N.M. newspaper publisher, mayor exchange blows

The mayor of Gallup, N. M., and the publisher of the Gallup Independent, the city's daily newspaper, exchanged blows in the parking lot of a local bank last week. Both men claim the other started the fistfight, but a series of stories linking Mayor Harry Mendoza to the gang rape of a 16-year-old woman in 1948 appear to be at the hear of the dispute, reports Jim Winchester of KRQE, a Gallup TV station. "He's [Mendoza] just a thug," Independent Publisher Bob Zollinger told Winchester. "That's all he is and unfortunately he's our mayor."

Gallup City Attorney Dave Pederson told KRQE that the mayor informed him of the altercation and insisted Zollinger has started the fight. Zollinger told the station Mendoza had refused repeated requests for comment about the rape allegations, but he denied instigating the fight by poking the mayor as alleged. The Gallup Independent is owned by Gallup Independent Co. (Read more)