Voters said yes to three measures

A tired Al Abeita, Gallup city clerk, who monitored the election and oversaw a regular city council meeting on the same date, said the Aug. 9 canvassing process went well.

“Thanks to our experienced poll officials, the McKinley County Bureau of Elections, Automated Elections Services, and my staff, the election process went very well,” Abeita said.

AES is a vendor based in Rio Rancho that’s authorized by the state to provide election services and supplies. They provided the systems that were used to generate ballots for each voter.

Abeita, Municipal Judge Grant Foutz, City Attorney George Kozeliski, and Deputy City Clerk Alicia Palacios...

Duo possessed meth, concealed identity

Two locals remained jailed Aug. 16 after being taken into custody on charges of drug possession; falsely obtaining service accommodations; concealing identity and resisting; and evading and obstruction charges, police officials said.

Nathan Lee, 22, of Gallup, and Delilah Miles, 31, of Church Rock, were jailed Aug. 10 after Gallup Police Department Officer Andrew Thayer responded to a call at the Knights Inn & Suites at 3208 W. Hwy 66 in reference to two individuals occupying a room under false pretenses.

According to Thayer’s report, a hotel desk clerk called police to say the original occupant of Room 223 checked out, but Lee and Miles...

Official: Details forthcoming

On Aug. 16, New Mexico State Police released the names of the four Gallup Police Department officers involved in a recent deadly shooting.

City police officers responded July 24 to a report involving a Native American male, identified as Alvin R. Sylversmythe, 30, who was threatening people with at least two knives at the Arnold Street public housing.

GPD officers were the first to respond to the scene.

The officers involved in the incident were: Justin Benally, a three-year departmental veteran; Clarissa Morgan, a five-year police veteran; Dominic Molina, a two-year city police employee; and Steven Peshlakai, a six-year department veteran.

“The...

Guy Christopher Mannino, a former chiropractor and gun and explosives dealer who lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, had scores to settle—and murder was how he planned to settle them.

After a messy divorce that did not go his way—in part because he had filed for bankruptcy and was under felony indictment for weapons charges—Mannino hired a hit man to kill his wife’s attorney. When the would-be killer turned out to be cooperating with the FBI, Mannino later hired a second individual to kill the original hit man. And his murderous intentions didn’t stop there.

“He had a hit list,” said Special Agent Derik Stone, one of the investigators who worked the case from the FBI’s...