The package liquor store at 1717 S. Second St,
of which mayoral candidate Frank Colaiani is an owner.

Photo by Douglas Tesner/Independent

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Colaianni: “I haven’t been cited once”

Bill Donovan
Special to the Independent

GALLUP — Liquor store owners live and die by the reliability of their clerks.

That was basically the response of mayoral candidate Frank Colaianni who responded Monday to a story in the Independent about a citation his liquor store received recently for selling to a minor.

“I preach to all my clerks and my daughter preaches as well about checking a person’s ID, “he said, “but all the liquor store owners have this problem from time to time.”

“I personally have served hundreds of thousands of people over the years and haven’t been cited once,” he said.
But liquor store owners have to rely on their clerks and although they are told over and over again that they could lose their jobs if they don’t comply with the law, sometimes it doesn’t sink in, said Colaianni.
So the state conducts a sting and a clerk and a store gets cited.

“In that case, I think I made a 40 cent profit off the sale of a quart of beer,” he said. “Why would I jeopardize my license for a 40 cent profit?”

As for the clerk who was cited, Colaianni said he “was gone.”

“To be truthful, he left on his own but he probably thought I would fire him, which I would have,” he said.
When asked how he felt the story would hurt his chances at winning the mayoral race on Tuesday, Colaianni said “it’s going to hurt me a lot.”

He stressed, however, that every liquor store owner in town tries to comply with state liquor laws but that they have to rely heavily on their workers to check IDs and know the dates when a person is allowed legally to purchase liquor.
Sometimes, he said, clerks get confused and that’s when the problem ends up in a citation.

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Mayoral race remains up for grabs

Bill Donovan
Special to the Independent

GALLUP — Tuesday’s race for Gallup Mayor will not only answer the question of who will lad the cit for the next four yars, it will also answer the question: does a person’s money chest really make any difference?

as candiates spent their last hours drumming up every vote they could, ther have been a slew of scenarios that would allow almost everyone of the six men runing for the position the chance to win....

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Eastsiders, westsiders have choices for city council reps

Bill Donovan
Special to the Independent

GALLUP — Residents in the middle of town and on the Northside won’t have to ponder the question on who to vote for council in Tuesday’s election but voters on the east and west sides of town have a lot of choices when they go to the polls.
The District 2 race seems to be dominated by two well-known politicians — the incumbent Louis Bonaguidi and Mary Ann Armijo, who has run before and who has been active in Democratic politics on both the local and state levels for the past decade.

Bonaguidi came under fire from some of his constituents in the Indian Hills section of town a couple of years ago because of Path of Renewal’s decision to build a home there for recovering alcoholics.

While he was personally opposed to it, Bonaguidi was unable to keep the house from being built and occupied since it complied with city ordinances.

This has not been a major issue in this year’s campaign but several people were so angry two years ago when the matter came up that they said they would never vote for Bonaguidi again.

Armijo, who is not related to mayoral candidate William Armijo, has been active in a number of organizations in town, including the Chamber of Commerce, and is hoping that her improved name recognition in this campaign will help her win.
Also running in this race is Dan Gutierrez, who is now retired after a career as a county official and Keith Gonzales, another retired county official.

Both Guiterrez and Gonzales have campaigned on a need to bring change to the city government and to do something about improving city services.

The District 4 race has the largest number of candidates, partly because the incumbent, Charlie Chavez, is not a candidate, he’s running for mayor instead.

The person with the biggest name recognition of all the candidates is former city and county police chief Frank Gonzales, who has been undergoing treatment for cancer but has told supporters that this should not affect his ability to serve in the council.

Others who are running in that race are:

John J. Azua — a youth substance and alcohol abuse counselor who has been campaigning on a platform of having the city pay more attention to the problems of young people in the city.

He says the problem today is that by the time youth get in trouble because of drugs and alcohol, it may be too late and the city has to step up and take the initiative.

“This is just not a school board problem,” he said.
He said that the city also has to spend more time addressing problems in the community, such as potholes, and making neighborhoods safer.

Rex Goode — who is part owner of Goodfellow’s Sports Lounge and who said that he’s running “because I want to give something back to the community.”

He also feels that the city should put more emphasis on problems that affect the neighborhoods, such as the lack of curb and gutters in some parts of the city.

There also needs, he said, to be more done by the city to help people who start small businesses.

Richard Ross -—a lifelong resident of Gallup, he said he wants to be in a position to make Gallup a better place.
He’s also in favor of exploring every avenue possible as far as future water needs are concerned and not rely solely on the proposed Gallup- Navajo Pipeline to meet the city’s future water needs.

Peter H. Burrows - who has worked for the Navajo government for 11 years and the state for 13 years, says he would like to see the downtown area of Gallup developed so that it will draw more people into the center of town.

He said he is also in favor of developing the west end of town more and providing city kids with more recreational activities to keep them out of trouble.

Robert “Chris” Mazon - a former city police officer who would like to see the city spend more time and money on improving the infrastructure in the west portion of town.

The water and sewer systems in many areas of district 4 are in greet need of repair because they are some of the oldest in town.

He also would like to see the city put more traffic signals in the western portion of town, especially by the truck stops, because of complaints about trucks pulling out in traffic without warning.

Hugo Cano - at 26, he’s the youngest candidate in the race.

He wants to see street and sidewalk improvements as well as more work done on the parks. He also would like to see the city encourage more small businesses as a way to deal with economic development issues.

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NASA to fly over rez to look for shuttle debris

Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is expected to be buzzing low over the Navajo Reservation starting Tuesday as part of its mammoth investigation into the deaths of the seven crew members of the shuttle Columbia.

Tribal police warn residents and visitors not to touch any shuttle debris they may find, both for personal safety against harmful chemicals in the material and to aid in the investigation as to what caused the shuttle to break apart on Feb.1. Acting Chief of Criminal Investigations Ivan Tsosie and Law Enforcement Chief Dorothy Fulton asked Friday that residents not be alarmed when NASA sends low-flying aircraft over a wide path across the vast reservation, from the northwest to the southeast in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

But NASA has to wait for the week-long series of rain and snow storms to clear from the region.
Tsosie said teams of patrol officers from Fulton’s department will be coupled with detectives from his department to aid in any ground search triggered by the aerial spotting and to secure the area until federal authorities can reach the spot— if anything is found.

Fulton said the tribe would work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to clean up any of the hazardous chemicals that may be found in the debris on the ground. This includes foam, aluminum, other metals, ceramics, heat-resistant tiles and reinforced carbonized material. She added that tribal police received the initial notification from NASA about three weeks ago that help might be requested.

“Please do not disturb any material or debris you find,” she asked. “The reason is that possible hazardous chemicals may be present in the material. The public needs to understand they can’t move that stuff without danger to themselves.”
Fulton pointed out the material is federal property “material to the shuttle accident investigation.”....

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