Diné Artist honors grandmother through craft

Life on the Navajo reservation helped shape 39-year-old Diné artisan Philander Begay. Begay is a Navajo artist who has won numerous awards for his jewelry at the Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial, Santa Fe shows, and the Heard Museum.

Begay remembers hanging on the skirt tails of his grandmother in Round Rock, Ariz., as she would teach him things about the Diné culture. They would walk together as his grandmother pointed out certain things about the land. One of the things he learned about was the horned toad.

“My grandma would find one, pick it up, and pray for it as well as bless it. She would talk to it and say it would give me...

The strong Navajo support for District Attorney Karl Gillson

To understand what motivated McKinley County’s former district attorney, Karl Raymond Gillson, who died on Jan. 24 at the age of 58 after a long illness, all one would have to do would be to look at his record as a Gallup state magistrate in the 1990s.

He had been accused of being too hard on the people who came before him for sentencing. He said he knew that people who had multiple DWI convictions would try their best to get their cases heard by any other magistrate.

“I can see why the other magistrates give lighter sentences. Its better for their political careers,” he said, adding that he could see how people...

Three main topics came up for discussion at the Feb. 16 McKinley County Commission meeting.

Approval of Fiscal Year 2022 funding for the county’s DWI program was addressed first.

Program Manager Maura Schanefelt requested an estimated amount of $819,172, an amount she told the Gallup Sun isn’t guaranteed.

The program’s mission is to help people overcome the challenges associated with alcohol abuse to create a safer community.

The DWI program will use the grant to address six areas: screening, prevention, coordination, treatment, alternative sentencing, and compliance monitoring. If the program receives more money, it will be directed toward a seventh aspect of the program...

New chair of Indigenous Peoples’ subcommittee

WASHINGTON, D. C. — Congress­woman Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M.-3, announced Feb. 17 that she will serve as Chair of the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States for the 117th Congress. The Subcommittee works to empower Tribal communities, protect Tribal sovereignty, and enhance Tribal authority over their lands and natural resources.

“In the last year, the pandemic’s disastrous impact on Native American communities made our country aware of something that my district has known for too long - the United States has failed to meet its trust responsibilities to Native Americans, and the consequences are deadly and...