Window Rock boys, Winslow girls earn top seeds

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK, Feb. 11, 2013

Boys

For much of the entire season, the Scouts had a stranglehold on the top seed, so when the brackets were released on Sunday it was easy to identify them as the team to beat for this year's state title.

Chinle, which gave Window Rock fits during the regular season, came in as the No. 5 seed as both teams will received a bye in the first round.

The Scouts will play the winner of Tuesday's game between No. 16 and No. 17 Show Low on Friday night at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome on the campus of Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Chinle, meanwhile, will face the survivor between No. 21 Fountain Hills and No. 12 Alchesay at 1:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

On Tuesday night, No. 14 Tuba City will host No. 19 Page for the right to take on No. 3 Scottsdale Christian in Friday's second-round game.

Rounding the state qualifiers in Divison III from the area include No. 23 Sanders-Valley and No. 24 Winslow. Both teams were considered bubble teams entering the final week of the regular season.

Valley will play at No. 10 Florence while Winslow travels to Valley Christian tomorrow.

Girls

A strong week by Winslow and Tuba City altered some changes in the final seedings of the Division III bracket.

Last week, the Warriors were ranked No. 8, but after they posting wins over then No. 2 Window Rock and then No. 3 Alchesay, the Tuba City squad moved up considerably and gained the No. 4 seed for this year's tournament.

As for the Bulldogs, they moved up three spots to garner the top seed and finished ahead of Sanders-Valley and Window Rock.

Alchesay finished behind Tuba City at No. 5 while Page received a No. 6 seed despite losing in the first round of the sectional tournament last week.

The defending Division III champions finished ahead of Valley Christian and Safford as the top eight teams will receive a first round bye

Many Farms, the tournament's No. 9 seed, head the next group of local teams that made the state tournament.

The Lady Lobos will entertain No. 24 San Carlos on Wednesday night for the right to take on Safford on Saturday morning in Flagstaff.

Also hosting first-round games include No. 12 Holbrook, No. 13 Chinle and No. 16 Monument Valley.

The Roadrunners will play Estrella Foothills while Chinle host Payson and MV entertains Round Valley.

Ganado, which earned the No. 19 seed, will be at No. 14 Camp Verde. All games are scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m.

Division IV

In Division IV, four local teams made the cut with Rock Point girls' team earning the No. 9 seed.

The Lady Cougars play No. 24 Mesa Prep on Friday at Bradshaw Mountain High School at 6 pm.

The Red Mesa Lady Redskins earned the No. 17 seed and will tangle with Valley Union at the Tim's Toyata Center in Prescott at 4:30 pm, followed by the St. Michael and St. David matchup.

The Red Mesa boys' basketball team was the only school invited from the area to compete in the Division IV boys state tournament.

The Redskins will play San Miguel on Friday at noon at the Tim's Toyota Center.  

Hearing set in case of Mariano Lake man, post-dated checks

By Bill Donovan
Special to the Times

WINDOW ROCK - The Navajo Office of Hearing and Appeals is scheduled to hold a hearing today regarding allegations of corruption by a former official for the Mariano Lake Chapter.

The complaint was filed against Brian Chee by the Navajo Nation Ethics and Rules Office but it's different than most of the cases handled by that office.

Usually the cases that come before the ethics office deal with chapter officials who take money from their chapter over a long period of time. But in Chee's case, it appears to have happened on or about the day he resigned as community services coordinator for the chapter.

The complaint states that on or about September 28, 2012, Chee wrote out four checks to himself that were all dated in the future.

There was one for $3,800 dated October 25, 2012. Another for $500 dated October 15, 2012 and the third was for $3,800, dated on October 19, 2012. The last check was for $9,500 and was dated on October 31, 2012.

The checks totaled $17,600.

Chapter officials said they were not aware that the checks had been signed to Chee until they came into the chapter' s bank account.

The ethics office is asking for restitution of the money he stole from the chapter and a sanction that would prohibit him from tribal employment until he repays the money.

At the request of the chapter, the ethics office is also asking that Chee be required to give a public apology to the chapter and its members for his actions.

Bill would allow 10 percent of Fire Rock revenue to go back to local chapters

By Bill Donovan
Special to the Times

WINDOW ROCK — George Munoz said Friday he is optimistic that the state legislature will agree with him that some of the money the state collects from the Fire Rock Navajo Casino should go back to help the Navajo people.

Munoz, a state senator who represents Gallup and the Navajo chapters surrounding Gallup, is sponsoring a bill that would turn over 10 percent of the state's revenue from Fire Rock back to Navajo chapters to use for scholarships or improvements to the chapter house.

The bill would not affect any of the Indian casinos in the state and part of the resigning is that Fire Rock is the only Indian casino in the state that derives a great majority of its revenue from the area's Indian population.

More than 90 percent and possibly as much s 95 percent of the people who visit Fire Rock are Navajos or other Natives. At other casinos, including the Northern Edge Navajo Casino near Farmington, the clientele is primary non-Native.

The tribe's third casino in New Mexico, Flowing Waters Navajo Casino south of Shiprock, is a class II casino and therefore doesn't share its revenue with the state.

Casinos like Fire Rock are required to give 8 percent of its slot earnings - after payoffs - to the state under the current compact between the Navajo Nation and the state.

Fire Rock, according to a state website, earns between $8 million and $11 million every three months, which means it would owe the state between $900,000 and a million each quarter. If Munoz' bills passes, that would give the chapters about $90,000 every three months.

Senate Bill 398 went before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Thursday and met with a mixed response with not enough support to either past or reject it. It now moves on without any kind of endorsement or opposition from the Indian Affairs Committee.

That usually causes problems for a bill when it comes before the full senate for a vote and it will depend on how much lobbying Munoz can do with his fellow members, many of them who have gone on the record as opposing any measure that will reduce revenue to the state.