p style="text-align: center;">Marchers brave cold, rain

 

A man stood along East Historic Highway 66 and stared as people filled the front entrance of the Gallup Cultural Center in the early afternoon of Jan. 16. Others slowed their cars and watched as people begin to walk, mostly silently, to Gallup’s Larry B. Mitchell Recreational Center on East Montoya Boulevard.

The procession, held annually in honor of the late slain civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began with an inter-faith prayer circle of people of various religious denominations and culminated with speakers and a dance performance at the Mitchell Center.

The theme of this year’s event was...

McKinley County Sheriff’s Department is set to lose one of their finest. Lt. Matt Hughbanks, 42, retires at the end of January.

Hughbanks has spent his entire law enforcement career of 20 years with the MCSO, responding to the usual garden variety of calls over the years. Getting through years of routine, and often enough those tough calls, Hughbanks depends on his wry sense of humor to get by.

“We take our job seriously, but we try not to live in the negative,” he said. “I am going to miss the camaraderie.”

Hughbanks first job in the first responders realm was that of a “communications specialist” – in other words a 911 operator – a job that he feels is one of the...

Nation not backing down against EPA’s attempt to thwart mine spill lawsuits

WINDOW ROCK – Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said Jan. 13 that he expected Environmental Protection Agency officials to take measures to block lawsuit attempts against the agency for the Gold King Mine spill disaster of 2015.

The Navajo Nation asserts in a federal lawsuit that the spill contaminated reservation water sources and hurt farmers’ bottom lines. They also criticized the agency for being slow to respond to the Nation’s needs at the time.

The EPA Denver office stated in news release Jan. 13 that an independent claims officer within the agency, said they are “not legally able to...

The Gallup-McKinley County Board of Education unanimously approved a contract Jan. 17 for interim superintendent Mike Hyatt. The action took place at the regular school board meeting and was met with a side suggestion from board member Joe Menini. In spite of an objection by Menini, the approval of the document went through.

Hyatt was thrust into the job after for Gallup-McKinley Schools Superintendent Frank Chiapetti was placed on paid administrative until the end of June 2017. Chiapetti earned $132,000 annually and Hyatt earned a little more than $88,000.

An addendum of the contract states that, “The administrator shall conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the entire district and...