As Memorial Day approaches, local volunteers are preparing for a date in December, National Wreaths Across America Day.

In an effort to ensure that all veterans laid to rest at Gallup cemeteries are honored on that day, fundraising has begun and will continue through Nov. 31.

Any two $15 wreaths sponsored through the sponsorship groups listed below will be matched with one wreath from Wreaths Across America.

The goal for the upcoming national Wreaths Across America Day on Dec. 18 is to place a wreath at the headstone of every veteran and spread patriotism and commemoration for the sacrifices they made for the country.

Last year, on Dec. 19, Gallup cemeteries joined with more than 2,550 participating Wreaths Across America locations nationwide to hold simultaneous wreath-laying ceremonies in support of the mission to Remember, Honor, and Teach.

A total of 567 live balsam fir wreaths were placed by 47 volunteers in Gallup cemeteries.

"Each wreath sponsorship is a meaningful gift of remembrance from an appreciative American who knows what it means to serve and sacrifice for the freedoms we all enjoy," Karen Worcester, executive director of Wreaths Across America, said. "We are so grateful to the community of Gallup, N. M. for participating in our mission to Remember, Honor, and Teach."

To sponsor a $15 veteran's wreath for Gallup City Cemetery directly, please visit:

wreathsacrossamerica.org/NM0068

To sponsor a $15 veteran's wreath for Hillcrest Cemetery directly, please visit:

wreathsacrossamerica.org/NM0069

To sponsor a $15 veteran's wreath for Sunset Memorial Cemetery directly, please visit:

wreathsacrossamerica.org/NM0067

To sponsor a $15 veteran's wreath for Gallup State Veterans Cemetery directly, please visit:

wreathsacrossamerica.org/NM0066

National Wreaths Across America was founded to continue and expand the annual wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Its mission of wreath-laying is carried out each year, in part by coordinated events at Arlington, as well as more than 2,000 veterans' cemeteries and other locations in all 50 states and beyond.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the appointment of Brad Keeler as an Eleventh Judicial District Court Judge May 20. Keeler’s appointment fills the seat left vacant due to the retirement of the Honorable Judge Louis E. DePauli, Jr.

Since 2003, Keeler practiced as an attorney at Keeler & Keeler, LLP, most recently holding the title of partner. Keeler is a graduate of Baylor University and Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. He was admitted to the New Mexico Bar in 2002.

His appointment begins June 8.

Staff Reports

McKinley County Deputy Fire Chief Lawrence Montoya Jr. had his last day as the county’s Fire Chief on May 14, where he spoke to the county commissioners about the county’s response to the April 26 train derailment.

In an interview with the Sun, McKinley County Deputy County Manager Brian Money said he couldn’t comment on why Montoya was terminated because it is a personnel matter that can’t be disclosed.

For now, Deputy Fire Chief Tim Barry will serve as the Interim Chief. The county will advertise the position and start the hiring process in the near future.

Staff Reports

Candidates aim to strengthen county’s voice

Patty Lundstrom has been the House Representative for District 9 since 2003, and she is hoping to keep her seat on the Legislative once again during the 2024 election.

But two other Democrats have hopes of taking their turn on the legislative floor: Christopher Hud-son and Arval McCabe. The primary election will be held on June 4, and the general election will take place on Nov. 5.

LUNDSTROM’S PLANS FOR REELECTION

In an interview with the Sun, Lundstrom said she hopes to continue the projects she’s already started as a Representative if she is reelected.

“I would like to finish some of the projects that I’ve already started,” she said. “Since the New Mexico legislature is a citizen legislature, the only time we can actually take action on things is during a session, and sometimes it’s 60 days and sometimes it’s 30 days, and it’s not a lot of time to get some major legislature done. We are in desperate need of completing certain things, and I’d like to be reelected to complete projects I’ve already started.”

Some of those projects include preparing Gallup’s infrastructure for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply project. Some of the city’s pipes are over 100 years old, and need major updates before a new water source is brought in. The wastewater treatment plant also needs updates before the NGWSP happens.

Another continued concern for Lundstrom is McKinley County’s roads.

“I’m also wanting to work on road improvements throughout the county,” she said. “Most of my constituents have been very concerned about poor road and travel conditions. We started that, and I would like to continue working on that.”

Lundstrom explained what led her to politics all the way back in 2001, when she first ran for the District 5 Representative seat.

“I wanted to get involved because I thought that Gallup and McKinley County and most of rural New Mexico is pretty much left out of the process,” she said. “We only have two House Representatives that represent Gallup, and I think it’s four for the whole county, and then you think about the metropolitan area like Albuquerque where they have 23-27 house members. Clearly, we’re outnumbered.”

WHAT HER OPPONENTS ARE SAYING

Although they are running against her, McCabe and Hudson agree with Lundstrom that the McKinley County area is under-represented.

In an interview with the Sun, McCabe argued that the area doesn’t always receive important updates from the legislative, such as information about funding opportunities.

McCabe is a Chapter President from the Red Lake Chapter of the Navajo Nation. He said he’s only met with Lundstrom twice since he was elected in 2012, once when he was first elected and then more recently when he announced his candidacy for the District 9 seat.

He suggested that the Representative of a district needs to interact with their constituents more.

“I think we need more information from the state,” he said. “That position should be attending some of our meetings at the community level and letting us know what’s coming up, what to look for [in terms of state funding opportunities].”

McCabe specifically expressed interest in funding for the roads in his part of McKinley County and possible American Rescue Plan Act funding that could support local art and recreation efforts. He once again suggested that the District 9 Representative could help track that sort of funding down for the area.

“But you know, knowing all the red tape you’ve got to go through to get that type of funding, how can the position help us get around those barriers to dip into that funding? Those are some of the frustrations we have, even with our own [Navajo Nation] government,” he said.

In a separate interview with the Sun, Hudson agreed with McCabe, saying that the state legislators aren’t doing enough to represent their communities.

Hudson has first-hand knowledge about working with legislators to try and achieve a goal. He is the Coordinator for the McKinley Community Health Alliance, which serves as a hub in the McKinley County community for multi-disciplinary/cross-sector collaboration among its membership as well as an initial point of access to information and/or engagement in community-driven health priorities/concerns.

In that role, he often meets with legislators and discusses bills that are important to his organization. But it doesn’t always work out the way he hopes.

“People I worked with, organizers, community members from the Gallup and McKinley County area, Twin Lakes, we would go to Lundstrom and [Sen. George Muñoz] or some of the other legislators and they would start to ignore us,” Hudson said. “They just stopped listening to us or their time would be short or they would conveniently have to be somewhere. And we know the legislators are pretty busy, and that you have to advocate beforehand and that there are processes, but even when we went through these processes and things, we weren’t getting the type of response that we thought we’d get.”

A FRESH SLATE

One of Hudson’s biggest concerns when it comes to the legislature is what he considers the toxicity and staleness of the place.

“We have a lot of ideas that run through the legislature that are just the same ideas just regurgitated year after year,” he explained. “Sometimes when they’re regurgitating the same idea, they’re hurting one another as legislators because they don’t sponsor the bill. It causes not only for bills to become stagnant but also allows relationships to sour.”

One way Hudson wants to combat the problems he sees in the legislature is by getting more members of minority groups into office.

He proposed that if he is elected, he would begin working on setting up a system where someone would get paid to be a legislator.

“Having a paid legislator goes on a long way for having a more diverse set or pool of legislators,” he said. “As it is now, we have a lot of older generation lawyers and businesspeople — people who have money and can take the time off to be a legislator.”

All of her competitors’ hopes and dreams are all worthwhile, but Lundstrom argued that her seniority and expertise will allow her to level the playing field for McKinley County.

“I think what really helps us is my seniority because 90%  of success up [in Santa Fe] is knowing how the process works,” she said. “How you get things done up there is not written in some manual. There’s some general procedural processes, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes kind of work. So what I would like to do is use that experience to continue leveling the playing field when it comes to being outnumbered by other parts of the state.”

The New Mexico primary election will take place on June 7. Up until then, the Sun will continue its political coverage with more articles about local candidates.

By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor