505 phone number under investigation

With two bomb threats in the past few weeks, the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office dropped a proverbial bomb of its own Aug. 23, putting the word out that pranks and empty threats will absolutely not be tolerated.

“This is a serious matter,” MCSO Lt. Pat Salazar said in a news briefing this week on bomb threats. “It’s not something that anybody should be doing. It is a crime.”

Salazar said sheriff’s deputies responded to a threat Aug. 22 at the McKinley County Courthouse at 207 W. Hill Ave. He said deputies canvassed a wide area around the building and then some, and found nothing.

“We have reason to believe that this is the work of...

The Gallup Police Department is participating in the 100 Days and Nights of Summer Campaign, according to GPD Capt. Marinda Spencer. The campaign is an enforcement program that encourages local law-enforcement agencies to conduct checkpoints and saturation patrols during the summer months. The 100 Days campaign ends Sept. 30.

According to safernm.org, “in 2007, the inaugural year of the campaign, traffic fatalities for June, July, and August decreased by 18 percent, compared to the same period in 2006.”

Spencer said 159 vehicles were stopped on Aug. 19, with 44 tickets written and three arrests, none of which were DWI-related.

Another saturation point is set for Aug. 27.

By Bernie...

Legal limit is .08

Benjamin Begay

Aug. 13, 1:44 am

DWI

McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Gabrielle Puhuyesva was heading northbound on the Munoz Overpass when she observed a blue car unable to maintain its lane. It turned onto I-40 and continued eastbound, stopping at the 22.5-mile marker.

Begay, 52, did not have his driver’s license, had a flushed face, and did not make eye contact. He slurred his words and admitted to having a few beers.

There were three passengers in the vehicle who were all intoxicated. Begay refused breath testing but agreed to a blood draw at a local hospital. He was then transported to the McKinley County Adult Detention...

Homicide not suspected, officials said

Local police want the public’s help in locating next of kin or extended family in a case involving a white male found dead about two weeks ago.

Joey Guillen, an investigator with the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, said a person who was scouting elk in McGaffey on Aug. 11 discovered the body of 62-year-old Antel Takacs.

Guillen said the body was found along with what investigators believe to be Takacs’s car, which bore Arizona plates. The vehicle associated with the incident was a 1997 maroon four-door SUV.

Various papers and an identification card were also found at the scene.

“We are asking for the public’s help in notifying family...