Also on the agenda, Thoreau Fire Station project

Jason Carlisle, McKinley County fire chief, spoke at the April 16 Board of Commissioners regular meeting about a number of items pertaining to the upcoming fire season.

The first was a report and public comment session about the current drought status for McKinley County, and the current fire danger.

According to Carlisle, McKinley County received enough moisture last year to ensure there is undergrowth, and the county expects a moderate monsoon season this year.

Any steps to combat the danger of wildfires will come with future reports, Carlisle said.

“We missed the point where we could ban fireworks,” he said. “But we have to...

Church Rock man arrested in pedestrian death

An arrest has been made in the hit-and-run death of Yvonne Jacobs, 50, of Gallup who was struck and killed on Junker Bridge, on the 700 block of East Aztec Avenue, shortly before midnight April 11.

Gallup Police officers arrested Robert Dixon, 32, of Church Rock at Sports Page Bar. Police located his vehicle near the bar, and Dixon was determined to be the hit-and-run driver. He was arrested on site and booked into the McKinley Adult Detention Center. He faces charges of homicide by motor vehicle, aggravated driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor, and duty to give information and render aid.

When Officer Jerald Watchman...

Last week, the Sun reported on a vehicle burglary that occured in the Cracker Barrel parking lot on April 5.

Surveillance footage showed a man possibly in his 30s breaking the window of a 2014 red Ford Escape, taking something from inside, and then getting into another vehicle that drove off.

A number of items were taken, including several antique firearms and a purse belonging to Artie Ortega, of Rio Rancho, that contained the ashes of her son, Anthony J. Romero. Ortega and her boss were in Gallup for the gun show when they had stopped at Cracker Barrel and their car, which belonged to her boss, was broken into.

Then on April 10, Justin Villa, 36, of Gallup, was arrested by Gallup...

Sheriff deputies were put on high alert April 6, after receiving two officer down calls.

According to the report, the first call came into Albuquerque and Window Rock, Ariz. dispatch centers shortly after 9 am from a caller by the name of “Dwayne.” The caller said there was a Navajo Police Department officer shot below his vest, and bleeding out, near the Family Dollar store on State Highway 264.

When McKinley County Sheriff Sgt. Monty Yazzie arrived at the scene, he didn’t locate an injured officer. He drover further north, to Yatahey, and things there appeared normal, too.

Meanwhile, a second call came in at 5:55 pm, which McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Lorenzo Guerrero...