At Week's End; 219; Gallup: A Town Under the Influence, V.B. Price: Defeatism

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.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Tonight, Gallup, a town that shares the title of Indian Capital of the World, with one of the highest rates of alcohol related deaths in the country. Every day we find somebody frozen or somebody run over by a car, run over by a train, a vehicular accident, head on accident, ruleovers, you name it. It happens here. .. .. And VB Good evening, I'm Newborns at Weeks-In, kneeling tonight with a vital issue which is brought as here to Gallup, New Mexico.

It's an issue you undoubtedly have heard about, a blade it has received widespread state and national attention. While it certainly is not confined to Gallup, we have come here because Gallup has become a focal point. The issue is the nation's struggle against alcoholism. Producer Matthew Snowden has been a close observer of the recent developments that have brought so much attention to Gallup. The Indian capital of the world, until recently that has been Gallup's sole claim to fame, a border town, population 22,000, promoting tourism, Native American arts and crafts and beautiful scenery. But a problem which afflicts many towns bordering Indian reservations, that of alcoholism, has finally caught up with Gallup. To many, it is a town under the influence. There are so many drunks in Gallup, the vast majority being Indian that Gallup has earned the name, Drunk City.

Kindly County, where Gallup is the only municipality, ranks number one in the U.S. on the composite index of alcohol problems. It has six times as many alcohol-related deaths as the national average, deaths resulting from traffic fatalities, exposure and illness. Every day we find somebody frozen or somebody run over by a car, run over by a train, vehicular accident, head on accident, rollovers, you name it, it happens here. And after a while, you just become hardened to it and you just think it's a way of life. The drink of choice among the many alcoholics is the locally produced garden deluxe, an inexpensive concoction, hard wine and hard hard liquor. Many in Gallup blame the liquor industry for the alcoholism here. Gallup has twice as many liquor licenses per capita as anywhere else in New Mexico and serving hours at many liquor establishments begin as early as seven in the morning.

But liquor dealers say they've been given a bomb rap. We're very unfairly treated, especially by the present administration. And we are licensed by the state, we are probably more governed than any agency, any business in the state. And our position is, hey, you know, if we're doing something wrong, punish us. The liquor industry has to have a place of accountability. They have to be accountable for what they are doing. They have to be accountable for the result of the action from substance that they are selling. They have to be responsible. If they are not responsible, then who is? Drunken Gallup has been a way of life for thousands of Native Americans for generations. Since Indian prohibition was repealed in 1953, historically, little was done to stop it, but in recent years, many Gallup residents have fought to combat the problem.

On any given Friday or Saturday night, Gallup police round up hundreds of intoxicated Native Americans and put them into protective custody holding sales to dry out for 12 hours. When released, they parade back into downtown to be fed by charitable organizations. Then they are back on the street, panhandling money, selling their plasma, or collecting aluminum cans for money to buy more liquor. It is a cycle which has become routine for many. We pick up anywhere from 50 to 200 people a night. And we have a room that we put them in.

And there's no beds in there, there's no showers, toilet facilities are limited. The people are literally stacked in there, they vomit over on each other, they vomit on the floor, they lay on it, they urinate on each other, and that's inhumane. It's just something that we got accustomed to and sought and really didn't stop to think of how bad it really is. As an example, the police department picked up 29,000 people for protective custody last year and the whole state of Illinois, which is several million people more than the city of Gallup, which is 17,000, they only picked up 29,000, so that gives you an idea of the magnitude of it. It's an epidemic. For those who want help, there isn't much available. Gallup currently has one three to seven day detoxification center, which has 28 beds. And it is only funded to operate 16 beds.

The one 28 day rehabilitation program has 42 beds, but is funded to operate only 12 of these and hence has a long waiting list. For many in Gallup, the lack of funding for the care of those who can't afford it is intolerable. From the state, it's declined from about 1.1 million to 608,000. From the Navajo tribe, it's declined from about 400,000 to 200,000. We turn down five or six for everyone we accept. For two years, Gallup Mayor Edward Munoz, who was elected on a cleanup alcoholism platform, has tried to gather enough community support to end the alcoholism cycle. But last October, the mayor got more help than he had ever imagined. It came in the form of an explicit week-long exposé published in the Albuquerque Tribune called a town under the influence. The articles forced many in Gallup to come face to face with their communities' long history of alcoholism and many reacted sharply.

Well, my response is that it was a bad journalism. In the last five years, the Tribune has lost six and a half percent circulation. Just tells me that the Tribune and Mr. Tim Gallagher don't have the acceptance that he would like to do. What he's done here is he had a challenge, either by his company and Cincinnati or himself, that he's going to reverse this. He has chosen to hit Gallup with the full might of what he can do. In my opinion, it was irresponsible journalism, which would never appear in the Gallup independent. Newspapers are in business for a lot of reasons. One of them is to point out the problems you have in a society to create political pressure on the system so that some of those problems are fixed. We certainly never argued that what we were writing about in Gallup was anything new. What was different about our series, I think, is that Joe and David and Patty put a human

face on it the very first day that we talk about being a lot of go dying on the streets and about the fourth or fifth paragraph that story says, but there are no John Doze and Gallup. Nobody dies anonymously out there. Everybody who dies with somebody's relative was somehow a valuable human life. I think that's what was different about our series, but never did we make an argument that, wow, the Tribune has discovered this. We said it was we're going to put a human face on this and continue the coverage and create some sort of political pressure so that some meaningful reform might come. Feeling the groundswell of public outrage, Mayor Munoz and other civic leaders pushed for reforms by inviting state legislative leaders to meetings in Gallup, but they received a less than enthusiastic response. You're not going to wipe out the Alcoholics in Gallup in New Mexico or in these United States folks. Once you're an alcoholic, you're always an alcoholic and it's generational and you talk

about it in terms of dollars, throw all the money you want to add it folks, Mayor, I commend you and I, you know, everybody comes to us for money. I'm going to tell you right now we don't have it, believe me, Manny pointed out graphically and that's not included what your program is in this budget. They next called their Congressman Bill Richardson to Gallup to plead their case. Richardson, who sits on the House Interior Committee, which oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs, pledged federal support if the city could raise state and local revenues. It's an uphill battle, but it's doable if we all work together. There has to be a partnership. The state has to participate. The city has to participate. The Congress has to participate, but the question is who's going to go first? And what we don't want is no one going first and the problem in continuing. Beginning to feel caught between a rock and a hard place, Gallup residents took their show on the road.

Residents of McKinley County marched 200 miles to the state legislature in Santa Fe. What started out as a march of dozens ended with nearly a thousand people united in their calls for reform on the steps of the Capitol building. The march culminated with an emotional appeal to the state Senate by the mother of Hovita Vega, a three-month-old child killed by a drunk driver, and to whom the march was dedicated. We lost her, we lost her, we loved to be free with them. We don't want this to go on no more. We are hurt enough. This is what I want. This is all I need right now. Thank you, Mr. Wong. Gallup's leaders are pressing for increases in liquor excise taxes locally and statewide to fund alcohol treatment programs. They want money to construct a much larger alcohol detox and rehabilitation center, and

they are asking for local authority to close drive-up windows and to decrease serving hours. But with the powerful liquor lobby in Santa Fe, passage of the legislation is uncertain. Despite all of Gallup's efforts to end its alcohol problems, critics contend that the source of the problem is on the reservation. Since 98 percent of the Indians placed in protective custody are not from Gallup, and more than a third of them live in Arizona. They say that until the employment rate increases there, along with the standard of living, these measures will treat symptoms and not causes. If Gallup's anti-alcoholism legislation is passed in the state legislature, federal aid is expected to be forthcoming. Yet even with the go-ahead, the new detox and rehabilitation center would not be operating until well into 1990. In the first month of 1989, 33 people were reported to have died of alcohol-related causes

in Gallup and McKinley County, more than one per day. At that rate, literally hundreds more will die before a single measure will have been implemented. And if that trend continues, Gallup residents may find drunk city a title difficult for their community to shake. Vice Chairman Johnny Thompson of the Navajo Nation was to have been with us for this program but was called away on other business. With me to talk about it, our David Kenejo, Chief Executive Officer of Rehoboth McKinley Christian Health Services, which works with the rehabilitation of alcoholics and Gallup's mayor, Edward Munoz. Gentlemen, thank you for being with us this evening. For you, Mr. Munoz, Gallup proudly proclaims itself the Indian capital of the world and there are signs of economic benefits from that, but are there not also responsibilities

to the Native Americans who come here and find themselves in the plight that has drawn so much attention? Well, we're proud of our community and we're proud of the cultures that we have here in the Navajo's. I think not only economically, but at a lot to our community, the problem that we have with alcohol abuse is not a window rock problem entirely, I think, the responsibility lies in our community because this is where it is. Mr. Kenejo, the statistics we've seen show that about 90 percent of the people who are picked up for drunkenness or treated for it here in Gallup are Native Americans. Most of them from the Navajo Nation, are there any explanations, suggestions as to why this seeming heavy incidence of drinking among Navajo's? You know, what I want to say first of all is I think for the Navajo people, there are a great majority of them who do not even drink. We see a large percentage of Navajo people because there's a jobless rate, there's a homeless

rate, and they're so visible on the streets. But in reality, I think there are many other ethnic groups who may have a drinking problem. However, they have jobs so they're not on the streets both day and night. They don't see them as often, also those who need recovery or treatment because they have third party insurance will oftentimes go to Albuquerque, Durango, or other places. And so it seems that the statistics then become skewed to indicate that the Navajo's have a much greater problem than other ethnic groups, but I'm not sure that I'm going to agreement with that. But it is a financial problem, a health problem, a mortality problem, regardless of what the percentages of people involved in this, it's no less of a problem. Well, it's a problem that does have a financial impact on the community, as an example on the PC problem, I think, at what it costs. The PC that's protected by the custody of that alone is $425,000 a year just to put

them in for 12 hours and then let them out. Another... So that's costing Gallup. That's costing Gallup. Then, of course, the other problem, of course, is the treatment of people that are involved in accidents that are alcohol-related. Most of them don't have the ability to pay, so that causes a strain on the taxpayers. Well, I realize neither of you can speak for the Navajo Nation, but you're intimately familiar with what's going on, what's being done, what's the responsibility from the Navajo standpoint, what should they as a people be doing, or their government be doing? Well, I think what we want to do with the Navajo Nation is work and collaboration to address this problem. It means a working closer together. It means greater trust among the private sector, health care services, as well as the Navajo Nation health services division. We need to see that relationship address this problem together.

Do you think that you will get it? Are there indications that you will get that same level of cooperation from there? First, I've heard that their contributions to funding for alcoholism programs have actually been decreased. I believe that by educating the younger folks, and you can see it in my opinion. Are you making headway? Yes, I believe there are making headway and educating the young young people, not only on the reservation, but here in town as to the pitfalls of alcohol and what it does to you. I think that's where the real impact's going to be and they are working with that, and I think they're making headway on it. Just Ganesha, are you seeing fewer younger Native Americans coming in for treatment? Well, I think what we really see as far as alcoholism, that it's a growing problem, young and old, but there are more and more young people interested. When we get out to the schools and we get out to the different areas, there are more and more young people interested in not drinking and they need the information. The legislature is showing some signs now of interest.

Would that interest be developing without that dramatic march that was staged from Gallup up to Santa Fe, the one which concluded just this week? My observation was that it did have an impact and I think it helped change some lines. When I first went up there at the beginning of the legislature, there was no enthusiasm or not really any support that I could see for the legislation that we were trying to get introduced and adopted. A specific one that you hope, believe may go through, is there one of the four that you think may bear fruit? Well, I would hope and believe that the closing up of driver windows and the 5% tax would go through and the reason for that being is that there's no fiscal impact on the state and there's no fiscal impact on the liquor retail. There have been reports of resistance in your own community to your efforts and those of your administration to address this problem, but you've also had instances of pretty wholehearted cooperation.

Two years ago there wasn't anyone that would hardly talk about it and no support at all, even among the city council today. There is support and there's support not only in the community but out in the county for it. How about in the liquor industry itself? Is it showing any signs of giving support to this because I'm told that the taxable earnings here were something like $14.2 million from that industry higher than finance, real estate, and business combined? Well, we've met with them on several different occasions in every time that I've met with them. They've indicated to me that there is no problem. There is no drinking problem in Gallup and that the liquor industry does not cause it. Has any of them been to your place, Mr. Kaneeho, to see the results of the non-problem? No, that really hasn't occurred and I think one thing that really concerns me was made by Abe Garcia, one of the sellers here, at least he was quoted that way in the paper that he thought the March of Hope was going to be a black eye to the community. And I guess I have a real concern that if you translate that, what I understand he's

saying is it would be preferable to allow people to die and suffer in these accidents, but not have anybody know about it than it would be to bring it to the attention of the public and do something constructive. In other words, they want us to address the problem, but don't say anything about it. That may be like me going to you as governor and saying governor, we've got this problem in Gallup. We need so much money. We need this legislation, but I don't want you to let anybody know anything about it. There's no way you can address the problem and not let people know about it. It'll be interesting to watch and see what comes if indeed something does come out of the proposals that have been made in Santa Fe as a result of that watch. Gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us this evening. Mayor Munoz of Gallup and Mr. Kaneehos, who has involved in the treatment of the people who have run a foul of this disease. Alcoholism. Is it a Native American problem or a New Mexico problem or a national problem? Or is it a human problem, some thoughts on that from tonight's guest commentator, Barrett

Price? America has a defeatist attitude about alcohol addiction and alcohol use. The failure of prohibition in 1933 made us not only accept drinking as a normal part of our national way of life, it also made us feel helpless to stop alcohol abuse. The canned donation just gave up on booze and part of that surrender was to isolate alcoholism as the only evil that drinking brings to our society. We all know, though, of course, that you don't need to be a chronic drunk for drinking to be a problem. Just drink one too many social beers and drive home and you become a drunk driver, a kind of terrorist that everyone fears. You can't ban alcohol from American life, but you don't have to welcome it in with open arms either.

Boos is a problem for everyone, except those who make it and sell it and make a profit from it. If you can't ban it, you can treat it like the dangerous substance it is. You can wage social war against it, and you can make it pay for the damage that it causes. Our defeatist attitude must be put aside in the liquor lobby, put where it belongs. We need a crusade against alcohol abuse that does at least two things. First, make booze a luxury rather than a staple of our social diet. And second, take the glamor out of booze. The crusade, in other words, would tax alcohol beyond the realm of impulse buying and daily habit. And it would carry out a PR campaign similar in intensity to anti-smoking efforts. Heavily taxing the sale of liquor would help pay for DWI victim reparation plans, detoxification programs, alcoholism, treatment efforts, and high visibility warning campaigns.

Such campaigns could lobby for the end of drive up liquor sales, the end of liquor advertising, and begin to replace the seductive imagery that surrounds liquor with pervasive evidence of its dangers. We welcome your views on that week's end, commentaries. Please write us at week's end, K&M-E-T-V, 1130 University Boulevard Northeast, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 8702. At week's end, we'll not be seen next week due to special programming, but we'll be back two weeks from tonight from Santa Fe with a special report on the wind up of the 1989 legislative session. I'm Neil Boggs at week's end, good evening. We'll also have a guesszone right away have a fancy come on, do you have a