Details still fuzzy on former coach’s dismissal

Wilbert Nez is the new head girls basketball coach at Gallup High School, officials confirmed. Nez started the job Nov. 1.

The hiring, which was finalized Oct. 28, brings closure to a tumultuous situation that saw the Lady Bengals’ previous head coach, Kamau Turner, terminated from the job by Gallup-McKinley County Schools Superintendent Frank Chiapetti in July.

Nez teaches Navajo language and culture at Gallup High School.

“We have hired a new girls coach for the basketball team,” Dominick Romero, principal at Gallup High, said. “He is someone who has worked at Gallup High the past several years.”

Romero said Nez was...

$103K at stake for Gallup’s Octavia Fellin Public Library

Should a $10.1 million library bond matter go through on Nov. 8, public libraries around New Mexico would benefit in myriad ways, officials say.

Bond B, one of four state bonds on next week’s ballot, would impact public libraries, students from K-12, and construction projects at higher institutions of learning.

Gallup Library Director Mary Ellen Pellington said $103,181.80 is at stake for the Octavia Fellin Public Library and the city’s Children’s Branch. She is urging Gallupians to get out and vote.

“This helps in a tremendous and in a very positive way,” Pellington said. “We’re optimistic that this will...

Two of the people involved in the fraudulent use of a dead woman’s credit card remained jailed at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center Nov. 3 and a third was released Nov. 2 on bond, according to jail records.

Bryan Burrola, 40, remained behind bars on a $15,000 bond amount, jail record show. Seferino Griego, 38, arrested Oct. 29 on fraudulent acts by merchants (more than $500 and less than $2,500) and tampering with evidence charges, was jailed on a $10,000 cash-only bond and remains incarcerated. Griego possesses a long criminal record that contains numerous drug arrests.

Amy Lucero, 36, was arrested along with Burrola on Oct. 19. Lucero, the girlfriend of Burrola...

County Attorney: Departments get fair share of IPRA requests

The McKinley County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an Inspection of Public Records operating policy that impacts the manner in which official information requests are handled.

The new policy was instituted via resolution at the Nov. 1 regular county commission meeting. Commissioner Genevieve Jackson did not attend the meeting.

“Prior to this method, the county was pretty much in line with what the state was doing,” McKinley County Attorney Doug Decker explained after the meeting.

Decker introduced the matter to commission members.

“Now, this is county policy,” he said.

Decker said practically every...