The democrat sees economic potential in clean energy

Amid her schedule-packed day on Dec. 2, U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., a candidate for New Mexico governor, stopped in a downtown local business for a “meet and greet” with campaign aids.

Lujan Grisham spent the morning in Ramah at the Eastern Navajo Agency Council to address the eastern Navajo leadership for the 31 chapters.

“I get to meet someone new and see the incredible pride and sense of New Mexicans,” she said of her reason for the visit.

The congresswoman discussed economic strategy with the modest gathering at the Gallup Coffee Company on West Coal Avenue. She also bought coffee for everyone who attended that afternoon.

“This is a race about the economy,” Lujan Grisham said. “I [absolutely] don’t blame the current governor for the 2008 recession. Congress enacted a sequester.  I’m equally certain that she didn’t [weigh] into national gas prices.”

Lujan Grisham was making reference to congress’s 2013 budget sequestration to curtail federal spending on discretionary programs to reduce deficit spending. The sequestration responded to previous increases in deficit spending. The deficit was recorded at $1.4 trillion for fiscal year 2010.

Lujan Grisham sits on the House Budget committee.  One of her committee functions is to set annual congressional spending caps for all appropriations.

At the Dec. 2 meet up, Lujan Grisham spoke about her commitment to reversing the present economic downturn in western New Mexico.

“What Gallup identifies as the top five strengths that the state should recognize is the returns on investment are small businesses operating along the I-40 corridor,” she said. “Farmers and ranchers are aging out. And local economies need to keep local people here.”

Lujan Grisham believes that New Mexico is losing population in part due to graduate students receiving their degrees and leaving for better career options elsewhere. An improved economy, Lujan Grisham said, is what will draw them back.

She also told the gathering about her plan to “jump-start” the economy.  She believes that the billion-dollar solution lies in green energy, management of funds, and the film industry.

“Those three things [alone] can give you a billion dollars,” she said.

EARNING THROUGH CLEAN ENERGY

Lujan Grisham promoted the development of solar power in New Mexico and wind turbine energy. She pointed out that Clovis, N.M., is the joining point of all three national power grids in the United States. Presently, the three electrical transmission power gridlines operate separately: The western, eastern, and southern interconnections.

Energy developers in Santa Fe are proposing to combine all three transmissions in Clovis.

Lujan Grisham also acknowledged New Mexico’s abundance of oil and gas as well as uranium as a source of potential profit.

“We have a ton of uranium,” she said. “There is a great interest on uranium mining. And we want to be invested.”

But there are community concerns about what could be environmentally unsafe practices.

“My sense that the local communities recognize the serious environmental impacts,” she said. “We wouldn’t have to make such draconian choices. I have committed to making New Mexico  the lead energy clean state.”

Speaking at the meet up, Lujan Grisham prioritized cleaning past un-reclaimed mining activity through partnerships with energy companies, and pointed to Colorado as an example.

She referenced methane, hydraulic fracking, water quality production, and specific drilling issues as areas she will concentrate on as governor.

“Methane mitigation—that’s money that goes right back,” she said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists methane mitigation as a voluntary, multilateral partnership to reduce methane emissions by abating and recovery to make methane use a clean energy source.

“Bringing environmental protections and environmental justice that works together to balance, and mitigates risk to oil and gas,” she said. “You don’t create such an imbalance.”

Prioritizing the environment through clean energy could benefit a state that boasts a major tourism industry. Lujan Grisham sees the tourism industry as a strong point in New Mexico’s economy.

“I met with an Albuquerque hotel owner,” she said. “His hotel marketing budget is nearly three times the tourism amount he budgeted from previous years. We have three world heritage sites. There are 20 in the country. Don’t fly to Peru — go to Chaco Canyon.”

Lujan Grisham spent an hour and a half with patrons at the Gallup Coffee Company, speaking individually one on one and with small groups.

The congresswoman’s next scheduled stop was the Shalako ceremonial dances in Company, where she was invited to attend by the Zuni governor.

The congresswoman returned to Washington on the night of Dec. 3.

By Deswood Tome
Sun Correspondent

Drivers who operate a motor vehicle under the influence in McKinley County have a 43 percent chance that their criminal charge will be dropped or pleaded out by the district attorney.

The New Mexico Mothers Against Drunk Driving reports that McKinley County is the highest among six counties under a monitoring program of DWI case dismissals.

The one-year report covering July 2016 through July 2017 was released in November. It shows that of the 380 monitored cases, 119 of them were dismissed, and an additional 44 were given a deferred prosecution.

Deferred prosecution is when the district attorney declines to prosecute and offers an arrangement to the defendant.

“It’s the prosecutors who are dismissing these cases,” McKinley County Sheriff Ron Silversmith said.  “It gets frustrating.” Silversmith added that cases are dropped due to jurisdictional matters, defense attorneys prolonging the court calendar until  cases are dropped, and law enforcement officers leaving their agencies.

The MADD report indicates that the district attorney’s office is understaffed and underfunded.

District Attorney Paula Pakkala, who recently replaced District Attorney Karl Gilson, was the lead DWI prosecuting attorney prior to her appointment as DA.

“Defendants are sent to DUI school, a victim impact panel, and given 24 hours of community services,” Pakkala said in an interview. “That normally hadn’t been done in this office. We’re not going to do that anymore.”

Pakkala is spending more of her time with administrative and budget duties, and less time prosecuting.

She intends to reduce deferred prosecution cases and dismissals by spending more time seeking funding increases, some through grants.

New Mexico law allows for judges to offer first time DWI offenders deferred prosecution. Once the defendant successfully completes the program the DWI charge is dropped. No plea is entered and the defendant’s court record shows no DWI conviction.

In Gallup-McKinley County a three-time DWI offender was given a second offense agreement by Assistant District Attorney Will Robinson, who leads DWI prosecution for the 11th judicial district in Gallup.

Criminal cases in this instance suffer from the discretion the prosecutor uses over which cases go to trial in the pursuit of a conviction.

For instance, arrest records show that Donaldson Pettigrew, 28, of Gallup was first arrested for drinking and driving on Oct. 16, 2010, by the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office. He was booked for aggravated DUI, first offense. His blood alcohol content level was .24.

Four months later, in February 2011, Pettigrew was arrested by Gallup Police after refusing to submit to a field sobriety test. His blood alcohol content level at the time of booking was .20.

On July 7, Pettigrew was stopped by the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office for speeding. Inv. Merle Bates conducted two field sobriety tests to measure Pettigrew’s ability to operate a motor vehicle, and determine his level of intoxication. Pettigrew failed both tests. He was arrested.

While being booked into detention, Pettigrew agreed to the New Mexico Implied Consent Advisory requirement for his blood alcohol content level to be measured.

His results were .23, nearly three times the legal limit. In New Mexico, any level over .08 is DWI. Less than .08 is impaired driving.

Court records show that Pettigrew was charged for the July 7 incident with no driver’s license, expired registration, speeding, driving while revoked license-DWI related, and driving while under the influence of liquor or drugs .08 and above for a second offense.

The district attorney dismissed the charge of expired registration, speeding, and driving while revoked license. Pettigrew pleaded guilty to no driver’s license and to DWI second offense.

By law, Pettigrew is required to be charged with a third DWI offense, a misdemeanor with a mandatory 30-day jail time and $750 fine. A three-year driver’s license revocation is imposed for a third offense.

Instead, Pettigrew was ordered by the court to pay fines and fees and given community service for a second DWI offense.

A second DWI offense carries a mandatory 96 hours of jail, $500 in mandatory fines, and a two-year driver’s license revocation.  Fourth DWI offenses are felonies.

When asked about Pettigrew’s case, Pakkala replied, “I’m not going to discuss this case. I do not believe he got a deferred prosecution.”  Pakkala did not have case details with her.

“One of the things we did in some of those cases with time limits, we did a diversion agreement,” Pakkala said.

For cases that are dismissed, the district attorney referred to evidence suppression by defense attorneys, sometimes missing certifications of equipment used during the arrest, and officers leaving.

“When an officer leaves an agency and goes to another job, we necessarily can’t get them back to court and testify,” Pakkala said.

The MADD report shows that 15 percent of dismissals are due to officers leaving agencies.

Additionally, some of the dismissals were based on Judge Kenneth Howard, who passed away.

“We have six months under arraignment to bring a case to conclusion,” Pakkala said. No conclusion means cases get dropped.

Jurisdiction is yet another factor.

“On Boardman Drive you go in and out of the Navajo Nation,” she said.  Gallup is surrounded by reservation land.  McKinley County Sheriff Deputies record GPS description in their police reports, but it’s sometimes an issue with select cases.

The District Attorney’s five DWI prosecutors are handling more than 600 open DWI cases. The attorneys also prosecute cases in the Crownpoint District Court on the Navajo Nation.

A call was placed to Governor Susana Martinez’s office on Nov. 28, since she committed $800,000 for the monitor reporting by MADD through the use of New Mexico Department of Transportation funding.

“There are too many DWI offenders who are driving drunk over and over again who never face the consequences for their actions,” Emilee Cantrell said, who serves as the spokesperson for Martinez. “The Governor started the DWI court monitoring initiative to watch the DWI adjudication process and provide information to the public about how those cases are being handled.”

The monitoring project is funded for two years by the New Mexico Department of Transportation. The six counties were chosen because of the high rate of DWI-related fatalities. The program can be extended for an additional two years, Cantrell said.

By Deswood Tome

Sun Correspondent

Originally from Aztec, N.M., Diné dentist Dr. DezBaa Damon-Mallette returned to her people of the Navajo Nation in July to work at Rainaldi Dental in Gallup.

Damon-Mallette was previously working in the Rio Rancho area of Albuquerque, at The Hygiene Center, a small private office. At the time, her husband, Louis Mallette, was completing his education at the University of New Mexico School of Law. After earning his degree, Mallette and his wife discussed where they might settle down with 2-year-old son, Miles Mallette.

Damon-Mallette touched base with Dr. Lidio Rainaldi, owner of Rainaldi Dental. Rainaldi said that Damon-Mallette came out to visit, and he told her to work for a couple of days to try it out.

“She did that and it worked out well,” he said. “She made the decision over time to come.”

Being in business for over 30 years, Rainaldi said having Damon-Mallette on staff has been great for him. Especially when they’re not so busy. Rainaldi said he finds himself spending more quality time with his patients, instead of feeling like he’s just checking in on them.

“She’s very compassionate and warm with the patients,” Rainaldi said. “Plus, she has 10 years of experience, which is great because she has a lot of experience with patient care and procedures. She just brought new life to the business.”

A FAMILIAR HOME

Things took off for the 39-year-old dentist. Damon-Mallette felt welcomed by the community’s open arms.

“It’s very difficult to find the right person to come to any small town,” Rainaldi said. “But what helped was that she has family in the area, which is great.”

Despite having made a big move, Damon-Mallette adjusted to Gallup quickly and comfortably. She has established herself thanks to her hard work, and to the focus and dedication she provides her patients.

Rainaldi was surprised at first by how welcoming the patients were towards Damon-Mallette, a newcomer, and how trustworthy they were.

“I’m just getting a lot, a lot of compliments about her,” Rainaldi said. “For every business owner, you kind of wonder how that person’s going to fit in, and she’s been a very good fit.”

MORE THAN TEETH

For Damon-Mallette, when it comes to her patient’s appointments, it’s not just about filling a cavity or caring for a toothache.

“It’s constant listening and problem solving,” she said. “It’s not always, ‘They need this done and that done,’ that’s not always the case.”

Damon-Mallette said that the anatomy of a patient is what’s most important, because not everyone has the same symptoms. A good dentist needs to look at the person fully, and treat current problems for how they might affect the patient in the long run.

A cavity, of course, is a hole in the tooth. But it’s also much more than that.

“Every person’s anatomy of their tooth looks different,” Damon-Mallette said. “You have to look at what’s around the tooth and how to form it to that same type.”

There’s a lot more to observe than just fixing a tooth. Damon-Mallette said the real work is in noticing little things, like how the patient chews. There’s a ton of sculpting and persistence that takes place during her treatment.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Damon-Mallette graduated from Aztec High School in 1996. She then continued her education at Arizona State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in anthropology in 2001.

After graduation, Damon-Mallette worked for two years at the Arizona Department of Education’s Certification and Investigative Unit. She later applied to the Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health in Mesa, Ariz., where she was accepted into the school’s first class in 2003. She graduated four years later, in 2007.

After graduation, Damon-Mallette found herself on an adventure, working in Bethel, Alaska, setting up and managing small clinics in different villages across the state.

“I went out there because I like the fact that you can fly out to different villages,” she said. “It was hard work and something really different. Not a lot of dentists really do that.”

After spending four years in Alaska, Damon-Mallette decided to move back to the reservation. She took a job in the Four Corners area at Nizhoni Smiles, Inc., in Shiprock, N.M., as the dental director.

PURSUING A CAREER

“I always knew I wanted be a dentist since I was 5-years-old,” Damon-Mallette said. “When I went to the dentist, I liked what they did with their hands. I really enjoyed seeing the instruments and people working together. It was just something I really liked.”

Growing up, she wouldn’t hesitate to ask questions during appointments with her childhood dentist, Dr. Kenneth Dunston. It was during these appointments that Damon-Mallette learned which classes to take in high school and college.

The more Damon-Mallette became determined to pursue a career as a dentist, the more she grew fond of working with her hands, working with people and solving problems.

But it wasn’t easy.

Once she began her career, there were sacrifices she had to make, like moving to numerous locations, adjusting to new environments and questioning herself.

One thing that Damon-Mallette had to overcome was being by herself.

“When you first go somewhere new, it’s very lonely,” she said. “It’s always hard in the beginning when you first move somewhere different.”

New places may open up new opportunities but they also bring new challenges.

One particular challenge Damon-Mallette remembers occurred while she was in college. Her guidance counselor refused to help her with her classes. Damon-Mallette said the guidance counselor indirectly let her know that becoming a dentist wasn’t an option for her.

“She made it seem like I couldn’t do it,” Damon-Mallette said.

But she took matters into her own hands. She registered for classes that she needed, reviewed everything she needed to do and made her own schedule to get into dental school.

“That was one thing that was always hard,” she said. “I always tell people that if someone tells you you can’t do it, don’t take it to heart and give up. You have to believe in yourself more than anything.”

Damon-Mallette admitted that she didn’t get straight A’s and that she had a hard time with some of her classes. Those were the times where she questioned herself, asking, “Okay, can I do this? Will I be able to get in?”

Becoming a dentist is competitive, but she continued to work hard, continued to ask herself tough questions and refused to give up.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned,” Damon-Mallette said. “Even now. There are new things that come along and you wonder, ‘Okay, can I do it?’”

INFLUENCING SUCCESS

Damon-Mallette’s parents, Betty Patterson-Damon of Mexican Water, Ariz. and Al Damon of Mexican Springs, and her late grandmother, Bessie Patterson, were the foundation of the dentist’s success.

“We always encouraged her to go after what she wanted to be,” Patterson-Damon said. “If being a dentist was what she really wanted to be, we told her that she really needed to study.”

The couple raised their daughter to also take interest in other things, and encouraged multi-tasking, since it often takes time for someone to figure out what they really like. But becoming a dentist was always on top of Damon-Mallette’s list.

“I wrote down my goals,” Damon-Mallette said. “The bigger the goal, the harder it’s going to be. You have to be willing to endure your challenges.”

Patterson-Damon said that her daughter has always been a serious child and student, and set the bar high for herself growing up. She was always competitive.

“She had different life experiences and exposure in her upbringing,” Patterson-Damon said. “Self-identity played a big role in her life.”

When it came to talking about her grandmother, Damon-Mallette expressed compassion and affection. She said her grandmother had a huge influence on her life.

“She’s still with me,” Damon-Mallette said. “Even though she’s gone, she’s still with me.”

Patterson-Damon said that her own mother would have been proud of her granddaughter, since she has finally reached the milestone that she always dreamed of.

“She [Patterson] set the example for DezBaa,” Patterson-Damon said. “And she always said, ‘Nobody is going to wait for you. Nobody is going to hold your hand.’”

The knowledge that Damon-Mallette has gained from her grandmother, mother and father she now gives back to her patients and the people she works with. Her family taught her how to be aggressive, how to get educated and how to develop a career. These lessons could be difficult– especially as a Native woman.

“My husband and I are very proud of our daughter for taking the challenge to become a dentist,” Patterson-Damon said. “We love and support her in all her endeavors and aspiration as she journeys on in her dental career. We will continue to encourage her to reach the next level in dental work and patient care.”

ENCOURAGEMENT

Damon-Mallette’s journey to become a dentist wasn’t easy. And she said there were no shortcuts.

Damon-Mallette would like to encourage others who are interested in dentistry to prepare themselves. Her advice: gather all the classes you needed, make sure it’s something you really want to do and work with your hands more.

Even if becoming a dentist isn’t on your list, she encourages you to write down your goals, to remember them and to remind yourself of what you want to do with your life.

At the end of the day, “The goal is how you want to see yourself,” Damon-Mallette said.

By Boderra Joe

Sun Correspondent

UPDATE: FOUND SAFE IN GALLUP

We will provide any updates as they come in.

The following is information for the distribution of an Amber Alert from the Gallup Police Department. For any questions, please contact the Gallup Police Department.

The Gallup Police Department is asking the public's assistance in locating Tyron Denetclaw-Benally, Jr., an eight month old Native American male, twenty-three inches tall, weighing approximately twenty pounds, with black hair and brown eyes (photo below). Tyron Denetclaw-Benally, Jr. was last seen wearing a long-sleeved black shirt with a white tank top shirt and a black "Bat Man" shirt, wrapped in a red "Kansas City Chiefs" blanket. He had on "Christmas-style" diapers. Tyron has four top teeth, two bottom teeth, and birthmarks on a shoulder and lower back.

After a domestic dispute at the Taco Bell in Gallup, located at 914 E. Hwy 66 in Gallup, Tyron's father, who was highly intoxicated, took the child, and left on foot in an unknown direction.

The father/suspect is identified as Tyron Denetclaw-Benally, Sr., a Native American male, twenty-eight years of age, five feet ten inches tall, approximately 260 pounds, with short black hair, and brown eyes (photo below).  Denetclaw-Benally, Sr. was last seen wearing a black windbreaker, no shirt, and blue sweat pants. He was carrying a black backpack, possibly wearing a blue beanie cap, and has "Lok" sunglasses.

Tyron Denetclaw-Benally, Sr. left the area of Taco Bell (914 E. Hwy 66 in Gallup) on foot with the child while extremely intoxicated around 10:00 p.m. on November 16, 2017. The child is feared to be out in the elements with the father.

Tyron Denetclaw-Benally, Sr. may have access to white Dodge pickup with New Mexico license plate LLC834.

Tyron Denetclaw-Benally, Jr. is believed to be in DANGER if not located immediately.  Anyone with any information regarding this New Mexico Amber Alert is asked to call the Gallup Police Department at 505-722-2231.