With a current population of over 6,000 community members and a status of approximately 3,000 registered voters, the Fort Defiance Chapter officials and community members will have a reason to celebrate as they look forward to obtaining their Local Governance Act certification on Jan.15.

The certification celebration will take place at the Fort Defiance Chapter House at 10 am along with the Resources and Development Committee’s regularly scheduled meeting, pending approval of legislation that will call for certification of the chapter.

“We couldn’t have done this without the community and we couldn’t have come this far without opening our doors to the community and saying, ‘come in’” Chapter Coordinator Tony K. Watchman said. “We should have done this a long time ago. But, you know that is not going to dampen our outlook on certification.”

Fort Defiance Chapter will be among the 43 chapters that have achieved LGA certification. It has been something that they have been waiting for since the days of Albert Hale’s administration in 1987, and when Title 26 was enacted.

“The chapter has a lot to look forward to,” he said. “What we as chapter officials and staff have realized and determined, from probably way before our time, is Fort Defiance has a lot of potential. It has a lot of room to grow in various areas, not in the Navajo Nation government but also economically. The possibilities are endless.”

Watchman says the biggest hurdle was getting the Five Management System in order, and the process it took in standardizing the FMS manual. He learned that just handling the budget, sticking to their policies and making sure that all their documentation was in place, was the best way to go.

The five management system, which included the “accounting, procurement, filing, personnel and property” aspect was implemented by the LGA, set in place by the Navajo Nation Council in 1988. This initially allowed the evaluation and measurement of the effectiveness of Chapter operations.

“I think our community has grown with the chapter up to this point and they realized that they have to be self-sufficient,” he said. “And not look at the chapter and say, ‘well, the chapter will provide.’ The chapter will not be able to provide 100 percent.”

Other chapter officials such as Chapter Secretary Brenda Wauneka can honestly say that certification did not come easy. About three years ago, when a whole new administration came into office at the chapter, she says that it has always been one of their main goals to work towards certification.

“It took a lot of work, effort, and reconciling,” she said. “Especially going back to the budget, due to mismanagement and misuse of chapter funds from the previous administration.”

Chapter Vice President, Lorraine Nelson agreed and she feels that community members have changed because they were used to handouts because the previous administrations did not follow policies.

“But I think they are figuring out that we mean business and we are going to follow policies, like we are supposed to, so there is no question to who we help,” she said. “I think a lot of people consider that when they come in and start demanding, there’s a set of policies. That is what we have to go by.”

Once the chapter is certified, the chapter officials agree that their goal is to develop Fort Defiance by looking into the possibility of opening a restaurant and hotel right across from the Fort Defiance Hospital. They discussed the option of building a three-story office complex and putting in solar street lights that are self-sufficient.

Zondra Bitsuie, who has been the chapter president since 2012, says that they are looking forward to deciding as a community in how they want their government formed and how they are entitled to the sales tax within the Fort Defiance Chapter boundaries.

“We can use that money towards for more projects instead of looking towards government for funding and start really modeling on how we want to run our government,” she said.

She continues by stating that it is really important that the people look at who they vote in to continue to follow policies and procedures.  She adds that part of her platform was achieving certification, accountability, and transparency.

“I’d like to acknowledge the staff and officials for working together because I think working together as a team was really important in moving forward with this administration and getting the chapter certified,” she said. “They really worked hard.”

Mr. Trib Choudhary who is a professor at UNM Gallup and Zuni campuses, won our “Teacher of the Month” honor and took the time to sit down with me and answer some questions.

I always love it when I see that interviewing someone is a requirement for kids in school. When you sit down and ask someone questions about their life, you never know what you’re going to get. It could be a life-changing experience, and sometimes the hidden treasures that people have never told unless someone asked them about it.

In our interviews with local teachers who were nominated by their students, I have learned so much about their passion – teaching, and am also able to give them some recognition at the same time.

“I do my best to understand my students, their strengths, their weaknesses, so I can think of a way to teach them so they will understand,” Choudhary said.

Sun: Start by telling me a little about yourself.

Choudhary: I was born in Nepal, received my BA there and my Master’s in what was called the Soviet Union at that time, and is now Russia. I came to the United States in 1979. Sometimes it seems like yesterday, but when I look back it was quite a long time ago! I worked in Los Angeles making shelves for stores, but it was a very stressful job and I really didn’t like it.

Then I worked for the Navajo Nation doing research for the Department of Economic Development for 20 years. (If you Google my name, you will see the research I did.) Every once and a while I still get phone calls from people all over the world asking questions about the research I did concerning census data, so I teach people about that too. I taught at Dine College in Window Rock for 17 years, Navajo Technical College in Crownpoint for 3 years, Gallup UNM for 7 years, and have been teaching in Zuni for a little over a year

Sun: When did you decide that teaching is what you wanted to do?

Choudhary: “Since my childhood. By the third grade I was already teaching my classmates math lessons. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher.”

Sun: Who or what influenced your decision to teach?

Choudhary: My father. I come from a very educated family and my father always wanted me to get my Master’s degree. He passed away when I graduated from high school, so unfortunately he did not get to see me become Head Master or receive my Master’s degree, but I did it with his leadership and encouragement.

One of my grandchildren that goes to school in Rio Rancho won first place in the whole state of New Mexico for an essay she wrote, she is in eighth grade and I am very proud of her. My son-in-law has his PhD and teaches in Albuquerque, one of my daughters is an engineer, and one is a pharmacist.

Sun: What is the most rewarding thing about teaching?

Choudhary: When students start out struggling and having a very hard time in the beginning, then end up understanding and rising to the top of the class with pride and confidence, I know I did something right.

Mr. Choudhary told me numerous stories of students that have caught up with him years later and have thanked him for being the best teacher they ever had. One student told him she went on to earn her Master’s degree because of the help and encouragement he gave her. Another student, he recalled, started his class always putting herself down and saying she just couldn’t do anything. With constant encouragement and understanding, she received the highest grade in the class one time; he said that was the day she changed, and there was no stopping her from that moment on. It is so rewarding for him to witness students like this.

Sun: Tell me about a funny moment or situation you recall regarding teaching.

Choudhary: Oh! There are too many to tell you. You know, there are so many little things that get mixed up with the English language and being here in the U.S. Every time I say    “Thank you very much,” I think about my niece, who always used to say, “Thank you big much,” and said it for many years because she did not realize, and nobody told her that this was not the right way to say it!

Another joke I like is one I always use to help students remember the order of the x and the y in equations is x=2 and y=3, the x is always first because my x came first, and then my wife!

Sun: What words of encouragement would you give to other teachers?

Choudhary: Try to think from your students point of view, not your own. Connect with them all the time. Their strengths, their weaknesses. My students’ weaknesses make me a stronger teacher because I need to adjust my teaching so they can understand. Make no assumptions of your students, get to know them. Sometimes I observe students in classrooms that are not engaged at all, they are in another world, disconnected, thinking about other things … not in my classroom; all my students are always engaged.

One story that has always meant a lot to me over the years is this: two men were walking and they saw a scorpion floating on the water. One man scooped it up and was going to put it on dry ground so it wouldn’t drown. When he picked it up, it stung him, and he dropped it back in the water. He tried again, and it stung him again. This happened three times altogether, and finally he was able to get it on the dry ground and it ran away and was safe. His friend asked him, “Why did you keep trying to save it when it kept stinging you? I don’t understand.” The man answered, “The scorpion did not forgot his character, (to sting, his defense) and I will not forget my character, (to save and not give up)”

Camille’s Sidewalk Café continues to award a candidate each month for the 2015-2016 school year and is happy to recognize the incredible contribution and influence teachers have in our community.

To see a complete list of all the nominations, or to nominate your teacher, visit Camille’s Sidewalk Café at 306  S. Second Street in Gallup to fill out an entry form!

“It’s the first ever meeting of its kind, as far as I can discover,” proudly said Patty Lundstrom, the executive director of the Greater Gallup Economic Development Corporation. “We are here (at the Hilton Garden Hotel) to recognize and celebrate the top 10 businesses in McKinley County that have had the largest impact in the region, from creating jobs to investing in other ways for the economic progress we need.”

The noon meeting on Dec. 15 sparked a lively round of conversation during and after the meal, as these business people shared their concerns and accomplishments with others of the same mind. At the top of the concerns was a need to vastly improve the skill sets of the existing work force, through the use of available and developing programs at UNM-G.

“Their focus seems to be on social work now,” said one participant. “Not that social work is unimportant, but efforts need to be advanced for work force education in businesses. Counseling services for employees should be available, efforts made to diminish the alcohol problem and the disastrous side effects it causes. And of course, comparable incentives for businesses to relocate to this area, such as taxes, rent, etc.”

Retention of these employers is equally as important as bringing in new business, and that fact was certainly not left out during this luncheon and in the following discussions. Without retention, expansion becomes a vicious circle of never-ending attempts to keep every business in the air at the same time. If one falls, another of equal or better needs to fill the gap immediately. These current employers list over 1,800 full time employees and also use the services of over 750 contractors to help in their businesses.

Much remains to be done in both areas, retention and expansion, and there is no quick fixes. The demand in any economic development is not merely to entice the next Red Lobster to town, but to build a more sustainable environment that will provide for the area’s needs in the long term. That includes the ability to transport goods to other locations, and in that respect Gallup is in a good position. We are not only on one of the busiest coast-to-coast interstates but also have an advantage with rail lines that provide easier access to other points throughout North America.

Transportation has always been an important factor in the development of any larger business; foodstuffs grown miles away are used in restaurants and kitchens around the world; artwork developed in one place must be shipped to consumers in close-by or distant markets; and for sheer enjoyment, visitors will almost always choose more accessible places to visit, even if they eventually want to rough it for relaxation.

It is important to note that GGEDC also uses the services of an advisory committee to assist them in planning the next stages of development. In this case, those advisors come from the BNSF Railway, Continental Divide Electric Cooperative, Inc., and Gallup Land Partners, who recently purchased some 26,000 acres of land that had been mostly unused, from Gamerco.

Civic leaders also play an important role in economic development, as recognized during the luncheon introductions. Mayor Jackie McKinney and three of his four council people were present, as was one County Commissioner Tony Tanner and County Manager Bill Lee.

Continued efforts by these businesses and their leaders, along with civic responsibility and encouragement to other necessary facilities – schools, medical providers, etc. - will provide Gallup-McKinley with more life of an improved nature in the future.

Levon Loncassion, born in Gallup, but raised in Zuni began tapping his creative side when his school’s third grade program introduced the “Enrichment Program,” which provided students the necessary tools to provoke the inner artist in them.

During this time of his young life, Locassion, 36, talked about how as an youngster he would find artifacts such as pottery shards, pieces of arrowheads, or how he would come across huge panels of interesting cliff art within the mesas. He said that in the back of his mind, he was already inspired and creatively influenced by the time he took part in the school’s “Enrichment Program,” but that was just the beginning.

After he graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2005, his heart was set in becoming a member of the Zuni Hot Shot crew, which he explained took a lot of hard work and dedication. He says the downside of fighting fire during the summer is that all the major Native American art markets occur during the period of time when fire season begins.

Last year, he said he had to choose between fighting fires in California or setting up a booth at Santa Fe Indian Market. He said, he thought to himself, “California’s burning and people’s houses are burning up versus I wanted to be self-absorbent and go sell my stuff in Sante Fe.”

He said he was trying not to let himself down as an artist, and this is how he always feels like he has to switch gears.

“I always knew from the very beginning that I was an artist and it just so happened that I was Native American,” Loncassion said.

Sun: What kind of impact do you think your artwork holds in this generation?

Loncassion: What I usually get from my work is that it is odd or misplaced but there are cultural references that kind of speak to people who understand what it means or if they recognize where it is from. It creates a dialogue. I know that the piece that I brought to be photographed, I wouldn’t say it created a lot of controversy, but it brought a lot of questions and topics about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I think, overall, it was how I was trying to make sense of it, and cope with it because my brother is in the military. He was overseas at the time, and every time we’d turn on the television, something terrible was happening. It was a really a difficult and trying time for my whole family.

Sun: Who do you look up to as an artist?

Loncassion: First and foremost, it is the people in my immediate community. Also, I had a really cool mentor and who was also my godfather. But, unfortunately he had passed from diabetes about four years ago. Ever since then, there is this weird void.

Sun: Do you think being an artist is a Native American thing or western practice?

Loncassion: I have always been asked ‘are you an artist?’ … just because I am a Native American. So, people already automatically assume. I mean, from the very beginning, we naturally had to be artists, to create stuff, because we didn’t go to the store and go buy a deer to make a buck skin. We had to go out and be artistic and create. I mean, there is that lineage.

Honestly, Native American artists, in this region, are captive. They are a captive market to be exploited by, usually what I find, by non-Natives. Everything is either owned by non-Natives, Anglos, or Arabs. Throughout the years, because my parents have been jewelers for about 30 years, and to see them struggle, or get ripped off, it makes me feel like there has to be some other way.

If someone actually sat down and kind of, thought about it. A lot of the really good artists from Sante Fe and Albuquerque, are from this region. It would make sense, to make it more convenient for the artists to have the art buyers come to them instead of the artist going to them.

Sun: Speaking of artwork, do you have any pieces of artwork created by you that you do not plan on selling?

Loncassion: Yes and no. It is usually by circumstance. If it is something that I made a really long time ago that has some sort of sentimental value, and for some odd reason, nobody is drawn to it, or it doesn’t sell, and eventually I’m just lugging it along with all my stuff, and I find it, and put it up on my wall, and next thing you know, it means something else.

It helps me remember a part of myself or my creative thinking at that time. So, it kind of comes as a touchstone or stepping stone. But the one thing that the images of the paintings that I create that have sold, and I haven’t seen for years, and I come back to it, I am always blown away by where I was at creatively.

Sun: What are your views towards Native American art now versus 10 years, 20 years, or 30 years ago?

Loncassion: It is mixed because I could definitely go both ways because I appreciate the hardcore traditional, let’s say, Navajo blanket. I would appreciate that but at the same time, if I were to be at the same show, and I’d see more of the same technique that has more of a contemporary flair, I think I am more drawn.

It takes a little bit more than just having the skill but then what makes it interesting, creative and enjoyable, is if you have even just a little twist to make it more, I guess the big fancy word, is contemplative.

Sun: What are your goals as an artist for 2016?

Loncassion: Well, I have just been trying to break into the art world and I think that right after I graduated from UNM I wasn’t necessary wanting to do it full-force because I wanted to do all these other things. So, for next 2016 art season for me, is to make it into one of the major shows, aside from a few that are out-of-state.

Sun: Any advice to aspiring artists?

Loncassion: Follow your heart. Follow your dreams because nobody can tell you what you can and cannot do, in terms of an artist. Only you can decide whether or not you should be an artist or not. Don’t give up, because it has been a struggle for me. I do it for myself and I know that it is always going to be there, and I am going to do it whether I like it or not, so it’s not like my end game is wanting to be famous or rich, it’s just something that I know that has to happen in terms of being okay with my life or who I am.

Loncassion’s more recent accomplishment is being a part of a three-year long project called the “Zuni Map Art Project,” which is affiliated with the Ashiwi Awan Museum and Heritage Center located in Zuni, and made to represent place names that are culturally specific to the Zuni people. It includes over 40 pieces of map art paintings by 10 individual artists from the Zuni community.

He is scheduled to perform a live painting at Gallup’s ArtsCrawl, starting at 6 pm on Dec.12. Gallup’s ArtsCrawl is a community event that is scheduled every second Saturday of every month.