NEW MEXICO
Gallup Independent

Published in the Gallup Independent, Gallup, N.M., April 18, 2015

Officials won’t talk properties, sales

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Independent correspondent
religion@gallupindependent.com

GALLUP — Each day thousands of motorists on Interstate Highway 40 drive by the busy McDonald’s just off the interstate exit in Winslow, Ariz. Many stop by for a quick bite to eat but few likely know the property McDonald’s sits on is owned by a corporation in bankruptcy.

No, it’s not the McDonald’s corporation.

The Winslow property is owned by the Diocese of Gallup, now mired in bankruptcy court for 17 months, and it is just one of more than 270 parcels of land located on more than 190 properties in Arizona and New Mexico that the Gallup Diocese owns. That list includes a shopping center in Gallup, a large ranch in Northern Arizona, more than 60 subdivision lots outside of…