Talons seek city's help

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Rumors that the City of Gallup has been helping to bankroll the Gallup Talons, the city's semi-professional basketball team, could turn into reality if the City Council approves a request by Talons Assistant Coach Thomas Crum Tuesday evening.

Crum is scheduled to ask the city to pay each of the team's players $150 per month to help defray their housing expenses.

"Gallup needs these players," the request reads. "They provide unprecedented mentoring and service that benefits the entire community."

The funding request comes at the end of a paper prepared by Gallup Basketball Inc., whose listed staff includes Talons Head Coach Clayton Shields, titled "A plan for our future." The paper broadly outlines the organization's plan to start a free summer basketball camp for Gallup youth at all local schools. GBI anticipates a $600 startup cost to cover office supplies and equipment, $1,025 in recurring monthly expenses, and $100 for beverages and prizes per camp. It claims seven local businesses as sponsors.

Before promising that the venture will generate unspecified revenues for the city, the paper also asks the city to improve the baseball field at Washington Park, on Gallup's north side, as a way of developing a local market for baseball.

As for the funding request to help cover the Talons' living expenses, it follows numerous reports, from former Talons Matt Vail and others, that the Talons organization was failing to pay its players regularly.

Vail said we has one of two players the last two American Indians on a team that billed itself as the American Basketball Association's first American Indian team recently cut from the Talons as a cost-saving measure. According to Vail, that leaves eight players on the team.

Glen Benefield, Gallup's economic development director, denied rumors that the city was a part-owner of the Talons; however, the city did award the Talons a one-time $5,000 grant in the team's infancy from a fund used to subsidize tourism-generating events.

Vail said that Talons owner Joe Kolb offered to sell the team for $100,000 to any interested party. That figure is just a few thousand shy of what Kolb owes three separate printing companies before interest for printing the Gallup Herald, which he also owns.

Also on the council's agenda, for the second time, is a proposal by Councilman Bill Nechero to change the hours of package liquor sales downtown.

A current city ordinance prohibits the sale of package liquor by downtown bars or nightclubs between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Nechero is proposing to cut the prohibited hours, which now only affect the American Bar, to 3 p.m. He's also proposing to ban all package liquor sales downtown within seven years.

Nechero tabled his plan two weeks ago amid personal concerns that state law might not allow the council to tamper with the hours of sale. According to City Attorney George Kozeliski, state law clearly allows the council to set the hours of liquor sales within individual city districts.

Nechero's proposal to extend the hours of package liquor sales downtown comes a little more than two months ahead of a citywide referendum asking voters whether they want to ban all alcohol sales within city limits before noon.

The Gallup Alcohol Action Team, the local non-profit group behind the referendum, believes a pre-noon ban will cut down on the number of publicly intoxicated people in Gallup and lead to more economic opportunities for local businesses. Opponents say it won't make difference, or that it will lead to more bootlegging and an increase in the use of more dangerous substances like "ocean," a mixture of water and hair spray.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. inside the City Council Chambers.