Former Miss Western Navajo Valentina Blackhorse, who died of coronavirus Thursday at the age of 28.

Who knows if we'll get the leadership needed to bring the Navajo Reservation and areas near it so severely stricken with the coronavirus up to the living standards of the 21st century. If not, a future disaster awaits but at least ideas are beginning to surface:

State Rep. Patricia Lundstrom is chair of the House Appropriations Committee and represents McKinley and San Juan counties, parts of which are on the Rez.

Corona cases in McKinley have surpassed those in much larger BernCo. Cases on and around the reservation make it third highest in the nation in per capita cases. Here's Lundstrom in a letter to the President and the state's congressional delegation:

. . . Now is the time to cut to the chase and fully fund the long-overdue replacement of the Indian Health Service hospital in Gallup. Why, in an area being hardest hit by the COVID-19 virus, should we have to re-purpose a local high school gymnasium as an emergency overflow hospital? Why do we not have the capacity to serve the people for which this hospital was intended? Why would we not commit – right now – to this project, which would provide the single greatest impact on the economic fortunes of an entire region, at the same time providing the level and quality of health care for which the native people of our community have waited a lifetime?

Number Two: Appropriate the dollars needed to connect the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. . . to the communities, businesses and homes where it can actually be accessed and used. Why would you invest over $1 billion in a public water supply system to serve a region where over one-third of homes did not have running water, but then leave the region high-and-dry without the means to actually connect that water supply to where it can do the most good?

What a legacy it would be for Senator Udall, vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, to bring everyone together and finish his last months of service speeding up construction of that hospital he and the delegation have supported as well as the water system.

If the will to reform our political ways on and off the Reservation cannot be found after this virus catastrophe, dire 19th century conditions, a stain on the soul of New Mexico, will stay with us through this 21st century and beyond.

RIBANDO TAPES (CONT.)

Several readers pointed out a discrepancy in the reporting of the domestic violence incident involving KOAT-TV anchorwoman Shelly Ribando and her husband Michael Patrick, the public information officer for BernCo District Attorney Raul Torrez. In an April 18 report the Journal said:

Ribando reportedly told responding officers that Patrick pushed her down and that he also pushed their 8-year-old daughter. Patrick denied the allegations, and his daughter also denied being pushed by him.

And in our April 27 blog we said:

On the tape Ribando tells the three responding officers that she was shoved to the floor of a closet by Patrick. Her 8 year old daughter tells police Patrick also shoved her.

Retired APD sergeant Dan Klein transcribed the 15 minute lapel camera video taken at the Tanoan home of Ribando and Patrick and came with this to the paper:

The Journal was misled regarding the Ribando domestic violence incident. . . I am sure you have watched the lapel camera video that Joe Monahan and Charles Arasim posted of  this incident, The daughter, Ava, stated (in that video) to APD officers that she was pushed by Patrick. I wanted to make sure you were aware of this as it appears that who ever told the Journal this misled at best, lied at worse.

Here's the relevant excerpt from the transcript:

The daughter continued: “A couple minutes later he (Patrick) came in and shoved her (Ribando) against the wall.”

Officer: “Did he hit you or push you or anything?”

Daughter: “Yeah he kinda pushed me too and then he just left (she is then inaudible).”

Ribando: “We decided to lock it (the bedroom door) and we will talk in the morning, nothing more to be said tonight (inaudible).”

The paper also reported that APD would issue a criminal summons to Patrick on the charge of battery but so far no such summons has been posted. DA Torrez has put Patrick on administrative leave and says any criminal referral will be made to "an independent special prosecutor."

DFA SECRETARY EXITS

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Those reports from one of the Santa Fe Alligators that Olivia-Padilla-Jackson, Secretary of the important Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), is on her way out have been confirmed. In a letter (posted here) to DFA staff this week Padilla-Jackson said:

. . . .I have made a decision to transition back to working in ABQ closer to my young family and therefore my last day with DFA will be May 31.

The Gators we’re also right when they said that Padilla-Jackson is headed for a top job at CNM. She has been named vice president of finance there. That’s a much calmer place than DFA will be in the next several years as it grapples with historic budget woes and a Governor who will be pushing hard. DFA Deputy Secretary Debbie Romero, the agency’s budget director, has been named acting Secretary.