Power lines feeding electricity to the Sundance area are strung high above the community Tuesday.









W

hile standing at the school bus turnaround on Old Zuni Drive-In Road, it is not difficult to notice the two doublewide trailers bathed in light.

Other streetlights are noticeable in the canyons formed by the hogbacks east of here.

A month ago these lights would not be illuminating these homes because electricity was not available to residents living in this area.

That all changed Nov. 16 when 126 homes in Peretti Canyon, Rehoboth, Sundance and White Cliffs started receiving electricity for the first time.

Cheryl Arviso lives along Old Zuni Drive-In Road and is "still adjusting" to the change.

"Sometimes I feel like I hear the generator outside," she said.

For years a gasoline generator provided energy to operate the outlets and light switches in her home but now that generator is in storage.

After the power was turned on, the first thing Arviso did was plug in her refrigerator and wave goodbye to the days of using an ice chest to keep food cold.

"It feels great," she said.

It took a decade to bring electricity to these areas and it came to realization through a multi-agency effort by tribal, county, city and private entities.

The Navajo Nation Capital Improvement Office, Church Rock Chapter, New Mexico Tribal Infrastructure Funds and Navajo Abandoned Mine Lands Program paid more than $1 million for the construction of the 27.5-mile main line.

Construction with 560 poles for the primary line started in October 2009 and was completed in July.

There are homes within these areas that already receive electricity from Gallup Joint Utilities but Continental Divide Electric Cooperative Inc. will own and provide the new service as well as be responsible for the maintenance.

The main line starts in White Cliffs, then travels east before turning south to run along the grounds of Fire Rock Navajo Casino.

The casino paid for the stretch that runs beside the facility in addition to an extension that serves homes near the hogbacks north of Interstate 40.

The main line goes underground starting at the northeast corner of the casino's paved parking lot and continuing under Interstate 40.

It reemerges on the northeast side of the Sundance area, which is a few miles from Church Rock.

From there it continues south along County Road 16 until passing south of Sundance Wash where it splits into three and branches off towards homes located in hills and valleys.

Church Rock Chapter celebrated the project's completion Nov. 16.

"It was a struggle but we got it done," said chapter President Johnnie Henry Jr.

When Henry ran for office in 2008, he promised the people that the electricity project would be completed because he understood the struggle the people faced.

Henry's home is located in one of the Sundance valleys and his family lived without electricity until now.

He remembers his children completing their homework by the light of a kerosene lamp and purchasing a new generator when the old one quit working.

"I don't know how we did it," he said.

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