GMCS students more than doubled the state average

Gallup-McKinley County Schools recently received the results for the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Career tests.

Those results were shared during the GMCS Board of Education July 15 regular meeting. GMCS District Assistant Superintendent Gerald Horacek spoke about the results, thanking parents and staff for their part in the students’ achievements.

“It is important to have support from the board and superintendent to have the results we’ve shown,” Horacek said. “Without us working together, we wouldn’t be able to present what we’ve done the past several years.”

For the 2018 school...

Rocking out for the girls

It was once said that girls can rock just as hard as guys can, and for that matter, even better. Holding true to that and proving it tenaciously in the music world is Doreen Etsitty with her band Doreen & Remedy.

Etsitty’s bandmates are all members of the Diné tribe and are seasoned musicians: Doreen Etsitty-vocals, Steven Etsitty-lead guitar, Freddie Dennison-bass, Kree Kool Johns-drums, Merlin Yazzie Jr.-acoustic. The band primarily plays country and classic rock. They recently performed at the monthly Gallup ArtsCrawl July 13. The band was asked to play in front of Quintana’s Music and Jewelry by owners Ryan and Rhonda Quintana. The Sun got the chance...

Founder of Manuelito Children’s Home

WildThing Championship Bull Riding is set to begin July 12. The staple summer event could be a somewhat somber time for family members and colleagues of Joel Peterson, who passed away last fall.

“It’s been rough on us, losing him,” WildThing organizer Larry Peterson said June 25.

Manuelito Children’s Home holds one of its most important and biggest fundraisers of the year serving concessions and offering parking for WildThing, according to both school staff and Larry Peterson.

“[WildThing] is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the children’s home,” Larry Peterson said. “He [Joel Peterson] always loved the fact we were...

Plan targets key areas for growth

After over a year of development, the final draft of the McKinley County Vision 2020 Comprehensive Plan was presented to the Board of Commissioners during their recent regular meeting by the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments, July 9.

NNMCG works with the region’s local governments to support community development, promote strategic innovation and propel regional competitiveness, according to their website.

Last year, NNMCG also participated in McKinley County Day, hosted the interim Legislative Finance Committee in Gallup in May, and increased their funding for the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial up to $77,000.

Angelina Grey...