Sally-Alice Thompson was young–only 63–when she walked across the United States protesting nuclear armament. Nearly 30 years later, she hit the road for Santa Fe to preserve the value of voting.

Sally-Alice Thompson on the march nearing Algodones, N.M. Photo © William P. Diven. (This photo also appeared in the Sandoval Signpost, Placitas, N.M.)

Motivated this time by the gobs of money polluting the political process, this World War II veteran set out from Albuquerque with anywhere from a few to 20 supporters hiking with her along the way. The goal, she said, is to keep big money from displacing the voice of the people. Except for a gap jumping across Interstate 25 from San Felipe Pueblo to Madrid, she hoofed it to Santa Fe covering 60 or so miles in 13 days and arriving for a rally at the Capitol on Oct. 25.

Her efforts received scant media coverage despite a ripe issue as dark money floods our mailboxes with advertising both fluffy and brutal (and in one GOP flier demonstrably false with no subsequent apology from the pal of the governor responsible for it). One Albuquerque TV station tried but got the point of Thompson’s walk wrong, corrected its online story and took down the video. The Albuquerque Journal, “New Mexico’s Leading News Source,” ignored the story as did the Santa Fe New Mexican. A Web search this morning shows coverage only from the Sandoval Signpost here in Placitas, weeklies Santa Fe Reporter and The Independent, which covers the mostly rural communities east of Albuquerque, KSFR, Santa Fe’s public radio station, and a Facebook page set up for the walk.

For more on this remarkable political activist, please click the following link. It will take you to my story in the November issue of the Sandoval Signpost, where I hold the august title of news editor:  http://sandovalsignpost.com/html/real_people.html 

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