WINDOW ROCK—President Russell Begaye and Vice President Jonathan Nez offered their condolences to the family of Navajo Code Talker Roy Hawthorne, who passed away April 21.

“Code Talker Hawthorne is highly respected,” Begaye said. “He was not only a hero and a warrior, but also as a true spokesman who worked on behalf of the welfare of the Navajo Code Talkers consistently. It is a privilege to have known him and I extend my condolences to his family, his fellow Navajo Code Talkers and his comrades.”

Hawthorne was the vice president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association. During World War II, he served with the 1st Marine Division in the Pacific Theatre. He later served in the...

WINDOW ROCK — On April 24, the Navajo Nation Council voted 19-0 to approve approximately $2.4 million from the Navajo Nation’s Unreserved, Undesignated Fund Balance to assist in the construction of a veterans service center in the community of Thoreau, which is located 33-miles east of Gallup near Interstate-40.

Legislation sponsor Council Delegate Edmund Yazzie (Churchrock, Iyanbito, Mariano Lake, Pinedale, Smith Lake, Thoreau) was joined by Lester Emerson, who serves as the Eastern Navajo Veterans Organization vice commander and the commander for the Thoreau Chapter Veterans Committee, as they requested the support of the council.

Emerson said one of the top priorities is to...

New Mexico’s seasonally adjusted unemployment shows signs of improvement according to the most recent statistics. The state’s unemployment rate was 5.6 percent in March of this year, down from 5.8 percent in February and 6.3 percent a year ago.

The national unemployment rate has also lowered since the last year, though it has stagnated. This March, the rate was 4.1 percent for the seventh consecutive month, down from 4.5 percent in March 2017, according to information from the New Mexico Department of Work Force Solutions.

In McKinley County, the unemployment rate for March was 7.1 percent, down from 7.7 percent in February. In neighboring Cibola County, the unemployment rate for...

New pastor EMBRACES LOCAL culture, landscape

Bill Emmerling, the new pastor at Gallup Christian Church, is a studious and educated newcomer to Gallup, arriving to the area just in time for Easter Services April 1.

“I was named the Most Studious in my high school graduating class,” he said. “I’ve made that a lifelong habit.”

The oldest of four children raised by his father, a mechanical engineer, and his stay-at-home mom, the family moved from his birthplace in Canton, Ohio to other locations in the Midwest as the stamping and forging industry created openings, and closings, throughout the factory-driven area.

His own job experience includes a college job as the assistant...