Wingate High School made a smart decision last Friday, May 15, when they moved the Commencement Program inside the gymnasium. Although it was a little crowded inside, it was definitely warmer, and the spirit of the audience was not dampened by the fierce winds or the dropping temperatures.

The JROTC Color Guard posted the colors prior to the processional and the national anthem was led by Tonisha Desiderio, Unique Largo, Jacinda Bodie, Kaelyn Bahe and Hurlicia Nez. The Pledge of Allegiance was a tri-cultural event as Pauletta John and Alondra Willie recited the verse in Navajo, Shaqnia Livingston and Garek Thomas followed with a Spanish version and Allana Largo and Terrence Martin finished in English. Sherry Begay gave the invocation.

Principal Gloria Arviso welcomed the guests and introduced the special guests on the stage before turning everyone’s attention to the Valedictory Address by Mariah Peshlakai and the Salutatory Address by Danielle Peshlakai.

Cora Lucio introduced the Guest Speaker, Dr. Regina Holyan, followed by the recognition of outstanding graduates by Principal Gloria Arviso and Athletic Director Alfred Martinz. The Honor Graduates were Mariah Peshlakai, Danielle Peshlakai, Shalina Morgan, Willhelmina Murphy, Selena Largo, Pauletta John, Jeremy Augustine, Jr., Syndi Walker, Jasmine Becenti and Teesha Antonio. Danielle Peshlakai was recognized as the Senior of the Year and had been Senior of the Month for December. Mariah Peshlakai was Senior of the Month for November while Sherry Begay was awarded that recognition for January, and Pauletta John was the Senior of the Month for February.

Nicole Yazzie expressed gratitude to the teachers and residential staff and Deianara Billie gave a Tribute to the parents.

Finally, diplomas were presented to the 83 graduates by Acting Associate Deputy Director Emily Arviso; the Wingate High School Board of Education; Principal Arviso; Assistant Principal Mark Woestehoff; Academic Counselor Marjie Long; and Class of 2015 Sponsor Roberta Avery.

After a short benediction, the recessional began while the Class songs were played: Fire by Gavin DeGraw and Dreams by Fleetwood Mac.

The Gallup-McKinley County Humane Society is in a class of its own.

Not only does it serve the entire west central New Mexico community, it’s the only shelter in the area.

Responsible for everything from receiving animals in Gallup and the surrounding areas to proving low cost spay and neuter clinics up to three times a week, things can get pretty hectic.

Kris Gruda, transport coordinator and foster for the shelter, has been with the organization for three years. She explained that while the animals receive proper care once they come into the facility, such as being vaccinated, assessed for adoption suitability and spayed or neutered, space is often limited.

Fostering and adoption is a crucial part of not only GMHS’s ability to care for new rescues who need treatment, but animals who are ready for adoption.

Sadly, if the pets are not able to be fostered, adopted or taken by a rescue organization, they are euthanized.

“That’s the hardest part, not being able to save all of them,” Gruda said.

One positive is that the save rate has steadily increased over the past few years, which shows promise.

The assistance of a rescue organization can make a huge impact. A prime example is Tuffy, an injured dog who the community had trouble bringing in for treatment. When he was finally brought in, the injury was much worse than originally thought.

“His leg was in terrible shape with a wire wrapped so tightly that it had cut through the skin and tissue, almost to the bone,” she said.

Unfortunately, Tuffy had to have one of his legs amputated from the injury. An Arizona-based rescue organization took him in, and he was eventually adopted.

For this reason, the the shelter has implemented a transport program, which works with several rescue organizations to find the animals at GMHS homes in other cities and states, including Albuquerque, Colorado, Utah and Arizona.

“There are many more lives saved with this program,” Gruda said.

It also creates vacancies for more rescued pets to be housed in the humane society’s facilities.

One such organization is Rez Dawg Rescue, Inc. in Colorado. Founded by Angela Cerci, a former New Mexico resident, the non-profit organization provides transport services, medical care, adoption services, free and low-cost spay/neuter services and education programs.

Rez Dawg provides transports to Colorado for shelter animals. They also send down regular donations to Gallup, including food, crates, leashes, toys and more. Gruda credits Cerci and the members of Rez Dawg with saving thousands of pets from the reservation and surrounding areas.

Marisa Kim, a member of Rez Dawg Rescue, assists in the transport and rescue of animals. She shared that most of the animals are housed in Boulder, and there are guidelines in place for people interested in adopting the rescued animals.

“Some people have a different idea than ours of what a pet owner should be,” Kim said.

If the organization doesn’t think the animal will receive the proper attention and treatment it deserves, the adoption won’t be approved.

Back in New Mexico, Gruda believes that proper treatment and regular care for pets can heavily reduce the number of stray pets in the area, with emphasis on spaying and neutering. “Even though we may get 15 dogs fixed in one day, it only takes two mama dogs to have litters that same day to undo all our efforts,” she said.

GMHS put great effort into saving animals via rescue transports, spay/neuter clinics and adoption. But they also rely on the community to aid them in keeping things under control by getting their pets spayed and neutered.

“The cycle has to be stopped, or the animals will continue to suffer because of it,” Gruda stressed.

The shelter offers spay and neuter services for low income pet owners every Wednesday and some Saturdays, and are encouraged to call to set up an appointment for their pets.

For more information on the Gallup-McKinley County Humane Society, visit www.galluphumanesociety.com or call (505) 863-2616.

To learn more about Rez Dawg Rescue, visit www.rezdawgrescue.org.

TSE BONITO, N.M. – As soon as Navajo Nation Veterinary and Livestock Program Director Glenda Davis got word about a positive human case of Bubonic Plague on the vast Navajo Reservation on May 13, she immediately contacted her Foreign Animal Disease Task Force.

Davis explained that the task force was created in November 2011 in response to the high risk of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever on the reservation.

She pointed to a “2015 Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) Calendar” that the task force members developed and said that the members are all listed on the cover.

The members are tribal veterinary and livestock program; the Navajo Epidemiology Center; the Navajo Health Education Program; the Indian Community Health Representatives; Navajo Department of Resource Enforcement Rangers; Navajo Environmental Protection Agency; Navajo Housing Authority, and the U.S. Indian Health Services.

Davis explained that the plague comes from infected fleas, which are usually found on prairie dogs, rabbits, rodents and even cats.

She noted that infected prairie dogs generally don’t live too long and that a warning sign of plague infected prairie dogs is dead prairie dogs, which will be found near their barrows or homes.

And so if anyone notices a “prairie dog die off”, he or she needs to report that to the Navajo Nation Fish and Wildlife Department, Davis advised.

She said that the environmental health would be called in to test the fleas and to also do an insecticide treatment of the area to kill the fleas.

After the test and based on the radius of the dead prairie dogs, environmental health workers will go to the nearby homes to check the people and pets, especially dogs, Davis said.

She explained that dogs on the reservation are used to herd cattle and sheep and so there are times when they chase rabbits and dig up prairie dog holes.

The prime goal of the Foreign Animal Disease Task Force is to protect the people and so that’s why education about preventing foreign animal diseases is a priority, Davis said.

Tribal fair and plague

She recalled that a couple of years ago that a prairie dog die off was reported between St. Michaels and Fort Defiance and it was about two weeks before the annual Navajo Nation Fair in Window Rock.

There wasn’t enough time to stop the fair and so the tribal veterinary and livestock program partnered with Indian Health Services and conducted an investigation, she said.

Davis said the fleas tested positive for the plague and so staff went house to house checking on the residents and pets and providing quick kill flea and tick pet collars.

There were no positive human cases of plague, she said.

Davis emphasized that the plague in humans is treatable but the individual must be treated as soon as possible.

The symptoms of plague in humans, which usually occur about two to six days after being bitten by an infected flea, are swelling or pain in the neck area, groin or armpit, headache, fever and possible nausea.

According to an April 7 news story published in the medicaldaily.com, public health officials reported that fleas collected in Picture Canyon, a popular hiking area that is northeast of Flagstaff, tested positive for the plague.

Plague and RMSF alert

Davis said that the reservation-wide plague alert will also include the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever because it’s carried by ticks and the weather is getting warmer.

Pet owners need to make sure that their dogs and/or cats are free of ticks and fleas, which can easily be done by purchasing anti-flea and tick collars, shampoos and medication, she added.

Davis said that the veterinary and livestock program issued its 2015 Navajo Nation Veterinary Mobile Unit Wellness & Spay/Neuter Schedule, which includes a weekly wellness day that is held every Tuesday and includes vaccinations, deworming, education about tick products, rabies and animal licensing, and first come first serve appointments for spay or neutering surgery.

Some people buy over the counter anti-flea and tick treatments and so they need to understand that they must read the label because some treatments are only for dogs or cats or only for puppies or kittens, she explained.

And Davis said people need to understand that they need to protect themselves, especially their children, from infected ticks and fleas by wearing anti-tick and flea products, keeping dog houses and wood piles away from their homes, cleaning their yards of old furniture, mattresses and vehicles, dressing appropriately when working outdoors, and fencing in your yard to keep roaming dogs away.

She noted that if an owner has protected his or her dog from ticks with anti-tick products, a feral or roaming dog that is carrying infected ticks can spread the infected tick to your yard or home site.

According to the 2015 RMSF calendar, a female tick with the bacteria can lay 3,000 eggs already infected with the scourge and ticks can be smaller than a speck and as large as a raisin.

Ticks and roaming dogs

Davis said that a photo in the calendar is of a feral or roaming dog from the western part of the reservation that has ticks covering its underbelly and armpits, lodged between its toes and all over its ears.

She said that this year is the third RMSF season for the reservation, which means that the tribal animal control program will be conducting its voluntary surrender program for dogs and cats.

Davis noted that the animal control program and veterinary and livestock program work with off-reservation animal organizations and animal humane groups for the adoption of the dogs and cats coming from the voluntary surrender project.

But she said the concern of the tribal programs is that the organizations and groups understand that they must provide treatment for the reservation small animals to prevent tick diseases and infestation of an environment that is free of infected ticks.

Davis said that last year, the animal control program removed about 11,000 dogs from the reservation.

“That’s just like a drop in the bucket,” she said.

According to the 2015 RMSF calendar, one un-neutered male dog and one un-spayed female dog will produce a total of 67,000 dogs over six years.

Davis picked up the 2015 RMSF calendar and pointed out how it is packed with educational information about how to check yourself and your children for ticks, what a tick looks like, why you shouldn’t quash a tick when you find one, and why spay and neutering also prevents outbreaks of the RMSF, Davis said.

She added that everyone needs to get into the habit of checking themselves for ticks and fleas.

“We are up against nature and nature has made it where ticks will survive,” Davis said. “And we’re pretty much trying to just protect our animals on the Navajo Nation, whether it’s livestock, companion animals, pets. We have a tribal veterinarian that takes care of our zoo. And so our zoo animals are all taken care of.”

There was a time when Gamerco was bigger and more affluent than Gallup.

There was also a time when the Gallup High School mascot was the tigers and not the Bengals.

And there was a time when milk was bottled in glass and delivered to your front door.

Huge blocks of ice were also home delivered.

Those are some of the memories of three life-time residents of Gallup, who are all in their late 70s.

Archie Baca, who is the former owner of Jerry’s Café and current owner of Don Diego’s restaurant, remembered the words of his late dad, Diego Baca, when he told him that he was getting married and moving back to Gallup.

His dad, and mom, the late Margaret, had moved from Gallup to Grants, where his dad delivered bread for Rainbow bread company to the eastern part of the Navajo reservation, which was had unpaved roads like most of the state and country.

“I remember when I told my dad that I was getting married and moving back to Gallup,” he said. “He was really happy. He told me that Gallup was the place to make a living for me and my children. He was right. Gallup is a great place.”

Archie said Gallup also continues to be a place of mixed cultures.

“As a kid growing up here it didn’t matter what you were,” he remembered. “We all played together.”

Archie was born in Springerville, Ariz., where he remembered roaming “free” on the land.

He also remembered that his family’s home lacked electricity and running water. But they had an outside water well. There was also a river near his family’s home.

“We had a great life,” he recalled with a huge smile. “We were free to go anywhere as long as we didn’t break any house rules.”

And one of the core house rules was school.

“School was a must,” he said.

But that didn’t include high school because not everyone had the opportunity to attend high school.

“Graduating from high school was a plus,” Archie said.

And he said if your family was wealthy, you would attend college.

His family eventually moved to Gallup when he was still a boy.

He recalled one day in 1945, when he was playing with a bunch of his friends in the area where Junker Bridge is now.

“All of a sudden, we heard sirens and bells ringing,” Archie said. “We got kind of scared and we ran home because we didn’t know what was going on.”

When he got home, he found out that the sirens and bells were ringing to announce the end of World War II.

As he talked about more boyhood memories he looked around his restaurant and said that his friends were Hispanics, Indians, Anglos and other races.

Gallup was a mixture of cultures he said and it continues to be that way today.

“Of course, there were and are rivalries but people get along,” he said.

On the walls of Don Diego restaurant are beautiful colored photos of the Navajo Code Talkers and young Navajo teens carrying a huge American flag.

Most of the restaurant patrons are Navajo people.

Cecil Baca, Archie’s son, said that he loves listening to the cultural stories shared by their Navajo customers.

Archie and Cecil said that some of their Navajo customers are now the adult-grandchildren of former Navajo customers who have “passed on.”

The color photos, which are from the annual Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial spark another memory from Archie.

“I remember when the Navajo people would come to the Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial in covered wagons,” he said. “It was a beautiful sight.”

Archie lamented the relocation of the ceremonial ground to Red Rock State Park, which is about 10 miles east of Gallup, because it took a lot of business away from the downtown area.

The mall and large retail businesses have also taken business from downtown but at least there’s an effort to revive the downtown area, he added.

“Gallup has gone through a lot of changes and so has our way of life,” he said.

The way of life that Archie remembered was kids spending most of the day playing outside instead of indoors watching television and, or playing electronic games.

He also remembered riding with dad as his dad delivered bottled milk to the front doors of homes.

His dad would have to make milk deliveries really early during ceremonial time to avoid all the traffic, Archie said.

And he said when our family and other families went shopping, we didn’t take what we wanted off the shelves.

We’d tell the store clerk behind the store counter the item on the shelf that we wanted and the clerk would get it for us, Archie explained.

He sighed and said Gallup has its ups and downs but it’s still a great place to live.

It was May 5 when the Gallup Sun interviewed Archie and May 5 is Cinco de Mayo.

One of the downtown business was hosting a Cinco de Mayo celebration but not the Don Diego restaurant.

Archie said that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration for Mexico.

“We’re from over here,” he said. “We respect the people of the Mexico that way.”

He added that the food served at Don Diego is New Mexican food and not Mexican food.

“There’s a difference,” he emphasized.

At the North Side Senior Citizen Center, a few of the people wished each other a happy Cinco de Mayo day.

Johnny Espinosa was one of them.

Espinosa, who lived in the same area of Gallup where he spent his childhood, said Gallup never celebrated Cinco de Mayo.

When Gamerco was bigger than Gallup, Gamerco would host an annual 16^th day of September celebration, he said.

Espinosa explained that Sept. 16 marked the day when Mexico began its fight for its freedom from Spain.

But he said when the five coal mines closed that surrounded Gamerco and Gallup, Gamerco stopped having the annual September event, which included a contest that involved contestants loading coal.

The contestants, who were coal miners and a mix of cultures, that loaded the coal first won, he said.

He also sadly recalled that the Gibson coal mine fire killed a lot of Chinese because it was mostly Chinese men that worked there.

Espinosa said that Gamerco also had a swimming pool before Gallup.

He said that Gallup got its name from a railroad paymaster named Gallup. He couldn’t remember the first name of Gallup.

He remembered, “People would ask each other, ‘Where you going?’, and they’d say, ‘Going to Gallup.’”

And when he heard that the Gallup Sun had interviewed Archie Baca, he smiled and said that he played high school baseball and football against Archie.

Espinosa also remembered that the Gallup High School mascot was the tigers and not the Bengals.

The mascot name was changed because there were a lot of other high schools that had the tigers as their mascot, he said.

“We figured that Bengals were bigger than tigers,” he added with a laugh.

“We played in the dirt and the field was lined with white lime. You’d get a face full of lime if you fell on the line,” he said.

Espinosa also remembered that the Gallup high school football field was the ceremonial grounds.

And when the football game was in Grants, it was played in the rodeo grounds, he said.

“The last game of the season was at Fort Wingate and there was four inches of snow,” he remembered. “We froze! We were covered in mud.”

Espinosa said he still has a photo of himself from that game.

Melba Chavez-Jarzomkowski, who was listening to Espinosa, said she remembered walking to school in the snow.

There were no buses and our family car was used to get our parents to work, she said.

Espinosa said that he had to walk cross the railroad tracks to get to school and if the train was going across the tracks, he’d be late to school.

“I’d tell the teacher about the train and some days, I’d get the paddle or I’d get an excused tardy,” he said.

Chavez-Jarzomkowski said she lived on the south side of Gallup and so she didn’t have to walk across the train tracks.

Her childhood memories of Gallup included the home delivery of a huge block of ice, which her parents put in the ice box or refrigerator.

Her parents also had to put a huge pan under the ice box to catch the water that dripped from melting block of ice.

She and her parents moved to Gallup after she was born in Cubero, N.M., which is near the Pueblo of Laguna.

After she explained that her family considered themselves Spanish and not Mexican or Hispanic, Espinosa said that his late parents both came from Mexico.

“I’m not sure why some people don’t like to be called Mexican,” he said. “There are no pure blood Spanish people. When the Spanish came over here, they didn’t bring their women. They were with women from here, American Indian women, and that’s the Mexican people.”

He added that his boyhood friends, high school classmates, especially team mates and rival sports teams, consisted of all kinds of races.

Sam Florence, a Navajo elder sitting at a nearby who was listening to Espinosa, teased him and said he was a better football player than Espinosa.

Florence said he met Espinosa in high school in 1952.