<\/p>\n
FARMINGTON \u2014 Some Navajo Nation officials want New Mexico to rename a U.S. highway after one of the longest-serving Native American lawmakers in U.S. history.<\/p>\n
A Navajo legislative committee is requesting New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham name U.S. Highway 491 in honor of the late state Sen. John Pinto, the Farmington Daily Times reports .<\/p>\n
Pinto, who died in May at 94, had long sought to turn the deadly U.S. 666 into a four-lane highway and to change its name to U.S. 491.<\/p>\n
The road was nicknamed the \u201cDevil\u2019s Highway\u201d because of the significance of number 666 has for many Christian evangelicals and because it was the site of a number of deadly traffic fatalities. The highway is featured in such movies like \u201cNatural Born Killers\u201d and \u201cRepo Man.\u201d<\/p>\n
The highway was named one of the 20 most dangerous in the country in 1997.<\/p>\n
Pinto was among the state legislators and Navajo leaders who got the highway changed to U.S. 491.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a strong passion for that highway,\u201d said Delegate Mark Freeland, who is sponsoring the bill in the Navajo Nation Tribal Council.<\/p>\n
Such a designation will honor and memorialize Pinto\u2019s legacy, Freeland said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be an ultimate tribute to him. I hope the state gives it some consideration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
U.S. Highway 491 stretches about 195 miles (310 kilometers) from Gallup, New Mexico, through Colorado to Monticello, Utah.<\/p>\n
Pinto was a World War II Navajo code talker and served over four decades in the state Legislature.<\/p>\n
Lujan Grisham\u2019s office on Thursday stopped short of endorsing the proposal on the highway but signaled the governor would be open to the discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe governor certainly recognizes the need to appropriately honor a singular public servant and statesman like Sen. Pinto and will always be open to exploring ways to do that,\u201d said spokesman Tripp Stelnicki.<\/p>\n
Marisa Maez, a spokeswoman for the New Mexico Department of Transportation, said any renaming of the highway would involve a formal request and a formal proposal written up by the department. It would be then have to be presented to a state commission and approved by the Navajo Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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