the number of reported cases fluctuates with
outside factors such as alcohol and drug abuse.
She said public awareness raised by conferences, as well as media
attention of domestic abuse, often lead to a rise and fall in reported
incidents.
This may not represent a rise in domestic abuse merely a rise in reported
cases, she said.
"We always have to look critically at the numbers," she
said.
She also said that many of the programs used to treat perpetrators
of domestic violence are ineffective, in large part because many of
the counselors who head the programs are not specifically trained
in domestic violence.
Anger management programs are not effective on their own in treating
domestic violence. Batterers often just get worse, Nicholas said.
"A lot of them just learn different ways of abusing their partners
from others in the group," she said.
Nicholas said Arizona courts have begun remedying the problem by referring
convicted batterers to programs with a counselor licensed in facilitating
domestic violence sessions.
Austin Nunez, San Xavier district chairman, said it is often hard
to keep track of his 23,000-member tribe, spread out over a 3-million
acre reservation.
But he said San Xavier assimilates traditional methods, including
sweat lodges and talking circles, along with contemporary laws and
counseling to treat batterers.
He said San Xavier has even used the traditional punishment of banishment
to punish those "who hurt those within the tribe."
Organizers are hoping the conference, which concludes this afternoon
with several men's programs, will lead to further conferences and
to opening discussion in general about domestic violence issues.
| Top |
Coal strike nears end
Tentative agreement reached
Zarana Sanghani
Staff Writer
GALLUP — Workers may soon be leaving the picket lines to go back
to the coal mines if local union members like the terms of a tentative
agreement with the coal mining company.
The United Mine Workers of America announced Tuesday that an tentative
agreement had been reached with Pittsburg and Midway Coal Company.
Area miners, who are members of Local 1332, have been on strike since
May 15, the day after contracts expired and no new contract could
be agreed upon. The strike is the second longest one in the history
of the mine.
A meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the Window Rock Sports
Center to explain the terms of the new contract to the strikers.
The members will vote on whether to accept the agreement Sunday. In
the meantime, the strike will continue.
Bob Brown, the recording secretary for the local union, said the striking
mine workers were happy to hear that an agreement was reached.
Brown said the union's unity during the strike helped the workers
win some of their demands. During the strike only three people out
of more than 300 crossed picket lines to go back to work.
The international president of the United Mine Workers, Cecil Roberts,
had similar sentiments.
"I do not believe that P&M thought the workers were solid,"
Roberts said in a press release, "and once that message started
to sink in, the climate of the negotiations changed dramatically."
P&M and the union had been negotiating in April and part of May,
but after the strike began the two groups met only once on June 7
and with no conclusion.
Earlier this week, P&M and union officials, including local union
president Lawrence Oliver, met and came up with an agreement.
"I talked to Lawrence today and he sounded pretty happy,"
Brown said. "That's a good sign that they have a good agreement."
Brown said one of the workers' biggest concerns was the health care
plan. Under the old contract, P&M paid 100 percent of health costs,
which translates to a $635 a month value.
P&M had been proposing something different for the new contracts
in April. Navajo workers who make up about 93 percent of the work
force who decided to get health care covered by Indian Health Service
would get $100 from the company under the proposed policy. However,
those workers could not choose to return to the company plan once
they went to IHS.
Union members did not want this provision. The new agreement does
not include it, though union officials would not say how the health
care plan would be arranged.
The new contract will also include a wage increase and a pension increase
to equal that of P&M's national pension levels, said Bob Butero,
the United Coal Workers Region 4 director. He would not say how much
the increases were. (Union officials said they want the workers to
know the details of the contract before releasing them to the public.)
Union workers also got two more important demands in the tentative
agreement.
If the mine shuts down or workers are laid off for more than six months,
workers who have worked 20 or more years can retire.
Also, the company agreed to let go of a new overtime policy. The policy
said that overtime begins only after 40 hours are completed. That
means if workers haven't finished 40 hours by the weekend or a holiday,
the company can make them work on those days with regular pay. On
the old contract, workers were paid higher, overtime wages on weekends
and holidays,
no matter how many hours had already been completed for the week.
This agreement comes on the heals of another agreement P&M finalized
with the mine workers in Kemmerer, Wyo. The union members there approved
the new contracts on Tuesday and began work Wednesday.
| Top |
Senior Olympians strike gold at state
New Mexico Senior Olympics
LAS VEGAS, N.M. — Senior Olympians from McKinley County came
back from the New Mexico Senior Olympics with 60 medals, including
27 gold medals.
The 25 Senior Olympians won 27 gold, 12 silver, two bronze, 12 fourth
place and seven fifth place medals for a total of 60.
Paul Merrill brought home five gold medals, winning the discus event,
the shot put event, the javelin event, standing long jump event and
the softball distance throw. Merrill also won silver medals in the
running long jump and the 8-ball pool tournament, along with a fifth
place in ballroom waltz.
Peter Procopio captured four gold medals, winning the 400-meter race,
the 1,500-meter race, the 5k race and the instrumental (guitar-solo)...
| Top |
Gallup swimmers have strong finish
Alan Arthur
Sports Editor
GALLUP — A pair of Gallup swimmers put on a strong finish to
their season this past weekend at Farmington.
Rhianan Schuman and Dustin Engels, both members of the Gallup Aquatic
Association Gators swim team, ended the year with some top 10 performances
at the Long Course State Finals held on July 28-30.
"They did awesome," Gators coach Kathleen Sanchez said.
"Our main goal is to improve our times. Dustin improved six of
his times and took 35 seconds off the mile. Rhianan (who battled some
illness throughout the year) improved five of six of her times..."
| Top |
Stubborn board faces payback
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Will the Navajo Board of Election Supervisors be
prosecuted in tribal court for failing to hold the general election
on the date specified in the election code?
And, if so, who will do the prosecuting?
The Inter-Government Relations Committee discussed the issue somewhat
in the open on Wednesday morning, then went behind closed doors to
explore the matter further. No announcement was made after the executive
session...
| Top |
'Yes' vote will cut size of council
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — When Navajo voters go to the polls Sept. 5 if they
have registered by this Friday they will cast one vote on a three-part
question.
The question will offer voters an all-or-nothing choice:
"The Navajo Nation Council has asked the Navajo people to decide
whether to keep the number of council delegates at 88 or to change
the number of council delegates to 24. Do you approve the amendment
of 2 N.N.C. Section 102 (A) to state that:
"The Navajo Nation Council shall be the governing body of the
Navajo Nation and shall consist of 88 (stricken out) 24 (added) delegates.
This section 102 (A) shall not be amended unless approved by majority
vote of all registered voters in all precincts. Yes or no..."
| Top |
Tribal election now Sept. 5
Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Continuing to rip the now powerless Board of Election
Supervisors, the Navajo Nation Council voted 69-8-1 Wednesday to hold
the chapter-level general election on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
"It is time for the council and Inter-Government Relations Committee
to pick up the pieces and to ensure that the voting rights of the
Navajo people are not further violated by additional unnecessary delays,"
said Delegate Ernest Hubbell, who sponsored the resolution.
He added, "The council did not ask to take over the oversight
of the election administration. This duty was forced upon the council
and the IGR by the refusal of the Board of Election Supervisors to
hold the 2000 chapter election as required by Navajo Nation law.
"The date of Sept. 5, 2000, for the election is crucial because
it provides the full time period for the exercise of absentee voting
rights to Navajos who cannot or choose not to cast their votes at
the chapters in which they are registered...
| Top |
Accused drug dealer charged
Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — Cibola County grand jurors indicted 27-year-old Raymond
Loya of Bluewater on multiple drug charges, most of them for trafficking
in cocaine.
The case, investigated almost a year ago, was reported by the state
drug enforcement team, in this case law officers from McKinley County
Sheriff's Department and the Grants Police Department.
On Sept. 24, Sept. 28,, and Oct. 6, all in 1999, Loya allegedly trafficked
cocaine to another person and in two of the cases, on Oct. 6 and Sept.
28, conspired with another person to traffic the drugs. Also on Oct.
6, he distributed psilocybin, a controlled substance, to another person
and conspired with another person to distribute it...
| Top |
Deaths
August Paul Berger
GALLUP — Services for August Paul Berger, 93, will be held at
10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Gallup.
Father Walter Opalewski will officiate. Burial will follow at Sunset
Memorial Park.
A rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 4, at Rollie Mortuary.
Berger died July 31 in Gallup. He was born Dec. 13, 1906, in Flagstaff,
Ariz.
Survivors include wife, Eugenia H. Berger of Gallup; sons, Edward
Herman Berger, Eugen Paul Berger and Laurence R. Berger, all of Gallup,
and Robert Augustine Berger of Ogden, Utah; seven grandchildren; and
14 great-grandchildren.
Berger was preceded in death by parents, Herman and Pauline Berger;
brother, Charlie Berger; and sister, Annie Shauer.
Pallbearers will be Bruce Berger, Butch Berger, Chris Berger, Roger
Berger, Ralph Chavez, Brent Dietzman and Gilman Yovanovich.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Eleanor Ann Spencer-Clah
HOUCK, Ariz. — Services for Eleanor Ann Spencer-Clah, 64, will
be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, at the St. John the Evangelist
Church in Houck. Father Cormac Antram will officiate. Burial will
follow at the Houck Community Cemetery in Houck.
Spencer-Clah died July 31 in Houck. She was born May 18, 1936, in
Houck into the One Who Walks Around People Clan for the Towering House
People Clan.
Spencer-Clah attended school at St. John Evangelist in 1943 and three
years at St. Michaels and Albuquerque Indian School.
She participated in song and dance around the Navajo Nation. She had
her singing group, Morning Star Singers, and was a former member of
the dance group Lupton Valley Singers. She was a volunteer worker
for the elderly with C.H.R., and a life resident of Houck.
Survivors include son, Emery Spencer of Mesa, Ariz.; daughters, Lenora
Spencer of Houck, Elvira Spencer-Sweetwater of Colorado Springs, Colo.,
Lorraine Williams of St. Louis, Mo., and Pearl Tso of Chinle; brothers,
Ralph Nelson Jr. of Houck, and Roger Nelson; sisters, Mary Morgan,
Marie Silver and Elizabeth Brown of Houck; and 13 grandchildren.
Spencer-Clah was preceded in death by husband, James Clah; parents,
Ralph Nelson Sr. and Regina Nelson; and son, Merle Paul Spencer.
Pallbearers will be Ralph Nelson Jr., Emery Spencer, Fred Silverfox,
Jack Silversmith, Lyle Baldwin and Ron Tso.
The family will receive friends and family after the burial services
at the Houck Chapter House.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Shay B. Watson
TWIN LAKES — Services for Shay B. Watson, 96, will be held at
10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 4, at the Established in the Word Ministry. The
Rev. Raymond Ross will officiate. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial
Park in Gallup.
Watson died July 31 in Gallup. He was born Dec. 29, 1903, in Rocksprings
for the Towering House People Clan into the Edge of the Water People
Clan.
Survivors include son, Joseph Watson of Hard Rock, Ariz.; daughters,
Mary Ann Johnson of Twin Lakes, Marian Morgan of Crownpoint, Shirley
Wally of Little Water; and Mary Alice Watson of Winslow; and sisters,
Clara John of Twin Lakes, Bertha Tom of Sagebrush, Francis Natan of
Ramah, and Matilda Tom of Rock Springs.
Watson was preceded in death by wife, Ellen Watson; parents, Charley
Boyd and Sonja Watson; daughter, Thelda Sandoval; sons, David Watson
and Major Watson; and brother, Robert Watson.
Pallbearers will be Claude Bakurza, Clifford Desiderio, Steven Nelson,
Leander Wally, Vinton Wally and Joseph Watson.
Rollie Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Guy Tso
HOUCK, Ariz. — Services for Guy Tso, 76, were held 10 a.m. today,
Aug. 3, at Cope Memorial Chapel. Pastor Harold Noble officiated. Burial
followed on family land in Steamboat, Ariz.
Tso died July 28 in Dallas, Texas. He was born Jan. 28, 1924, in Sunrise
Springs, Ariz.
Tso was a World War II veteran with the U.S. Army, serving in Japan,
Philippines and Asiatic Pacific, and was a military policeman. He
retired from Goodyear.
Survivors include wife, Lucy Tso of Dallas, Texas; sons, Leslie Tso,
Arnold Tso, Seymour Tso, Robert Tso and Ronald Tso, all of Dallas
and Wilbert Tso of Phoenix; daughters, Wanda Tso and Margie Joe, both
of Dallas; brothers, Nelson Kee and Joe Kee, both of Steamboat; sister,
Bernice Smith of Steamboat; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
Pallbearers were Francis Smith, Oscar Smith, Willie Jackson, Benson
Lee, Harrison Kee and Jermaine Jordon.
Cope Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
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