What a year!
Removal of Bishop Pelotte voted top local story of 2008

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Independent staff

It was a year of idiosyncratic happenings, historic firsts and terrible tragedy in Indian Country. And as is our tradition, the editors at the Independent spent the past week combing through archives, old editions and dusty files to find the top stories of 2008.

While determining what were the most significant stories of the year was relatively easy, putting them in order of importance required consultation of tea leaves, palm reading and a lot of cajoling from our beat reporters. Through it all, we were able to come up with the top 20 stories of the year.

1. Diocese of Gallup gets new bishop
In the first few days of 2008, local Catholics began the New Year by welcoming a temporary apostolic administrator to the Diocese of Gallup. Pope Benedict XVI named Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted as the apostolic administrator of the Gallup Diocese after granting a one year medical leave of absence to Bishop Donald E. Pelotte. However, after Pelotte’s medical difficulties apparently continued to hamper his recovery, Pelotte resigned on April 30. During this time, the city of Gallup was locked in a legal battle with Albuquerque television news reporter Larry Barker over his public information request for copies of Gallup police photographs taken of Pelotte. Those photos were taken in July 2007 after Pelotte was discovered seriously injured in his Gallup home.

By late July 2008, a legal settlement was reached — in Barker’s favor — and the city released the controversial photographs to Barker and other news media. Now, in the first days of 2009, Catholics are again anticipating another important announcement and appointment by Pope Benedict XVI.

Officials with the diocese have stated they believe the pope may be naming a new bishop soon, and a committee has been formed to begin planning the ceremony and celebration related to the installation or ordination of the new bishop of the Diocese of Gallup.

2. Fire Rock Casino becomes reality
Though it seemed the odds were stacked against them, the Navajo Nation opened its first casino, Fire Rock, in Churchrock on Nov. 19, despite rumors of witchcraft, skinwalkers and uranium-contaminated fill dirt; despite losing the Gaming Regulatory director two days before the opening; and despite threat of a lawsuit filed by Ha’da’a Sidi, the Vigilant Ones. After considerable controversy, the Nation approved investing $35 million of its own money from the Land Acquisition Trust Fund to build the casino. On Nov. 19, customers began lining up and by the 4 p.m. grand opening, a crowd of thousands stood three and four deep all the way around one side of the 65,000-square-foot building. The casino reportedly raked in more than $1 million on the first night and since then, gaming revenue has exceeded expectations, according to Navajo officials.

3. Sunday alcohol sales OK’d by voters
By a vote of 1,008 to 805, voters in Gallup on Aug. 5 decided to end the prohibition of liquor sales on Sunday. The new law allowed liquor sales by the drink with a meal. Although a lot of people opposing it said it would just increase the city’s alcohol abuse problems, the only reports that have come down so far have been positive — increased enjoyment by area residents watching pro football games and a little more tourism activity.

4. Cleo Juan found guilty in foster child’s death
On Feb. 1, Cleo Juan, 33, was convicted of child abuse resulting in death for shaking to death 18-month-old Colby Shirley, a foster child, on March 14, 2006. Following the conviction, Juan’s defense attorney filed a motion for retrial, claiming District Attorney Karl Gillson had prosecuted with malice because he was related to Juan. Judge Grant Foutz eventually denied the motion and sentenced Juan to 30 years in prison. Juan will not be eligible for parole until the year 2038. She will be 63 years old.

5. New vets cemetery at Fort Wingate
On Sept. 17 a group of veterans in this area said they would like a small parcel of Fort Wingate to be set aside for a veterans cemetery for every vet that served in the military, regardless of race. The cemetery in Santa Fe is filling up, and while Arizona has three veterans cemeteries, New Mexico only has one. After the election when Ray Ben Lujan was chosen to fill Tom Udall’s position, Lujan met with veterans in Gallup and told them he would get secretary of N.M. Veterans Affairs, John Garcia, working on a plan for another veterans cemetery in Gallup. Fort Wingate is a possibility, but land ownership and chemical cleanup may delay plans for a cemetery there.

6. Brothers accused in killing
On Sept. 3, police responded to a rape and battery at 802 W. Maloney Ave. in Gallup. They said Dewayne Chavez, 34, had been beaten severely with a metal pipe and a firewood log. Chavez was flown to John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital in Phoenix, where he died about 36 hours later. Over the next two days, police arrested Larrison Bryant, 22, and Milton Bryant, 26, from Sheep Springs. In addition to murder, the brothers were charged with criminal sexual penetration for allegedly raping a young woman who had been in the house with Chavez. The Bryants will likely stand trial during the second half of 2009.

7. Three killed by rock slide
City crews removed huge boulders on July 17 that fell on several people who were resting or living in the hills just north of the Rio West Mall. Police were called to West Jefferson just northeast of the Magic Car Wash about 5:22 p.m. because of reports that three bodies were found in the hills there. Police said the call came from a woman at the car wash who was told by another woman that there were dead bodies on the hill.

8. New high school opens
Gallup officially became a city with two high schools in September with students going to either Miyamura High or Gallup High, depending on where they lived in the city. The decision to have two high schools was not universally accepted by a lot of parents on the east side of town, but the transition so far has been relatively smooth.

9. Brenden James guilty of murder
On Oct. 10, Brenden James, 21, was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting in the head 19-year-old Kevin Begay May 31, 2007. James was later sentenced to 15 years in prison, of which he is required to serve at least 85 percent because of the violent nature of the crime. James will not be eligible for parole until the year 2020. He will be 32 years old.

10. New school superintendent takes the reins
On May 5, Ray Arsenault assumed the position of Gallup-McKinley County school superintendent, thus officially ending the Karen White era. White, who had come under increasing attack from the three Navajo members of the board, had her contract bought out in September 2007 and Esther Macias was named interim superintendent. Since coming aboard as superintendent, Arsenault has made a number of changes on how the district schools are run. He continues to have the full support of the board.

11. RMCH chief calls it quits
Coming here three years ago to be chief executive officer for the Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital, Chuck Wright managed to turn the hospital around in less than 18 months, and now, as the hospital goes into its third year of profits, Wright announced he was leaving at the end of 2008.

12. 8-year-old accused in double killing
The country was shocked upon hearing about the 8-year-old who was charged with murdering his father Vincent Romero and his father’s friend Tim Romans in St. Johns in November. The case, which is being held in Apache County Superior Court, has brought about questions regarding treatment of juveniles in the legal system. The next status hearing is being held Jan. 6.

13. Navajo government reform a tit for tat
Navajo Nation leaders had different ideas about government reform this year with President Joe Shirley Jr. attempting initiatives to reduce the Navajo Nation Council to 24 members and obtain budget line item veto authority; Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan’s presentation on eliminating the executive branch and increasing the Council to 100 members; and the failed agreement between the two to call a reform convention. The president recently challenged the Navajo Election Administration’s determination that the number of signatures for the initiative was insufficient through the Office of Hearings and Appeals.

14. Mount Taylor listing
The New Mexico State Historic Preservation Committee called an emergency meeting in February and ruled large parts of Mount Taylor eligible for the cultural properties list but the public complained that the meeting was illegal. In March Sen. David Ulibarri, of Cibola County, asked for an Attorney General’s ruling on the legality of the meeting. The meeting was later ruled in violation of the Open Meeting Act and reheld, with the listing passing again.

15. City convention center proposed
For much of this year, Gallup city leaders have toyed with the idea of building a convention center in north Gallup that would attract more tourists and provide more events for local citizens to go to. Pushed by Gallup Mayor Harry Mendoza, the idea still is on the drawing board. As the year ended, the city voted on its priority projects next year and the convention center was not one of them.

16. City OKs downtown improvement district
Ever since the Rio West Mall opened in the 1970s, downtown Gallup has been slowly dying, but city officials this past year have decided to create a business development district in an effort to get the funding to make improvements downtown. Not every businessman supported the idea of having to pay a tax based on their revenue, but the City Council on November 25 passed it into law.

17. Native Americans help elect first black president
The Navajo people got out the vote and sent many who were widely supported on Navajo into office including the first black U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and the first Navajo to be elected Apache County sheriff, Joe Dedman. Others who had much support on Navajo also went on to win, such as Ann Kirkpatrick for the U.S. House of Representatives and Albert Hale’s re-election to the Arizona state Senate. Some Navajo newcomers also won seats to the state legislatures such as Sandra Jeff in New Mexico and Chris Deschene in Arizona.

18. $150,000 heist at Navajo Shopping Center
On Oct. 11, two men robbed $150,000 from the vault at Navajo Shopping Center in Gamerco. The men waited for employees to arrive early Saturday morning before using a gun to demand entrance to the building, and later, to the vault. McKinley County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate the heist.

19. Plese Market Closes
The end of an era in Gallup came Oct. 25 with the closure of Plese Market on West Maloney. Plese Market was open for 84 years and most of those years it was the only store on the northside of town. They served over 200 chickens on their last day and then they closed the doors.

20. Tribe loses $3.4M in investments
Within two weeks the Navajo Nation lost $3.4 million in December from the Navajo Dam Escrow Account after two separate banks called the loans on two businesses. JPMorgan Chase called a $2.2 million loan used to back Biochemical Decontamination Systems Manufacturing Inc. and Native American Bank followed suit by calling a $1.2 million loan for Dine Poultry Products Inc. The Budget and Finance Committee followed up by approving legislation to repeal the original resolution passed in 2004 with the intent of protecting the Escrow Account's remaining balance of approximately $3.1 million.