2 arrested for fire at Tohatchi teacher housing

Navajo Nation Police have arrested two people in connection with an arson that occurred on July 14 at one of the teacher housing at Tohatchi High School.

Police said the arson occurred about 4:37 a.m. when Thomas Long, 20, of Tohatchi, and a 15-year-old juvenile entered the home of Sheila Morrison, 51, a teacher at the school.

She was not there but the two suspects reportedly broke into the house, stole some things - including liquor - and then set two couches on fire as they were leaving.

A neighbor smelled lighter fuel and went outside to investigate and discovered his neighbor's house on fire with flames coming from the living room area. He broke out the windows while his son got a garden hose and managed to put out the fire.

Police then saw footprints on the ground and followed them to the Navajo Housing Authority complex where they confronted the 15-year-old who confessed and told them the name of his partner. Police said that the 15-year-old at first had resisted arrest and they had to use the Tazer gun.

County Superintendent Ray Arsenault said the teacher housing at Tohatchi had been vandalized numerous times in the past several months. He said the schools in Tohatchi had also been vandalized and been the target of graffiti.

He said the two that were captured were believed to be part of a group that has been responsible for all of the trouble in the past. He said the school plans to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.

He met with several teachers from Tohatchi a couple of days after the fire and, after hearing of their concerns, agreed that the district needs to do more to make the teacher housing safe.

He said that the district will put more lighting around the houses. The district is also trying to find funds to install alarms. There are plans to put on more security at night and create a neighborhood watch.

Arsenault said the district also plans to put up a fence between the teacher housing and the high school so that people going to and from the high school won't be able to go through the area.

Crews dealing with 'normal' fire season

A forest fire was reported on July 13 five miles southeast of the King Mine at Black Mesa, Ariz.

The first reports came in about 3:30 p.m. of a fire in a secluded canyon near the King Mine. It was described as a remote, unpopulated area not accessible by vehicles.

By the time the first firefighters arrived the fire had spread to about two acres, according to BIA forestry officials.

Firefighters were deployed at the north side of the fire and within an hour, firefighters had arrived from Kayenta, Shonto, Monument Valley and the Peabody Coal Co.

The fire was contained by the next day.

Another fire, this one covering as much as 100 acres, was reported in the Sawmill, Ariz., area on July 15.

This one took crews more than a day to contain. Officials said it was human caused.

In both cases, no injuries were reported and no families had to be evacuated.

Pat Willeto, the area dispatcher for BIA Forestry, said Wednesday that the fire season on the Navajo Reservation has been normal so far this summer.

The forest fire crews earlier this summer took three days to put out a 365-acre fire in the Witch Wells, Ariz., area, he said, a day and a half to contain a 104-acre fire near the Clay Hills Pass area in Utah and a similar time to deal with an 83-acre fire near Shiprock.

While the rains have been above normal this summer, Willeto said it has come in strips with some areas getting more than usual and others, like Leupp, still in a drought situation.

Man dies in semi-trailer crash

A two-vehicle accident with a fatality was reported on July  16 on U.S. Highway 160 near Tuba City.

Police received several reports from passing motorists about 2:45 p.m. that a car and a semi-trailer were involved in an accident.

The police report didn't give any details of what caused the accident but said that when police arrived at the scene, they saw the semi-trailer totally engulfed in flames.

It was at that time that police were informed that another vehicle was involved and police immediately began searching the roadway near the accident scene to see if anyone was injured in that car.

When they couldn't find the car, police realized that the car was attached to the front end of the semi-trailer and was engulfed in flames. They also determined that the driver was still in the vehicle.

When firefighters put out the fire, police were able to identify the driver as Darrell Greer, 54, of Phoenix. The driver of the semi-trailer, who was not identified in the report, was taken to the Tuba City hospital for treatment.

N.M. official investigate for assault

Gallup police are investigating a report that Carol Sloan, a member of the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission and a former McKinley County clerk, committed aggravated assault on July 15.

According to city police officials, Sloan attacked Brenda Yazzie at her apartment in Gallup between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., hitting her with a rock she had in her hand.

Yazzie said Sloan also kicked her during the attack and yelled at her, accusing her of having an affair with her husband. Yazzie told police that she and Sloan's husband, Jameson Sloan, had been exchanging phone calls in the past few weeks about a medical condition both of them had.

Police officials said Tuesday that no arrest warrant has been issued as yet and the case is under investigation.

Train accident kills Fort Wingate man

Tribal and county police investigated the first train-pedestrian accident of the year on July 21 in an accident that occurred near Iyanbito, N.M.

The victim was identified as Jerry Antonio, 41, of Fort Wingate, N.M. Train crews said that Antonio was laying cross-wise on the tracks about 9:20 p.m. and by the time that the train engineer saw him it was too late to stop the train.

Blood tests have been sent to the state to determine if liquor was a factor in the incident.

Man who drove over edge of Grand Canyon identified

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. - The body of a man who drove his car over the edge of the Grand Canyon earlier this week has been identified as that of Gheorghe Chiriac of Apple Valley, Calif., according to a National Park Service press release.

On Monday, July 13, at approximately 6 a.m., the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center received multiple reports that a car had been driven over the edge near the El Tovar Hotel on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

Upon arriving at the scene, park rangers found tire tracks indicating that a car had been driven up onto the curb of the loading area between the El Tovar Hotel and the Kachina Lodge.

The tracks indicated that the car then veered left, traveling through the grass behind Kachina Lodge until it reached the Thunderbird Lodge where it veered right and into the canyon. As the car had traveled a significant distance from the regular roadway, there was no wall or barrier where it went over the edge.

Rescue personnel descended on ropes and located the vehicle approximately 600 feet below the rim. The body of a lone male was located shortly thereafter. After the scene was documented, the body was transported to the rim by helicopter via long-line operation and then picked up by the Coconino County Medical Examiner.

The body has now been identified as that of 57-year-old Gheorghe Chiriac who emigrated from Romania approximately 30 years ago. His death has been ruled a suicide.

The investigation into this incident was conducted by the National Park Service.

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