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HOUSE MEMORIAL 54

TH LEGISLATURE

- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -

FIRST SESSION

, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Ray Begaye

A MEMORIAL

HONORING THIRTY YEARS OF SERVICE BY STATE SENATOR JOHN PINTO

AND DECLARING FEBRUARY 28, 2007 "SENATOR JOHN PINTO DAY" AT THE

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto was born in 1924 to a family

of Navajo sheepherders and was raised in Lupton, Arizona, and

Gallup, New Mexico; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto attended a Bureau of Indian

Affairs boarding school in Fort Defiance, Arizona, and after

many unsuccessful attempts to run away, he finally graduated;

and

WHEREAS, he received his bachelor's degree at the age of

thirty-nine and a master's degree in elementary education from

the University of New Mexico; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served in the United States

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Marine Corps as a Navajo code talker and, in 2001, received a

Congressional Silver Medal of Honor for his service as a code

talker; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto worked for twenty-eight years

in the Gallup-McKinley county school system and has served as

the legislative liaison for the Navajo Nation department of

transportation since October 1988; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served as president of the

Gallup Indian community center from 1950 through 1970, during

which time he helped to feed the homeless and the less

fortunate families of Gallup; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served as president of the

Breadsprings Chapter of the Navajo Nation from 1950 to 1954;

and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served as secretary-treasurer

for the Red Rock Chapter of the Navajo Nation from 1954 to

1960; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served as a member of the

eastern Navajo tribal council from 1950 to 1960; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto was elected in 1972 to the

McKinley county board of commissioners, where he served for

four years as a commissioner; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto has served with distinction in

the New Mexico Senate since his arrival in 1977, when, as a

hitchhiker, he was picked up in a snowstorm in Albuquerque by

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former fellow freshman Senator Manny Aragon; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto has been a member of the

interim legislative Indian Affairs Committee since it was first

created in 1989 and has been the chair of the Senate Indian and

Cultural Affairs Committee since its creation in 1987; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto has been instrumental in the

passage of numerous legislative initiatives, including the

designation, in 1987, of "American Indian Day" in New Mexico;

the creation, in 2004, of the first state-cabinet-level Indian

affairs department; and the improvement of State Highway 491

between Gallup and Shiprock; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto has worked tirelessly for the

improvement of State Highway 491 between Gallup and Shiprock,

which the legislature suggested, in 2003, be renamed "Senator

John Pinto Highway"; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto annually entertains his

colleagues in the senate with his rendition, in Navajo, of the

"potato song"; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto is second only to President

Pro Tempore Ben D. Altamirano in seniority in the senate; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto is a mentor, gentleman and

wise leader whose kind demeanor has earned him the full respect

of the senate; and

WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto is known nationwide and in

many foreign countries for his involvement in national

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legislative organizations;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it extend its

congratulations to Senator John Pinto on his thirty years of

service in the New Mexico senate, where he has furthered the

causes of his constituents, the Navajo Nation and the people of

New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that February 28, 2007 be declared

"Senator John Pinto Day" at the house of representatives; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be

transmitted to Senator John Pinto.

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