'Begging Day"
City, County, ready for Santa Fe trip

Heavy traffic on South Second Street makes turning onto and off from Park Avenue a risky proposition at times, and city officials are including $700,000 in their funding requests to the state legislature this year to cover the costs of a traffic signal project for the intersection. [Photo by Jeff Jones]

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Gallup and McKinley County officials are getting ready for their annual trek to Santa Fe, where they will meet and greet members of the Legislature and push for more funding.

It’s known by many in the Legislature as “Begging Day,” and all cities and counties in the state do it. It’s so popular that certain days in the Legislature are set aside for different organizations or different areas in the state can coordinate their efforts.

Gallup, McKinley County, the local schools, Adventure Gallup, the chamber of commerce and the Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital will all be sending representatives to the state capital next Thursday and Friday.

Chamber of commerce Director Becky Apel said four tables are being set up in the rotunda for area groups to set up displays or to pass out literature to members of the Legislature or their staffs.

The chamber is also sponsoring a breakfast on Friday for which all members of the Legislature have been invited. Apel said the chamber opted for a breakfast meeting because dinners can become so expensive.

For many legislators, the highlight of the breakfast and the meetings with the Gallup representatives will be a chance to get a pin that Gallup gives out every year.

“These pins have become very popular,” Apel said.
Each year the pins are different, and the one this year, she said, was designed by a Navajo artist. A total of 132 have been ordered to be given out next week.

In the old days, the chamber and the area was represented by the Yeis, a chamber-sponsored group that wore colorful vests and would have a very noticeable presence during the day or days area officials were in town.

The Yeis were disbanded more than 15 years ago, but old-time legislators each year are bound to bring them up during Gallup days and Apel said the chamber is thinking that it may be time to revive the concept in some form or another for future visits.

Because other groups and organizations will also be holding breakfasts that day, no one knows how many legislators will be there, but those that do come will give area governments and organizations a few minutes each to make their pitch for funding.

County Manager Tom Trujillo said the good thing about Gallup days is that it has given government, school and hospital officials a chance to sit down and talk to high-level people in the Richardson administration about the needs of this area of the state. This year, he said, the state’s lieutenant governor, Diane Denish, has agreed to meet with area representatives.

In meeting with administration and legislative officials, Trujillo said, people from Gallup and McKinley County have the opportunity to point out that this area “has needs also.” Too often, he said, attention is given to the needs of the big cities in the state like Albuquerque and Santa Fe.
On Gallup Days, the attention will be solely on this area.

Weekend
January 19-20, 2008
Selected Stories:

Manhunt on I-40

Arson suspect is no stranger to crime

'Begging Day' — City, County, ready for Santa Fe trip

Laguna governor has big plans for pueblo

Deaths

Doctor King honored Monday

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