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B4 ALBUQUERQUE JOURNALJumping HorsesWagering Put OffBy SCOTT RF.AVFNA final decisior on the question of allowing pari mu-tuel betting for jumping horse events at the State Fairgrounds was Tuesday postponed until April 27 by the New Mexico Staie Fair CommissionTwo commission members — including the chairman — were absent at the Tuesday meeting and the remaining six commissioners voted to withhold the decision ona proposal by a corporation known as New Mexico Equestrian Meetings Inc until ail commissioners have a chaice to vote on the proposalSTATE SEN. Robert McBride, attorney for the corporation, told commissioners acceptance of the betting proposal would prove a boon to New Mexico both in tourist dollars and “prestige,” since the state would be the first in the union to allow this type of wageringCommissioner Claude E Leyendecker of Dcming countered by saying, “I’m not sure this would be prestigious for Albuquerque, N M If may be prestigious in Europe and Mexico ” He also told McBride, I think this is a terrific idea but I have reservations as to whetherMDave I.loyd, an Albuquerque resident and former amateur horse jumper, was a surprise visitor to the meeting, speaking on behalf of the proposal “Hob Brown (editor of the Journal) wrote an article opposing this,” Lloyd said, and then printed (on March 25) a letter Lloyd had written in rebuttal “The letter was printed exactly as I wrote it and 1 got 4.1 phone calls that morn mg — 42 favoring the proposal and one against andhe was a minister* *I recommend to the minister that he go out to the airport and look at all the planes leaving for Las Vegas loaded down with gambling money ”MCBRIDE SAID ALL members of the corporation are local people and the public offering for financing would be underwritten by the local firm Hyder b Co In other business, the Fair Commission voted to in crease expenditures for the Spanish and Indian Villages at the Fairgrounds and to start construi tion of a $15,000 Navajo food booth Similar construction estimated at $10,000 for a Laguna food booth was postponed until next year Salaries for Indian dancers were raised to $20 per day (from $15) and for craftsmen from $12 20 to $15 I hirty sev« n dancers and 10 craftsmen will be pre sented during the course of tin* Fair, scheduled to run Sept H o (exclusively for racing), and 12 2dI he Spanish Village was last year criticized for “com mertialism” and commissioners promised a wider vari ety of activities this year State Fair Manager Finlay Macfiillivray characterized the Indian Village as a “fine cultural display and said we hope the Spanish Village will be like that Last year was the first year of theSpanish Village’s existence.A SLOGAN - “The Best in the West and a logo were adopted while $000 was voted to engage a local firm m flu* production of a jingle to be used in hair advertising, which will this year be undertaken by the Fair administration itself instead of by an advertising agency, which has been the* practice in the past State Rep Benny Aragon, D Bernalillo, suggestedthat the commissioners next year adopt a logo which would more adequately express the multi cultural nature of the fair the logo adopted this year pictures an Anglo family in front ot a Terris wheel He also asked the commissioners to consider equalizing the duties ofthe State Fair, Spanish and Indian Village Queens, al lowing each to represent the whole of the fair to thestate.Aragon said lie expects the eventual construction of a “Black Village and he requested that this queen also be included as an official at ross the hoards representative C ommissioners promised to consider the requests and Smith said “1 think the points are well taken Black country western singer Charley Pride has been confirmed as one of the rodeo entertainers, commis sioners said, and one other expenditure was approved $2650 tor a concrete statue to lv executed by HowardMorgan and Dave Lopez of a family of three bears to be placed on the mail near the already executed cutthroat trout statuethis (the State Fairgrounds Horse Arena) is the place for it Commissioner Leo L Smith of Chama agreed: “I think you fellas have a fantastic idea but I’m opposed to it being at the State Fair Lm opposed to the heftingaspectMcBride told the commissioners that, if accepted, the proposal would allow betting on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from October through May and that the corpo ration would undertake $250,000 worth of Horse Arena repairs He estimated the yearly income to the fair from rents and a portion of the take” at $100,000CHAMBER OF Commerce President (» Y f ails said the proposal had received the endorsement of the fChamber's Tourist Committee “This would be,” he pre dieted, “the greatest tourist attraction we would have in IAlbuquerque,” and he said the races should hold four aists for longer than the 1 7 days that they are being j theld nowC
Newspaper Details
Albuquerque Journal
Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
Wed, Mar 28, 1973
Page 96
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 17 Jul 2020
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