A Brimhall man was sentenced to 21 years in prison on June 4 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder of a man whose body he later burned in an attempt to conceal the evidence.

According to court documents, on July 1, 2019, an individual brought Gilbert John, Jr. a stolen car and told him to «get rid of» a person locked in the trunk. John and the individual drove around smoking meth before stopping in a remote area using back roads.

When the victim tried to escape from the trunk, John stabbed the victim repeatedly with a machete and slammed the trunk door on him. After driving the car to a residence and leaving it for days, John later towed the car to a remote area and set it on...

A Pine Hill man was sentenced on June 7 to 48 months in prison for sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl.

According to court documents, on May 28, 2022, Tony Jake Jr., 75, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, approached the seven-year-old victim as she played outside a church she attended with her grandmother. Jake separated the victim from other children playing nearby and put his hand down the front of her pants.

Around this time, the victim’s grandmother noticed she was not with the other children and began looking for her, eventually finding her with Jake. Shortly after, the victim’s mother picked her up from her grandmother. The victim told her mother what Jake had done to...

The Global Relay for Life movement started because of one person.

In May 1985, Dr. Gordon “Gordy” Klatt walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Tacoma, Washington, raising money to help the American Cancer Society raise some money for cancer research.

Friends, family, and patients watched and supported him as he walked and ran more than 83.6 miles, and raised $27,000 through pledges to help save lives from cancer. As he ran, a plan began to form in his brain: would other people want to run to raise money?

The next year, 19 teams were a part of the first Relay for Life event, which raised $33,000.

 

LOCALLY CELEBRATING 25 YEARS

The Gallup-McKinley Chapter hasn’t...

Former city council member shares her husband’s cancer battle


It’s been six and a half years since Fran Palochak’s husband Rick Palochak died, but she still remembers every detail of his battle with small cell lung cancer. And she wants people to take their story as a sign to go see a doctor right away if they’re not feeling well.

 

THE BATTLE BEGINS

The Palochaks’ journey with cancer began in January 2017 when Rick started coughing  excessively. They thought he might just have a sinus infection, and when he went to the doctor, they sent him home with some antibiotics.

But the medicine didn’t help; Rick still kept coughing and coughing. In February, he went back...