2021: The Year in Review, Part II

The Navajo County Fairgrounds in Holbrook hosted the Arizona Livestock Camp, with nearly 600 livestock brought in by youth. The event brought in about 190 kids from all over, as far as Arizona and New Mexico, Colorado, with clinicians, teachers from all over the United States come to teach the latest trends in the livestock fitting industry and showing industry.

Senator Jeff Flake of Snowflake was appointed by President Joe Biden to be the next ambassador to Turkey.

Holbrook Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Koerperich noted that a purification system would be installed throughout the school district to help mitigate the spread of potential virus including COVID. The district planned to use three different air purification systems depending on the size of the room.

The Winslow City Council approved a contract amendment authorizing a substantial expansion of the previously approved street lighting project. A $270,000 grant would be utilized for the engineering and construction of LED street lighting in the City of Winslow. The bid was awarded to add approximately an additional 50 light fixtures around the city, adding about 300 total new fixtures.

The Winslow Police Department was poised to become the 34th accredited department in the state; the result of years of work by Chief Ken Arend and Lieutenant Ernie Cano. They passed the audit which was the final step in the process, with 100% compliance.

Winslow Unified School Superintendent Connie Gover presented a letter to the board and to the public outlining the plan for returning to in-person only learning starting July 29. In the letter, she explained that the districts priorities are: maintaining a safe and healthy workplace/classroom; sustaining the continuity of instruction to all students; and encouraging an environment of fairness, open communications, and concern for the well-being of students and staff.

Navajo County Public Health Director Janelle Linn addressed the Navajo County Board of Supervisors and explained that variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 are creating, a “resurgence of COVID in our community.” Linn stated that the severity and the increase of illness was due to this Delta variant.

The Millet Swale Levee just south of Taylor breached, causing residents three miles downstream to evacuate. The monsoon season was hitting hard in Navajo County with heavy rainfall through most of the week. Navajo County Emergency Management issued evacuation orders for parts of Snowflake, Taylor and Shumway and had the City of Winslow on alert due to the rising waters at the levee. Most affected flood areas included Indian Route 71, Birdsprings and Little Singer School to the north, and Shumway, Taylor, Millet Swale, Snowflake, Pinedale, Heber and White Mountain Lake to the south. Also impacted was the Winslow Levee which, with over 1.50” of rainfall reported, came dangerously close to breach before the waters receded. Roads also were closed in the area include a stretch of McLaws Road in Holbrook. The Red Cross set up shelter at Holbrook High School and livestock was being sheltered at the Navajo County Fairgrounds as residents in low lying areas were evacuated.

August

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached an agreement with Richard Berry, the owner and manager of a group of bankrupt auto dealerships in Arizona and New Mexico, to resolve charges that he and the dealerships deceived consumers and falsified information on vehicle financing applications. Many of the affected consumers were members of the Navajo Nation. The FTC reached an earlier settlement with the four dealerships: Tate’s Auto Center of Winslow, Tate’s Automotive, Tate Ford-Lincoln-Mercury and Tate’s Auto Center of Gallup. The most result resulted in a $450,000 payment to the FTC and concluded the FTC’s case.

Associate Vice President, Chief Business Officer Maderia Ellison stated that in October of 2018 the Board had set aside $20 million from accumulated savings to cover construction of new facilities at the White Mountain Campus in Show Low. Since then, the architects updated the Master Facilities Plan for Show Low and other locations. The 28,820 square foot facility will house instructional programs for welding automotive and EIT (engineer in training) programs, and space for the maintenance department. The initial estimate to construct the skills center, including the design fee, was $7.7 million for a building size of 26,500 square feet, but it now increased to $11.7 million, due to increased cost of materials and the addition of approximately 2,300 square feet.

Senator Mark Kelly made a formal request to the Senate Committee on Energy and Water’s appropriations committee for $3 million for the design, engineering and construction of a new or refurbished levee for Winslow. Due to the rains and flash flood conditions, officials from the county and the City of Winslow were keeping a close watch on the water levels at the levee. The Winslow City Council approved an agreement for Federal Lobbying Services between the city and Nexxus Consulting, LLC that would allow the firm to represent the city’s interest in the levee project in Washington, D.C.

Navajo County Attorney, Brad Carlyon, in partnership with Winslow Police Chief Ken Arend and Navajo County Sheriff David Clouse introduced Project Clean Slate. For one day only, members of the Navajo County Attorney’s Office were on hand to help fill out applications to set aside convictions.

For the first time in Atlas Obscura’s 11-year history of cataloging the most interesting places in the world, the magazine’s executives created their own addition to the list right outside of Holbrook. Described on its website as a “definitive guidebook and friendly tour-guide to the world’s most wondrous places,” the creation of The Plotz Plot definitely fits the bill. Situated on a little over an acre of land about half a mile from Route 66 near Adamana, in the barren Arizona desert is a small bright orange cargo shed with its name in bold white lettering across the side for visitors to visit and leave their own mementos of transitions in their lives.

In an effort was to ensure the safety of the students on campus Winslow Unified School District made the decision to not allow visitors or volunteers on the district’s campus due to the current high rate of COVID-19 cases in the county.

Winslow High School freshman Amanda Childers won the All American Girl National Jr. Teen Miss Overall title. She also won Second Alternate for the 2021 Liberty Girl. In Personal Introduction Amanda won Best Casual Wear and Best Personal Introduction and in Party/Formal Wear she won Best Formal Wear. She represented the State of Arizona and Winslow by making appearances in several over the course of the year.

The City of Holbrook asked residents to conserve water over a period of several days after two of its three wells went down. The city shut water off to sites such as the Holbrook Unified School District and the city parks over the weekend in hopes of keeping the tanks full, but then on Monday, a break in the line occurred on Mission Lane, causing more water to leak out.

During the Holbrook Unified School District board meeting the board approved policy a revision that a school district or charter school may not require a student or teacher to receive a vaccine for COVID-19 or to wear a face covering to participate in in-person learning. As the Indian Wells Elementary School is on the Navajo Nation where masks are required, the district complied and made it mandatory on that campus.

Winslow High School student Jett Jue competed at the USA Track and Field 2021 National Junior Olympics Championships in Jacksonville, Florida, against 138 of the top long jumpers in the nation and placed 11th in the country. He also finished with a new personal-best with 6.88m/22’7,” nearly nine inches over his last best.

Arizona experienced its one millionth COVID-19 infection and health experts feared that kids in schools and the looming Labor Day holiday would only make matters worse.

The Holbrook Chamber of Commerce discussed the removal and possible relocation of the marquee sign located at Gillespie Park at the intersection of Hopi Drive and Navajo Blvd. with the intent to replace it with a life-size statue of a horse and rider commemorating the Hashknife Posse, for which funds were currently being raised to create.

September

Gov. Doug Ducey announced that Arizona would accept refugees fleeing the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan – but still worried that the U.S. response would be too little, too late. A Special Immigrant Visa to come to the U.S. could take years, years that those still in Afghanistan may not have. Afghan refugees would be allowed in the country once they have been cleared for entry into the United States for service to the US military. It was noted that there are thousands, possibly tens of thousands, of such refugees. There was already a backlog of 18,000 Afghans seeking Special Immigrant Visas in the 15 months preceding the Taliban takeover of the country. But that does not include the applicants’ family members, a number that was noted as possibly being as high as 53,000 Afghans.

Dr. Joshua LaBaer, Director of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute spoke regarding the COVID vaccine and the Delta variant. The Delta variant, he explained, “Is driving this, largely, but we do know that the vaccines are effective against the variants of SARS-COVID II. We have learned about the Delta variant recently and one of the most notable features of it is the speed at which this variant increases the number of viruses within the person that it infects and the speed with which that person becomes ill. This particular variant is not good at evading the immune system. It responds to the vaccine, it’s just that it gets in the system so quickly that the body doesn’t have a chance to respond quickly, so the immune system is overwhelmed before the body has a chance to respond.

In a lab at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum in Seattle, Wash., a large block of fossils on loan from the Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO), were carefully cleaned with their work revealing a complete skeleton of the extinct reptile Revueltosaurus callenderi, a crocodilian relative known only from the Late Triassic of North America. These animals had boney armor and the leaf shaped teeth of an herbivore. The first discoveries of Revueltosaurus teeth were made in the late 1990s. The shape of the teeth led paleontologists to think they had discovered a new plant eating dinosaur from the Late Triassic. However, in 2004, the discovery of a complete skeleton at PEFO revealed the creature had the ankle bones of a crocodile relative. The name Revueltosaurus comes from the area near Revuelto Creek in New Mexico where the animal was first discovered.

Across the country, as many as one in five renters said they had fallen behind on rent during the pandemic. For families who have no financial safety net to fall back on, the economic consequences of the pandemic pushed them to the precipice of homelessness. The Biden administration expected the $46.5 billion Emergency Rental Assistance Program, launched by Congress in December and March, to stave off the impending eviction crisis. But only about $5.1 billion had been distributed to Americans by states and localities through the end of July. The administration had hoped a new federal moratorium on evictions would buy states and localities time to get the funding into the right hands, but the Supreme Court on Aug. 26 rejected the extension, clouding the future for tens of thousands of renters.

As COVID-19 ravaged America, hunger soared and families suffered from uncertainty over their next meal, with more than one in six households reporting food insecurity, according to the Urban Institute. Through a dramatic expansion of food assistance benefits, such as P-EBT, the federal government brought temporary relief to millions of Americans. But as the programs wind down, families and experts fear a new surge of hunger. As food banks prepared for another wave of hunger to strike a nation in recovery, organizations and people have become self-reliant. Small-scale gardens and low-priced farmers markets have taken root in certain communities.

Navajo County Fairgrounds Maintenance Manager Jose Villareal was honored for managing and maintaining the grounds and the facility for 35 years, making it a source of pride for all of Navajo County.

The Navajo Nation and the Arizona Commerce Authority announced a new partnership to promote the Navajo Nation as a major international film and media destination. The partnership aims to build a foundation of generational opportunities in the film and media industry. The agreement emphasizes both entities’ shared vision to more fully capitalize on Arizona’s unique film and media attractiveness. Efforts outlined in the agreement include developing marketing strategies and activities, public relations campaigns, implementing training and employment opportunities in film and digital media production, creating a shared talent and production database, and promoting respective infrastructure and resources. The MOU serves as a guide for the parties as film and media partners in a collaborative effort to renew economic, workforce, and training opportunities on the Navajo Nation and in the State of Arizona.

While tobacco sales dropped, vaping is now the popular trend amongst the youth as well as marijuana, which now comes in a variety of forms that kids can gain access to, including candy. Another disturbing trend is fentanyl-laced drugs that can be fatal. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent and can become lethal within a few minutes of exposure. The drug can be a small blue pill with M30 stamped on it or it may be mixed with other drugs making it unable to be detected until it is ingested. Last year Navajo County had 23 overdose deaths with 14 involving fentanyl, four, opioids, two methamphetamine and three from non-opioid prescription drugs. This year as of September, there were 16 overdose deaths with three involving fentanyl, four due to methamphetamine use and nine due to non-opioid prescription drugs.

The Sheriff’s Auxiliary Volunteers of Navajo County opened up volunteerism with the Sheriff’s Auxiliary Junior Volunteer Program. The program graduates work alongside the general membership doing community service for Navajo County citizens. The purpose of the program is to support the community by providing youth with a constructive place to experience training and life-skills. It also helps support youth to choose to be a responsible part of the community through volunteerism. The first “Junior Academy” had seven graduates and second set of Junior Volunteers in May of this year.

The Navajo County Board of Supervisors revisited the topic of debt pertaining to the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, also known as PSPRS. The PSPRS was approximately $16 million and is a debt that the county has about 17 years to pay it off. With an interest rate of 7.3% interest rate the county was investigating financing options to lower that debt and what the potential savings to the county could be.

HUSD Superintendent Dr. Koerperich spoke to the board regarding the proposed Instructional Time Model aligned to instructional time flexibility. The Instructional Time Model (ITM) allows for up to 50% of instructional time to be remote or virtual if the district chooses such an instructional platform. “I think coming off of a disruption like the pandemic it did provide us the opportunity to reevaluate the way that we deliver educational services.”

The historic Robinson & Co. Drug Store, commonly known as Wattron’s Drug Store, in Holbrook collapsed. This caused great concern for advocates of the restoration of that historic building located on Bucket of Blood Street. The building was constructed in 1888 by Dr. Thomas P. Robinson, with Deputy Sheriff Frank J. Wattron as part owner. The city responded by placing new support beams near the outer edge of the roof while the decision is being made on how to restore the wall. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and as such, needs to meet specific restoration standards in order to retain that status, which can be costly.

Projections showed that Lake Mead and Lake Powell could reach “critically low reservoir elevations” sooner than expected, spurring experts to say that “bold actions” will be needed to change course. The Bureau of Reclamation report showed an 88% chance that Lake Powell could fall below 3,525 feet by next August, a level that would endanger hydropower production, with chances Lake Mead will hit critical levels in the next few years. The five-year projection is grimmer than estimates released just two months previous, and shows that a drought contingency plan triggered earlier this year by low reservoir levels, while it was aggressive, may not be enough.

After months of work and millions of dollars, the contractors investigating Maricopa County’s 2020 elections were able to answer unequivocally that President Joe Biden did win the election there last November. But otherwise, the auditors spent several hours and more than 100 pages in their report to the Arizona Senate laying out questions they said they could not answer and calling for more investigation.

Holbrook City Manager Ted Soltis noted the city’s portion of the $600,000 Brownfield grant that is to be shared as part of Apache County Coalition may be used for the Bucket of Blood and the other historic buildings in the Henning Block to do an asbestos and lead survey of those buildings. “We are also in the process of having the structures evaluated by historical preservation experts. This way we can know what’s wrong with the buildings (and) how we can stabilize the buildings and what the costs are and make sure that whatever is done, is done properly.”

The Petrified Forest National Park tackled some much-anticipated improvement projects in the Painted Desert Visitor Center and on several of the park’s trails. The historic Painted Desert Visitor Center building was set to undergo foundation, and sewer line repairs. Blue Mesa, Puerco Pueblo and Crystal Forest trails would be receiving asphalt repairs.

October

Navajo County Public Health Director Janelle Linn reported on the rise of COVID cases within the county noting that in July, 304 new cases of COVID were reported off tribal lands. In August, 760 and at the end of September 817 new cases were reported for the month with the majority of cases being those who were not vaccinated.

Governor Doug Ducey announced the appointment of Joseph Clark to the Navajo County Superior Court. The vacancy on the Navajo County Superior Court was created by the retirement of Judge Ralph Hatch on June 30. Ducey noted, “Joseph Clark has served his country and his Navajo County community well, and he will bring that spirit of service to the bench.”

The Navajo County Board of Supervisors addressed the PSPRS liability. The current plan would allow the county to pay that off in about 17 years. The board passed a resolution to finance the debt with bonds, effectively saving the county cash value of a little over $11 million over the next 17 years. The supervisors approved a budget amendment in the amount of $17 million to fund payment of bond proceeds to PSRS. This came in the form of a transfer of excess budget capacity of $10 million from ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act), $5 million from the employee benefits trust account and $2 million from the general fund.

The HUSD governing board gave their support to a change to the Arizona School Board Association (ASBA) bylaw, adding representation on the ASBA Board of Directors for Hispanic and Native American interests. There was one seat on the ASBA Board of Directors designated for a representative of the HNAIC and it alternates every two years between Hispanic representation and Native American representation, creating gaps in representation.

In an unexpected move last month, the US Forest Service (USFS) cancelled the solicitation for the Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) Phase 2 Request for Proposal (RFP) for landscape-scale forest management. According to Navajo County administration, the actions by USFS halted a critical endeavor or forest restoration for protecting communities from catastrophic wildfires. The impacts of which affect watershed functions that serve major metropolitan areas, ecological systems, local rural economy through forestry, ranching and recreation economies. Phase 2 would have restored more than 500,000 acres of forest to its natural, fire-adapted state by attracting public and private investment in forest industry and biomass energy.

The Navajo County Board of Supervisors gave their final approval to participation in the One Arizona plan as part of the opioid epidemic litigation drug settlement. Navajo County joined as a plaintiff in the multi-district litigation pending in Ohio against certain opioid manufacturers and distributors. The county is seeking to be compensated for the additional burden that has been placed upon the court system, the Public Defender’s Office, prosecution, probation, public safety resources and the greater need for treatment as a result of the opioid epidemic.

The Navajo County Board of Supervisors gave their approval for the county to participate in the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP) between Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and Navajo County. The ODMAP is part of the public health/public safety framework that highlights five intersecting initiatives focused on substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery, as well as reducing the availability and use of illicit drugs. The ODMAP will provide real-time overdose surveillance data across jurisdictions to support public safety and health efforts to mobilize an immediate response to an overdose spike.

The Navajo County Public Health District was exploring the feasibility of constructing a new location to house its code enforcement-related functions including Medical Death Investigations, Animal Care and Environmental Health on county-owned land at the Taylor Road Yard on Pinedale Road in Taylor. The Public Health District proposes to develop a building that can accommodate a vehicle bay, the cooler unit, staff offices, and meeting space to conduct medical death investigations. The location in Taylor would offer a central location to house the division manager, staff and vehicles.

The Holbrook City Council approved the purchase of new fencing in the amount of $43,008 for Hunt Park in Holbrook to replace existing chain link fencing that was more than 40 years old.

Navajo County reopened its Juvenile Detention Center. The center opened with added evidence-based practices to help juveniles succeed, including a program called Power Source to work with the juveniles, and once released, their probation officer along with treatment staff will continue the program with the juveniles.

Atsuo Sakurai’s Arizona Sake received worldwide acclaim, receiving awards for best sake in the US at the Los Angeles International Wine Competition in 2019, and the title of “World’s Best Sake Made Outside of Japan” at the Tokyo Sake Competition in 2019. He has been featured in magazines and news publications throughout the world, and was recently highlighted in the Arts and Culture section of the acclaimed Smithsonian Magazine, as well as in Arizona Highways.

Northland Pioneer College reported a decline in enrollment. The District Governing Board adopted a three-year tuition plan in FY20, which was amended in FY21 to include a new in-district rate for the remaining years. For FY 2020-21 the rate is $79 per in-state credit hour, FY 2021-22 will be $82 per in-state credit hour but for those residing in-district the rate will be $65 per credit hour, and in FY 2022-23 the rate will be $85 per in-state credit hour and $68 per in-district credit hour.

Kourtney Hendricks was selected as the new assistant principal at Winslow High School. Hendricks had previously served and will continue to serve as the activity’s coordinator and athletic director for WHS.

November

A proposal to allow more endangered Mexican wolves to be released into the wilds of Arizona and New Mexico, where, federal officials say, the animals are thriving was introduced for public comment. At least 186 Mexican wolves live in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, according to a 2021 study.

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez told a Senate panel that special protections are needed to reverse the “very disrespectful” treatment of Native Americans who face extraordinary challenges in the voting process. Nez joined others urging a Senate Judiciary subcommittee to support the Native American Voting Rights Act, which would set minimum federal requirements for voting on tribal lands, including early voting, mail-in balloting, ballot collecting and ID standards.

Celena Ambrose of Jeddito, an early childhood educator with Holbrook’s Head Start and a graduate of Northland Pioneer College (NPC), was named as one of only 11 Public Broadcasting System (PBS) Kids Early Learning Champions nationwide, and only one of two to be selected from a small, rural community. This award recognizes and celebrates passionate educators who work with the nation’s youngest students, from infants to second graders.

The Holbrook City Council approved the purchase of a new fire truck. The city was also awarded a grant for the airport and $850,000 in grants for the city parks. The grants will go towards baseball field fence, dugouts, stands, basketball courts, picnic tables, playground equipment, skate park, tennis courts, pickleball courts and a new ramada at Hunt Park; new heater and resurfacing of the pool; a trail going around the back of the pool connecting all the way around the park with lighting; new picnic tables, equipment, and rebuilding the basketball court at Lewis Park, and new picnic tables and playground equipment at Lisitzky Park.

Northland Pioneer College received a grant award from the Rural Utilities Services – Distance Learning and Technology (RUS-DLT) program in the amount of $715,890. The funds will be used to fund the Advancing Educational Resilience in Emergency Situations project which is a two-year project, that establishes a hub/end user configuration at 16 school sites where currently there are only end user configurations.

Tribal leaders attending the White House summit on tribal affairs said it “shows promise” for the federal commitment to solving problems in Indian Country and to giving Native Americans a voice in the process. “It is very important that we come back together in unity with the federal government,” Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said.

The Winslow City Council decided not to adopt a resolution in support of a legislative redistricting map presented to them and created by former Arizona Senator Sylvia Allen. Her map is one of several being considered and excluded portions of the Navajo Nation that are in the current legislative district for Winslow. Winslow City Manager John Barkley said, “Any redistricting initiative that affects Winslow must be drawn to protect and maintain the voting and civil rights of all Winslow citizens and represent the cultural and demographic diversity that we value, as opposed to one political, demographic or socio-economic group or another.”

Winslow was chosen as one of six towns for the Home Town Kickstart televisions series presented by PEOPLE, HGTV that will mobilize and deploy its biggest stars to activate a three-pronged kickstart mission that includes: refreshing the home of a local hero, giving a small business an upgrade and invigorating a public space. In addition, PEOPLE magazine will share the unique stories of each town and its most intriguing people.

December

Arizona’s unemployment rate continued its steady decline in October, falling to 5.2%, down a full percentage point from just two months earlier and almost one-third of the state’s pandemic high, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It was the fourth straight month of a falling jobless rate for the state, even as the overall workforce has continued growing. The 3.65 million people in the Arizona workforce in October was the most in the state since 1976, the first year for which BLS numbers are available. Job gains were spread across almost all categories, with the biggest increase in the leisure and hospitality industry that was battered last year by pandemic shutdowns and travel bans.

Winslow’s Mayor, Roberta Cano was nominated the title of Woman of the Year. Each year the Arizona Capitol Times awards a female leader from a bevy of women in various commercial, municipal and non-profit sectors who are named Women Achievers. She was one of 21 nominees in various leadership categories. Cano was honored to be among the nominees in the Public Service category.

It’s the holiday season, but not everyone is merry and bright. That’s because holiday shoppers are paying higher prices and seeing a few more empty shelves this year thanks to a “global supply chain crisis” – a phrase that’s become all-too-familiar at dinner conversations. COVID-19 was the catalyst for this widespread series of supply bottlenecks, but these constrictions have affected nearly every sector of the economy – from shipping and trucking to manufacturing and storage.

Holbrook Police Chief Nathan Christensen presented the 2021 annual report for his department to the city council showing that calls to the department were reduced from 9,506 to 7,723 from 2020 to 2021 and response times to calls reduced.

The Winslow Unified School District Governing Board approved two major purchases for playground equipment at Jefferson Elementary School, which will receive $177,309 and Bonnie Brennan Elementary School, which will receive $194,300 in new playground equipment. The equipment will be provided through an ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) grant from the federal government as part of COVID relief efforts.

The Navajo County Board of Supervisors adopted two resolutions that will move the county forward in its broadband endeavors. The board adopted the Broadband Strategic Plan by the consulting firm Magellan Advisors and secondly, the adoption of a resolution allowing the county to proceed with the grant application process.

Navajo County Public Health Director Janelle Linn reported that COVID case counts continue to surge and the hospitalization and mortality rates, especially off tribal lands are higher than they have been since the start of the pandemic.