The Thoreau Community Center took the spotlight at the McKinley County Board of Commissioners Jan. 14 meeting with its semi-annual report.

Jasmine Desiderio, project director for The Healing Project, and Priscilla Manuelito executive director and community specialist for the center, presented the highlights of the report spanning the period from July 2019 to December 2019.

Some of the programs held by the community center included active shooter response training, and classes to raise awareness on suicide prevention and substance abuse prevention within the community.

“We want to spread positive messages and outreach about these issues and we’re trying to get the community...

gallupARTS, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum big winners

Two sizeable grants to the New Mexico arts economy were announced by the National Endowment for the Humanities Jan. 14. gallupARTS received a $100,000 grant to fund the second phase of its Gallup New Deal Art project showcasing and interpreting Gallup’s collection of New Deal Art through an interactive web site and virtual exhibits.

gallupARTS is one of only two New Mexico organizations, along with the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, to receive NEH funding this cycle. Sens. Tom  Udall, D-N.M., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Congressman Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., commended the awards in a Jan. 14 press release highlighting the benefit to...

Thirteen-year-old Angel Bennet was last seen on the east side of Gallup by his mother Jan. 10. He is 5’ tall and weighs 115 lbs. and was last seen wearing a red & black jacket with khaki pants. If you have any information on Bennet’s whereabouts, contact Metro at (505) 722-2002, or the Gallup Police Department at (505) 863-9365.

A welcoming presence whose light shines on


Lidio Rainaldi, who died last month at the age of 90, was more to Gallup than a returned state senator. Rainaldi was a force of nature across the state and in the local community.




EARLY SERVICE

Rainaldi was born in Gamerco in 1929, the son of Ugo and Rosina Rainaldi. His parents came from Italy in 1915, when his father found work in the local coal mines. Rainaldi graduated from Cathedral High School in 1947.

He attended the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and was drafted into the U. S. Navy where he served as a yeoman for four years during the Korean War. The yeoman is a clerk who records the ship’s activity.

When he...