The Gallup City Council passed a resolution June 14 requesting that the US Congress place a hard dollar cap on the city’s obligation under a repayment contract with the Bureau of Reclamation relevant to the near $41-billion Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. The council approval was unanimous and was not met with opposition.

City Attorney George Kozeliski introduced the matter to council members, explaining that a series of events have occurred over the past two years that has lead city staffers to believe that the cost of the Water Project will far exceed original estimates.

“The federal government is in charge of about 80 percent of the project,” Kozeliski explained. “They...

City keeps promise not to abandon NCI

The Gallup City Council kept its word June 14 and unanimously approved emergency funding for Na’nizhoozhi Center, Inc., commonly called NCI, and  Gallup’s sole detox center. City Manager Maryann Ustick informed council members that a current emergency-funding contract that the city shares with NCI expires June 30.

NCI runs the detox center, which was established back in the 1990s. Ustick told council members that the city has expended a one-time amount of $234,000 toward NCI operations. The re-instituted agreement pertains to the detoxification center and for emergency shelter during winter months.

“Since full annual funding has not yet...

Victim was 15-years-old

A Houck, Ariz., man remained jailed June 22 on criminal sexual penetration and kidnapping charges, according to an affidavit for arrest warrant. The alleged incident took place on the west side of Gallup at a truck stop and a motel, records state.

Derek Avery, 32, was taken into custody June 21 on a sex charge that took place in October 2015, the affidavit states. Avery is charged with picking up a 15-year-old girl at the Love’s travel stop and then taking her to a nearby motel, where he sexually assaulted her various times, records show.

McKinley County Adult Detention Center Warden Steve Silversmith said Avery is being held on a $10,000 bond. He was still...

BATTERED AND BOOKED

6/19, GALLUP

Gallup Police Officers Chaz Troncoso and D. Johnson were dispatched to Dani Dr., Apt. D-30, regarding a possible drunken fight among household members. Upon their arrival, a woman with a scratch on her face, blood on her shirt, and a baby in her arms came outside. The woman pointed out a male, Ardale Chiquito, 27, and claimed he attacked her.

According to the police report, Chiquito is the father of her eldest son and her ex-boyfriend. While at her house, he began to argue with her, so she told him to go to bed. The victim went into a separate bedroom to be with her four-month-old child (not the child of Chiquito), and Chiquito...