Staff Reports

WINDOW ROCK, NAVAJO NATION — Attorney General Ethel Branch announced Sept. 13that former K’ai’bii’to’ Accounts Maintenance Specialist Berniece Pinto-Denetdeal has pled No Contest to one count of fraud and one count of forgery.

Pleas of No Contest are treated as Guilty for sentencing purposes.

Defendant Pinto-Denetdeal used her position as an Accounts Maintenance Specialist to forge signatures of other Chapter officials to issue checks to herself that she was not entitled to. In order to conceal her actions, she falsely recorded information in the Chapter’s accounting software.

The total loss to the Chapter and the Nation amounts to approximately...

School on UNM-G campus seeks charter designation

Despite a rocky relationship between Gallup McKinley County Schools and Middle College High School, there’s a sunny spot that shines in the form of an A-grade for the Middle College.

The traditional school grading system is mandated by New Mexico Public Education Department, and started about seven years ago.

With an overall score of 75.85 percent, MCHS readily stomped on the C-grade it received the previous school year. Dr. Robert Hunter, Middle College CEO, found it difficult to swallow the C as they have a tradition of receiving brag-worthy report cards from the state each year.

As noted in past Gallup Sun reports, the school...

The Sept. 11 special meeting of the McKinley County Board of Commissioners focused on the review and approval of the 2019 fiscal-year budget letter received from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration.

County Finance Director Sara Keeler reported before commissioners on eight budget resolutions for the Pueblo Pintado Fire Station, Pueblo Pintado waterline, Zuni-Blackrock Fire non-capital equipment, EMS funding, a severance tax bond for a Sheriff’s Department pursuit vehicle, the Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, Red Lake Chapter road projects and Sheriff’s Department equipment.

Resolution No. SEP-18-055 was for $1,260,000 for the Pueblo Pintado Fire...

The Diocese of Gallup received an inquiry Sept. 5 from New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, requesting documents and records from the diocese.

In a Sept. 5 press release, the diocese said it looked forward to cooperating with the Attorney General to ensure the safety of all the members of the diocese.

Following an August Pennsylvania grand jury report, the AG’s office is investigating all three Catholic dioceses in New Mexico — Gallup, Las Cruces and Santa Fe — for material related to priest-abuse allegations.

Last month’s report showed that more than 300 priests in Pennsylvania sexually abused more than 1,000 children over 70 years. The report also revealed that a...