Father's Day

In the United States, the driving force behind the establishment of the celebration of Father's Day was Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, born in Creston, Washington. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, as a single parent raised his six children in Spokane, Washington. She was inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day. Although she initially suggested June 5, the anniversary of her father's death, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. The first Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane.

Unofficial support from such figures as William Jennings Bryan was immediate and widespread. President Woodrow Wilson was personally feted by his family in 1916. President Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

In recent years, retailers have adapted to the holiday by selling male-oriented gifts such as electronics and tools. Schools and other children's programs commonly have activities to make Father's Day gifts.

Source: Father's Day - Wikipedia

Economy The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that New Mexico's total state product in 2003 was $57 billion. Per capital personal income in 2003 was $24,995, 48th in the nation. Cattle and dairy products top the list of major animal products of New Mexico. Cattle, sheep, and other livestock graze most of the arable land of the state throughout the year. Limited but scientifically controlled dryland farming prospers alongside cattle ranching. Major crops include hay, nursery stock, pecans, and chile peppers. Hay and sorghum top the list of major dryland crops. Farmers also produce onions, potatoes, and dairy products. New Mexico specialty crops include piñon nuts, pinto beans, and chiles. In the desert and semiarid portions of the state, the scant rainfall evaporates rapidly, generally leaving insufficient water supplies for large-scale irrigation. The Carlsbad and Fort Sumner reclamation projects on the Pecos River and the nearby Tucumcari project provide adequate water for limited irrigation in those areas. Located upstream of Las Cruces, the Elephant Butte Reservoir provides a major irrigation source for the extensive farming along the Rio Grande. Other irrigation projects use the Colorado River basin and the San Juan River. Lumber mills in Albuquerque process pinewood, the chief commercial wood of the rich timber economy of northern New Mexico. New Mexicans derive much of their income from mineral extraction. Even before European exploration, Native Americans mined turquoise for making jewelry. After the Spanish introduced refined silver alloys they were incorporated into the Indian jewelry designs. New Mexico produces uranium ore, manganese ore, potash, salt, perlite, copper ore, beryllium, and tin concentrates. Natural gas, petroleum, and coal are also found in smaller quantities. Industrial outputs, centered around Albuquerque, include electric equipment; petroleum and coal products; food processing; printing and publishing; and stone, glass, and clay products. Defense-related industries include ordnance. Important high-technology industries include lasers, data processing, and solar energy. Federal government spending is a major driver of the New Mexico economy and provides more than a quarter of the state's jobs. Many of the federal jobs relate to the military; the state hosts three air force bases (Kirtland Air Force Base, Holloman Air Force Base, and Cannon Air Force Base); a testing range (White Sands Missile Range); an army proving ground and maneuver range (Fort Bliss Military Reservation - McGregor Range);national observatories; and the technology labs of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). SNL conducts electronic and industrial research next to Kirtland AFB, on the southeast side of Albuquerque. These installations also include the missile and spacecraft proving grounds at White Sands. In addition to the military employers, other federal agencies such as the National Park Service, the United States Forest Service, and the United States Bureau of Land Management are a big part of the states rural employment base. Virgin Galactic, the first company to develop commercial flights into space, has decided to put its world headquarters and mission control in southern New Mexico (25 miles or 40 km south of Truth or Consequences). Tourism provides many service jobs. The private service economy in urban New Mexico has boomed in recent decades. Since the end of World War II, Albuquerque has gained an ever-growing number of retirees, especially among armed forces veterans and government workers. The city is also increasingly gaining notoriety as a health conscious community, and contains many hospitals and a high per capita number of massage and alternative therapists. The warm, semiarid climate has contributed to the exploding population of Albuquerque, attracting new industries to New Mexico. By contrast, many heavily Native American and Hispanic rural communities remain economically underdeveloped. The personal income tax rates for New Mexico range from 1.7 percent to 5.3 percent, within 4 income brackets. New Mexico does not have a sales tax. Instead, it has a 5 percent gross receipts tax. In almost every case, the business passes along the tax to the consumer, so that the gross receipts tax resembles a sales tax. The combined gross receipts tax rate varies throughout the state from 5.125 percent to 7.8125 percent. The total rate is a combination of all rates imposed by the state, counties and municipalities. Beginning Jan. 1, 2005, New Mexicans no longer pay taxes on most food purchases; however, there are exceptions to this program. Also beginning Jan. 1, 2005, the state eliminated the tax on certain medical services. In general, taxes are not assessed on personal property. Personal household effects, licensed vehicles, registered aircraft, certain personal property warehoused in the state and business personal property that is not depreciated for federal income tax purposes are exempt from the property tax. Property tax rates vary substantially and depend on the type of property and its location. The state does not assess tax on intangible personal property. There is no inheritance tax, but an inheritance may be reflected in a taxpayer's modified gross income and taxed that way. Largest employers (Not ranked by size) Northern * College of Santa Fe * Boy Scouts of America * U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) * Mesa Air Group * Navajo Nation * Los Alamos National Laboratory Central * PNM Resources and PNM Electric & Gas Services * Presbyterian Health Plan * Sandia National Laboratories * Intel * University of New Mexico * New Mexico State Government Eastern * Albertson's Supermarket * Kmart Corporation * U.S. Postal Service * Wal-Mart * Navajo Refining Company * U.S. National Park Service (NPS) * Allsup's Convenience Stores * Southwestern * Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) * Lockheed Engineering and Sciences * New Mexico State University * Lovelace Healthcare * Pepsi Bottling * New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology * U.S. Army (Fort Bliss) Source: Economic Research & Analysis Bureau New Mexico Department of Labor State symbols State motto "Crescit eundo" ("It Grows as It Goes") 1912 State nicknames "Land of Enchantment" (Spanish: "Tierra de Encanto" or "Tierra Encantada") 19_? "The Colorful State" 19_? State songs "O Fair New Mexico" 1917 "Asi Es Nuevo México" 1971 "New Mexico-Mi Lindo Nuevo México" 1995 State flower Yucca flower 1927 State tree Two-Needle Piñon pine 1949 State bird Greater roadrunner 1949 State fish Cutthroat trout 1955 State animal black bear 1963 State vegetables chile and frijol 1965 State gem turquoise 1967 State grass blue grama 1973 State fossil coelophysis 1981 State cookie bizcochito 1989 State insect tarantula hawk 1989 State ballad "Land of Enchantment" 1989 State poem A Nuevo México 1991 State question * "Red or Green?" 1999 State ship "USS New Mexico (BB-40)" 1918–1946 "USS New Mexico (SSN-779)" **2006 (*)The official state question refers to a question commonly heard at restaurants, where waiters will ask customers "red or green?" in reference to which kind of chile pepper or "chile sauce" the customers want served with their meal. This type of "chile" is usually distinct from salsa, as the chile sauce is much finer and thicker and more commonly served with meals. Natives are more likely to refer to the chile sauce put on their meal as just plain "chile", and not as any form of "salsa" (which is usually reserved by natives in English for the salsa served with chips; everything else is just "chile"). If the diner wants both they can answer with, "Christmas" (or "Navidad" in Spanish), in reference to the two traditional colors of Christmas—Red and Green. However, most natives simply say, "both". (**)The second USS New Mexico, SSN-779, is scheduled to be constructed. In 1947, a craft of unknown origin crashed at or near Roswell, New Mexico. Allegedly, in 1949, another craft of unknown origin crashed near this city. Source: Wikipedia.org - English