20 year old Shannon Roach, a graduate of Gallup High School was the Head Lady Dancer at the Fifth Annual New Year’s Eve Gourd Dance and Powwow held at Gallup Junior High School. Roach has won both local and national awards for her dancing.

Photo by Douglas Tesner

Police search for lone gunman

Andrea Egger
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Police are still seeking the identity of a man who robbed Mataya's convenience store Sunday evening.

A clerk called police around 7:30 p.m. to report she'd just been robbed at gunpoint by a tall Hispanic man, according to a Gallup Police report.

The clerk said she was mopping the floor when she heard the door open. She saw a man she didn't recognize.

The man told her to give him all the money from the safe. The clerk said she just looked at him, and then the man pulled out a small handgun and pointed it at her, according to the report.

She handed him bags of money, and he told her to remove the money from the bags. She handed the man the money.

Then he ran out the east door and ran toward the back of the building. The clerk said she didn't know if the man was on foot or got into a vehicle.

The clerk called her manager, who wasn't home. The manager's girlfriend told the clerk to call the police.

While police were there, manager Thomas Ortiz of Gallup arrived.

The clerk described the suspect as being about 6 feet tall, slim, wearing a black, baggy pullover, black "Mad Dog" sunglasses and a red bandana across his face from the nose down. The pullover was pulled over his head, according to the police.

He had a Hispanic accent and wore brown work gloves, according to the police.

The gun was black, and the clerk believed it was an automatic. She said the suspect left with two shifts-worth of money, an undisclosed amount..

Ortiz gave police a video tape from the recorder at the store. He told police the small safe in the store was supposed to be locked, and he doesn't know why it wasn't, according to the report.

Police searched the area for the suspect but weren't able to locate anyone.

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City woman runs over her husband after fight

Andrea Egger
Staff Writer

GALLUP — A Gallup couple was arrested for battery after an argument that led to their pickup truck backing into the husband and running over his arm and shoulder.

Gallup Police were sent to the Cliffside Apartments, 601 Dani Drive, to investigate a domestic argument, according to a police report.

Officer Pat Gallegos met with Josephine Hunch, 35, of 309 Vega Drive, who said she got into an argument with her husband, Daniel Billy Jr., 23, of Lupton, Ariz. She said Billy didn't want her to take the truck, and he became angry and punched her in the face while she was sitting in the truck, according to the report.

During the argument, the truck gear was somehow put into reverse and the truck began rolling backward. Hunch said it struck her husband and ran him over.

Gallegos noted she had a large knot on the top of her head, and she was bleeding from the nose and mouth. She was intoxicated, according to the report.

The officer noticed Billy also was intoxicated. Med Star Ambulance took Billy to Gallup Indian Medical Center.

Billy told police he was visiting at a friend's apartment when Hunch came over and angrily began hitting Billy in the face. He said he defended himself by hitting her back.

Their son, Bryan Hunch, 12, told Gallegos his parents were arguing. His parents got into the truck, with Hunch in the middle and Billy in the driver's side.

Billy started the truck. Then his parents began hitting each other, Bryan Hunch said. Billy got out of the truck and walked to the passenger side and began hitting Josephine Hunch, their son said.

During the fight, the truck rolled back on his dad, knocking him to the ground and running over Billy's left arm and shoulder, he said. Police released Bryan Hunch to the custody of his aunt.

The couple's friend, Lucinda Johnson, said Billy was at her apartment when Josephine Hunch arrived and began arguing with her husband. The went to the pickup and continued arguing.

Johnson said she saw the truck back over Billy, knocking him down and running over his arm and shoulder, according to the report. When the truck stopped, Johnson said she saw Josephine Hunch pick up some rocks and throw them at Billy while he was on the ground.

Hunch and Billy were both arrested and charged with battery on a household member, a misdemeanor, according to the report.

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Area sports

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Olympic flame will arrive in New Mexico in a railroad car, then ascend into the sky in a hot air balloon before continuing its journey to Salt Lake City for the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics on Feb. 8.

By the time it arrives in Utah, the flame will have passed through the hands of more than 11,500 torchbearers, each traveling two-tenths of a mile as keeper of the flame — including 44 New Mexicans.

The torch, made to look like a mountain icicle, weighs about 3 pounds and is crafted of silver, copper, and glass. More than halfway through its 65-day trek around the nation, it lights the way through the Land of Enchantment on Saturday, Jan. 12, after a stop in Amarillo, Texas.

The flame will enter the state via railway and will be transported from Vaughn to Santa Fe.

The torch is on a tight schedule, in New Mexico for just one day. It will arrive at De Vargas Junior High School in Santa Fe a few minutes before the official 12:31 p.m. start time.

The exact route of the runners, according to Darlene Griego in the Santa Fe city manager's office, is being kept a secret.
"Security is a priority in everything they do," Griego said.

The torch will pass through more than 20 hands on its way to a cauldron located at the Plaza bandstand.

The caravan will again load up and head to Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta Park. The torch will pass through a column of hot air balloons, then take a short tethered flight in a globe-themed balloon before heading to Tucson, Ariz.

New Mexico's torchbearers are a diverse bunch, including an eigth-grader from Alamogordo, a Native American centenarian Olympian, two doctors — and University of New Mexico basketball coach Fran Fraschilla.

Most of the torchbearers were nominated through essays by friends and family members and then selected by a regional committee. Others were chosen by corporate sponsors of the trek.

According to organizers, inspiration is the theme of the torch relay. Nominees were to inspire others to greater achievement, embody the inspirational spirit of the Olympics movement or motivate others by overcoming adversity.

John Pino, a 101-year-old from the Languna Pueblo, was nominated for his lifetime accomplishment. Pino has competed as an archer in the Senior Olympics for the past several years.

"The way he lived his life and the way he always set an example for his nine children is inspiring," Griego said.

Pino just lost out to Sarah McClelland of Xenia, Ohio, as the oldest torchbearer in the nation to bear the flame. She's 102.

At age 14, Nikki Lawson is the youngest New Mexican to take up the torch. The eighth-grader from Alamogordo has already earned a varsity letter in cross-country. The teen also plays volleyball and basketball, despite having a vision impairment that may keep her from getting a driver's license.

Catherine Kemmer, 45, is a doctor in Las Cruces. She had no idea that her staff was mounting a campaign to make her a torchbearer. A nurse and an intern on her staff contacted many of her patients and former co-workers and encouraged them to nominate her.

Kemmer, a Navy Reservist who spent four years in the service as a staff obstetrican/gynecologist, has served on the board of the community hospital in Las Cruces and volunteers at the University of New Mexico Student Health Center.

"I'm so excited. It's going to be the occasion of a lifetime," Kemmer said, noting that family members from as far away as Africa are visiting to watch her in the relay.

Robert Kirby, a 67-year old retired metallurgist from Los Alamos, also is carrying the torch, thanks to the clandestine efforts of his daughter, Linda Larson.

"I came home every night for two months and typed up a little email," said Larson, a bus driver who lives in Atlanta. "Dad has just always been there and he doesn't ask for much. He's just always doing things for people."

In May 2000, Kirby and his family were evacuated from their homes during the Cerro Grande fire in Los Alamos. Kirby volunteered with the Salvation Army to help get clothing and supplies to other displaced residents.

Now Kirby has some new clothing of his own, the snazzy white torchbearer's uniform — a jogging set, fleece hat and gloves emblazoned with the Olympic rings, torch relay logo, and the theme of the Winter Olympics, "Light the Fire Within."

On the Net:

2002 Olympics: http://www.saltlake2002.com.

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City to pick up trees

Staff Report

GALLUP — Now that the Christmas season is over, Gallup officials have made arrangements so that local residents can dispose of their Christmas trees without having to make a run to the local transfer station.

Assistant City Manager Buck Monday said that a special truck will be following the city's regular trash crews this week picking up Christmas trees that are left next to the herbies.

The city has also provided two areas - one near the tennis court at Ford Canyon Park and the other at the old National Guard Armory - for residents who want to drop off the trees themselves...

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