Alcohol petition resurrected
Effort hopes to bring Sunday liquor by the drink to voters

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

A failed petition to put Sunday alcohol sales on the ballot in Gallup has been resurrected by a local group. [Independent File Photo]

GALLUP — If you first don’t succeed in getting enough signatures for a referendum on Sunday liquor sales, well, you just try again.

Three months after a group of Gallupians in support of Sunday liquor sales by the drink failed to get enough signatures to trigger a referendum on the issue, another group has stepped in to try again.

City Clerk Alfred Abeita said the group has had petitions out since Nov. 29 trying to get the 500 valid signatures necessary to have a referendum. The group has until 5 p.m. Feb. 29 to get enough signatures.

The previous group turned in more than 700 signatures, but when the staff at the city clerk’s office checked the signatures, they came up with only 467 valid signatures, 33 short of the number they needed.

The new petition, which is now being circulated by supporters of Sunday liquor sales, asks that a referendum be held on the same questions as that first group posed: “Shall Sunday sales of alcoholic beverages by the drink for consumption on the licensed premises of licensees be allowed in this local option district?”

In other words, package liquor sales would still be banned in the city on Sunday, but approval in a referendum would allow bars and restaurants to stay open on Sunday for people who like to have a drink during their lunch or supper or want to have a cold beer while they watch Sunday sports programs.

Gallup City Manager Gerry Herrera said the city will remain neutral on the matter, but individually he and others in the city see Sunday liquor sales by the drink as a way to revitalize the city’s lagging tourist industry.

By not having liquor on Sunday, he said, Gallup motel and restaurant owners have to see a sizable number of tourists each Sunday decide to bypass Gallup for places like Grants, Albuquerque and Flagstaff, thus depriving businesses of a lot of customers and the city government of untold losses in gross receipts taxes.

Mary Jean Christensen, one of the eight people listed on the petition as sponsors, said the lack of Sunday liquor sales affects every business in town that stays open on Sunday one way or another because someone who decides to stay over in Gallup for that Sunday could mean a customer for an Indian arts and crafts store or a clothing store.

While there are groups in town that oppose any measure that would increase alcohol consumption, Christensen said she was optimistic that the average city resident would realize the benefits of Sunday liquor and then voting in favor of it.

Other members of the committee supporting the proposal are Donald Good Jr., Ernie Abeita, Rebecca Apel, Brian L. Dominquez, Charles Padilla, Priscilla Smith and Archie Baca.