The Gallup-McKinley County School Board released Superintendent Frank Chiapetti from his duties Dec. 19, putting the long-time educator on paid administrative leave until June 2017. June 30 marks the official end of the $132,000 annual contract that Chiapetti has with the school district.

The action took place at Tse Yi Gai High School in Pueblo Pintado and during a regular school board meeting. After a little more than two hours in an executive session, board member Lynn Huenemann motioned for Chiapetti’s exit and to put assistant superintendent of business and human resources Mike Hyatt in the superintendent’s seat on a temporary basis.

The vote to remove Chiapetti was 4-1...

Grandma’s Restaurant owners ringing IN THE HOLIDAYS

The holiday season is full of tradition, perhaps none more noticeable than outdoor Christmas decorations.

Color is popping up around the Indian Capital, whether in the form of white lights hanging through Coal and Aztec avenues or the bright Santa Claus greeting passersby along West Wilson Street in Gallup or the similar displays in hundreds of people’s yards in various neighborhoods around McKinley County.

For some Gallup families, spreading the holiday cheer through elaborate light displays is as important a Christmas tradition as any. “It’s something we do every year at Christmas,” Sylvestre Villegas, who lives at...

Huenemann, Menini not running again

By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent

There were several filings Dec. 20 for open seats on the Gallup-McKinley County Board of Education and the Pueblo of Zuni Public School District. The real news within the filings, however, is that the very popular retired educator Joe Menini won’t run again.

Ester Macias, Carmen Radcliff, Gerald O’Hara, Amparo Beatty and Michael Schaff are candidates for Menini’s District 5 post, Rick Palochak, director of elections at McKinley County, confirmed.

Palochak said Sandra Jeff, Charles Long and Freda Joe are candidates for the District 2 board seat currently held by Lynn Huenemann. Huenemann isn’t running...

LEUPP, Ariz. – Navajo Nation Council members from the Budget and Finance Committee and the Naabik’íyáti’ Committee’s Síhasin Fund Subcommittee, attended a groundbreaking ceremony Dec. 15 for the Twin Arrows Police and Fire Substation, which will be constructed north of the Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort, located approximately 24-miles east of Flagstaff.

On Nov. 29, the BFC passed Legislation No. 0398-16, which approved the Navajo Nation Gaming Enterprise’s grant agreement, construction plan, and fund management plan for the proposed Síhasin Fund Twin Arrows Police and Fire Substation Economic/Community Development Expenditure Plan, and directed the Navajo Nation Office...