Gallup Sun

Each month, Gallup Rotary Club selects outstanding high school students in order to honor their academic achievements. Front Row: Kylynn Brown, Navajo Pine; Mary-Trynee Canete, Miyamura; Pashen Beyale, Wingate. Middle Row: Glen Ratmeyer, Rehoboth; Ricardo Rico, Gallup; Adrieanna Stewart, Gallup; Brianna M ortensen, Gallup Middle College. Back Row: Wayde Morgan, Crownpoint; Stephen Buddy Joe, St. Michaels; Ty Metteba, Window Rock; Kobe Natachu, Zuni; Jeremiah Salez, Miyamura; Philbert Joe, Tohatchi; Israel Gonzales, Thoreau; Maria Ladon, Ramah. Photo Credit: NativeStars

Rating: « out of 4 stars

Running Time: 118 min.

No matter what you may read in the coming paragraphs, make no mistake, I appreciate the work of director Garry Marshall. Growing up, he was responsible for two of my favorite TV shows (Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days) and has had popular hits on the big screen with titles like Pretty Woman. However, over the past few years he’s delivered a pair of ensemble comedies (New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day) that I haven’t cared for. Clearly inspired by the excellent Christmas-set 2003 hit Love Actually, neither of them have come even close to attaining that sharp balance of humor and warmth.

Mother’s Day is the latest in his...

Gallup Reads is just one of the educational programs that work well, though it is not included in the general curricula of Gallup McKinley County Schools. The concept was passed through the local Gallup-McKinely Chamber of Commerce after several board members had visited Albuquerque’s chamber and heard about the program set up in New Mexico’s most populous school district.

When the chamber decided to pursue this system in Gallup, the name was altered for local flavor and board member Linda Murphy picked up the original banner to get the program started and helped to handle the $10,000 donation from the chamber to purchase books.

Formerly in the banking business, Murphy recruited...

On April 6, students who entered the gymnasium at Gallup Central High School encountered an unbelievable sight, a table stacked high with over $2 million in cash.

However, after closer inspection they discovered that the money wasn’t real but rather an interactive feature of an imaginative financial skills reality fair known as the Spending Frenzy.  An event made possible by the WK Kellogg Foundation and a group of local organizations. Based on the notion that students often learn better through hands-activities, as opposed to lectures or traditional classroom lessons, the program allowed students to take a trial run at adulthood by paying expenses such as food, transportation...