Ex-delegate accused of stabbing, beating wife

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

FORT DEFIANCE — A former Navajo Nation Council delegate is being held in Window Rock Detention Center following a stabbing incident Friday evening. Calvin Kirk, 40, of Ganado, is charged in the stabbing of his wife, Clara Kirk, 51, of Hunters Point, who reportedly was in critical condition at a hospital in Albuquerque.

According to Navajo Nation Patrol Officer Leland Tom of Window Rock Police District, Calvin Kirk walked to the home of Samuel Sam following the stabbing. When he arrived, his hands were covered with blood, according to the report. Calvin told Sam that Clara had stabbed him and that she was going to kill herself.

An ambulance was sent to the residence. When Tom arrived, Calvin Kirk had fled the scene. His wife was later found southwest of the house. She had been beaten and had a laceration to her hand.

The emergency medical technician who checked Clara also found that she had suffered a stab wound to the back and was in respiratory distress. She was immediately transported and flown to a hospital in Albuquerque.

According to the officer, Clara had fought with Calvin inside the home, and the doorway to the trailer was bloody.

Police said that during the course of tracking Calvin, he showed up again at Sam's residence but then fled. He was captured while attempting to make his way out of a wooded area and was not cooperative at the time of arrest, according to the officer. Calvin also attempted to hide from officers by camouflaging himself with mud.

Window Rock Criminal Investigator Thomas Etsitty and FBI Agents Sherry Rice and Paul Watson were called to the scene and are investigating the incident.


Hopi man sentenced
PHOENIX — Jefferson Morgan, 24, of Second Mesa, was sentenced Monday to more than six years in prison after admitting to fondling a 5-year-old girl.

Morgan was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Neal Wake in Phoenix to 78 months in prison after pleading guilty Oct. 14 to one count of aggravated sexual abuse.

The investigation was conducted by Hopi District of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and was prosecuted by Dyanne Greer, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Phoenix.