Victim in grave conditionStaff Reports

UPDATE: McKinley County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Robert Turney said this evening that Ryan Westman is in the custody of San Juan County Sheriff's. Earlier this evening, Westman was located, pursed, at some point he opened fire on officers. Westman sustained minor injuries to his arm when officers returned fire. He was being treated at a Farmington hospital, and was or will be booked into San Juan County Adult Detention Center.

A local Gallup man, Ryan “Bam” Westman, is wanted for allegedly beating a man on the head with a blunt object, according to McKinley County Sheriff’s Department investigators.



The reported assault to 57-year-old...

By Rick Abasta
Sun Correspondent

The 2017-2018 McKinley County Spelling Bee went for 23 rounds before TaSheena Thompson, an eighth grader at Gallup Middle School, was declared the winner after correctly spelling the word “trespasser.”

The district spelling bee was held at the Kenneth Halloway Auditorium at Gallup High School. Three judges sat at a table front and center of the stage and the pronouncer, Wade Bell, Gallup McKinley County Schools Director of Instruction, sat at the podium left of the stage.

Thompson and second place contestant Jerome Rabaya, a fifth grader from Red Rock Elementary, will represent the district at the New Mexico Spelling Bee at Sandia Preparatory School...

‘Becoming the Beloved Community: Unity in Diversity’ this year’s theme

Community members from various backgrounds and ethnicities gathered at the Gallup Cultural Center Jan. 15 to honor Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday. The event included a march from the train station to the Larry Brian Mitchell Recreation Center.

“Becoming the Beloved Community: Unity in Diversity” was the theme for the Gallup tribute to the late civil rights leader who would have turned 89 this year, if not for his untimely death.

For many participating, like Ettie Anderson, the march offered a platform to protest racism and the current president.

“I wanted to participate in the march...

Investigators say alcohol might have been a factor

SAN JUAN COUNTY, N.M. – On Jan. 15, around 8:49 pm the New Mexico State Police investigated a fatal crash involving a vehicle and a pedestrian on U.S. 550 near milepost 113, approximately 38 miles south of Bloomfield, N.M.

Upon arrival at the scene, officers learned a 2006 Chevrolet sedan was driving north on US 550 when it made contact with a male dressed in dark clothing walking in the roadway.  Subsequently a second vehicle also made contact with the pedestrian after the initial collision.

Andrew Thompson, 29, of Nageezi, N.M. sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Office of the medical...