It’s in the nature of emergencies that they’re unexpected and generally demand a response when there’s no time to think. Who do you call? Where do you go? What happens to your pets or livestock if you’re displaced?

Authorities in Gallup and McKinley County want to have answers for as many of those questions as possible before an emergency arises. Now, those answers include pets and livestock as well as people.

Counties are required to have emergency operations plans so they don’t have to figure out how to handle emergencies on the fly. That plan is broken into smaller components, including a Joint Shelter and Mass Care plan. It’s an agreement to respond and coordinate...

Gallup has a new budget for fiscal year 2023 – which starts next month – but it’s not quite as hefty as city departments had hoped, forcing the city to try to do more with less.

The  budget is just over $110,000, and it was approved June 14. It  includes over $34 million for operations and over $2 million for capital projects, for a total of over $36 million in general fund budget expenditures.

Some of those numbers might have been a little higher if the city council had approved a proposed 22.5% water rate hike earlier this year. Instead, the rate increase was set aside at council members’ request to look for a way to make it more palatable for citizens.

“We removed the...

A woman claimed to have been beaten with a bat, but police soon found out that she was the one that had reportedly attacked a minor with the bat.

On June 6, around 7:50 pm, Gallup Police Officers Jarad Albert, Gilbert Gonzales, and Jerald Watchman were dispatched to Olivia Park, 515 Basilio Dr., because a woman had hit a minor with a baseball bat.

When the officers got to the park, some witnesses pointed out a woman who was standing in front of 2907 Clay Ave. The woman was later identified as Dahnibaah Hudson, 31, from Gallup.

According to his police report, Albert noticed Hudson had a small scratch on the left side of her face, and she also had dried blood on her right arm. Albert...

On June 12 around 2 am, Gallup police officers were dispatched to 1511 Kit Carson Dr. in reference to a man who had been shot.

One of the residents at the home, Andrew Martinez, 19, of Gallup, stated he had shot a man, who was later idrntifed as Freddie Chiquito, 62, after he discovered him “snooping” in his yard, according to a GPD news release.

Officers arrived on scene and discovered Chiquito laying on a sidewalk near the residence. Officers saw that the man  had a gunshot wound to his upper torso and believed that the man was dead. Medical personnel from the Gallup Fire Department arrived on scene and confirmed that Chaquito had died.

Officers searched Martinez’s residence...