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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
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
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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
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;
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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
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
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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.