The newest version of the Joint Powers Agreement between the City of Gallup and McKinley County for the Liquor Excise Tax was presented to the Board of Commissioners during their April 7 meeting.

The state statute that enables the county to have the LET, requires the county to have the agreement with municipalities in the county. The only municipality within McKinley County is the City of Gallup.

In Nov. 2019, an ordinance regarding the LET was voted on by McKinley County voters, asking if they think the county should continue to impose the LET at the maximum amount of six percent, as allowed by state law.

The ordinance was adopted with 79 percent of voters in favor of keeping the...

Hiroshi Miyamura High School is the focus of attention for people from FEMA, to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, to the New Mexico Emergency Operations Center, to the Navajo Nation, to the Rehoboth McKinley Christian Medical Center as it has been designated as the site for a field hospital for between 50 and 60 COVID-19 patients.

Justin Graff, Public Affairs Chief for the USACE – Albuquerque District, said the gymnasium has been selected as the location for the beds.

The USACE has been given 14 days to have the rooms up at the school. Graff describes them as plastic wall pod-style cubicles located on the gym floor with direct line of site between the pods and the nurse’s...

Na’ Nizhoozhi Center, Inc. was notified by Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital on April 7 that someone in the detox facility tested positive for COVID-19.  Executive Director Dr. Kevin Foley called county authorities and asked them to test people with whom this person had been in contact.

Foley said RMCHCS decided to take the people still left in the NCI detox center in to the hospital and have them wait for their COVID-19 tests.

At that point, the detox center was cleaned and re-opened at 10:30 pm on the same day. There was no lockdown or quarantine.

David Conejo, CEO of RMCHCS told the Gallup Sun what was happening with the NCI patients at the hospital.

Twenty-two patients were...

Sheriff seeks Speedway robber

McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Joey Guillen is looking for help from the public to identify the person involved in a robbery at 7:42 am April 6 at the Speedway in Vanderwagen.

Officer Jeff Barnhurst caught the call of a possible robbery in progress.

When he arrived he saw a man leaving the store.

As he approached the front door, manager Anita Spencer said she had been working on stock inventory in the back when she heard the front door bell.  Then she heard the cooler door open and she headed for the front of the store.

When she got there she saw a man heading for the exit with two cans of beer and she called out.  She said he...