Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 53

New Mexico AlBtS NAL 1 Sunday, September 27, 1981 Page 1, Section Bern Gantncr State Editor i From Casey Luna To Jake Gallegos -Names Make News -N jfc I Gordon Cooper VJf Charles Yeager jjf s- 'I AlanS vMGrissom Walter Schirra Satellite Exhibit Is One of Many Featured in the Hall Visitors From Throughout the Country Visit the Center Hall To Induct Seven Space Pioneers Newcomers to the state often encounter difficulty pronouncing Spanish surnames. Casey Luna, owner of de Luna Ford in Mountainair, can recall one such incident. A new receptionist at an Albuquerque auto dealer answered the phone. The call was for one of the salesmen. His last name was De La 0.

The receptionist told the caller, "Hold on. I'll put Mr. De La Zero on the line." Casey Luna probably can come up with a few other incidents, but that one will do for the day. Mispronouncing of names can go the other way, too. A personal experience serves as an example.

It involves J.V. "Jake" Gallegos, a former district judge in Tucum-can and once very active in. Democratic political circles. When I first met Jake Gallegos in the late 1940's, he was city attorney. The only thing he and I had in common was the fact that both of us were members of the same church.

Jake always had a problem pronouncing my name. To this day I think it was deliberate. It was always "Ganter, Gatner or Gartner" seldom Gant-ner. One day while I was in the Quay County courthouse the late District Judge E. Turner Hensley Jr.

(then a district attorney) noticed that I was a little irritated because Jake had mispronounced my name. Hensley said something to the effect that "Don't mind Jake. He's just trying to joke with you. Maybe you can do the same thing to him." The next time I ran into Jake Gallegos, he greeted me in typical fashion, "Hi, Gatner, how are you?" as he chewed on his ever present cigar. "Just fine, Mr.

Galla-goes," I replied quickly in an attempt to get my message across. Jake just grinned. I thought I had won the battle. Some time later, Jake Gallegos spotted me in City Hall and again inquired of my health. "Hi, Gater, how are you?" J.V.

Gallegos, father of prominent Santa Fe attorney Eugene Gallegos, is one of the finest New Mexicans I have ever met. We're still friends. Other names in the news from around the state: Candi Brdecko of Playas, a member of the Hidalgo County 4-H Club, grabbed top honors with her market barrow in the State Fair's junior swine show this past week. The medium weight Duroc was declared grand champion of the show, edging Sharla Elliott's heavyweight Hampshire. Sharla of Lovington picked up the reserve champion honors.

The Brdecko name is no stranger to State Fair livestock competition. This southwestern New Mexico family from Luna and Hidalgo Counties may have more swine show ribbons in its possession than any other in the state. The pones attracted nearly 10,000 fans (9491) to the State Fair track Friday afternoon. The pari-mutuel handle was $1,075,657, the first time in the exposition's history that the handle has gone over a million dollars on a Friday. Today is the last day of the Fair and the last day at the track.

And the last race of the last day is always the longest of the 17-day meet the Con Jackson Memorial Handicap at a distance of one mile and 1316ths. It's an endurance test for the horses (and the jockeys) for almost two miles. They've got a good lineup of strong racers on the card Eternal Sound, Cara's Beau, College Payne, British Sterling and Key to the Trayhl, among the more well-known names at the track. But how about a sentimental favorite named after one of the most popular food items on the Fairgrounds Corn on the Cob. The racer has been around for several years and has won its share of the purses.

But whether the oldtimer from Sunland Park, Downs of Santa Fe and Ruidoso Downs campaigns can handle that gruelling distance is another matter. A racing fan called the other day and offered some excellent advice for those planning to attend today's finale "Bet heavily on the winners, go light on the losers." The New Mexico Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America will hold an open meeting for all Vietnam era veterans in Santa Fe at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Sheraton Inn. Jerry Keene, a member of the board of directors, is making a special appeal for veterans to attend the session. One of the objects of the meeting is to establish a Northern New Mexico chapter for Vietnam veterans.

A new hiking trail between the state parks at Heron and El Vado lakes near Tierra Amarilla will be dedicated at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Rio Chama trails project was constructed by New Mexico's Young Adult Conservation Corps under a cooperative agreement between the New Mexico State Park Division and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Principal guests at the dedication at the project site at Heron Lake State Park will be Chama Mayor Candy Martinez, State Park Deputy Noe Villarreal and representatives of the Bureau of Reclamation.

The new trail system includes a riverside access for fishermen. It's a five and a half mile foot trail linking the two state parks. The project involved construction of a redwood stairway leading down from the caprock of the Rio Chama Canyon, and a cable-suspension footbridge spanning the Rio Chama. Four permanent New Mexico Welcome Centers (Anthony, Chama, Glenrio and Lordsburg) showed a 11 percent increase in visitors during the Labor Day weekend compared to the previous year. John Adams, tourism and travel division director for the New Mexico Commerce and Industry Department, said the four centers handled 2901 visitors during the holiday weekend.

This compared to 2,620 visitors during the same weekend last year. Another permanent welcome center south of Santa Fe, La Bajada, had 2,435 visitors over the Labor Day weekend, a 67 percent increase over the 1,457 visitors recorded there a year ago. La Bajada was opened in May 1980 and has shown heavy visitor increases every month, particularly in the summer. A Ms. Millhorn said she does not know which inductees will attend the ceremony, but that Carpenter and Shepard already have notified her of prior commitments.

A representative from the Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C., is expected to attend. Prior to the induction ceremony, Ms. Millhorn said a group of F-15s from Holloman Air Force Base will fly over the site at 4 p.m. She also said open house will be conducted at the Space Hall from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.

In addition, a film "To Fly" will be shown every hour from 1 to 9 p.m. at the Omni Space Theater-Planetarium. Admission will be $1.50 for adults and $1 for children and senior citizens. G. Harry Stine, a science fiction writer from Phoenix, will be on hand to sign autographs during the afternoon.

Serving as master of ceremonies for the afternoon induction will be Dr. David Townsend, director of the Alamogor-do Branch of New Mexico State University. Townsend, director since 1978, has overseen major build-Continued on E-S 18th century Danish rocket pioneer Andreas Anton Frederick Schumacher will be inducted. In his current position, Faget is responsible for the design, development and proof of performance for all spacecraft systems and for design and study into space systems and other outgrowths of current programs. He was appointed to the position in 1961 after serving three years as chief of the Flight Systems Division.

Faget was inducted into the National Space Hall of Fame in Houston in 1969. Inducting the new members will be Dr. John Paul Stapp, vice chairman of the Governor's Commission on the Space Hall of Fame. Once known as the fastest man on earth, Stapp was instrumental in developing the aero-medical facility at Hollo-man Air Force Base near here. He received the "fastest man" title in 1954 when he rode a rocket sled traveling 632 mph, which is faster than a 32-caliber bullet fired from a gun, Ms.

Millhorn said. Stapp, a member of the Hall of Fame, has participated in a number of experiments with the sled, a rocket-propelled vehicle that runs on a single rail, she said. By NANCY HARBERT Of the Journal's Las Cruces Bureau ALAMOGORDO Five of this year's inductees in the International Space Hall of Fame here are former Mercury astronauts, so it seems only fitting the guest speaker played an important role in that project. Dr. Maxime Faget, director of Engineering and Development with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Johnson Space Center in Houston, is scheduled to speak during the Oct.

3 ceremony. Faget conceived and proposed the development of the Mercury capsule and holds a joint patent on that one-man spacecraft, Nigel Millhorn of the Space Hall said. The Gemini and Apollo spacecraft are derivations of this original concept. Seven new members are to be inducted during the p.m. ceremony.

The Mercury astronauts to be honored are Alan Shepard, Walter Schirra, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper and Virgil Grissom. In addition, Charles Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier in level flight, and niii! rfl I Journal Photos by Eugene Burton international Hall of Fame in Alamogordo Will House the Oct. 3 Induction Ceremony of Seven Space Pioneers i1.