Alcohol election will be Aug. 5

By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

GALLUP — McKinley County has verified that there are enough valid signatures on the petition to put Sunday by the drink alcohol sales to a vote. At the next City Council meeting Tuesday night, City Clerk Alfred Albeita will present the verified results to the council for an approval of the election.

State law required the petition to have 500 valid signatures, which is 10 percent of the number of votes counted for the last general election for governor in the city. The petitioners collected 733 signatures, and 570 were validated by the county. State law required that the county verify the signatures, and the city clerk validate the county’s findings.

The city is planning to hold the election on Aug. 5. Proponents of the measure say that Gallup is hurting economically from the ban, which discourages tourism on Sunday. Opponents say the ban reduces DWI and other problems associated with some drinkers.

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The councilors will also discuss a joint powers agreement between Gallup and Las Cruces. The agreements allow cities to buy electricity and natural gas cooperatively in the highly unstable energy market. By coordinating acquisitions of energy, cities can lower costs to the customers. The original agreement included Los Alamos, but the city hasn’t made a final decision on their participation. Executive Director of Gallup Joint Utilities Lance Allgood will be presenting the agreement without Los Alamos signing on in hopes of moving the agreement process further.