Month: November 2014
Albuquerque pilot, girlfriend on board missing plane
An Albuquerque pilot and his girlfriend, a teacher, were on board a single-engine plane reported missing Monday, according to a family friend.
New Mexico State Police confirmed Howard Guthrie and Melissa Watson took off from the Moriarty Airport en route to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, on Friday. The plane was scheduled to land in Pagosa Springs at 5 p.m. Friday and return this past weekend, however, officials say the plane never made it to Pagosa Springs.
“We think that they’re out there somewhere and need help,” said long-time friend, Matthew Pena.
Civil Air Patrol officials told KOB the pilot was advised of poor weather conditions in the area at the time.
On Tuesday, the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office said the plane’s flight path came to an end just west of Buckles Lake in the San Juan National Forest. The county assembled three ground rescue teams to search the area near the plane’s last GPS reading. Three aircrafts will also patrol the area, rotating every hour.
Officials said fresh snow from the weekend could be covering the plane if it went down.
At this time, the sheriff’s office says there is no confirmation that the plane crashed.
Guthrie is the registered owner of the single-engine Mooney M20 plane, according to Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board records.
Watson is a teacher at Valle Vista Elementary School in Albuquerque. Her young son also attends the school.
“The fact that neither one of them has contacted family or friends in four days is very alarming,” said Pena. “Something is definitely wrong because she’s a great mother and great teacher and she would contact her place of employment and her son for sure.”
The search will continue until dark Tuesday and will begin again Wednesday morning.
This is a developing news story; stay tuned to KOB.com and KOB Eyewitness News 4 for the latest details.
A family friend has set up a GoFundMe account where you can donate online.To visit the GoFundMe page: Click Here
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated that the pilot was from Rio Rancho based on the plane’s registration. The pilot is from Albuquerque.
-With Elizabeth Reed; originally published at KOB.com
Navajo Nation Council fails to override presidential veto on language requirement
The Navajo Nation Council could not garner enough votes Thursday to override President Ben Shelley’s veto of a motion to amend the language requirement for government seats, including president, to give voters the say of which candidates are fluent in the Navajo language.
The council would have needed 16 ‘yea’ votes to override the veto, but got only 13 in favor. Five council members voted against the override, and four did not vote.
The Navajo Nation Council’s Naa’bik’iyati’ Committee passed a resolution Wednesday 12-5 to override the veto, which sent the motion to today’s council special session.
Voting against the override were Joshua Lavar Butler, Kenneth Maryboy, Leonard H. Pete, Alton Joe Shepherd and Dwight Witherspoon.
Lorenzo Bates, Elmer P. Begay, Russell Begaye and Jonathan Nez did not vote.
Roland Tso, who was sworn in as a new member of the council Thursday morning prior to the vote, voted in favor of the override, as did George Apachito, Mel R. Begay, Nelso S. BeGaye, Lorenzo Curley, Charles Damon, Jonathan Hale, Walter Phelps, Danny Simpson, Roscoe D. Smith, Duane Tsinigine, Leonard Tsosie and Edmund Yazzie.
This was effectively former presidential candidate Chris Deschene’s last chance to get on the presidential ballot.
Testimony said more than 8,000 signatures in support of the override had been collected and brought to the council chambers, and that only 200 signatures had been collected opposing the override.
There was also testimony from Former Miss Navajo Karletta Chief that Deschene had spoken more Navajo at debates prior to this year’s primary than several other candidates.
The delayed presidential election is to be held on December 23. Voters will have to choose between Joe Shirley, Jr. and his vice presidential candidate Dineh Benally, and Russell Begaye and his VP candidate, Jonathan Nez.
Navajo Nation committee votes to override president’s language requirement veto; full council vote next
The Navajo Nation Council’s Naa’bik’iyati’ Committee passed a resolution Wednesday 12-5 to override President Ben Shelley’s veto on changes to the language requirement in the Navajo Nation election code.
The veto must be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the full council.
Russell Begaye and Jonathan Nez will not be able to vote during the council’s vote, as they are currently on the presidential ballot. However, though they will be recused from the council vote, they will be considered voting members and raise the number of votes required for the two-thirds override.
The postponed presidential election has been tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 23.
The council is scheduled to meet in a special session on Thursday and Friday. The veto override measure was placed on the council’s agenda, according to a spokesperson for the Office of the Speaker. The spokesperson said the item is first on the agenda. The session is scheduled to start Thursday at 10 a.m.
There are also currently two vacant seats on the council, so paired with the inclusion of Begaye and Nez, the council would have 22 voting members. This means the council will need 15 votes to override the veto during the special session, three more than 12 votes garnered by the committee Wednesday.
The Speaker’s Office spokesperson said the office was unsure how a successful override of the veto would affect the election, and said the issue could go back to court.
The resolution to pass the amendment to the language requirements for office was passed Oct. 24 and vetoed by Shelley Oct. 28.
The Navajo Nation Supreme Court ruled Oct. 31 that presidential candidate Chris Deschene would not be on the original Nov. 4 election ballot and ruled that the Navajo Nation Board of Elections was in contempt of court for not following through with a previous Supreme Court decision to postpone elections and remove Deschene from the ballot.
APD officer Keith Sandy retires from department
Albuquerque police officer Keith Sandy submitted a notice of his retirement to APD Tuesday, according to APD spokesperson Tanner Tixier.
Sandy has been heavily-scrutinized for his role in the shooting death of homeless camper James Boyd earlier this year.
A KOB investigation revealed that hours prior to shooting Boyd in a standoff involving APD and New Mexico State Police, Sandy told another officer he wanted to shoot Boyd in the groin.
An FBI investigation into Sandy’s shooting of Boyd is ongoing, but Sandy has not been indicted. Under New Mexico law, Sandy would not be entitled to a pension if he filed for retirement after a conviction.
The State Public Employees Retirement Association determines retirement eligibility and calculates pensions. KOB has requested Sandy’s documents, but will likely not see them until Wednesday at the earliest.
Sandy is also no longer listed on the City of Albuquerque’s transparency website, though a city spokesperson said that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s out of the payroll system.
Two hours before Sandy shot and killed homeless camper James Boyd, he was recorded telling another officer that he would shoot Boyd in the penis with a shotgun.
Sandy responded to the scene on March 16th where Boyd refused to come down from a makeshift campsite in the foothills near Tramway and Copper. At the scene, Sandy saw former colleague State Police Officer Chris Ware. Sandy didn’t realize it, but Ware’s dash cam was rolling and picked up their conversation.
Sandy: What do they have you guys doing here?
Ware: I don’t know. The guy asked for state police.
Sandy: Who asked?
Ware: I don’t know.
Sandy: For this f***ing lunatic? I’m going to shoot him in the penis with a shotgun here in a second.
Ware: You got uh less-lethal?
Sandy: I got…
Ware: The Taser shotgun?
Sandy: Yeah.
Ware: Oh, I thought you guys got rid of those?
Sandy: ROP’s got one…here’s what we’re thinking, because I don’t know what’s going on, nobody has briefed me…
Civil rights attorney Shannon Kennedy represents Boyd’s family in a wrongful death suit against APD. Kennedy believes Sandy spelled out his intentions, then carried them out.
“Two hours later he’s escalating the situation so he can do just that,” Kennedy said in an exclusive interview with 4 Investigates. “It’s chilling evidence and stunning that he has not been criminally indicted. He says to a state police officer ‘that f’ing lunatic, I’m going to shoot him in the penis. It’s crystal clear and he says it with contempt in his voice.’”
In April, APD internal investigators asked Sandy about what he meant by the “shooting in the penis” comment. In an internal investigation transcript, sandy is quoted saying,
“Jokingly, just kind of locker room banter, just told him, you know, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll shoot him in the pecker with this and call it good.’”
But a few minutes later, the transcript shows that Sandy recanted his statement. The investigator asked, “Did you say anything to Chris Ware about shooting him in the pecker?”
Sandy responded, “I don’t…no, I don’t think I did.”
In the transcript, Sandy gave the internal investigators a lengthy explanation how the officers working in the Albuquerque Police Repeat Offenders Program (ROP) often make cruel and crude jokes. In fact, Sandy described the hostility among his peers getting so bad that the officers adopted a “safe word.” When officer use the safe word, CHINA, all jokes must stop. Sandy told investigators he was merely making a crude joke when he said he wanted to shoot Boyd in the penis.
“Of course it’s not a joke because he went forward and actually shot him,” Kennedy said. “Clearly he has complete disregard for people suffering from mental disabilities. He calls him an expletive lunatic and then in the next breath says I’m going to shoot him in the penis. What is so mortifying about this shooting, and thank goodness we have a tape to show exactly what he did– which is instead of shooting him in the penis, he shoots him in the lower back. So had James Boyd not turned around at that moment to set down his bags, he would have been shot in the penis.”
Sandy, according to an APD spokeswoman, is on administrative leave, but may still carry his gun and badge.