Sen. Rainaldi to be honored for service

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — For the past eight years, Lidio Rainaldi has spent countless hours serving this area in the state Senate.

As he prepares to step down in January, area leaders now want to show their appreciation, said Patty Herrera, one of the coordinators for a buffet and dance being held in his honor on Jan. 10.

The event, she said, is sponsored by the Legislative Council for the Gallup Chamber of Commerce. It will be held at Red Rock Park, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

There will be an admission charge — $20 in advance and $25 at the door. After a no-host social gathering, there will be a program of speeches beginning at 7 p.m. and a banquet. A dance will follow at 9 p.m. and last until midnight.

Any moneys collected over and above the cost of the banquet will go toward establishing a scholarship in Rainaldi’s honor at the University of New Mexico-Gallup.

Advance tickets can be purchased at CNET, Quick Print and the Gallup Chamber of Commerce.

Herrera said the event will not only honor Rainaldi’s career as a state senator but also his four decades as a city judge and a magistrate judge, during which he conducted thousands of marriages and never once charged for any of them.