Bringin' in the bacon
County officials praise Rainaldi's efforts

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — It's no wonder that county officials sometimes refer to State Sen. Lidio Rainaldi as the county's Santa Claus.

For the past several years, the county has relied on Rainaldi to carry its funding requests to the state legislature and every year he has come back with the lion's share of what was requested.

This year is no different, said County Manager Tom Trujillo.

Dialysis center
With the help of other area representatives and senators, Rainaldi told county commission members on Wednesday, the county, as well as chapters within the county, will be receiving more than $4 million for various projects.

The biggest grant, he said, is for the proposed expansion of the area's dialysis center.

Rainaldi has allocated $1 million from his discretionary fund and Gov. Bill Richardson has agreed to contribute another $500,000 from his. Another $500,000 came from Rainaldi last year.

The project is expected to cost about $3.5 million, but with the $2 million in promised funding and some other funds the county has set aside for the project, there is enough money to get the expansion under way, Rainaldi said.

The expansion is desperately needed, he said, because of the increase in diabetes in this area and the problems many people have in getting treatment with the current capacity.

Road projects
Rainaldi's allocations this year included a number of road projects, including $25,000 for county road 1, $50,000 for county road 4 and $100,000 for county road 6.

Other allocations includes $100,000 for the public safety building the county and the city are planning to build together, $100,000 for improvements to the magistrate courthouse, $25,000 for the juvenile detention complex and another $25,000 for parking improvements to the Community Pantry lot.

A total of $40,000 is being provided for a monument to commemorate Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Hershey Myamura, $25,000 for low-income apartment renovations, $25,000 for improvements to the county shooting range and $100,000 toward the cost of building the westside fire station.

He also provided $50,000 for improving the waste system at William Acres and $30,000 to help the Western New Mexico University's Gallup Campus provide more information technology courses and $50,000 for the same thing for the University of New Mexico-Gallup campus.

Reservation allocations
The allocations to the county chapters include:

• Bread Springs Bathroom additions, $29,000; chapter house addition, $50,000; chapter house improvements, $20,000; maintenance patrol yard, $25,000, motor grader, $25,000; and powerline extension, $35,000.
• Red Rock Powerline extension, $50,000, veteran's building, $50,000; bathroom additions, $25,000.
• Pinedale Road equipment purchases, $75,000.
• Tseyatoh Motor grader, $50,000.
• Coyote Canyon Backhoe purchase, $25,000; chapter house renovation, $25,000.
• Iyanbito Chapter house renovation, $50,000; chapter warehouse construction, $50,000.
• Chichiltah Senior center building, $50,000.
• Pine Hill Green house renovation, $10,000; parent center, $15,000; dorm cafeteria, $20,000.
• Ramah Information technology, $25,000; meat processing plant, $35,000; sewer lagoon system, $20,000; powerline extension, $25,000; telephone lines, $25,000.

The Pueblo of Zuni will receive $25,000 for skate park construction, $25,000 for veterans memorial park planning, $25,000 for a parking lot and fence for the pueblo's Woman's Infant and Children program, $25,000 for a wind and energy study and $50,000 for the construction of waste water treatment cells.

He also allocated from his discretionary funds $50,000 for the Candy Kitchen Fire Station in Cibola County.