Gallup Sun

The waiting game for the fireworks display at the Sports Complex began even before 6 pm, and by 8:30 the entry roads around the park were full, as were the accessible pieces of bare earth on both sides of the 602 Bypass.

And still traffic flowed – sometimes cautiously, sometimes not – as more and more vehicles searched aimlessly for a spot with a view.

It was after 10, and full dark, before the thump, whoosh, and bang concert got started, breaking open the night sky with drizzles of colors and starbursts of quickly fading light.

With shutter speed of the camera turned down by a notch, the images became more surreal. These lasted longer in your memory than the sharpness of ‘the...

Who would have thought a tough Marine veteran, and former bass player for a death-metal band would be belting out cutesy love songs with none other than his two little girls. Rippy Williams — a Dineh musician and single father of Lily, 11, and Lola, 9 — is passing his talent onto his daughters while entertaining local audiences. The Sun caught up with Rippy and the Sillyettes to find out more about this unique Gallup trio.

Gallup Sun: Rippy and the Sillyettes: How did you come up with this name?

Rippy: There’s this band called The Raise from the 1950s, and they had this song called, “Two Silhouettes on the Shade,” so we learned that song and my youngest daughter, Lola...

The American Red Cross New Mexico will be in Gallup July 16 promoting the Home Fire Preparedness Campaign, officials said. Gallup Fire Marshal Jesus Morales said Red Cross members and local volunteers will visit neighborhoods at sites that have yet to be determined.

“At no cost, the Red Cross will install smoke alarms at residences,” Morales said. The Gallup Fire Department will assist in the installation.

“It’s something that is done every year,” Morales said.

By Bernie Dotson

Sun Correspondent

Rating: «« out of 4 stars

Running Time: 117 min.

As a boy, my favorite author by a country mile was Roald Dahl. Obviously, his tales, which include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, among many others, were always incredibly imaginative. Still, I think that I most appreciated the author’s embrace of darker story elements (always peppered with a sense of humor). His young protagonists are often put through the ringer. Dahl had an amusing way of putting the screws to any character with traits that he found repellent or rude — it never mattered if it was a child or an adult. As a young reader, I always felt that he wasn’t patronizing me or sanitizing...