City Of Farmington Doesn’t Get It, Navajo & Hispanic Women Say

ALBUQUERQUE (CN) - Seven employees of the Farmington Parks & Recreation Department, all women, all Navajo or Hispanic, claim their boss locked them in a room and ordered them not to speak Navajo or Spanish at work.

(The 2000 Census reported that 51.6 percent of New Mexicans are Hispanic or Native American.) Defendant Larry Bomberger is director of the Bonnie Dallas Senior Center, where the plaintiffs work. Defendant Carol May, director of Parks and Recreation, was at the meeting and endorsed Bomberger's unconstitutional demand, the plaintiffs claim. They say defendants Vernita Byrum and Judi Ziegler, senior citizens program coordinators, then took "hostile, retaliatory and vindictive action" against them. They demand punitive damages for discrimination, false imprisonment and constitutional violations. They are represented in Federal Court by Dennis Montoya of Rio Rancho. See complaint.

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