Gallup Sun

NMDOT presents zipper merge

In an effort to cut the number of collisions as construction work resumes on five projects along I-40 in McKinley and Cibola counties, District 6 of the New Mexico Department of Transportation has introduced the “zipper merge.”

NMDOT says most New Mexico motorists start to merge in construction zones as soon as they see warning signs and learn which lane ahead is closed. This is called an “early merge” and it can lead to dangerous lane switching, inconsistent driving speeds that cause crashes, long back-ups that block interchanges, angry drivers and road rage.

Research shows, however, that these dangers decrease and traffic moves more smoothly...

Over the next three weeks voters in Central New Mexico, Congressional District One, will have the opportunity to select a new congressional representative. The new representative will take the place of Deb Haaland who almost immediately after being elected to a second term in November, was appointed the first Native American to serve as Secretary of the Interior.

Congressional District One includes all of Torrance County, a good portion of Bernalillo County, as well as a portion of Sandoval County and a sliver of Valencia and Santa Fe counties.

Aubrey Dunn has been a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian and is now running as an Independent. Dunn is a long-time rancher with a...

VISITOR IN THE NIGHT

Prewitt, April 28

After a woman unexpectedly showed up at his house at midnight one night, a Prewitt man was left with a shattered car window.

On April 28 at 12:14 am McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Galvin Panteah was dispatched to 3 Elyse Drive in Prewitt because a man had called in saying his car’s window had been shattered.

When he arrived at the house Panteah met with the victim who explained that a woman named Relda Martinez showed up at his house unexpectedly at midnight and punched him. After she punched him, the man said Martinez left, but eventually came back.

The Panteah man stated that he heard glass break and he saw Martinez leave his property...

A dead body was discovered in a retaining pond at the Wastewater Treatment Plant on the west side of Gallup at 800 Sweetwater Place on April 13.

When Gallup Police officers  arrived they were shown to the body by the man who called in the incident. It was on the north side of Sanostee Drive at the bottom of a retaining pond that is no longer in use.

The Gallup Fire Department assisted detectives in recovering the body.

The body was identified as that of Ferlin Yazzie, 35, of Yatahey, a Native American man. The investigation is ongoing.