Mayor Jackie McKinney is as polite as mayors come. He’s appears the dapper southwestern cowboy with long silver hair and determined eyes, often donning a southwest bolo tie, pressed shirt, denim jeans and boots. Although soft spoken, he doesn’t mince words when it comes down to speaking his mind, especially when the topic is his beloved city of Gallup.

Love him or hate him, he’s here to stay for the next four years. Still reeling from a heated campaign against the formidable George Galanis and being reminded of a 47 year old marijuana felony conviction that was pardoned by Gov. Bill Richardson – McKinney perseveres. His life experiences only add to his coolness factor. And depending of your views on the issues, his goals for Gallup will draw ire or praise much like any other politician.

His commitment to curb public intoxication is at the forefront of his agenda, like his last term, and he’s exploring “how we can best eliminate it, if not, control it.”

For instance, he would like to see the Gallup Detox Center continue to grow in its ability to help those stricken with alcoholism, such as instituting a long-term treatment and aftercare program. He hopes the city can make strides in this area by working with the Navajo tribe on matters concerning the detox center.

“The revolving door,” as McKinney refers to it, he wants to see it shut for good. By putting a face to the name of habitual detox clients, he hopes the center can pluck those caught in the cycle of addiction and get them into treatment and aftercare, and help get them back on their feet so they can find work.

“I feel that enabling can hurt and kill more people,” he said. “I feel without after care we’re missing the boat.”

McKinney was asked how he feels about Gov. Susana Martinez’ veto of House Bill 108, which would have set up legislation to fund “behavioral health investment zones” statewide to fund areas considered high risk for alcohol and drug addiction among its citizens, and in need of services to deal with those challenges effectively. McKinley County ranks at the top of the list of high risk counties.

“The governor’s staff wanted something that’s not legislation, but to handle it administratively.”

In a move to find a solution that has ailed Gallup for decades, McKinney, City Attorney George Kozeliski and Gallup Police Chief Robert Cron are taking a trip to Farmington to discover how their public officials deal with public intoxication in a much bigger city, with a population of more than 45,000 residents when compared to Gallup’s roughly 22,000.

As for other hot button issues, such as Gallup’s financial affairs, McKinney didn’t get into crunching numbers, but said the budget meetings slated for next month will give him an idea of where the city sits financially.

“Monies are tight,” he said. “With flat GRT revenue coming in, it’s going to be hard to expand programs.”

McKinney said there are a bundle of projects he would like to delve into and many center on the strategic planning meeting the city held in March.

Tackling crumbling and aged infrastructure also tops his second term priority list.

But a major budget hurdle is how to tackle curbs, gutters, streets and sidewalks that need replaced. He said grants and bonds could be the answer.

Meanwhile, he said, the council has focused on getting the odious smell that wafts through Mentmore to become a thing of the past by cleaning the sludge out of the water treatment plant’s lines.

“Those odors will dissipate by summer.”

To contact Mayor Jackie McKinney, call: (505) 863-1220, press option 2.

Dine’ people advocate for environmental and social change

Nihigaal Bee Iiana has been called a modern day Navajo scouting party and it recently made an overnight stop in Gallup.

Nihigaal Bee Iina or “Journey for Existence” started as an environmental pilgrimage to the Four Sacred Mountains of the Navajo reservation. The spiritual movement has continued to evolve into an environmental and human rights effort.

As the small group of young Dine’ (Navajo) women and men walked across the eastern part of the reservation, they soon realized that the people, including children and youth, that they were meeting along their journey were pouring out their hearts to them about not only the devastating environmental impacts of the oil and gas industry, but also its horrific social impacts.

They also realized that the deluge of testimonies manifested because the communities needed to tell their stories to individuals who shared the same desire— to have a home that was safe and surrounded by healthy air, water, and land.

Dana Eldridge, one of the co-founders of Nihigaal Bee Iina, said, “We all come from places impacted by resource extraction and resource colonization.”

For Eldridge, a gas compression station sits about five miles behind her family’s home in Navajo Station, Ariz., which is south of Ganado, Ariz.

And there are huge power lines that cross over her family’s land. The Transwestern pipeline also runs though the family’s land.

Eldridge said she remembers tribal, federal and company officials coming to the homes of her grandmother and relatives and promising them running water and electricity if they signed leases to allow the power lines and pipeline to cross their homestead.

They signed, but the promises were never fulfilled, Eldridge said.

“We realized that if we don’t do this then nobody else will,” she said.

Eldridge said they decided that they needed to educate the people about what the extractive industry was really doing to the land and people.

She recalled that the night before the Tuba City, Ariz., parade, they decided that they needed to do more than participate in parades.

“This is so critical,” Eldridge said. “This is so urgent. We couldn’t afford to wait another year for the parades.”

Upholding memories

But the parades helped them understand why their ancestors endured the forced removal and death marches from their homeland between the Four Sacred Mountain by the U.S. Army in the mid-1800’s over 350 miles, which included the powerful Rio Grande River, to Fort Sumner, NM, where they survived in pits in the ground for about four years. That was 150 years ago.

The Navajo word for Fort Sumer was «Hweeldi,» which means place of sorrow, or suffering.

“They literally stared their extinction in the face,” Eldridge said. “But they survived and what got them through that horrific time period was their songs and their prayers. They prayed so hard to journey back into the Four Sacred Mountains.

“How are we upholding their memory, their intentions?” she asked. “We, the Dine’ people, are not respecting the land. We’re desecrating the land. And that is how this all this got started.”

Eldridge’s is referring to a 225 mile walk from Dzil Naa’oodihi, NM, or Huerfano Mountain to Tsoodzil (Turquoise Mountain), which started on Jan. 6 and ended on Feb. 1; a second walk from Baca-Prewitt, NM, to Doo’ko’o’sliid (Abalone Mountain), which started on March 21, and teach-ins at the Gallup Downtown Conference Center on March 28, the Window Rock High School on March 31,and the Navajo Nation Museum on April 1.

Nihigaal Bee Iina is also making separate journeys to the other two sacred mountains, Dibe Nistaa (Black Jet Mountain) and Tsisnajini (White Shell Mountain).

Eldridge said that Nihigaal Bee Iina started its pilgrimages to the Four Sacred Mountains at Dzil Naa’oodilii or Dithnahodithli, NM, on Jan. 6.

Eldridge laughed gently as she added that people told the “collective” of young Dine’ people that they were “crazy” and they didn’t know what they were doing when they announced that they would be walking through the eastern part of the reservation in January.

It was cold, sometimes frigid cold – and seemingly dangerous

As they walked through Nageezi, Chaco Canyon, Lybrook, Counselor, Ojo Encino, Torreon, Pueblo Pintado, White Horse Lake, Borrego Pass, Baca-Prewitt, Grants and up to Tsoodzil, they witnessed a hot oil truck catching fire in Lybrook and shutting down highway 550 on Jan. 14.

A newspaper in the region reported on Jan. 16 that the highway was shut down because two, 500-gallon propane tanks were close to the fire, but there was no indication of why the fire started and if there were any health risks.

Eldridge said she remembered the stench in the air, which she feels harmed her respiratory system, and the elementary school that was located nearby.

The Gallup Sun contacted the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency to interview NEPA Director Stephen Etsitty about the fire and how his office is monitoring the oil and gas activities or fracking. At print time, Etsitty had not responded.

Navajo Nation Crownpoint, NM, District Police Capt. Steven Nelson recalled that former New Mexico Indian Affairs Secretary Arthur Allison called a joint meeting of law enforcement from the Navajo Nation and the counties of San Juan and Rio Arriba, which is the area impacted by oil and gas activities in the Mancos Shell.

“Secretary Allison wanted to be pro-active about crimes that may generate out of the development, such as the ones experienced by tribes up north,” Nelson said. “When Kelly Zunie was promoted to Indian Affairs director, the meetings stopped in December 2014.”

The Washington Post reported on the upsurge in crimes and corruption one North Dakota tribe has experienced since the oil and gas industry grew at an exponential rate in their backyard.

In the Sept. 28, 2014 news story, “Dark side of the boom” Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, ND, Police Sgt. Dawn White told the Post: “We are dealing with stuff we’ve never seen before,” she said after leaving the scene of the latest disturbance fueled by drugs and alcohol. “No one was prepared for this.”

Restoring balance

Eldridge said, “A big part of the walk is restoring «hozho» (harmony/peace) and so we wanted to highlight positivity.

“By being on the land, doing prayers, we are healing ourselves and our relationship with the land,” she said. “There’s a lot of talk about the role of young women. In retrospect, we are care takers of life. We remind people about life.

After stopping in Gallup, Window Rock and Fort Defiance, Nihigaal Bee Iina continued walking to Doo’ko’o’sliid.

Their route from Window Rock is Hunters Point, Oak Springs, Lupton, Houck, Sanders, Pine Spring, Wide Ruins, Klagetoh, Ganado, Cornfields, Greasewood, Dilkon, Birdsprings, Leupp and Doo’ko’o’sliid.

“Today, we’re surrounded by so much death and destruction that we have to remember to respect life, to uphold life,” Eldridge said. “In this day and age of climate change, negativity is happening. So, how do we maintain life and keep life going? These are some of the principles driving this walk.”

Fake $100 bill circulated at flea mart

The McKinley County Sheriff’s Office is warning the public to be aware of the growing rate of fraudulent activity after two deputies became the latest targets of a scam. Lieutenant James Maiorano said that two separate deputies had received checks made out to them for well over $1,000. They immediately brought them into the department and started investigating.

Maiorano said that they contacted the banks and were told that the account numbers were correct, but that the company that had sent the checks had gone out of business.

“All that comes in the envelope is a check with your name on it, no instructions,” he said.

It is unclear how the con works unless the payee was to deposit the check into their personal account, where it would most likely bounce, causing financial hardship.

“These businesses have no idea how they got a hold of their checks, it’s quite the scam,” he said. “I don’t know how they make money.”

Maiorano recommends that anyone who receives an unexpected check from an unknown company should contact local law enforcement before depositing it.

Another scam is taking place over the popular community-monitored site Craigslist, according to Maiorano. He said that the buyer sends a check for more than the purchase price and when they are contacted about it, they are told that it was a mistake.

“They tell them to just cash the check and send us the remaining balance,” he said.

He explained that several more scams involve phone calls, with some scammers identifying themselves as law enforcement officials and others as missionaries.

All of the cases have been turned over to the New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas’ office for further investigation.

Counterfeit money is also a common scam. The latest $100 bill that was turned in to the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office was first passed around at the Yahtahey flea market,  Maiorano said.

Gallup Police Department spokesman Capt. Rick White said that car burglaries are one way that criminals are able to get a hold of an unsuspecting person’s information. People should use care when leaving their vehicles, making sure that personal items and information are not left in plain view.

“They can open accounts, clear out your accounts,” he said. “We do have several people in jail right now [for that].”

White also warned about a mystery shopper scam that asks for consumers to test Western Union. Also, a lottery win in which you have to pay the taxes in advance is likely a scam.

“If you have to pay, if you didn’t enter to win anything, it’s bogus,” he said. “They develop new scams daily, usually from foreign countries that you can’t trace back to.”

Harrison family suspect foul play

GALLUP – There are few things in this world that are more disturbing, more catastrophic than a loved one going missing with the constant wonder, worry and waiting. Those left behind are stuck with a choice to either keep up the search for what could be years, or decades, or to continue on with their lives.

One of the oldest cold missing cases centers on the disappearance of Anthonette Cayedito, 9, who went missing from her bed on April 4, 1986.

Her mother Penny reportedly told police that she last saw her daughter fast asleep at 3 a.m., but a parent’s worst nightmare came true some hours later when Penny went to check on Anthonette in her bedroom and discovered she had vanished.

Sure, there were a few leads along the way.

First, a phone call to the Gallup Police Department from a frantic young girl claiming to be Anthonette; next, followed by a girl matching Anthonette’s description who left a “please help me” note on a napkin at a Carson City diner. Years later, the missing girl’s sister Wendy came forward, claiming some men knocked at the door and swept away her sister into the night.

While the mysterious Cayedito case lingers, new cases of vanishing persons continue to crop up. Such as the cases of Delvin Yazzie and Craig Harrison.

Delvin Yazzie

Delvin Yazzie, who would be 34-years-old today, has been missing since August 2011. For four years, his mother Elta Yazzie has continued  to search for him, following up on leads of her own and is waiting for her son’s return.

Elta Yazzie had three children, but she lost her oldest son in an automobile accident in July. The only tangible child is her daughter.

“I’m just hurting so bad, I try to look for him,” Elta Yazzie said.

Delvin was last seen at the Safeway store in Gallup where he reportedly got into a blue super cab pickup truck on Aug. 2, 2011, and he has not been seen since then.

“I didn’t even know that he took off … he said I’ll be back,” Elta Yazzie said, holding back tears.

She went on to explain that her son had even asked her to wash a white shirt and pants for him for when he returned, which she did.

Delvin left behind a young child who stays with his mother’s family. He was known to engage in yard work to make money, and enjoyed playing baseball and basketball.

He has a tattoo of the letter “I” and a heart on his left hand, along with several visible scars on his body. At the time he went missing, Delvin stands 5’3” and weighed 155 lbs. He has brown eyes and black hair.

Craig Harrison

Craig Harrison, a father and a firefighter, has been missing since September 2013. He was last seen renewing his driver’s license in Houck, Ariz. It was reported to police that he was identified after this time in Sanders, Ariz., possibly drinking under a bridge with his brother, according to Gallup Police Department spokesman Capt. Rick White.

His girlfriend at the time he went missing, was Jamie Curley, who said that she did know him to go into town and “hang around” and she feels very strongly that something happened to him. She said that he would use hitchhiking as a form of transportation.

“I haven’t heard anything since, it’s still a mystery,” Curley said. “Something happened to him, otherwise he would have come home a long time ago.”

Curley and Harrison have two boys together, one who just celebrated a birthday. Curley said that she tries not to think about Harrison’s disappearance because she wants her children to be happy. She has tried to move on with her life for herself and for her children.

Harrison stands approximately 5’7” with black hair and brown eyes. He weighed 120 lbs at the time he was reported missing and is about 28-years-old.

White added that he believed Harrison was a Navajo Scout firefighter.

Cedrick Taliman

Cedrick Taliman is an unusual missing person’s entry, according to Capt. White. Police believe he’s still in the Gallup area.

“He’s around, he’s just ignoring us,” White said.

Taliman was last seen Dec. 12, 2012, when he left his foster home. He has since become an adult.

Contact

Anyone with information is encouraged to reach out to local law enforcement. Even the smallest details could aid police in their search, and help to bring some peace to the families who desperately wish to be reunited with their missing loved ones.

Anyone who has information on either of these persons is asked to contact the Gallup Police Department at (505) 863-9365. You may also send information or details you have related to these cases or other missing persons reports to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .