Council renews support for Fire 'n' Ice motorcycle rally

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS—The city council unanimously approved a 1-year extension of the use of municipal land and support staff by the Fire 'n Ice Rally in late July instead of the 3-year extension the sponsoring Main Street Program requested Monday night.

Councilor Eugene Green noted a $15,547 profit from last year, to go along with $22,500 from the Lodger's Tax Board. And Police Chief Marty Vigil a vocal opponent of the motorcycle fair said the city had to pay about $8,000 in room and board for almost 100 outside officers called in from other agencies to keep the city from being overrun.

Council members each said they agreed with Vigil's concerns about safety in the community from the consumption of alcohol and the potential the chief said it is a question of when, not if for a shoot-out on Grants main street, Santa Fe Avenue, between rival biker gangs.

But councilors also agreed with rally point man Cecil Brown that it is the biggest extra income generator during the year, bringing in much more money and visitors with a 3-day event than the upcoming 1-day 23rd annual Winter Quadrathlon on Feb. 18. The rally normally is in late July and 2006 would be the 6th annual event. The first rally drew an estimated 2,500 cyclists and last year's event attracted about 7,000 bikers, Brown said.

Vigil said he also believes the city's sales taxes actually drop during the rally. In answer to a question from the council, City Manager Bob Horacek said the revenue shows up in September. Many factors can affect the month's total and for a true picture of the effect, a consultant would have to be hired to conduct a study.

Horacek also disagreed with Vigil, saying there is an increase in sales taxes, but he just doesn't know how much. He said he would provide the councilors with the raw data, including the year before the rally began in 2000, so they can compare.

Council members seemed receptive to Vigil's warning that there could be catastrophic financial liability from allowing beer to be served on city property, then having one of the motorcyclists crash into someone, injuring or killing people.

The chief also warned that Grants does not want to tarnish its clean reputation with biker gang violence such as happened several years ago inside a casino in Laughlin, Nev., where some people were killed in a shoot-out between rival gangs.

The police chief added that it is getting harder and harder to get outside agencies to supply officers, especially when the police department can't even provide its supervisors to be on sight due to staffing shortages now seven positions, he reported earlier to the council. Last year 120 officers (including Grants police) worked the event, and Vigil pointedly said having about 30 of them at the key downtown location was the only thing that prevented a shoot-out last year between two gangs.

Brown said the amount of money put out for advertising the event is far surpassed by the value of tradeouts. He said the rally has averaged a profit of about $10,000-$15,000 a year, but did lose money the second year because equipment had to be purchased.

Council members asked about the financial statements all groups receiving money from the Lodger's Tax Board must turn in an annual report and complete budgets and Brown said the rally requires about $93,000 a year to produce. The city's support was about $38,000, plus public works staff time.

In their 4-0 vote, councilors made it clear they want the rally to work with the chief to reduce the potential problems.

John Rhoderick, who handles public works for the city, said he was concerned that an application has not even been received yet and therefore feared time was running out. Brown assured him that everything will fall in place, because the group is experienced in putting on the event.

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci in Grants, telephone 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775 (cellular).