1. By Julia M. Dendinger
News-Bulletin Staff Writer
jdendinger@news-bulletin.com
Belen
He has been called an institution by some. Most public
employees across the state probably don’t realize that a man
from the small community of Belen had a hand in creating
and guiding the retirement system they will eventually rely
upon.
But most of all, no matter who he rubbed elbows with
and in which circles he traveled, Nestor Gallegos was a man
who loved his family and his community.
Born and raised on the family farm in Jarales, Gallegos
died at 80 years old on Sunday, April 29.
On Tuesday morning, his widow, Frances, and three of
his children gather in the kitchen of the house Gallegos and
Frances built together a little at a time, to remember the
man who was a husband, father and grandfather.
There is an untilled piece of dirt that won’t grow
Gallegos’ signature herbs this year. The yellow-orange of
saffron and mellow greens of basil and oregano won’t be
seen.
As soon as you walk in the door, you are greeted by
display cases full of kachina dolls, a collection Gallegos
started during his time as city manager of Taos.
Sitting around the kitchen island, his family remembers
a man who was prone to “hollering,” but who, in the end,
was the voice of reason, the voice of confidence, the voice
of support.
News digest
San Clemente Day to
be held on Saturday
San Clemente Day celebration will
be held from noon to 4 p.m., Saturday,
May 5, at Virginia Smith’s property, 4.4
miles west of Interstate 25 on N.M. 6,
west of AT&T Road, and east of Dalies
Road. There will be free grass-fed beef
burgers, live music, pony rides for chil-
dren, native plant display and sale, bake
sale, silent auction and presentation.
Ann Parish Elementary
Cinco de Mayo event
Ann Parish Elementary will be hold-
ing its annual celebration of Cinco de
Mayo and Renaissance event from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, May 5, at the
school. There will be dancers, carnival
games, barbecue, snow cones, cake
walk, face painting, kite flying and
gunny sack races. There will also be a
silent auction. Admission is $1 per per-
son at the gate, APE students are free.
Business women to
hold donation drive
Business Women of Valencia County
will be holding a donation drive for
area seniors from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Saturday, May 5, at Walmart in Los
Lunas. They will also be accepting
monetary donations..
Water to be shut off on
Monday in Belen area
The city of Belen will be shutting off
water between Bernard and Becker and
Fifth and First streets from 3 to 6 p.m.,
Monday, May 7, as the city is putting in
a new water line on Becker Avenue.
Absentee voting begins
Tuesday for primary
Absentee voting for the June
Primary Election begins Tuesday, May
8, between the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
at the Valencia County Administration
Building, 444 Luna Ave., in Los Lunas.
For an absentee voter application, call
866-2080, or download your own at
www.co.valencia.nm.us.
LLHS to hold annual
student-alumni game
The Los Lunas High School
Renaissance Committee will be spon-
soring this year’s student-alumni
basketball game at 6:30 p.m., Monday,
May 7, in the Tiger activity gym. The
cost of the game is $3 for adults, $2 for
students without Renaissance cards and
$1 for students with cards.
VCC Expo to meet
Valencia County Community Expo
will meet at 7 p.m., Monday, May 7, at
the Valencia County Extension Office
on Courthouse Road in Los Lunas
Tim Lardner Memorial
Golf Tournament soon
The Tim Lardner Memorial
Scholarship Golf Tournament, spon-
sored by the Greater Belen Chamber of
Commerce, will be held on Friday, May
18. To sign up, call 864-8091, or email
Rhona@belenchamber.com.
n See Shooting, Page 8A
n See Forum, Page 6A
Classified 5B
Editorials 4A
Databank 2A
Days gone by 2A
Deaths 8A
LaVida 1B
Noticias 3A
Record 8A
Sports 9A
INDEX
Serving Valencia County
since 1910
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Call us: 864-4472
Sheriff’s deputy
shoots, kills man
Brent Ruffner-News-Bulletin photo
VALENCIA COUNTY SHERIFF’S Lt. Jeff Noah, in the brown jacket, talks with a New Mexico State
Police officer following a deputy-involved shooting Thursday on Lakeview Drive near Los Lunas. A
Valencia County deputy shot and killed a suspect who was uncooperative and threatening neighbors.
By Brent Ruffner
News-Bulletin Staff Writer
bruffner@news-bulletin.com
A Valencia County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a
24-year-old Los Lunas man Thursday who police say was
swinging a metal pipe at deputies just prior to the shooting.
The deputies were responding to a dispute between
neighbors in an unincorporated residential area near Los
Lunas.
New Mexico State Police Lt. Robert McDonald said the
man, Gabriel Martinez, threatened deputies with the pipe
just before noon outside a residence on Lakeview Drive, a
road north of Main Street in Los Lunas.
Martinez was airlifted to University of New Mexico
Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. No one else
was injured in the incident.
Deputies Desi Garcia and Pete Weh, who have both been
employed with the sheriff’s department for one year, were
NATIONAL
DAY OF
PRAYER
Abigail R. Ortiz-News-Bulletin photos
VALENCIA COUNTY residents
bow their heads in prayer during
Thursday’s National Day of Prayer
event in Belen. More than 150
individuals gathered at the Heart
of Belen Gazebo to listen to 14
local pastors pray and sing. Ann
Louderback, above, prays during
Thursday’s National Day of Prayer
event. The National Day of Prayer
is an annual day of observance
held on the first Thursday of May,
designated by the United States
Congress, when people are asked
“to turn to God in prayer and medi-
tation.” Each year, the president
signs a proclamation, encouraging
all Americans to pray on this day
Gallegos remembered as public servant
Nestor Gallegos
1931-2012
Democratic
candidates
talk issuesBy Julia M. Dendinger
News-Bulletin Staff Writer
jdendinger@news-bulletin.com
Tomé
Nearly 100 people packed into
the Thome Dominguez de Mendoza
Community Center in Tomé to hear
from this year’s Democratic primary
candidates. From the Legislature to the
county assessor, candidates were each
asked two questions and given two
minutes to answer.
State Senate
The first question for the eight sen-
ate candidates focused on what has
been termed the “war on women,” ask-
ing if they were concerned about poli-
cies at the state level that could affect
women negatively.
As a whole, the six men and two
women pledged to protect women’s
rights in areas such as equal pay and
access to health care.
“We will never relinquish what
women have done for this state,” said
Sen. Michael Sanchez (Belen-29).
“There are a lot of code words used by
the other side that make it sound like
it’s not happening, but it is.”
Both female candidates, Maxine
Velasquez, who is challenging Sen.
David Ulibarri for this Dist. 30 seat,
and Nicole Castellano, who is taking
on Dist. 39 Sen. Phil Griego, came out
strongly in favor of a woman’s right to
choose and advocated for stronger pro-
tections in cases of domestic violence.
“I’m not afraid to say I am a pro-
life Democrat, with the exception of
rape or incest,” Castellano said. “But
I would never legislate what a woman
can do with her body.”
Velasquez said that the violence
against women bill just passed in the
Senate, but it was a difficult issue.
“Republicans didn’t want the LGBT
community or Native Americans to
have rights under this bill,” she said.
“We have to make sure we are protect-
n See Gallegos, Page 7A
WEEKEND EDITION, MAY 5, 2012
News-BulletinVALENCIA
COUNTY
Vol. 102, No. 36
SENIOR CLASS
BHS tennis players
show moxie at state
SPORTS n 9A
PAINTBALL PARK
Los Lunas offers
extreme sport
LA VIDA n 1B
SHAPE UP
Mini-changes lead
to maxi-results
USA WEEKEND n 6
50 centsCopyright © 2012, Valencia County News-Bulletin
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2. LOCAL May 5, 2012 7AValencia County News-Bulletin
Gallegos: PERA building in Santa Fe is named for Jarales native; loved community
from PAGE 1A
His oldest daughter, Darlene
Cook, remembers her first
move away from home, all the
way to San Francisco. When
she arrived, she began having
serious doubts.
“I called him and he told me
to give it three days. If I still
didn’t like it after three days,
he would come get me,” Cook
said. “So I figured, I could last
three days.”
She made it the three days
and then some, making friends
and enjoying her new city.
“He gave us the confidence
that ‘You can do it,’” she said.
“He was a very proud papa.”
And that love and pride
extended to his seven grand-
children as well.
“He lived for his grandkids,”
said his youngest son, Charles.
“He and Mom went to every
thing, every event for them.
The Friday before he died, he
was at a lunch at St. Mary’s
with my son, Ryan.”
Ryan is the third genera-
tion of Gallegoses to attend the
Catholic school, Charles said.
Gallegos attended St. Mary’s
before he graduated from Belen
High School in 1950.
After graduation, Gallegos
went to Santa Fe to work at
the Roundhouse. While there,
he went to see the brothers at
St. Francis College to inquire
about taking classes.
The only time he could take
classes was at night, so with
the help of a little scholarship
from the brothers, and a slew of
night classes, Gallegos got his
education.
During his time in the capi-
tal, Gallegos was educated in
the way of books and in the way
of the heart. He met Frances,
originally from Nambe, when
she was a contestant in a queen
contest.
“It was one of those things
where it’s a penny a vote. My
sister worked at the capital and
she said go there,” Frances said.
“People there would have a lit-
tle money and a dollar would be
100 votes. When I got to him,
he gave me a lot of conversa-
tion. I forgot why I was there.”
In later years, Frances would
tease her husband, reminding
him he never did give her any
votes. He would respond that he
still got the queen.
On June 4, he and Frances
would have celebrated 58 years
of marriage.
Gallegos was dedicated to
his family and to public ser-
vice. He served as city manager
in Belen and Taos. He took the
position in Taos in 1970, com-
ing on board as the city’s first-
ever manager.
Frances said some of the
things accomplished during his
nine years there included the
establishment of a city trash
department, installation of
street lights and even a city
pool.
Under Gov. Dave Cargo,
Gallegos served as the director
of collection and enforcement
with the state taxation and rev-
enue department.
During that time, he served
on the Public Employees
Retirement Association board
of directors for 16 years.
“He was the first director of
PERA,” Charles said. “One of
the things he helped change was
how the money was invested.
He wondered why they weren’t
doing it themselves, why they
were investing with someone
else and letting them make the
money.”
Gallegos also served
as the director for the State
Employees Credit Union for 12
years. Some didn’t think he
should have had that position,
Charles said.
“Some people didn’t think
he should have been on the
board because he was not a
member,” he said. “I’d tell them
go read the wall at the PERA
building — read the inscrip-
tion. It’s the Nestor Gallegos
Building. Every time I go in
that building, I am so proud.”
The credit union’s transition
from a state employee-only
institution to one that allowed
anyone to join, was something
that his father urged, Charles
said.
“He always wanted to make
it more accessible,” he said. “He
thought that everyone should be
able to be a member of a credit
union, something all the mem-
bers owned a piece of.”
Gallegos ended his career
in the government sector in
1982, retiring from the city of
Albuquerque’s water depart-
ment.
But retirement didn’t slow
him down. His children say he
was busier after his retirement
than when he was working.
“He would go to Rainbow
Bread and load up the bed of
his ’62 pickup and deliver it to
people who needed it,” Charles
said.
Frances said the garage was
the home to all kinds of left
overs and spare things.
“If someone needed a screw,
Nestor probably had it,” she
said. “He kept all this stuff.
He said, ‘Who knows, maybe
somebody can use it.’”
Giving to his community, to
his family was just part of who
he was, they say.
“If he saw milk on sale two
for $5, he would get us each a
gallon,” Charles laughed. “We
didn’t need him to buy us milk,
but he did it anyway.”
Steven, the fourth child,
said his father always took care
of his family, and he instilled
in his sons and daughters the
importance of taking care of
each other.
“You couldn’t throw rocks at
them,” Steven said of his three
older sisters. “And if they tried
to kill you, you let them.”
Despite Steven’s humor-
ous take on his childhood, he,
Charles and Darlene say they
have nothing but good memo-
ries of their father.
“Everything he did, it was
all for everyone else,” Charles
said. “We were always together
as a family. We would all load
in the station wagon and go
to Mexico City for vacation. I
can’t remember any bad times.
“He always made time to
help — we were taught to
help. Yeah, sometimes you get
burned, but that doesn’t change
who you are.”
Submitted photo
NESTOR GALLEGOS, seen here surrounded by his saffron plants in
July of 1997, was known throughout Belen as a giving man, who
was loyal to his community.
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